Author Archives: Ananda Subramanian, Iowa, USA

Srila Jagannatha Das Babaji Maharaj
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An original photo of Srila Jagannatha dasa Babaji, the spiritual master of Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur, recently discovered by the Bhaktivedanta Research Centre in Kolkata. The photo was found inserted between the pages of an old book previously owned by a disciple of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati. 

Srila Jagannatha Das Babaji Maharaj was the sovereign emperor of the Gaudiya Vaishnava world. No human talent can ever describe his fathomless love for Lord Goursundar (Gauranga). He spent many years in the adoration of Sri Radha-Govinda in Sri Vrindavan. He was a highly revered personality. Everywhere he was renowned as “Siddha Baba” (a great devotee who has reached the Goal or attained Ultimate Success).

Generally devotees talk about the contribution of Srila Jagannatha dasa Babaji in confirming the birth place of Lord Caitanya. However, there is also one more very important contribution, which probably is even more important than confirming the birth place of Lord Caitanya, which is never or rarely discussed. This is that, Srila Jagannatha dasa Babaji is the first person in our guru parampara who chanted the Pancha tattva maha mantra as with “Jaya Sri Krishna Caitanya…”.Before the time of Srila Jagannatha dasa Babaji, the Panhca Tattva maha mantra was chanted as ” Jaya Sri Gauranga Prabhu Nityananda….”. Devotees following the guru parampara from Srila Jaganatha dasa Babaji then followed the same.. “Jaya Sri Krishna Caitanya..”

Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur beheld his lotus-feet for the first time in Vrindavan in 1880 and received many precious pieces of advice about Haribhajan from him. Srila Babaji Maharaj said ‘there is the danger of committing ten offences while chanting Hare Krishna mahamantra. But there is no consideration of offence in uttering Pancha Tattwa –”Sri Krishna-Chaitanya Prabhu Nityananda, Sri Adwaita Gadadhar Srvasadi Gour-bhakta-vrinda.”

Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur met Srila Babaji Maharaj for the second time at Amlajora village in the district of Burdwan in the month of Falgun 1298 Bangabda (Year of the Bengali era). Srila Babaji Maharaj observed the holy fast enjoined on the eleventh day of a lunar fortnight (Ekadashi) at Amlajora village and discoursed on God day and night. Though he was very old, he was fond of devotional dance and congregational singing of the Holy Name. Next day Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur established ‘Sri Prapannashram’ at Amlajora village. Srila Babaji Maharaj was very happy to see the ceaseless loving efforts of Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur in preaching and propagating the gospels of Lord Gouranga.

While staying in Navadwip, Srila Babaji Maharaj would remain absorbed in his Nam-Bhajan (the adoration of the Holy Name) on the bank of the Ganges at Kuliya. (His Bhajan-cottage and his Samadhi-temple still exist there) Srila Babaji Maharaj asked Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur to construct a shed in front of his cottage for the devotees. Srila Thakur gladly carried out his order.

In 1893 Srila Babaji Maharaj came from Kuliya, Navadwip to Sri Godrum Suravi Kunja and made Thakur Bhaktivinode and other devotees extremely happy. Srila Jagannatha Das Babaji Maharaj paid a kind visit to Sri Mayapur. It was with the divine inspiration of Srila Babaji Maharaj that Srila Thakur Bhaktivinode discovered the Birth-site of Mahaprabhu. Srila Babaji Maharaj ascertained that the discovery was true. He pronounced it to the entire world and danced in ecstatic joy in the holy Birth-place of the Lord. Devotees marveled at his wild dance at such a ripe old age. Dancing impetuously with loud roars, he swept the devotees away on the wave of transcendental enthusiasm. The sound of Sankirtan filled the three worlds and maddened the Vaishnavas present there.

Srila Babaji Maharaj had a great affection for Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur whom he asked to prepare a Vaishnava Almanac. From Srila Babaji Maharaj, the world has learnt that the fifth day of the bright fortnight in the month of Magha is the day of Sri Vishnupriya Devi’s appearance. 

Srila Babaji Maharaj disappeared from this world in Navadwip in 1895 at the age of about 147. Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur described him as “the Old Commander of the army of devotees”.

