Divya Dvaita Drishti

PREETOSTU KRISHNA PRABHUH

Volume 1, Issue 1

August 2016

One will enjoy and endure the fruits of ones good and bad deeds
respectively. Invariably after death. And sometimes right here in this
life itself. Hence one should never sin.

- Madhvacharya
Today, I have brushed my teeth, cleaned my body, took bath
What have you done today to clean your soul? To purify your mind?
What have you done today to purify your thoughts?

Special Days of interest

AUG 7 NAGA PANCHAMI

AUG 14 EKADASHI

AUG 17 UPAAKARMA

AUGUST 18 HAYAGRIVA
JAYANTI

- Sri Sudhindra Teertha Swamiji of Kashi Math

AUG 20 RAGHAVENDRA
SWAMI ARADHANA

Dvaita philosophy for todays youth

AUG 24 KRISHNASTAMI

In its continued efforts to spread the great Tattvavaada of Sri Madhvacharya, Team
GSBMadhva is embarking on a new initiative of monthly e-newsletter named Divya Dvaita
Drishti. Why divya drishti? Paramashruti says :

Being born, our aim is always to get rid of the pain in the bondage of life. In His kindness,
Lord has revealed ways to achieve this goal through the infinite Vedas. Only
Sri Madhwacharya has opened the heart of Vedas for us. The teachings of Madhva are
that divya-drishti akin to the divya-drishti given to Arjuna to see His vishwarupa by Sri Krishna. All others have missed this point by limiting the scope of Vedas. This is
specifically told by Sri Madhva himself.

Inside this issue:

KRISHNASTAMI : WHY
AND HOW

NAGA PANCHAMI :
WHAT IS IT ABOUT ?

There is no Daiva like Vishnu and there is nothing more beneficial than my teachings!
This is also beautifully said by Sri Jayateertha in the opening shloka of Nyayasudha

It means that the heart of Sri Madhvacharya is the light of Vedas and Smrutis. Keeping in
sight the teachings of our Guru Sriman Madhva which are nothing but an inner eye for us to
understand the core of our life, I seek blessings and encouragements for this initiative.
Various philosophies exist before us. There are also God men with no philosophy to which our
young and old are falling prey. Unfortunately we feel that the grass is greener on the other
side of the fence without realizing that the Dvaita Philosophy by Madhvacharya provides
straight answers to every nagging challenge; Even where other schools fear to venture or attempt to get away with vague responses.
The youth cannot be blamed. The lack of connect with the current generation happens due to
the language (Sanskrit) and its terseness. These walls of lack of connect with the youth and the
wavelength mismatch needs to be torn down by presenting the scriptures and their Dvaita
interpretation in an easy to understand manner. And position Dvaita as a solution for both
worldly and spiritual success. When the walls of disconnect are torn down, one gets direct
vision (drishti) of Divya Dvaita. This newsletter will try to do exactly that. Month after Month.
In your Service
Vishnu Shanbhag (For Team GSB Madhva)

CHUDI PUJA : SOMETHING 3

TO PONDER

WHY DO WE CHANT
STOTRA

WHAT IS DHOOLBHET

A GENIUS NAMED
SUDHINDRA TEERTHA

TEN FORMULAE FOR

SPIRITUAL SUCCESS

Divya Dvaita Drishti

ALL DESIRES - BE IT WORLDLY OR

Krishnastami Vruta : Why do it?

SPIRITUAL. THEY

The biggest thing in Krishnastami for many is daL ghalche offering tulasi dala in the night
puja. The grandeur of the puja is measured by the number of daLa offered. But Krishnastami is
not just a Puja. It is a vruta by itself; from morning to next morning (approximately); which begs
a question - There are hundreds of vruta listed out there. Why is Krishnastami vruta so special?

WILL BE FULFILLED
BY OBSERVING
KRISHNASTAMI
VRUTA ALONE.

One reason lies in Krishnas statement itself. Before leaving for the eternal abode, he places
a form of his on earth to specially bless his devotees.

SPEND SOME TIME

That plus the proximity of this avatar to our times makes the Krishnastami vruta special.

TO UNDERSTAND

What makes it also special is the special importance attributed by Puranas to its observance.

