Hi all. I was feeling the need to day to be more on TTV, as a way to be more connected to all of you and to Guru Maharaja. I have been spending a good deal of time writing blogs on Krishna.com and answering questions there.
We had our weekly call today, and it was as always very uplifting and thought provoking. There were 3 questions that were asked and answered:
Maharha dd asked about if Krishna ever married the gopis as he promised to do after stealing their clothes;
Sumati asked about a story she heard regarding Lokanatha M and his disciple Narottama ---they were both chanting japa in Vrindavana, and during that chanting a farmer came and asked for water, Lokanatha kept chanting, while Narottama stopped chanting to attend to the farmer and then returned to his chanting. After chanting Lokanatha informed Narottama that he was unfit to be in Vrindavana since he interrupted his real service to attend to the needs of someone elses service.
And finally I asked a question about the nature of questions and what their arising in our mind says about our spiritual advancement, or not. I mentioned a quote that "The quality of our life depends on the quality of the questions we ask.", and the experience of a friend who years ago never had many questions, but today can hardly read a few paragraphs without questions arising. I am genuinely interested in the topic of questions and answers, since all the scriptures are full of them and some of my godbrothers and sister don't seem to have them. For my wife and I Swami has come into our life at least partially due to the questions which were arising in our hearts, and that weren't being answered from the ordinary channels. So in our mind Krishna sent Swami to help us. I didn't mention it, but during Swami's answer to me, I thought of how Shridhar M.s disciples were surprised at the things he said in relationship to the necessity of Prabhupada's disciples. Their necessity opened a whole new portal or floodgate of topics they hadn't heard before since they didn't have such questions. I was also thinking to encourage devotees to ask their questions on the call, though I don't know if that happened. Perhaps TT satisfies that need for discussion.
You can hear a replay of this call by calling 24/7 (till the next call is recorded) at: 641/715-3429 and then giving the access code of 606050 #.
I am writing this to pique your interest. I am hoping that whoever moderates the call may post a little summary of the questions, and that perhaps there might be a discussion of how you were affected by Swami's words--what they meant to you etc. I don't know if there is an interest in this idea, and am seeing here if there is.
aspiring to be dasanudas Karnamrita
Didn’t know about these calls, thank you!
What interesting questions!
The answers from the calls are not posted here in a written form?
Nice to see you emerge Karnamrta Prabhu, I was almost gonna write you!
And that was a great idea you've had. I wanted to start something like this myself, but I have been missing on the past couple of calls, one of the reasons being that the quality of the voice is a little trembling and sometimes disturbed.
Anyway, today I had some runnings to do, and thanks to my phone earpiece I could listen to the whole thing, although not understand some of it.
What kind of questions did GM say he prefers?
Didn’t know about these calls, thank you!What interesting questions!
The answers from the calls are not posted here in a written form?
Hi Yamuna---don't think I have met you, though I see you are quite active here.
If we had a transcriber that would be possible, but no not yet. You would have to listen to the calls. Although GM said he is not so much into books of transcribed lectures, I wonder if it would be acceptable to have some transcribed for the devotees in either some type of online newsletter or one in actually printed form. I am regularly listening to his CD's repeatedly, and still very little sticks and I would love to have them in print so I could refer to them. Before I worked I took a lot of notes on his talks, but not I don't have the time. A number of gurus I know have their talks transcribed and it is a real boon.
Anyway for now we can listen to the calls and discuss.
Nice to see you emerge Karnamrta Prabhu, I was almost gonna write you!
And that was a great idea you've had. I wanted to start something like this myself, but I have been missing on the past couple of calls, one of the reasons being that the quality of the voice is a little trembling and sometimes disturbed.
Anyway, today I had some runnings to do, and thanks to my phone earpiece I could listen to the whole thing, although not understand some of it.
What kind of questions did GM say he prefers?
Hari Bol Syam! He said heikes questions based on our reading and thinking of the philosophy. He mentioned he gets personal growth and psychological questions but does feel these are in his area of expertise and that these might be better served by a therapist like my wife or Madan Gopal etc.
By listening regularly to the calls you get a sense of what really inspires GM if I can say it like that. It seems when we have a real burning question that needs to answered to help us practice our sadhana or remain a devotee---or a doubt we are dealing with, that he really takes off on those questions. He mentioned that too, that it is not just idle curiosity questions, but those that have relevance to our spiritual life. He mentioned that quote many of us have heard from Shridhar M. something like he was not an information dispenser.
I really wish we could have a place online to put the files. Madan Gopal is downloading the talks. Anyway each call says on the call line till the next one is recorded.
I really wish we could have a place online to put the files. Madan Gopal is downloading the talks.
Is it possible to download the call? Or other previous calls?
English is not my native language and my listening comprehension skills are less than my reading skills. So a record which I can stop and return and listen to again is much better for me than an irreversible call listening.
I heard in the question of Maharha dd, that she read somewhere that Krishna kept his promise to marry Radharani. Any idea where is this - Krishna keeping his promise to marry Radharani? Also was he ever giving her such a promise and where? Any scriptural reference?
Regarding her question if Krishna ever married the gopis as he promised to do after stealing their clothes, I’ve heard a commentary that he did in the way of expanding into the forms of gopals which were kidnapped by Brahma and kept into a cave for an entire year. This commentary explains that these gopies, whose clothes he stole and to whom he promised he'll please their desire to be their husband, that they had married (or were married for) exactly those gopals, into the forms of which Krishna expanded for this compete one year when they stayed in the cave. In this way he married them and pleased their desire to have him as their husband.
Cannot point from where I've heard or read this commentary, sorry.
Is it possible to download the call? Or other previous calls?English is not my native language and my listening comprehension skills are less than my reading skills. So a record which I can stop and return and listen to again is much better for me than an irreversible call listening.
You can ask Madan Gopal, a frequent visitor here. He regularly down loads the call and perhaps could send you the file. On the playback number you can rewind and fast forward 30 seconds, so that might help.
Is it possible to download the call? Or other previous calls?
You can download the most recent call here. Previous calls are not available at that site. I have previous calls, but not sure how to best make them available... I think the idea is to eventually make them available for download maybe through a swami.org download site or something...
You can download the most recent call here. Previous calls are not available at that site. I have previous calls, but not sure how to best make them available... I think the idea is to eventually make them available for download maybe through a swami.org download site or something...
A very good idea Madan! Anyone out there interested in creating a page?
If we had a transcriber that would be possible, but no not yet.
I tried to do this seva but my English is far from being perfect. I`ve done two transciptions but a person is needed to read and correct them. And the problem is that this person would need to have access to the talks because sending long mp3 by e-mail is very complicated.
I tried to do this seva but my English is far from being perfect. I`ve done two transciptions but a person is needed to read and correct them. And the problem is that this person would need to have access to the talks because sending long mp3 by e-mail is very complicated.
I may be able to help
I may be able to help
Oh, great! Is the e-mail from your profile still actual? If yes, I will send you my transcriptions immediately.