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JKYog
e-Magazine, Issue No. 71
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Editor's Message
Dear Readers,
Wish
you all a very Happy 'Guru Poornima'. On this auspicious occasion
we offer our humble obeisances to the Supreme Spiritual Master of the
world - the 5th Original Jagadguru - Jagadguru Shree Kripaluji
Maharaj. We are eternally indebted to Shree Maharajji's grace
which we received in the form of his association, pastimes, literature,
kirtans, etc. To this moment and for eternity Shree Maharajji will
continue to causelessly grace us souls, so that we may attain divine
love and bliss of God.
In this Guru Poornima special edition, we
firstly ask ourselves an important question - Do we value the grace of
our Guru? Shree Maharajji has left no stone unturned to ensure
that each one of his children find their way back to their eternal home,
but have his children valued his love and grace? Further, from
Maharajji's lecture, we will understand why is the Guru more important
than God. Also we will share with you latest updates of Satsang
Centers, Bal-Mukund Centers and the recently concluded JKYog Retreat at
New Jersey. Finally, don't miss the beautiful pad, "Bali Shri
Gurudev Kripal Ki" sung by Swamiji and our bhog recipe of the month -
Green Papaya Salad.
Best Wishes, Editor's Desk editor@jkyog.org
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tad viddhi praṇipātena paripraśhnena sevayā upadekṣhyanti te jñānaṁ jñāninas tattva-darśhinaḥ
(Gita 4.34)
"Learn
the Truth by approaching a spiritual master. Inquire from him with
reverence and render service unto him. Such an enlightened Saint can
impart knowledge unto you because he has seen the Truth."
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HAPPY GURU POORNIMA
bali śhrī gurudeva kṛipāl kī
I sacrifice myself upon my merciful Guru.
jinake divya vachana suni chhooṭata, granthi avidyā-jāl kī
By listening to whose divine words, the soul is released from the knot of mayic ignorance forever.
jinake varada hasta ke sanmukha, chala na chāla kalikāl kī
Whose gracious hands protect the devotee from the powerful influences of this age of darkness (Kaliyug).
jinake banata bigāri sakata nahiṅ, māyā śhakti gupāl kī
By surrendering to whom, one remains absolutely safe from all-powerful Maya, the external potency of God.
jinake yugala charana parasata mana, pāvata rati nandalāl kī
By merely touching whose lotus feet with devotion, the mind is blessed with the divine love of Shree Krishna.
lakhata 'kṛipālu' anugraha guru ke, līlā lāṛali lāl kī
Says Shree 'Kripalu' in
the words of a devotee, "By the grace of my Guru, I am able to drink the
nectar of the ever-new pastimes of Radha Krishna."
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Click here to listen to this beautiful pad composed by Shree Kripaluji Maharaj and sung by Swami Mukundananda.
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Click here to listen to a Hindi lecture delivered by Swami Mukundananda in which he tells the importance of a Guru.
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Do we value the grace of our Guru?
The grace bestowed by the spiritual master is beyond description.
If only we could realize and value how the Guru graces us from the
beginning till the end of our spiritual journey, it would be sufficient
to attain our goal. However, we are ungrateful to the Guru and we
don't realize his grace. The Guru works hard for us day and night,
he suffers for us, yet we harbour ill feelings for Him. We
repeatedly commit transgressions. Yet due to his causelessly
merciful nature, he forgives us time and again. The Guru thinks,
"He's my child, he will improve with time, let me forgive him." But
the disciple commits transgressions yet again. He commits
transgressions against the very same Guru who works tirelessly for his
eternal welfare. The disciple thinks, "My Guru is greedy, he wants
money". This is such a big transgression. The disciple does
not think that this creation belongs to God, you had come empty handed
here, and therefore whatever wealth you possess belongs to God. Every
day we commit the same sin. Having committed a sin, one at least
feels remorse that he or she will not commit the same sin again.
But we continue committing spiritual transgressions. There is no
sin in this world bigger than a spiritual transgression. After
committing spiritual transgressions we wonder, "Why has the Guru not
made me God-realized yet?" We are not surrendered to our
Guru. The day we will feel, that our Guru whom the Lord of
the universe follows, has asked us insignificant souls for something,
what a great fortune we have, that day our surrender to the Guru will
begin. However, we refuse to improve ourselves. And look at
the mercy of the Guru, even after all this, he never leaves us, he
continues to guide us. Once, a saint was sitting close to
the bank of river Ganga. A scorpion fell into the river because of
which he was struggling in the water. The Saint saw the scorpion
suffering and out of his compassion helped the scorpion out of the
water. The moment the scorpion came out he bit the Saint.
