suddhabhakti

  King Rukmangada’s Ekadashi Vrata!   🔆🔆🔆🔆🔆🔆🔆🔆🔆🔆🔆🔆🔆🔆   King Rukmangada, his wife Sandhyavali and son Dharmangada were devotees of Lord Vishnu. Every fortnight, the king undertook the Ekadasi Vrata also known as Hari Vrata. On all the three days: the day prior to Ekadasi, on the day of Ekadashi and the day after Ekadashi, he undertook fasting and praying. Not only did Rukmangada very religiously and ardently follow all the vows of the Ekadashi Vrata, but he even persuaded his subjects to undertake the Ekadashi Vrata. “Yatha Raja thatha praja”: all his subjects religiously followed the king on the path of dharma and religion. The Lord decided to test the steadfastness and devotion of Rukmangada. Accordingly, Brahma created a beautiful damsel, Mohini by name and sent her to Rukmangada’s kingdom. One day, when Rukmangada was enjoying himself in his beautiful royal garden, he heard someone singing. He followed the beautiful melodious voice. And there in fro...

Why Sankara established  Mayavada  or  Advaita vad Philosophy? 🔆🔆🔆🔆🔆🔆🔆🔆🔆🔆🔆🔆🔆🔆 Siva spoke to Parvati as follows: mayavadam asac-chastram pracchannah baudham ucyate mayaiva kalpitam devi kalau brahmana-rupina O Goddess, in the age of Kali I shall descend in the form of a brahmana to spread this Mayavada philosophy which is actually covered Buddhism. (Padma Purana)  Supreme Lord ordered Siva in this way: svagamaih kalpitais tvam ca janan mad-vimukhan kuru mam ca gopaya yena syat srstir esottarottara Make the general public averse to Me by some imaginary hypothesis from you. Also camouflage me, so that the public will be deluded gradually by desire for material advancement. (Padma Purana) Also, in the Varaha Purana Lord Visnu instructs Siva saying: esa moham srjamy asu yo janan mohayisyati tvam ca rudra maha-baho moha-sastrani karaya O mighty-armed Siva, please write books filled with lies, and thus bewilder the people. atathyani vitathyani darsayasva maha-...

  The Four Sampradayas (The Main Chains of Disciplic Succession)             There are four main sampradayas, or chains of disciplic succession descending down through the important acharyas, or spiritual preceptors. These are also the main schools of thought in the Vedic tradition. Thus, anyone should belong or be a part of one of these sampradayas if they are going to be considered authorized in their Vedic teachings or practice. These sampradayas are the following:  1. Sri sampradaya, where the main exponent is Ramanujacharya (who lived in 12th century, born in 1016), propagated the doctrine called visista advaita, or oneness with varieties of the Lord and His energies. This is said to have originated from Sri or Goddess Lakshmi. 2. Brahma sampradaya, where the main exponent is Madhvacharya (who lived in 13th century, born in 1238), propagated the doctrine called visista dvaita, or duality with varieties. This is said to have originated from Lo...

  There is a qualitative difference between Deity worship and Idol worship as Śrīla Prabhupāda explains below… Woman guest (2): Could you… Do you think you could explain to me about the Deities and how it’s different from idol worship? Because no one has been able to explain that to my understanding. Prabhupāda: Idol means your imagination. And Deity is not imaginary. Deity is installed by the authorized person and it is worshiped according to authorized methods. So it is not idol. Idol worship, you imagine something and, some doll or idol, and do in your own way, that is idol worship. Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: She’s saying but it’s manufactured, it’s made, graven. Prabhupāda: That doesn’t matter. But it is made according to the Vedic principles. Just like in the Vedas, Kṛṣṇa’s form is described, veṇuṁ kvaṇantam aravinda-dalāyatākṣaṁ [Bs. 5.30]. Kṛṣṇa is playing on His flute, veṇuṁ kvaṇantam. His eyes are like the petals of the lotus flower. So if you follow the description, then it is coming f...