Prayer to Lord Nrsimhadeva.

Here's a prayer to Lord Nrsimhadeva, written by one of Radha-Madhava's devotees in Oxford. I'm sure we can all relate to the sentiments expressed therein!

Dear Lord today once more I pray
Hiranyakasipu you’ll slay;
For though to save Prahlad he died,
He lives within my heart as Pride.

His lusty greed for name and fame
Is my sad search for just the same;
Like him I long for words that flatter,
Not truths that leave this ego shattered.

And just like him I think I’m king,
Of mice and men and Oxford kin.
I wince in pain and loudly moan
When others would usurp my throne .

This demon Pride destroys true sight
And turns all truth to darkest night.
Instead of seeing myself as Thine,
I think this world should all be mine.

Although my name ends in ‘das'
I act more like a stubborn ‘ass' .
When someone pleases not my will,
I deem them fools and rascals ‘till…

They come to share my view and see -
The world’s best ‘know-it-all’ is me .
I fail to see how life’s an act,
Of practising one of two true facts:

‘You are Lord and I am servant’.
My role is overdue and urgent,
But Pride likes not this deep insight:
‘How dare these fools deny my right.

To be the one upon the throne
And have servants all of my own!’
So Dearest Lord today I pray,
(With heart contrite for going astray)

"Please help me serve, that’s all that matters
And rip Pride out once more in tatters. "

Final BBC Prayer for the Day.

And here's the final transcript of the BBC Prayers for the Day. Nice one, Shaunaka!

Friday 9th March 07 - Peace.

"Good morning. The news can be an odd phenomenon – for many of us it is a 24-hour, all-pervasive obsession.
We pick up stories from all over the world and practically spontaneously begin to comment on them. In some countries our ability to openly discuss any subject we wish on the planet is a great freedom, even a luxury.

But I suppose what disappoints many of us is the nature of the beast itself: the unfortunate fact that bad news travels so much faster than good news. To our shame we seem to have a distasteful appetite for the horror and conflict in the news. We can’t blame our journalists for feeding us the platter we have ordered. We can’t even blame our politicians if they sound lame or scandalous. We elected them. We have even elected the reality TV celebrities we love to hate.

But we do have a desirable aspiration for peace, harmony and love. I meet the only person I can blame for the lack of these attractive qualities every morning – when I look in the mirror. As much as we get our daily dose of world news, we should also take some time to feed our aspiration for the spiritual, and grow in goodness. Here is a beautiful prayer from the Bhagavat Purana, an ancient Hindu scripture that can help nurture this aspiration:

“May the entire universe be blessed with peace and hope. May everyone driven by envy and enmity become pacified and reconciled. May all living beings develop a biding concern for the welfare of others. May our own hearts and minds be filled with purity and serenity. May all these blessings flow naturally from this supreme benediction: May our attention become detached from the mundane and absorbed in the rapture of pure love of God.” Hare Krishna. "

Another Prayer for the Day Broadcast.

Here's the next BBC Prayer for the Day broadcast, by Shaunaka Rishi, which went out on Wednesday 7^th March. I hope you are enjoying them!

Purity.

"Good morning. The dentist has become an indispensable person in most of our lives, and indeed, for some of us an inspiration for prayer. It’s a sad fact that the dreaded whirr of the drill and the clinical smells of the surgery has caused much anxiety.

But the course of dental hygiene is running more smoothly and improvements have been made to the extent that even a reformed dental coward, such as myself, can relax under the glare of those big lights.

And dental hygiene is a serious business. We can bleach our teeth until we look celebrity-esque, we brush and we floss and we massage our gums with an array of implements never before available to mankind.

In Hindu culture, as in many religions, purification is considered important, but more important than dental hygiene, for a Hindu, is mental hygiene. How clean are our thoughts? How pure is our intention? How pure is our heart, our feelings or our motivations? The bad breath of selfishness is certainly pungent but what can we do about such subtle impurities?

Among Hindus prayer, or “vandanam”, is considered a very powerful method of self-purification. And prayer is available to all of us, as much as, in fact even more than our local dentist is.

This leads me to a beautiful and very ancient prayer originally spoken in Sanskrit but translated it goes: “Whether we are pure or impure; if we are beginning our spiritual path or are the most qualified; if we simply remember the Supreme Lord, whose beauty is without comparison, we will become purified both inwardly and outwardly.” Hare Krishna."

BBC Prayer for the Day No.3

Another Prayer for the Day from Shaunaka Rishi Das.

