Samarpan

A Monthly e-Magazine by 

Radha Krishna Temple of Dallas

                      Issue: 31

                      May 2019
In This Issue
पूर्व जन्म क्रितम् कर्म तद्दैवमिति कत्यते

poorva janma kṛitaṁ karma taddaivamiti kathyate
(Hitopadeśh)

"The actions we performed in our past lives become our destiny in this life.
From the Editor's Desk
Let's say you hit the grand Texas lottery and became a millionaire overnight, where as someone else lost all their fortune in the stock market crash. Would you attribute these events to destiny? If we are destined to experience such events, who decides the course of our destiny? And how is it decided? 

Let's understand the concept of destiny. 
Bhakti Ras 

Forge Your Destiny


Destiny is not something that comes down from heavens or springs up from our birth chart. On the contrary, we create our destiny by our actions with our free will in the past lifetimes.

God is seated within us, and he bestows upon us the power to act. However, using our free will, we decide what we do with that power. This is just as the utility provider supplies power to our house. Once we have the power at home, what we do with it is or own choice. We could operate a fan or lamp, or heat and cool the house, as we wish. Similarly, for example, God gives our eyes the power to see, but what we see is our own choice. We could go to the temple and have the darshan of the deities, or could go to a theater to watch a movie. God just gives us the faculty of sight; he doesn't decide how we use it. 

God is neither the director of our actions, nor does He decree whether we will perform a particular virtuous or evil deed. He is not responsible either for anyone's virtuous deeds or sinful actions.
God's work in this regard is threefold: 1) He provides the soul with the power to act. 2) Once we have performed actions with the power supplied to us, He notes our actions. 3) He gives us the results of our karmas.

One may ask why God grants free will to the soul. It is because "the soul is a tiny part of God and it possesses His qualities to a minuscule extent. God is abhigña swarāṭ (supremely independent), and so the soul also possesses a tiny amount of independence to utilize its senses, mind, and intellect in the manner it wishes," elucidates H. H. Swami Mukundananda ji.

We humans are bound by the law of karma, but understand the principle of free will through the example of the bow and arrow in archery. The accumulated stock of arrows in the archer's case slung over his shoulder is the sañchit karma. Similar to this is our stock of karmas from past endless lifetimes. A part of the sañchit karma is the prārabdh karma that we have to bear in this life. Therefore, the arrow that has just left the archer's bow is the prārabdh karma and the arrow in the hand at the moment is kriyamāṇ karma, this is the karma we are free to perform in this life. The archer can decide not to use this arrow, or he can choose to use it either to protect the weak or to harass them. Thus, while prārabdh karma is something which cannot be undone and we have to enjoy or suffer its fruits in this life, we have free will available in the form of kriyamāṇ karma.

Right here in the present moment we possess the free will to perform actions that elevate our consciousness to sublime heights or perform actions that degrade us to demonic existence. The choices that we make in the face of adversity or favorable situations are ours. Hence, the scriptures say that it is lazy people who blame destiny for their substandard achievements:
दैव आलसी पुकारा
daiva ālasī pukārā (Rāmāyaṇ)
"While working, don't bring destiny into your mind, or it will make you lazy."  If you do, you will start running to astrologers to know what your destiny is, rather than focusing on performing your work properly. 

It is a fact that there is an element of destiny; however, we possess the freedom to act. If you are destined to win that grand Texas lottery, you will win it. But beyond that it is your self-effort. Either you could multiply it into ten million dollars with your hard work, or squander it away with drinking and gambling. That is not decided by destiny; that's your own puruśhārth, or self-effort.

For more on this topic, see Forge Your Destiny with Every Thought.
Wellness for Life
 
Our body has a relationship with the five elements of nature including water, earth, air, fire, and space (sky). The constitution of these elements in our body is proportionately different where 72% is water, 12% is earth, 6% is air, 6% is ether, and the remaining 4% is fire. When the balance of these elements is disturbed, the body experiences disturbance and disease. Check out the symptoms of imbalance associated with any of these elements:
  • Water: Excess mucus, cold, sinusitis, swelling of glands, edema of tissues, blood thinning or blood clotting.
  • Earth: General weakness, calcium loss, obesity, high cholesterol, weight loss, and weight gain, muscular diseases.
  • Air: Dryness of skin, blood pressure, lung disorder, dry cough, bloating, constipation, lethargy, insomnia, muscular spasms, depression.
  • Space: Thyroid disorders, throat problems, speech disorders, epilepsy, ear diseases, insanity.
  • Fire: Fever, skin diseases like inflammation, increased cold or heat in the body, excessive sweating, hyperacidity, slow digestion and absorption of nutrients, toxins in the body, diabetes.
For more information on the need for balance of the five elements, check out: http://www.natural-cure.org/health-and-wellness/the-5-elements-of-nature-and-their-relationship-with-the-human-body/
Upcoming Events

 

Dallas Yoga Fest - June 15 - FREE event! FREE Parking!
Register now for free at dallasyogafest.org

Special Satsang with Swami Mukundananda
Fri, May 31st at 7 pm
7 pm - Enlightening Discourse and Soulful kirtans
Mahaprasad will be served after program
For Yajman ($500) and Mahaprasad ($251) sponsorship opportunities, please call 496 795 9130
Weekly Temple Events
For free weekly community offerings, please click here
 
Hanuman Chalisa                   - Tuesdays 7:15 pm
Lalita Sahasranamam             - Fridays 6:45 pm
BG Study Circle                       - Saturdays 11:30 am to 12:30 pm
Vishnu Sahasranamam           - Sundays 9:30 am
Weekly Satsang                      - Sundays 10:30 am
Radha Krishna Abhishek        - 2nd Thursday 6:30 pm
Akhand Kirtan                         - 2nd Friday 7 pm to midnight        
Yoga Classes                          - Mondays 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm and Saturdays 8 am to 9:15 am

 

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Donate a Dollar a Day towards the building and upkeep of the Radha Krishna temple! By donating just $1 everyday,
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Set up monthly contributions through credit card/debit card by calling: 860-605-3685 or by visiting temple website at Radha Krishna Temple of Dallas (click).