Some of his immortal messages to this world are;

  • Those who make money by interpreting the Bhagavatam are offenders at the feet of the Holy Name. The transcendental words of Krishna never appear on their lips. Their attitude is more abominable than that of prostitutes. Those who listen to the talks of such speakers will be ruined.
  • If you want final success in your Bhajan, you must maintain strict regularity in chanting the Name. Don’t go to bed before completing the fixed number of chanting everyday. Stick to your vow even at the cost of your life. If you adore the Holy Name with such sincerity, you are sure to attain perfection or final success. At first you will have to toil hard. But ultimately you will get eternal rest at the blissful feet of Lord Gouranga.
Hare Krishna

An offering to His Divine Grace
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Dear Srila Prabhupada

Please accept my humble obeisance. All glories unto your divine Lotus Feet.

Every year on this day of your auspicious appearance, devotees around the world meditate and thank you for the sacrifice you performed for the sake of the lost souls seeking pleasure in this world. If you did not take the pains to travel to the West, preach tirelessly, write volumes of books, build temples, conduct festivals, and give personal instructions to your disciples, today, we would not have the luxury of a global Vaishnava community who are connected with one another either in person or virtually – Thank you very much!

I am happy that I am still chanting, reading and doing some service trying to please you. When I got introduced to Krishna Consciousness, I was doubtful if this is just a phase in my life. I was doubtful if my attachment to you and your words was simply a passing cloud. After all these years, I am happy that I am still chanting implying that perhaps it is not a phase and perhaps it may be something substantial. Having said that, I am still in a phase in my Krishna Consciousness where I ebb and flow with the highs and lows of my life. It is my desire that I am steady in my Krishna consciousness regardless of these high and low points. I submit unto you please accept my services though it may be of idiosyncratic nature.

Pride and anger are two pillars leading to the nether worlds. As long as one harbors such feelings it is not possible to understand sublime truths. In Chaitanya Charitamrta (Adi 1.55), you say that “The development of submissiveness is the cause of proportionate spiritual realization, by which one can ultimately meet the Supreme Lord in person, as a man meets another man face to face”. Living in a place where devotee association is few and far between can promote independence and not submissiveness. Independence is a breeding ground for pride leading to anger. Dear Prabhupada, please always guide me from within and through your books to tolerate the urges of my mind which I sometimes feel is my worst enemy. In the past year, there were many incidences which I could have averted despite outside provocation but because of inherent pride, I became angry and engaged in combative behavior. This, you have said, is on the bodily platform. Going forward, I pray unto you to give me the strength to overcome this elephant like disease of competitive pride and anger.

In the past year, I have tried my best in my capacity to share the word of Krishna to others. I have tried my best to be more introspective with respect to my own sadhana. Going forward, given my limitations, I want to continue to share and introspect. By giving I receive. I hope you were pleased with whatever little sharing and introspection I did in the past year. Please bless me in my attempt to share and introspect more as I get older.

I cannot say this enough and perhaps I will say this till the sun burns out. Without you and your divine instructions, I would be like a ship without a rudder lost in the vast ocean with timingila like fishes ready to gobble me up. It was by your mercy, and blessings I was able to steer this lost ship in a direction where there is hope and freedom. Hope towards an ageless life and freedom from the miseries of life. It does not stop there- you have given us a road map where beyond hope and freedom, we reach the shores of service and bliss – service towards the Supreme Being who is blackish blue in complexion like the rain cloud with lotus like eyes, reddish lips and curly hair. By serving Him unconditionally, one regains His original position of blissful self. What more can we ask for?

Thank you Prabhupada for not only picking me up from the quagmire of this world but also teaching me to clean my act and march towards that Supreme Being. For this I am forever indebted. A debt I can never pay back!

On this divine appearance day of yours, please accept my prostrated dandavats at your divine lotus feet.

Your servant aspiring to be insignificant
Ananda Jagannath Das

Hare Krishna

Patience, confidence, and enthusiasm
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As devotees, we should know our limits of spiritual purity. We should not imitate pure devotees in terms of eating, sleeping and other mundane bodily functions. Srila Prabhupada enforced minimum rules such as four regulative principles, chanting 16 rounds and honoring prasadam. If we practice this sincerely and diligently, we can advance towards Krishna. But out of false-pride and duplicitous nature, if we make a show of advancement of sleeping irregular hours, eating little, engaging in bhajana etc, then such show will eventually pull us down. Therefore we have to be humble in progressing towards Krishna.

