TAVASMI Swaroop , Shikshapatra , Shrinathji Charitramrut DVD, Ananyashray Nishwarth Samarpan

1. TAVASMISwaroop, Shikshapatra, ShrinathjiCharitramrut DVD, AnanyashrayNishwarthSamarpan October 16, 2011

2. Agenda • Tavasmi Review Quiz • Shikshapatra • Do’s and Don’t of Yamunastak Recital • Mathuradeeshji Swaroop • Review: Anyashray and Ananyashray • Discussion on Anayashray • Elements of Pushti Marg : Nishwarth Samparpan • Shreenathji Charitramrut

3. Tavasmi Quiz # 3 • How many granths did Mahaprabhuji give to us? Which ones have we covered in Tavasmi? • What are the three guns of Hinduism? • Name the 8 ashtasakhas. Why are they important? • What does “PushtiMarg” literally mean? • Who is Yam Raja? Why do we celebrate BhaiBij?

4. Question # 1 :: 16

5. Do’s of Yamunastak Recital

6. Do not’s of Yamunastak Recital

7. Mathureshji Swaroop The form: Shri Krishna is a young boy and begins to herd His cows, that form of Shri Krishna is Shri Mathuranathji. One day, Shri Mathuranath went out with His friends to the Gopis’ homes to steal butter. When He entered Shri Swaminiji’s home to steal her milk, curds and butter, Shri Swamini quietly came in, grabbed the Blessed Lord with two hands, and said, ‘Today, I have caught you! Now I will bring you before Nanda and Yashoda and tell them all about Your stealing.’“At that moment, Shri Mathuranath manifested two additional arms and, with folded hands, prayed to Shri Swaminiji, ‘I am under your control. Always keep Me with you. I hold this conch in My lower right hand, because it is the form of Your neck. In My upper right hand I hold a lotus, because Your face is like a lotus. In My upper left hand I hold the mace, because it is like the form of Your breast. My lower left hand holds the chakra discus; it is like the bells on Your belt. I worship the bangles on Your wrist and put them on My own wrist. Now please release Me.’ When she did, He gave Her a taste of His nectar lips. This is the Lila of Shri Mathuranathji.” f

8. Mathureshji Swaroop Shri Mathureshji, also called Shri Mathuradheesh and Mathuranathji, is a four-armed, dark form of Shri Krishna. Shri Mathureshji emerged in a gigantic form, as tall as a large tree, in the presence of Shri Vallabhacharya and his disciple, Padmanabhdas. He then became small enough to sit on the bhakti master’s lap. Padmanabhdasji performed Shri Mathureshji’s seva, and was blessed with many divine experiences. Shri Mathuranathji was later returned to Shri Vallabhacharya. Shri Gusainji entrusted Him to his eldest son Shri Girdharji, who later presented Him to his third son, Shri Gopinathji. Shri Mathureshji relocated to Kota, Rajasthan during Aurangzeb’s reign. Today He is worshipped by descendents of Shri Girdharji.

9. Pushti Marg: The Essential Elements • Refuge • Refuge is Shelter, a Source of help, relief, or comfort. • Aashray means seeking Refuge • Absolute Refuge (Ananya-Ashray) is • The only Shelter and the only Source of help, relief, comfort. Let understand the words associated with the concept of Absolute Refuge.

10. Pushti Marg: The Essential Elements • When we are in some kind of financial-social-familial-personal-professional troubles, we follow the following course of action…. • First step :: Because we feel confident in our own abilities to solve anything, we try to solve our difficulties by relying on ourselves. What happens when we do this? • Our success based on our efforts makes us arrogant • Our failure makes us frustrated and depressed. • Second step :: We rely on others (relatives, friends etc) and we seek help from them What happens when we do this? • Our success makes us dependent on and obligated to our relatives/friends • Our failure makes us even more frustrated and depressed. • As last resort (if we fail in first and second steps), We start praying to one or more Gods (Krishna, Ram, Shiv, Ganesh, Durga,…) Assuming that at least one of them will listen to our prayers for help!…..we simply try to cover as many bases as we can!! • BUT we do not think of seeking help from ONLY ONE God, Krishna. And we do not leave the result (success or failure) in the hands of Krishna. Our above-described attitude, towards Krishna, is known as “Anyaashray” (seeking refuge in someone other than Krishna) in PushtiMarg. At which darshan is Brahma Sambandh typically given? A. Shringaar B. Gval C. Rajbhog