KRISHNA AND HE
WONT DISAPPOINT

As we readily know, God can be known with clarity only through scriptures and not by intellect.
Such scriptures which make us aware of God also attribute the destruction of sins of several lifetimes and satiating of all dhaarmik desires with the observance of Krishnastami Vruta.

Knowingly or unknowingly we have all committed many sins. The observance of Krishnastami Vruta offers us a golden opportunity to wipe out all those sins (to a good extent, as the complete wipe out is only possible by enduring their repercussions but a good deal of shrinking of our sins is an exciting deal Dont you think?). Isnt it quite exciting that our benevolent God Krishna provides an opportunity to considerably reduce the impact of our past sins and to start afresh with a
clean slate !! But why such offer on the day of Krishnastami Vruta and not any other days?
Havent we all heard of presidential pardons issued to convicts and inmates facing death row sentence on independence
day? The head of the state issues a pardon to criminals awaiting hanging based on the current behavior on the birthday
of the nation. Then why would it be surprising that the head of the world (actually head of infinite worlds of the past present and the future) offers a pardon on his birthday?
Havent we also seen discount sales in stores and malls on various occasions whether it is anniversary sales or Diwali
sales? The prices of products are steeply discounted on those fixed days and time windows. Come other day and you
will not get any discounts. Gods assurance of pardoning (writing off) our sins or significantly reducing their impact is also
a time based discount sale on Krishnastami vruta. Do the same observance any other day and you will not get the discount.
Hence it is extremely important to do the whole vruta from morning to next morning. The weak and the sick have exemption. But all others have to mandatorily observe it. The purport of scriptural statements repeatedly stressing it, glorifying it
and damning the non-observer is to impress upon us its importance and showing that it is very beneficial to us.
While cleansing of sins is one side of the coin, the other side is about fulfilling our unsatisfied (worldly or spiritual) desires.
May it be about getting a job, getting a promotion, daughters marriage. There is no desire that Krishna leaves unfulfilled. Sometimes our strong prarabda is what might be standing on the way.
Make a resolve today to do the Krishnastami Vruta as prescribed by the scriptures and with full devotion to reap the results. Krishna promises My devotee never comes to grief. Trust Krishna. Leave everything to him and just do it.

Krishnastami Vruta - How to do it?

Krishnastami vruta involves a fasting from the dawn to the next dawn. Those not used to such fasting, the weak and sick
could consume milk and fruits and do the vruta. The basic idea is to focus the mind on Krishna the entire day and not eagerly look to finishing pooja because of fatigue. Under cases of fatigue that adversely impacts ones concentration and
puja, a small amount of fruits/milk can be consumed and get back to focusing mind on Krishna. Various activities can be
performed during the day

One can listen to Bhagavata to set the tone of the mind. Do Japa of Krishna Shadakshara Mantra.

One can chant the stotras praising the Lord such as Vishnu Sahasra Nama or Krishna Astottara Shatanama Stotra.

At night, a Tantrasarokta Puja is performed to Krishna followed by arghya at midnight. It is neither the grandeur of puja
nor the variety of naivedya nor the alankara vaibhava that deliver results. Even the offering of one tender durva grass
with absolute devotion gives the rewards unattainable by all yajnas put together. What to say of the results of your puja
with devotion? A detailed Puja manual in English by GSB Madhva team can be downloaded as PDF here:
https://sites.google.com/site/gsbmadhva/rituals/Krishnastami-Pujavidhi-V1.0.pdf
Page 2

Volume 1, Issue 1

NAGA PUJA IS

Naga Panchami : What is it about?

NOT ABOUT

Naga Dosha - These words strike terror even into the heart of a non believer. Even he will
cough up some money to do whatever puja prescribed and wash his hands off the Dosha.

STONE OR SNAKE.

So who is this Naga we worship? Majority worship out of fear than devotion. The mentality is
Better safe than sorry. And this approach stems from lack of clarity on the nature of Naga.

OF SANKARSHANA

Is it the stone or the snake (as some call it pratyaksha God) ? It is neither. It is not even the nature
as some want us to believe. Nature has been always integral part of life and divinity. But the
entity worshipped through the medium of Naga is first and foremost Sankarshana form of Vishnu.
And that Sankarshana form of Vishnu is indweller of Shesha. The stone idol is the medium to support Shesha. Shesha in turn is the medium to host his indweller Vishnu as Sankarshana.

