Author Archives: Chaitanya Charan das

If our family attachments impede our spiritual advancement, how can we be detached and still be responsible?
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Podcast
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Vyasa-puja offering to Srila Prabhupada: Appreciating the empowering breadth of your trust in Krishna
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Respected Srila Prabhupada,

Please accept my humble obeisances at your lotus feet. All glories to your divine self.

Every year brings to me deeper appreciation of your unparalleled contributions to enriching my life and the lives of millions all over the world. This year, my enhanced appreciation centered on your extraordinary dedication amidst immense obstacles in Western outreach.

On the suggestion of an erudite follower of yours, I felt inspired to offer at your lotus feet a series of audio-video talks on your life-story, meant especially for new people. To prepare these talks, I started re-reading the Lilamrita. And I started going through the many other biographies of yours that I had read earlier as well as the many insightful biographies that have been recently published.

Initially, I had planned to cover the highlights of your life in ten-fifteen episodes, each of about twenty-five minutes. But after I started speaking, I realized that so many aspects of your life were so inspiring that a dozen or so talks couldn’t do justice to them. Of course, even thousands of talks can’t do full justice to your glories. But given the constraints of time for potential hearers, I have decided to keep the series length around fifty to seventy episodes. I seek your blessings so that through my feeble attempts to glorify you, a fraction of your glories may manifest in the hearts of the hearers.

At the very least, your glories have manifested more in my own heart. While reading the Lilamrita, especially the section about your early days in America, I realized more and more the mountainous challenge you faced there and the sublime dexterity with which you tackled those challenges. What we can appreciate depends on what we appreciate. Now, by your mercy, I have been to America three times and have interacted with a cross-section of our movement there, ranging from the top leaders, the field preachers and the new people coming for our programs. Through this small first-hand experience, my appreciation of the magnitude of what you accomplished there has increased manifold.

When I go for a program, almost everything is arranged – I just have to speak. Devotees host me, coordinate my travel, organize venues, invite people for the programs and cultivate them thereafter. Prabhupada, in the early days of your outreach in America, you had to arrange al these things – you had practically no assistants. As a solitary preacher, speaking was just one of your challenges.

I have found being a solitary preacher unnerving. On the few occasions whenever I have gone alone to a program where no one is a devotee, I reassure myself with the knowledge that I have many friends, well-wishers and guides at my base temple as well as in the global devotee community. But when you went alone to the US, you had no one; you didn’t even have a base temple to start with. Of course, you were eternally based at Krishna’s lotus feet. How intimate a connection you must have with Krishna, how closely […]

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Live from #FB Bandstand Q&A on reincarnation with Chaitanya Charan Das
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Audio Podcast :

http://www.thespiritualscientist.com/audio/ccd%20classes/desiretree/2017%20classes/08-17%20classes/Live%20from%20FB%20Bandstand%20Q&A%20on%20reincarnation%20with.mp3

Video :

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When problems trouble us and we can’t put our heart in our service, what can we do?
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Podcast

http://www.thespiritualscientist.com/audio/CCD%20QA/2017%20QA/08-17%20QA/When%20problems%20trouble%20us%20and%20we%20can’t%20put%20our%20heart%20in%20our%20service,%20what%20can%20we%20do.mp3

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How does understanding Krishna’s greatness and sweetness bring submission and affection respectively?
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Podcast

http://www.thespiritualscientist.com/audio/CCD%20QA/2017%20QA/08-17%20QA/How%20does%20understanding%20Krishna’s%20greatness%20and%20sweetness%20bring%20submission%20and%20affection%20respectively.mp3

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How can we explain philosophy to those who don’t accept the authority of scripture?
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Podcast

http://www.thespiritualscientist.com/audio/CCD%20QA/2017%20QA/08-17%20QA/How%20can%20we%20explain%20philosophy%20to%20those%20who%20don’t%20accept%20the%20authority%20of%20scripture.mp3

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Akrura Katha 3 – Understanding cultural bhakti, philosophical bhakti, spiritual bhakti and Vraja bhakti
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[Krishna Katha for youth retreat at ISKCON, Juhu, Mumbai, India]

