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Insights that empowered my theater… | by Sulalita Devi Dasi | Nov, 2025 Insights that empowered my theater performance and how they can empower our life too. Chaitanya Prabhu (on the right, playing the soul) & His wife Ilavati Mataji (on the left, playing Material Nature) posing for their philosophical pantomime drama “Long Dream” In
Hearing and chanting Krishna’s name, instruction, and pastimes is the mainstay of devotional service. Please join us here for spiritual rejuvenation. ISKCON of Silicon Valley Krishna Katha | H.G. Vaisesika Dasa | 2025-11-23 | ISV
Special Sunday Feast Talk by HG Chaitanya Charan Das Srila Prabhupada’s Gift to London: Sri Sri Radha Londonisvara | Sunday Feast Talk – 23.11.2025 Special Sunday Feast Talk by HG Chaitanya Charan Das Srila Prabhupada’s Gift to London: Sri Sri Radha Londonisvara | Sunday Feast Talk – 23.11.2025
Join us for today’s Srimad Bhagavatam / Sri Caitanya-caritāmṛta class on CC Madhya-līlā 10.62–73, delivered by H.G. Navin Nirad Prabhu from ISKCON Govardhan Eco Village. Dive deep into the timeless teachings of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and enrich your devotional life with this morning’s live session Srimad Bhagavatam Class | CC Madhya 10.62–73 | H.G. Navinki ko’re bujhābo kathā
baro sei cāhi
How will they grasp your message so lofty?
For that, O Lord, I seek your mercy.
My dear Lord, Srila Prabhupada is here seeking a specific blessing, which he sees as essential for his service to you. Seeking something specific from you can signify attachment, but it can also signify commitment.
O eternally loving Lord, you want me to be emotionally invested in you. You have not given me emotions so that I give them up, but so that I can give them to you. And one way I give my emotions to you is by expressing them through specific tangible service—just as in any ordinary relationship, I may express my affection for someone on their birthday by giving them a gift.
O omniscient Lord, let my desire for that particular form of service never become greater than my desire for you. Let my commitment be an expression of my desire to serve—not an attachment that makes me insist on serving only in one way or feel resentment when called to serve otherwise.
Through my commitment to serve, my beloved Lord, please draw my heart to you, so that whether my desire to serve in that particular way is fulfilled or not, my heart is fulfilled—by being filled with you.
The post 10.1 Let my specific desire to serve make me committed, not attached appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
This is an AI-generated transcript and it might not be fully accurate:
So, it’s difficult to know someone’s intent and if they are doing something which seems to be a bit making us uncomfortable or something is questionable, then should we talk with them about to understand their intent? Well, yes, sometimes if we are doing a serious service with someone and if we are also seriously committed to that service, then sometimes that will require us to have some difficult discussions because we are investing ourselves in the service, somebody else is also investing themselves in the service and if they want us to be fully invested, then we have to try to understand them. Okay, you are spending so much money on renovating this particular thing in the temple and you want me to raise funds for that, but is this really this important? Do we need this or what funds we have got, do we need it for this right now? So, what’s the vision over here? So, asking that is not a wrong thing. So, questioning somebody’s intent is not necessarily questioning their ethics, but it could be also trying to understand their vision, understand their judgment, that’s something which is important if we are to be invested in that.
But if we feel uncomfortable asking that, then okay, that’s what you want to do, you do it. I am not really so invested in it and in general, the two aspects to consider that sometimes we may be expert in the particular field and somebody else might not be that expert. See, good intention will please Krishna, but good intention alone is not enough in this world.
To do things in this world, Jatayu had the good intention to protect Sita, but he just did not have the skills, he did not have the speed because of his age by which he could or the speed and the stamina. Initially, he was fast enough, but he didn’t have the stamina because of his age, because of which he just couldn’t sustain the fight against Ravan and he was killed. So, in this world, the results don’t come based only on the intentions.
We also have to consider the content of what we are doing. Once the devotees asked, the devotees had done Rath Yatra, I think here only in London and it is one of the first Rath Yatras and they made a big Rath Yatra cart. But then somehow they made it bigger than what was used in America, but they did not proportionately enlarge the wheels of the Rath cart and when they were actually doing the Rath Yatra, the Rath collapsed and it was a disaster.
Of course, they managed it quite well, but Avdi wrote to Prabhupada and asked, Prabhupada, did the Rath collapse because of our poor devotion? And Prabhupada replied to them, it collapsed because of your poor engineering. Poor engineering. So, the point is that in this world, the functional aspect is also important and so sometimes, there is one temple in India where one devotee was a civil engineer and the temple leader was very eager to complete the construction of the temple by a particular date and he was going to have a big festival to inaugurate the temple and the ceiling that he was building for the temple hall structure, it actually was not strong enough, its load-bearing capacity was not strong enough to sustain the whole structure and he was advised by some other civil engineer or something, somehow he had made that decision.
