Author Archives: Anantadeva dasa

Winning the Shadow – Part II
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“Valuing people’s talents.”
It seems perfectly useless to deny and remove the Freudian envy, as it will go on working within the psychic structure and thus reinforced, it would do even worse.
On a practical level it can be purified and transformed by learning to value the talents of others, inspiring people to offer their talents in Krishna consciousness. This propensity will draw us nearer to the qualities of the eternal inhabitants of Vaikuntha so we’ll become extremely beneficial to all the living creatures, ourselves included. In this way people can get closer to the Lord beginning to taste this new spiritual relation but how can it become true if they do not even know who is Krishna? Let us help them to put their talents to His service. For example, if someone cooks well, we can suggest a menu and offer the meal to Krishna: “Please, Lord Krishna, accept this food and bless the person who has prepared it.”
Although in a first stage such service is indirect as accomplished without awareness, still the person will get a great benefit that will gradually increase in the process of serving. Once the meaning of service is intimately understood, the attraction to serve will be empowered with the taste and thus the person reaches further important step of awareness, up to a higher level when the service is offered not only as an act of one’s own will and pleasure, but also consistently and without egoistic motivations. Yet if the person commits offenses, almost always because of residual envy, there is still a risk to crash down to the lower states of consciousness even from this level thus descending to the darker regions of mind. In such a state these people appear like shooting stars that, having made a light path in the sky, become obscured. Even in this case we should not forget the infinite mercy of divine forgiveness, that comes promptly to our rescue when, once repented, we start over following our path towards perfection.

Winning the Shadow – Part I
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I would like to offer the following reflection, divided into some topics.
” Spiritual Cosmology”.
In the spiritual world, Paravyoma, all living beings are perfect.
The highest heaven coincides with the abode of Vishnu, Vishnu paramam padam, which manifests the highest perfection.
Gradually descending from the highest spiritual dimension, we can reach the boundary of the Vaikuntha planets, the abode of the creatures without conditionings. Their desires are perfect, as long as they continue to desire in a pure way. The perfection of desire coincides with the freedom to desire. At the same time, it is just the free will that favors the potential risk of falling from that dimension, but an attempt to explain this phenomenon with the rational mind will bear no fruit, because the mind is the instrument of prakritithat can not contemplate or grasp the spiritual dimension (purusha).
Descending to the lower heavenly planets, one can find the Siddha Loka, where the living creatures are endowed with special siddhisor perfect capacities. The inhabitants of these planets are perfectly intelligent beings: beautiful, strong, gifted with special talents; each one vibrates with a characteristic virtue, as if it were a ray [of the sun] of Vishnu.
From the lowest heavenly planets, the living beings can easily fall to the median planets like the earth, Bhumidevi, where the human beings temporarily stay. Conversely there are people from the median planets like the Earth are to be reborn on the heavenly planets, lower or higher, but yet they can not be defined as freed Jivas as these living beings still have residues of the material attachments and are still identified with the contents of their psyche. Finding themselves in such a condition, they can not reach the dimension sat-cit-ananda-vigrahaof Vaikuntha.
“Envy: a major cause of the fall.”
The overview that I have offered is to introduce a fundamental concept: it is envy that most oppresses and plunges the consciousness into the lower states of being. Even in the biblical tradition and in the three derivative traditions of monotheism of the Middle East, Lucifer, the brightest angel, falls from his position out of envy towards God. As Krishna states in Bhagavad-gita, among the five categories of anartha, envyis the most dangerous. Dante in The Divine Comedy identifies lust, anger and greed (which envy is an immediate derivative) as the three doors that bring to hell. One must never indulge, never cross the threshold of these three gates of hell, even when the entry appears gold, large, inviting and studded with diamonds.
What mostly prevents a conditioned psyche from getting back on the upper heavenly planets? We’ll find the answer to this question in the second part of the article.

Tribute to Shrila Prabhupada
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Dear Shrila Prabhupada, please accept my respectful obeisances. All glories to your Divine Grace!

Namo om vishnu padaya krishna preshtaya bhu-tale 
Shrimate Bhaktivedanta Swamin iti namine 

Om ajnana timirandhasya 
jnananjana shalakaya 
cakshur unmilitan yena 
tasmai shri gurave namah 

With a touch of bitterness mixed with so much joy I write to celebrate the holy day of your Vyasapuja, your holy and salvific appearance in this world. This world otherwise horrible host of incarnations marked by joy and pain that obsessively would end each time with the tragedy of death, harbinger of the next rebirth in the infinite cycle of samsara. 
You came and you have given us the opportunity and the means to redeem ourselves, save ourselves and fall in love with God. 
Glory and infinite gratitude to You for bringing the divine light of hope and faith in the darkness of our existence! 
My mother, Anandavrindavana Devi Dasi, a fervent devotee of yours, your admirer and servant, recently left her old and exhausted body, and her physical presence has disappeared from the sight of our eyes, thus exiting at the same time from our relationships, and this has left a large void, yet filled by an infinite and poignant feeling of Love at a distance. 
I’m telling You this, not to sadden You, but to offer my experience of how this event made me realize, once again, the infinite luck we received to have known You, immediately welcomed You into our heart, and later served You, by shaping my life, both of my parents life and the life of my whole biological and spiritual family in accordance with Your divine teachings. 
The writing of this letter implies every year – at least once a year- a honest and deep look into the mirror of our consciousness, and every time, it is for me both arduous and highly beneficial because, by seeing the good and the bad in me allows me to adhere strongly to the first one and even more decisively take distance from the second one. So I offer You the conclusions I have drawn from this immersion by seeking what unites me to You.
When I think of whom, in the course of this incarnation has had the greatest influence on the human and spiritual forming of my character, no doubt it’s You. 
When I think of whom, who over the last forty years I have turned to, every time I found myself faced with crucial choices, no doubt it’s You. 
When I think of whom my heart bestows the utmost gratitude on, no doubt it’s You. 
You are the source of my inspiration. You are my model of active and contemplative Bhakti. 
You are the one whom I dedicate my every initiative to, because I know that the success of my offer to God depends on obtaining Your Divine Grace under the form of intercession.
You, with Your behavior, teaching and works, are the most divine thing that I could see in this life. 
You are to me more than a father and a mother, whom I love dearly, because I was born from You into Knowledge and Love. 
I honor You and give You all my gratitude for what I have accomplished. 
I ask You for forgiveness for any lack in my behavior and the blessing of being able to serve You with ever increasing commitment, purity and spiritual strength. 
With infinite gratitude and devoted affection I offer the remaining years of my life, waiting, when it will be, to come to You, by Krishna, among the blessed people! 
Your servant, 
Matsyavatara dasa

Ultimate goal
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We haven’t arrived in this world to build houses, to create organizations, to erect churches or temples and turn the earth into a garden; this is not the purpose of our existence.
We are here to gain spiritual realization; everything else is just a means to this goal, everything else is to be used by us for the purpose of our development.
We have to act, because without acting we would starve, we would die from thirst or from sleep… but action is functional and what counts is the goal for which we act.
What elevates us on the platform of spiritual evolution and what shows us the Truth behind appearances, is the spirit with which we offer our action.
Matsyavatara das

Spiritual Vision
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“This divine energy of Mine, consisting of the three modes of material nature, is difficult to overcome. But those who have surrendered unto Me can easily cross beyond it”. Bhagavad-gita VII.14
In the Bhagavata Purana the “ocean” of the material existence is described as something scaring, terrifying, in which the jivabhuta – the conditioned living entity – life after life is forced to experience birth (jati), old age (jara), disease (vyadhi) and death (mrityu).

Only by the mercy of Guru and Krishna this ocean of obstacles becomes like the water contained in a calf’s hoof-print.
All in all, there is no real dichotomy between nature and spirit, as both energies arise from the same supreme Consciousness, God, Who permeates the entire universe, exactly as the individual consciousness permeates the entire body of the living entity.
Therefore in the world everything is tightly connected: the subject to the object, spirit to nature, the living entities to each other and each of them to the Supreme, the individual bodies to the cosmic body, the individual mind to the universal mind.
A deep comprehension of these thick connections and relationships between micro- and macrocosm is an essential requirement on the path of spiritual realization, which in the vaishnava-vedic tradition does absolutely not imply an escape from the world, but rather means the development of an organic and complete vision of the absolute Reality.
Matsyavatara das

What is devotional service?
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Devotional service, as it is referred to in the Bhaktivedanta tradition, is made up by all those free and voluntary activities which the bhakta, or person who dedicates his entire life to a spiritual quest, carries out by offering them in a devotional attitude to God and to whom he has chosen as his own spiritual guide, that means his Guru.
Such activities are carried out, after an accurate aforethought choice, in the terms and ways which he feels most suitable for himself, in order to foster his ethical and spiritual development and to support society with a contribution to the common well-being in a spirit of selflessness and solidarity.
In fact, devotional service is the most important tool which can guarantee a permanent connection of the individual consciousness with the cosmic consciousness: when consciousness is connected to God, it goes beyond the dualism of good and evil, of excitement and depression or of elation and dejection. In this way even the mind gets firmly connected to God, and so the willpower is strengthened and becomes determined.
Bhagavad-Gita II.50:
“A man engaged in devotional service rids himself of both good and bad actions even in this life. Therefore strive for yoga, which is the art of all work”.

