Sri Krishna Chaitanya part3
Fri, 02/01/2008 - 15:44 — admin
In his teachings to Sanatan Goswami, Sri Krishna Chaitanya gave elaborate descriptions of the personal, spiritual form of the Personality of Godhead.
After hearing the brief biographical and philosophical sketches of the principle acharyas, Michael joined TEACHER’s students for lunch while TEACHER retired to his room for his own noontime meal.
As usual, the meal was simple, but flavorful. Today, however, no grains were served, and their absence on the table was conspicuous. Michael inquired from the gardener, whom he had now come to know as Steven, the reason for so light a lunch. He was informed that it was Ekadasi, a day which falls twice each month, on the eleventh day of the full moon and the eleventh day of the new moon. On these days, he learned, the influence of the moon and stars is conducive to spiritual practice. Therefore, the Vaishnavas tried to decrease their bodily activities such as eating, cooking, sleeping, etc., and utilize the resultant extra time in direct spiritual activities such as chanting, study of shastras, etc. To facilitate this, only light meals with no grains were taken, and generally, nothing at all was eaten before noon. This cut down not only on cooking and eating time, but also on sleep, as the lighter the meal, the shorter the sleep. Michael ate his fill of salad and vegetables and noticed, as Steven had stated, that although his stomach was extremely full, he felt very light due to the absence of grains and other heavy foods. After lunch, he strolled around the garden and to the back of the property, where there was a small citrus and stone-fruit orchard.
Everyone is engaged in action. The law of karma means that there are reactions to every action and that a person must endure the reactions to his actions.The Supreme Truth is a person. The effulgent, spiritual light which the impersonalists are fond of merging into, and which they assert to be the highest realization of the Absolute Truth, is simply the personal glow or the transcendental effulgence springing from the spiritual form of the Personality of Godhead. This hypothesis, that the brahmajyoti (clear light) is springing from the Personality of Godhead, is supported throughout the Vedic literatures.
Science of Identity Foundation – Siddhaswarupananda
In his teachings to Sanatan Goswami, Sri Krishna Chaitanya gave elaborate descriptions of the personal, spiritual form of the Personality of Godhead.
After hearing the brief biographical and philosophical sketches of the principle acharyas, Michael joined TEACHER’s students for lunch while TEACHER retired to his room for his own noontime meal.
As usual, the meal was simple, but flavorful. Today, however, no grains were served, and their absence on the table was conspicuous. Michael inquired from the gardener, whom he had now come to know as Steven, the reason for so light a lunch. He was informed that it was Ekadasi, a day which falls twice each month, on the eleventh day of the full moon and the eleventh day of the new moon. On these days, he learned, the influence of the moon and stars is conducive to spiritual practice. Therefore, the Vaishnavas tried to decrease their bodily activities such as eating, cooking, sleeping, etc., and utilize the resultant extra time in direct spiritual activities such as chanting, study of shastras, etc. To facilitate this, only light meals with no grains were taken, and generally, nothing at all was eaten before noon. This cut down not only on cooking and eating time, but also on sleep, as the lighter the meal, the shorter the sleep. Michael ate his fill of salad and vegetables and noticed, as Steven had stated, that although his stomach was extremely full, he felt very light due to the absence of grains and other heavy foods. After lunch, he strolled around the garden and to the back of the property, where there was a small citrus and stone-fruit orchard.