Now this devotee, I knew this person, he was a very intelligent person. He asked me, what should I do? The temple leader was a very very senior devotee and he said, I cannot question his judgment, but at the same time, if the program is going on, at that time the roof crashes and there are casualties, what am I going to do? That would be terrible. I told him that here, it is not that you are questioning the temple president or the temple leader, you are actually protecting the community, you are protecting the movement and you can be polite and respectful, but you also have to make your point clear.
So, my point is that intention might be good, but sometimes the content may not be right at that particular time. Say, if somebody cannot cook for Krishna, somebody is not very good at cooking and they are told cook for a big festival and they are very prayerful, they have big nice picture of Radha Rani, they have kirtan of Radha Rani going on, they pray to Krishna and they cook. They cook in a very very prayerful mood.
Krishna will be pleased with their cooking, but only Krishna will be pleased. They cannot cook. So, in the world, competence is also required for services.
Thank you very much.
The post If someone is doing something questionable should we try to know their intent-isn’t that a uncomfortable discussion? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
Every year the New Varshana devotees organize a Rathayatra parade that goes down Queen Street in Auckland. This has been going on for decades and a beautiful big Jagannatha chariot is pulled through the city.
In the last year, a smaller chariot has been built that allows us to go in parades in the suburbs and smaller regional towns. I was fortunate to attend the first one in the Auckland suburb of Onehunga.
The event was joyful and the crowd waved to the devotees performing kirtan and pulling Lord Jagannatha, Balarama and Subhadra devi’s chariot through the center of town.
hṛdayer abhadra sate
ghucibe tāhār
Their misconceptions will depart,
When your message enters their heart.
My dear Lord, Srila Prabhupada here expresses his confidence in the potency of the process of bhakti: by hearing the Bhagavatam regularly, everyone can remove the impurities that misdirect their heart’s love, thus becoming free to direct their love towards you and find therein the fulfillment they have always longed for over many lifetimes.
My fundamental misconception, O supreme enlightener, is that there exists anything lovable outside you and that it can therefore be an alternative to you. Everything attractive gets its attractiveness from you.
Help me, O all-attractive Lord, to see and help others see that whatever they desire—all that and more—they will find in you. You, O Lord, are so magnanimous—you do not want me to give up desire but to give my desire to you. Bless me, O Lord, so that I can not just intellectually understand you as the supremely desirable but also cherish you as my supremely desirable.
Just as Srila Prabhupada inspired millions to make you the life of their life, my beloved Lord, may that inspiration reach and enrich my heart—and through it, reach and enrich many other hearts.
The post 9.2 May the desire for you as my supreme desirable reach and enrich my heart appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
This is an AI-generated transcript and it might not be fully accurate:
So, if devotees get stuck at the non-negotiable level itself and not move forward, yes, I think there are two broad approaches to this. One is that we may all decide that in particular areas of life, progress is very difficult for us. And we decide that in this area, this is where I am going to stay at.
I am not going to fight this battle. But that does not mean that we should not fight any battle at all. So, somebody may decide that, okay, in my sadhana, I cannot go beyond this.
This is what I am going to do. But maybe they can study scripture more, they can do seva more. So, they can take up a particular service.
So, if in every area of bhakti, we are sticking only at the non-negotiable level, then we may not grow. But while bhakti is a complete package, not everybody can grow at the same pace in all areas. For some devotees, by their very nature, their upbringing might be such that they grew up with a structure and a routine to their life.
And therefore, structures and routines such as, okay, every day wake up in this morning, come for this morning program, that will be relatively easy for them. Some devotees did not grow up with much structure in their life. And not just did not grow up, in general, some people find peace and strength in structure.
And some people find joy and strength in adventure. And adventure basically means the absence of structure, to some extent at least. So, you know, bhakti is big enough to accommodate both of them.
So, those devotees who need adventure, for example, if you consider the pujari service, that is a very much structured service. This time we have to wake up the needs, this time we have to do the pujari service, this time we have to offer bhoga. Now, on the other hand, if you consider book distribution or travelling sankirtan or travelling speaking, that is a much more adventure centred service.
In the sense that, if you meet some interesting person, you can spend a lot of time with that person. We decide I am going to be here in one city, tomorrow I am going to another city. So, we all need to find out what is the way in which we can we can joyfully practice bhakti.
So, somebody may decide with respect to structure, okay, the basic minimum structure I will have, but I will extend my service through adventure. But somebody else may say that their extension of services that, you know, I know somebody who is exactly like, yesterday I was talking with one, yesterday evening, you know, he is telling me, his spiritual master sleeps at 8.15 and wakes up at 1.17. At 8 o’clock he is talking with someone, at 8.12 he lies down, he falls asleep by 8.15. Doesn’t need an alarm, he wakes up. He has been doing this for years.