Matsyavatara das

Nourishing consciousness
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Every morning the meditation on the Mahamantra offers us the possibility to discover important things, for example to achieve those intuitions which are rarely obtained during other moments of the day, because usually we are too busy in carrying out our worldly activities or mundane duties, which, of course, are also useful if we make them functional to our spiritual development.
But those sweet and sharp, enlightening and inspiring intuitions we can obtain during the Brahma Muhurta hours through the meditation on God’s Holy Names are the essential life lymph of our consciousness.
Through the practice of meditation, when we engage in it rigorously and intensely, many veils are lifted, some dark sides of our inner depths are enlightened; we get profound perception and sudden insights of concepts and solutions which are not part of the logical or mental world, but, on the contrary, of the higher dimension of inspired intuition. These intuitions arise, they become clear, and we become aware of these events happening inside us, as if they were facts that reveal themselves in our deepest part; we then have to be able to hand them down to the practical and relational situations we go through, that means in everything we do.
If life couldn’t be nourished with these intuitions and spiritual emotions, with these inner discoveries, with these intense and lively energies of change, it would be smothered by routine, just as something rolling up itself, and people would remain plastered, stuck in their conditionings. It’s these spiritual intuitions which give vitality and value to our life.
Matsyavatara das

The Turning Point
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Thirty-eight years ago, on 30 August 1976, for the first time  I met Shrila Prabhupada in a personal darshana… it was a turning point of my life, a wonderful inner journey!
I was in an ashram in Rishikesh, at the foot of the Himalayas, studying the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. In Italy I had been a successful designer, the manager of six companies. Upon returning from the trip I was supposed to get married, but at the time, in that place, I was seriously thinking of leaving everything and settle in India. That pseudo worldly success made me feel like prison, as not only it was no longer a source of satisfaction, but it became clear to me that it was the biggest obstacle to achieving happiness that I have been aspiring.
The recurring thought was to start a new life dedicating myself to the search of God and my spiritual essence. When I became aware of the voice of my soul I felt a strong appeal – it was an urgent need to revise my life, to think over my motivations and purposes. I understood that it was a turning point.
On that trip I was with a friend who has been always sick. Feverish, he remained for most of the time in our ashrama right on the banks of the Ganges. There was no furniture in the room, only two mats on the floor, his huge suitcase, my smaller one, a small window with a grate and a door with a latch. Each time we left the room, through the grates of the window the monkeys came in; they were having a lot of fun, especially with the bottles of medicines that the doctor had given to my friend.
It was in that ashrama that I met a sadhu, the person who has changed my life. Instead of attending the lectures on Patanjali, we walked together on the banks of Mother Ganga.
One day he said: “If you do not discover Bhakti, nothing will satisfy you.” Bhakti, Bhakti … I asked to explain the meaning of this word.
“If I explain its meaning to you, you won’t understand me.”
This sadhu spoke English with difficulty, but there was no need in too much words, it was a kind of telepathic communication.
“Bhakti is difficult to explain, only your heart can define it.” And he began to chant this mantra:

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare
We would spend hours chanting along with this mantra, then we would immerse in the waters of Mother Ganga: a rushing stream that takes away everything.
“You have to meet Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada: he will make you know Krishna. Go to Vrindavan to meet him.”
Hearing that voice deep inside me, without pondering too much, I left for Delhi along with my sick friend. From Delhi we took a train to Mathura and then in Mathura we took a cart for Vrindavan. Having arrived to Vrindavan in two days, I began to look for Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

Spiritual Values to Win the Shadow.
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Many people look for tangible and concrete things in life, but it is important to know that the so-called “abstract values” are even more substantial than those perceived through the senses – the true values which we should refer to in our life, such as compassion, freedom, happiness and Love.
The empiricists are prone to “measure and touch” happiness, to grasp all the things in the world. Such attitude is not an evil in itself, it becomes such when a man ignore his spiritual essence, sometimes even denying it completely. As far as, according to the positivist criterion, happiness is not tangible, in its absence a person falls into the dark malaise and depression.
Thus, lacking the feelings of compassion, charity, devotion to God and affection towards all His creatures, without solidarity with the creation, the experience of love cannot be realized. As a result, one’s life turns to be boring and meaningless due to the lack of spiritual awareness.
Why do we make mistakes and suffer so much?
The reason is that we do not cultivate spiritual values sufficiently. Slowly forgetting these real values ​​that substantiate the human life, one tries to compensate such values by attachments to the worldly projects and goods, as illusory as ephemeral. Thus, while creating one’s false identity, a man lives in a sort of a perpetual alienation.
In such a state of alienation, oblivious of his spiritual nature and ultimate destination, an individual lose the sense of life. Joy and sorrow, health and disease, birth and death follow each other as impermanent manifestations of existance.
Therefore a spiritual being, incarnated in the material world, despite an overwhelming aspiration for eternity, wisdom and happiness, experiences a considerable frustration, helplessness and fear because of an inability to access the bliss of its ontological nature, while struggling in the duality of the material world.
A wise man does not dream of becoming happy due to the impermanet things of this world. In all the traditions, albeit with different words, it was stated that “man cannot live on bread alone.”
If we learn what to desire and how to value our life, we will become happy enjoying every moment of it, in spite of any psychophysical limit. By the grace of God, living in the prospect of immortality and love for God, a man can overcome loneliness and suffering so to experience fulfillment and spiritual satisfaction, always and everywhere.

True Freedom
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“A sober person who can tolerate the urge to speak, the mind’s demands, the flashes of anger and the urges of the tongue, belly and genitals is really qualified to educate the disciples all over the world”
“The Nectar of Instruction” (Upadeshamrita) Verse 1
The Vedic Rishis (the wise’ seers’ of the Vedas) were not only mystic poets, they were experts of the deep knowledge of the mind; these sages widely observed and experimented all the psychic functions of the human being. The rishis could clearly see that the so-called spontaneousness of the human being with the ordinary level of consciousness is just a satisfaction of the conditionings, imposed by one’s mind; therefore, in an ultimate analysis, it is the exact opposite of a free, healthy and spontaneous attitude. In order to make free decisions without being affected by conditionings and attachments, a person has to conquer the six urges mentioned above.
Only then a progressive realization of the Self will take place, so that the individual will be able to reach the pure feeling of Love for God. In order to overcome obstacles and to achieve high levels of awareness, one should proceed with a harmonious transformation of personality, along with well pondered choices. Such choices are the result of wisely coordinated and constant efforts, so as to allow the passage from human understanding of things to the spiritual awareness and protection, until a complete development of the most elevated qualities of the Soul.
If we learn to re-direct passionate egoistic feelings and emotions towards spiritual goals, they will enhance a propensity to inner evolution and will lead to a supreme bliss of Bhakti and Love in freedom.

How to build good relationships
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PART II
The loss of awareness of our original essence results in a deep dissatisfaction and inner deterioration. People do not behave in a bad manner because they just wish so, rather because they are dissatisfied within.
How can we help people to feel satisfied?
Sensitiveness is not enough to empathize with the others so knowledge and discipline are required.
What about those people who do not even show sensitiveness?
We may learn to acquire, develop, find sensitiveness, which in Latin is called pietas. Sensitiveness can be found in atman, our spiritual matrix. We cannot trust the mind because when external circumstances change, our mental frame modifies consequently. For this reason we have to help people to start an inner search, to rediscover their real self. In this way, by developing such awareness, we can face the situations that otherwise could have become our limits, according to the changeable circumstances of life.
Our relations should not depend on external circumstances, we ought to learn to overcome them.
A great daily effort within needs to be done if we want to achieve this target. By conquering the inner enemies one after another, we lead ourselves to steadiness, tolerance, peacefulness. By practicing such attitude we learn not to react automatically to events, provocations, offences, abuses.
A person needs to modify one’s point of view. One may wear a heavy shield to protect oneself, but it will not be strong enough because it is only by switching and elevating our point of view that we reach a steady and broad inner confidence.
We miss a great deal of life which cannot be reproduced in the present span of time, if we carry on to identify as real what real is not. By modifying our point of view, our efforts, our dedication towards such an elevated mission will unveil to us the meaning of living.
It is not easy to succeed because we were born with a superficial mental attitude, with prejudices and tendencies acquired through behaviors we have brought back from previous lives. Performance of actions are pressing from our subconscious and lead us to repeat the same old mistakes. Therefore we need great care and attention to avoid circumstances that may put us at risk.
A person does not learn by punishment, rather by improving through education on an ethical and spiritual level, so that one may distinguish and filter between experience and its interpretation and between experience and reaction to events.

How to Build Good Relationships
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Every our action implies a feedback from others (as a rule, the response we get is very much the same as our approach, whether it has just happened in the present or it happened in the past), this is the meaning of relationship.

A:B = C:D

The relation between A and B, affects the relation between C and D too. We are all connected in the big game of life.

It is just through the relationships that we have the possibility to express our divine nature, that is developing and experiencing our best original spiritual qualities. However we can experience a lot of sufferance as well.

Our inner well-being greatly depends on the way we trust people in the relationships and the way others respond to us. A sensible, caring person usually realizes within a short time, whether his or her words, actions and even thoughts has a positive or destructive effect on the others.

When a person suffers and seeks relief, compassion and trust, turning to somebody who can help, how can one find the cause of sufferance? Where do disbelief, depression, pain or negative feelings come from, what is missing? The deep cause is often rooted in the relationships.

Everything in the universe is ruled by the divine laws and this order is based on a dialogue, as Galileo’s quote recites: “Dialogue between Two Chief World Systems”. Dialogue re-establishes an order, and such order should govern our relations too, so in any dialogue the first priority is to meet the needs of other person through attentive listening and sincere interest.

The more virtuous relations are, the higher is their quality and greater the standard quality of listening and speech skills.

