Reflections, resolutions, love

Kanha has tried to teach us one important lesson throughout His time on earth and by His divine teachings and retelling of His life here. He taught us about love. He taught us that we should always put the bad aside and strive to achieve the good and to be good people. He is with us always and He will be with us in the new year. Let us all make Him proud and display love and care to all around us. We should reflect on how we can change little parts of our behaviour for the better in the future. We should also resolve to carry out the changes we have identified and throughout the year remind ourselves about these resolutions. We should take some time to reflect on the things we accomplished in the last year and what we hope to accomplish in the coming year. We should think about the times when we called on Kanha and how comforted we always feel when we talk to Him. Reflecting on the way we behaved toward others and to ourselves is also good. We make resolutions to make ourselves better people in the long run and it is also important to enjoy life but to do so in the proper way. Following rules and laws is important because those have been instilled and prepared for our happiness in the long run. Kanha will help us to reflect, He will help us to keep our resolutions and He will keep loving us and show us how to share that love with others. He will always be with us and we should remember to take the time to thank Him for being with us for 2011 and ask that He be with us in 2012. Jai Shri Krishna!

Personal opinions are not fact

Our own opinions are very dear to us. We cherish them because they are our thoughts and reflect our feelings and the way we interpret the world around us. Kanhaji understands this and He allows us our personal opinions. However, we may begin to think that these opinions should be shared by everyone and sometimes we get upset when people do not share our points of view. In this case we should remember that our personal opinions are definitely not factual. Facts are generally accepted points of view that have evidence to back up such factual statements. Our personal opinions are just that - they are the way we think about things and interpret them. Different people can look at the text of the Bhagavad Gita and interpret it differently - the truth is that the interpretation we feel in our hearts is the right one for us. We should remember that Kanhaji is in our hearts and He guides us, even in our opinions He exposes us only to certain types of information to ensure that we will function properly. Kanhaji loves us and He understands our opinions. We should understand and respect His role in our lives as well. Jai Shri Krishna!

Kanha's smiles

Kanha takes the time to smile with us several times every day. But, do we recognise His smiles? I think that is our problem, we do not recognise His smiles. We do not acknowledge His smiles and we sometimes forget that the littlest blessings are due to Him. We ignore Him and hurt Him by our indifference and we only deign to pay Him any attention when we need His help. But, even through all of this Kanhaji sends us little smiles throughout the day to make us feel better. He keeps us safe and He guides us. He will always love us and He will always smile with us - when the sun shines through the clouds, He's smiling. When the rain falls after a dry spell - He's smiling. When someone stops for us to pass on the road - He's smiling. When our pets wag their tails or cuddle up next to us - He's smiling. When our parents, relatives, friends come close to us and shower us with their love - He's smiling. When we least expect Him to - He smiles. We should try to look for His little smiles throughout the day and try to smile with others to help take our worries, hurts, cares away. Jai Shri Krishna!

Kanha's love

All around people live their lives and carry out daily tasks. But do we really stop to think about how Kanha's love affects us all the time everywhere? Of course we as humans live in a mostly blissful state where we like to believe that everything is alright or will be alright. We may wish to trust Kanha but sometimes we don't. Sometimes we enter into arrogance and begin to believe that we are responsible for the good things that are happening in our lives and Kanhaji is not responsible for anything other than making the bad go away. But the truth is that everyone's lives and every action in our lives - good and bad - are due to Him. He gives us joys as well as sorrows because He knows that we need them both. He showers His divine blessings on us all the time because He loves us. He shows us the right things to do but sometimes we do not follow those things and end up in pain and the worst thing is at those times we tend to blame Him for things going wrong, when all along He gave us the choice and we chose incorrectly. Kanha loves us and His love is all around us - sometimes we may wish for things to be different in our lives but He gives us exactly the life He thinks that we can deal with and the life that He wanted us to live for a purpose in the end - to be with Him. Please let us try to remember that Kanha is always with us and He always loves us. Jai Shri Krishna!

Kanha's will

We may not always understand what Kanha wants us to do but we can be sure that if we trust in Him, He will take care of us. We should remember that everything that happens does so with His permission and by His will. We should remember that He has a purpose for us and He loves us. He keeps us safe even if we may not always think so. He takes care of us even if we cannot always see it and He keeps our loved ones safe even when we cannot be with them. As we approach the end of the year I think it is an ideal time to stop and reflect about what we have achieved, what we hope to achieve, how we can change our lives. Kanhaji is always with us and we must remember to ask for His help now and always. We must remember to give Him and His word preference in our lives. Jai Shri Krishna!

Dearest Kanha

Dearest Kanha, I know that many times we take Your divine presence in our lives for granted. You keep us safe, happy, healthy. You show us how to learn from our mistakes and how to become better people. You guide us away from harm into happiness. Kanha, thank You for being with us. Thank You for showing us at the most unexpected of times that You are with us and that You are always watching. Kanhaji, please help us all to deal with whatever issues or problems we may troubling us. You alone know the most secret desires of our hearts - please help us to find a way to fulfil them. Thank You for being You! Jai Shri Krishna!