Now, he said that I tried to do that and I just can’t. I felt as if I was a terrible disciple because I can’t follow my spiritual master. But then I told him, did you talk with your spiritual master about this? It’s wonderful somebody has that level of structure, but it’s not just a matter of willpower and discipline.
It’s also a matter of neurobiology and psychology and so many other things. Some people are just that structure. It’s nice to be like that, but that’s not the only way to be a devotee.
Somebody is not able to do that does not mean that they cannot be a serious or a progressing devotee. So, I think we have to choose our battles. Some areas non-negotiable, but some areas I will move forward.
The post If someone gets stuck at the basic non-negotiable level of practicing bhakti, how can they grow? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
On February 11, 2026 the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium will reach another milestone: The Grand Opening of the amazing TOVP Yajna Shala in the TOVP Gardens. This huge Yajna Shala will replace the current location at the Gurukula and become the main focal point of all yajnas performed for the Supreme Personality of Godhead on a daily basis, in perpetuity, since they started in 1986 in the Lotus Park.
60ft/18mL x 60ft/18mW x 30ft/8mH in size, the marble and granite structure will be surrounded by a picturesque water channel, beautiful foliage and gardens, pleasant walkways, and an elaborate foot wash area. As you enter the teakwood door entranceways, your eyes will behold forty-four marble stambhas or pillars situated around the immense 7ft/2m x 7ft/2m Yajna Peeta (arena) with its interior Yajna Kunda (fireplace) with gold, silver and copper borders and Cakra, Kalash and Dwaja decorations, along with two sacred mandalas.
Daily yajnas for the Lord’s pleasure will take place inside the TOVP Yajna Shala as an eternal fire of sacrifice, all for the upliftment of devotees, the spiritualization of the people of the world, the success of the sankirtan movement, and the protection of Srila Prabhupada’s ISKCON.
This presents another opportunity for devotees to participate in the development and growth of ISKCON Mayapur and the TOVP by sponsoring different aspects of the Yajna Shala, from the bricks used in construction, to the pillars to the entire yajna peeta. It is another once-in-many lifetimes seva opportunity that will also help us in our spiritual progress back to Godhead.
Visit the TOVP Yajna Shala Campaign today and sponsor something according to your means today!
Visit: www.tovp.org
Support: https://tovp.org/donate/seva-opportunities
Email: tovpinfo@gmail.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/tovp.mayapur
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A Concert: Chandigarh, India. Homeland Global Park, Chandigarh, a night event in Chandigarh, India. An epic tour. Ever-epic mantras. In one word, the India tour so far: EPIC! An epic night. An epic tour. Ever-epic mantras. In one word, the India tour so far: EPIC!#ChantAndBeHappy Radhika Das Click on the image to read the complete
So we are continuing with our minieries on stimulation for ecstatic love and this will be part 153 in which we will continue to discuss the various disguises that Radha and Krishna use in their pastimes. In this episode, Krishna very cleverly disguises himself as a masseuse. Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload
This is a powerful true story from Hawaii, where police unexpectedly raided a Hare Krishna center. What happened next surprised everyone. Dr. Sahadeva Dasa narrates this inspiring incident, revealing how devotees remained calm, peaceful, and spiritually strong even in the face of sudden pressure. A gripping, educational, and uplifting story from the early days of
HH Radhanath Swami inaugurating the new elder-care residential facility at Govardhan Ecovillage. A new initiative of Govardhan Ecovillage for cartaking of elder Vishnavas who have dedicated their lives in devotional service to Srila Prabhupada’s Iskcon. Hare Krishna Radhanath Swami Click on the image to see the rest of the photosrajas tamo hate tabe
pāibe nistār
From passion and darkness they will depart,
And find true peace in a purified heart.
My dear Lord, Srila Prabhupada here expresses his confidence in the cure for the infection that afflicts almost the entire world, namely, the modes of passion and ignorance. Both modes distort my consciousness, making the world seem far bigger than you—the source and sustainer of the world.
O supreme guru of the world, how insidious is the influence of the modes. They don’t make me philosophically atheistic, but they do make me functionally atheistic—living as if you do not matter at all. And when I live in this way, I keep craving for things that I can’t attain; even if I attain them, I can’t retain them. Even for the brief time that I can retain them, they don’t retain their capacity to provide me satisfaction. Thus my craving sets me up for lamenting. I end up struggling and suffering in the invisible prison that is life in these modes.
O Supreme Lord, by churning your message my perception begins to clear; my vision is cured of distortion. The more I hear about saintly devotees like Srila Prabhupada, for whom you are the greatest reality, the more you grow bigger and bigger for me. Thus, I find in you shelter, solace, strength, succor, and satisfaction.
I beg you, O Lord, please replace my craving for the world with a longing for you.