Sattva is order, virtue, harmony. It is the condition that most of all favors our evolution. It is a conditioning state, it is not complete freedom, therefore even sattva guna is to be transcended. The conditioning that arises from sattva guna is the feeling of attachment to a kind of freedom that is always anchored to a mundane layer, in spite of a prevalent virtuous nature. Someone may think: sattva guna is good enough for me, because I am satisfied with one kind of pleasure and one kind of mundane virtues. However a person cannot be satisfied with this vision because there are negative sides and sorrows that cannot be avoid with sattva guna alone, unless one ascends to a spiritual awareness.

Among such sorrows, which cause a great deal of sufferance, is old age. Aging is a heavy humiliation because the person is not able to take care of one’s own basic personal needs, and sattva guna itself cannot free us from such great pain. Sattva is the condition we can easily obtain in our embodied life, although we ought to make another step forward to approach transcendence, in order to reach the abode and original nature of our spiritual eternal Self.

Remembering Shrila Prabhupada
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 PART II

Due to God’s mercy, Shrila Prabhupada was able to undertake the adventurous and difficult missions to satisfy the desire of his Guru Maharaja. He knew how to deal with risks, dangers, loneliness, sickness and temptations… Krishna blessed Shrila Prabhupada with such a success that, while originally owning nothing, his movement gradually reached a huge development, comparable to that of the richest and most envied companies, but even so Shrila Prabhupada remained always the person of the great inner qualities: no pride, no arrogance, no material ambitions or futile interests. He was exactly the same person when He went, with only 40 rupees in his pocket, to America, always dedicated to love for Krishna and for all creatures. Shrila Prabhupada had many talents, he was versatile, with great skills, but He was first and foremost a pure Devotee of the Lord.
He loved everyone, because in Shrila Prabhupada’s opinion everyone was a potential devotee. He had always the same mood and the same tone of voice, sometimes He got vibrant, speaking with strong words, sometimes He reprimanded, sometimes He praised, sometimes He was moved, but His interest was always to improve the understanding of the devotees, their health, the image of the Movement. We must unmask the so fashionable artificial way to see an Acarya as detached from everyone and everything. Prabhupada was very interested in the success of the various services, he cared about everything working and running the best way, thus satisfying Krishna and encouraging the spiritual elevation of so many people.
Spiritual life does not mean a cold, detached attitude towards the world, we cannot live without relations, without affection, without empathy, without love. We just have to be careful to those we direct these feelings to. We should not prioritizewhat calls on the material level, but strive to fulfill our spiritual desires that represent our true essence. Prabhupada had Krishna in His heart and He was always thinking of what he could say or do to bring people closer to God. Krishna had a special relationship with Shrila Prabhupada who had a special relationship with Krishna: this was visible in every activity He had undertaken,either in those particular moments when, for example, He took the initiative to modify a service that maybe was stagnating, or when in the last days of life in this world He was brought in front of the Divinities on a palanquin because He was in a condition of extreme physical weakness and He could no longer walk. In every circumstance Shrila Prabhupada has proved to be a pure devotee of Krishna.
When I read the Bhagavad-gita, chapter twelve, shloka 13 to 20, I see Shrila Prabhupada. I have known many lovely devotees, but Prabhupada is the model for me.
Prabhupada was always connected to Krishna and helped everyone to offer their talents and energies to the service of the Lord.
The most beautiful part of Shrila Prabhupada is his being so devoted!
He was good at many things: a very good cook, a grammarian, a great preacher, a prominent philosopher and scholar; He was expert in playing music and in offering praise to the Lord, but His main feature was the pure and ardent devotion to God and His constant commitment to the spiritual education, in order to help others to become pure devotees of the Lord. Great it was, and surely still is, the satisfaction of Shrila Prabhupada to see people take seriously the path of Bhakti. And this satisfaction is the source of strength to all those devotees who carry Shrila Prabhupada in their heart.
Despite the apparent departure the Acarya lives forever with us, if we live with Him. As Satsvarupa Maharaja says in his book: “He lives forever …”

The Real Success.
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The  experiences of accomplishment that one can reach in her or his lifespan, sometimes can be conflicting with the self-image, possibly being the one of an unconfident person, a weak individual, too reliant on someone else’s opinions. If this self-image will not change, the outer accomplishment will be followed by inner troubles and unsteadiness. This is because the new higher equilibrium is such only when it is achieved with harmony and stability. To avoid this kind of situation one should conceive and support a self-image corresponding to what one would like to be and should be. If one will shape her or his personality in depth, then this person will be psychologically ready when an accomplishment or a better position will be achieved. Conversely, some individuals are afraid of their own success because they have not built yet an objective and positive self-image.
Powerful desires move things and alter reality. A person becomes what she or he craves to be. Egoistical ambitions do not lead to real accomplishment: the apparent success sooner or later will turn into calamity.
The immature management of resources and of desire’s energy produces derangement and deep emotional troubles. Any waste and any improper use of the above is the cause of personal failure.
Anything we have: objects, affections, talents, must be employed to reconnect ourselves to the deep divine matrix, the raison d’être and foundation of our existence. If we do not do this, as explained by Shrila Rupa Gosvami, one of the greatest Vedic Tradition Master, anything gets contaminated and turns into poison. 
The perfection of existence (yukta vairagya) can be archived if we are closely connected to the Istha Devata and place all our resources to its service. Ambarisha Maharaja was the sovereign of the world, in spite of this he was not ruling it for his own egoistic enjoyment, but as a tool to serve God.  In order to run suitably that function maturity and awareness were needed, because who has so much energy can do great good things, but, if one is not cautious and do not have uncontaminated motivation in the way this energy is used, can cause great damages and bring harm to himself and everybody nearby. 
The most valuable resources, never to be neglected and never to be abused, are our fellow human beings, with their desires for advancement, their wishes for good, their projects, with their search for self-realization. We should not dare to waste even the smallest bit of their energy, we have to support instead their convergence, channeling, and sublimation toward elevated motivations of real good and real success. Sublimation will be possible if we encourage for taking a solid commitment for spiritual activities, with an active and energetic service offered with awareness and dedication to our spiritual Master and the Istha Devata. According to one of the most important and recurrent Shrila Prabhupada’s statements: “Bhakti Yoga is not just an idle meditation”. Nor meditation means escaping from the world.
 Authentic meditation inspires and motivates actions in the world, and it is able to solve real problems, to disentangle knots that grew in the mind. Authentic meditation does not evade or remove practical problems: it resolves them. It is based on the consciousness of spiritual matrix of all things, and the understanding of the subtlest psychological phenomena: how minds get entangled or stuck, and how it is possible to jump-start them, reactivate them, and purify them.

The Great Departure.
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Dear devotees, please accept my obeisances;

All glories to Shrila Prabhupada and Shri Shri Radha Govinda Deva.

Jaya Shri Shri Nityananda Gauranga!

Jaya Shri Jagannath, Shri Baladeva, Subhadra Maharani Shrimati!

I hope to find you in good health and spiritually inspired.

Some days ago my dear disciple – Omkrishna Mataji – left the body and this mortal world and headed for the supreme eternal abode of Shri Krishna.

The two sons, daughters in law and grandchildren attended to her all the time in high spiritual consciousness, lovingly and with devotion.

Besides being herself a sincere devotee, Omkrishna Mataji had the great blessing in this life to live in a family of special devotees, all of them very dear to me.

One of her sons was next to her at the very moment she passed away, and has accompanied and sustained her by chanting uninterruptedly the Holy Names.

My most fervent prayers go to this disciple so dear to me, who was always cheerful, playful and joyful, who was so moved every time we met, and I’m also asking you to pray for her too.

I pray she can soon play happily in the company of Lord Krishna and His eternal companions and friends.

With deep emotion,

Matsyavatara dasa

Pilgrimage: a Journey of Search and Discovery.
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Part II
It is not by chance that Masters of Bhakti speak of an inseparable unity which is necessary for our evolution: Bhagavata sacred work and Bhagavata person, both of them are able to transfer the knowledge and the consciousness of  the Divine, Bhagavan.
If our visit to a sacred place is made with these predispositions, it may become an experience of great meaning that allows us to get in touch with timeless memories that bring us in other elevated dimensions of consciousness, and allow us to hear and accept the messages conveyed to mankind from another dimensions.
At times life faces us with very difficult situations so that we have to be ready and able to make our pilgrimage even in a hospital’s room after the announcement of a terrible medical report, in front of the lifeless body of a dear person, suffering a devastating moral pain because of the betrayal of the person we most loved; or in a prison’s cell where we had been locked in spite of our innocence, destroyed  by defamation. In these circumstances we need to start our journey even sooner, loading ourselves with inspiration and starting our inner journey to find a safe place, a shelter, an oasis in which to connect with our spiritual eternal self, which is unchangeable, together with God who is the giver of Knowledge, Love and Mercy. More than ever in these situations, in order to withstand sufferance, we have to fight against time in order to reach the space in the centre of our heart, where, the Upanishads say, time and space ultimately do not exist. That dimension is pure Transcendence. It is the place where all our desires are fulfilled. But the human being, deviated by the unreal world of vanishing impressions,  has lost the route to find it, because that dimension is invisible to the senses and to the physical eyes, the voice of that place speaks to the soul and the ears are not meant to hear it. For this reason Krishna says to Arjuna in the Bhagavad-gita: “In order to see me the way I am, I give you spiritual senses”. Why does Krishna offer to Arjuna such a great opportunity? Because Arjuna asked Him with a humble manner, because he desired it with intensity, because he wanted to get in touch with Krishna in his original and intimate divine nature.
Only with a burning desire to perceive a spiritual dimension and connect with God, a person may receive the divine strength to achieve it, to make the journey that from the realm of death will take us to immortality, from darkness to light, from sufferance to beatitude. A pilgrimage is that journey, it is rejoining.
How long does that journey last? Patanjali in the Yoga-sutras explains that the distance depends mainly on two factors: continuity and intensity of desire, and the required effort. In order to reach our target soon, we need to keep our course steady, with constant determination, and to increase the speed of motion by rising the intensity of the desire. Dante in the Divine Comedy accomplishes that journey too. At one point he describes his emotion as “feeling a pull from the sky while being still alive”. Once we loosen our conditionings and get rid of  bad habits, ascending is fast.
A pilgrimage  is that  ascension, it is an upward shift, it means heading toward holiness, and the spirit we hold while facing the journey is crucial. If we have the right attitude, that feeling of serenity we  have been looking for, the one that we thought we would experiment only once we reached our destination – instead it arrives step by step during our pilgrimage: then we find it in the predetermined place we have chosen and elected as our home, the heart.
Life will become then, day after day, a wonderful journey of research and discovery.

