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Post by laughter on Apr 21, 2019 11:13:35 GMT -5
Since infancy when the mind is not yet developed most of the entity's activities are geared towards sleeping, crying, sucking, defecating, urinating. The eyes opened perceive what's present the front, back or side to side. Accumulating information coming from tactile senses and this hearing of sounds from the outside. The infant sleeps most of the time, frequently goes into a dream. Conscious of his past lives he goes here and there in his dream. When the infant becomes a child then moves forward to puberty then adulthood and old age,his mind accumulates knowledge, experiences from the years gone by. In his dreams, the developed entity that has gone to maturity dreams of the present world he has waken to. At the end of life after knowing the truth, " Everything is only a dream " relinquish his body. Awake in a dream, he decides to go home back to Godhead. View AttachmentOr he may not. He's free to do what he pleases. Until he gets a body in the next life. Father Joe made an emphatic point during the vigil homily last night: "the resurrection starts here and now". Happy Easter dude.
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Post by krsnaraja on Jan 3, 2020 9:11:41 GMT -5
-Krsna the Primeval Lord Govinda is God in the Vedic scriptures.. Krsna who is the main character in the Bhagavad Gita says , "Aham Brahmasmi " that which means, " I am Brahman." -In Advaita Vedanta, Brahman /Atman is that ever present, infinite awareness or consciousness situated in the heart of all living beings. It's beyond body, prana , mind, intellect and blankness. Consciousness accdg to Sankaracharya can't be described in any form of language. -It is consciousness that lightens up our thoughts, emotions and experiences. Though these things change, consciousness is unchanging. -The Goal of Krsna consciousness is to always meditate on Krsna's beauty, His glorious pastimes and teachings (using one's body, mind and intellect) That way, one ultimately realizes that he ( devotee) is the enjoyed while Krsna (God) is the enjoyer. (Acintya - Abheda - bheda - Tattva).
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Post by krsnaraja on Jan 5, 2020 2:08:16 GMT -5
The Dualists tells you that Krsna appearing in Consciousness is the Param Brahman /Supreme Brahman (consciousness that has taken form.) That this form is the supreme of all forms.
That (Krsna) which appears in Consciousness from without is God appearing as Param Brahman. Non Dualists accept a formless God as impersonal Brahman . The personal form of God to an advaitist is maya/illusion. So, to a non dualist Krsna (God) appearing in Consciousness is an illusion.
Krsna to a devotee sees Krsna from without (Param Brahman) and within (Brahman) consciousness. This philosophy is called Krsna consciousness.
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Post by krsnaraja on Jan 7, 2020 0:25:10 GMT -5
The basic teaching of non duality is what you experience while awake is life. What you experience while sleeping is a dream.
Death is simply deep sleep. When there's the absence of experience. What remains is Consciousness(Brahman).
In non-duality, there's no such thing as life since it's an experience while awake. Death is the cessation of experience, dreaming or awake.
At death, the living entity is merely in deep sleep, the absence of experience. What is present is only consciousness.
If the seeker is looking for consciousness while awake or sleeping he won't find it. Only when one is in deep sleep /death that consciousness is found.
If you want to find God Brahman, die first or go into deep sleep.
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Post by krsnaraja on Jan 7, 2020 0:52:38 GMT -5
Since one can't see consciousness while awake or sleeping only in deep sleep or death. We can only appreciate consciousness appearing as butterfly, dog, human being, trees and mountains. They are objects arising in Consciousness known as maya /illusion. Consciousness can't be this butterfly or human being.
What is real is when consciousness appears in the form of Param Brahman. This supreme form of all forms Krsna which nondualists consider is said to be unreal is Krsna.
To a pure devotee of Krsna he /she need not die or go into deep sleep to find Brahman. In Krsna the Param Brahman appearing in Consciousness is found.
When we say Brahman is a tree, it is not. When we say the human being is consciousness it's not either. But when one says Krsna is Param Brahman appearing in Consciousness Himself then one says that's It!
