Gita Jayanti - Birthday of the Bhagavad Gita

 2nd December marks 2014's Gita Jayanti, the birthday of the Bhagavad Gita - perhaps Hinduism's most holy and revered scripture, and one of the world's most renowned spiritual writings. In a modern world that is filled with 'experts', the Bhagavad Gita has been a constant of 'tried and true' inspiration and guidance for spiritual seekers of all types and backgrounds.

So the Bhagavad Gita is more than a book of wisdom; it's almost like it contains a life of its own, which is full of spiritual messages, power and positive energy. A concretization of higher ideals and aspirations, the Bhagavad Gita represents various positive spiritual qualities like the effort, the unity and the love behind the actions of a sincere spiritual person.

When I personally discovered the Bhagavad Gita (more on that on another post), I was just a hardcore kid trying to make his way and learn how to live a more positive life. I needed to make a change in my life, and the Bhagavad Gita (not just the book but the noble ideal that it represents) came to instill the spirit of change and open the portal for me to be a seeker of the truth. For that, I am most grateful.

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check: www.asitis.com

This is Srila Prabhpada's version of the Bhagavad Gita. If you are someone into Krishna Consciousness, or if you like Krishnacore, you should do your best and try to find this book. It might be a big change in your life. It might challenge many of the things you know and believe, but it can be of great benefit. Prabhupada sometimes sounds a bit dogmatic, but we shouled think of him as a teacher who needs to be strict with his students who are full or ignorance, and who needs to be direct so that his advice will be clearly understood.

"When the Lord Becomes Angry"

From Krishna.org, link: http://krishna.org/sudarsana/a038.html 

A great little article that showcases a supreme example of divine anger. This story should be familiar to people in hardcore, since it is depicted on Cro Mags' 'Best Wishes' iconic album cover.

 There was a great demon called Hiranyakasipu, he was so powerful that he was able to control practically all the planets in the universe. There were only a few people in the universe who could escape the rule of Hiranyakasipu. 

Everyone else, even some of the great devotees were forced to serve him because he was so powerful. So how did he get this power? He got it by following the Vedic process of performing austerities.

He went to a place called Mandara Hill which is a sacred place, a holy place, and he performed very great austerities there for many thousands of years. He was standing there, meditating, and his austerities were so powerful that, as he was there for such a long time, some ants built their ant-hill around his body and ate all of his flesh. Even though all his flesh was gone he kept his life within the bones of his body only. So this is amazing. He was performing such great austerities, so much so that ultimately, as a result of his austerity, an immense heat emanated from his body. 

Because of this heat even the heavenly planets became unbearable to live on. So all the residents of the heavenly planets, The demigods, approached Lord Brahma and asked him to do something about Hiranyakasipu. They told Brahma Hiranyakasipu's austerity was making the whole universe intolerable for them. Here is another point. We think on such a small scale. We think if somebody drops an atomic bomb on Australia, that will make it very uncomfortable but here we see Hiranyakasipu had become so powerful he is able to make the whole universe uncomfortable. So what is our tiny atomic bomb? 

We're so proud, we've made these huge atomic bombs that can wipe out one country or even the whole planet but what's this whole planet? When we look in the sky there are so many planets. What is our insignificant atomic bomb? It's nothing. Hiranyakasipu, by dint of his powerful austerities, was able to make the whole universe uncomfortable. What to speak of one tiny planet. 

So all the demigods came to Lord Brahma and prayed to him, "Please do something about Hiranyakasipu because it's unbearable for us. What can we do?" After Lord Brahma received this request he thought, "Well I have to do something, because Hiranyakasipu is my devotee." 

The demons don't worship Krishna, they worship the demigods because they know that by worshiping the demigods they can become powerful within the material world. Whereas the devotees worship Krishna, they are not interested in becoming powerful in the material world, they are not interested in anything except trying to please Krishna. Devotees have no desire other than the service of Krishna. We have to please Krishna. Devotees are not interested in anything within this material world. But the demons are totally consumed by the desire for power, fame, strength, wealth and opulence within the material world. So they worship the demigods. 

So Hiranyakasipu was worshiping Lord Brahma to become very powerful. Therefore Lord Brahma saw Hiranyakasipu had performed all these austerities to please him so he had to go there and give him some benedictions because this is the process for the demigod worshippers. It's very different from the devotees of Krishna. The demigod worshippers are materialists who worship for some gain. They understand, "If I worship Lord Brahma in a certain way and perform certain austerities then Lord Brahma will become obliged to give me some benediction." This is the mentality of the demigod worshippers. There is no love. They don't love the demigod they are worshiping, it's a business transaction. They are approaching the demigod and undergoing some penance and austerity and performing some ritualistic ceremonies with the object of getting something in return. The devotees of Krishna, on the other hand, don't want anything.

Anger can be controlled

I decided to make this the 1st post, since anger and hardcore obviously go hand in hand. We all came here, to this music, after being frustrated and filled with anger for so long. For many of us, the anger and frustration still remain. But we are here to fight and give it our best shot. Krishna Consciousness and spirituality can be of great help in understanding our place on Earth and helping us cope with the world, or even become better people before we live this illusion.