Blessings and giving thanks

Sometimes we like to focus on only the negative things in our lives. But we really should focus on the positive things instead. Kanhaji gives us so many blessings and sometimes we only focus on the negative things in our lives. Today Christians across the world celebrated the birth of Jesus Christ - Christmas Day. Do you remember how happy you were to celebrate Janmashtami? Well they are also very happy to celebrate the birth of their saviour. But, we should remember one thing - God is still God - it doesn't matter what name we call Him by, He will always be with us in whatever form we choose to worship Him if we do so with a thankful and holy heart and mind. Kanhaji blesses us always and many people who are not Christians sometimes celebrate this festival because of the holidays - we have office parties, family get togethers, special Christmas lunches, brunches, dinners. We should all remember that the true meaning of such celebrations is to rejoice in the kinship borne out of that, to learn to get along better with each other and to find love for our fellow coworkers, or even strangers. Blessings come in many forms - even someone who allows us to pass freely on the road is a blessing nd sometimes when I stop to think about how fragile life is, I realise that every single breath we take is a blessing in itself. Kanhaji, thank You for loving us, for taking care of us and for blessing us. Please help us to be good people - kind, loving, strong, happy. Please help us to do what is right now and always and to remember to ask for Your help in everything that we do - even the simplest matters. Kanhaji, thank You for Your love and blessings every day. Jai Shri Krishna!

Kanhaji helps

Kanhaji always helps us to do things. He always takes care of us. It is just the way He is. He puts nice things in our pathways but sometimes we reject His help, His love, His affection. Sometimes we do not consider how our actions hurt not only ourselves and those around us, but Him also. Kanhaji loves us beyond measure - He would do anything for us. Just think of how many times He saved his devotees when He came. He is still all around us but we have to remember that and try to see Him in all things. He will always love us and care for us. This is for certain. He helps us find what we need, not only what we want in life. He helps us to take care of others, He helps us to understand and to realise that His presence is with us. Kanhaji helps us to see the world more clearly and He imparts His wisdom onto us. He sees all and knows all - that is just how great He is.
Jai Shri Krishna!

Caring for others

Caring for others is something that comes naturally to us. However, we all care for people in different ways. Some of us are naturally more caring and compassionate than others, and this is okay. It is easy enough to see how people react differently to the different needs and activities of their peers, their family members and even total strangers. As the festive occasion of Christmas draws closer - let us all join with our Christian brothers and sisters and ask Kanhaji to grant us some more compassion so that we may begin to care more for others. Please help us all to be more caring and to remember that while we are out shopping with our families, there are other families struggling to stay together, to brave the weather, to find food to eat. Kanhaji, please help us remember to be kind and good to those around us who we may sometimes take for granted and speak rudely to. To all who read this blog - please let us take today to work on our kindness. We should always be nice to others within reason. We must always remember that sacrifice helps us to reach our ultimate goals. The only person we really have to please all the time is Kanhaji. Jai Shri Krishna!

Kanha gives us what He knows is right for us

Many times people gripe and complain about someone else getting a job, position, gift, life that they wanted. People have a tendency to be discontent, not because we are evil but because it is in our nature to want to achieve more. Kanhaji, I know that You are thinking that we should remember that You will always give us what is due to us in the end. You will find a match between our needs, wants and results. You will always take care of us in a way that You think is best. I want us to all remember that He is in control of our lives, we are not. We should enjoy what He has offered to us and take the little hints as He gives them. However, even the result of us not taking hints is something that He planned. He is always with us, ALWAYS being the key word. Whatever we do, good or bad, He sees it. He knows what is right for us and He will give it to us in the end. Jai Shri Krishna!

Kanhaji restores confidence

Sometimes we lose confidence in ourselves and we falter in something. But Kanhaji is always there to help us get through in the end. He will always guide us and He will always love us. He restores our lost confidence very easily and He helps us feel better almost immediately. Remember 'when one door closes another one opens' but also remember that human beings, being as they are, often find it difficult to see the newly open door for attachment to the closed one. However, we must trust in Kanhaji and truly believe that He will help us and guide us through to better times and better things. Kanhaji, please continue to shower Your blessings on us and please help us to remember to trust in You always. Jai Shri Krishna!

Kanhaji is with me

He is with you too. He is with all of us all the time. He helps us through our problems, He keeps us safe, He shows us ways to be joyous and He sometimes gives us hardships to see what and how much we will learn from them. People the world over are preparing to celebrate Christmas - the birth of Jesus Christ. Do you remember how happy you were on Janmashtami? You should not feel jealous of the extravagant Christmas celebrations though, instead we should remember that Kanhaji is all around, everywhere. He will always be with us and He will always show us the right path on which to tread. Jai Shri Krishna!

So cute!

