| You are here: Sri Vaishnava Home Page : Bhakti List : Archives : August 2002 |
From: keerthy (keerthyc_at_yahoo.com)
Date: Thu Aug 01 2002 - 02:34:31 PDT
Jai Sriman Narayana
The Supreme Personality of Godhead glorifies
the
Vaisnavas saying, (The whole world is under the
care of the
Vaisnavas. All the demigods are taking care of
Vaisnavas. I
(the Supreme Personality of Godhead) am under the
care of
Vaisnavas, therefore Vaisnavas are the topmost
persons in this
world.
Those who are preaching the transcendental message
given by the
Supreme Lord and follow it as a way of life and
worship their own
spiritual master are the real Vaisnavas.
Those who observe Ekadasi with full devotion and sing
My holy
names are Vaisnavas.
Those who put tilaka marks on their forehead with the
mud taken
from the root of Tulasi or those who put tilaka out
of the paste
of Tulasi wood are said to be Vaisnavas.
In those person's house, if Salagram Sila is found,
and Srimad
Bhagavatam scripture is found, they are said to
be Vaisnavas
Whoever's head is washed with the water which is
derived by
washing My two lotus feet and those who eat food
offered to Me are
said to be Vaisnavas. Those who distribute food
grains and water
to needy people who are suffering from hunger and
thirst, and who
follow the yogic path of devotional service are said
to be
Vaisnavas.
One who brushes his teeth in the mid day or
afternoon, neither
the forefathers, the demigods or the sages accept it
his worship.
One should worship the Supreme Lord, the husband of
the goddess
of fortune by sitting upon a seat made with cotton,
kusa grass
seat, or silk seat only.
One who always offers the Supreme Lord a garland
made out of
Tulasi leaves, He becomes very pleased upon that
person because
the fragrance of Tulasi is very pleasing.
O brahmanas, any person who offers incense which is
full of
fragrance to Lord Sri Visnu, goes to the abode of
Lord Sri Visnu
after becoming free from millions of sins
Anybody who offers a ghee lamp to Lord Sri Visnu or
he offers a
lamp made of sesame oil, Lord Sri Kesava, in a
moment, removes all
of his sins. Anyone who offers a camphor lamp to Him
and betal
leaf (made up with spice, etc.), the Supreme Lord,
Who holds a
disk in his hand, O best of the brahmanas, Jaimini,
he achieves
liberation.
One who pays long obeisances, while lying on the
ground to Lord
Sri Kesava seven times, all the sins from his body
turn into
asava immediately.
O Jaimini (a great sage), any body who smells the
Tulasi leaf
which has emanated from Lord Sri Visnu, whatever sins
he has in his
body are all destroyed.
Even a sinful man who daily drinks the
medicine-like water
which washes the two lotus feet of Lord Sri Visnu,
removes the
disease of his sins.
I am telling you very truthfully that by worshipping
Lord SRi Hari
with lotus flowers, one achieves the Supreme abode.
Anybody who makes sounds in the temple of Lord Sri
Hari at the
time of worship (aratik) with a great drum and small
drum, with a
bell metal plate and kartala cymbals, with a flute,
they become
free from all sins and Lord Sri Maha-Visnu
awards unlimited
merits to him.
When Ekadasi arrives, at that time, all of the sins
from the three
worlds reside in grains in the form of a sinful
person.
In millions and millions of universes, whatever places
of
pilgrimage are available on the Earthly planet, they
certainly
all come and take shelter in a Tulasi leaf.
Anybody who eats a Tulasi leaf, all of his sins
are removed
and he becomes meritorious. Whatever sins he has
within his
body are removed at once. ANyone who wears a Tulasi
wood
necklace, no sins can reside in his body. This is
exactly true, I
say to you.
Any intelligent person who wears twelve marks on his
body daily
with tilaka, he knows what is dharma and what is
adharma. He
knows what is religious principles and what is
irreligious
principles. One who knows the differnce between
religious and
irreligious principles is said to be a Vaisnava.
One should not eat other's left overs and one should
not wear the
clothes previously worn by others. One should not
talk to
avaisnavas (atheists) and one should not praise
others.
There is no benefit for the performer of
austerity, sacrifice
or charity if he does not worship Lord Govinda.
One who sees the Deity form of Lord Hari gets the
merit of
visiting all of the places of pilgrimage. One who
chants the
Visnu mantra (Harinama Mahamantra) gets the results
of chanting
all other mantras.
One should not take bath nude and touch fire.
Without using it
on his head, one should not put oil all over his body.
All the sins of human beings reside within food
grains. Hoever
eats anyones food, actually eats his sins.
Those people who are devoted to the twice borns and
who are
strictly keeping away from another's wife, who are
very much
attached to fasting on Ekadasi, who sings the holy
name of Lord
Hari, who wear the Tulasi garland necklace and those
who drink
the water emanated from the lotus feet of Lord Hari on
their head
they should be understood as Vaisnavas.
Those who are attached to studying Vedic
literatures, those
who protect Tulasi forests, those who fast on
Radhastami day,
those who offer a lamp to Lord Sri Krsna with good
faith, those
who do not criticize others are understood to be
Vaisnavas.
ANy woman who fasts on the day of Lord Hari (Ekadasis
or the
birthday of the Lord) with her husband, she obtains a
son in this
life and remains the chaste wife of her husband life
after life.
Whatever results one achieves by performing 1,000
Ekadasi fasts,
one hundred times great resuts can be attained by
fasting on
Radhastami and Janmastami days.
Anybody who has a Tulasi wood necklace around his
neck, even if
he is an unclean person or performs many bad
activities, he is
taken with full respect to the abode of Lord Sri Hari.
Ramanuja Dasan
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Health - Feel better, live better
http://health.yahoo.com
--------------------------------------------------------------
- SrImate rAmAnujAya namaH -
To Post a message, send it to: bhakti-list@yahoogroups.com
Group Home: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bhakti-list
Archives: http://ramanuja.org/sv/bhakti/archives/
Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/