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Post by krsnaraja on Jan 7, 2020 14:39:43 GMT -5
By replacing our unwanted thoughts with Hare Krsna is an effective way of counteracting the effects of the illusory energy of Maya.
Maya, (Sanskrit: “magic” or “illusion”) is a fundamental concept in Hindu philosophy, notably in the Advaita (Nondualist) school of Vedanta. Maya originally denoted the magic power with which a god can make human beings believe in what turns out to be an illusion.
By chanting Hare Krsna , one reaps unlimited benefits, culminating in Krsna consciousness and love of God/Brahman. By chanting Hare Krsna we can control the mind, instead of letting it control us. By replacing our thoughts with Hare Krsna, we deliver the mind from Maya.
Try it instead of letting the mind go into silent mode.
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Post by krsnaraja on Jan 7, 2020 18:03:37 GMT -5
The mind can't relax for even a minute in this hi tech world. It gets distracted by Facebook, messages from our phones, from our day to day routine of cleansing the body, dressing and grooming the body perfuming the body, making the body look good to the spouse, children and friends at home and work.
Then there's the task of earning a living. The mind has to think how to please clients, business associates, customers employers, employees. The mind can't relax putting stress on the body. You could drink wine or whiskey to sooth the mind, make the mind elated by smoking weed, go to a temple /church to meditate, maybe just all sorts of things to do to calm the mind just to be at peace.
If you want real peace , enjoy the bliss of it all in the midst of this phantasmagoria. Why not Hare Krsna? Even ST can't escape illusion /maya. Take for example the thread " There's only what you are.". There's a lot of disagreeing here. So many replies of not agreeing on the phrase, "self reference." What is that? The answer should be simpler so that others will understand.
What a loss of energy. Yet all of these become worthwhile if only the discussions is devoid of pride. The arguing will surely stop. Enlightenment comes when we humble ourselves.
Hare Krsna
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Post by krsnaraja on Jan 9, 2020 11:21:34 GMT -5
The natural question is how does Advaita explain the world of multiplicity? Why do we not know this nondual Brahman if that is what we really are?
Avidya (ignorance) is the key philosophical concept in Advaita as it is used in ontology, epistemology and axiology. Ontologically, Advaita has to explain the ontological status of the experienced world of multiplicity, and more specifically, how the many has come from the One Brahman.
Giving the famous example of the rope mistaken for the snake, Advaita postulates ignorance or avidya as the cause of the world. Just as we might mistake a rope in semi-darkness for a snake, because we are in ignorance of the rope, we are in error when we perceive a world of multiplicity and this error is the outcome of our ignorance of Brahman - or in one word, avidya.
It is due to the avidya about Brahman that we see ourselves as limited individual beings. The One is mistaken as the many and this mistake is due to avidya.
In epistemology, we necessarily postulate a knower, the known and knowledge.Advaita holds that it is due to avidya that Brahman appears as these three. It is Brahman as pure consciousness shining upon the mind which makes knowledge possible.In axiology, the realm of values. The whole aim of life becomes liberation from the bondage caused by avidya. Due to avidya, we imagine ourselves as limited mind-body complexes subject to birth, change, disease and death. We act in accordance with our fears and desires and are bound by the consequences of our actions. This is suffering, and freedom from suffering can come only by overcoming avidya. Only knowledge can overcome ignorance. So, the quest is to discover who we truly are.And in this quest, ethics, religion and spirituality are all relevant. They are all valid and indeed, necessary, till enlightenment is attained.
Enlightenment is the intuitive realization that the self, Atman, is not body/mind but, Brahman, the ultimate nondual reality.
Krsna (Param Brahman) compares vidya and avidya to day and night respectively (Gita 2.69). " Brahman, the ultimate reality, is like the darkness of the night to those in the thrall of avidya, while it is as clear as day to the enlightened who have overcome avidya."
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Post by krsnaraja on Jan 9, 2020 11:31:29 GMT -5
The Nondual Reality
The essential theory of Advaita Vedanta is that, " Reality is nondual, duality is a false appearance, and the individual is none other than that nondual reality." The nondual reality is called Brahman (literally, ‘the vast’). This means that it is the only existing reality, there being no second entity except Krsna (Param Brahman) apart from it. Brahman is (Chit) consciousness, (Sat ) absolute existence and (Ananda) bliss.