Kanhaji was the cutest baby! I enjoy looking at baby pictures of Him so much. I read an article today about Kanhaji being sent here to show us love in all forms - I am sure that this is true. It ties in with what the pundit said in his lesson a few years ago - that Kanhaji came to teach us to enjoy life. He came to show us that we can be happy and maintain happy dispositions all the time. When I think of Him, I think of joy and happiness and Him setting everything right with the world. By this, I don't mean that absolutely everything is perfect, no, of course not, but instead everything is right as He wants it to be. He is the ruler. He holds and wields all the power in our lives. Without Him we are nothing. We should learn to follow His lead and accept things that we definitely cannot change. We must learn to think positively and focus on being what He wants us to be. We do not know what the future holds but we can live our present lives in the best way to ensure that He will reward us with His blessings now and always. Kanhaji's adorable nature is portrayed in all of His pictures. His personality was always described as magnetic and people fell in love with Him so easily. He brings us all peace and love. We must remember to open our hearts and minds to Him. Let us all thank Him for coming into our lives and for being with us always. Kanhaji, thank You for helping us to be the people we are today. Please continue to bless us and let us be even better people in the future. Jai Shri Krishna!

Trust in Kanha

Kanhaji will make all things right in the end. We only need to trust in Him seeing the bigger picture than we do. Kanhaji is always with us and He knows the deepest desires of our hearts. If we are true to Him and we trust in Him then He will take care of us till the end. He knows what we want but He also knows what is best for us and what we truly need. Kanhaji sends His guidance and love and support to us. But sometimes we still don't realise that He is the one who has helped us. We decide to ignore His advice and fixate on something that we truly want but may not be good for us. Kanhaji knows what is best for us and how our lives should be in the end. He sends us little experiences to make us realise and learn about life and people. Kanhaji loves us and He always will and we need to learn to trust in Him. We need to have faith in His divine power in our lives and in the world. We need to remember that following Him means trusting Him and we should do so with all our hearts. In the picture Draupadi prays to Kanhaji and she trusts that He will protect her now and always. He does keep her safe and He protects her when no one else would. He truly does save her and we must remember that He will also do the same for us. Jai Shri Krishna!

Hints

Hints jog our memories, they help us to remember things that we were sure we would forget. Kanhaji sends us hints for all sorts of things - for our chores, to remind us to pray, to do certain things, not to do others. The question is, do we understand these hints, and if we do, do we obey them? Sometimes we may miss the meaning that Kanhaji wanted to portray to us and instead we see something else. Kanhaji keeps us safe above all else. He loves us so much and we do not always realise it. Sometimes we treat Him so badly and we blame Him for wrong things happening in our lives. However, Kanhaji created us with free will - the right to choose what to do. Some of us choosee the right things nd others choose wrong things. Kanhaji becomes either happy or unhappy depending on what we have chosen to do for ourselves. However, when we blame Him for our own choices, I am sure He gets sad. Let us all make a conscious effort to take the hints that Kanhaji sends to us - let us listen to Him and try to do all that is right. Jai Shri Krishna!

Friendship

Friends are the family members we get to choose. We bond with our friends and become almost like a part of their family. We open up our lives, our hearts, our fears, ambitions, hopes, dreams to them. We ask for their help when we are sad or we need something. We ask for them to share in our joys, our sorrows. We ask them to take care of themselves because we want them to be a part of our lives for a long time to come. We ask Kanhaji to protect them and to take care of them. We ask Him to keep them safe. Kanhaji understood friendship. He had many friends - most notably, Arjuna was Kanhaji's dearest friend. He also had friends in the Gopas and Gopikas. His brother Balarama was also His friend. Kanhaji knows that we love our friends but sometimes He reminds us just how much we need them. Let us all remember, appreciate and pray for our friends today and truly try to make Kanhaji one of our dearest friends. Jai Shri Krishna!

Positive frames of mind

Being in a positive state of mind is not something that always comes easily. Sometimes we cannot help but think about the negative things that have happened and possible negative things that may happen to us in the future. However, we can try to be positive about things and try to be happy. We can try to do well and we can do all of this with Kanhaji's help. Kanhaji is the only one who will take care of us whenever we need Him. He is always with us and He always shows us how to deal with the good and the bad. He helps us to accept the things in life that we cannot change and He helps us to think about the good and not the bad. When we pray to Kanhaji we can imagine the lovely and soothing sound of his bansuri flowing over us and sending His calming presence to us. When we ask Him to stay by our side we should truly ask Him as a friend. Yes, we should fear Him sometimes but most of all Kanhaji is our friend and our guide. He is always with us and we can talk to Him freely. Remember, He knows and sees all and He can help us make ourselves better people. Jai Shri Krishna!

Acceptance

Accepting the life that we have is often hard. Many people are not perfectly happy with their lives. It is in human nature to strive for better and to want the ideal. However, our lives all have problems and all have benefits. We need to stop and count our blessings and accept the lives that we have. We must learn that the circumstances we experience are due to Kanhaji's will. He decides everything for us - when and how we should rewards, if at all and when and how to send us hard times and good times. He helps us to learn life's lessons - the easy way and the hard way. He cares for us in a way like none other and He sends us little care packages along the way - the joy of true friendship, encouraging comments and little smiles. He may also send us some negative comments and frowns to remind us that we also have a responsibility to cheer others up and sometimes, the negative comments help us to succeed and become more accomplished. Kanhaji loves us and we should remember that above all else. Accepting the lives we have and learning to enjoy the good things and to work through the bad or to realise why He may not have given certain things to us, will help us in the end. Sometimes bad things happen to good people but we are always made stronger and wiser for it. Jai Shri Krishna!