What does that mean? It means we have to wait till Krishna allows us to get to the next level of purity whatever it may be. We have to perform to our current capacity with sincere diligence and wait for Krishna to give us confidence within us to go to the next level. Either that or we advance purely based on our attachment to our Guru. This is not so common. Intense attachment to Guru can enable one to disband material hankerings instantly and take up to deep levels of Krishna consciousness.

However, those who are not at that level of attachment can however practice vaidhi bhakti gradually till they receive higher taste from Krishna and in that way progress towards spontaneous bhakti. But for all of this to happen, we have to acknowledge our insignificant nature, and in that mood practice our sadhana (whatever we have committed to) strictly every day and beg for Krishna’s mercy to make progress towards Him.

Patience, confidence and enthusiasm is the key.

Hare Krishna

Practical religion
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The problem with mainstream religion such as Hinduism, Christianity, Islam and Judaism is that at some point the practitioner has to give up rational thinking and just start to “believe”. Rational thinkers including the empirical ones have a field day with such dogmatic belief. Actually, there is lot of unverifiable dogma in science too that forms the very basis of modern science. So there is dogma in both except in science belief or as they call it assumptions only form the basis for a theory but in religion the whole experience is on the mental platform (dogmatic) with no verifiable experience. Therefore as science is advancing especially through tech trinkets or science fiction gadgets, religion is losing its value.

Another reason I think religion is becoming less of a reference point in modern day living is because it has no practical relevance to people. For example what does religion have to say about social ills such as poverty? Is there a strategy to use religious values as espoused in popular scripture to solve poverty? How about household problems such as divorce or domestic violence? Do we have religious solutions? Rarely you will find a pastor or priest heading a panel dealing with social, political or economical problems. So mainstream popular religions are happy just to use God in manner of “belief” versus “non-belief”. Beyond this there is little religion can offer to society today. I agree it is important to “believe” in a life beyond life as it provides some hope for the after-life but if mainstream religion does not offer real-world solutions confronting households and society at large, then religion will simply become a hobby of sorts or merely armchair philosophy.

Bhagavad Dharma, on the other hand as enunciaed by modern day saint Srila Prabhupada, provides us with practical methods or strategies to deal with mental, physical and spiritual problems on an individual level, community level and or global level. If we adopt the methods given by Prabhupada rest assured our social, economic and political problems can be solved and simultaneously cultivate our dormant spiritual attraction for God.

Below is a statement that provides a glimpse into the magnanimous thought of Prabhupada and how he saw Bhagavad Dharma’s capacity to change the entire world.

“Human society, at the present moment, is not in the darkness of oblivion. It has made rapid progress in the fields of material comforts, education and economic development throughout the entire world. But there is a pinprick somewhere in the social body at large, and therefore there are large-scale quarrels, even over less important issues. There is need of a clue as to how humanity can become one in peace, friendship and prosperity with a common cause. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam will fill this need, for it is a cultural presentation for the respiritualization of the entire human society” – Srila Prabhupada

We only have to accept his words and practically apply it in our lives.