Chit , pure consciousness, is not an empirical experience - non perception or apperception - yet all experiences shine in Chit. the pure consciousness illuminating every thought, every experience through the medium of mind, senses and body. To the enlightened, Chit is experienced in each experience.
Sat, the real you, true Self, is not a thing, an object, among other objects in this world . Rather It is the very existence of all things and they are not apart from It. To the enlightened, each object is an appearance which derives its very being from Sat.
All the happiness we seek in the world is but a particle of the ocean of our own Anandaswarupa, our true Blissful Self. To the enlightened, all experiences, apparently pleasant or unpleasant, reflect Bliss.
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Post by krsnaraja on Jan 9, 2020 12:09:38 GMT -5
The Secret of Action
The Bhagavad Gita can be read as the Vedantic philosophy of action. Here, Arjuna’s questions arise in the field of action (the battlefield) and are concerned with his moral dilemma about the nature of the actions which he is about to undertake, viz., fightinga war. The philosophy of action, Karma Yoga, is certainly one of the main themes of the Gita, along with devotion (Bhakti Yoga), contemplation (Dhyana Yoga) and knowledge (Jnana Yoga).
In the fourth chapter of the Gita, Krsna ( Param Brahman) says that the nature of action is mysterious. "For there is something to be known even about action…and something has to be known about inaction. The true nature of action is inscrutable. One who understands the secret of action sees inaction in action, and conversely, action in inaction."
The actual verse goes this way," Karmanyakaram yah pashyet akarmani karma yah, Sa budhhiman manushyeshu sa yuktah kritsnakarmakrit. (4.18) " He who finds inaction in action, and action in inaction, he is wise among men; he is engaged in yoga and is a performer of all actions!"
The essential theory of Advaita Vedanta is that, " Reality is nondual, duality is a false appearance, and the individual is none other than that nondual reality." The nondual reality is called Brahman (literally, ‘the vast’).
This means that it is the only existing reality, there being no second entity apart from it. Brahman is absolute existence, consciousness and bliss.
Having promised to unveil the mystery of action, Krsna (Param Brahman) now appears to speak in riddles.
How can one see no action where there is action and vice-versa? And even if one could, how would it be wisdom? What is the point of this paradoxical statement?
Brahman is free of all differentiation (bheda). It does not have internal difference ( swagata bheda) like a tree has constituent branches, leaves, trunk and roots. Nor are there similar entities from which it differs (sajatiya bheda) like one tree differs from other trees. And finally, there are no dissimilar entities from which Brahman can differ (vijatiya bheda) like a tree differs from cats or birds or mountains.
The concept that there is no entity which can exist apart from Brahman or Advaitam ( one without a second) isn't true. Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu who advocated " Acintya - Bheda - Abheda - Tattva" says that Brahman and Krsna (Param Brahman) are One and yet simultaneously different.
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Post by krsnaraja on Jan 9, 2020 12:22:03 GMT -5
The Secret of Action
The Bhagavad Gita can be read as the Vedantic philosophy of action. Here, Arjuna’s questions arise in the field of action (the battlefield) and are concerned with his moral dilemma about the nature of the actions which he is about to undertake, viz., fightinga war. The philosophy of action, Karma Yoga, is certainly one of the main themes of the Gita, along with devotion (Bhakti Yoga), contemplation (Dhyana Yoga) and knowledge (Jnana Yoga).
In the fourth chapter of the Gita, Krsna ( Param Brahman) says that the nature of action is mysterious. "For there is something to be known even about action…and something has to be known about inaction. The true nature of action is inscrutable. One who understands the secret of action sees inaction in action, and conversely, action in inaction."
The actual verse goes this way," Karmanyakaram yah pashyet akarmani karma yah, Sa budhhiman manushyeshu sa yuktah kritsnakarmakrit. (4.18) " He who finds inaction in action, and action in inaction, he is wise among men; he is engaged in yoga and is a performer of all actions!"
