Swami Mukundananda Audio Podcast

Shree Krishna is the biggest rasik. He is called Rasik Shiromani. Moreover, He is considered rasik in two ways- He grants ras to the devotees and He experiences the ras from His devotees. But why does God need ras from us? The reason is, the ras that He gets from Himself is called Swaroopanand and the ras which He grants devotees is called Swaroop-shaktya-anand, which is more sweeter.

What is this ras? To relish bliss is ras. It is the essence of happiness. The material ras can be divided into three categories. Tamasic (mode of ignorance) ras is highly destructive to the soul. It throws a person to the deep darkness. Rajasik (mode of passion) ras, though higher in experience than Tamasic, is also not at all satisfying to the soul. In fact it is very disturbing. Rajasik ras is like the itching sensation, the more you scratch more it comes back. Satvik (mode of goodness) ras is much higher than these two and is elevating to the soul but not yet liberating, it cannot satisfy the soul. Why? listen to get the answer.

God is under the influence of love and He has this rule- as much as you love me, that much I will also love you. If you say-"O God! you do not have any personality, you are just light", God will say, "Alright, I will meet you as light." If you say-"No God, I am not satisfied with light, I want to see you and I want to witness your Divine pastimes, and tie you up with a rope, and take care of you like mother Yashoda", God will say, "Alright, then I am your child." God has this rule that whichever soul loves him at whatever time to whatever extend in whichever bhav; God will love the soul back at the same time to same extend with the same bhav. In this episode, Swami Mukundananda explains beautifully this law of God with examples and quotes from the scriptures.

If a layman was to be asked to describe this body, he would describe it in terms of the parts-hands, head, feet, stomach, etc. If a doctor was asked to describe this body, he would probably do so in terms of the organs-kidneys, lungs, heart, lever, etc. Similarly, if a chemist were asked to describe it, he would do the same thing. He would probably say, it consists of atoms and molecules. In the lecture "Prescriptions for Happiness" Swamiji offers a different perspective on health to medical students, teachers and practitioners in India.