Meditations on Transcendence

 In Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.1.2 , it is declared: "dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo 'tra paramo nirmatsarāṇāṁ satāṁ vedyaṁ vāstavam atra vastu śivadaṁ tāpa-trayonmūlanam śrīmad-bhāgavate mahā-muni-kṛte kim vā paraiḥ īśvaraḥ sadyo hṛdy avarudhyate ‘tra kṛtibhiḥ śuśrūṣubhis tat-kṣaṇāt" Here, "sadyo hṛdy avarudhyate" reveals a divine mystery — the Lord becomes confined, enshrined, lovingly captured in the heart . But by whom? Not scholars or ascetics, but by "kṛtibhiḥ śuśrūṣubhiḥ" — those who hear with eagerness and service . How does this happen? When one listens to the caura-līlā — the sweet robber pastime of the Lord, the cora-agragaṇya , who steals butter and hearts alike — one unknowingly receives a rope of prema . This śravaṇa acts like the rope of Yashodā, who bound Him as Dāmodara , not with force, but with love . Thus, sva-caurya-doṣocitaṁ eva daṇḍam — the only punishment befitting this divine thief is to be bound in the heart of the devote...

Srila Prabhupada tirobhava tithi maha mahotsava ki jaya His divine grace name in his earlier asrama was 'Abhaya caran' which means fearless lotus feet. Whose lotus feet? this is addressed in the kirtan 'Bhaja hure mana, Sri Nanda Nandana, abhaya caranaravinda re'. The fearlessness is found at the lotus feet of son of Nanda Maharaja. Srila Prabhupada's mission is to help living beings of the world experience true fearlessness by developing bhakti at the lotus feet of Nandanandana Sri Krishna. All the higher attainments of spirituality like Prem, bliss, happiness, eternity are built on the foundation of 'Abhaya' or fearlessness. Fear is always due to the unknown. As finite entities when we see the vast world, there remains so much unknown and this causes fear. Fear is the primary destroyer of wellbeing. It corrodes at the most fundamental level and shakes up the whole foundation of existence. Fear also eats up our life span (ayur vyaya). In response to the Que...

The newly appointed government in india declared the annual budget. Budget an exercise of resource allocation. Government has income and expenditure just like any functional organization. Major part of the income comes from the tax payer. How this income is allocated to different developmental projects. Most governmental development projects are not for profits. But the thing created by the project has to be maintained for its sustained use. A budget is also a planning exercise which needs lots of foresight. There are both allocation for yearly projects and continued input to long term projects. How does a governmental budget contrast a corporate budget? ROI for each budget allocation component is critical for corporate. There are various scenarios. New investments, continued investments, short term profits - corporates are measured by quarterly results - hence a balance between long term and short term allocations is very critical. The 3 major activities of a corporation are operatin...