Monthly Archives: October 2013

09.22 – When worry accelerates the imagination, let faith become the brake
→ The Spiritual Scientist

Worry accelerates our imagination. When we face problems, worry paints dreadful pictures of the many further things that may go wrong, thereby sucking our mental energy into those gloomy possibilities. Saying that worry accelerates our imagination doesn’t mean that the problems we worry about aren’t real. They may well be real. But we can live […]

The Importance of Devotee Association, Sunday Festival, October 6, Dallas
Giriraj Swami

“The scriptures explain that if one begins acting according to one’s constitutional position, one develops all the qualities that help one act according to that position. Our eternal position is that we are naturally devotees of God and we naturally love God. And, naturally loving God means that you love everyone. So, the natural state […]

Kirtan In the Muslim Quarter
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Yesterday we took our harinam party into the Muslim quarter of Skopje, Macedonia. A little concerned I asked the samkirtan leader if there was any risk involved. “In our country,” he replied, “the problems are between Muslims and Christians. So far the Muslim community has not shown any hostility towards us.” Whatever apprehension I had […]

Mahavishnu Swami giving a lecture at our festival last Thursday at the Green Par…
→ Mahavishnu Swami

Mahavishnu Swami giving a lecture at our festival last Thursday at the Green Park Function Room in Bath, Somerset. It went very well, and the hall which has a capacity of 150 seats was overflowing with people so much that many people had to stand up at the back as there weren’t any seats left.

youtube.com/watch?v=SUXVP3yTnFk


Mahavishnu Swami Lecture | Function Room, Bath, 10 Oct 2013
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Mahavishnu Swami giving a lecture at the festival at the Bath Function Room on the 10th October 2013. Continue reading →

Yadubara prabhu’s new super production about Srila Prabhupada’s life, worth US $395,000 (trailer video)
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It has been nearly 30 years since the release of “Your Ever Well-Wisher,” the familiar documentary on the life of Srila Prabhupada produced by Yadubara das and Visakha dasi. Most know of the “Hare Krishna Movement” but few know of its founder. There is urgent need for an updated and revised version, with language and imagery appropriate for twenty-first-century viewers. To produce ACHARYA, the original team will join forces with media professionals in the Washington DC area. Read more ›

06.28 – The purpose of discipline is not to torture ourselves, but to transcend ourselves
→ The Spiritual Scientist

The idea of discipline often evokes in us an inaudible sigh, if not an audible groan – it appears to be a deprivation, as a form of self-torture. However, the purpose of discipline is not to torture ourselves, but to transcend ourselves. That is, transcend our lower self – our impulsive mind that is seduced […]

16.12 – Our bonds are not prisoner’s shackles, but puppeteer’s strings
→ The Spiritual Scientist

We treasure freedom as an inalienable right and resist anything that threatens it. However, we think of freedom largely in terms of the freedom to pursue various forms of material pleasures. Gita wisdom expands our conception of freedom by extending it to the spiritual level. As everything material is temporary, so is the pleasure from […]

Wednesday, October 9th, 2013
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Cremo and Sam

Toronto/Vancouver

Michael Cremo is the author along with Dr. Richard Thompson on writings that challenge the status quo including the self-admitted speculations of Darwin.  “Forbidden Archaeology” and “The Hidden History of the Human Race” are books inspired by our guru that are premised by conspiracy theory justified.  When you read these revealing texts, you’ll know what I mean.  Why do people blindly follow anything that’s presented to them?  Why the gullibility?  Challenge or at least question before acceptance, be thoughtful.

That’s what’s nice about Cremo’s work, it stimulates independent thinking.  He travels the world with his message and shakes up a paradigm that needs shaking.  And he presents the facts with coolness and sobriety.

It’s unfortunate that I won’t be around for his talks.  I’m off to Vancouver today and he’ll be moving about in the Toronto/Hamilton area enlightening people, ‘shaking a few trees’.

Cremo, whom I know devotionally as Drutakarma, came out with me for that chill out trek that I take in the morning.  Conversation was light, we were just getting to know each other.  In exchange, we asked, ‘Where were you born?  Where did you grow up?  What’s your ethnicity?’ and so on.

And so long… On the plane I go.

By providence I was moved from a middle seat to the isle and the young fellow two seats from mine was also moved from the middle row to the window.  We hit it on.  As he put it, it was meant to be.  Sam Hing is a Toronto born guy of parents from Hong Kong.  He was raised Catholic, and during mass he served as an “Well, you can’t say it anymore, an altar boy, because of the gender thing,” he said in a whisper.  He is a strong spiritualist advocate and less so a backer or religion.