Podcast

http://www.thespiritualscientist.com/audio/ccd%20classes/desiretree/2017%20classes/08-17%20classes/Akrura%20katha%203%20-%20Understanding%20cultural%20bhakti,%20philosophical%20bhakti,%20spiritual%20bhakti%20and%20Vraja%20bhakti.mp3

Podcast Summary

http://www.thespiritualscientist.com/audio/ccd%20classes/desiretree/2017%20classes/08-17%20classes/Summary%20-%20Akrura%20katha%203%20-%20Understanding%20cultural%20bhakti,%20philosophical%20bhakti,%20spiritual%20bhakti%20and%20Vraja%20bhakti.mp3

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Srila Prabhupada life-story – New video-audio series
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On the auspicious occasion of Srila Prabhupada’s 121st Vyasapuja on 16th August, 2017, I am grateful to announce the beginning of a small offering: a series of over 50 video-audio talks on Srila Prabhupada’s life-story.
The first episode is published here and future episodes will be published every week in the playlist here:
Drawing from the Srila Prabhupada Lilamrita by Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami as well as from several other biographies, memoirs and treatises on Srila Prabhupada’s life, the series attempts to give glimpses His Divine Grace’s fearless devotion, tireless dedication and peerless contributions
I seek the blessings and good wishes of all the followers of Srila Prabhupada so that I can render this service effectively.

Audio Podcast :

http://www.thespiritualscientist.com/audio/Srila%20Prabhupada%20life-story/Prabhupada%20life-story%201%20-%20A%20devotionally%20vibrant%20childhood.mp3

 

Video :

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In our offices, how can we be socially involved in contemporary discussions without getting spiritually distracted?
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Answer Podcast
http://www.thespiritualscientist.com/audio/CCD%20QA/2017%20QA/08-17%20QA/In%20our%20offices,%20how%20can%20we%20be%20socially%20involved%20in%20contemporary%20discussions%20without%20getting%20spiritually%20distracted.mp3

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Does humility mean feeling that we are fallen or does it mean not letting our ego come int the way of our service?
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Answer Podcast
http://www.thespiritualscientist.com/audio/CCD%20QA/2017%20QA/08-17%20QA/Does%20humility%20mean%20feeling%20that%20we%20are%20fallen%20or%20does%20it%20mean%20not%20letting%20our%20ego%20come%20int%20the%20way%20of%20our%20service.mp3

T…

Meditation on Kaliya lila – Devotion grants access to a rich panorama of divine emotions
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Podcast:

http://www.thespiritualscientist.com/audio/ccd%20classes/desiretree/2017%20classes/08-17%20classes/Meditation%20on%20Kaliya%20lila%20-%20Devotion%20grants%20access%20to%20a%20rich%20panorama%20of%20divine%20emotions.mp3
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Gita daily appreciation
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For me, the most encouraging part of traveling and speaking is meeting people who are already connected with me through my sites. In Houston, I met a young man who is not connected with any temple but has been regularly reading Gita daily articles. He told me that the articles have helped him better cope with career uncertainties caused by Trump’s H1-B visa policy changes.

In New Jersey, I met a devotee mataji who told me that her husband, though born in a devotee family had been quite short-tempered, reducing her child and her to tears. But since reading Gita-daily for the last one and half years, he has become much calmer, and their family life is much smoother and happier.

In Salt Lake City, I met a Christian preacher who told me that he has been reading Gita-daily articles for over an year and has found himself agreeing with, even appreciating, 90% of what I say. When I asked how he had come to know about Gita-daily, he said that he had got a Gita from devotees doing street distribution and when he had googled to get more contemporary understandings of the Gita, he had found Gita-daily.In Detroit, I met a Western devotee Mataji who said that she has been facing severe health issues that make it difficult for her to come to the temple and sometimes she doesn’t feel like even getting out of bed because of her sickness. But ever since she started reading Gita daily articles, she feels that each day she has something to look forward

In Detroit, I met a Western devotee Mataji who said that she has been facing severe health issues that make it difficult for her to come to the temple and sometimes she doesn’t feel like even getting out of bed because of her sickness. But ever since she started reading Gita daily articles, she feels that each day she has something to look forward to, and that they have enlivened her enormously.