The post 9.1 Free me from the craving that ends only in lamenting appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
This is an AI-generated transcript and it might not be fully accurate:
Sometimes our environment constrains us and yes that is true. See this is where the concept of karma also comes in that we can choose our present karma but we also have a certain karma baggage from the past and that karma baggage determines the talent we have. Not everybody has the same level of talent.
So similarly our karma, our past karma also determines the environment we are in. So most of us say live in a relatively peaceful part of the world. Some occasional crimes might happen here and there but we are living in a peaceful part of the world.
There are parts of the world where there is wars happening constantly, there are sectarian violence going on. So much more difficult to live over there. So why is somebody living over there? Why is somebody born over there? That’s karma.
So we all have to live within certain limitations. So we may have to decide is my talent so important for me that I have to change the environment? What would that mean? That means that somebody drops out from college and decides I’m just pursuing my own career, my own career independent of education. So I’m going to decide no, even when we all do something that we like to do.
Nobody can do only the things they like to do. Say even if somebody wants to be an author and they like writing. Now after writing they have to promote their work, they have to publicize, they have to do interviews, they may not like all those things, they have to do those things.
Nobody in life can always do only what they like to do. So we all have to do certain things which we do not like to do. But what should not happen is that rather than simply deciding our life choices based on what we like and what we don’t like, it is that sometimes I may have to go through a particular environment so that I can be in a more favorable environment afterwards and where I can pursue.
So we have to make certain decisions like that. For Arjuna, he was a great archer. But when Draupadi was being dishonored, when the Pandavas had to live in the forest, he could not do much with archery.
The environment was such that he could not use that archery at that time to protect them from that particular danger. So for all of us, some situations we have to accept. But when we are persevering rather than taking every failure personally, oh I am a loser, that is why nothing is working out, you have to evaluate what exactly is the cause.
And then how much can the environment be changed? How much do I have to find some other talent which is more supportive in the environment? And then move forward. So those are decisions which individually we have to take. Does that answer your question? Thank you.
The post If our environment constrains us in developing our talent, what can we do? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
Where I Went and What I Did
The forty-sixth week of 2025, I lived at Viraha Bhavan, the ashram of Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami, my Guru Maharaja, in Stuyvesant Falls, New York. I helped his caretakers with different services like cleaning the kitchen, waking up the deities, singing for Them, and uploading dictation tapes. I also did some personal service for Guru Maharaja. I chanted Hare Krishna one hour on the porch most days, usually in two parts, half an hour each, because of the cold. I attended the Chatham Wednesday Program. I went to New York City on Saturday, and I chanted Hare Krishna in Tompkins Square Park after lunch and later with the NYC Harinam party at the Times Square subway station.
I share quotes from Srila Prabhupada’s Srimad-Bhagavatam, Sri Caitanya-caritamrita and The Nectar of Devotion. I also share notes from a lecture by Jayadvaita Swami at the Chatham Wednesday Program. I share quotes from papers on science and Krishna consciousness by Sadaputa Prabhu and Arka Prabhu.
Many thanks to both Atmanivedanta Prabhu and Yugala Piriti Devi Dasi for their kind donations. Thanks to Chris for the ride to New York. Thanks to Tony for the videos of me at the Chatham Wednesday program. Thanks to Subhangada Devi Dasi for the video and photos of me at 26 Second Avenue.
Itinerary
September 12–November 23: serve Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami
November 23–January 9, 2026?: NYC Harinam
– December 6: Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami Vyasa-puja / Hudson Winter Walk harinama
Chanting Hare Krishna in Upstate New York
Tony kindly took some videos of the kirtan led by Patrick and assisted by Katie as I was playing the mrdanga.
Patrick and Katie chant Hare Krishna at the Chatham Wednesday Program (https://youtube.com/shorts/wmnOMfDzvv4?feature=share):
I wanted to chant Hare Krishna by the Hare Krishna Tree in Tompkins Square Park, but a guitarist was playing there. I asked him to play “My Sweet Lord” but he sang “Here Comes the Sun” instead (https://youtube.com/shorts/fLduopalNbc?feature=share):
Then we joined Rama Raya Prabhu’s NYC Harinam for two hours in Times Square subway station:
Jayananda Prabhu chants Hare Krishna (https://youtu.be/QoRq7PAVzEU):
It was truly an ecstatic day.
Photos
The 26 Second Avenue storefront is a Hare Krishna museum these days.
Here’s what you see:
Srila Prabhupada:
Photos:
Panels:
The Happening Album:
Insights
Srila Prabhupada:
From Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.9.15:
[Lord Brahma prays to Lord Krishna:] “Let me take shelter of the lotus feet of Him whose incarnations, qualities and activities are mysterious imitations of worldly affairs. One who invokes His transcendental names, even unconsciously, at the time he quits this life, is certainly washed immediately of the sins of many, many births and attains Him without fail.”
From Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.9.17:
[Lord Brahma prays to Lord Krishna:] “People in general all engage in foolish acts, not in the really beneficial activities enunciated directly by You for their guidance. As long as their tendency for foolish work remains powerful, all their plans in the struggle for existence will be cut to pieces. I therefore offer my obeisances unto Him who acts as eternal time.”
From Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.9.22:
[Lord Brahma prays to Lord Krishna:] “Let the Supreme Lord be merciful towards me. He is the one friend and soul of all living entities in the world, and by His six transcendental opulences He maintains all for their ultimate happiness. May He be merciful towards me so that I, as before, may be empowered with the introspection to create, for I am also one of the surrendered souls who are dear to the Lord.”
From Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.9.24:
[Lord Brahma prays to Lord Krishna:] “I therefore pray that in the course of my material activities I may not be deviated from the vibration of the Vedic hymns.”
From Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.9.24, purport:
“Unless one is sufficiently protected by the Lord, he may fall down from his spiritual position; therefore one has to pray constantly to the Lord for protection and the blessing to carry out one’s duty.”
From Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.9.25, purport:
“The gopis are predominated expansions of the internal potency, and therefore the Lord’s participation in the rasa-lila dance is never to be considered like the mundane relationship of man and woman. It is, rather, the highest perfectional stage of the exchange of feelings between the Lord and the living entities. The Lord gives the fallen souls the chance for this highest perfection of life.”
From The Nectar of Devotion, Chapter 22, 60. Attractor of Liberated Souls:
“There are many examples of how Krishna attracted even great liberated souls like Sukadeva Gosvami and the Kumaras. In this connection the following statement was given by the Kumaras: ‘How wonderful it is that although we are completely liberated, free from desire and situated at the stage of paramahamsa, we are still aspiring to taste the pastimes of Radha and Krishna.’”
From The Nectar of Devotion, Chapter 25:
“A person who is freed from the false egotism of material existence, or an advanced mystic, is eligible to enter into the kingdom of God, known as Vaikuntha. Such a mystic becomes so joyful by constant execution of the regulative principles of devotional service that he thereby achieves the special favor of the Supreme Lord. Yamaraja, the mighty superintendent of death, is afraid to go near such a devotee; so we can imagine the potency of advanced devotional service, especially when devotees sit together and engage in talking of the pastimes of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Those devotees express their feelings in such a way that they automatically melt with ecstasy, and many transcendental symptoms become manifested in their bodies. Anyone desiring advancement in devotional service must follow in the footsteps of such devotees.”
“Anyone who becomes exhilarated by hearing of the pastimes of Lord Krishna when He was present on this earth with His associates is to be understood as nitya-siddha, eternally perfect.”
From The Nectar of Devotion, Chapter 26:
“To be attracted by the qualities of Krishna means to be attracted by Krishna Himself, because there is no real distinction between Krishna and His qualities. Krishna’s name is also Krishna. Krishna’s fame is also Krishna. Krishna’s entourage is also Krishna. Krishna and everything related with Krishna which gives stimulation to love of Krishna are all Krishna, but for our understanding these items may be considered separately.”
From Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, Adi 3.13, 19, and 20:
“Lord Krishna enjoys His transcendental pastimes as long as He wishes, and then He disappears. After disappearing, however, He thinks thus: . . . ‘I shall personally inaugurate the religion of the age—nama-sankirtana, the congregational chanting of the holy name. I shall make the world dance in ecstasy, realizing the four mellows of loving devotional service. I shall accept the role of a devotee, and I shall teach devotional service by practicing it Myself.’”
Jayadvaita Swami:
From a class on Bhagavad-gita 1.44–46 in Chatham, New York, on November 19, 2025:
Arjuna had reasons not fight, but Krishna considered them rationalizations.
Arjuna was not giving flimsy arguments, saying “I’m just not into it.”
First of all, Arjuna offered all these great arguments, and then he admitted, “I am bewildered.”
This first chapter sets the stage for delivering transcendental knowledge, because as Krishna points out, all Arjuna’s reasons for not fighting were based on the material consciousness of identifying the self with the body.
Krishna says, “You are speaking like a learned person, but a learned person would not speak in that way.”
Sadaputa Prabhu:
From The Nature of Biological Form:
“The study of the atma similarly requires some procedure for isolating it in its pure state. In our normal experience the atma is intimately bound up with matter by very powerful interactions, and therefore it is very difficult to discern its characteristic properties. In order to isolate the atma from the influences of material interaction it is necessary to take advantage of its basic distinguishing property—consciousness—and the agency—paramatma—governing its interactions.
“This requires the study of the relation between the individual conscious entity and the all-pervading absolute consciousness.”
Oliver Zambon (Arka Dasa):
From “Evolution in Post-Darwinian Gaudiya Vaishnava Communities”:
“So overall to use Bhaktisiddhanta’s own words, he thought that ‘empirical knowledge is useful on the level of the external reality, while religious knowledge is useful on the level of internal consciousness.’”