Hare Krishna

Dropout prevention
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Every year, over 1.2 million high school students drop out of high school in the United States. This is a significant number especially considering the advanced educational system in the US. Without a high school diploma, it is practically impossible to be economically self-sufficient. It is in this situation, these desperate young adults engage in social ill activities such as substance abuse, illicit sex (leading to abortion), crime etc. It does not stop there; these activities have a chain effect impacting other people, families and the bigger community.  They become unproductive citizens spiraling down more and more into poor decision making to the point where they destroy their lives. Because we live in such a competitive society, students who stay behind due to various reasons end behind and just cannot catch up with rest of society. 
Poverty, broken homes, and abuse are seen as strong predictors of high school dropouts. However, the number one reason kids’ dropout is because they become disconnected with their peers, teachers and counselors. Disconnected youth is the singular immediate cause for students to not return to school. With poor attendance against them, they eventually stop going to school. This disconnection exists because they feel that nobody cares about them. They feel parents don’t care or their friends don’t care or their teachers don’t care etc. This makes sense because as young adults, we all need social and emotional support. We need mentors and care-takers that we know we can turn to at the time of need. Rarely will we find a young student motivated from within. Although it sounds simplistic, this is a complex social problem. 
More and more the culture becomes materialistic, more and more people go inward to just operate on the platform of use, abuse and neglect. Gone are the days where the individual is appreciated for his natural qualities (the Varnashrama system was designed to appreciate every individual for their natural self and not based on some artificial economic monetary system).  The psyche is wired spontaneously (in subtle ways) to use and abuse things, money and people for promoting selfish interests. Such tendencies manifest in an individual right from puberty or perhaps even earlier. As the material culture advances, we will find our civilization becoming more and more impersonalistic. Video games, computer technology, political correctness, box stores like Walmart, cookie cutter city planning strategies, Government secularism etc are subtle manifestations of impersonal material culture. In these environments, you will find minimal human interaction and even if there is it is not intended for personal engagement of the individual. It is intended for fulfilling some other cause or purpose more important than the individual. Disconnected youth dropping out of school is but a natural product of this sort of impersonal culture. 
If we want to reverse this trend, we need to reverse our impersonal tendencies and connect more with the people at a personal level. We need to build families, communities and societies based on human interaction and scale. Bigger the city, scarier and lonelier it feels. So we need to reverse this trend of bigger is better and bring it back to a human scale where every individual matters no matter how big or small the individual may seem. This sort of reversal is possible only if we understand that each individual is as valuable as the other and not meant to be used for our personal motives. 
This can happen only if we see the deeper picture that every individual, animal and plant is part and parcel of God. When we appreciate everyone is part of God, then neglect and abuse can never be common place in our society. Therefore what is missing for these dropout kids is that they need to be appreciated because they are children of God and that they are as important as anybody else. When we have such sanctity of vision, our disposition toward other people, animals and plants will be of personal care, respect and love. 
This is the ultimate message of Bhagavad Gita – to see all beings as part of Krishna and Krishna as part of all beings – thus – we will always be connected to everyone and Krishna at a personal level. We will no more have spiraling social problems instead everyone will be happy – sarve sukhinah bhavantu!
Hare Krishna 

Two types of humans
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There is a general tendency to think that a spiritual master is a human being and hence we do not need to worship or bow down to him. This sort of thinking of the spiritual master or acharya exists because we are envious of his position. We have a tendency to find fault with the spiritual master as an ordinary human being and hence do not consider his words as divine.

One devotee showed me a youtube video about how Mr.Zakir Naik was saying that because a human being wrote the Purnanas and Itihasas it is not considered very authentic especially in comparison to the direct word of God. The stress was given to the “human being”. But what he does not know is that there are two types of human beings. 
One type is called nitya-baddha beings who are forced to enjoy or suffer the reactions of their past karma or in other words eternally bonded to the laws of karma and this world. Then there are the second type called nitya-Siddha beings who like God walk, talk and perform activities in this world out of their own free will. Unlike the bonded beings, these eternally liberated beings are not bound to the laws of this world. Mahamuni Vyas is one such liberated entity came to this world specifically for the benefit of mankind and when He writes the Puranas or Itihasas we have to consider it as good as the word of God. 
Krishna Himself directly speaks in the Srimad Bhagavatam on the position of such an acharya or liberated being.
ācāryaṁ māṁ vijānīyān
navamanyeta karhicit
na martya-buddhyāsūyeta
sarva-deva-mayo guruḥ

One should know the ācārya as Myself and never disrespect him in any way. One should not envy him, thinking him an ordinary man, for he is the representative of all the demigods. – SB 11.17.27
So yes they may appear as human beings but they are not like ordinary human beings who are attracted to the razzle and dazzle of this world reaping their own karma. They are supremely independent in the full shelter of God or Krishna. We need to be aware of this distinction.
Hare Krishna

Prabhupada in trance
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I was listening to a lecture by Srila Prabhupada on the life of Ajamila. Prabhupada very nicely explains the significance of Holy Names especially at the time of death. The class runs 27 mins and is very interesting.

Another thing that excited me was at the end when Prabhupada was imitating Ajamila by chanting “Narayan”. After Prabhupada chanted “Narayan”, there was an eerie silence for about 20 seconds at the end. Finally Prabhupada concludes the lecture saying “Thank you very much”. After I heard the pause two or three times, I was convinced Prabhupada went into trance calling the names of Narayana. I wanted to verify my doubt so I did some research online to find if there were any eye witness to this lecture. Lo and behold I found a passage about this encounter by Satyaraja Dasa (Steven Rosen) in his book “The Agni and the Ecstasy”.

