Mr. dasa, gaudiya discussions member Options

[babu]

his bio and posts very nicely present the softer side of acbs that many seem to have tossed with his hard side... my own theory on bs is that the Impersonal Lord in wanting to deliver the world unto voidism understands that most of us are deluded by personalism due to when we look at ourselves and others, there is the illusion that we are people and so the Lord in order to get people on the theistic path, sends a teacher who teaches personalism with the idea being that another teacher will round out the inconsistencies of the belief system and return them to the Light

http://www.gaudiyadiscussions.com/index.php?showuser=615

Biography 1950: Born to the Personal Secretary of the Ambassador to the United Nations from India. The Ambassadors name was Krishna Menon. My mother said she used to say the name Krishna all day long for the first few months of her pregnancy with me.
1965: I wake up one day with this overwhelming feeling in my heart that there is a God. I spend the entire day telling everyone that that there is a God and we should love him. I actually feel something in my heart which I describe to everyone as love for God. Some people think I am crazy; some appreciate what I have to say. I don't care what they think I am talking to everyone friends, family, strangers, everyone. After listening to me for an hour my mother says this is a great gift to her, (She is very religious) the day before her wedding anniversary. My parents wedding Anniversary is September 18. The day before when I had this experience was September 17, 1965 the day Srila Prabhupada arrived in America.
1966: I receive books by Edgar Caycee on reincarnation and clairvoyance. I believe!
1969: I start chanting Hare Krishna Maha Mantra with the Hair Album on a regular basis while voraciously reading everything, Hesse, Watts, Maharishi, “Book of the Dead”, etc. George and John are big influence in the chanting.
Earth Day 1970: I meet the devotees and move right into 61 Second Avenue temple in New York.
Early 1971: I have two dreams two nights in a row. The first is a dream of Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur giving me a set of Japa beads and telling me that he is giving me the most valuable jewels. I vividly remember this dream to this day what the room looked like and what the area outside the house looked like when I left, more on this later. Second night I am falling through the universe and approaching the planet earth. While I am falling I am hearing a divine voice chant the Gopal Mantra.
1971: I won't get initiated by mail I wait to meet Srila Prabhupada first and get initiated in person. I get Hari Nam initiation from Him on the same day which is what I wanted.
January 1972: I alone get Diksha in a very private and personal inition fron Srila Prabhupada in Nairobi, Afirca on the appearance day of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura.
1974: I get a lot of personal association of Srila Prabhupada in Mayapur, Vrndavan and Bombay throughout the year. I see the house of Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur in Godruma when I enter I realize this is the room I saw in the dream three years earlier. In Vrindavan I am with Srila Prabhupada in His room thinking about this and if I should ask Him. Suddenly He turns to me and says "You and I have associated in the past and we are associating now and in the future". I had the answer to my question.
1975: More association with Srila Prabhupada in Bombay and in Mayapur. I receive my first order to go to Orissa and preach with Gour Gopal, later to be known as Srila Gour Govinda Maharaja. I fail miserably the first time leave and Srila Prabhupada does not give up on me he makes me president of Calcutta Temple.
1977: I organize the Festival site at Kumbha Mela in Allahabad for ISKCON I make a lot of mistakes. For the first time in our relationship Srila Prabhupada chastises me. I am at first frightened and then angry and then joyful as I realize I am finally getting the real mercy. I go to Bhubaneshwar where Srila Prabhupada is staying for fourteen days. I am ordered again to stay and preach in Orissa with Srila Gour Govinda Maharaja. I stay my life is transformed living intimately in the middle of the jungle in a mud hut with a MahaBhagavat. Srila Prabhupada Departs I spend a lot of time with Him in Vrndavan and witness the deep relationship between Him and Srila Narayana Maharaja. I am by His side when He leaves I witness the transcendental display of ecstatic symptoms just before His Departure.
1978: The ISKCON power struggle begins. I meet Lalita Prasada Thakura and he tells me the glories of Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur. He also glorifies Srila Prabhupada saying He believes that Srila Prabhupada fulfilled the prophecy of Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur.
1979: In Mayapur I witness Srila Gour Govinda Maharaja display many of the ecstatic symptoms that I saw Srila Prabhupada display. I bring Krsna Das Babaji into the room to confirm or deny the symptoms. He assures me it is Bhava ecstatic love of God. I am Thunderstruck I now for the first time really realize who I have been living with for over two years. The GBC dismiss it. I become angry which starts a long political struggle between me and the GBC I nearly start a revolution which ends up in my being threatened with bodily harm if I do not leave Orissa and Srila Gour Govinda Maharaja's association. I do not want to cause Srila Gour Govinda Maharaja any trouble I leave.