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This verse is a summary of Lord Caitanya’s movement and its contribution. Everyone is looking for meaning and for happiness, and one can find it here:
tattva-vastu—krishna, krishna-bhakti, prema-rupa
“The Absolute Truth is Sri Krishna, and loving devotion to Sri Krishna exhibited in pure love is achieved through congregational chanting of the holy name, which is the essence of all bliss.”
This is an AI-generated transcript and it might not be fully accurate:
Amazing. So what you’re saying is that if something bad has happened in the past and that remembering that makes us angry then it becomes difficult to think about the future positively. Then that’s a very true thing. Uh I appreciate the thoughtful question two things. See uh we can’t choose our memories is what has happened in the past and the memories are you understand the word memories. Yeah,
what we remember, you know, we can’t choose our memories, what is going there inside us, but we can choose which memories we replay. Which memories we replay means that in our mind we can remember and something starts playing. So in our past bad things have happened. In our past good things have also happened. So maybe somebody hurt us terribly. But there are also people who are good to us, kind to us, friendly with us. Thank you.
So we can choose to replay the memories of people who are kind to us, people who are good with us. That way we won’t be constantly angry. Now having said that if somebody has hurt us or somebody has been bad has happened and we feel angry about that then it’s like sometimes we get an injury you know get hurt you get a cut you get the pain it’s paining over there. So what happens after that injury heals after that pain goes away sorry after that pain goes away but sometimes a small scar may remain you know the word scar
scar means I have a scar over here so a scar may remain so what happens is if the scar is not it’s it’s dried out then there is no pain so like that what happens that sometimes from the past The memory may remain but the pain won’t remain. The anger won’t remain. How that happens is that we pray to Krishna. We chant Krishna’s names and he say that Krishna this happened but Krishna you can bring some good out of it. Now that has happened let me accept it. And we pray to Krishna please give me help me to accept what happened. Now if that person is still going to trouble us again and again then We need to do something. We need to tell some elders, tell our parents, tell our teachers, whoever so that that person can’t hurt us again and again. But that person did something, something bad happened that we pray that Krishna you help me to accept it and then you’ll find that even if you remember that it’s like the wound is there but it’s a dry scar. It’ll memory will be there but the anger won’t come. So two things change the memory that you replay. Which memory? is remember good people who did some good thing good things that happened to you and when the memory of the bad thing comes that you know Krishna can bring some good out of it so Krishna help me to accept it help open me to see what good you’ll bring in the future and that way the memory won’t cause so much pain or anger.
Hare Krishna
The post If a painful memory keeps popping up what can we do? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
dhīra haiyā śune jadi
kāne bār bār
If they hear your message again and again,
They will rise above illusion and pain.
My dear Lord, faith is seen through actions. If I claim faith in medicine but distrust every medicine I can access, that faith becomes impotent; I will remain sick. Similarly, O Lord, if I believe in your supreme purity but doubt the purifying potency of your manifestations placed near me, that faith won’t bring me closer to you.
O ever-accessible Lord, Srila Prabhupada reveals his holistic faith in you by expressing his faith in your manifestation as the Srimad-Bhagavatam. It carries, even embodies, your omnipotent purity and can therefore purify anyone who regularly listens to it. Just as Srila Prabhupada trusted the Bhagavatam, let me too trust your living word.
O merciful Lord, let me hear with a receptive heart—or at least an open mind—the philosophy and pastimes that demonstrate the supreme truth of your unfailing, unflinching love for us. Such hearing can reassure my fearful mind, reinforce my weak intelligence, and reawaken my dormant soul—and through all these, redirect my love to you.
Bless me, my beloved Lord, with a drop of Srila Prabhupada’s faith in the transformative potency of your message, and let me become a receiver and transmitter of this message so that my heart—and the hearts around me—are transformed.
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It was a 5.5 magnitude, located in Narsingdi, Bangladesh, about 300kms away from Mayapur. Three dead, several injured, tremors felt across West Bengal. Preliminary reports suggest that the earthquake was felt between 10.08 to 10.10 am for a few seconds and it was felt in Kolkata, Malda, Nadia, Cooch Behar and several other districts. Mildbhāgavater kathā se
taba avatār
The Bhāgavatam’s message is your descent,
Through it your mercy is lovingly sent.
My dear Lord, Srila Prabhupada conveys a key truth about the expansive nature of your mercy: you descend not only in majestic humanlike forms such as Rama and Vamana, but also in your most subtle and sublime descent—your sonic avatar as the message of the Bhagavatam. You reveal yourself not just in sound but also in scripture. The sacred text of the Bhagavatam is itself your textual avatar. While traveling to America, Srila Prabhupada was carrying a trunk full of his translation and commentary in three volumes of the first canto of the Bhagavatam. Indeed, that was his firepower to blow illusion out of any receptive heart.