In page 71 of his book, he writes “On the fourth day of Prabhupada’s Chicago lectures, another miracle occurred. After repeating Narayana’s name many times in telling the story of Ajamila, Srila Prabhupada fell into trance. This was something he rarely did in public. An intense silence engulfed the room. We all felt blessed to witness the transcendental phenomenon. Through purely calling out Narayana’s name, in telling the story, Prabhupada was seeing Narayana face-to-face. His trance-like state and his inability to speak lasted two minutes. Although I have read about the ecstatic symptoms of a pure devotee, I was amazed to see them. Those of us who were in the room will never forget his spiritually uplifting expression, as tears rolled down his face. After two seemingly eternal minutes, Srila Prabhupada said, “All right. Thank you very much.” He then gestured that kirtana should begin, and one of the most intense chanting sessions I had ever experienced permeated the large hall.”

 You can listen to the lecture below.

  Your browser does not support this audio

 Hare Krishna

We need quality
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Everyone has got some followers. This…. What is that? Guruji Maharaja. He has got also so-called followers. The T.M.,(Transcendental Meditation of Mahesh Yogi)  – – – he has got also some followers. Everyone has got some followers. But what kind of followers they have ? That is quality. Everything has quality. Simply quantity is not. There are many Christians. Even up to date, some Christian fair or…. Many millions will come. What is the quality ? Quality is all meat-eater. But Christian means he should not kill. Where is the Christian ? So we have to test by the quality, followers. Not many followers, the quality of the followers. My Guru Mahäräja used to say like that, that “If I get at least one quality disciple, then all my labor will be success.” He was saying like that: quality, not the quantity.

– Srila Prabhupada (Room Conversation  –  The Spirit of Preaching is to Make Perfect Disciples
– May 2, 1976, Fiji)

Hare Krishna

Does Religion make the world a better place?
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In my personal opinion, this question is a tough one to answer. I say this because today religion is so many things for so many people. There is no one definition of religion. Perhaps a broad definition could be anything to do with God or belief in a God could be identified as religion.  All religions at the least operate on this definition.

Let me rephrase my question then – “does belief in God make the world a better place?”

Based on incidents in the 20th and 21st century, I have to say belief in a God invokes so much passion among people or groups of people that that passion is the hotbed for hatred, violence and bigotry. How can hatred and violence make the world a better place? Any objective person who looks solely at data will have to conclude the belief in God causes more damage than good.

So we are left with two choices (1) abandon religion and live a life based on one’s own internal values (2) dive deeper into the problem, analyze and learn from it. Personally, I think the world would be a better place if we practice the second option. The first option does not solve anything as there is no individual growth. People with opposite values is always the source of friction.

Srila Prabhupada once said that if there is counterfeit money then it implies there must be the original – so search for the original. Similarly religion can make the world a better place if we go deeper from believing in God to finding God. One who has found God in his life will not have the urge to find anything else of this world. In such a state, there is no internal agitation of mind what to speak of causing external agitation? In such a peaceful state, the seeker will find everlasting happiness.

So yes belief in God or religion will make the world a better place only if we use it to rectify our own internal faults and in that state of humility seek God. There is no other value system (be it civic or political or moral) that can help us transcend our own limitations in search of a higher truth. Only religion or search for God can set us free from our inner mind to which we are bound. Thus knowing the truth, we can be free from the shackles of bondage.

“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free” – Jesus Christ

Hare Krishna

Etymology of the name Kṛṣṇa
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The bhu-vacaka or attractiveness indicated, in the verbal root “Kṛṣ” refers to complete eternal existence or complete eternal knowledge, and “ṇa” refers to spiritual pleasure. In qualities and objects not related to Krsna there is a possibility of difference between the cause and the effect, but since “Kṛṣ” and “ṇa” are both the attractors and the attracted, there is no difference between the cause and effect in their qualities and objects. Krsna is non-different from His names, forms, qualities and pastimes.

Purport by His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Takur Prabhupada
Sri Chaitanya Bhagavata, Madhya Kanda, part three, chapter twenty eight text 26, page 529