Again the scorpion made its way back to the river and again it began
struggling for its life. Again the Saint picked it up from the
water, again the scorpion bit him. The Saint says, "We will not
leave our work, you don't leave yours." If only we can realize,
"That Guru whom, millions of people long to meet, that same divine
personality is speaking to me, he is looking at me, he hugged me. I have
received his association", we will attain our goal of God-realization. Think
again and again, "My Guru looked at me, he spoke to me, am I worthy of
this?" I have been a sinner for countless lives. My
Guru who forever relishes the bliss of Lord Krishna's association looked
at me. When we will think in this manner, our love for the Guru
will increase and our heart will become purified. In the
beginning, we will not meet or see God. He is imperceptible;
however the Guru is present before the eyes. Think about
it yourself; is a worldly person worthy enough that a God-realized Saint
should even look at him/her? That Saint who sees Radha & Krishna,
why should he look at material beings? In the world when people
look at attractive clothes and other things and at the same place find a
dump of human excreta, they immediately remove their eyes from that
direction. Similarly, it is a miracle if God and Guru look
towards us. Why should they look at us? The Guru who forever
remains intoxicated in the divine bliss of Radha & Krishna, if he
looks at us; it is nothing but his grace. Are we worthy of his
glance? And then if he talks to us; there is no bigger grace than that. When
in the world, somebody meets the President or the Prime Minister, that
person takes great pride in it. Then if a personality who has met
God and relishes God's touch, form, fragrance etc, comes and interacts
with us - it is a true miracle. The Guru does all of this out of
his grace so that we can walk on the path of eternal welfare. In
a way, the Guru flatters us. Just like someone flatters the other
person to get his own work done. Similarly the God-realized
saints flatter us so that we can walk towards God. But a person
progresses on the spiritual path only in proportion to his realisation
of this fact. If somebody does not realize the importance and
thinks, "What is so great in it if the Guru spoke to me?" Then the
heart will never get purified. Till the time we don't realize
the importance of things we receive in life, no matter what we receive,
we will not value or appreciate anything. Let us say the Guru
gives someone a simple string of beads. If that person can realize
the importance of that string, if he can value it every day, that
person will progress rapidly. Whereas if that person simply wears
the string of beads, without realising its importance; he will not be
sufficiently benefitted.
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Guru - More Important than God
by Jagadguru Shree Kripaluji Maharaj
gururbrahmā gururviṣhṇuḥ gururdevo maheśhvaraḥ
guruḥ sākṣhāt paraṁ brahma tasmai śhrī gurave namaḥ
The Guru performs the roles of Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh. Playing
the role of Brahma, he gives us divine knowledge. As Vishnu, he
protects that knowledge; and as Shankar or Mahesh, he destroys or
dispels ignorance.
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guṅ rautīti guruḥ, guru meṭata añdhiyāra
The Guru is one who dispels darkness. Only a sadguru is able to dispel the darkness of ignorance and give us divine knowledge.
yasya deve parābhaktihi yathā deve tathā gurau
(Shwetashwataropanishad)
"To that disciple who
worships the Guru as he worships God, by the grace of God residing in
the heart, all the knowledge of the scriptures is automatically
revealed."
You
must love your Guru as you love Shree Krishna. Only then you will you
benefit spiritually and progress in the spiritual path and attain
God.
Narad ji, who is the greatest scholar in bhakti (devotion) said:
tasminstajjane bhedāvābhāt
"There is no difference between God and Mahapurush (God-realized Saint). Both are one." After God-realization, God himself is seated inside the Mahapurush and governs his activities. Thus, God performs every action of a Mahapurush and that is why God and the Mahapurush are considered one. Therefore, all the Vedas and shastras collectively declare God and Guru as one.
Although
the Vedas and other scriptures declare that God and Guru are one and
the same, and both are capable of gracing us with divine love, yet it is
the Guru alone who can help us achieve our goal. The Guru is
actually more merciful.
A
Saint or Guru is particularly important to us, because like us
individual souls, he too has undergone all forms of suffering prior to
attaining God-realization. He is therefore, well aware of our
pitiable situation. Like us, he has already experienced all
miseries and humiliation in countless lifetimes, but God remains ever
blissful. Therefore, Guru is best suited to help us. We
cannot approach God. Moreover, even if he were to appear
personally before us, we would not be able to understand him with our
material intellect.
God declares in Ramayan:
nirmala mana jana so mohiṅ pāvā
"Only when you completely surrender to me, and your heart becomes completely purified, I will come to your rescue."
This
job of purifying your heart and teaching you how to surrender to God is
done by the Saint. God's grace is the natural consequence of the
grace of the Guru.
God
accepts only those individuals whose hearts and minds remain fully
attached to him alone. If any worldly relation - even any
celestial being - were to attract your mind, God would immediately
reject you. It is the Guru who purifies your heart by removing the
dirt of all your worldly attachments.
Therefore,
from our practical point of view, the place of the Guru is higher than
God, because it is Guru who stands by us from the beginning until the
end. It is by the grace of Guru that we receive the gift of divine
love of God.
