Planet ISKCON

Where I Went and What I Did

During the fortieth 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 and uploading dictation tapes. I also did some personal service for Guru Maharaja. On Wednesday evening I attended a Gita class and kirtan program in Chatham, where I led the first kirtan. On Sunday afternoon I attended the feast program at ISKCON Schenectady. There I led a kirtan and gave a lecture on Karttika, reading, among other things, Srila Prabhupada’s purport to Queen Kunti’s prayer appreciating Lord Krishna’s Damodara pastime (Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.8.31), which highlights important lessons from it.

I share quotes from Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad-gita As It Is, The Nectar of Devotion and Krishna: The Supreme Personality of Godhead. I share a quote from Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura’s commentary on Sri Caitanya-bhagavata. I share a quote from Mukunda Maharaja’s Miracle on Second Avenue. I share quotes from a new collection of writings by Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami, called Among Friends, Journal and Poems, volume 1. I share notes on a Bhagavad-gita discussion in Chatham from Damodara Priya Devi Dasi and Patrick.

Many thanks to Shreyakari Devi Dasi and ISKCON Schenectady for their kind donation. Thank to my sister, Karen, for the koftas, maple walnut ice cream, and Bengal Spice tea for my birthday.

Itinerary

September 12–October 31: serve Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami
October 31–January 3, 2026: NYC Harinam
January 4: Miami Ratha-yatra?

Chanting Hare Krishna in Upstate New York

I arrived at the Wednesday program in Chatham six minutes late, but the kirtan hadn’t started. After a few minutes, I decided to chant the first kirtan myself as Patrick, who they said was to sing, hadn’t arrived. I was pleased by the enthusiastic chanting in response by almost everyone except the kids. One woman was the most enthusiastic of all, and she seemed to really put her heart into it. She was named Katie, and quite appropriately I thought, she was asked to sing the second kirtan. Apparently she has been doing kirtan for ten years, originally inspired by some Guyanese devotees living on Long Island. Here Katie chants Hare Krishna at the Wednesday program in Chatham, New York (https://youtu.be/U5YJ4dMw0EQ):

Srila Prabhupada:

From Bhagavad-gita As It Is, verse 18.58, purport:

“A person in full Krishna consciousness is not unduly anxious about executing the duties of his existence. The foolish cannot understand this great freedom from all anxiety. For one who acts in Krishna consciousness, Lord Krishna becomes the most intimate friend. He always looks after His friend’s comfort, and He gives Himself to His friend, who is so devotedly engaged working twenty-four hours a day to please the Lord.”

From The Nectar of Devotion, Chapter 36:

“A person who offers respect even to the ants engaged in the service of the Lord becomes eternally happy, so what is there to say of one who offers Krishna direct service?”

From The Nectar of Devotion, Chapter 40:

“No one should claim his eternal relationship with Krishna unless he is liberated. In the conditioned state of life, the devotees have to execute the prescribed duties as recommended in the codes of devotional service. When one is mature in devotional service and is a realized soul, he can know his own eternal relationship with Krishna. One should not artificially try to establish some relationship. In the premature stage it is sometimes found that a lusty, conditioned person will artificially try to establish some relationship with Krishna in conjugal love. The result of this is that one becomes prakrta-sahajiya, or one who takes everything very cheaply. Although such persons may be very anxious to establish a relationship with Krishna in conjugal love, their conditioned life in the material world is still most abominable. A person who has actually established his relationship with Krishna can no longer act on the material plane, and his personal character cannot be criticized.”

From Krishna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Chapter 10:

“To remain in the poverty-stricken condition is a kind of austerity. According to Vedic culture, therefore, the brahmanas, as a matter of routine, keep themselves in a poverty-stricken condition to save themselves from the false prestige of material opulence.”

From Krishna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Chapter 14:

[Lord Brahma prayed to Lord Krishna:] “You are also nirañjana because Your pastimes, as the little son of Mother Yasoda or the lover of the gopis, are never contaminated by the material qualities.”

“There are many so-called meditators who do not know that You are the Supreme Soul. As stated in the Bhagavad-gita, You are the Supreme Soul present in everyone’s heart. Therefore there is no necessity of one’s meditating on something beyond You. One who is always absorbed in meditation on Your original form of Krishna easily crosses over the ocean of material nescience. But persons who do not know that You are the Supreme Soul remain within this material world in spite of their so-called meditation.”

[Lord Brahma prayed to Lord Krishna:] “So-called liberation and bondage have no meaning for a person who is already engaged in Your devotional service, just as a rope is not fearful to a person who knows that it is not a snake. A devotee knows that this material world belongs to You, and he therefore engages everything in Your transcendental loving service. Thus there is no bondage for him.”