PRESENT INSIDE

Not only Shesha, but every other devata is considered to be the entourage of Vishnu. Vishnu is
like the king. There is no point in calling a follower and independently treating him as royalty by
setting aside the king. Same principle here. Vishnu comes first through the process of avahana
(by invitation from our heart). Shesha tags along with everybody else.

WE

WORSHIP OF
IT IS THE WORSHIP
FORM OF VISHNU
SHESHA. WE NEED
TO ATLEAST
KNOW WHO ARE
WORSHIPPING

Shesha is further accompanied by his entourage - large number of Naga and Sarpa. They are spread across various levels in
gradation. Not all of them need to be worshipped. Only the 7 of them in addition to Shesha are high enough to be worthy of
worship and bless us. Together they are called Asta Kula Naga - Shesha, Vasuki, Takshaka, Karkotaka, Padma, Mahapadma,
Shankapala, Kulika. All Naga are Sarpa. But all Sarpa are not Naga. Sarpa word refers to anything that is more than four
legs or no legs.
Naga worship has vedic background unlike the popular opinion that it is totally folk based. But many of the practices that
have crept into Naga Aradhana today certainly don't have Vedic background. This Naga Panchami, pay close attention to
the Naga Puja to ensure it is according to prescribed rules and not a remnant of tribal puja. The vedic Naga Puja is not hocus
pocus. Worship of Naga with this right understanding bestows us with wealth, children, prosperity and health. The right knowledge also brings devotion rather than fear.
Shesha, being the leader of all Naga, it pays to understand him. Shesha, along with Rudra and Garuda are the controlling
force of our mind. In fact it is with the blessings of Shesha that we get interested in doing any rituals at all . Rituals are not
mindless execution of weird mantras and meaningless tantras of dimwits who are yet to grow up. It is the practical application
of spiritual knowledge acquired - much like a practical lab done after learning theory. Both go hand in hand. Shesha is the
force that connects the two by providing impetus for knowledge driven execution of the ritual.
Many have a tradition of visiting their mulanaga for worship during Naga Panchami. What is Mulanaga? Mulanaga is just
stala-kula vishista Nagaradhana. As an illustration, consider your kuladevata to be Ramanath for the moment. Even though
there is a Shiva temple near your house, you will still visit Ramnath in Goa because that particular installation of Rudra is your
kuladevata - even though he is no different than next door Shiva. Similarly, people visit the Naga belonging to the family
even though there is another spot of Naga worship closeby.
There are enough tricksters capitalizing on the inbuilt fear of Naga in peoples minds. Starting from special puja on Naga
panchami to Ashlesha Bali, Sarpa Samskara or Naga Mandala are prescribed as remedies to many problems. Mere execution by parting with some cash does not address the core issue. Pomp and show is not a consideration. Honest mindful execution with active participation backed by knowledge driven devotion is the key.

Chudi Puja - Something to Ponder

Come Shraavana and a healthy contest of beautiful chudi begins. Are my chudis neighbors' envy owners pride? Oh well!! This
is not a discussion on why or how to do Chudi puja. We will only be stating the obvious. The aim here is to draw the attention
of our ladies doing chudi puja to certain ritualistic aspects that are in apparent violation of basic tenets of Dvaita philosophy.
The worship of Tulasi in Chudi Puja seems to be done independently without considering her relation to Vishnu, or considering her as dependent on Vishnu, entourage of Vishnu or her indweller
as Vishnu. Worse, in some places flowers and naivedya offered to Tulasi is offered to Vishnu.
That is akin to feeding leftovers of Tulasi to Vishnu. While we may enjoy limelight bestowing us
larger than life status, the devatas don't. They will be displeased and wont bless the worshipper. These points need to be pondered. Watch upcoming article on Chudi puja in Daily Dose of
Dvaita - facebook.com/DvaitaDailyDose
Page 3

Divya Dvaita Drishti

Jijnasa - Question and Answer Forum
YOUVE GOT
QUESTIONS?
WEVE GOT ANSWERS
SEND YOUR QUESTIONS
TO
GSBMADHVA@GMAIL.COM

