WEAPONS TO BEAT MAYA – TILAKA, TULASI BEADS AND PRASADAM!
Wearing Tilaka, Tulasi Beads and Prasadam are the weapons to beat MAYA, ie, the powerful material energy.
Srila Rupa Gosvami has extensively spoken about how are the weapons to beat MAYA – Tilaka, Tulasi Beads and Prasadam protect us from the powerful material energy.
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In this Post, let us taste the nectar from Sri Rupa Gosvami about the role of Tilaka, Tulasi Beads and Prasadam as the weapons to beat MAYA, in the words of Srila Prabhupada:
“In the Padma Purana there is a statement describing how a Vaisnava should decorate his body with tilaka and beads: “Persons who put tulasi beads on the neck, who mark twelve places of their bodies as Visnu temples with Visnu’s symbolic representations [the four items held in the four hands of Lord Visnu–conch, mace, disc and lotus], and who have visnu-tilaka on their foreheads, are to be understood as the devotees of Lord Visnu in this world. Their presence makes the world purified, and anywhere they remain, they make that place as good as Vaikuntha.”
A similar statement is in the Skanda Purana, which says, “Persons who are decorated with tilaka or gopi-candana [a kind of clay resembling fuller’s earth which is produced in certain quarters of Vrndavana], and who mark their bodies all over with the holy names of the Lord, and on whose necks and breasts there are tulasi beads, are never approached by the Yamadutas.”
The Yamadutas are the constables of King Yama (the lord of death), who punishes all sinful men. Vaisnavas are never called for by such constables of Yamaraja.
In the Srimad-Bhagavatam, in the narration of Ajamila’s deliverance, it is said that Yamaraja gave clear instructions to his assistants not to approach the Vaisnavas.
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Vaisnavas are beyond the jurisdiction of Yamaraja’s activities.
The Padma Purana also mentions, “A person whose body is decorated with he pulp of sandalwood, with paintings of the holy name of the Lord, is delivered from all sinful reactions, and after his death he goes directly to Krsnaloka to live in association with the Supreme Personality of Godhead.”
Accepting Flower Garlands
The next instruction is that one should put on flower garlands which are offered to the Deity. In this connection, in the Eleventh Canto, Sixth Chapter, verse 46, of Srimad-Bhagavatam, Uddhava says to Krsna, “My dear Krsna, I have taken things which You have used and enjoyed, such as garlands of flowers, saintly articles, garments and ornaments, and I eat only the remnants of Your foodstuff, because I am Your menial servant. So, therefore, I am sure that I shall not be attacked by the spell of material energy.”
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The purport of this verse is that for any person who simply follows these rules and regulations of decorating the body with the marks of tilaka of gopi-candana or sandalwood pulp, and who puts on the garlands which were offered to Krsna, there is no question of being conquered by the spell of material energy. At the time of death, there is no question of such a person’s being called by the constables of Yamaraja.
Even if one does not accept all the Vaisnava principles, but still takes the remnants of foodstuff offered to Krsna, or krsna-prasada, he will gradually become qualified to rise to the platform of a Vaisnava.
Similarly, in the Skanda Purana Lord Brahma tells Narada, “My dear Narada, anyone who puts on his neck the flower garland which was formerly used by Krsna becomes relieved from all disease and reactions to sinful activities, and gradually he is liberated from the contamination of matter.”
Hope now you are clear about the three WEAPONS TO BEAT MAYA – TILAKA, TULASI BEADS AND PRASADAM!
(COMPLETE PROCEDURE OF OFFERING FOOD TO KRISHNA! READ HERE!)