People do sometimes ask, “Is yours a religion?”  This was a similar assumption made by Raymond, an early seeker to the movement in New York, when he asked, “In your religion…”  Our guru, Srila Prabhupada, cut him off sharply.

“This is not religion, this is knowledge.”

In any event, Sam is a great guy who seemed to understand my lifestyle as a traveller, a sannyasi,  a monk who likes to be out and about.  We conversed about a troubled world and the lack of RESPECT (Aretha) and what that word means.  ‘Re’ means ‘again’, ‘Spect’ means ‘look’.  When it comes to spirituality it means to look again, to look harder and deeper and finally see your real self.

Our plane landed.  Sam deplaned at Calgary, I flew on to Vancouver.  I got accommodations at New Gokula Dham off of Marine Drive.  Before sleep I read from a recent book by Achyutananda Das, “Blazing Sadhus”, with subtitle, “Or Never Trust A Holy Man Who Can’t Dance”.  Here’s an excerpt form that book that put me happily to sleep:

“Someone asked, ‘Don’t we all become one with God?’

Prabhupada answered, ‘Nothing is separate from God; that’s alright.  We are one in quality with God, but we do not ‘become’ God.’

The swami pretended to lick his hand and said, ‘It is like saying I am salty, so I am the ocean.  This version is inadequate and ineffective.  The potency is non different from the potent.  The energy is non different from the energetic.  The effective, immediate and ingredient causes cannot be less than the result.  Yes?’”

May the Source be with you!

4 KM

Sangam at Prabhupada’s Palace at New Vrindaban
→ New Vrindaban Brijabasi Spirit

“I have got ambition to construct there seven temples as follows 1. Radha Madan Mohan  2. Radha Govinda  3. Radha Gopinatha  4. Radha Damodar  5. Radha Raman  6. Radha Gokulananda  7. Radha Syamasundar” Letter from Srila Prabhupada to Hayagriva, 1968 This will be the sixth Sangam at Prabhupada’s Palace of Gold, each with a different […]

Fall Issue of Mayapur Sanga Released
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It is a great pleasure to announce that the Mayapur.com team has released our Seventh edition of our newsletter entitled “Mayapur Sanga”. It is our desire to regularly update our guests and well wishers, pilgrims and devotees of the many ongoing projects and devotional festivals that take place in this magical land called Mayapur. We maintain […]

The post Fall Issue of Mayapur Sanga Released appeared first on Mayapur.com.

Presenting Krishna consciousness to thousands of people in Macedonia through national television (113 photos)
→ Dandavats.com

Indradyumna Swami: Yesterday I was invited to speak on national television. The popular talk show aired at prime time throughout Macedonia. The host was very gracious and we discussed the basics of Krsna conscious philosophy. Most important, I went into great deal about the importance of chanting Hare Krsna. As the program ended I repeated the mantra several times, realising that hundreds of thousands of people may be watching Read more ›

Remembering Hemalavanya Prabhu
→ Mayapur.com

Hemalavanya Prabhu was born in 1957 in Hungary. Later his family had moved to Austria where he went to the school etc. I met Hemalavanya Prabhu in 1995 in Israel where he was serving as the police officer on Golan Heights. We became friends immediately and stayed close friends till his last day. He was […]

The post Remembering Hemalavanya Prabhu appeared first on Mayapur.com.

Travel Journal#9.18: North Florida and Ohio
→ Travel Adventures of a Krishna Monk

Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 9, No. 18
By Krishna-kripa das
(September 2013, part two)
North Florida and Ohio
(Sent from New York City on October 10, 2013)
Where I Went and What I Did
During the second half of September, I spent a week and a half at Krishna House in Gainesville, chanting at the Krishna Lunch, a football game, the corner of University Avenue and 13thStreet, and the farmers market and giving a few classes in Gainesville and one in Alachua. The class in Alachua was on Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s appearance day (click hereto hear it), and some devotees liked a selection of his teachings which I shared (click hereto see them). Brahmatirtha Prabhu and I spoke a few words [click hereto see mine] at the Alachua Sunday Feast about Sadaputa Prabhu, known to the academic world as Richard L. Thompson, who wrote several books on science and spiritual knowledge, and who passed away five years before. Sthita-dhi Muni Prabhu, his secretary, who went on to get a Ph.D. in History of Science, kindly helped sponsor the feast in Sadaputa’s honor. Prema Sindhu Prabhu, who I knew from Tampa and Jacksonville, moved to Columbus a while back, and he invited me to come there and do a four-day seminar on “How to Increase our Taste for Chanting the Holy Name” for the final four days of the month, which will ultimately be put on ISKCONDesire Tree. That was a challenge for me as I prefer to give single classes rather than a series, and also I do not feel myself to be such a great authority. One good feature was I was able to recite some beautiful verses glorifying the holy name, and at least that was undoubtedly beneficial for all to hear. Some of these appear at the end of the “Insights” section of this journal. I felt victorious in Columbus because I went on harinama for two to three hours each day I stayed there, once traveling to Athens to further spread the mercy of the holy name.
For insights I have excellent quotes from Srila Prabhupada’s books, a quote from a poem by Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami, some beautiful and practical devotional wisdom from Mahatma Prabhu, wonderful insights from Radha Jivan Prabhu from his life of devotional service, and notes by the senior and junior devotees giving classes in Gainesville, Alachua, and Jackonsville.
Chanting at University of North Florida
Dakota, who just met the devotees a few days before, spent five days at Krishna House following the Jacksonville Ratha-yatra. Afterward I drove him back to Jacksonville and introduced him to the devotees there. Amrita Keli dd engaged him in distributing flyers for our Jacksonville programs, and a couple of his friends, both singing majors, came by and chanted with us on the blanket before the Krishna Club meeting.

The three University of North Florida ladies in the foreground had never chanted the Hare Krishna mantra before. The one playing harmonium had never played before, but since she was studying singing and piano I taught her how to play the chords for the Prabhupada melody. Dakota, the young man, is pumping the harmonium for her and holding two mantra cards back-to-back so she and the lady on the right, also a singing major who took turns leading, could read the words. When Mit came by to play the drum, the kirtana ascended to a higher level.

Later Dakota got up and danced.

It was awesome to have such a wonderful kirtana with so many brand new people!

Thanks to Sonya, the girl sitting between Mit and the harmonium player in the first photo in the series above, for kindly taking the photos with me in them in addition to singing the response.
The girl who played the harmonium on the green came to our Krishna Club meeting, and enjoyed meditating on the sound of the kirtana there.

Tulasirani dd led the kirtana. 

Although there were not as many people as on Radhastami, the previous week, it was still well attended.

Dorian, Jonah, Dakota, and I were the men who danced.

In the beginning, Mallory was the only girl dancing.

As before, Dorian was enthusiastic to do a kirtana after the prasadam, and at least ten people took part, almost all of them dancing, and it was truly beautiful to see.

We chanted Friday on the green.


You can see the devotees were really absorbed in it.

Here Rae Jeana, Krishna Club president, played the drum, and Dorian led with the karatalas. 

A new girl, who was passing by and was on a spiritual quest, was happy to chant and read the Bhagavad-gita with us on the blanket.

We chanted 4½ hours on Friday, and Dorian was with us practically the whole time.
Chanting in Gainesville
I would chant daily for 2½ hours during Krishna Lunch. Days when Purusartha Prabhu would come out were always especially ecstatic. Among them Haridasa Thakura’s Disappearance Day was especially memorable as twelve people were chanting together on the blanket at one point.

We chanted at two farmers markets the second half of September, and Haridasa Thakura’s Disappearance Day again was the bigger day with at least sixteen people participating in some of it. Dakota was visiting us during that one, and he enjoyed dancing along with the kirtana.

One devotee girl, who was there with her family, enjoyed playing the shakers to the kirtana beat, even while playing with the hula hoop.

One young man played his own percussion instrument along with the kirtana.


The next week the stage band started early, so we had sing on the corner opposite the market.

Often while in Gainesville, I chant on Friday evening with the Alachua devotees at the corner of University Avenue and 13thStreet.


There are six University of Florida home football games each year, and devotees have been chanting in front of Gate 7 of the stadium for two hours before the games even before I moved to Alachua County nineteen years ago. I remember on one Radhastami, 36 devotees chanted at the football stadium! On September 21 there were fewer, but quite a mix of newer devotees and senior devotees, and children and adults.


Here a very little girl successfully distributes a devotional pamphlet.

Some of the fans, often drunk, dance with the devotees.


Here a devotee encourages the fans to chant the mantra.