There is a lot in between then and now but I am presently a varnaprastha living with my son and I am preparing for sannyasa ashram. I am trying to increase my hearing and chanting and puja. I read study and write on a daily basis. I like to hear from realized souls and although I am full of the four defects and no where near that position my self I believe based on Guru, Shastra and Sadhu that there are many pure Vaishnavas in the Gaudiya Vaishnava lineage coming from Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and that no institution or single person has a corner on the market. However, I have accepted a shiksha guru and I am faithful to him and his instructions which have helped me enormously. The name my Srila Prabhupada gave me is Bhagavat Das.

I remain your worthless servant
DASA

[0Stribor0]

I knew Bhagavat and his wife.They have cool veggie recipes.

[babu]

I knew Bhagavat and his wife.They have cool veggie recipes.

is his self esteem really that low? he thinks of himself as a worthless servant but i think he has a heart of gold

[Kalisurfer]

is his self esteem really that low?  he thinks of himself as a worthless servant but i think he has a heart of gold

The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently.
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844 - 1900), The Dawn, Sec. 297

That which we obtain too easily, we esteem too lightly.
Unknown

[0DASA0]

I originally looked at this site and thought that I did not belong here or to be frank that I even wanted to be here. I am just being honest here thats all. However, I saw a post one day by BABU about Mr. Dasa so I thought I would take a look at the post and found it was, as I suspected, a post about me including my biography. I am flattered but concerned. I am characterized as someone without self esteem. Now I have put some considerable thought into this in the past, that is as Swami Beyondananda says "taking an esteem bath". Since I am primarily dominated by Pitta Dosha, which is primarily consisting of the element of fire, too much esteem goes to my head and makes me hot headed giving me a swelled head so generally I try to avoid it whenever I can. However I would like to say as an Ayurvedic Practitioner that in my studies of ayurvedic psycology and freudian psycology I have found some interesting parralells and I wrote a brief paper about it which I have delivered to academicians in several conferences. The paper was greatly appreciated by all western and eastern practitioners. I would like to give you all a brief insight into this paper by posing a question to BABU and the gang here if I may about the subject of self esteem.

Which SELF should I esteem BABU? The body? The mind? The intelligence? The physical brain? The Heart? The emotions? The Soul? The body, mind, spirit complex? The self as defined by western or eastern psycology? Or the self of the vedas? The self of the Bible? The self of Freud? The self of Nietzsche? Which self should I esteem BABU? Do you know for sure what the self is and the process for taking an esteem bath or are you just guessing?

Anyone want to venture an answer here by defining the self and the process for esteeming it? Come on now don't be shy I have been looking at this site long enough now to know you guys can speak your mind when you want to. If however you are having trouble you could do some Mexican yoga to loosen you up a bit and relax you. That posture is depicted in my posting on this forum.

I will sit back and watch the replies this should be FUN!

Your Worthless Servant
DASA

[metamorphosis]

Anyone want to venture an answer here by defining the self and the process for esteeming it? Your Worthless Servant
DASA

self-es·teem (sĕlf'ĭ-stēm')
n.
Pride in oneself; self-respect.


The self is the consciousness within, i have been told that it hangs' in the Heart. My master, babu, tells me that you have a "Heart of Gold". So your self esteem should be worth quite a lot, since we live on the Gold Standard.