We get questions all the

time. And we knock many
doors to find answers. While
some are knocking many
doors because the right answers don't appeal to them
and want anukula shaastra,
others are honestly looking
for right answers.
We think only the latter
category deserve answers.
Right answers are based on
the solid foundation of philosophy. Right answers need
not always be logical an-

swers. Scriptures don't work

on logic. And that is elementary fact which many stumble upon and tumble.
Answers based on solid philosophical base generally
satiate even the most curious. But finding such answers
independently take a lot of
work and foundation. Fear
no more. Let us help you find
the answer based on the
foundation of Maadhva
philosophy.
The answer may or may not

convince you. But we will

strive to provide the most
correct answer.
A word of caution: Please
don't send us questions asking for parihaara, intricate
details of karmaanga or
practices that don't have
solid base in scriptures and
can only be treated as a
developed over time
practices. Two questions
from readers will serve as
guideline on the nature of
queries to send.

Benefits of chanting Stotra

Q: Does "A" God get pleased with "A" sloka
and bless a devotee if said once or over a
period of time ? How does it work ?
A: First of all, there is no God A and God B.
There may be devatas A and B. But there is only one God.
That is Vishnu. This is not a sectarian declaration of Vaishnavas but the unequivocal truth of Vedas. One only needs to
learn to look at scriptures without the colored glasses of
prejudice. And the truth becomes visible.
[At this juncture, many would raise statements like
Ekam sat viprah bahuda vadanti or
Sarva deva namaskara Keshavam pratigacchati.
We will look at the real purport of these in future issues.]
As the Vishnu Sahasranama says
Yaani naamaani Gaunani vikhyataani mahaatmanaH
It means each name in Vishnu Sahasra nama is an attribute
of the Lord. A mindless chant of stotras yields very less
results or none at all.
We sometimes think we are indeed chanting with devotion.
But as we don't know the meaning of the stotra, it is indeed
another form of mindless chant. There is little benefit derived from such chant, if not none.
It would come as a disappointment to many but many chant
Vishnu Sahasra Nama for merely satisfying our psyche and
aid in mentally ticking off our checklist Yes I have done the
chant. This doesn't serve much purpose beyond keeping the
by-hearted names fresh in mind. Remembering is necessary
but that is not all. There is more to it.
Page 4

However there is a need for starting point. Much like a kindergarten child learns A B C D without really knowing their
significance beyond the A for Apple., we do need a
starting point. That mere chant of the attribute based God's
names is the first step. Understanding the attribute of God is
next step. However we nonchalantly refuse to move on to the
next step our entire life and remain in the first step - blissfully unaware of what goodies awaits us.
Shatapatha Brahmana says
tam yathaa yathaa upasate sa tathaiva bhavati.
One becomes as he worships. When the God is prayed
through the auspicious attributes, we get those as per our
capacity over time. When he is prayed as defect free, he
removes our defects over time.
How does the transformation happen?
God does not come and do magic for us. He will instigate us
by placing appropriate thought in our mind and make us act
on it.
Even though it is the pen that writes. the pen is not called
author. The one who fills the pen with ink and writes is the
author. Similarly here we are that pen. God is the author
that gets things done through us.
When the God is prayed through his auspicious attributes,
we get those virtues as per our capacity over time. When he
is prayed as defect free, he removes our defects over time.
There is no overnight magic. Rome was not built in a day.
The change is slow. It may take years and life times for complete transformation. But just like the movement of the hour
needle in a clock, the change is sure, irreversible and not
immediately noticeable.

Volume 1, Issue 1
Spiritual meaning of Dhool Bhet at Kuladevata Temple
Q: Why do we do Dhool bhet ritual at our Kuladevata temple when
we visit Goa? What is its significance?
A: An intrinsic part and first step of all GSBs visiting kuladevata in Goa is a dhool bhet
a dusty meeting. Leaving the footwear outside, one rushes into the temple immediately upon
arrival without even washing hand or feet. It is as if we want to see the deity immediately.
Some even say it is as if the Kuladevata wants to see us ASAP !!
The kuladevatas being mostly Lakshmi, Shiva or Vishnu, see us all the time even when we are
not in Goa. At the most basic level, the ritual is seen as manifestation of excitement and
anxiety to see our beloved Kuladevata.