The essential theory of Advaita Vedanta is that, " Reality is nondual, duality is a false appearance, and the individual is none other than that nondual reality." The nondual reality is called Brahman (literally, ‘the vast’).
This means that it is the only existing reality, there being no second entity apart from it. Brahman is absolute existence, consciousness and bliss.
Having promised to unveil the mystery of action, Krsna (Param Brahman) now appears to speak in riddles.
How can one see no action where there is action and vice-versa? And even if one could, how would it be wisdom? What is the point of this paradoxical statement?
Brahman is free of all differentiation (bheda). It does not have internal difference ( swagata bheda) like a tree has constituent branches, leaves, trunk and roots. Nor are there similar entities from which it differs (sajatiya bheda) like one tree differs from other trees. And finally, there are no dissimilar entities from which Brahman can differ (vijatiya bheda) like a tree differs from cats or birds or mountains.
The concept that there is no entity which can exist apart from Brahman or Advaitam ( one without a second) isn't true. Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu who advocated " Acintya - Bheda - Abheda - Tattva" says that Brahman and Krsna (Param Brahman) are One and yet simultaneously different.
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Post by krsnaraja on Jan 9, 2020 17:54:40 GMT -5
The Limits of Language
By S. Sarvapriyananda
Language can be used only when certain conditions are met. These are called Sabda pravritti nimitta occasions/causal conditions for the use of language, and they are five in number. If in an entity, one or more of these conditions are present, we can successfully use language to refer to that entity. Brahman, as we shall now see, meets none of these conditions.
1. Jati or class If the object belongs to a class, we can use the class/species/set as a description. A ‘cow’ refers to an animal which belongs to a class of animals called ‘cow’. Brahman, being singular, does not belong to any class.
2.Guna or quality- When we say ‘red lotus’ the colour red indicates the lotus and differentiates it from, say, a ‘blue lotus’. But, Brahman is qualityless (nirguna).
3. Kriya or action – The presence of an action or function can serve to distinguishan entity from others. Terms like ‘driver’ or ‘cook’ work by using the functions of cooking or driving. But Brahman has absolutely no change or action (nishkriyam)
4.Sambandha or relation–Relations are a very useful basis for the use of language. ‘Teacher’, ‘student’, ‘father’ or ‘child’ are relation based descriptions. But relations require at least two entities. Brahman, being nondual, has no second entity to which It can bear some relation.
5. Rudhi or convention– We can name something just by convention. Most proper names are given by convention. But, this requires the entity to be pointed out, distinguished from all others. If I say, ‘He is John,’ I must, physically or otherwise, point out John. Brahman, being imperceptible, cannot be pointed out.Since Brahman does not possess any of the causal conditions for the use of language,it lies beyond the limits of language.
Language cannot refer to Brahman, we cannot speak of it. Brahman remains forever inexpressible. Brahman is a -vak-manasa-gocara " beyond the reach of words and thought." But this won’t do as it puts Advaita in an impossible situation. On one hand, the scriptures like the Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita are supposed to reveal Brahman,and on the other, they cannot, for they are after all, only words. So, how do they manage to do the impossible?
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Post by krsnaraja on Jan 9, 2020 19:49:03 GMT -5
Advaita guides us through an analysis of our daily experience (action and inaction in this case) to distinguish the true Self ( Atma) from the non-self (anatman). The real Self is pure consciousness, while the apparent self is the ego (ahamkara) which is merely a function of the mind (antahkarana). Like the filament in a bulb which glows because of electricity, the ego is lit up by pure consciousness and we become aware of ourselves and others.
Then the ego appropriates to itself the mind with all its memories, hopes and fears, knowledge and limitations. Encased in this body-mind complex, the ego then engages in various actions (or tries to be inactive) and sets in motion the whole cycle of karma, karmic results, birth and death. This is our life as we know it now.