Pilgrimage: a Journey of Search and Discovery.
→ Matsya Avatar das adhikari

Part II
It is not by chance that Masters of Bhakti speak of an inseparable unity which is necessary for our evolution: Bhagavata sacred work and Bhagavata person, both of them are able to transfer the knowledge and the consciousness of  the Divine, Bhagavan.
If our visit to a sacred place is made with these predispositions, it may become an experience of great meaning that allows us to get in touch with timeless memories that bring us in other elevated dimensions of consciousness, and allow us to hear and accept the messages conveyed to mankind from another dimensions.
At times life faces us with very difficult situations so that we have to be ready and able to make our pilgrimage even in a hospital’s room after the announcement of a terrible medical report, in front of the lifeless body of a dear person, suffering a devastating moral pain because of the betrayal of the person we most loved; or in a prison’s cell where we had been locked in spite of our innocence, destroyed  by defamation. In these circumstances we need to start our journey even sooner, loading ourselves with inspiration and starting our inner journey to find a safe place, a shelter, an oasis in which to connect with our spiritual eternal self, which is unchangeable, together with God who is the giver of Knowledge, Love and Mercy. More than ever in these situations, in order to withstand sufferance, we have to fight against time in order to reach the space in the centre of our heart, where, the Upanishads say, time and space ultimately do not exist. That dimension is pure Transcendence. It is the place where all our desires are fulfilled. But the human being, deviated by the unreal world of vanishing impressions,  has lost the route to find it, because that dimension is invisible to the senses and to the physical eyes, the voice of that place speaks to the soul and the ears are not meant to hear it. For this reason Krishna says to Arjuna in the Bhagavad-gita: “In order to see me the way I am, I give you spiritual senses”. Why does Krishna offer to Arjuna such a great opportunity? Because Arjuna asked Him with a humble manner, because he desired it with intensity, because he wanted to get in touch with Krishna in his original and intimate divine nature.
Only with a burning desire to perceive a spiritual dimension and connect with God, a person may receive the divine strength to achieve it, to make the journey that from the realm of death will take us to immortality, from darkness to light, from sufferance to beatitude. A pilgrimage is that journey, it is rejoining.
How long does that journey last? Patanjali in the Yoga-sutras explains that the distance depends mainly on two factors: continuity and intensity of desire, and the required effort. In order to reach our target soon, we need to keep our course steady, with constant determination, and to increase the speed of motion by rising the intensity of the desire. Dante in the Divine Comedy accomplishes that journey too. At one point he describes his emotion as “feeling a pull from the sky while being still alive”. Once we loosen our conditionings and get rid of  bad habits, ascending is fast.
A pilgrimage  is that  ascension, it is an upward shift, it means heading toward holiness, and the spirit we hold while facing the journey is crucial. If we have the right attitude, that feeling of serenity we  have been looking for, the one that we thought we would experiment only once we reached our destination – instead it arrives step by step during our pilgrimage: then we find it in the predetermined place we have chosen and elected as our home, the heart.
Life will become then, day after day, a wonderful journey of research and discovery.

Pilgrimage: a Journey of Search and Discovery.
→ Matsya Avatar das adhikari

Part I
A pilgrimage is a journey in search of the Divine inside and outside us.
It does not take place within a physical space, rather it occurs in one’s mind and consciousness. Its most intimate purpose is a deep purification of the heart, of the intellect, of the memory, and of our being in its wholeness. If we live the Pilgrimage deeply and authentically, it may represent a turning point, a special experience, that, due to an extraordinary combination of elements, favouring the purification of consciousness, may allow us a sudden advancement, which possibly we would have not been able to achieve even through a number of  previous lives.
According to the Indovedic literature, the spiritual vitality of the pilgrimage location is related to the daily renovation of its sanctity by the holy people living there.
In the Shrimad Bhagavatam this concept is explained very clearly: they believe that holy people themselves are pilgrimage places. In the first canto of this wonderful masterpiece,  King Yudhisthira says to the great sage Vidura:

“Noble soul, the devotee who have the qualities of Your Divine Grace are themselves regarded as pilgrimage places. As you bring God in your heart wherever you go, the places you visit become holy places” (I.13.10)

When we enter a sacred place, in Sanskrit called tirtha, we meet the Divine (murti) and awaken people, sadhu, and this way, if we incline ourselves  properly, we can be pervaded by a great spiritual power, the same energy that permeates those places, behaviours and gestures of ancient sacred value.  This spiritual energy, which, in holy places, is brilliant and vibrating, can strengthen us in order to improve our personality and our changes in life, that, otherwise, we would have  never accomplished for lack of will and courage. Like a magnet that energy and spiritual strength attracts our  deepest thoughts and feelings, our ideal aspirations,  and brings us along a path of wonderful search for rediscovering ourselves, the origins of our life, and our highest realization.
First of all the pilgrimage place is an instrument to acquire virtue and knowledge, not a “horizontal” knowledge, limited to the things of this world, but a “vertical” knowledge that rises up to the highest pinnacles of awareness. For this reason we consider a pilgrimage like a journey between the earth and the sky: from the earth it takes us to the sky and from the sky it brings us back to earth, transferring in our daily life the intuitions, the comprehensions, and the realizations that we have experienced, welcomed, and harboured during the Journey.
All the efforts and inconveniences connected to travelling are part of the path of elevation. They should not to be seen as obstacles, rather they are extraordinary opportunities to overcome our limits, to dispose of  illusions and attachments. When we travel, it is easier to understand that none of the things outside of us belong to us. Who can claim to own wealth? Can we have power over youth or health? For how long? Those resources are given to us for a brief length of time and their quality and evolving utility depends on how we use them. Who can say “I possess a body”?  In truth, we are not even the owners of our body, and if we want to keep it forever, we would not be able to do it: it would be impossible. Sooner o later it will be taken away from us regardless of our will. We do not own whatever is outside us, we can only take care of it temporarily. However the soul and its powers belong to us, and they are inalienable and immensely great: the knowledge of the truth, the joy of the self, the nature of eternity. The essence of  life is to regain awareness of those intrinsic qualities we have lost, choked by the conditionings, and the contaminations of our character. During the Journey each one of us has the rare opportunity to achieve the discovery of the soul’s treasures.
Furthermore the journey exhorts us for a continuous effort of discerning, to separate virtuosity from vice, reality from illusion, sacredness from profane, the inner world from the outside world, aimed to avoid the mistake of exchanging the pure from the impure and vice versa. Holy places are not meant to be seen with your own eyes, we need to predispose ourselves with an elevated consciousness and visit them with the company of people who live and search santity, otherwise we run the risk to limit our vision at the physical level, and to be confused by external appearances.
The sacred place is a state of mind, not a physical reality. It is the reality of the soul where there is genuine love, control over impulses, caring for each other, awareness of the presence of God. During our pilgrimage in sacred places we may come across holy scenes, moments of eternal sacredness, but also situations of degradation and low civilization, exactly like one person may harbour elevated expressions of geniality and kindness together with abysses of degradation. This is why it is fundamental to develop and keep a clear vision about brightness and darkness, without letting slip from memory what is holy just because we saw what is not holy, taking a distance from the degradation only because it is often placed next to what is sacred.
For this reason, in order to feel the spirit of a holy place with this high sense of discernment, it is fundamental to be in company of people motivated like us, sharing the same purposes, and even better – with people who are already able to perceive the essence separated from what is redundant and superficial, via the teachings of the sacred scriptures.