DHOOL BHET IS

But let us face it. Like all rituals, even this has lost all the meaning. People spend whole year
without an iota of thought of the Kuladevata. And at the end, we rush in as if a great drama
is being enacted. End result - Inner premise of temple needs extra cleaning !! We think all
the Ramanath, Kamakshi, Malshi, Mangesh, Nagesh, Narasimhu and Dam Babs (Damodars
nick name) of the world will be pleased with this mere act.

NOT ABOUT DUST

But the golden rule of Upanishat holds

WE ARE THAT

yadeva vidyaya karoti shraddhaya upanishada, tadeva veeryavattaram bhavati

SPECK OF DUST.

Whatever task done, yields results when the act is executed by knowing, conviction and of
course backed by the thought of the highest secret tattva behind it all.

THIS THOUGHT

Let us look at that real and higher anusandhana behind dhoolbhet. But first a misconception
has to be cleared. This tradition is not unique to GSBs.

THE EGO AND

In the song Elu Narayanane, Purandaradasa says

dasarellaru bandu dhooli darshana kondu. The dhoolidarshana talked about here is the same dhool bhet. And Purandaradasa was no GSB. Also note that the song mentions
dasarellaru. It means all Dasas including Brahma Rudra
etc. Those aparokshi who see Vishnu all the time in their
heart need not run to see him outside their own heart. That
too with their dusty feet. This gives indication that the idea
behind dhool bhet is much higher and concerns our inner
realms.
The dhool bhet is less about our dusty feet and more about
the dust in Vishnus feet. When and how did Vishnu get dust
on his feet? Is he relying on water to clean them? Towards
this the Rigvedic hymn says
idam viShNurvi chakramE trEdhA nidadhe padam |
samoolhamasya pAmsurE |
The pAmsu talked about here is the dust on Vishnus feet.
The dust on Vishnus feet shines bright. Vishnu, the one whose
stride pervades and exists beyond in 3 ways.
This is the literal meaning of this Rik. Sayana, the celebrated
Vedic commentator says in his commentary for this Vishnu
sukta that that the entire world got embedded in Vishnus
dusty feet . But the curious instance of Vishnus dusty feet is

IN OUR FEET. IT IS
ABOUT DUST IN
LORDS FEET. AND

HELPS TO DESTROY
DEVELOP HUMILITY

today and tomorrow - all looking like speck of dusts particles in Vishnus feet.
Additionally the abhimani devatas of those dust particles
also shine brightly at the feet of Vishnu and are tiny like a
speck of dust compared to him. The three ways pervasion
talked about is the Desha, Kala and guna vyapti of Vishnu.
The kala vyaapti makes us consider the universes of all 3
times existing at his feet like infinitesimal dust. And thus
speaks of the glory of Vishnu. And also tells about the infinitesimally lower nature of other devatas compared to him.
We need to apply this anusandhana while doing dhool bhet
to Kuladevata temples. This works very well to Vishnu Kuladevatas. What about Lakshmi and Rudra for instance? In
those case, we still have two options
1. To think of ourselves as a speck of dust at the feet of
those respective devatas for e.g. at the feet of Rudra.
(Remember that the order of gradation increasing/
decreasing is exponential). And such Rudra himself is a
speck of dust at the feet of Vishnu.
2. Such Vishnu at whose feet everything is as negligible as
dust is the indweller of Lakshmi, Rudra and everybody else.
Without Vishnu even such dusty speck devatas wont exist.
What more can be said about us?
Dasa Dasara maneya Dasaanudasanayya

interpreted by Madhvacharya as the worlds - of yesterday,

Page 5

Divya Dvaita Drishti

A Genius Named Sudhindra Teertha
"A Genius Named Srimad Sudhindra Tirtha" is a book containing commentaries of stotras
composed by Sri Sudhindra Tirtha Swamiji. In addition, it also contains commentaries on certain rare works of earlier seers of Sri Kashi Math Samsthan namely Sri Vibhudendra Tirtha
Swamiji and Sri Varadendra Tirtha Swamiji.
As our scriptures say, the greatest means of worship in Kaliyuga is "Hari Nama Smarana"which means mentally meditating upon Lord's name, his infinite attributes and qualities. In
Kaliyuga "Hari Nama Smarana" is regarded as superior to all other forms of yajnas for two
reasons - First is it is comparatively easy to do and second other yajnas wont be performed
with right knowledge and perfection anyway.