The whole exercise is to discriminate pure consciousness from the ego and to know that we are pure consciousness, Atman , and not the ego. The Atman neither acts, nor gets any karmic consequences and, therefore, does not transmigrate. All actions are in the pursuit of fulfilment.
The ego acts only because it feels itself to be a limited human being, unfulfilled and subject to hopes and desires, fears and frustrations. The enlightened person, knowing himself to be Infinite existence-consciousness-bliss is always fulfilled. Hence, he is called kritsna-karma-krit , the one who has accomplished all actions, because he is ever fulfilled.
This does not mean that the enlightened Yogi is inactive. There is no more action prompted by dissatisfaction, but there could very well be altruistic action. There could be the most intense action for the welfare of the world.
Karma Yoga requires involvement with society and the world. The karma yogi must seek peace and calm within the hurly-burly of work and not by running away from society.
The karma yogi, in the midst of the greatest silence and solitude, finds the most intense activity, and in the midst of the most intense activity finds the silence and solitude of the desert. He goes through the busy streets of London, and his mind is as calm as if he were in a Himalayan cave, where not a sound could reach him; and he is intensely working all the time. That is the ideal of karma yoga, that is the secret of work.
We do see this in the lives of the great enlightened spiritual teachers of humanity whether it be Krsna (Param Brahman) himself, or the Buddha, Christ, Prophet Muhammad, Sankaracharya. All of them led the most active lives, working for the welfare of all
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Post by krsnaraja on Jan 9, 2020 20:21:02 GMT -5
Shankaracharya mentions the story of an enquirer who asks a spiritual master repeatedly about Brahman but the answer is always silence. The master finally explains his silence thus, ‘I teach but you comprehend not –silence is the Self.’
The teaching of Brahman through silence is well known in the Advaita tradition. But, if we are to speak at all, is there any way in which Brahman can be meaningfully spoken about? Advaita has some very innovative strategies to do exactly that. Some of those strategies are briefly noted below.
1. The via negative or apophatic method – Neti, neti ‘not this, nor that’ :The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad describes the true Self as ‘neti, neti' Atma. By eliminating every entity that is an object of perception or thought, there remains that inexpressible Self which is not an object, which is the pure subject.
The Taittiriya Upanishad proceeds by this method of negation by relegating to an atman (non-self) the physical, vital, mental, intellectual and causal sheaths.
By implied meaning – lakshyartha: Words cannot directly refer to Brahman but they have a certain power by which they can indirectly indicate Brahman. This is the power of implied meaning. Imagine the Mr. Smith whom you knew thirty years ago as a young, fit scholar at Oxford is now middle aged, portly and a successful businessman in London. And you are moved to exclaim, ‘He is that Smith!’ We have no difficultly in understanding what you mean. We naturally ignore the contradictory characteristics of past and present, young and old, fit and fat, scholar and businessman, Oxford and London. We understand you mean the person himself, bereft of all these contradictory adjectives. Similarly, when the Upanishad says ‘You are God!’ we are to ignore the contradictory qualities of creature and Creator, human and Divine, and understand God and you are the essentially the same Brahman, Existence-Consciousness-Bliss.
By using incidental (non-essential) qualities:Brahman is without qualifying attributes by which we mean Brahman has no intrinsic qualities. But there are incidental or non-intrinsic qualities which the scripture can skillfully utilize to indicate Brahman. Just as you point out a house saying, ’Its that house over there with the crow sitting on the roof,’ where the crow not in any way an intrinsic part of the house, nevertheless performs the very useful function of differentiating the house from other houses (which presumably are not adorned with sundry crows at that moment!).
Similarly, Brahman can be provisionally defined as the Creator, Preserver and Destroyer of the universe (which It is not in reality, for there is no real world to create, maintain or destroy). Or the Self can be indicated as the witness of the mind.This is perhaps the main stratagem adopted by Advaita. Incidental qualities are superimposed and then negated so that the student can, hopefully, intuitively grasp Brahman as the ground of negation.
Shankaracharya himself says, ‘ adhyaropa-apavadabhyam nisprapancam prapancyate ’ - the traditional spiritual teachers have taught Brahman, which is Transcendent, by the method of superimposition and de-superimposition.