Knowing that I am able to assist people in coming closer to the Gita inspires me to keep studying and sharing its wisdom, even though I continue to struggle as a sadhaka in applying the Gita in my own life.
When I returned to Radha Gopinath mandir after three months and offered by obeisances to Srila Prabhupada, I felt deeply indebted to him. He had strived tirelessly to bring bhakti to millions the world over and I, despite my many limitations and flaws, am being used in some small way to share that glorious legacy. I felt my feelings encapsulated in a verse composed by Jiva Goswami in his introduction to Krama Sandarbha.

yad atra skhalitaṁ kiñcid vidvāṁsaḥ pūrayantu tat
yad atra sauṣṭhavaṁ kiñcid tad guror eva me na hi

Whatever errors are there in this commentary, may the learned souls correct it, and whatever good is found here belongs to my guru, not to me.

This article is part of a series of articles about the recent Western tour. Full article can be read here.

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How can we keep fighting against our senses till we get Krishna’s mercy?
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Answer Podcast

http://www.thespiritualscientist.com/audio/CCD%20QA/2017%20QA/08-17%20QA/How%20can%20we%20keep%20fighting%20against%20our%20senses%20till%20we%20get%20Krishna’s%20mercy.mp3

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One moon is better than a thousand stars – what does this imply in terms of outreach strategies?
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Answer Podcast

http://www.thespiritualscientist.com/audio/CCD%20QA/2017%20QA/08-17%20QA/One%20moon%20is%20better%20than%20a%20thousand%20stars%20-%20what%20does%20this%20imply%20in%20terms%20of%20outreach%20strategies.mp3

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Akrura katha 2 – Devotional disposition in association deepens our devotion
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[Janmashtami krishna katha at youth retreat in ISKCON, Juhu, Mumbai, India]

Podcast

http://www.thespiritualscientist.com/audio/ccd%20classes/desiretree/2017%20classes/08-17%20classes/Akrura%20katha%202%20-%20Devotional%20disposition%20in%20association%20deepens%20our%20devotion.mp3

 

Summary Podcast

http://www.thespiritualscientist.com/audio/ccd%20classes/desiretree/2017%20classes/08-17%20classes/Summary%20-%20Akrura%20katha%202%20-%20Devotional%20disposition%20in%20association%20deepens%20our%20devotion.mp3

 

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Akrura katha 1 – When no one understands us, Krishna understands
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[Janmashtami krishna katha at youth retreat in ISKCON, Juhu, Mumbai, India]

Podcast

http://www.thespiritualscientist.com/audio/ccd%20classes/desiretree/2017%20classes/08-17%20classes/Akrura%20katha%201%20-%20When%20no%20one%20understands%20us,%20Krishna%20understands.mp3

 

Summary Podcast

http://www.thespiritualscientist.com/audio/ccd%20classes/desiretree/2017%20classes/08-17%20classes/Summary%20-%20Akrura%20katha%201%20-%20When%20no%20one%20understands%20us,%20Krishna%20understands.mp3

 

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London visit
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During my London visit, I stayed for nearly ten days at the house of Sunderanand P who is a powerhouse of energy. He is one of UK’s leading surgeons in his area of specialization and had operated HH Radhanath Maharaj – that’s how he became introduced seriously to Krishna consciousness. He is one of the mentors and managers of the Bhaktivedanta Manor and he uses my writings and talks in his outreach. We bonded very well during my stay as he drove me to and fro for most of my evening programs.

His son Shyam Gopal P is one of the pioneers of the Pandava Sena and he efficiently coordinated my various programs in London. His daughter Neha Mataji, a Cambridge post-graduate in Economics, is the engine powering the RISE app that gives contemporary presentations of bhakti wisdom. For that app, I recorded a course on “Science, Spirituality and Life’s Big Questions,” focusing primarily on the question of identity with the related questions of emotions and free will.