O merciful Lord, just as Srila Prabhupada felt your presence with him in the form of the Bhagavatam, let me similarly realize that your word is as potent as your form, and that through sound and scripture you offer your living presence. Grant me the faith to approach bhagavata-katha not as ordinary words, but as the descent of divinity itself into this darkened world.
May my ears and mind be purified by this avatar of your mercy, and may my soul rise toward you, the eternal sun, dispelling the shadows of illusion forever. And make me, O Lord, an instrument to share the potency and mercy of the Bhagavatam with others.
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This is an AI-generated transcript and it might not be fully accurate:
So, Krishna Shri Ram says that whatever you do my Lord, you are always my Pranama. So, how do we come to that level when we are not expecting? We are ready to do everything for the Lord. See, I think there is a big difference between expecting and say Krishna is above us, there is expecting and then there is accepting.
So, in any relationship it’s natural that there will be expectations. That’s just natural. Say, if you come after the session to ask a question, now if you are asking a question, you will naturally expect the library attention to the question.
So, in the movies for example, when they come to meet Krishna in the forest, when Krishna calls them, they expect to meet Krishna. So, when Krishna left Vrindavan and went to Mathura and Dwarka, did the movies not expect that Krishna come there? They were of course expecting it. So, to have no expectations is just not possible.
Relationship means expectations are there. But the point is, our surrender is not having no expectations. It is not being attached to our expectations.
That’s why we can be expecting, but we also need to be accepting. Yes, Krishna, if I do this, I expect something. Suppose, we do some service, we go out for distributing books or we invite someone to come for a program.
We expect something over there. But we may do our best and nobody may come. That doesn’t mean that we give up our service to Krishna.
It is that, Krishna, I will do my part. But I’ll accept whatever. If the results come or not, I’ll accept that.
But when Prabhupada went to America, in one sense, he was expecting. He said, I can see temples. I can see temples that are filled with devotees, only time is seven days.
But Prabhupada, he also didn’t know how much time it would take. That is one month, six months, one year, two years. Prabhupada tried to accept this.
Nachao, Nachao, Prabhu, Nachao, Siva. As you want to make me dance, make me dance. So, the point is that our expectations or the fulfillment of our expectations does not determine the relationship with Krishna.
So, as devotees, can we have desires? Of course. If we consider, I am here and say, Krishna is here. Now, we all can have desires.
We may have a desire to serve Krishna in a particular way. Now, it can be direct service. Krishna, I want to do this program for you.
It may be indirect service also. Krishna, I want to achieve something in my life and I have that position. I can do some bigger service for you.
So, we all can have desires. Desires are okay. In fact, to the extent we have spiritual desires, to that extent only we will be able to give up material desires.
If we don’t have spiritual desires, how are we going to, we will not be able to replace our material desires. So, what differentiated Siddhaprabhupada from many of the other godbrothers, who were also great souls, what differentiated him from his godbrothers was his strong desire. His strong desire to share the message of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, to spread the mission of Krishna consciousness.
And that’s what took him abroad all the way. So, desires are fine. But the desires should not become demands.
Krishna, you have to do this. And demands should certainly not become ultimatums. Have you heard this word, ultimatum? Ultimatum means, Krishna, if you don’t do this, I’ll stop chanting your name.
We don’t give an ultimatum to Krishna. So, having desires and having expectations is not a problem. But being attached to the expectations, we are expecting so strongly that we can no longer be accepted.
That is where the problem comes.
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By Loka Saranga dasa I often ask myself what victory is for us, whether on a societal scale or in our personal lives. Surely, as society shapes or evolves, there is a certain predictable concept of success, given the direction and preferences chosen. As Srila Prabhupada so brilliantly taught us, given the place, time and
Listen to a class given by Anuttama dasa for the Sunday Feast Lecture given on November 16, 2025. at the Hare Krishna Temple in Alachua, Florida, brought to you by Krishna. com
Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī explains Bahulāśva’s inner thoughts as follows: Bahulāśva glorifies Lord Kṛṣṇa as the inspiring Soul of all life and consciousness, thinking that even an inert dullard like himself could be awakened to devotional awareness by His mercy. He glorifies the Lord as the witness of all pious and impious actions, confident that the
Sri Saranga Murari Thakura used to reside at Modadrumadwipa Mamgachi, where his Deities of Sri Sri Radha-Gopinath are still present. There is also a Bakul tree there which is perhaps existing since the time of Saranga Thakura.
There is a local legend concerning this tree. One day when Mahaprabhu came there, he noticed that the Bakul tree in the courtyard of Saranga’s temple was dying. So he asked Saranga, “This Bakul tree is dying, so what are you going to do?”
Saranga Thakura replied, “Besides Your mercy Prabhu, I don’t see any hope for this tree.” Then Mahaprabhu embraced that tree, which has remained healthy to this day and is now quite large.