Kanhaji sends challenges

Challenges build character. They teach us how to respond and react in times of stress. Challenges are sent by Kanhaji to build our character and keep our minds and bodies healthy and active. Kanhaji knows what challenges to send to us and He knows that in the end we will succeed. The challenges may come disguised amidst many other challenges, but, the ultimate goal will be achieved because Kanhaji is with us. We have to remember that we can ask Him for help along the way and He will provide it. I was reading the Gopi Geet recently and I love the poetry. The Gopis are so very sad that Kanhaji is away from them and in the end, well in the next chapter, He comes to them and He allows their minds to be eased of the turmoil they were experiencing without Him. We must remember that life is not always easy and there will be difficulties along the way but the way that we deal with them makes us good people and our willingness to ask for and accept help from Kanhaji means that we truly understand what it means to be His devotee. Jai Shri Krishna!

Making difficult decisions

Decisions are not easy things to make. We make them every day, all the time but the fact is that usually after we make them we can rarely change them. Oh sometimes we do have the choice but think of the truly important decisions - they are the difficult ones to change. This is why we spend so much time thinking about if we are indeed doing the right thing when we make such decisions. Kanhaji is always there to help us and to guide us and we should remember that we can call on Him to help us choose the right path. There are indeed many different paths to Him but how about we ask for His advice along the way? I am sure that He will not lead us astray. Many people say that they like to trust their 'gut instinct'. When we go against that we sometimes regret it. The 'gut instinct' we refer to may be Kanhaji telling us what to do. He keeps us safe and He tells us what we should do if we ask for His help. He sometimes tells us even if we do not ask for His help because His aim is to keep us safe, happy and healthy. This does not mean that He sometimes will not allow us to make mistakes, on the contrary, mistakes are the tools of learning and so some of those are expected. But in the end He wants us to be happy always. Let us all try to remember to ask for His help when we make decisions. I love this picture I included because Baby Kanha looks so serious - it seems that He is deciding whether or not to eat the makhan. Jai Shri Krishna!

Loving Krishna

Reading the Gopi Geet always makes me feel so sad for the Gopis who were searching for Kanhaji and pleading with Him to show Himself. But I know that Kanhaji did that to teach us all a lesson. At least this is what it means to me - even though we may not see Him, He is always with us. He is in our thoughts, our hearts, our minds, our deeds. They sang about Him in their song and they did not even realise that by singing about Him, He was with them. I think that many of us like to think literally and wonder if we cannot see Him then how can we know He is there? The answer is that faith in Kanhaji should be the governing thing. He should be such a strong presence in our lives that we know that our very breaths, heartbeats and lives depend on Him. We should devote every waking moment to His service, but we do not because we get wrapped up in enjoying the world that He has created for us. So we should at least devote a little time each day to talking to Him, to doing something that will genuinely please Him, to making ourselves better people. The happy part of the Srimad Bhagavat Puran shows that Kanhaji shows Himself to them in the end. He will always show Himself to us in the end if we remain devoted to Him as they were. Their behaviour and their devotion to Him should be a lesson to us. Loving Kanhaji is easy. We must remember to show Him that we love Him every day. Jai Shri Krishna!

Caring for others

We all care for people in the literal sense and in the emotional sense as well. Caring for persons comes naturally. Feeling a sense of compassion and caring about hurting a person's feeling is something that happens because we, as humans, with to relieve the pain that others may feel. Many times when we hear that people we may not like are in pain or are suffering, we still feel badly for them. We ask for their pains to be relieved and this shows that our caring nature as humans remains. Caring for people may sometimes bring pain and sorrow. But, Kanhaji is always there to listen to us talk to Him. He offers excellent advice and He helps us to do what is right. He sense others to help us. He sends a strength of character that we did not even know that we had. Jai Shri Krishna!

Serving others

Kanhaji teaches us the important lesson of serving others and gaining strength of character due to it. Serving other is not the most pleasant of tasks. There are many difficult and unpleasant things involved in serving - cleaning up after others, being pleasant to those who are unpleasant, watching others eat and drink lavish things that we will never have ourselves. Kanhaji teaches us important lessons when He gives us opportunities to serve. One of the most famous stories of Krishna when He was a boy was about how He replicated the lost gopas and their cows for an entire year and no one noticed. In that story Kanhaji allowed the mothers to serve Him - they would rush out with affection for their children (now Kanhaji Himself). They would shower them (Him) with love. He allowed them the chance to serve Him in this manner. We too must not feel that service is an unpleasant task or chore - especially when we are serving those we love - our grandparents, parents, other relatives, animals. We should remember that Kanhaji also loved animals and He would very often share His beloved makhan with them. We must remember that service brings us closer to Kanhaji and that is our ultimate goal. Kanhaji also served Arjuna in the battle at Kurukshetra - He became Arjuna's charioteer and this was a form of service to Arjuna who needed the guidance and experience of Kanhaji. Kanhaji serves us all every single day - He wakes us up in the morning, He stays with us all through the day and night and He never leaves our side. We are never alone because He is always with us. Surely serving Him is only a small repayment compared to His love for us. Jai Shri Krishna!