11. Discussion on Anyashray • If Pushti Marg was found on the idea that "there is only God“, than it is impossible to commit sacrilege • Rain water falls on various parts of the earth, but, of it's own accord, in its own way, it always makes its way to the ocean. Similarly, worship offered to any divine being will eventually end up at the feet of Shri Krishna. • By talking of anyashraya, we admit to the "anya" - ie a "second entity" - something the Shuddhadvait philosophy can’t admit to in the first place. • If there is no "other" and the omnipotent, omnipresent universal spirit pervades everything, how can you worship anything / anyone other than that universal spirit? • A wife, no matter how dedicated to her husband, must recognize the importance of all His relatives and be courteous to them ! Her husband would be none too pleased if she was rude to his brother / sister / mother etc. After our Brahmasambandha, we are wedded to the Lord and all his creations !! Surely, by paying due homage to other gods, we are only honoring their relation to our Thakorji !! • What is your opinion?

12. Niswarth Samarpan - Selfless Dedication • Ownership: when we have acquired something and we have it with us. • Possession: when we have something with us whether we own it or not. • Shri Vallabh has explained that all the objects -– living (plants, birds, animals, human beings etc) and non-living (rocks, mountains, stars, planets, etc) – belong ONLY to Krishna. All things in this universe are owned ONLY by Krishna. • This means that whatever objects/things (house, car, money, relatives, friends etc) that we have with us ……. actually are owned by Krishna. This means that we only “possess” the things that we have and “NOT” own them. • Reality: We can never let go of the feeling of ownership of the things that we have in our possession. We never even think of Krishna as The Owner of all the things that we have in our possession. Because we think that we are the ones who have earned with our own efforts and actions (based on our abilities). • So, how we can change our such thinking? • If we earnestly believe that Krishna is the real Owner of all things that we have or we will ever have. If we let go of our feeling of ownership over the things that we have or will have.

13. Selfless Dedication • This transferring of ownership of things that we call ours to Krishna is known as …. Dedication to Krishna. • And when we do not seek any rewards for letting go of our ownership to Krishna. This act is known as Selfless Dedication to Krishna. • How do we reach a mental state of selfless dedication to Krishna? • We learn to believe that all things belong to Krishna • Krishna is the creator of everything so everything belong to Him alone,We learn to offer all things to Krishna before using them • Krishna is the Owner of everything so we must seek His permission before using anythingWe learn to offer all the food-stuff to Krishna before consuming them • Krishna is the owner of all the food-stuff so He must consume them before we can consume it as “Prasad”,We learn not to use things that were specifically bought for Krishna • Krishna is the Owner of everything, so when we bring something for Him, we can not share it with Him unless He lets us share

14. Discussion Topic Why do we touch Jeje's feet for ashirwaad? What is the specific part of the feet that they ask us to touch?

15. Shreenathji Charitramut Katha, DVD 2, Part 1 The deeper we get into Shrinathji’s character, the more we will feel drawn to him How does God look? --not necessarily the pictures in our house (those are the artist’s feelings on how God looks) When Krishna was leaving Gokul after killing Kansa and upon seeing Yashoda and Nandbawa’s sadness, he asked what is your favorite swaroop of me? It is when you held up Giriraj since that was an aluakik form. The form that Krishna created was Shrinathji bawa. They were pleased—this is the same nose, face, lips, etc. When Yashoda and Nandbawa did Lila Pravesh, this swaroop merged with Girirarji. That swaroop reemerged when Mahaprabhuji came to this earth. Krishna looks like Shrinathji. Krishna gave gopis the knowledge of bhakti through his leelas. God’s deeds are leela; man’s deeds are karma. When we become over greedy, arrogant, selfish, overzealous the root cause is usually money. There is a cycle to always want more (once we get it, we want something else). People need to develop values. Having values and sticking to them (siddhants) Make relationships with the heart—not the mind. Those are the selfish ones.

16. Next Meeting November 5th at 10:30 am at Gaurang and Neha’s house Topics: Swaroop, DVD Part 4, and Shikshapatra contd