[Lord Brahma prayed to Lord Krishna:] “My dear Lord, I pray that I may be so fortunate that in this life or in another life, wherever I may take my birth, I may be counted as one of Your devotees. Wherever I may be, I pray that I may be engaged in Your devotional service. I do not even care what form of life I get in the future, because I can see that even in the form of cows and calves or cowherd boys, the devotees are so fortunate to be always engaged in Your transcendental loving service and association. Therefore I wish to be one of them instead of such an exalted person as I am now, for I am full of ignorance.”

“The difference between the pure devotees of Vrindavan and devotees in other places is that the residents of Vrindavan have no other desire but to be associated with Krishna. Krishna, being very kind to His devotees, fulfills their desire; because they always want Krishna’s association, the Lord is always prepared to give it to them. The devotees of Vrindavan are also spontaneous lovers. They are not required to strictly follow regulative principles because they are already naturally developed in transcendental love for Krishna. Regulative principles are required for persons who have not achieved such a position of spontaneous love. Brahma is also a devotee of the Lord, but he is an ordinary devotee subject to following regulative principles. He prays to Krishna to give him the chance to take birth in Vrindavan so that he might be elevated to the platform of spontaneous love.”

Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura:

From his commentary on Sri Caitanya-bhagavata, Madhya 20.1:

“The material miseries of living entities who take shelter at the lotus feet of Sri Gaurasundara are destroyed. Sri Gaurasundara does not encourage any form of mundane activities; He helps the living entities realize their constitutional position and thus delivers them from all forms of material miseries.”

Mukunda Goswami:

From Miracle on Second Avenue, Chapter 19:

“I suddenly realized how America’s current [1960s] interest in spirituality left people wide open to be exploited by those offering some flavor of Eastern culture with a personal motive attached –be that fame, power or wealth. I knew from my own observation of our swami [Srila Prabhupada] that he was not after any of these things; he was driven by a desire to fulfill the wishes of his spiritual master, and I felt immensely grateful to have found him in the great mystical melting pot that was America’s alternative culture.”

Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami:

From Among Friends, Journal and Poems, Volume 1:

“Prabhupada didn’t live for what he thought ‘looked good.’ He acted from a pure strong heart—the desire to please his spiritual master and carry out the will of Lord Caitanya. ‘Our duty, therefore, is to follow the instructions of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and preach the Krishna Consciousness Movement all over the world very sincerely. This is the best welfare activity for the peace and prosperity of human society’ (Bhag. 8.5.23 purport).”

“You follow the guidance of one who can see. I see my guide, and I see darkness and danger all around. I follow him to please the inconceivable adhoksaja, Sri Krishna.”

“The truths I may utter are the absolute teachings
of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu,
which Prabhupada fed us as sumptuous lunch in 1966
and which I read now daily in his books.
There should be no holding back
even if this speaker looks suspiciously
like a fool and rascal.”

“I’m waiting for Krishna as you would wait in the outside room of an important person. Sometimes the gopis and gopas and Nanda and Yasoda also had to wait for Krishna, although their waiting was different than mine. Be patient and chant His glories and hear krishna-katha. The waiting is as good as being with Him.”

“One assumes that one has obediently grasped everything that Prabhupada has had to say on the matter of chanting, and that one is prosecuting the vow (although one would like to stop falling asleep and one would like to get out of the dismal depths of non-attraction to the holy name, but one doesn’t know how to do it).”

“Most important is the mood of ‘the child crying for the mother.’ We remember this as we chant, even if it means that we see we are not crying like a child. And so we cry out, ‘I am not crying like a child for its mother.’”

“They were concerned
that I was out in the hailstorm,
pushed and pulled.
They didn’t know exactly where I was,
buffeted but warmed by many thoughts.
It was bliss in the shelter of his teachings.”

“We need both of these things: just thinking about Krishna without serving Him is not complete, and neither is duty done without Krishna consciousness. The Lord says that we should always act under His instruction, and He also says that we should always think of Him.”

“Rain

“Rain is secretive,
serious and cold.
The people here [in Ireland] don’t let it stop them.
It keeps me indoors chanting japa.
You hear it on the roof.
It says, ‘You can’t stay here.
It’s miserable.’”

“There is a spiritual world filled with transcendental persons engaged in activities of bliss and loving service to Krishna. Pure devotees meditate on the lotus feet of Radha and Krishna and Their activities and Their assistants and Their abode. I want that too. I’m glad to be straightened out and be brought back to this truth.”

“I could turn to pictures of Krishna, but
I think Sri Krishna is too beautiful and handsome
to be captured by earthling artists.
So there is nowhere for these eyes to rest.”

“Even a slight trace of affection
for the holy name
and feeling shelter in the name
is a greater gift,
than all material fortune,
& better than monistic trance.
I pray for it,
& go on reciting Hare Nama.”