Falling in love

Falling in love is so very easy. I think Kanhaji made it that way. Its the falling out of love that's the hard part. I think He also made it that way. Attachments are easy to form and very soon some people make their way into our hearts. The thing is many people believe that blood relationships exceed all. But think about your lives and see if you prefer ALL your blood relatives to your best friend. Its not true is it? Well Kanhaji by His very birth and upbringing showed us that blood relations are not the only ones to be considered. He was Devki and Vasudev's son but He was also Nand and Yashoda's son. They loved Him just as much as they would have loved their own child. They recognised that He was special in some ways and they loved Him even more. Kanhaji also found it easy to love Radharani and the gopis. He loved them all and many other persons because He came on earth to show us how to live. He wanted us to be able to see the lessons in His every action. Every single story has a good meaning and a nice interpretation. Kanhaji is easy to love and I hope that You can open up your hearts to Him and fall in love with Him too. Jai Shri Krishna!

Using Kanhaji's strength

Kanhaji knows when we need Him the most and He responds and lends us His strength. Too often I hear people say that God is cruel. That is not true. God, Kanhaji, knows what is best for us. He gives us what we need when we need it. He cares for us. He keeps us happy in the long term. Even if we cannot see the end result, He can and He always takes care of us. We have to trust in Him and believe in Him and pray to Him for help even in interpreting His word. Many of us are not fortunate enough to be able to read the original text of the Srimad Bhagavad Gita and instead we rely on translations. That has also happened to me. I rely on the translations of others and I hope that when I read their translations I do not interpret things incorrectly. English is an odd language sometimes - many words have different meanings and intonation changes everything sometimes. So, reading the Srimad Bhagavad Gita should also be something that we pray to Kanhaji about. He will infuse His true meaning into our reading if we do. So that our interpretation and our carrying out of His word will both be accurate. We can use Kanhaji's strength in other ways - we can ask Him to guide us in everything that we do in life. We can remember Him and talk to Him throughout our day. We can call on Him and this is a strength. Being able to call on Kanhaji means that we are able to lean on Him, to share our burdens with Him and to be closer to Him. Both pictures illustrate Kanhaji's strength - Kanhaji sitting on Balarama to get the makhan is a display of his baby strength and of Balarama's love for Kanhaji - so much so that he let Kanhaji win! Then in the other picture Radharani is leaning on Kanhaji who holds her effortlessly. She is truly leaning on Him with the absolute confidence that He will support her and love her always. Kanhaji, please help us all to remember that You are the strongest being in the universe. You created all and You are all. You will always be with us and please help us to remember to lean on You. Jai Shri Krishna!

Kanhaji ka darshan

Only a few will get Kanhaji's darshan. Very few people will ever see Him and know Him in the true sense of who He is. Very few will be able to identify with Him and to understand that He cannot always explain to us why He did what He did. Those who are pure in heart and clean in thoughts will experience Kanhaji's true darshan. It sounds easy enough but every day that we go through life a negative thought enters our heads. Many times there are many negative thoughts. Kanhaji understands this and He helps us to forget the negative and move on to the positive. Kanhaji loves us dearly and we should love Him too. Jai Shri Krishna!

Kanhaji reminds us

There are some times that we feel we need a reminder to perform a certain activity. Kanhaji reminds us of things sometimes - He reminds us how to behave in certain situations, He reminds us to love each others, He reminds us to love all creatures He created. He reminds us to be good people. If we follow in His footsteps we will be okay. There is one other thing we should do - we should surrender ourselves to Him and make sure that He knows that we are thinking of Him. We do not wish to hurt His feelings but sometimes we do so inadvertently by leaving Him out of some major parts of our lives. Kanhaji sees all and knows all. This is something we should remember now and always. Jai Shri Krishna!

The importance of relationships

As long as we exist in the world we need to establish relationships with others. Some of these have been pre-established - relatives and those whom we are connected to by blood. But others are built over time - in particular friendships, good relations with neighbours, coworkers, bosses, acquaintances, people we meet every single day. One important thing that we learn is common courtesy and the importance of being pleasant to others. Of course some people generally have unpleasant dispositions. However, they should try their very best to work on this and to be more pleasant. Others are very soft spoken and shy. They should also work on becoming braver. Yet others may sometimes be too kind and unable to stand up for themselves in the face of mild or major adversity. Kanhaji reminds us daily how important it is to maintain good and honest relationships - He watches us do everything that we do and He keeps us safe. He shows us how to be respectful to our parents - this is illustrated by His relationship with both sets of His parents. He teaches us how to be a good sibling - His relationships with Balarama in particular illustrates this. He teaches us how to be a good friend - how He treated Draupadi and His friendships with the Gopas and Gopis. He even shows us how to be an attentive partner - His relationship with Radharani. He teaches us how to be a good relative - He was Arjuna's dearest friend. He was kind to strangers - He filled the woman's basket with jewels. He was good to animals - He fed the cows and tended to them daily. Kanhaji shows us how to approach each relationship. Jai Shri Krishna!