Here two fans take turns holding the Hare Krishna maha-mantra sign.


Encounters with Visvambhara Prabhu of the Mayapuris
Visvambhara Prabhu of the Mayapuris happened to be in the temple room at Krishna House in Gainesville when I came down for our evening kirtana, so I invited him to sing. He was waiting for a ride, but said he would sing until his ride came, which happened to be after the half-hour kirtana was over. The Gauri Arati kirtana is always lively in Gainesville with usually between seven and fifteen devotees, and it was extra lively with Visvambhara singing.



It just got better and better, and the Nrsimha prayers at the end were really dynamic.
The next morning about 5 a.m. as I was in the line for security at the airport, I was pleasantly surprised to encounter Visvambhara again. He was enroute to San Francisco where he was doing two programs each day, beginning with a kirtana at Googlethat very day. He explained his awesome schedule of traveling Friday through Monday to different cities to do kirtana, attending classes in religion at University of Florida Tuesday and Thursday and teaching mrdangaon Wednesday. He said his university classes are from 3 to 6 p.m., ending just before the Gaura Arati, and I encouraged him to chant at least once a week when he is in Gainesville, and he was agreeable.
Although he does kirtana with many amazing personalities all over the world, he surprised me by saying his favorite kirtana was one he did with me alone at Krishna Lunch at the University of Florida. He sang, and I played the only beat I know on the drum, and we sang the same tune for the whole time. He said, “It did not go anywhere, nor did it have to go anywhere.” He says people ask him to teach them how to play many tunes on the harmonium and many beats on the drum, but actually one does not need such variety. The holy name is sufficient!
I told him I was invited to give a seminar on a getting a taste for chanting the holy name, and I asked him what he would say if he were to give such a seminar. He smiled broadly and thought for awhile and he told how at one gathering of devotees, he saw many senior devotees seriously chanting on beads with concentration, and how Radhanath Swami had a tear in his eye, and just being in that presence increased his conviction about the holy name. When I spoke in the evening, I discussed how by association with great devotees we can gain taste for the holy name, and used this example from Visvambhara.
Chanting in Columbus
While we were chanting at Ohio State, a young man asked if we were Hare Krishnas and what we believed. I said, “Yes. We understand there is one God. All living creatures are part of Him. Human life is special because we can develop our relationship with Him by chanting His names, especially the Hare Krishna mantra.” Then I gave him a mantra card. He said last Saturday he was in Gainesville and heard some Hare Krishnas chanting at the football game. I smiled and said, “I was one of them and that card I just gave you is for our Hare Krishna center there!” Perhaps by making him meet the devotees in two cities in the same week, Krishna is trying to give him some special mercy.
Prema Sindhu Prabhu, who invited me to Columbus, Prema Vilasa Prabhu, Nitai Gauranga Prabhu, Jagannath Prabhu, and I went on harinama before the Ohio State football game for over two hours. I think the Ohio football fans are even more wild than the Florida ones. Prema Vilasa Prabhu, although he likes harinama, had never been to a football game harinama, considering the event with all the drunken revelers to be scary, but he had a great time and is thinking of inviting other devotees to the game harinamas in the future. At least three fans took extensive video of us, one who was an acquaintance of Jagannath Dasa Prabhu, being a regular attender at the temple programs.
I do not always go on harinama on Sundays. I do in Newcastle but do not in Gainesville, but I think it is best to go out every day, and so before the Columbus Sunday feast, we chanted from the temple, through the university, to the front of Ohio State Student Union, where we sat down on the sidewalk, facing High Street. Different people were attracted, many taking pictures. One girl named Kristen, who often attends the temple Sunday program, took a little video (http://youtu.be/5taAzBBdHoY):
Three young Afro-American boys on their bicycles looked suspiciously at the oatmeal cookies we offered them, and one of them cautiously took one but did not eat it, and they rode off. Later they came back, each grabbing two or three cookies! I guess the cookies passed their taste test.
The last ten minutes we were in front of the Union, a young man sat on the wall separating the lawn from the sidewalk and listened intently. When we packed up to go, we gave him a cookie. He told us his name was Alex, and he was very familiar with Hare Krishna from his childhood in Sochi, Russia. He recalled the friendliness of the devotees, the joy of the chanting, and the taste of the prasadam, and he was happy to encounter them again. We invited him to the Sunday and Thursday programs at our Columbus center, and I hope he comes. Jagannath told him of a regular attender from Ukraine, also named Alex, to encourage him to come.
When Tulasirani dd heard I was going to Columbus, she encouraged me to do harinama at Ohio University in Athens, an hour and a half away, saying that the students are nicer there. The devotees have done college programs there for years, although not at present, and that is how she met the devotees. I asked Jagannath and Nitai Gauranga Prabhus, the two devotees living in the Columbus temple, about going to do harinama in Athens, and they also thought the students are nicer there, and Nitai Gauranga Prabhu kindly agreed to drive us. We settled on Monday, which turned out to be both Ekadasi and my fifty-fourth birthday. I made coconut burfi flavored with fresh mint for distribution to both the devotees and the students. In Vedic culture, traditionally people give gifts on their birthdays to purify their births rather than receive gifts, and when I have an opportunity, I make sweets to give away, as I was able to do this year.