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Yoga, Meditation and Lecture Programs
Swamiji conducted yoga, meditation classes and also delivered enlightening discourses at Albany, Denver cities. Swamiji's program is currently going on in Frisco and will conclude on July 31st. See picturesThe devotees of Radha Govind Dham, Jajpur and Patan conducted the Ratha Yatra procession throughout the town. See pictures
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The 2015 JKYog
East Coast Retreat with Swami Mukundananda ji was Nourishment for the
Soul! The divine presence of Shree Swamiji, the grace of Shree
Maharaji and Shree Radha Krishna poured into our hearts. It was a
weekend of renewal -- amongst like-minded souls, a harmonious gathering;
filled with tears of Bliss, true laughter and true learning. All who
participated were very grateful!!
The weekend centered around the
Yoga Sutras of Maharishi Patanjali, translated by Swamiji, and included
a sweet and lively celebration of Janmashtami, and an exceptionally
precious gem, Shree Maharajji's Charan Poojan, as well as delectable
vegetarian meals throughout the retreat.
This is what devotees had to say:
The
logistics were flawless! Everything was just beautiful and so smooth.
We will come to the JKYog Retreat every year! Swamiji helps me
understand and really motivates my Sadhana! As parents, we are so
grateful. Our children had inspiration and FUN in Bal-Mukund! The meals
have been delicious and it's so well organized. The Bhajans and
musicians are incredible! This retreat is the best investment I
have ever made in myself! With Swamji, something happens -- my devotion
is like never before!
Cynthia Bjork, CT My
spiritual experience at the retreat was beyond my expectations. It was a
spiritual elevating experience to be in the presence of Swamiji whose
divine knowledge enlightened us all. It was also an experience to know
other people who attended the retreat. Swamiji's depth of knowledge of
our vedic scripture is amazing. But what impressed me the most was his
ability to simplify and related to real world examples the seemingly
difficult subject matter so anyone can understand and apply the
principles in real life. The yoga sessions and bhajan were also very
helpful in setting the mind right to absorb the divine knowledge. The
best thing, I liked was Swamiji down to earth demeanor and getting down
to the level of common men
Sanjay Mehta, NY
My spiritual
experience at the retreat was very fulfilling and enlightening. He is
the greatest spiritual leader in the world. I bow my knees in front of
him. Ahmed Ibrahim, NY
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Aug 15th to Aug 21st
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Aug 29th to Sept 3rd
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Houston, TX
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Aug 22nd to Aug 28th
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Centennial, CO
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Sept 12th to Sept 18th
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Kendall Park, NJ
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Up-coming Retreats 2015
Sept 5th to Sept 7th
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Dallas, TX
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For details, click here
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JKYog Presents
Bal-Mukund
Personality Development Classes for Children
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The
Bal-Mukund sessions at the East coast retreat was a great success. The
kids made three crafts in the retreat. They created a beautiful hand
painted aarti thali. They decorated a beautiful diya to keep on the
aarati thali and also made a nice paper flower to offer to the Supreme
Lord. They learned the bhajan 'Natawar nagar nanda". They had very
interesting story time and philosophy time. They also watched a
spiritual movie and played games with their friends. Overall, it was a
fun session and they enjoyed every bit of it. They also got to meet and
make new friends. Both the kids and the volunteers enjoyed it thoroughly
and together were able to put together a great performance for Swamiji
when he visited the Bal-Mukund class.
In
parallel, kids of age 12 and above had special youth club session where
they had group discussion, bhajan session, learned about public
speaking & communication and worked on a project. As part of their
project, they prepared a presentation together on what values they
learned and presented it to Swamiji. They enjoyed the youth club
thoroughly and got to learn some important values that will help them in
their life.Swamiji visited the Bal-Mukund center in Cromwell, CT on
Sunday, June 14th. Bal-Mukund's of CT were excited to welcome
Swamiji and present their learning from Bal-Mukund session. The
performance was a great combination of sloka recitation, bhajan, dance,
surya namaskar demonstration and presentation on India. Swamiji enjoyed
the complete performance and was very happy to see the extent of
knowledge gained in these kids through the Bal-Mukund session.
Kids were super excited when Swamiji mentioned that they had put
together a "top class performance'.
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Ingredients:
- 5 tablespoons fresh lime juice
- 3 tablespoons (packed) palm sugar or golden brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons soya sauce
- 3 Chinese long beans, halved crosswise or 15 green beans
- 1 1 1/2- to 1 3/4-pound green papaya, peeled, halved, seeded
- 10 large cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 cup chopped fresh cilantro
- 1 fresh red Thai chile with seeds, thinly sliced
- 2 tablespoons coarsely chopped salted peanuts
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Whisk lime juice, brown sugar and soya sauce in a medium bowl. Set dressing aside.
Cook
beans in medium saucepan of boiling salted water until crisp-tender,
about 5 minutes. Rinse under cold water. Cut into
2-inch pieces. Using julienne peeler, peel enough papaya to measure 6
cups. Place in large bowl. Add tomatoes, cilantro, chile, and
green beans. Pour dressing over; toss. Sprinkle peanuts over and serve.
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Contact us
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The Editor JKYog: XVII/3305, 1st Floor, Ranjit Nagar (Near PUSA), New Delhi - 110008, India
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7405 Stoney Point Dr, Plano TX 75025, USA
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