Kanhaji grants us compassion

Compassion is not something we may feel every day. It may not even be something that we can feel for all living being. However, Kanhaji grants us compassion. He gives us the power to understand what others may be going through - negative or positive. He does this so that we can realise how much we have to be thankful for and that we should also contribute to the wellbeing of others. It is the month of December and the Christmas season is fast approaching. Even though Hindus do not celebrate Christmas in the tradition sense - we do engage in basic festivities - going to relatives' houses, cooking up a storm, exchanging gifts. Even that is a type of compassion - being able to celebrate with others and especially with relatives and friends - is a major privilege. We must remember that and thank Kanhaji for the opportunity. Jai Shri Krishna!

Kanhaji makes us happy

Happiness is a state of mind. We hear this all the time. Kanhaji knows this and He does things that will always make us happy. He takes care of us, He loves us and He keeps us safe. Whenever something happens that troubles or upsets us, He helps us and takes care of it. He is always with us and it is up to us to remember Him and push the negative thoughts away while we think of Him. "For one who is so situated in the Divine consciousness, the threefold miseries of material existence exist no longer; in such a happy state, one's intelligence soon becomes steady." Chapter 2 Shloka 65 Srimad Bhagavad Gita. In the above Shloka Kanhaji clearly says that persons are only happy after they become one with Him. We should follow His words and meditate on Him in an effort to achieve perfect happiness. Jai Shri Krishna!

Learning from others' mistakes

There is a well-known saying that we must make our own mistakes to truly live. That may be true for some things. I agree that certain things must be experienced firsthand. But, another saying comes to mind: A wise man learns from the mistakes of others, a fool learns from his own. Perhaps the second proverb is a little harsh. Some things are learned only by doing after all - imagine trying to drive a car, as much as we read about the theory we only truly learn by doing. However, while driving we may look at other and see mistakes they have made and try to alter our own techniques so that we do not do the same. Kanhaji gives us multiple opportunities to learn from the mistakes of others. Again, while watching Ekta Kapoor's Kahani Mahabharat Ki all I can really think is that this whole situation was due to little errors made along the way. In the end things escalated to such a horrible battle that left so many people hurt and many other lives taken. I think that watching the Mahabharat, reading about it and reading Kanhaji's words in the Srimad Bhagavad Gita will help us to learn from the mistakes of others and see how to change our lives for the better. We should not accept that we are allowed to make mistakes. We should always enter a situation trying to do the right thing. After all, Kanhaji sent us here to make a positive difference in the world. In the end we do not want to have any regrets - no matter how people see us - as too holy or too good, always doing the right thing, not enough fun in our lives - the only opinion that truly counts is that of Kanhaji. As long as He is happy with our actions, we should continue. "How much greater then are the brahmanas, the righteous, the devotees and saintly kings who in this temporary miserable world engage in loving service unto Me." Chapter 9, Shloka 33 Srimad Bhagavad Gita In the above verse Kanhaji says that devotion to Him is the ultimate way to attain His divine presence. "O son of Kunti, learn from Me in brief how one can attain to the supreme perfectional stage, Brahman, by acting in the way I shall now summarize." Chapter 18, Shloka 50 Srimad Bhagavad Gita This verse clearly states that we should read Kanhaji's words and follow them in order to attain peace. Jai Shri Krishna!

Kanhaji knows what is right

How often do we find ourselves disliking the position we are in and blaming God for it? He is not to blame. He knows what should be done given our prior decisions. Free will means that we make our own decisions and He helps us to deal with them. We cannot blame Him for something that we created for ourselves. What we can do is ask for His guidance along the way and pray that He will help us to choose the right path for whatever it is we are trying to do. I think that most people think of Kanhaji as someone to be feared. Our general concept of God is that He is a distant figure who we should pray to for the purpose of pleasing Him. But, I realised a long time ago that Kanhaji is not some formidable being waiting to punish us. He can also be our friend, our parent, whatever we want Him to be in our lives. Kanhaji loves us and cares for us and He will feel hurt when we blame Him for the negative things that happen in our lives. Those who are parents - think of how badly you feel when your children blame you for their mistakes. All of us - we don't like to be blamed for something that is not our fault. So of course He will be sad when we do that. We should remember that He loves us and we should try to forge a better relationship with Him by talking to Him constantly, confiding in Him and loving Him. Truly loving Kanhaji is not something that can be forced or taught. It is something that happens on its own. It is similar to falling in love with a person - as the relationship grows, so do the feelings. Let us try to form a better relationship with Kanhaji today. Jai Shri Krishna!

Kanhaji's miracles

Miracles happen when Kanhaji wants them to. He can make anything happen and He does that sometimes. He uses His divine ability to correct wrongs, to heal the ill and to help us all. Jai Shri Krishna!