Namaste

"Good Morning. There’s a wonderful gesture that pervades the culture of hospitality in India: people put both palms of their hands before their heart and slightly bow their head as they say to us ‘Namaste’.

In its simplest understanding it’s accepted as a humble greeting straight from the heart and should be reciprocated accordingly – ‘Namaste’. It means “I offer my respect to you”. The gesture itself is called a “mudra”, a form of non-verbal communication and is considered to be powerful and prayerful in itself.

On a deeper level of meaning namaste also has emotional and spiritual significance. A good basis of all our social interaction is respect. Namaste physically shows respect and confirms it by word. Beyond that, by playing with the syllables in the word namaste we find that it also means “not me but you”: symbolically giving up our pride in front of another. And the most profound meaning being, “the Divine within me offers respect to the Divine within you”. A recognition that we are all spiritual in nature.

So this simple and ubiquitous greeting has a prayerful meaning on many levels of understanding: a simple social interaction, an affectionate well-wishing and recognition that everyone is touched by God.

As a prayer, it honours the sacredness of each of us and recognises our equality. By sharing this prayer with you today I offer you respect, I recognise that I am not more than you, and I praise God within you. In saying this prayer you’ll miss the mudra of me joining my palms together, but at least I can say: “Namaste”. Hare Krishna. "

BBC Prayer for the Day No.2

I've just realised that after posting "Lord Chaitanya on the BBC", I forgot that there were more of Shaunaka's broadcasts to follow; five more. I'll post one a day, so you can read them all. I think you can also listen to them here on the BBC website.This was from Monday 5th March and is about "Holi".

"Good morning. All over the UK Hindus are celebrating the festival of Holi. Traditionally this festival takes place just after the crops have been harvested and the community becomes very jolly. At Holi all social convention breaks down and during the festival everyone is covered in gulal, coloured powders of greens and blues, yellows, reds and purples. A friend throws a bag that bursts on you and then you are squirted with water. Everyone is fair game. Equality practised at is terrible best.

And, as with all festivals there are the stories that give them life. One of the most interesting is that of Holika, the sister of an evil king, who is employed to force Prince Prahlada, her nephew to renounce his great love for God. Holika was a great yogi and she had the benediction that she could not be burnt by fire, so she carried Prince Prahlada into a blazing fire to rid the kingdom of his goodness. The story goes that in agreeing to act against the universal benefit Holika forfeited her benediction and she was burned to ashes while Prince Prahlada inherited her power and survived. It’s a story celebrating the victory of love and integrity over hatred and greed.

Uncomfortably, I always feel more like Holika than Prince Prahlada after hearing that story. Prince Prahlada is an emblem of goodness and peace. Yet, if I’m not a peaceful person myself, serenely controlling my desires, my anger and my greed, I can’t feel that I can credibly promote peace. So I need help. “My dear Lord! I am my own worst enemy. I don’t have a peaceful mind or a peaceful heart. I depend on your enthusiasm and your confidence so that I can begin to become a worthy example of your peace.” Hare Krishna."

Dainty Doilies.

Someone made these wall-decorations for Gaura-Purnima out of cake doilies. Maybe not quite in the same class as William Morris whose influence can be seen in the architecture of the temple building! But pretty anyway; and the texts compliment the spirit of Lord Chaitanya's festival.


vijayata sri-krishna-sankirtanam. "All glories to the sankirtan movement; the congregational chanting of Krishna's sacred names." - Sri Siksastakam 1.

The holy name of Krishna is the highest nectar. It is my very life and my only treasure. - Srila Sanatana Goswami; Brhad-Bhagavatamrita.

"The treasure of love of God has descended from the spiritual world to Earth, as the congregational chanting of Krishna's names." - Srila Narottama das Thakura.

Lord Chaitanya on the BBC.

Lord Chaitanya gave a rare appearance on BBC radio yesterday, on His festival-day. Shaunaka Rishi Das, former temple-president of Belfast Temple, has been invited to present a series of Prayers for the Day; his first went out on Gaura-Purnima.

Lord Chaitanya doesn't appear much in the media, at present. We look forward to the time when His teachings, philosophy and sublime example of love of God are more often presented and discussed there. And that may depend partly on our sincere work on His behalf; developing in ourselves the attractive qualtities of a pure Vaishnava and learning how to present Lord Chaitanya to a Western audience.

Anyway, here is the transcript of Shaunaka's broadcast: and you can hear it as well here.

"Good Morning. Today in England small groups of Hindus, from the Vaishnava denomination, gather together to celebrate the saint Shri Chaitanya, who lived in India 500 years ago. Shri Chaitanya is renowned for his beautiful chanting of the names of God, and his inspiring personal example of humility.