At the College of Vedic Studies, Bhaktivedanta Manor, London, I gave two seminars:

Karna – Victim-and-vicitmizer – How hurt people hurt people and how to break the cycle:

Although I have spoken on Karna many times and within the devotee community I received much appreciation, many of those same answers when posted on public forums such as quora.com elicited much anger, animosity and even abuse. So, rather than continue with a presentation that alienated many, I decided to take a more sympathetic approach, acknowledging that Karna was grievously hurt, and then stressing that in instigating the public dishonouring of Draupadi, he had lost all sense of proportion and let his vengefulness become indefensibly excessive. I found the response to this angle so much more positive that if I ever write on Karna and the Mahabharata, I will be taking this angle.

Destiny – Do we make it or does it make us?

This seminar attracted so many last moment registrations that the space in the seminar hall proved to be inadequate and devotees ended up sitting on the floor. I explained diagrammatically the various kinds of karma – prarabdha (manifest), aprarabdha (about to be manifested) sanchita (accumulated) and kriyaman (ongoing) as well as the various levels of causation – immediate, intermediate and ultimate. The point of how material knowledge and spiritual knowledge address these different levels of causation in different ways resonated with the audience. After the session, we had some of the deepest and the most practical questions of my whole tour, with questions ranging from the idea of a pre-ordained marital partner to the interplay of medicine and science with destiny.

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HH Radhanath Maharaj: Training through a Mock QA session
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My meeting with my Guru Maharaj, HH Radhanath Maharaj, was by far the most memorable meeting for me. I met Maharaja for over three hours in Chicago at the house of Balaram P, which was the house where Maharaj stayed in his childhood and youth. There, Maharaj lives in the same basement where he spent much of his teenage and youth and deliberated life’s big questions – deliberations that prompted him to embark on the world-spanning and death-defying search for truth which he has described in his memoir “The Journey Home.” Though the basement has been substantially renovated and spiritualized, I could sense it as an arena where much deep contemplation had been done and was still being done.

Maharaj lives there without any of the trappings of guruship. In fact, he said that Chicago is the only place in the world where he has the privilege of driving his own car. And after our meeting, when Maharaj left to meet his father, I saw him get into a car, steer it around and drive it himself – a sight I had never seen before.

Balaram P told me of an incident that revealed poignantly Maharaj’s unassuming mood there. One night, Maharaj came out of the basement, coughing severely. He asked Balaram P whether they had a vaporizer. Since they had already used the one which they had, he told Maharaj that he would just go to a shop and get one. When Maharaj asked what was wrong with the one that was there, he said that they had already used it. Maharaj grabbed him by the shoulder and told him, “Just let me be a normal person. If you treat me as someone special, I will leave right now.” His declaration was revealing – it reflected an attitude opposite to the attitude of most people who would say, or at least feel even if they didn’t verbalize the feeling: “If you don’t treat me as someone special, I will leave.”

When I was told that I was going to have lunch with Maharaj, I was apprehensive, thinking that I would prefer to have my lunch later. But when I was told that that was the norm followed by all visitors including my senior godbrothers such as Govinda P and Gauranga P, I agreed, though not without nervousness.

Before the lunch, during my three-hour meeting with Maharaj, I gave a brief report of my programs at various places. He was pleased with my programs especially for Western audiences and even more so with my program at Bhakti Center. When we discussed about strategies for effective Western outreach, I mentioned that I had found the topic of the mind accessible and appealing to Westerners. Maharaj agreed and appreciated, saying that Buddhism had become big by focusing on mindfulness.

Explaining his strategy for Western outreach, he said that the Journey Home had positioned him as a bhakti seeker and thereafter Journey Within has positioned him as a bhakti teacher. Westerners are into yoga and are open to […]

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Sadhu-sanga
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During my travels, I also got the association of many senior devotees who very kindly gave several hours of their time to discuss our philosophy and its practice. One recurrent theme was the challenge of presenting the personal philosophy of bhakti from within what seems like a highly institutionalized religion. Another theme was the strategies for making our message relevant to a highly individualistic audience with post-modern intellectual orientations. Among the devotees whose association I found inspiring were Brahma Tirtha P, a pioneer of mediation in ISKCON; Garuda P, scholar-author on Bhagavad-gita, Bhagavatam and the Bhakti-sutras; Bhakti Marga Maharaj, celebrated as the walking monk for his walking for spiritual awareness across the entire of Canada from one coast to the other; Guru Prasad Maharaj whom I met for the first time in Trinidad; Krishna Dharma P, the author of acclaimed retellings of the Mahabharata and the Ramayana; Srutidharma P, the temple president of the Bhaktivedanta Manor, one of the most successful temples in the Western world; and Tukaram P, a brilliant intellectual and Laguna Beach Temple President.