NOT ONLY THE

STOTRAS ARE
TRANSLATED TO
ENGLISH, BUT
ILLUSTRATION BY
MEANS OF
REFERENCES TO
MAHABHARATA ETC.
ARE PROVIDED.
TENETS OF DVAITA
IN THE STOTRAS ARE
LUCIDLY UNRAVELED.
A MUST READ BOOK

Our beloved Swamiji has also composed over 30 stotras to help devotees to do "Hari
Nama Smarana" i.e. to really understand the Lord rather than mechanical recitation. The
number of verses composed by Sri Sudhindra Tirtha is whopping 500 ! Nearly 350 of these
are composed using the popular Anushtup Chandas, while Tristup Chandas is used in around
50 verses.
Sri Girish Prabhu in this book has not only translated the stotras into English, but has also
pointed out the references to incidents from Mahabharata, Ramayana, Bhagavata and
other puranas and Vedic scriptures. The author also dissects the stotras and brings out the
hidden gems in the form of tenets of Dvaita philosophy of Sri Madhvacharya spread across
these works.
The very reason why I am writing this review is because this book has increased my devotion
to Lord and Swamiji a thousand fold. Though I have been hearing and singing these stotras
since my childhood, only after a going through this book I could understand the deep rooted
meanings and philosophy behind. This book has in fact encouraged me to recite these stotras regularly and thus gain more devotion and knowledge..
As a reader who has benefitted immensely by this book, I assure that this book will certainly
help the reader to intensify individual spiritual sadhana.

The author has also made an educated guess in advance of the possible doubts that may arise in the minds of readers and
addressed them beautifully. For example, I used to always wonder the need for Suprabhata Stotras in which ask for Lord to
wake up, when we know that Lord never sleeps as we do.
To my surprise, the author in his commentary on "Sri Badarayana Suprabhatam" has beautifully explained that the purport of
trying to wake him up is only to recall His qualities like motivating, instigating (preraNaa) and waking up all the individuals to
do their respective activities. There are several other instances in the book where the author answers such possible questions
that may arise in readers minds.

Rohith Shenoy, author of the above article, is a dashing software engineer working at a leading software firm. He is interested and inquisitive about spirituality. A letter to Sri Sudhindra Teertha changed
his outlook of spiritual vision.

What is Bhakti?
Bhakti or devotion is a misunderstood term. Simply put, it is Love of the Lord. But we cannot love the Lord without knowing him.
Love at first sight? What are you appreciating in Lord at the first sight? His beauty? His body? His ornaments? Do you know
what makes his form, body and ornaments? Do you know his attributes to understand him better and love him mentally? If not,
it cannot be called Bhakti or Love. It is infatuation at best. Infatuation wears off. Real Bhakti does not.
Do you know that Lord is pleased when one understands him through his attributes and loves him more and is thankful ever by
the very knowledge of Love of the Lord. Do we know Lord remembers all of infinite souls every moment even though we are
ungrateful and forgetful every once in a while. Bhakti is that expression of the love and respect for the Lord born out of understanding him through scriptures as he is and realizing his greatness and loving him more than everything else.
Page 6