[metamorphosis]

cool answer here, from Damodara Prabhu, Prabhupada's disciple from almost 40 years ago

[babu]

I am characterized as someone without self esteem.

i was trying to be true to your own words as you consider yourself a "worthless servant"

so i guess the question you are raising is that being a worthless servant is not synomynous with low self esteem?

i think the value of a low self esteem is self esteem could possibly have a lot to do with ego and so with lots of self esteem, one could be putting lots of filter on the spirit that shining in our hearts

as for self or true self, there is only one for me and that's of the heart... its love man, can yah feel it?

[Homer]

I originally looked at this site and thought that I did not belong here or to be frank that I even wanted to be here. I am just being honest here thats all. However, I saw a post one day by BABU about Mr. Dasa so I thought I would take a look at the post and found it was, as I suspected, a post about me including my biography. I am flattered but concerned. I am characterized as someone without self esteem. Now I have put some considerable thought into this in the past, that is as Swami Beyondananda says "taking an esteem bath". Since I am primarily dominated by Pitta Dosha, which is primarily consisting of the element of fire, too much esteem goes to my head and makes me hot headed giving me a swelled head so generally I try to avoid it whenever I can. However I would like to say as an Ayurvedic Practitioner that in my studies of ayurvedic psycology and freudian psycology I have found some interesting parralells and I wrote a brief paper about it which I have delivered to academicians in several conferences. The paper was greatly appreciated by all western and eastern practitioners. I would like to give you all a brief insight into this paper by posing a question to BABU and the gang here if I may about the subject of self esteem.

Which SELF should I esteem BABU? The body? The mind? The intelligence? The physical brain? The Heart? The emotions? The Soul? The body, mind, spirit complex? The self as defined by western or eastern psycology? Or the self of the vedas? The self of the Bible? The self of Freud? The self of Nietzsche? Which self should I esteem BABU? Do you know for sure what the self is and the process for taking an esteem bath or are you just guessing?

Anyone want to venture an answer here by defining the self and the process for esteeming it? Come on now don't be shy I have been looking at this site long enough now to know you guys can speak your mind when you want to. If however you are having trouble you could do some Mexican yoga to loosen you up a bit and relax you. That posture is depicted in my posting on this forum.

I will sit back and watch the replies this should be FUN!

Your Worthless Servant
DASA

The question is it's own answer.

[0DASA0]

The question is it's own answer.

That is just like you Homer. Don't answer the question just make some pseudo intellectual comment "what a cop out" (sorry to steal your phrase.)

[0DASA0]

i was trying to be true to your own words as you consider yourself a "worthless servant"

so i guess the question you are raising is that being a worthless servant is not synomynous with low self esteem?

NO! The question I am raising is how can you have self esteem unless you know who your self is? If you do not know who you are how can you take an esteem bath? And if you know who you really are than being the worthless servant in low self esteem maybe the highest state of consciousness you can have.

i think the value of a low self esteem is self esteem could possibly have a lot to do with ego and so with lots of self esteem, one could be putting lots of filter on the spirit that shining in our hearts

This is true too much false ego will cover the self but if you know who you are than your real ego will make yourself shine. If you can at least begin by taking yourself out of the subjective reality consciouness which places you at the center of the universe and perceive your infinitesimalness (I just made that word up) within the universe you can begin to realize the highest state is having the lowest self esteem of the worthless servant.

as for self or true self, there is only one for me and that's of the heart... its love man, can yah feel it?

AAAHHH a heart man. Very noble Babu but which heart are you referring to the physical or the emotional?

Your Worthless Servant
DASA

[Tapati]

I once was part of a study group with Padabja and Gopavrndapal. I proposed in one of our sessions that what we describe in mundane terms as low self esteem is NOT the same as the spiritual humility that a devotee should hope to achieve. I suggested that mundane low self esteem stems from an injured psyche, whether we consider it a "false" ego or "the" ego, and that one has to work past that to a healthy self esteem BEFORE one can ever hope to get to a level of spiritual realization that allows one to see oneself in perspective with the connectedness to the rest of the universe. We are both the small insignificant speck of consciousness and yet a vital part of the whole.

Being preoccupied in the way I was just after my abusive first marriage with how flawed I was did not make me spiritually advanced or humble. It just meant that my "false" ego had literally been beaten down and I was totally absorbed in the cracks I found in it. I had to pick my "self" up from that state and heal before I could begin work on seeing my place in the universe. (A work in progress.)