Saranga Thakura had resolved that he would not accept any disciples but Mahaprabhu nevertheless repeatedly requested him to do so. Finally he relented and agreed by saying, “Tomorrow morning the first person I see I will initiate with the divine mantra.”
The next day, in the early morning, he went to take his bath in the Ganges. By chance a dead body came and touched his feet as he entered the water. Picking up this body he said, “Who are you? Get up.” From behind Mahaprabhu who was witnessing everything called out, “Saranga! Say the mantra in his ear!” Then when Saranga said the mantra into the ear of that dead child, the body became conscious. He said, “My name is Murari. I am your servant. Please bestow your mercy upon me.”
On the day when this boy was to be invested with the sacred thread he was by chance bitten by a snake and died. As he was only a boy, the custom was not to burn the body but rather to place it on a raft of banana trees and float it down the Ganga.
When his parents received the news that their child was alive, they came there to take him home. However Murari declined to accompany them to his former home. He told them, “I will remain in the service of he who has given me life again, for I am indebted to him.”
“Sri Saranga Murari Thakura was constantly in forgetfulness of himself, absorbed as he was in the bliss of speaking his inner thoughts. Sometimes he would remain in the within the water for 2 or 3 days without suffering any bodily inconveniences. He appeared to be almost insentient and therefore his activities were imperceptible. Such was the fierce intensity of his immeasurable prowess. How much can I describe of the interminable transformations of his devotional sentiments?” [Chaitanya Bhagavat Antya-lila. 5:426-434]
The descendants of his family are still residing at Sargram in Barddhaman district.
According to Gaur-Ganoddesa-Dipika (text 172.) Saranga Thakura was previously Nandi Mukhi, in Braja lila.
vraje nandimukhi yasit
sadya saranga-thakkurah
prahlado manyate kaishchin
mat-pitraa na sa manyate
“The Vraja-brahmani Nandimukhi-devi appeared as Saranga Takura. Some people think that Saranga Thakura was the incarnation of Prahlada Maharaj. My father (Shivananda Sena – the father of Kavi-karnapura) did not agree with them.”
His appearance is on the 14th day of the dark fortnight of the month of Asar. His disappearance is on the 13th day of dark fortnight of the month Agra hayon (Mrigarirsa – November-December).
bujhibe niścai tabe
kathā se tomār
Then they will understand for sure,
O Lord, your message so pure.
My dear Lord, spiritual truths can seem completely self-evident to one who has had a spiritual awakening, but utterly unbelievable or irrelevant to one who has not. That’s why introducing anyone to spiritual truths is a formidable challenge for every spiritual teacher. I too have faced it many times. Yet nowhere was my challenge anywhere near as difficult as Srila Prabhupada’s challenge when he presented your message to people from completely different cultural, religious, educational, and intellectual backgrounds.
Undoubtedly, Srila Prabhupada presented your message expertly. Simultaneously: you, O supreme mystic, were acting mysteriously in the hearts and lives of those fortunate enough to meet Srila Prabhupada. You brought them to a level of thoughtfulness and receptiveness so that they became ready to embrace as their very life a worldview they had never heard of earlier.
O Almighty Lord, bless me to learn from Srila Prabhupada’s example. Let me try to share your wisdom as well as I can, in a mood of service—to you and to the person I am speaking with. Then, if and when you so desire, you can make the unfathomable not just understandable for them, but even so lovable that they make it their life’s topmost purpose and priority.
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The entire social structure of varṇa and āśrama is a cooperative system meant to uplift all to the highest platform of spiritual realization. The brāhmaṇas are intended to be protected by the kṣatriyas, and the kṣatriyas also are intended to be enlightened by the brāhmaṇas. When the brāhmaṇas and kṣatriyas cooperate nicely, the other subordinate
The procedure is expected to take approximately 2-2.5 hours. This will not be open-heart surgery. Therefore, no general anesthesia will be given to Guru Maharaja. He will be given local anesthesia, will be able to watch and speak to the doctors, and will be hearing Srila Prabhupada chanting throughout the whole time. Angioplasty is less
Dramas are a true meditation on the leelas of the Lord. They give us a wonderful opportunity to enter these divine pastimes and, in some way, relive them. It is truly a magical experience to witness these performances as part of the IBC community. We are deeply grateful to have this chance to serve theThe post Purification-The inner change that brings outer change 5 Karma logically explained Kolkata appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
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The purpose of the Vedas is to propagate the transcendental knowledge of the Absolute Truth. The brāhmaṇas were created from the mouth of the Supreme Person, and therefore they are meant to spread the knowledge of the Vedas in order to spread the glories of the Lord. In Bhagavad-gītā also Lord Kṛṣṇa says that allThe post Krishna is here now not far away in future Birmingham Gita 7.7 Chaitanya Charan appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.
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