There's something about humility. Once you claim you have it you've lost it. Yet, it's such a universal principle, appreciated by every culture in the world. And we all have our humbling experiences.

I have one that happened on live TV news. The interview was going well. One of those, "Where was God during the tsunami?" interviews. Questions coming thick and fast but I was ready for all angles, on top of my game. Yes, I was as proud as a peacock. Then one of my front teeth, a crown - that has stayed religiously in place for 25 years in my head - fell out in mid-theological flow. There I was defending God, in all my righteousness, only to be reminded that my pride is as false as my front tooth. I survived to tell the tale - we usually do.

But if we can honestly reflect on these experiences we will find them most instructive. They will help mould good character and nurture wisdom.

We can practice being humble. We can pause with Sri Chaitanya, that exemplar of humility, as he prays for strength to - serve God and creation in a humble state of mind, thinking ourselves lower than the straw in the street - more tolerant than a tree- ready to offer all respect to others and expect none for ourselves. In such a state of mind we can serve the Lord constantly. Hare Krishna."

Golden Things.

A collage of golden things, which can all be seen around the time of Gaura-purnima. In the centre is the beautiful Lord Chaitanya from the Pancha Tattva deities in Mayapur.

Most of our readers know that Lord Chaitanya is golden-complexioned and has many 'golden' names such as Gauranga - golden limbed, Gaurachandra - golden moon and Gaura-natha-raj - great golden dancer. But some may not, so I thought I'd better mention it!

"May the Supreme Lord who is known as the son of Srimati Sachidevi be transcendentally situated in the innermost chambers of your heart. Resplendent with the radiance of molten gold, He has appeared in the Age of Kali by His causeless mercy to bestow what no incarnation has ever offered before: the most sublime and radiant mellow of devotional service, the mellow of conjugal love." Chaitanya-charitamrita Adi 1.4

Belfast Hare Krishna Temple.

Festival Preparations.

We're busily preparing for Gaura-Purnima - the feast day of Lord Chaitanya. It takes place on Saturday, 3rd of March, less than a fortnight away.

We want to make the festival, here in Belfast, as gorgeous an offering as we can, but as well as running around planning and organising, we're trying to prepare in a contemplative way too - reading from Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita and The Teachings of Lord Chaitanya, and becoming inwardly strengthened and purified by His sublime activities and instructions. Then when the festival day comes, we'll feel more thoroughly "in the mood".

Another nice meditation before Gaura-Purnima is Lord Chaitanya's Eight Poems - the Sri Shikshastakam. A couple of years ago, Belfast devotees Lal-krishna das and Keshava dasi, commissioned reflections on these verses by eight contemporary Vaishnavas, to be posted on ISKCON.com., one a week, before Gaura-Purnima that year. They're very well worth reading and you can find them here on ISKCON.com. Beautiful pictures there too, and you can also listen to Srila Prabhupada singing the Shikshastakam prayers with deep devotion. Satisfaction for all the senses!

Love Poetry.

A reader wrote to enquire about poetry in our tradition, which expresses the idea of prema - the pure love for God which we mentioned yesterday. Thank you for your questions, dear reader.

Out of the many, many such poems available, here are two verses from Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's Shikshastakam. These are translations from the original Sanskrit:

"Feeling separated from You, a moment seems like twelve years or more. Tears are flowing from my eyes like torrents of rain, and I feel all vacant in the world in Your absence."

"I know no one but Krishna as my Lord, and He shall remain so, even if He handles me roughly by His embrace or makes me brokenhearted by not being present before me. He is completely free to do anything and everything, for He is always my worshipful Lord, unconditionally

By the way, Lord Chaitanya's festival-day, Gaura-Purnima is approaching - on the 3rd March. A date for your diary!

Belfast Hare Krishna Temple.

Lord Nityananda

Lord Nityananda was instrumental in spreading the message of the sankirtan movement in Bengal. He is renowned for His mercy and for making pure love of God easily accessible to everyone through the chanting of the Holy names. He is very easy to approach:

"Simply by talking of Nityananda Prabhu one awakens one's love for Krishna." - Chaitanya-caritamrta.

"Sri Chaitanya said:"If anyone even once chants the name 'Nityananda' they will become purified and I will immediately accept that person as My own."'" - Caitanya Mangala.

You may like to listen to Srila Prabhupada singing the beautiful song "Nitai-pada-kamala" - the Lotus Feet of Lord Nityananda. And his description of the song (purport) here.