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JonBenet: A Lesson for Us Too
An American man living in Thailand has just confessed to murdering JonBenet Ramsey. The body of the six-year-old girl was found bludgeoned and strangled in her home in Colorado 10 years ago.
The case quickly became one of the most sensational crimes in recent American history. To make matters worse, the police and the media immediately cast a cloud of suspicion over JonBenet's parents even though there was no evidence.
The parents, although they were never tried or even charged, had to live not only with the death of their daughter but also with people blaming them for the murder.
Now the police and the reporters are trying to cover their tracks, cautioning people not to make the same mistake, not to jump to conclusions about the recent confession. It might be the raving of a madman.
"Don't jump to conclusions." It's good advice for all of us. We have a taste for scandal. It's fun to think horrible things about people. Which one among us has never rashly accused someone only to be embarrassed later when the truth came out?
We like to think we know the whole story when we hear a rumor, but there may be more. Even DNA, that absolute, infallible gauge of truth, has been proved wrong:
http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/story?
id=2315693&page=1&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312
What ever happened to the good old American principle of "presumed innocent until proved guilty"? Let us all take a lesson from the news, horrible as it is, and not accuse someone or indulge in rumors before we know all the facts, and more.
© Umapati Swami
August 22, 2006
Vyasa-Puja Offering to Srila Prabhupada
The Way Forward
Namah on visnupadaya krsnapresthaya bhutale
Srimate bhaktivedanta swamin iti namine
Namaste sarasvati deve gauravani pracarine
Nirvisesa sunyavadi pascatya desatarine
"It is easy to become Krsna conscious," Srila Prabhupada said on a morning walk. "What is difficult is to become determined."
I was on that morning walk, and these words keep coming back to me. As time goes by, it seems, the obstacles on the path of devotional service get bigger, and determination takes on added importance.
"How can one become determined?" someone asked.
"By austerity," said Srila Prabhupada. "That is why we have the regulative principles."
Even before I came to Krsna consciousness, I had come across the regulative principles in my readings, but it was only by hearing the words of Srila Prabhupada that I was ever able to follow them and start living the life of a human being. Certainly, without the regulative principles, there can be no real determination to attain the perfection of human life.
Still, when the going gets tough, I sometimes need an extra boost in my determination. What do you do when the path forward is suddenly blocked by a brick wall? There is no turning back because there is nothing to go back to. There is no way to limp home like a wounded soldier because there is no home to limp back to. Home lies ahead, on the other side of the wall.
When I need this extra determination, I know where to go. I know the source of determination and of everything else that is good in my life: Srila Prabhupada.
So I meditate on Srila Prabhupada's determination. I think about how nothing in the world could stop him, how nothing could make him retreat, not even a heart attack at sea.
I am now about the age Srila Prabhupada was when he started his travels, but I travel on nice airplanes with my handy credit card. Srila Prabhupada traveled on a slow ship with only a few rupees. I have devotees to greet me or travel with me wherever I go, but Srila Prabhupada had no one.
Srila Prabhupada's obstacles were far greater than mine, but he hardly seemed to notice them. What was his secret?
"Of course," says Srila Prabhupada, "when I came to your country without any friend, without any means... Practically, just like a vagabond I came. But I had full faith that 'My Guru Maharaja is with me.' I never lost this faith, and that is fact."
But I am a fallen soul. Where can someone like me find this kind of faith? Well, I go to the same source. I think about Srila Prabhupada's faith in his own spiritual master, and this gives me the strength and the determination needed to shatter the brick wall and go forward on the path of devotional service.
Srila Prabhupada is whatever I have that is good and all I will ever need. He is my eyes and ears, my knowledge, my ability, my faith, and my determination to push homeward.
"I wish that all those calamities would happen again and again so that we could see You again and again, for seeing You means that we will no longer see repeated births and deaths." [Queen Kunti to Lord Krsna, Srimad Bhagavatam 1.8.25]
I, of course, cannot directly see Lord Krsna face to face, I cannot directly see the way forward, but my spiritual master can, and he is my eyes. Let me pray, then, that the obstacles of today and those to come may always turn my mind to the lotus feet of Srila Prabhupada. As long as I can remember Srila Prabhupada, even death will not be an obstacle.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
© Umapati Swami
August 17, 2006
Srila Prabhupada's Vyasa-Puja
Hong Kong
Happy Janmastami!
