Soul on Fire | Issue #078 | 4 Ways to Remain Serene and Relentless Amidst Gobal "Crisis"

And why you're fed up with religion

Aug 31, 2021

God is never forced to take birth like we are. However He arrives on every planet when there's a decline in goodness and an increase in abuse.

Today I am commited to completing my vow to make 108 artworks by midnight. I'll share them later this week and offer them up for auction to raise funds for a project which I will reveal at the same time.

4 things I do to be serene and relentless during global “crisis”

From where I am all thats happening point to a political move rather than a health crisis. The vedas prophisise that in the current age government will simply extract taxes from the people. But I won't be an angry troll. Why be angry when you're solving the problem? In fact I'm excited by the opportunity at hand - theres an urgency to go deep in my spirituality and share with others.

If you're interested in beginning your bhakti journey I'd be happy to assist you by sharing the techniques and resources to get you started. Just reach out.

Here's what I do to keep from being fearful and resentful during this crisis.

I read 10 spiritual texts a day with in different online groups

This is called sravanam kirtanam and it immunes one to all disease. How? Disease is caused by identifying with the body. Ease is possible through knowledge and devotion. Sounds too simple? Maybe you're too complicated. Actually medicine is a massive business and complicating health for people is very profitable for this business. Do your research. God put everything needed for health in nature. Anything undigestable is poison.

I chant 16 rounds of the maha mantra with minimal distraction

Try it for free! One mantra a day for 30 years is 10950 mantras and if you actually hear it once you're liberated from all material entanglement.

I share my positive approach where I can

This isn't just beneficial to the listener. It's a chance to recreate or regenerate myself. Don't let your being be generated by others disempowered narratives. Your context or narrative is all you have. It's all you are. By changing it you change your experience of life. And by sharing it you're inviting others to do the same.

Turn obstacles upside down

Its powerful to let obstacles be the path rather than thinking they are blocking it. Let the situation bring out some strength if the intended reward is thwarted. Like right now whe have to stay home so I'm reading an hour a day and painting more than ever. Turn lemons into lemonade..

Bhajan

Philosophy in poetry.

Dainya

From Saranagati by Bhaktivinoda Thakur

(1) O Lord, forgetting You and coming to this material world, I have experienced a host of sins and sorrows. Now I approach Your lotus feet and submit my tale of woe.

(2) While I was bound up tightly in the unbearable confines of my mother’s womb, O Lord, You once revealed Yourself before me. After appearing briefly, You abandoned this poor servant of Yours.

(3) At that moment I thought, “After my birth this time, I will surely worship You with undivided attention.” But alas, after taking birth I fell into the entangling network of worldly illusions; thus I possessed not even a drop of true knowledge.

(4) As a dear son fondled in the laps of attentive relatives, I passed my time smiling and laughing. The affection of my father and mother helped me forget You still more, and I began to think that the material world was a very nice place.

(5) Day by day I gradually grew into a young boy and began playing with other boys. Soon my powers of understanding emerged, so I diligently studied my school lessons every day.

(6) Proud of my accomplished education, I later traveled from place to place and earned much wealth. Thereby maintaining my family with undivided attention, I forgot You, O Lord Hari!

(7) Now in old age, this Bhaktivinoda very sadly weeps as death approaches. I failed to worship You, O Lord, and instead passed my days in vain. What will be my fate now?

Podcast

In the podcast linked below I discuss the impact of dogma in religious institutions with Nityananda.

Nityananda and I talk about Dogma

Also check out Nityananda prabhus new song.

Bhagavad Gita AS IT IS - Spiritual solutions to material problems.

Locate yourself in Krsnas advice to wartior Arjuna during his existential crisis.

2.14

मात्रास्पर्शास्तु कौन्तेय शीतोष्णसुखदुःखदाः ।
आगमापायिनोऽनित्यास्तांस्तितिक्षस्व भारत ॥ १४ ॥

mātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya
śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ
āgamāpāyino ’nityās
tāṁs titikṣasva bhārata

Synonyms

mātrā-sparśāḥ — sensory perception; tu — only; kaunteya — O son of Kuntī; śīta — winter; uṣṇa — summer; sukha — happiness; duḥkha — and pain; dāḥ — giving; āgama — appearing; apāyinaḥ — disappearing; anityāḥ — nonpermanent; tān — all of them; titikṣasva — just try to tolerate; bhārata — O descendant of the Bharata dynasty.

Translation

O son of Kuntī, the nonpermanent appearance of happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, O scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed.

