Why is mangal arati beneficial for spiritual life?

"Our life is focused upon the Lord and the Lord is waking up in the morning
We want to receive Him and we want Him to feel welcomed so when He is there, He
isn't showing Himself to an empty temple. Our life is for serving Him. We want t
o be there and say, "Oh, my Lord, you are appearing and this is so wonderful."
We want to be able to receive the Lord like we do the spiritual master. When the
spiritual master is coming out of his room, all of the devotees want to be ther
e to offer their obeiscences.
The word "mangal" means auspicious. It is very auspicious for us to be there whe
n the Lord awakes. Why should the curtains open and the Lord manifest Himself to
an empty room while everybody is sleeping? Who could possibly do that? If Radha
, Krishna, and Mahaprabhu suddenly walked into the room, would everyone be sleep
ing or would they be with the Lord?"
"All the aratis and any chance to glorify and sing about the Holy Name of the Lo
rd are good for our spiritual life.
The Scriptures say we should do it all the time. We should glorify the Holy Name
all day long and all night long but since we can't, we have to have some regula
ted times.
Mangal arati is important because it is first thing in the morning. The moment w
e get up we are fresh; our minds are clear and we have a lot of physical energy.
The Scriptures talk of the "Brahma muhurta" hour. It means one hour and a half
before the sun comes up. This time is very auspicious because the sun is pushing
all of the energies of the Earth from a sleeping stage to an awakened stage. Si
milarly it is pushing the mind, the intelligence, and the bodies of all the livi
ng entities from a sleeping stage to a higher stage of awakening. Just like when
they talk about solar energy. There are certain times of the day that you get m
ore electricity from the sun than your cells will take at other times. With our
body and our mind, there is a time that we get more beneficial effects from the
sun, and that is an hour and a half before it rises. Therefore, mangal arati is
calculated to be at that time, and if we give our attention and energy towards g
lorifying the Lord, it is very beneficial and auspicious to begin the day hearin
g and chanting about the glories of the Lord."
"It's beneficial just as hatha yoga is beneficial for your body. It's good for y
our spiritual life to wake up for mangal arati everyday. We all know the benefit
s of helping the body by doing yoga, eating right, and exercising. Mangal arati
is all of those combined into one for your spiritual life."

"Mangal arati fixes your consciousness for the rest of the day."
"The first thing I can think of is the paraphrase of the ninth verse of Sri Gurv
vastaka:
One who, during the Brahma-muhurta (four dandas or ninty-six minutes before sunr
ise) with meticulous regularity wholeheartedly sings these eight prayers to the
Divine Master, attains, upon leaving the body in his spiritual perfection, the q
ualification to engage in the direct service of the Lord of Vrindavan." (Kirtan
Guide: p.38)
"The morning hours are appropriate for practicing spiritual life. If you wake up
early, you can have strength in your meditation throughout the rest of the day.
There is no other way to wake up in the morning other than to take the darshan
of the Deities."
"The different aspects of the Lord are manifested from the very beginning of the
day until the end. Mangal arati is the beginning, for which I rise to start the
 day with a good step. Before Mangal arati it's good to chant the Hare Krishna M
ahamantra, take a bath, and put tilak on different parts of the body. This will
help all of the practicing devotees go to the most auspicious program: mangal ar
ati, the gift of the Lord. "
"Mangal arati is beneficial for spiritual life because we get to engage our sens
es in service: we can chant the Holy Name, we can dance, and we can take darshan
of the Deities through our eyes. These are the higher parts of devotional servi
ce: to sing, dance and chant."
Quote of the week :
"Your growth is the ritualistic performance of the morning, the Bhagavatam says.
What is ritual? Ritual is getting up and coming to mangal arati. We must do tha
t ritual because what will that do for you? That will help you grow. Why does it
help you grow? Because the sun is coming up and pushing everything up. It's pus
hing a little child to become a big child. It's pushing our internal energy to b
ecome strong, not weak. If all the forces of nature are coming up or growing and
we're just slumbering away, we are going in the opposite direction of the force
s of the world."
Please chant the Maha Mantra....
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
..... and be Happy
Obituary Printed in the London Times
Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been w
ith us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth rec
ords were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape.He will be remembered as having
cultivated such valuable lessons as:
Knowing when to come in out of the rain,
Why the early bird gets the worm,
Life isn t always fair,
And, maybe it was my fault.
Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies; don t spend more than you
can earn, and reliable strategies; adults, not children, are in charge.His healt
h began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations
were set in place.
Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classma
te; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher f
ired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.Common Sens
e lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themsel
ves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children.
It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to a
dminister sun lotion or an aspirin to a student, but could not inform parents wh
en a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.Common Sense lost th
e will to live as the religious organizations became businesses and criminals re
ceived better treatment than their victims. Common Sense took a beating when you
couldn t defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could su
e you for assault.
Common Sense finally gave up the will to live after a woman failed to realize th
at a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was pr
omptly awarded a huge settlement.
Common Sense was preceded in death, by his parents, Truth and Trust,
by his spouse, Discretion, by his daughter, Responsibility, and by his son, Reas
on.
Common Sense is survived by his 4 stepbrothers; I Know My Rights, I Want It Now,
Someone Else Is To Blame, and I m A Victim.
Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone. If you still
remember him, please pass this on. If not, join the majority and do nothing.