The language of paradox:
This is pertinent to our present problem. Advaita teachers take the help of paradoxical language, playing off contradictory assertions against each other to indicate Brahman in which all contradictions are subsumed and transcended. Thus we find ‘That moves and moves not, It is far and near’, ‘Minuter than the minutest, vaster than the vastest…’ (Isha Upanishad) or , ‘Inaction in action, and action in inaction’.
According to the commentator, Krsna's purpose in deliberately using paradoxical language is to correct an error. Under the influence of avidya, the unenlightened tend to superimpose the actions of body/mind upon the actionless Atman. Correction of this error would involve ‘seeing’(realizing) that our true self does not act at all even when the body/mind is acting.
Shankaracharya comments, ‘…viparyaya nivritti artham Bhagavato vacanam ‘karmani akarma yah ityadi‘…it is to correct the error that the Lord ( Krsna ) speaks " He who sees inaction inaction’ etc"
The commentator uses a telling image.
To a man in a boat sailing on a river, the motionless trees on the bank may suddenly appear to move. Similarly, the actions of body/mind are attributed to the unchanging Self and we feel, ‘I am walking, talking and thinking.’
Equally, to the unenlightened, sitting down quietly means inaction. Still identified with the body/mind, they are unable to see that the enforced stillness of the body is also action. The enlightened see that this so called ‘inaction’ is actually action. Such an enlightened person, seeing oneself as the actionless Atman while active in body and mind, and understanding the inactivity of the unenlightened to be as good as action, is truly wise. He is ever established in Brahman (yuktah) and has accomplished what human life is really meant for (spiritual enlightenment).
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Post by krsnaraja on Jan 10, 2020 0:51:07 GMT -5
A wise man who seeks Krsna knows perfectly well that he is spirit soul, or Brahman, and that Krsna is the supreme spirit soul, or Para-brahman
When Akrūra was fully satisfied in the presence of Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma, his eyes filled with tears of love for Kṛṣṇa, and he began to offer his prayers as follows.
“My dear Lord Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma, it is very kind of You to have killed Kaṁsa and his associates. You have delivered the whole family of the Yadu dynasty from the greatest calamity. The Yadus will always remember Your saving of their great dynasty. My dear Lord Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma, both of You are the original personality from whom everything has emanated, the original cause of all causes. You have inconceivable energy, and You are all-pervasive. There is no cause and effect, gross or subtle, but You. You are the Supreme Brahman realized through the study of the Vedas.
Akrūra continued: “In the material world, You create, maintain and dissolve the whole manifestation by the interactions of the three material qualities, namely goodness, passion and ignorance. But You are not implicated in the activities of those material qualities, for Your supreme knowledge is never overcome like the knowledge of the individual living entity.”
Akrūra continued: “Less intelligent men misunderstand Your transcendental form to be made of material energy. But that concept is not at all applicable to You. Actually, You are all-spiritual, and there is no difference between You and Your body. Therefore, there is no question of Your being conditioned or liberated. You are ever liberated in any condition of life. As stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, only fools and rascals consider You an ordinary man. To consider Your Lordship one of us, conditioned by the material nature, is a mistake due to our imperfect knowledge. When people deviate from the original knowledge of the Vedas, they try to identify the ordinary living entities with Your Lordship, who have appeared on this earth in Your original form to reestablish the real knowledge that the living entities are neither one with nor equal to the Supreme God. My dear Lord, You are always situated in uncontaminated goodness (śuddha-sattva). Your appearance is necessary to reestablish actual Vedic knowledge, as opposed to the atheistic philosophy which tries to establish that God and the living entities are one and the same. My dear Lord Kṛṣṇa, this time You have appeared in the home of Vasudeva as His son, with Your plenary expansion, Śrī Balarāma. Your mission is to kill all the atheistic royal families and destroy their huge military strength. You have advented Yourself to minimize the burden of the world, and to fulfill this mission You have glorified the dynasty of Yadu by appearing as one of its members."
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