We did find the students to be more friendly in Athens, and we ended up distributing four books by chanting for 2½ hours with books and sweets on display. About fifty sweets were also distributed. Many people took pictures of us.


One girl named Mary was especially happy to see us, and she asked the boy she was with to take pictures of us, some with her in them. I asked Nitai Gauranga Prabhu to give her the garland he was wearing as she seemed the most enthusiastic person we were likely to encounter that day. She told me that she would keep the garland her whole life. 


It seemed very rare indeed that someone would say that. I told her that because the garland was spiritual, if she did keep it her whole life, it would retain a pleasant fragrance. She also asked when we would be coming back to visit her school, but the devotees had no idea. After the harinama as we were walking back to the car, we met Mary again, and she was still wearing the garland. She said she had been smelling it from time to time all afternoon. When we first met Mary, she had passed up the coconut sweet having just eaten, but now she was willing to take one and liked it.


Turns out Mary was also interested in yoga, like many people who are on the way to Krishna.
We met a middle-aged man toward the end who was very happy to see Hare Krishna devotees and asked if we were from New Vrindavan. He knew the names of many devotees who had lived there years before including Bhaktipada, who was formerly in charge, and the man had visited there himself and been impressed with Prabhupada’s Palace.
All in all, we felt good that we went to Athens, despite traveling 3 hours to stay for 2½, and I think that now the Columbus devotees will go there more often.
I enjoyed my visit to Columbus, having daily harinama partners to chant with and the association of people interested in increasing their taste for chanting the holy name. Thanks to Prema Sindhu Prabhu, Prema Vilasa Prabhu, Naveen Krishna Prabhu, Jagannatha Prabhu, and Nitai Gauranga Prabhu, and all the others who facilitated me there.

To see the 94 pictures I took, but did not include in this blog, click on this link:

https://picasaweb.google.com/103872792410945983719/TravelJournal918?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCIuAkPfZy67TzQE&feat=directlink

The first 32 pictures are included in this blog and may look familiar but not those that follow.