Meditation

In my quest to find an appropriate definition for 'meditation' I of course turned to www.dictionary.com! There I found a separate link for 'transcendental meditation' which is defined in this way: "transcendental meditation  noun a technique, based on ancient Hindu writings, by which one seeks to achieve a relaxed state through regular periods of meditation during which a mantra is repeated. Abbreviation: TM" (from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/transcendental+meditation). Meditation in this form is done to focus only on God. I was recently watching the show 'Kahani Mahabharat Ki' produced by Ekta Kapoor and that shows how people can impress God by meditating and He grants them a boon. When we pray we often ask for things - help, protection, love, miracles. Kanhaji tries to grant our wishes but in the end He must only do what is right. He cannot grant all of our wishes because sometimes what we ask for is not a good desire for ourselves. He knows what is good for us and what isn't and we should trust Him. Meditation today helps us to focus on God and to be closer to Kanhaji. It helps us to train our minds to think about only good things and not negative things. Chants like 'Hare Krishna' help us to remain focused while meditating. There are many songs that also help us along. What I like about meditation is the sense of peace achieved after it. And the negative thoughts can be driven away with practice and hard work, like everything else in life meditation requires practice. According to the Srimad Bhagvad Gita: "He who meditates on the Supreme Personality of Godhead, his mind constantly engaged in remembering Me, undeviated from the path, he, O Partha [Arjuna], is sure to reach Me." (Bhagvad Gita Chapter 8, Shloka 8 from the site: http://www.aboutkrishna.com) Therefore Kanhaji is telling us the way to get to Him and that is through meditation and constantly thinking of Him. I have chosen the picture I did today because Radharani is meditating on Kanhaji in this pictures. Were we so lucky to be in His presence like she was, would we have recognised Him for who He truly is? We should think about that and also try to be good to others because Kanhaji is all around. Jai Shri Krishna!

Kanhaji's motivation

Kanhaji motivates us to do our very best. He guides us and helps us to be better than we hoped and better than others expected. He wants us to achieve our full potential. In the Gita there are many times when Kanhaji encourages Arjuna to be who he was born to be and to fight: "Sanjaya said: Having spoken thus, Arjuna, chastiser of enemies, told Krsna, "Govinda, I shall not fight," and fell silent." Chapter #: 2 Shloka #: 9 "Only the material body of the indestructible, immeasurable and eternal living entity is subject to destruction; therefore, fight, O descendant of Bharata." Chapter #: 2 Shloka #: 18 "Considering your specific duty as a ksatriya, you should know that there is no better engagement for you than fighting on religious principles; and so there is no need for hesitation." Chapter #: 2 Shloka #: 31 "O Partha, happy are the ksatriyas to whom such fighting opportunities come unsought, opening for them the doors of the heavenly planets." Chapter #: 2 Shloka #: 32 "If, however, you do not fight this religious war, then you will certainly incur sins for neglecting your duties and thus lose your reputation as a fighter." Chapter #: 2 Shloka #: 33 "O son of Kunti, either you will be killed on the battlefield and attain the heavenly planets, or you will conquer and enjoy the earthly kingdom. Therefore get up and fight with determination." Chapter #: 2 Shloka #: 37 "Do thou fight for the sake of fighting, without considering happiness or distress, loss or gain, victory or defeat--and, by so doing, you shall never incur sin." Chapter #: 2 Shloka #: 38 "Therefore, O Arjuna, surrendering all your works unto Me, with mind intent on Me, and without desire for gain and free from egoism and lethargy, fight." Chapter #: 3 Shloka #: 30 "Therefore the doubts which have arisen in your heart out of ignorance should be slashed by the weapon of knowledge. Armed with yoga, O Bharata, stand and fight." Chapter #: 4 Shloka #: 42 "Therefore, Arjuna, you should always think of Me in the form of Krsna and at the same time carry out your prescribed duty of fighting. With your activities dedicated to Me and your mind and intelligence fixed on Me, you will attain Me without doubt." Chapter #: 8 Shloka #: 7 "Therefore get up and prepare to fight. After conquering your enemies you will enjoy a flourishing kingdom. They are already put to death by My arrangement, and you, O Savyasaci, can be but an instrument in the fight." Chapter #: 11 Shloka #: 33 "The Blessed Lord said: All the great warriors--Drona, Bhisma, Jayadratha, Karna--are already destroyed. Simply fight, and you will vanquish your enemies." Chapter #: 11 Shloka #: 34 "If you do not act according to My direction and do not fight, then you will be falsely directed. By your nature, you will have to be engaged in warfare." Chapter #: 18 Shloka #: 59 But this shows us that Kanhaji will always encourage us to do what He called us to do. He encourages Arjuna throughout and gives him the guidance he needs to do what he must. Kanhaji will encourage us to do the same. He will always help us to achieve what He wants for us. He will always take care of us. Jai Shri Krishna!

Focus

"As a boat on the water is swept away by a strong wind, even one of the senses on which the mind focuses can carry away a man's intelligence." Srimad Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2, Shloka 67 Procrastination is a big challenge for many of us. We tend to procrastinate because we always think that there is more time in the future to do something. We feel that last minute deadlines give us a rush and therefore if no one is bothering us for the work it cannot be that important to finish it in the allotted time. However, Kanhaji says in the above verse that we should all try to maintain our focus on tasks. For a long time I thought that multitasking was efficient and then I read an article that said that multitasking actually reduces our concentration since we never fully focus on one thing - instead we end up doing several things badly instead of one thing well. It is like being a 'jack of all trades but king of none'. To maintain our focus we must try to think of the thing we want and nothing else. We must want to be near to Kanhaji to really reach Him. We should think of Him all the time and try to do good for others and help others. We should try to complete the tasks we have been set and do them well. Maintaining our focus will take practice and of course, for each person the recipe is different - we must find the things that help us to focus on Kanhaji and apply them to our everyday lives - a picture of Him in our rooms or offices, a bhajan on our iPods, a book, a tune to hum. We can find ways to keep our minds focused on the right thing if we wish to, it will merely take practice, like everything in life. Jai Shri Krishna!