Pilgrimage: a Journey of Search and Discovery.
→ Matsya Avatar das adhikari

Part I
A pilgrimage is a journey in search of the Divine inside and outside us.
It does not take place within a physical space, rather it occurs in one’s mind and consciousness. Its most intimate purpose is a deep purification of the heart, of the intellect, of the memory, and of our being in its wholeness. If we live the Pilgrimage deeply and authentically, it may represent a turning point, a special experience, that, due to an extraordinary combination of elements, favouring the purification of consciousness, may allow us a sudden advancement, which possibly we would have not been able to achieve even through a number of  previous lives.
According to the Indovedic literature, the spiritual vitality of the pilgrimage location is related to the daily renovation of its sanctity by the holy people living there.
In the Shrimad Bhagavatam this concept is explained very clearly: they believe that holy people themselves are pilgrimage places. In the first canto of this wonderful masterpiece,  King Yudhisthira says to the great sage Vidura:

“Noble soul, the devotee who have the qualities of Your Divine Grace are themselves regarded as pilgrimage places. As you bring God in your heart wherever you go, the places you visit become holy places” (I.13.10)

When we enter a sacred place, in Sanskrit called tirtha, we meet the Divine (murti) and awaken people, sadhu, and this way, if we incline ourselves  properly, we can be pervaded by a great spiritual power, the same energy that permeates those places, behaviours and gestures of ancient sacred value.  This spiritual energy, which, in holy places, is brilliant and vibrating, can strengthen us in order to improve our personality and our changes in life, that, otherwise, we would have  never accomplished for lack of will and courage. Like a magnet that energy and spiritual strength attracts our  deepest thoughts and feelings, our ideal aspirations,  and brings us along a path of wonderful search for rediscovering ourselves, the origins of our life, and our highest realization.
First of all the pilgrimage place is an instrument to acquire virtue and knowledge, not a “horizontal” knowledge, limited to the things of this world, but a “vertical” knowledge that rises up to the highest pinnacles of awareness. For this reason we consider a pilgrimage like a journey between the earth and the sky: from the earth it takes us to the sky and from the sky it brings us back to earth, transferring in our daily life the intuitions, the comprehensions, and the realizations that we have experienced, welcomed, and harboured during the Journey.
All the efforts and inconveniences connected to travelling are part of the path of elevation. They should not to be seen as obstacles, rather they are extraordinary opportunities to overcome our limits, to dispose of  illusions and attachments. When we travel, it is easier to understand that none of the things outside of us belong to us. Who can claim to own wealth? Can we have power over youth or health? For how long? Those resources are given to us for a brief length of time and their quality and evolving utility depends on how we use them. Who can say “I possess a body”?  In truth, we are not even the owners of our body, and if we want to keep it forever, we would not be able to do it: it would be impossible. Sooner o later it will be taken away from us regardless of our will. We do not own whatever is outside us, we can only take care of it temporarily. However the soul and its powers belong to us, and they are inalienable and immensely great: the knowledge of the truth, the joy of the self, the nature of eternity. The essence of  life is to regain awareness of those intrinsic qualities we have lost, choked by the conditionings, and the contaminations of our character. During the Journey each one of us has the rare opportunity to achieve the discovery of the soul’s treasures.
Furthermore the journey exhorts us for a continuous effort of discerning, to separate virtuosity from vice, reality from illusion, sacredness from profane, the inner world from the outside world, aimed to avoid the mistake of exchanging the pure from the impure and vice versa. Holy places are not meant to be seen with your own eyes, we need to predispose ourselves with an elevated consciousness and visit them with the company of people who live and search santity, otherwise we run the risk to limit our vision at the physical level, and to be confused by external appearances.
The sacred place is a state of mind, not a physical reality. It is the reality of the soul where there is genuine love, control over impulses, caring for each other, awareness of the presence of God. During our pilgrimage in sacred places we may come across holy scenes, moments of eternal sacredness, but also situations of degradation and low civilization, exactly like one person may harbour elevated expressions of geniality and kindness together with abysses of degradation. This is why it is fundamental to develop and keep a clear vision about brightness and darkness, without letting slip from memory what is holy just because we saw what is not holy, taking a distance from the degradation only because it is often placed next to what is sacred.
For this reason, in order to feel the spirit of a holy place with this high sense of discernment, it is fundamental to be in company of people motivated like us, sharing the same purposes, and even better – with people who are already able to perceive the essence separated from what is redundant and superficial, via the teachings of the sacred scriptures.

Why are we lonely?
→ Matsya Avatar das adhikari

The search of love usually starts with a feeling of  loneliness, it is not just a problem of physical company, rather of awareness and inner power. Loneliness originates from a fragmented psychological image which as a consequence produces a kind of separation of a person from other people, from all the creatures, from the world and its Creator.

The solution of the problem of loneliness  is not to be found in a partner, so as to compensate the fear of being alone, nor it can be found  through the greedy possession of luxury items, nor through holidays as an “escape from reality”, nor by diving into a crowd of people, nor by burning out through a job that does not bring any satisfaction, nor by following religious principles in a conservative and passive sort of way. It will work instead, by starting to love people around us sincerely, without any selfish interest, with an attitude to expand even more the circle of love – never secluded to a single exclusive species –  and in doing so gradually heal our feelings of loneliness, uncertainty and frustration.

The charming prince or the fairy with turquoise hair of the fairy tales, that will love and trust us, will unlikely appear unless we start to appreciate and love everybody else. After all  love is not something that lands on us accidentally: we experience and grow it with the attitude and the behavior of our daily life. By learning to relate with the persons around us with love, and making this mind-set a life practice – since to feel affection is a potential capability of all living beings – by practising love this quality develops and becomes an effective ability to love.

Paradoxically enough, if nowadays couple relationships do not last it is because love is not considered as a priority any more, but other aims are being focused on: useful and comfortable means like gratification of senses,  social and economical status. But love requires respect of the beloved as a spiritual essence, as a unique person; only in this way we may be able to help the others to realize their potential values, and find deep satisfaction by rediscovering and expressing the best version of themselves. For this reason love means knowing the other deeply.

Love and thus the solution of the problem of loneliness, is the ripe fruit of a conscious, active and dynamic effort towards reaching our deep self until we experience a real feeling of communion and reunion within diversity, by appreciating the peculiarities of each person, without falling in affectionate dependency or strong attachments. We can share something with the others only when we really possess it. 
Love relationship, when thoroughly experienced, reaches its height in the realization of our relationship with God, the unique source of the variety of human beings and all that exists, being the source of love itself.
Love is a universal and indispensable quid, an intrinsic  modality of the being, that must be neither denied nor repressed, rather oriented and gradually elevated towards constructive evolutionary levels. Within love, the female and male features try to unite in order to find again the fulfilment and deep satisfaction in order to integrate themselves. By reaching maturity such integration may be conceived on the individual level as well.

Why are we lonely?
→ Matsya Avatar das adhikari

The search of love usually starts with a feeling of  loneliness, it is not just a problem of physical company, rather of awareness and inner power. Loneliness originates from a fragmented psychological image which as a consequence produces a kind of separation of a person from other people, from all the creatures, from the world and its Creator.

The solution of the problem of loneliness  is not to be found in a partner, so as to compensate the fear of being alone, nor it can be found  through the greedy possession of luxury items, nor through holidays as an “escape from reality”, nor by diving into a crowd of people, nor by burning out through a job that does not bring any satisfaction, nor by following religious principles in a conservative and passive sort of way. It will work instead, by starting to love people around us sincerely, without any selfish interest, with an attitude to expand even more the circle of love – never secluded to a single exclusive species –  and in doing so gradually heal our feelings of loneliness, uncertainty and frustration.

The charming prince or the fairy with turquoise hair of the fairy tales, that will love and trust us, will unlikely appear unless we start to appreciate and love everybody else. After all  love is not something that lands on us accidentally: we experience and grow it with the attitude and the behavior of our daily life. By learning to relate with the persons around us with love, and making this mind-set a life practice – since to feel affection is a potential capability of all living beings – by practising love this quality develops and becomes an effective ability to love.

Paradoxically enough, if nowadays couple relationships do not last it is because love is not considered as a priority any more, but other aims are being focused on: useful and comfortable means like gratification of senses,  social and economical status. But love requires respect of the beloved as a spiritual essence, as a unique person; only in this way we may be able to help the others to realize their potential values, and find deep satisfaction by rediscovering and expressing the best version of themselves. For this reason love means knowing the other deeply.

Love and thus the solution of the problem of loneliness, is the ripe fruit of a conscious, active and dynamic effort towards reaching our deep self until we experience a real feeling of communion and reunion within diversity, by appreciating the peculiarities of each person, without falling in affectionate dependency or strong attachments. We can share something with the others only when we really possess it. 
Love relationship, when thoroughly experienced, reaches its height in the realization of our relationship with God, the unique source of the variety of human beings and all that exists, being the source of love itself.
Love is a universal and indispensable quid, an intrinsic  modality of the being, that must be neither denied nor repressed, rather oriented and gradually elevated towards constructive evolutionary levels. Within love, the female and male features try to unite in order to find again the fulfilment and deep satisfaction in order to integrate themselves. By reaching maturity such integration may be conceived on the individual level as well.

Shri Nityananda: The Everlasting Beatitude
→ Matsya Avatar das adhikari


In order to understand Shri Nityananda Prabhu’s image in the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition, we have to know the Avatara doctrine, which describes the way the Lord appears in this world in behalf of His spiritual energies. Shri Nityananda  Prabhu is a manifestation of compassion, of mercy and of divine love. He is the supreme Person, God himself who stepped into history and made His appearance in this world in the second half of the sixteenth century, according to the Western calendar. Like in the Shrimad Bhagavatam literature, which narrates Shri Krishna-Balarama’s adventures, in the Caitanya Caritamrita and the Caitanya Bhagavata, respectively written by Krishnadas Kaviraja Gosvami and Vrindavana das Thakur, they narrate Shri Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s and Shri Nityananda Prabhu’s divine adventures.
Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu is Krishna himself, who is manifested with a special rasa, that of Shrimati Radharani. Shrimati Radharani’s love for Krishna is experienced and manifested in full by Shri Caitanya Mahaprabhu who lives in Shrimati Radharani’s rasa and that ontologically  represents the divine union between Radha and Krishna. Shrimati Radharani is endlessly and for ever in love with Krishna, the same as Shri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s love is everlasting and infinite.
Like Shri Krishna, whose brother and inseparable friend is Shri Balarama, Shri Caitanya has an inseparable friend too, whose name is Shri Nityananda. They are inseparable in the feelings of love that join them together. Shri Nityananda Prabhu would have shared Shri Caitanya Deva’s company all time long, however he had to fulfill his mission in behalf of His beloved associate: to travel from city to city in order to spread the holy name of the Lord. Therefore Nityananda, together with one of his best friends, Shrila Haridas Thakur, engaged himself completely in the diffusion of the sacred science, practising Harinama Kirtana and Harinama Sankirtana. In this way, by sharing this responsibility with other dear devotees, in this supreme mission that is the diffusion of love for God, Shri Nityananda Prabhu became one of the most dear Shri Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s spiritual associates.
Like Balarama, enterprising, strong, outgoing, generous, always compassionate towards the devotees, whose manifestation was considered as one of the original spiritual Master, the same Shri Nityananda Prabhu preached the sacred science and  spread his teachings to all the people of good will, in the practice of Bhakti. 

