The Pursuit of Bliss

The mind is our enemy. The biggest fault of the mind is pride. Due to pride we are not able to become humble. And God is friend of humble souls. He cannot become our friend as long as we are not humble. We may bang our head against the ground uncountable lifetimes, but it will be useless. The very first verse of the Ashtpadi (eight verses) of Gaurang Mahaprabhu says – Be more humble than a blade of grass. If you step on grass – on ‘doob’ etc. – you will notice that the blade of grass bends down. When you remove your foot, it becomes normal once again. A tree bears fruit. When you throw stones at the tree, the fruit drops to the ground. The tree does not get angry. In fact, it gives you fruits to eat. The tree responds to your stones with fruits. It is so tolerant. The tree does not eat its own fruits. It feeds you instead. What do we have in our possession that we are proud of? If Sarasvati becomes proud of her knowledge; if Ravan becomes proud; if Indra becomes proud; if Kuber ...

Q. Maharajji! Is it possible to minimize (the effect) of destiny? A. God and Saints are all-knowing and all-powerful. They can do whatever They want, They can do whatever They don’t want, and They can do the opposite. However, They also observe the rules and regulations (of this world). God does not alter destiny, and Saints also do not alter destiny. They don’t even alter Their own destiny, what to say of others’? (As an exception,) there have been a few such great, great Saints who had to ascend to Golok sooner than expected, so in order to reduce their longer destiny of fifty years, each multiplied their body by fifty times so as to remain in this world for only one year, but they still lived that (fifty years) destiny. Although Saints live their destiny, the fact is that they remain unaffected by the pains of their destiny. Son died – “Fine, cremate his body.” (In other words,) whatever people commonly practice in the world does not affect Saints. If anything gets destroyed,...

Meditating on Krishna’s Form by Jagadguru Shree Kripaluji Maharaj (Translated from a speech at Brahmand Ghat, 1965) Leave your physical body here and think of yourself in a Divine body, like Krishna’s body. In your Divine body go towards Golok, Krishna’s eternal abode. In Golok the sun, moon, air, land and hills are Divine because Krishna Himself has become all these. Every object there glows with a Divine effulgence. Now imagine that you are walking there along the gently flowing Yamuna river. On either side there are Divine meadows. The plants and trees on its banks are blossoming with flowers. They are attracting honey bees, which are droning around them. On the banks of such an enchanting Yamuna, which are studded with sentient, Divine jewels and precious stones, is Brahmand Ghat. Having reached there, you can’t find Shyam Sundar. It is possible He has gone somewhere else to play. Look for Him; He may be coming soon. Look for Him in all directions. He will come only wh...

In this self composed kirtan Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji  Maharaj explains a beautiful Leela of Lord Shiva coming to Gokul to get a glimpse of baby Krishna.  Mother Yashoda is petrified by His looks and thus, refuses to grant Him the audience.  Disappointed, Lord Shiva returns, but Shri Krishna is not happy with it.  What does He do to fulfill His devotee's wish ?  Watch this video. Hindi with English Subtitles 

Vasant Panchami This festival is celebrated at the beginning of the Spring season, when vibrant yellow flowers in the mustard fields are blooming, creating a joyous atmosphere everywhere. In Braj, from the time of Vasant Panchmi, devotees begin to sing Holi songs in the Temples. Shri Maharaj Ji dresses up in lovely yellow garments. Devotees chant special Holi songs, dance in spiritual happiness and play Holi of flower petals throwing them on each other, and Shree Maharajji showers his Grace by throwing flowers on them.   “Pad Kirtans” sung during this season usually recount how the exasperated gopies, took their sweet revenge on Shri Krishna and his friends. Tired of being teased and harassed by Shri Krishna and his friends, the gopies decided to retaliate by pelting the darling of Braj with cow-dung, mud, dyes made out of local flowers, vermilion powder etc. If an unfortunate Gopa (Shri Krishna's mate) happened to be caught by the gopies, he was  forcefully d...

Makar Sankranti is the first Hindu festival of the solar calendar and is celebrated with great devotion, zeal and fervour on 14 January each year. It falls on the day when the sun enters the zodiac sign of Makar (Capricorn) and when day and night are of equal duration.   On the auspicious date of January 14th,1957, our beloved Shri Maharaj Ji was honoured with the title of `Jagadguru' by the 500 scholars of Kashi Vidvat Parishad in Varanasi, India.   Shrimatpadavakyapramanparavarin Vedmargpratisthapanacharya Nikhildarshansamanvayacharaya Sanatanvaidikdharmpratishthapan-satsampradayaparamacharaya Bhakti-yog-rasavatar Bhagavadanantashrivibushit Shri 1008 Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj Ji   In 1957, Jagadguru Shri Kripaluji Maharaj (Shri Maharaj Ji) was invited by the Kashi Vidvat Parishat, a body of 500 foremost scriptural scholars of Varanasi, India, to speak for nine consecutive days on scriptural philosophy. During this time, Shri Maharaj Ji q...

 You have been told a number of times that God realization and freedom from the bondage of maya is not possible by practicing any devotional process. One may put rigorous effort for countless ages and may practice karm, gyan and bhakti, but that will not lead him towards the attainment of God or freedom from the bondage of maya. It is possible only through the Grace of God. But to receive the Grace of God it is necessary to prepare the receptacle (our heart). That has to be done by the individual soul. And what does it mean? Our heart has been impure since eternity due to worldly attachments. Removing all these worldly attachments, you have to purify your mind completely. Neither God Himself nor any Saint can do it for you until you make the effort. God is eternal and so are we; God it not senior to us. In our innumerable lives we have seen God in person and He also dwells in our heart, but even He cannot bestow His Grace until our heart is completely purified. Befo...

In Bhagavad Gita, the primary message is "Do your duty in the world, but keep your mind attached to Me!". Thus, what we have to do is to have 'Tana kara men mana yara men'. The mind should be constantly thinking about God while performing worldly duties. The next question is this. How do we go about working without attachment to this work? Well, you may be surprised to know that all of us are already in the habit of working in this way. In fact, 90% of our works are performed without the attachment of the mind. The series of detached actions starts right from the time we get up in the morning. You get up at six o'clock in the morning everyday. You don't really want to leave your nice and cozy bed, but you do it anyways, because your intellect reasons that if you don't do so, you will certainly be late for work. Therefore, you get out of bed reluctantly and start the morning rituals like brushing your teeth, taking a shower and so on. But note that a...

Cont.....A Short lecture by Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj Yesterday it was explained that although God is causelessly gracious, He doesn’t grace everyone. Since eternity we have been under the control of Maya, due to which we have revolved in the cycle of birth and death in the 8.4 million life forms, and experienced unending suffering. Yet God has also graced some selected souls with His divine knowledge, bliss and eternal life. He even says, “Aham bhakta paradheenah.” “I walk beyond My loving devotees to be blessed by their footdust.” Once there was a great devotee of Lord Krishna named Ambarish. Ambarish was a king. Sage Durvasa, who had great yogic powers and also a very bad temper, went to Ambarish’s kingdom. Durvasa became so angry with Ambarish, that he created a kritya, a evil spirit, and ordered him to go and cut off Ambarish’s head. When God saw this, He also became angry and released His divine weapon, the chakra, and ordered it to cut off not only the demon’s head, but ...