Kanhaji gives us knowledge

I begin with four quotes from the Srimad Bhagavad Gita: "O best among the Bharatas [Arjuna], four kinds of pious men render devotional service unto Me--the distressed, the desirer of wealth, the inquisitive, and he who is searching for knowledge of the Absolute." Chapter #: 7 Shloka #: 16 "Of these, the wise one who is in full knowledge in union with Me through pure devotional service is the best. For I am very dear to him, and he is dear to Me." Chapter #: 7 Shloka #: 17 "All these devotees are undoubtedly magnanimous souls, but he who is situated in knowledge of Me I consider verily to dwell in Me. Being engaged in My transcendental service, he attains Me." Chapter #: 7 Shloka #: 18 "After many births and deaths, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare." Chapter #: 7 Shloka #: 19 These quotes tell how much Kanhaji values the knowledge that we wish to get from Him. He thinks that those who wish to attain this knowledge are really His greatest devotees. We must strive to remember the first quote where He speaks about the four different kinds of devotees. We should try to see if we can elevate ourselves to the highest level of devotees. We can all privately assess ourselves to determine what group we are currently in and then try to move to another group that is higher up in their devotion to Kanhaji. Kanhaji gives us this kind of knowledge when we seek it. He also gives us another kind of knowledge - knowledge of ourselves and of what we need to do. Kanhaji helps us to understand who we are and what direction we should go in. He helps us to find our true calling, even if we first have to go through a few failed attempts. The important thing is that we remain focused on Him alone and that we do as He wants us to do. We can only really know this after we have prayed to Him many times and have asked for His guidance, love and forgiveness for sins we may have committed. He may punish us, we must know this. But, He will help us in the end. After all, Kanhaji is like a parent to us. We should always remember to follow his rules and our lives will run smoothly. Kanhaji, thank You for giving us knowledge. Jai Shri Krishna!

Kanhaji sends challenges

Kanhaji sends us challenges in life. He does this for a variety of reasons - to make us stronger, to punish us, to keep us from danger, to help us to be good people. When we are dealing with challenges we must remember to pray to Kanhaji - He will help us to overcome the challenges and to be successful. He will keep us safe and guide us always. Jai Shri Krishna!

Kanhaji helps us fight temptation

There are many different kinds of temptations out there. The world is a wonderful place but it is also filled with diversity. Diversity of course means that people also have diverse tastes - what some people like very much, others do not. It is because of the diversity that it is sometimes difficult to fight temptations that others have unknowingly (we hope) put in our way. Whatever temptation you are dealing with - food because you are on a diet, meat because you are fasting, all food because you are doing a vrat, certain exercises and movements because you are ill. We all have temptations to fight. But, Kanhaji helps us. When He is at our side, we shall always succeed. Jai Shri Krishna!

Kanhaji sends love

Kanhaji sends us His love in many different ways - He showers blessings on us in the form of rain, and we may complain that our clothes, hair, cars may be spoilt because of it. But we should also think of what will happen if rain ceases to fall. How will we get water? Will we have it in enough quantities to cook, wash, clean, work. Kanhaji gives us the blessings of a loving family and people who care deeply for us. However, we complain that they are too stifling - they set too many rules and they are not lenient enough. But have we ever stopped to think about those who long for parents, siblings, an extended family? Have we ever stopped to think about anyone but ourselves? Kanhaji offers us food and we say that the food is unhealthy. How about those in the poor countries who are unable to get food for months on end? Kanhaji gives us the means to have material possessions. But, we always compare what we have to what others have. There really is no pleasing people. However, Kanhaji manages to enter all of our hearts and make us feel as peace and at ease. He keeps us safe and He uses the little opportunities to show us life's lessons and to help us to be grateful to those around us. Jai Shri Krishna!

Blessings

Kanhaji showers His blessings on us all the time and when we look around sometimes we compare our lives to others and feel that we are coming short. However, we are not capable of judging one person's life versus our own. Every person's life has their own problems, challenges and hardships. Kanhaji has made it so that we suffer sometimes to remind ourselves that we are only human and that we do in fact need Him. It may sound cruel to put it like that but the truth is that humans like to think of themselves, of ourselves, as self-sufficient and therefore that we only need Kanhaji to intervene in times of need. But the truth is that we need Him all the time. Today I was walking along the road and I saw so many people who have a harder life than me, and so many who I think have a better life than I do. There were many sick people, many wealthy people and many others just like myself, or maybe not so much like me because, who am I to judge? This contrast of persons made me realise that I have so much to thank Kanhaji for. He has given me so much, even if I do sometimes act ungrateful like it is not quite enough, I know that Kanhaji has given me a lot and that I should thank Him every day, all the time for the wonderful life He has given to me. I hope that everyone reading this realises that Kanhaji is with us all and that we should all say a special prayer for those less fortunate than us so that He may be with them and help them too. Jai Shri Krishna!