Shri Nityananda: The Everlasting Beatitude
→ Matsya Avatar das adhikari


In order to understand Shri Nityananda Prabhu’s image in the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition, we have to know the Avatara doctrine, which describes the way the Lord appears in this world in behalf of His spiritual energies. Shri Nityananda  Prabhu is a manifestation of compassion, of mercy and of divine love. He is the supreme Person, God himself who stepped into history and made His appearance in this world in the second half of the sixteenth century, according to the Western calendar. Like in the Shrimad Bhagavatam literature, which narrates Shri Krishna-Balarama’s adventures, in the Caitanya Caritamrita and the Caitanya Bhagavata, respectively written by Krishnadas Kaviraja Gosvami and Vrindavana das Thakur, they narrate Shri Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s and Shri Nityananda Prabhu’s divine adventures.
Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu is Krishna himself, who is manifested with a special rasa, that of Shrimati Radharani. Shrimati Radharani’s love for Krishna is experienced and manifested in full by Shri Caitanya Mahaprabhu who lives in Shrimati Radharani’s rasa and that ontologically  represents the divine union between Radha and Krishna. Shrimati Radharani is endlessly and for ever in love with Krishna, the same as Shri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s love is everlasting and infinite.
Like Shri Krishna, whose brother and inseparable friend is Shri Balarama, Shri Caitanya has an inseparable friend too, whose name is Shri Nityananda. They are inseparable in the feelings of love that join them together. Shri Nityananda Prabhu would have shared Shri Caitanya Deva’s company all time long, however he had to fulfill his mission in behalf of His beloved associate: to travel from city to city in order to spread the holy name of the Lord. Therefore Nityananda, together with one of his best friends, Shrila Haridas Thakur, engaged himself completely in the diffusion of the sacred science, practising Harinama Kirtana and Harinama Sankirtana. In this way, by sharing this responsibility with other dear devotees, in this supreme mission that is the diffusion of love for God, Shri Nityananda Prabhu became one of the most dear Shri Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s spiritual associates.
Like Balarama, enterprising, strong, outgoing, generous, always compassionate towards the devotees, whose manifestation was considered as one of the original spiritual Master, the same Shri Nityananda Prabhu preached the sacred science and  spread his teachings to all the people of good will, in the practice of Bhakti. 

How Can I Become a Peacemaker?
→ Matsya Avatar das adhikari

Part II


Every religious tradition, if  authentically lived, conveys a universal vision because it teaches, even though in different fashions and manners, that nothing is separated from the rest, that each part is connected to the whole and that the whole is connected to each part. The term “religion” comes from the Latin “religere” which means ‘gather, unite’, the same as the word yoga derives from the Sanskrit root yuj having the same meaning: ‘connect, unite’. Without Yoga, without the reconnection between the individual consciousness to the cosmic Consciousness, peace cannot be sustained because we can realize it only when the person has acquired a deep awareness of the marvellous subtle network we are part of, when we perceive the common Source that all is connected to the whole and that our well-being implies the well-being of the others. 
Love for God is the highest warrant of peace because loving God means to love all living beings too, by considering the common origin and the indissoluble reunion with Him. One of the fundamental texts of Indovedic spirituality, Bhagavad-gita (V.29) explains that peace is reached by those who, through the recognition of  God as the beneficiary of  all sacrifices and of all austerities and the Supreme friend of all human beings, offer their service and their pure devotion to Him. The essence of Bhagavad-gita is bhakti or love for God that includes love for the world and all the creatures, as expansions (and Epiphany) of the Absolute. In this tradition the value of ahimsa or “non-violence”  is not intended solely in the respect of human beings, rather in the respect of all living creatures because compassion, solidarity and mercy cannot be and must not be reserved to a sole race or a biological specie. The path that leads to peace follows inevitably the way of consciousness,  because its vision is not seen apart from a universal vision, indeed it is aware that there are indissoluble ties that unite mankind to wholeness.
The progressive understanding of this union and a conduct coherent to it, contribute to the diffusion of the harmony among all creatures. This exercise of comprehension should be developed in the respect and appreciation of every authentic path, on the laic and religious levels,  with the awareness that there are different modes and multiple ways to approach progressively the holy Reality that is the essence of all that exists, in all its infinite manifestations, that is revealed as the Divine as supreme source of life, superior principle of harmonization, unity and peace.

How Can I Become a Peacemaker?
→ Matsya Avatar das adhikari

Part II


Every religious tradition, if  authentically lived, conveys a universal vision because it teaches, even though in different fashions and manners, that nothing is separated from the rest, that each part is connected to the whole and that the whole is connected to each part. The term “religion” comes from the Latin “religere” which means ‘gather, unite’, the same as the word yoga derives from the Sanskrit root yuj having the same meaning: ‘connect, unite’. Without Yoga, without the reconnection between the individual consciousness to the cosmic Consciousness, peace cannot be sustained because we can realize it only when the person has acquired a deep awareness of the marvellous subtle network we are part of, when we perceive the common Source that all is connected to the whole and that our well-being implies the well-being of the others. 
Love for God is the highest warrant of peace because loving God means to love all living beings too, by considering the common origin and the indissoluble reunion with Him. One of the fundamental texts of Indovedic spirituality, Bhagavad-gita (V.29) explains that peace is reached by those who, through the recognition of  God as the beneficiary of  all sacrifices and of all austerities and the Supreme friend of all human beings, offer their service and their pure devotion to Him. The essence of Bhagavad-gita is bhakti or love for God that includes love for the world and all the creatures, as expansions (and Epiphany) of the Absolute. In this tradition the value of ahimsa or “non-violence”  is not intended solely in the respect of human beings, rather in the respect of all living creatures because compassion, solidarity and mercy cannot be and must not be reserved to a sole race or a biological specie. The path that leads to peace follows inevitably the way of consciousness,  because its vision is not seen apart from a universal vision, indeed it is aware that there are indissoluble ties that unite mankind to wholeness.
The progressive understanding of this union and a conduct coherent to it, contribute to the diffusion of the harmony among all creatures. This exercise of comprehension should be developed in the respect and appreciation of every authentic path, on the laic and religious levels,  with the awareness that there are different modes and multiple ways to approach progressively the holy Reality that is the essence of all that exists, in all its infinite manifestations, that is revealed as the Divine as supreme source of life, superior principle of harmonization, unity and peace.

How Can I Become a Peacemaker?
→ Matsya Avatar das adhikari

Part I 

Peace is the result of coordinated efforts and persevering attitude, but first of all it is the result of deep awareness of the concept of peace, in all its countless nuances and implications. The acquisition of this kind of awareness implies a broad-minded vision of all the dynamics implied that is in fact an indispensable way to start, in order to find in every circumstance the correct way of action, the one able to provide for a concrete development of peace at all levels (individual, familiar, social, political, economical).
Science and religious traditions of all times, agree by stating that there are universal laws which govern the universe (in Greek the word is cosmos, its meaning is either ‘order’ or ‘universe’). Such laws rule and support the whole creation and every manifestation of life, from mankind to the microscopic insect, and are the expression of an order that the modern quantum physics defines as “implicit order”, which is beyond mere appearance; a veiled, subtle reality from which derives “the explicit order” visible through natural phenomena.
In the Vedic Vaishnava tradition, this order is found by the reunion of life and the world and is known with the word dharma, from the Sanskrit root dhr which means ‘hold, support’, or else with the noun rtam, defined as “fixed or settled order, rule, divine law or truth” which derives from the Sanskrit root  ṛ- “to move, rise, tend upwards” that, in this case means  “regular flowing of things”.
By being really interested to build a world of peace we intend to be interested with knowledge and harmonization of these universal laws, which the religious tradition of all times consider the expression of a superior Intelligence, the cosmic Consciousness, God. Peace means to synchronize one’s own inner dynamics with the cosmos’ dynamics; by learning to move in harmony with that universal order which already exists (there is no need to make it up),  and whose infraction is the cause of unsteadiness, wounds, conflicts, within us and outside. Peace is not a need for a  moral order, it is an indispensable factor for man whose life, in order to live in harmony, is tightly connected to the whole universe and all the creatures in it. Without such awareness, the value of peace becomes a meaningless concept designed to remain ambiguous and prompt to be jeopardized by those who persevere in other purposes. In the name of such kind of peace, all the crimes committed in the present and the past, testify it as true.