Volume 1, Issue 1
10 point formula for Spiritual Success
1. Be Grateful: Who should we be the most grateful to? We love our parents, family etc. But who gave us these? It is God!!
How much do we thank Him when we see the Sun, moon, water, air, trees, unimaginably vast number of creatures and the entire cosmos? Can anyone else gift us a more glorious mansion than this world? It is only God who does this. And any amount of
gratitude we show to Him is too less. So the best thing we can do is Love Him unconditionally.
2.Start reading: To love Him we should know Him first. We love money because we know its importance. To love God we
should know His importance, and to know it we should study the scriptures. Can't we spare that much time for Him who doesn't
mind being with us for eternity? Think of this & start reading scriptures like Gita, Bhagavat etc. at least for half an hour a day!
3. Obey his Instructions: We are liable to God. When we obey a miserable boss, just because our pockets get filled every
month, how can we disobey the instructions of God to do Sandhyavandan, Puja etc. to whom we owe our very existence.
4. Sacrifice for him: Love is just a word until there is sacrifice associated with it. Unless we sacrifice at least an hour a day for
God, doing Sandhyavadan etc. and sacrifice some of our food habits and lifestyles that don't help us in pleasing God, we
don't really love Him, and are not doing any justice to ourselves and the persons who brought us to the world, because being
ungrateful is the biggest sin.
5.Praise him: God has this habit of not keeping for Himself anything that you offer to Him. You offer love, He loves you back
more. You thank Him, and He gives you more reasons to Thank. You praise Him through stotras, He makes thousands of people
praise you.
6.Do Service:God is the king and we His subjects. Aren't we to pay our taxes to Him then? Yes we should and that is through
service. Serve people around you. Make them happy, always be ready to help others, and the tax is paid!!
7. Put Effort: Seek God, struggle to find Him, see Him everywhere, in you, in others, in the sun, the moon and so on. Shed tears
for Him, abstain from food for Him, like a child not eating unless its mother comes. Anyhow we have days like Ekadashi and
Janmashtami to this.
8. Catchem Young: Parents have another obligation to be overcome. God has blessed them with a child and what should
they do? Inject spiritual thoughts into the child, as compulsorily as you inject them with vaccines. Vaccines might give immunity
against a few diseases, but spirituality makes the child immune to the harsh facts of life. Don't worry, it doesn't make your child
a sanyasi, it would only make him/her a great human being and a person who can not only 'achieve' success in life but also
'handle' it properly.
9.24x7 Remembrance: Make it a habit to chant the names of God, whenever and wherever you are, not a problem if it can't
b done aloud. God can listen to the whispers of the heart!
10.Be Humble. Use life wisely: The worst form of ego is forgetting that we are dependent on God. Cut it down. Bow in reverence to the Guru parampara. Remember that being born as a Vaishnava, that too a follower of Sri Madhwacharya is not
an offer we get every time. Use it to the best.
Gururaj Bhandarkar, author of the above article, is an engineering student at Maharaja Institute of Technology,
Mysore. He is from Mysore. He is very knowledgeable about Madhva philosophy. He wrote his first book on
Madhva philosophy while in 10th standard and when most of his friends were into games.

Which Gita to read?

All of us are familiar with Gita. Interpretations of Gita are many. Many claim their interpretation is the correct one. We even
have diametrically opposite interpretation of Gita. Which of these are correct? How to judge and who is the judge? Why did
Krishna speak with such ambiguity allowing many interpretations to be derived out of it? Was it Krishnas intention to tell us all
of those views are correct. Definitely not. Krishna himself says at one point - The knowledge of God in all scriptures is uniform. Those who don't think it through will get different ideas [Vyavasaayatmika buddhihi ekeha kurunandana |.. Gita 2.41]
We are a brand conscious generation. We care a lot about the brand of the toothpaste we use, the deodorant we apply and
heck! Even the shoe polish. But we don't give a damn about the brand of Gita to read. We pick the cheapest one from the
bookshelf. As if a shady cook picks the rotten tomatoes for a deep discount. If the goal matters, then the road matters! Which
Gita to read? Watch this space in future issues.
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PREETOSTU KRISHNA PRABHUH

Bhat maam: Itte Kinimaam, aaji bhaari khush jaavnu assa?

Kini maam:

Aaji officeak raja vo bhat maam, matte khavche Kaam na. aarameri gharkade baische

Bhat maam: Oh, kaam na aaji; ani kassan kelle sakaaN dakkunu?
Kini maam:

Sakaani marketak gello, Javka jallele saamaanu ghevnu aiylo;

Jevan jalle uparaant gardenantu uddak solle, chattentu matti anik saare ghalle, taN kalle;
gharche edraak tODu sam kello

Bhat maam: Office antu duDDu dilleri tumka 8 ghanTo kaam koruk tumka khushi naa.
Gharkade salary natleri khushini kaam kelle tummi

Nishkaama (no salary) karma gives you more happiness than the sakaama (salaried) karma

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Dime a Dozen Meditation Techniques