So I think that true spiritual humility can look like mundane low self esteem but we are talking apples and oranges here.

Just my 2 cents' worth.

[Homer]

The question is it's own answer.

That is just like you Homer. Don't answer the question just make some pseudo intellectual comment "what a cop out" (sorry to steal your phrase.)

Or, do you understand my comment?

Your ability to question is proof enough of a 'you.'

All you need to do is to trace the questioner, the 'you,' to the self and you will see that there is no need for the question.

Just pay attention to what is right under your nose, instead of what you have been taught to think.

[0DASA0]

Just pay attention to what is right under your nose, instead of what you have been taught to think.

There are those who teach you what to think and those who teach you how to use your intelligence to discriminate and come up with the answers. I asked everyone to think and tell me what they see as the answer. Instead of giving me your answer you continue to give me pseudo intellectual phrases. What do you really think HOMER? WHO ARE YOU? WHO IS YOUR REAL SELF?

Your Worthless Servant
DASA

[0DASA0]

I once was part of a study group with Padabja and Gopavrndapal. I proposed in one of our sessions that what we describe in mundane terms as low self esteem is NOT the same as the spiritual humility that a devotee should hope to achieve. I suggested that mundane low self esteem stems from an injured psyche, whether we consider it a "false" ego or "the" ego, and that one has to work past that to a healthy self esteem BEFORE one can ever hope to get to a level of spiritual realization that allows one to see oneself in perspective with the connectedness to the rest of the universe. We are both the small insignificant speck of consciousness and yet a vital part of the whole.

Being preoccupied in the way I was just after my abusive first marriage with how flawed I was did not make me spiritually advanced or humble. It just meant that my "false" ego had literally been beaten down and I was totally absorbed in the cracks I found in it. I had to pick my "self" up from that state and heal before I could begin work on seeing my place in the universe. (A work in progress.)

So I think that true spiritual humility can look like mundane low self esteem but we are talking apples and oranges here.

Just my 2 cents' worth.

Thank you very much for that TAPATI. Very thoughtful and insightful. I will say more later about it but I am pressed for time now. But I like it.

Your Worthless Servant
DASA

[Tapati]

I should say that my original audience did not agree with my theory at all.

[Babhru]

I should say that my original audience did not agree with my theory at all.

Hmm . . . I could check with Gopa to see what he thinks now.

[babu]

i was trying to be true to your own words as you consider yourself a "worthless servant"

so i guess the question you are raising is that being a worthless servant is not synomynous with low self esteem?

NO! The question I am raising is how can you have self esteem unless you know who your self is? If you do not know who you are how can you take an esteem bath? And if you know who you really are than being the worthless servant in low self esteem maybe the highest state of consciousness you can have.

and the point i am raising is how can you really know the self if you try to define it with verbal understandings as "this is what the self is"

i think the value of a low self esteem is self esteem could possibly have a lot to do with ego and so with lots of self esteem, one could be putting lots of filter on the spirit that shining in our hearts

This is true too much false ego will cover the self but if you know who you are than your real ego will make yourself shine. If you can at least begin by taking yourself out of the subjective reality consciouness which places you at the center of the universe and perceive your infinitesimalness (I just made that word up) within the universe you can begin to realize the highest state is having the lowest self esteem of the worthless servant.

subjective reality consciousness is the goal of life... why would anyone want to do that?

as for self or true self, there is only one for me and that's of the heart... its love man, can yah feel it?

AAAHHH a heart man. Very noble Babu but which heart are you referring to the physical or the emotional?

Your Worthless Servant
DASA

the love center

[angrezi]

Maybe I'm just buzzed on pre-Olypic fervor and cheap brew, but I can't figure out what this thread is about

[Tapati]

I should say that my original audience did not agree with my theory at all.

Hmm . . . I could check with Gopa to see what he thinks now.

That would be interesting. I think they felt I was too into the psychology paradigm or something, and that seeking self esteem on the material level was counter to the humility we were supposed to be achieving.