How Can I Become a Peacemaker?
→ Matsya Avatar das adhikari

Part I 

Peace is the result of coordinated efforts and persevering attitude, but first of all it is the result of deep awareness of the concept of peace, in all its countless nuances and implications. The acquisition of this kind of awareness implies a broad-minded vision of all the dynamics implied that is in fact an indispensable way to start, in order to find in every circumstance the correct way of action, the one able to provide for a concrete development of peace at all levels (individual, familiar, social, political, economical).
Science and religious traditions of all times, agree by stating that there are universal laws which govern the universe (in Greek the word is cosmos, its meaning is either ‘order’ or ‘universe’). Such laws rule and support the whole creation and every manifestation of life, from mankind to the microscopic insect, and are the expression of an order that the modern quantum physics defines as “implicit order”, which is beyond mere appearance; a veiled, subtle reality from which derives “the explicit order” visible through natural phenomena.
In the Vedic Vaishnava tradition, this order is found by the reunion of life and the world and is known with the word dharma, from the Sanskrit root dhr which means ‘hold, support’, or else with the noun rtam, defined as “fixed or settled order, rule, divine law or truth” which derives from the Sanskrit root  ṛ- “to move, rise, tend upwards” that, in this case means  “regular flowing of things”.
By being really interested to build a world of peace we intend to be interested with knowledge and harmonization of these universal laws, which the religious tradition of all times consider the expression of a superior Intelligence, the cosmic Consciousness, God. Peace means to synchronize one’s own inner dynamics with the cosmos’ dynamics; by learning to move in harmony with that universal order which already exists (there is no need to make it up),  and whose infraction is the cause of unsteadiness, wounds, conflicts, within us and outside. Peace is not a need for a  moral order, it is an indispensable factor for man whose life, in order to live in harmony, is tightly connected to the whole universe and all the creatures in it. Without such awareness, the value of peace becomes a meaningless concept designed to remain ambiguous and prompt to be jeopardized by those who persevere in other purposes. In the name of such kind of peace, all the crimes committed in the present and the past, testify it as true.

The Abysses of the Mind and the Highest Peaks of Consciousness (part 2/2). By Matsyavatara dasa (Marco Ferrini)
→ Matsya Avatar das adhikari

Although at times it seems to have no reasons to fall into a crevasse, we can witness that the gap is real for whom can perceive it. The same goes for the ecstatic experience which is usually ignored to the majority of people, but for the great personalities who has realized themselves, it may become a permanent reality, which in a single brush erases all the world attachments together with the taste for the sense gratification. One doesn’t reach that experience by mere comprehension or due to the limited human efforts; it thus manifests thanks to the divine mercy and it is the divine mercy that helps us to get out of the crevasse: combined to our our personal effort, it brings clearness within us and start  to make the river of life flow again. In this way our happiness will also start to flow again freely, with no more obstacles of the past choices.   We cannot live lofty experiences at present if in the past we failed to recognize the existence of the crevasse with its characteristics, consciously choosing the way that takes us to the enlightened Hill, to the highest Sky, just like Virgilio explains  to Dante at the beginning of the Divine Commedy and like Krishna  says to Arjuna oppressed by a deep existential crisis at the beginning of the Bhagavad-gita. One does not fall into the crevasse at once, nor he reaches the peak in an instance. Such high ascent is the result of a constant work turned to avoid and correct the mistakes promptly, to coordinate all the efforts with the purpose to evolve and animated by the honest desire of spiritual self-realization.
Enviousness,  jealousy, lust, greed, anger, craving for fame – these are all the ropes that make one drift down the crevasse. On the other hand, mercy, compassion, humility, patience, forgiveness help to ascend. Those spiritual qualities, typical of authentic brahmanas, are the most elevated qualities to develop;  that is why the brahmanas who coherently practice and live them should not be submitted to power because these qualities represent the highest target. In Bhagavad-gita XVIII. 42 Krishna describes the main qualities from which many others originate; those who wish to reach the highest peaks of consciousness  do not have to learn them just by heart, but to catch the essence, how they are lived and taught.
Those qualities should become our nature, should enter each part of our being, in order to transfer ourselves gradually  from tamas to rajas, from rajas to sattva guna; only then we will avoid the risk of falling down the crevasse and our journey will be an evolution in progress towards the highest peaks of Bhakti, empowered with faithful and devoted love for Krishna. The practice of Bhakti is the most powerful instrument of evolution that allows us to develop the qualities described before and, in its greatest expansion, it is the highest  spiritual peak to reach. In the journey towards supreme Bhakti, authentic love and happiness increase step by step.

The Abysses of the Mind and the Highest Peaks of Consciousness (part 2/2). By Matsyavatara dasa (Marco Ferrini)
→ Matsya Avatar das adhikari

Although at times it seems to have no reasons to fall into a crevasse, we can witness that the gap is real for whom can perceive it. The same goes for the ecstatic experience which is usually ignored to the majority of people, but for the great personalities who has realized themselves, it may become a permanent reality, which in a single brush erases all the world attachments together with the taste for the sense gratification. One doesn’t reach that experience by mere comprehension or due to the limited human efforts; it thus manifests thanks to the divine mercy and it is the divine mercy that helps us to get out of the crevasse: combined to our our personal effort, it brings clearness within us and start  to make the river of life flow again. In this way our happiness will also start to flow again freely, with no more obstacles of the past choices.   We cannot live lofty experiences at present if in the past we failed to recognize the existence of the crevasse with its characteristics, consciously choosing the way that takes us to the enlightened Hill, to the highest Sky, just like Virgilio explains  to Dante at the beginning of the Divine Commedy and like Krishna  says to Arjuna oppressed by a deep existential crisis at the beginning of the Bhagavad-gita. One does not fall into the crevasse at once, nor he reaches the peak in an instance. Such high ascent is the result of a constant work turned to avoid and correct the mistakes promptly, to coordinate all the efforts with the purpose to evolve and animated by the honest desire of spiritual self-realization.
Enviousness,  jealousy, lust, greed, anger, craving for fame – these are all the ropes that make one drift down the crevasse. On the other hand, mercy, compassion, humility, patience, forgiveness help to ascend. Those spiritual qualities, typical of authentic brahmanas, are the most elevated qualities to develop;  that is why the brahmanas who coherently practice and live them should not be submitted to power because these qualities represent the highest target. In Bhagavad-gita XVIII. 42 Krishna describes the main qualities from which many others originate; those who wish to reach the highest peaks of consciousness  do not have to learn them just by heart, but to catch the essence, how they are lived and taught.
Those qualities should become our nature, should enter each part of our being, in order to transfer ourselves gradually  from tamas to rajas, from rajas to sattva guna; only then we will avoid the risk of falling down the crevasse and our journey will be an evolution in progress towards the highest peaks of Bhakti, empowered with faithful and devoted love for Krishna. The practice of Bhakti is the most powerful instrument of evolution that allows us to develop the qualities described before and, in its greatest expansion, it is the highest  spiritual peak to reach. In the journey towards supreme Bhakti, authentic love and happiness increase step by step.

The Abysses of the Mind and the Highest Peaks of Consciousness (part 1/2). By Matsyavatara dasa (Marco Ferrini)
→ Matsya Avatar das adhikari

Sometimes in life human beings make rather difficult, painful experiences, in which people seem to fall into a crevasse, an abyss, very close to annihilation; there are then, most seldom, other people who touch brightening peaks, with an extraordinary expansion of consciousness in which they experience – even though for a few moments – an irrepressible happiness. In the middle, between these two positions, stand the great majority of humanity that carry on an ordinary mediocrity.

Very often I witnessed the experience of the abyss among many people I met, who had asked me for help. A couple of times, between the age of 10 and 30, I found myself on the brink of the abyss, I was at risk, but thanks to the divine mercy I was supported and saved from that devastating experience. Such experience doesn’t manifest itself in one’s life out of conscious intention but because of a series of factors that have been produced by one’s own thoughts, deeds and motivations. We can learn to foresee and recognize it from a series of features, symbols, signs and warnings, related to its original causes. I feel very much sympathetic towards people who happen to face this experience of the abyss, the black whole, a total disorientation; the person feels like drifting downward and there is no end to the crevasse. In that condition of consciousness there is no way to get any better, but only to get worse. Who wishes to do so, may accept my reflection to question oneself and try to understand if and how often, one has found oneself in life on the brink of the abyss, or close to it, when and how he managed to avoid the collapse.
By describing this state of consciousness, I would use the following metaphor: the river of life that suddenly stops flowing. Water remains still and runs no longer. There seems to be real obstacles to cause the obstruction, but they are mainly produced by the doer of that experience. It is the person itself that creates its crevasse and falls into it. Can the elevating experience be also the result of inner projections? I would be inclined to confirm and approve both statements because there is a strong logic link to it, but thinking on this delicate theme, through praying and meditating, I could deepen my comprehension as follows. We are to decide which direction to take, either into the crevasse or towards the peak, however the crevasse and the pike exist, they represent a possibility, it is up to us to decide whether to accept or refuse either one or the other. According to my comprehension, the Shastra and the Sadhu teach that abysses and peaks exist independently from us, but we make them happen in our life by everyday choices. Either a period of mourning, or the death of a child which is a desolating loss for a mother, or for the sake of our ego, any person may fall into an abyss, but the same person can also choose to transform that event in a precious and saving opportunity in order to reach the highest peaks of consciousness.

The Abysses of the Mind and the Highest Peaks of Consciousness (part 1/2). By Matsyavatara dasa (Marco Ferrini)
→ Matsya Avatar das adhikari

Sometimes in life human beings make rather difficult, painful experiences, in which people seem to fall into a crevasse, an abyss, very close to annihilation; there are then, most seldom, other people who touch brightening peaks, with an extraordinary expansion of consciousness in which they experience – even though for a few moments – an irrepressible happiness. In the middle, between these two positions, stand the great majority of humanity that carry on an ordinary mediocrity.