“We fly into the unknown, trusting the teachings and the Lord’s promise to His dear friend, Arjuna; and His mercy.”

“August 6, Radhadesh, Belgium, Appearance Day of Balarama

“You appear as a white murti and in the word Rama.
In one of Your pastimes You became intoxicated
by drinking honey. And when Yamuna forgot Your power
You drew her near to You.
When the Kurus doubted You,
You shook their whole city
until they ran to You crying, ‘We forgot who You are!
Please forgive us!’”

“Lord Balarama, on Your appearance day
please let me know You as more real than I am.
Please give me the strength to serve You.”

“I don’t like to give constant lectures to the same audience because they will see my limits. I advocate pure devotion, but I haven’t attained it. I would get tired of almost any lecturer, and so I get tired of myself.”

“My doubts are based on intellectual viewpoints. So let them come out and show themselves. Let them stand for debate. Once they do that, I’m able to see their weaknesses. One can be skeptical towards skepticism.”

“Every living creature is an equal soul,
but only a human has the choice.
These are the teachings, and
you can take them or disregard them and go on
trapping the wasps in bottles
with no knowledge of what comes next.”

“I’ve also been trying to meditate on the proposition that the japa time should be given to Nama-rupa. We know how pleased we are when a busy person puts aside their other affairs and gives us their undivided time and attention. So we should agree to give the holy name two or three hours a day like that. We also know how frustrating and disagreeable it is when we go to see someone, but our meeting is interrupted every few minutes by a phone call or another visitor, and our host seems unable and maybe even uncaring, about our need for a confidential meeting. So don’t treat Krishna like that.”

“Never mind how much of this I realize,
it’s available for everyone.
We wouldn’t be here if we didn’t believe
in Prabhupada, Vyasa and Narada
on this soft evening in very late August,
imbibing the knowledge of transcendence
before we all vanish from the earth.”

“If one harbors illusions that he is a great contributor worth remembering, then he not only fools himself, but he misleads those who he convinces to share that illusion.”

Damodara Priya Devi Dasi:

When Arjuna looks at the opposite side of the battlefield, he doesn’t see enemies, he sees friends.

Patrick:

When I hear how Arjuna was seeing his grandfather on the opposite side of the battlefield, it makes me think, “What if I saw my grandfather on the other side of a battlefield?”

Here Arjuna is experiencing both an existential crisis and an ethical crisis.

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Japa, chanting the Hare Krishna mantra on a string of beads, is the main spiritual practice of initiated devotees in the Hare Krishna movement. Where is this mentioned in Bhagavad-gita one might ask? It is mentioned in a not so well known verse in the midst of the Tenth Chapter where Krishna identifies Himself with different prominent features of this world so we can meditate on His presence here. To advance ourselves either materially or spiritually requires sacrifice. Krishna says:

yajñānāṁ japa-yajño ’smi

“Of sacrifices I am the chanting of the holy names [japa].”(Bhagavad-gita 10.25)

The necessity of sacrifice is stressed earlier in the Bhagavad-gita:

nayam loko ’sty ayajñasya

“O best of the Kuru dynasty, without sacrifice one can never live happily on this planet or in this life: what then of the next?” (Bhagavad-gita 4.31)

yajñarthat karmano ’nyatra

“Work done as a sacrifice for Vishnu has to be performed; otherwise work causes bondage in this material world. Therefore, O son of Kunti, perform your prescribed duties for His satisfaction, and in that way you will always remain free from bondage.” (Bhagavad-gita 3.9)

What about someone who cannot accept the idea that sacrifice should be performed for Vishnu or Krishna? Srila Prabhupada writes, “if one decides to sacrifice for the supreme cause, even if he does not know that the supreme cause is Krishna, he will come gradually to understand that Krishna is the supreme cause by the sacrificial method.”

We may feel that sacrifice is needed in the beginning of our spiritual lives, but after sometime we advance to a point where it is no longer required. Krishna, however, does not agree. He says:

yajña-dana-tapah-karma

“Acts of sacrifice, charity and penance are not to be given up; they must be performed. Indeed, sacrifice, charity and penance purify even the great souls.” (Bhagavad-gita 18.5)

One may accept the idea of sacrifice and of chanting the holy names but doubt that it needs to be done so many hours each day. Even one professor challenged Srila Prabhupada, opining that the Bhagavad-gita does not require such constant chanting. Srila Prabhupada replied by telling the professor that he had overlooked one verse:

satatam kirtayanto mam

“Always chanting My glories, endeavoring with great determination, bowing down before Me, these great souls perpetually worship Me with devotion.” (Bhagavad-gita 9.14)

May these verses inspire you to take the daily chanting of Hare Krishna on beads (japa) so seriously that you attain spiritual perfection during this life.