mercy
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Imported quote 13234 Vidura accepted Maitreya as his spiritual master. A disciple always inquires from the spiritual master, and the spiritual master answers the question, provided the disciple is very gentle and devoted. Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura said that by the mercy of the spiritual master one is benedicted with the mercy of the Supreme Lord. The spiritual master is not inclined to disclose all the secrets of transcendental science unless the disciple is very submissive and devoted. As stated in the Bhagavad-gita, the process of receiving knowledge from the spiritual master entails submission, inquiry and service.
(More...) Imported quote 17429 Cakruḥ krpam. Then... Cakruḥ means "did"; krpam, "mercy." Naturally... If anyone follows without any hesitation whatever the spiritual master says, naturally he becomes kind. Anyone will become kind; why the spiritual master? Spiritual master is pledged to become kind, but anyone, if you follow, if you obey, then he becomes merciful: "This boy is very nice. He obeys orders. He serves very nicely." That is required. Cakruḥ krpam yadyapi tulya-darsanaḥ. Tulya-darsanaḥ. Because saintly person, they have no discrimination that "This man should be shown special favor." They have no such discrimination. They are merciful to everyone. Sama-darsinaḥ. Panḍitaḥ sama-darsinaḥ [Bg 5.18].
(More...) Imported quote 24032 Knowledge of the Absolute Truth is not very easily understood by ordinary, less intelligent men; but if the spiritual master is kind enough to the disciple, however unintelligent he may be, then by the divine grace of the spiritual master everything is revealed. Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura therefore says, yasya prasadad, by the mercy of the spiritual master, bhagavat-prasadaḥ, the mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is revealed. Devahūti requested her great son to be merciful towards her because she was a less intelligent woman and also His mother. By the grace of Kapiladeva it was quite possible for her to understand the Absolute Truth, even though the subject matter is very difficult for ordinary persons, especially women.
(More...) The causeless mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is first appreciated when one comes in touch with a bona fide spiritual master In those days there was no banking system like the one now found in Western countries. If one had excess money, he would deposit it with some merchant, usually a grocer. That was the banking system. Subuddhi Raya would deposit his extra money with a mercantile man and spend it when necessary. When one is in the renounced order, saving money is not recommended. However, if one saves money for the service of the Lord or a Vaisnava, that is accepted. These are the dealings of Subuddhi Raya, who is one of the confidential devotees of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Srila Rūpa Gosvami also followed this principle by spending fifty percent of his money in order to serve Krsna through brahmanas and Vaisnavas. He gave twenty-five percent of his money to relatives, and twenty-five percent he deposited in the custody of a merchant. These are the approved methods recommended in Caitanya-caritamrta. Whether in the renounced order or in the grhastha order, a Vaisnava should follow these principles set forth by the previous acaryas.
(More...) In the course of time, while fully absorbed in thinking of Krsna, Narada reached that point, commonly called death, when the change of body suddenly occurs. Narada told his pupil: "Being freed from all material taints, I met with death just as lightning and illumination occur simultaneously." It is told further that just as the illumination follows the lightning, the devotee changed his material body after death and evolved a spiritual body by the will of the supreme. The material body is a product of karma, earned by our accumulation of material desire, action and reaction. It is temporary and subject to miseries, and it is unenlightened. The spiritual body residing dormant within the material body, is eternal, blissful and in full knowledge. It is understood from authorized scriptures that even while in the material body, a pure devotee's body becomes surcharged with spiritual energy by the constant engagement of his senses in the service of the transcendental eternal Lord. It is like an iron rod in contact with fire: after a while the iron rod acts not like iron, but like fire. The material body is afflicted with inebrieties and is taken on by the living entity as a result of his desires to enjoy temporary sense gratification, without understanding his real position-that he is eternal servant of the Lord and meant to please His senses. Therefore when the devotee's body becomes engaged in devotional service he becomes surcharged with the transcendental qualities. His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami writes on this important matter, so often misunderstood by neophytes: "Change of the body means stoppage of the reaction of the qualitative modes of material nature (goodness, passion and ignorance) upon the person of a pure devotee. There are many instances in the revealed scriptures where Dhruva and Prahlada and many other devotees were able to see the Personality of Godhead face to face apparently in the same body. This means the quality of a devotee's body changes from material affinity to transcendence. By the mercy of Krsna the devotee becomes exempt from the karmic reactions of his work." In order to understand how the body of a devotee becomes spiritualized, we have to understand that consciousness is the sign of life. The sensation you have when you are pinched means you have consciousness. This consciousness, which is spread all over the body, is eternal, though the body of flesh and blood is perishable. Consciousness is a symptom of the presence of the soul, which is located in the heart. This is confirmed in the Upanisads and Bhagavad-gita. If an ordinary conditioned human being meets a pure devotee and his consciousness is changed from the polluted desire to enjoy with the body, and he instead starts to use the body as a vehicle for service in Krsna consciousness, then his body becomes spiritualized. Any material object, a telephone, a typewriter, becomes spiritualized if used in the direct service of Krsna consciousness for propagating the Lord's transcendental message. His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami has written that, in the eye of the Supreme Lord Krsna, the body of the converted or reclaimed devotee who has changed his standard of consciousness from material to Krsna consciousness is as good as the eternal spiritual body of a jiva in the spiritual sky who has never fallen under the conditioned state. The example Srila Prabhupada has given is that of a gold box and a gold-plated box. The gold box is compared to those who have never fallen to the material world. But once a fallen soul takes a bona fide spiritual master and becomes one hundred percent engaged in devotional service, then he too becomes liberated, even while remaining in the present body and he is thus compared to a gold-plated box. The Lord accepts the gold-plated box as equal to and as good as the gold box.
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