Very often I witnessed the experience of the abyss among many people I met, who had asked me for help. A couple of times, between the age of 10 and 30, I found myself on the brink of the abyss, I was at risk, but thanks to the divine mercy I was supported and saved from that devastating experience. Such experience doesn’t manifest itself in one’s life out of conscious intention but because of a series of factors that have been produced by one’s own thoughts, deeds and motivations. We can learn to foresee and recognize it from a series of features, symbols, signs and warnings, related to its original causes. I feel very much sympathetic towards people who happen to face this experience of the abyss, the black whole, a total disorientation; the person feels like drifting downward and there is no end to the crevasse. In that condition of consciousness there is no way to get any better, but only to get worse. Who wishes to do so, may accept my reflection to question oneself and try to understand if and how often, one has found oneself in life on the brink of the abyss, or close to it, when and how he managed to avoid the collapse.
By describing this state of consciousness, I would use the following metaphor: the river of life that suddenly stops flowing. Water remains still and runs no longer. There seems to be real obstacles to cause the obstruction, but they are mainly produced by the doer of that experience. It is the person itself that creates its crevasse and falls into it. Can the elevating experience be also the result of inner projections? I would be inclined to confirm and approve both statements because there is a strong logic link to it, but thinking on this delicate theme, through praying and meditating, I could deepen my comprehension as follows. We are to decide which direction to take, either into the crevasse or towards the peak, however the crevasse and the pike exist, they represent a possibility, it is up to us to decide whether to accept or refuse either one or the other. According to my comprehension, the Shastra and the Sadhu teach that abysses and peaks exist independently from us, but we make them happen in our life by everyday choices. Either a period of mourning, or the death of a child which is a desolating loss for a mother, or for the sake of our ego, any person may fall into an abyss, but the same person can also choose to transform that event in a precious and saving opportunity in order to reach the highest peaks of consciousness.

Action or Renunciation (part 2/2). By Matsyavatara dasa (Marco Ferrini)
→ Matsya Avatar das adhikari


The perfection of renunciation

In Bhagavad-Gita Krishna explains that the perfection of renunciation is not a simple physical detachment from the objects of the senses, but rather an emotional detachment from them (vayragya).
Tyaga is a first phase which must necessarily be exceeded in order to mature the real detachment, the emotional one, because an artificial detachment from things and people while going on longing for them, is a behavior that Krishna defines with the term “hypocrite.” (Bhagavad-gita III.6)
Therefore a true success in renunciation can only be achieved by getting rid of the egoistic desires and regarding this point there is an important teaching of Krishna:  “Both parting with action and the devotional action lead to the path of liberation but, of the two, devotional action is better”. (Bhagavad-gita V.2)  
The mere avoiding of the objects of the senses is a hard way that is not sufficient to achieve perfection (Bhagavad-gita III.4); transformation and sublimation of desire is possible by undertaking  the evolutionary path that starts from tyaga (physical detachment), passes through vairagya (emotional detachment) and reaches Bhakti (a devotional action offered to God).
The final teaching of Bhagavad-gita describes the best form of renunciation, that is, the action performed without egoistic motivation or attachment to its results, but in a pure spirit of love and service to the Supreme Lord. This highest form of renunciation is defined yukta-vairagya, the renunciation of the one who, having purified one’s consciousness, offers everything to God. 
Such a devotional action performed in Bhakti spirit leads to transformation and sublimation of all the energies of the being, and thus it is considered even superior to renunciation, as it allows the human being to taste the complete and blissful relationship with God that can not be experienced due to a simple renunciation. 
Krishna exhorts Arjuna: “Perform your duty in order to satisfy Vishnu and you will stay forever free from the conditionings of the matter” (Bhagavad-gita III.9).
Bhagavad-gita teaches an attitude far both from an illusory identification with the immanence (the “world” and the  “flesh” of the Gospel), and from some abstract spirituality that denies the matter and neglects the physical body. 
Krishna urges to act efficiently, fully and with detachment, but without a desire for power and possession, a sacred action offered to God with joyful devotion.
In Taoist terms, it suggests a dynamic balance of opposites, action and inaction, obtained due to the superior knowledge that allows to live fully in the material world fulfilling one’s duties without pseudo-meditative evasions and, at the same time, to be open to a real meditative dimension, that is meta-historical and meta-temporal one, of communion with the Divine.

Action or Renunciation (part 2/2). By Matsyavatara dasa (Marco Ferrini)
→ Matsya Avatar das adhikari


The perfection of renunciation

In Bhagavad-Gita Krishna explains that the perfection of renunciation is not a simple physical detachment from the objects of the senses, but rather an emotional detachment from them (vayragya).
Tyaga is a first phase which must necessarily be exceeded in order to mature the real detachment, the emotional one, because an artificial detachment from things and people while going on longing for them, is a behavior that Krishna defines with the term “hypocrite.” (Bhagavad-gita III.6)
Therefore a true success in renunciation can only be achieved by getting rid of the egoistic desires and regarding this point there is an important teaching of Krishna:  “Both parting with action and the devotional action lead to the path of liberation but, of the two, devotional action is better”. (Bhagavad-gita V.2)  
The mere avoiding of the objects of the senses is a hard way that is not sufficient to achieve perfection (Bhagavad-gita III.4); transformation and sublimation of desire is possible by undertaking  the evolutionary path that starts from tyaga (physical detachment), passes through vairagya (emotional detachment) and reaches Bhakti (a devotional action offered to God).
The final teaching of Bhagavad-gita describes the best form of renunciation, that is, the action performed without egoistic motivation or attachment to its results, but in a pure spirit of love and service to the Supreme Lord. This highest form of renunciation is defined yukta-vairagya, the renunciation of the one who, having purified one’s consciousness, offers everything to God. 
Such a devotional action performed in Bhakti spirit leads to transformation and sublimation of all the energies of the being, and thus it is considered even superior to renunciation, as it allows the human being to taste the complete and blissful relationship with God that can not be experienced due to a simple renunciation. 
Krishna exhorts Arjuna: “Perform your duty in order to satisfy Vishnu and you will stay forever free from the conditionings of the matter” (Bhagavad-gita III.9).
Bhagavad-gita teaches an attitude far both from an illusory identification with the immanence (the “world” and the  “flesh” of the Gospel), and from some abstract spirituality that denies the matter and neglects the physical body. 
Krishna urges to act efficiently, fully and with detachment, but without a desire for power and possession, a sacred action offered to God with joyful devotion.
In Taoist terms, it suggests a dynamic balance of opposites, action and inaction, obtained due to the superior knowledge that allows to live fully in the material world fulfilling one’s duties without pseudo-meditative evasions and, at the same time, to be open to a real meditative dimension, that is meta-historical and meta-temporal one, of communion with the Divine.

Action or Renunciation. (part 1/2) By Matsyavatara dasa (Marco Ferrini)
→ Matsya Avatar das adhikari



The Art of Perfect Action

In the third and fifth chapters of Bhagavad-gita Krishna explains to his disciple Arjuna the art of  perfect action.
The perfection of action – karma yoga – can not be reached unless one obtains a clear understanding and a proper discernment of what is beneficial and what is harmful for the spiritual evolution of the individual, that is why the right behavior, or acara, can be achieved only if the right knowledge, jnana, has already been acquired. Jnana can be completed and improved only with a proper practice that leads to vijnana, realized knowledge, the wisdom: the knowledge transformed in action and applied with creativity in the right time, in the right place and under the right circumstances. 
Bhagavad-gita answers to a complex question raised by Arjuna to Krishna: what is better – action or renunciation?
Krishna, in an admirable way, explains that it is impossible to give up acting completely: in reality the so-called inaction does not exist. Everyone in the world is inevitably obliged to act, there is no life without action, even a single breath implies some movement, by a rhythm which is integral to life (B.g. III.5). As Krishna states everybody acts according to the tendencies acquired during the previous life experiences; even the wise cannot refrain from action, not even for a moment, but his way of acting is completely different in nature compared to the one who is unaware of true knowledge and whose motivation is impure.
Krishna urges Arjuna with the following words: “Carry out your duty as action is better than inaction. Without acting the man is unable even to maintain his body” (B.g. III.8).
Therefore renunciation should be understood not just as a complete abstention from acting – that would be impossible – but as an abstention from the impure activities, that implies avoiding the objects of the senses (tyaga), people and experiences that can lead us astray from our spiritual path.
Once Arjuna has understood this important teaching, Krishna reveals higher truth and, in the fifth chapter, declares that both renunciation from action and devotional action lead to liberation but, of the two, the devotional action is better.

Action or Renunciation. (part 1/2) By Matsyavatara dasa (Marco Ferrini)
→ Matsya Avatar das adhikari



The Art of Perfect Action

In the third and fifth chapters of Bhagavad-gita Krishna explains to his disciple Arjuna the art of  perfect action.
The perfection of action – karma yoga – can not be reached unless one obtains a clear understanding and a proper discernment of what is beneficial and what is harmful for the spiritual evolution of the individual, that is why the right behavior, or acara, can be achieved only if the right knowledge, jnana, has already been acquired. Jnana can be completed and improved only with a proper practice that leads to vijnana, realized knowledge, the wisdom: the knowledge transformed in action and applied with creativity in the right time, in the right place and under the right circumstances. 
Bhagavad-gita answers to a complex question raised by Arjuna to Krishna: what is better – action or renunciation?
Krishna, in an admirable way, explains that it is impossible to give up acting completely: in reality the so-called inaction does not exist. Everyone in the world is inevitably obliged to act, there is no life without action, even a single breath implies some movement, by a rhythm which is integral to life (B.g. III.5). As Krishna states everybody acts according to the tendencies acquired during the previous life experiences; even the wise cannot refrain from action, not even for a moment, but his way of acting is completely different in nature compared to the one who is unaware of true knowledge and whose motivation is impure.
Krishna urges Arjuna with the following words: “Carry out your duty as action is better than inaction. Without acting the man is unable even to maintain his body” (B.g. III.8).
Therefore renunciation should be understood not just as a complete abstention from acting – that would be impossible – but as an abstention from the impure activities, that implies avoiding the objects of the senses (tyaga), people and experiences that can lead us astray from our spiritual path.
Once Arjuna has understood this important teaching, Krishna reveals higher truth and, in the fifth chapter, declares that both renunciation from action and devotional action lead to liberation but, of the two, the devotional action is better.