Along with these illuminating associations, the two that stand out the most for me are of HH Giriraja Maharaja and HH Radhanatha Maharaja.

Endearing reciprocity – HH Giriraja Maharaj

H H Giriraja Maharaj has been very kind to me in generously giving several hours of his time during each of my US visits. This year too, we spend nearly an entire day together at his place in Carpentaria, California. As I have served him as an editor, we naturally talked about his upcoming book on the history of the Juhu project which Srila Prabupada had asked him to write. He told me that his writing has gained substantial momentum and he is more than half way through. We discussed the challenges of balancing historical accuracy (reporting the facts as they are), dramatic intensity (writing to attract and retain the attention of readers) and interpersonal sensitivity (portraying properly devotees who had some difficulties then but now are in good standing).

When I asked Maharaj about the cultural conflicts going on in our movement and the concomitant bitter criticism of Vaishnavas, he said that he had discussed this issue with Tamal Krishna Maharaja, who had explained that such conflicts happen in every religion. And they happen because people are so emotionally invested in their beliefs and practices. They feel that if they get this thing right, their liberation is guaranteed; and if they get it wrong, their damnation is guaranteed. Because they feel that so much is at stake, they often deem as inviolable principles things that others see as adjustable details. Failing to appreciate others’ perspectives, they launch ad hominem attacks on those whom they perceive as threats to the tradition. I found this explanation the most intellectually illuminating and emotionally satisfying explanation I have heard till now.

Ishvara Gauranga P and Sriji Priya Mataji had driven me from Los Angeles to Carpenteria. After my meeting with Maharaj, Sriji Priya Mataji showed Maharaj her Gaur-Nitai Deities, Maharaj appreciated their […]

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Science and Spirituality – From confrontation to reconciliation
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The most cringe-inducing question I faced during my entire tour was in Washington DC where, after my Sunday feast class on Reincarnation, a Latino devotee asked, “As scientists keep people away from God, can scientists be considered reincarnations of demons?”

The question reflected a series of valid points linked together in a way that leads to a massive misunderstanding. I explained that we are not meant to judge people meant on what they may or may not have done in the past, but based on what they are now. And scientists are not intrinsically against God; they look for natural explanations for natural phenomena and so don’t bring God into their explanations as God is a supernatural reality. Newton believed in God, but for explaining the falling of the apple, he looked for a natural explanation and came up with the theory of gravity. Some scientists are against God, but their anti-theism comes from their own ideological orientation – it’s not intrinsic to science. And if we look at the kind of negative experiences with religion that some of these atheists had, we won’t demonize them – if we had similar experiences, we too would probably have become atheistic. So, rather than labelling scientists negatively, if we present the Gita’s message rationally, we will better do our part of making it accessible to everyone, including scientists.

This question-answer impressed upon me the urgency of addressing the much bigger issue of science-scripture difference in an intellectually responsible way. I have been pondering this issue for many years, especially with regard to the relationship between modern cosmology and Bhagavatam cosmology. Finally, after many years of study and prayer and discussion with many learned devotees, I have arrived at a five-point approach that I feel confident to present in any forum.

Scripture doesn’t insist on one understanding of the universe eg Jyotisha cosmology differs from Bhagavatam’s cosmology
Science too doesn’t insist on one understanding of the universe eg. Quantum physics and relativity offer models of reality that are irreconcilable, but both models work.
Scripture’s purpose is to help us focus our mind on Krishna. By positioning scripture as a competitor to science, when the purposes of the two are different, we devalue scripture.
Science’s purpose is to give natural explanations for natural phenomena. When it purports to make pronouncements about supernatural subjects, it often becomes scientism.
Science offers the painkiller, scripture offers the curative medicine. We need to go beyond championing or demonizing the painkiller to taking the medicine.

While I have spoken on this overall theme at various places, I spoke on these points succinctly in a Bhagavatam class at the Bhakti Center: 5 reflections for reconciling science and scripture.

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