Insights

Srila Prabhupada:
from Srimad-Bhagavatam 6.16.18–19, purport:
“Whenever we see Krishna, He is always full of ananda [spiritual bliss] in all circumstances. No one can make Him morose. Atmaramaya:He does not need to search for external enjoyment, because He is self-sufficient. Santaya:He has no anxiety. One who has to seek pleasure from other sources is always full of anxiety. Karmis, jnanisand yogis are full of anxiety because they want something, but a devotee does not want anything; he is simply satisfied in the service of the Lord, who is fully blissful.”
from Srimad-Bhagavatam 6.16.41, purport:
“If one advocates the Hindu religion, the Muslim religion, the Christian religion, this religion or that religion, there will be conflicts. History shows that the followers of religious systems without a clear conception of God have fought with one another. There are many instances of this in human history, but systems of religion that do not concentrate upon service to the Supreme are temporary and cannot last for long because they are full of envy. There are many activities directed against such religious systems, and therefore one must give up the idea of ‘my belief’ and ‘your belief.’ Everyone should believe in God and surrender unto Him. That is bhagavata-dharma.”
from Srimad-Bhagavatam 6.16.43, purport:
“The members of human society who strictly follow the principles of bhagavata-dharmaand live according to the instructions of the Supreme Personality of Godhead are called Aryans or arya.A civilization of Aryans who strictly follow the instructions of the Lord and never deviate from those instructions is perfect. Such civilized men do not discriminate between trees, animals, human beings and other living entities. Panditah sama-darsinah: [Bg. 5.18] because they are completely educated in Krishna consciousness, they see all living beings equally. Aryans do not kill even a small plant unnecessarily, not to speak of cutting trees for sense gratification. At the present moment, throughout the world, killing is prominent. Men are killing trees, they are killing animals, and they are killing other human beings also, all for sense gratification. This is not an Aryan civilization.”
from Srimad-Bhagavatam 6.16.44, purport:
“Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu introduced this chanting of the holy name five hundred years ago, and now through the Krishna consciousness movement, the Hare Krishna movement, we are actually seeing that men who are considered to belong to the lowest class are being delivered from all sinful activities simply by hearing the holy name of the Lord.”
“From our present position, the Supreme Personality of Godhead can be personally seen as the Deity in the temple. The Deity of the Lord is not different from the Supreme Lord. Because we cannot see the Supreme Lord with our present blunt eyes, the Lord has kindly consented to come before us in a form we can see. Therefore the Deity in the temple should not be considered material. By offering food to the Deity and by decorating and serving the Deity, one gets the same result that one derives from serving the Lord personally in Vaikuntha.”
from Sri Caitanya-caritamrta,Madhya 8.300, purport:
“Being the eternal servant of Lord Ramacandra, Hanumanji has been respectfully worshiped for many hundreds and thousands of years. Here even Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu set the example in showing how one should offer respects to Hanumanji.”
from Sri Isopanisad, Verse 1, purport:
“The human race should take the Vedic wisdom ofSri Isopanisadand not quarrel over material possessions. One must be satisfied with whatever privileges are given to him by the mercy of the Lord. There can be no peace if the communists or capitalists or any other party claims proprietorship over the resources of nature, which are entirely the property of the Lord. The capitalists cannot curb the communists simply by political maneuvering, nor can the communists defeat the capitalists simply by fighting for stolen bread. If they do not recognize the proprietorship of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, all the property they claim to be their own is stolen. Consequently they will be liable to punishment by the laws of nature. Nuclear bombs are in the hands of both communists and capitalists, and if both do not recognize the proprietorship of the Supreme Lord, it is certain that these bombs will ultimately ruin both parties. Thus in order to save themselves and bring peace to the world, both parties must follow the instructions of Sri Isopanisad.”
from Sri Isopanisad, Verse 2, purport:
“Factually, no one has to do anything more than render devotional service to the Lord. However, in the lower stages of life one cannot immediately adopt the activities of devotional service, nor can one completely stop fruitive work. A conditioned soul is accustomed to working for sense gratification — for his own selfish interest, immediate or extended. An ordinary man works for his own sense enjoyment, and when this principle of sense enjoyment is extended to include his society, nation or humanity in general, it assumes various attractive names such as altruism, socialism, communism, nationalism and humanitarianism. These “isms” are certainly very attractive forms of karma-bandhana(karmic bondage), but the Vedic instruction of Sri Isopanisadis that if one actually wants to live for any of the above ‘isms,’ he should make them God-centered. There is no harm in becoming a family man, or an altruist, a socialist, a communist, a nationalist or a humanitarian, provided that one executes his activities in relation with isavasya, the God-centered conception.
from Sri Isopanisad, Verse 3, purport:
We are given this human form of life not to work hard like asses, swine and dogs but to attain the highest perfection of life. If we do not care for self-realization, the laws of nature force us to work very hard, even though we may not want to do so. Human beings in this age have been forced to work hard like the asses and bullocks that pull carts.
Hridayananda Goswami:

from a letter to Bhaktin Amy:
“Prabhupada once wrote to me that we do not engage in mental speculation but we can engage in philosophical speculation. He gave this example. In the Gita, Krishna says, ‘I am the taste in water.’ To speculate WHETHER this statement is true or not is mental speculation. If I accept Krishna’s words, and try to grasp HOW it is true, that is philosophical speculation, and I won’t get busted!”
Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami:


poem for September 17:

“Today’s drawing shows four
bhaktas dancing and
chanting with upraised arms.
Two are facing forward,
and two move to the side.
Mundane dancers can’t
feel the happiness
these men experience. They
are beyond the modes
of nature. It’s a liberated
dance done in love of Krishna.”
Kalakantha Prabhu:
There are many “gurus” who will take your material opulence, but not so many that will take your sinful reactions.
Two of the mahajanas, the great Vedic authorities on religious principles, namely Prahlada Maharaja and Bali Maharaja, were descendents of the great atheist, Hiranyakasipu, which shows that a person from any background can become a great devotee.
Pururava was wise in that he took responsibility for his own uncontrolled senses and did not blame his wife, Urvasi.
comment: by Tulasirani dd: It is good for men to make a plan how they will maintain their family if they choose to get married in the future, even if they are satisfied as brahmacaris now.
comment by Radhika Nagara Prabhu:
Kalakantha Prabhu has created a wonderful program with his forty year’s experience whereby people can take up Krishna consciousness at their own rate. I hope you can take full advantage of it and become inspired to spread Krishna House to all the cities of your country.
Mahatma Prabhu:
Saintly qualities are always interesting to discuss because they are so rarely seen.
Narada wanted Daksa to ask him to be forgiven for the offensive words Daksa had spoken to Narada so Daksa would be open to hear about bhakti.
Bhaktivinoda Thakura said that one who has love for God loves others. A humble person is compassionate because he does not want to cause others harm on his own account. He develops forgiveness.
Cleanliness helps develop God consciousness.
It foolish not to practice humility thinking because you do not feel humble it would be artificial and that you will become humble by your spiritual practice. It is like thinking that you do not want to take a shower artificially until by your spiritual practice you develop the quality of cleanliness.
We blame others for causing us to feel in a certain way, when in fact if we did not have certain needs, the others would not caused us to feel that way.
If you have many needs, you will definitely suffer.
In spiritual life, we have to monitor our qualities and see if we are developing the divine qualities of saint.
In an Amish community a man killed two daughters not his own and then killed himself. The parents of the girls who were killed came to the man’s wife saying they forgave her husband, and that if she was inconvenienced by not having her husband, she could live with them.
You have to realize that you are holding on to resentment, resentment is not holding on to you.
Q: How can we forgive?
A: I have a seventeen-hour seminar on forgiveness but here are some ideas:
If you think that what the person did to you is unforgivable, then you will never be able to forgive them.
If you do not forgive the person, it will harm you physically, mentally, and emotionally.
If you did the same thing the person did to you, you would want to be forgiven.
One writer said if you understand the secret history of the suffering of any individual person, you would not be bear any enmity to anyone.
Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura says that when we receive the fruits of our karma, we then blame our karma.
Patanjali advises to counteract envy by acting in the opposite way, as the well-wisher of the person you envy.
Q: Why do we have to practice these saintly qualities?
A: For millions of lives we have practiced just acting just the opposite. We can engage our nature in Krishna’s service but not our demonic qualities.
You may take the medicine for six months and see no result and stop. When you see the doctor in a year, he asks how you are. You say you are still sick and you stopped taking the medicine after six months because you saw no result, and he says that if you had taken it for a year you would be cured.
You are attracted to hearing about Krishna because you a spirit soul. You are attracted to chanting Hare Krishna because you are a spirit soul. You find that material happiness does not completely satisfy you because you a spirit soul.
We cannot be Krishna conscious without the association of devotees, even those we do not like. It is helpful to see how each devotee is engaged in devotional service.
Do not criticize people. Everyone has many faults, but it does not help you to criticize them.
One writer says that when you criticize someone it says more about your need to criticize than it does about the qualities of the person.
If I see something bad in someone, that discourages me, but if I see good qualities, it inspires me. So even just considering your own state of consciousness it is better to praise than criticize.
In my forgiveness workshop we have people praise those people they have difficulty forgiving. Sometimes it is difficult, but it does improve our opinion of the person and improve our relationship with the person also.
Where there is love, there is surrender. If we love Krishna, we will automatically surrender to Him.
If you were God, would you change your life? Is everything about your life perfect the way it is? You would change a few things, wouldn’t you? That is the difference between us and God. God does what He likes.
Everything is connected to Krishna. Only we are not because of our consciousness.
Q: What about the material activities we have to do in addition to our devotional activities?
A: You should link all your activities to Krishna, then you will have no material activities.
Q: Some devotees say I should just chant and do my service and my mind will clear up. Others say I have to work on it.
A: I learned from going to japaconferences, from the Buddhists, and other sources, when you are in your mind, you are not in your heart, and when you are in the heart, you are not in your mind. So try to be in your heart when you chant japa. Try to feel Krishna. Srila Prabhupada said you can feel Krishna in the holy name.
You can talk to your conditioned side.
It is always better to focus on what you want than to focus on what you don’t want.
One teacher says you should always aspire for something beyond what you think you can achieve. Then you can come to a higher level.
Instead we think, “I am not Radhanath Swami. I am just a fallen Alachua devotee. What can I achieve?” Thus we limit ourselves.
I have some bad news. What ever challenges you have in this life, if you do not resolve them, you will still them in your next life.
If you realize your mind was programmed by you in the last life, you can start reprogramming your mind now.
Once a devotee, maybe twenty-four years old, who had a wife with a one-year-old son wanted to take sannyasa. Srila Prabhupada asked the man to consider what effect that would have on his wife and son, and said that a devotee does not like to do anything that harms anyone.
Bhakti Vidya Purna Swami teaches his brahmacaris to become grhasthas. That accomplishes two purposes: the men who want to get married learn the nature of women and how to deal with them and thus become better husbands, and the men who think that is all too much can stay brahmacaris.
We do not have to act on the crazy ideas that appear in our mind. In the mode of goodness, those negative thoughts have no energy.
The macho husbands who tell their wives who are emotional, “Just get a hold of yourself,” are actually not self-controlled. Rather the husbands who patiently listen to their wives are actually self-controlled.
According Maha-samhita, a brahmana never berates himself.
A person who is self-pitying is like a person who falls in the mud, and just lies there, and says, “I fell in the mud, I am so unfortunate; it is so muddy; the mud even smells,” instead of getting out of the mud, and taking a shower, and going on with life.
A devotee told Bhakti Vidya Purna Swami, “I cannot forgive this devotee. What should I do?” His reply was “Forgive him because it is pleasing to Krishna.”
One person who trains counselors said, “The most effective counseling is a supportive spiritual community.”
Vallabha Sena Prabhu:
Narada realized that he could not instruct King Pracinbarhi directly so he told him a story about a king just like himself so he could realize his mistaken program of life. This is one strategy we can also use in our outreach.
Narada taught the king it is not sufficient just to aspire to heavenly enjoyment in the next life, rather one should endeavor for an eternal situation in the spiritual world.
Before I met the devotees, I hitchhiked all over America looking for the ideal situation for ultimate happiness, but no place was perfect.
from different Prabhupada disciples on a Following Prabhupadavideo:
Five boys from brahmana families in Vrindavan took initiation from Srila Prabhupada at the time of Krishna-Balarama installation ceremony. That was a great victory of Vaishnavism over Brahmanism.
I visited my parents before going to Vrindavan to see Srila Prabhupada. My mother asked if there was anything she could give me for Srila Prabhupada. I asked her if there was anything she would like to give him. She suggested she could make some guava jam as we had many fruit trees on our property. I agreed and so she did. I gave the jam to Prabhupada’s servant. For two days he was looking for me as Prabhupada wanted the name and address of my mother she he could write her a thank you letter. In the letter, he said that it was the best jam he received and it was like his mother used to make for him. He said not worry for your daughter and that he was making sure she was nicely engaged in the Lord’s service. I was amazed that despite all the things happenings regarding the Krishna Balarama temple installation ceremony, Prabhupada had time to reciprocate with my mother.
One devotee was told to start a gosala [a place where cows are kept],