Wishing everybody the best for today and always.
Umapati Swami
Lord Krishna's Appearance day
August 16, 2006
Hong Kong
Till Death Do Us Part. And Then?
I've been seeing a lot in the news about the debate over gay marriage, but this article won't be about gay marriage. It will be about what gay marriage represents: the idea that we can be happy by making an arrangement in the material world.
People fighting for causes, right or wrong, are trying to make an arrangement to be happy until death, but however long we may enjoy our triumph before we die, we will have much longer to live afterward.
If our cause cannot help us go beyond death, then whatever we gain will be of small value.
We look at our present life as if it were spread out over eternity, but it's not. We all have to die, and an intelligent person will try to make an arrangement for what lies ahead forever, not just for a few short years.
We should first study Bhagavad-gita to learn what eternal life is, what the soul is, and what the body is. If we have eternal knowledge as our weapon, then we can fight for the best cause of all.
© Umapati Swami
August 3, 2006
Forgiveness, Mercy, and Compassion
A reader writes, "I would like to see you write articles concerning the topics forgiveness, mercy, and compassion. I see all the negative stuff coming from devotees on other web sites, and it's sad. I can't for the life of me agree with the constant, vicious bashing of fallen Godbrothers…. I thought ISKCON was for the most fallen and the most merciful."
Fortunately, this attitude toward fallen devotees is not the standard, and I see many of our people showing compassion toward their fallen Godbrothers and sisters. Still, that this negative mindset should exist at all is not a good sign.
We should, of course, learn from the mistakes of others, but we should not gloat over their misfortunes. A devotee is para-dukha-dukhi: he feels pain when he sees the suffering of others. If a devotee cannot bear to see even an ant in pain, how can he enjoy the fall of another devotee? And this bashing of fallen devotees is indeed an attempt to enjoy their misfortune. Otherwise what is the use of dwelling on it?
Krishna does not forget the service rendered by a devotee even if the devotee later falls. Srila Prabhupada writes:
"But even though he falls down, a devotee is never to be considered the same as a fallen karmi [materialist]. A karmi suffers the result of his own fruitive reactions, whereas a devotee is reformed by chastisement directed by the Lord Himself. The sufferings of an orphan and the sufferings of a beloved child of a king are not one and the same. An orphan is really poor because he has no one to take care of him, but a beloved son of a rich man, although he appears to be on the same level as the orphan, is always under the vigilance of his capable father." [SB 1.5.19]
In 1966, a young man named David started coming to the temple. I did not know, but he had previously been with Srila Prabhupada in the loft on the Bowery.
I could not help noticing how anxious Srila Prabhupada was for this young man's well-being. One day I heard Srila Prabhupada talking to someone who knew the young man. "He is making advancement, don't you think?" Srila Prabhupada said.
I later found out that Srila Prabhupada had stayed for a time in David's apartment and that David, crazed on drugs one day, ran after Srila Prabhupada with a knife. Srila Prabhupada ran to a neighbor's apartment to protect himself.
Yet all Srila Prabhupada wanted for this young man was that he might make spiritual advancement. Let us all follow Srila Prabhupada's example.
© Umapati Swami
July 14, 2006
Poor Little Fly
I'm going to be offline for a couple of days, so I'll leave you with another poem. I wrote this one several years ago at New Vrindavan after someone challenged me to write a sonnet.
Poor Little Fly
Poor little fly upon my window pane,
I'll try to help you find your way outside.
Your efforts to be free go all in vain,
Although I've opened up my window wide.
It must be Nature's law that's locked you in.
Your karma makes you land on solid glass,
For though we both may try, we cannot win.
The truth I've read in scripture comes to pass.
Does not this world confine us to a role?
What use this toil and strife for worldly gain?
Man does no more his destiny control
Than this poor fly upon my window pane.
The road to freedom lies another way:
Chant Hare Krishna, go back home, and stay.
© Umapati Swami
July 7, 2006