Purport

In the proper discharge of duty, one has to learn to tolerate nonpermanent appearances and disappearances of happiness and distress. According to Vedic injunction, one has to take his bath early in the morning even during the month of Māgha (January-February). It is very cold at that time, but in spite of that a man who abides by the religious principles does not hesitate to take his bath. Similarly, a woman does not hesitate to cook in the kitchen in the months of May and June, the hottest part of the summer season. One has to execute his duty in spite of climatic inconveniences. Similarly, to fight is the religious principle of the kṣatriyas, and although one has to fight with some friend or relative, one should not deviate from his prescribed duty. One has to follow the prescribed rules and regulations of religious principles in order to rise up to the platform of knowledge, because by knowledge and devotion only can one liberate himself from the clutches of māyā (illusion).

The two different names of address given to Arjuna are also significant. To address him as Kaunteya signifies his great blood relations from his mother’s side; and to address him as Bhārata signifies his greatness from his father’s side. From both sides he is supposed to have a great heritage. A great heritage brings responsibility in the matter of proper discharge of duties; therefore, he cannot avoid fighting.

A fresh perspective on the world situation.

Such therapeutic knowledge is essential as long as one is diseased, but when one is fully healthy, such technical medical knowledge is no longer interesting to the healthy person, and he may leave such knowledge to the doctors. Similarly, in the advanced stage of Kṛṣṇa consciousness one need not think continually of one’s personal problems but may rather think of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Kṛṣṇa, with love and devotion. Lord Kṛṣṇa advises in the previous verse that one should eliminate one’s personal problems through technical knowledge of illusion. After giving up constant meditation on such problems, one can then become a lover of God.
- Srila Prabhupada

New paintings

Urban monk

Acrylic on canvas

Reply if interested

Quewn of the universe

Acrylic on canvas

Reply if interested.

Kirtaniya Baba - the first vaishnava graffiti writer.

Vrindavan, 2018.06.2018

Vrindavan’s dedicated painter of Radha naam has merged into the lotus feet of Srimati Radha Rani. Painting the name of Shri Radha was his principal devotional service. He painted the words “Shri Radha” in countless places including on tree trunks, on the walls of ghats and temples, indeed, he put Radha’s name wherever he found a place. His work became one of the attractions for those who adore Vrindavan and the spiritual ambiance of the town.

Shri Radha Sarveshawar Das ji Maharaj, better known as Kirtaniya Baba, passed away at Harivyas Nikunj, Raman Reti in Vrindavan. He was 86 years old when he took his last breath at 6 am this morning.

The news of Baba’s entering the nitya lila (eternal pastimes) spread like wildfire across the entire Vraja. Saints, Brajwasis and Vaishnavas gathered outside the ashram in large numbers to participate in the procession carrying Kirtaniya Baba’s mortal remains to the Yamuna banks for cremation.

The mukhagni ritual during the cremation was performed in the presence of many prominent saints of Vrindavan by Shri Murari Das, the mahant of Harivyas Nikunj, amid pad gayan and sankirtan.

With the news of his demise, the saints of Vraja began to mourn the loss. Whoever heard said that it was a great loss for Vraja.

Not many people recognized Baba, but many knew him through his work of drawing attention to the holy name of Radha with his paintings. Vrindavan is almost defined by the name of Radha which appears everywhere, but especially on the trees on the Parikrama Marg.

Baba came to live in Vrindavan in 1977 when in his early forties. He took initiation from Shri Sanat Kumar Das ji Maharaj, Gaddi Acharya of Mukund Devacharya Dwara (Topi Kunj, Vrindavan). He lived on madhukuri (charity given to sadhus) from the Brajwasis.

Shri Tulsi Sharan Upadhyay who became Baba’s disciple at the tender age of 13, said, “Kirtaniya Baba grew up in an opulent and educated Khanal family of Singri village in the undivided Darrang District of Assam. He graduated in science and obtained a diploma in Fine Arts from Guwahati. He became famous in Assam for his ecstatic kirtans. He traveled all over the state with his kirtan band for the promotion of Harinam Sankirtan. He was known as a master of kirtan among all the Vaishnava communities in Assam. Later, he established a Radha Krishna Temple in Dhaula in Tinsukia district. He moved to Vrindavan in 1977.”

Shri Dev Sharan ji, another of Kirtaniya Baba’s disciples, who is continuing the tradition of painting Radha’s name everywhere in Vrindavan, told a Vrindavan Today correspondent, “The purpose of writing the name of Radha on the walls and trees of Vrindavan is to make the ambiance of Vrindavan filled with Radha.”

He said, “Radha Rani is the Queen of Vrindavan, and so there should be an overwhelming presence of her name everywhere.”