THE Ganges is the holiest river, Krishna is the greatest God, Srimad Bhagavata is the most authoritative Purana and Sambhu is the crown and glory of the Vaishnava world. In certain cycles he shoots forth from the forehead of Vidhi the creator while in others he issues out of the forehead of Sri Vishnu the protector and at the end of the cycle he comes out of Samkarshan as the Fire of Universal cataclysm. As an inseparate part of Krishna he is above Maya the illusory energy of Krishna and as a separated part of Krishna he plays the part of a jiva. As an inseparate part of Krishna he exists eternally at Siva Loka in Baikuntha as the attendant of Sri Bhagaban the Supreme Lord and is known as Sada Siva. As a separated part of Krishna he lives at Kailash and Kashi, reputed as Siva the Destroyer, regarded as a jiva and disappears at the time of universal cataclysm...

THE sage-king Agnidhra had nine sons. The virtuous Nabhi, the eldest of them being childless devoted himself with one mind and in the company of his wife Meru-devi, to the worship of Sri Hari by the method of sacrifices. The ever merciful God-head was pleased with his devotion and at his prayer appeared before him in His captivating four-handed Form in silk cloth, and with conch, disc, club and lotus in four hands. Like a poor man on receipt of unexpected and immense treasure the pious couple were beside themselves at the appearance of the God of their worship before them, made prostrations before Him and hymned Him in various manners. The sacrificial priest too did the same and begged of Him two boons. They said,--“My Lord! we are, indeed blessed at the very rarely obtainable sight of Thyself. But when in the times of our hunger, fall, (or degradation) disappointment and miseries we shall fail to remember Thee, may Thy Name, undifferentiated from Thy qualities and destroyer of all sins, be uttered on our tongues. Our second prayer is on behalf of this most virtuous king who desires an issue for the sake of his subjects, like the prayer for a grain of hollow husk from the hands of Kubera, the giver of wealth. But my Lord! Thou art verily the Desire-tree, mayst Thou fulfil the desire of Thy devotee!” The merciful God having agreed to their prayer, disappeared.

It is asserted by all God-loving people that God-head being the Fountain-head of all energies displays His Eternal Manifestations both in transcendental and mundane regions. In the phenomenal existence, He is targeted as Nature or the Dependant Fountain-head of the Supreme Authority God-head. The phenomena represent her service to a sensuous agent who is sometimes considered as a part and parcel of phenomena. The different attributions that are to be found in matter have got different denominations from their essence or spirit. So, the spirit is considered to be non-transformable. God-head being the Fountain-head of all energies has had the authority of delegating an inconceivable power to retain the eternity of the Spiritual Kingdom opposing to the conception of the investigators of temporal world. In determining the energy conferred on phenomena, we find the three different phases of quality. And this quality is fully restricted in quantitative reference and liable to be intermixed with one another. The qualities are known in three different aspects, when we take into account the question of time. Prior to the existence, along with existence and after the existence are the three different stages of the said quality...

The conversation of Vidura addressed to king Dhritarashtra just before the departure of the later from this world are given in the Bhagabatam in a detailed form. The substance of them will be found in the article on Vidura in the previous issue of this journal (Pp. 9-13). Vidura was naturally grieved on finding his aged brother unable to turn his mind to Godhead and to extricate himself from hankering for the enjoyments of life even after the extirpation of his family by his evil counsel. Vidura knew that it would never be possible for king Dhritarashtra to listen good counsel unless he threw himself personally and unconditionally on the protection of Godhead. By a variety of arguments Vidura succeeded in creating in the mind of Dhritarashtra extreme repugnance against his abject mode of living. King Dhritarashtra and his virtuous queen Gandhari were induced to leave the protection of the Pandavas, steal out of their palace and betake themselves to the solitudes of the Himalayas for the undisturbed opportunity of fixing their minds on the mercy of Godhead. Vidura accompanied them to the Saptasrota and helped with his advice up to the last moment of their earthly lives.

Her eyes swooned and her senses were struck dumb, as she opened her humble cottage door and the glory of Krishna burst upon her. True, she was a slave-girl at the court of King Devaka, but all the resplendence she had witnessed there paled into insignificance before this vision. Even His consorts who are always dallying with Him are overwhelmed anew with irresistible joy and desire when He appears before them. Lakshmi herself, famed for her fickleness, cannot quit His feet for a moment. Like a cloud decked in sunlight He appeared at her cottage door by the banks of the Holy Ganges over on the other side of the loyal town of Hastnapore.

To err is human. However learned and intelligent a man may be, he is liable to a creeping error. The greatest philosopher should always remember that human nature is at every moment apt to fall into various errors, especially when we undertake to judge of things, spiritual and eternal, with our empiric knowledge. Of all human excellencies, reason is undoubtedly the greatest; but it has its own jurisdiction. There are men whom Nature has indeed favoured with superior powers. Our mind again is always changeable. We accept a theory today and reject the same a few days after. Every one so often experiences the fallacy of theories established by great men. The great inequality that we often perceive in the productions of the mind of the same man should discourage dogmatism. A man’s body varies with the weather and time, and changes oftener than the moon; so the mind must rise and fall like the mercury in the tube. It is one hour pure as ether; the next moment, foul as the thickest fog...

The vast scale on which the celebrations on the occasion of the Solar Eclipse at Kurukshetra have been organised would appear to many persons as a huge and unpardonable waste of the none too sufficient resources of the poorest country of the world. The Solar Eclipse as an astronomical phenomenon has been fully explained by science and no one in this twentieth century can be pardoned if he seriously pretends to be ignorant of its real explanation.

The observance of bathing in the sacred pool of Shyamanta Panchak on the occasion of the Solar Eclipse is an ancient pan-Indian institution. It rests on a wellknown legend. The Brahma Kundu was formed by the blood of Kshatriyas who were exterminated, for their ambition to dominate over the Brahmanas, by Parashurama one of the secondary Avatars of Vishnu who also did not scruple to kill his own mother in the cause of the eternal religion. For this reason the pool possesses the quality of freeing the bathers from all sin...