Krishna Tech: Kṛṣṇa VS Kåñëa–Balarama Font Macros Converter for Word
→ Nityananda Chandra Das' Blog, ISKCON Dallas

Kṛṣṇa’s holy name is transcendental.  Therefore it is not surprising that it remains transcendental, even when altered by the font conversion process.   When pasting on the web a text with Balarama font the name Kṛṣṇa becomes Kåñëa.   That is not too bad as one of Kṛṣṇa’s names is Kanhaiya.  However when words such as Śrīla become Çréla and other words are sometimes very hard to figure out, it becomes frustrating.  However there is a simple solution that will allow you to maintain all your files formatting.  Keeping all your Bolds, your   centered    text, italics, and everything in between.  It is Macros, by using macros one can changes the Balarama diacritic characters to the correct corresponding unicode characters that remain readable one the web and can be seen in most fonts.  This also means that searching become easier to use as well. 

The macros that I was able to put together can be found here.  https://pastee.org/qhp8a It also works on your footnotes as well. 

Notes:

If you have a file that has footnotes it will convert it and save it as is.  If it the files does not have footnotes it will say error and you can choose end or debug.   Press end and save or save as and you are done. 
Do not use files that have fonts that are similar to the diacritics in Balarama but have different corresponding letters to the diacritics letters.  I think Tamal is ok, It seems like the all corresponding letters that are converted are the same as the Balarama font