Author Archives: Chaitanya Charan

Working with Hindu organizations for common causes, The Monk’s Podcast 167 with Mahaprabhu Prabhu
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Chaitanya Charan · Working with Hindu organizations for common causes, The Monk’s Podcast 167 with Mahaprabhu P

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Chaitanya Charan · Working with Hindu organizations for common causes, The Monk’s Podcast 167-Mahaprabhu P summary

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Responding to attacks on devotees in Bangladesh
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During the Durga-puja festival in Bangladesh this year, posts appeared on social media claiming that the Hindus had disrespected the Koran by placing it on the floor before the Durga deities. A subsequent investigation found CC TV evidence showing that the Koran was placed there by a Muslim – it seemed to be a ploy of some Muslim extremists to stir passions among the Muslim masses. Unfortunately, it worked and hundreds in aggressive mobs rioted, destroying many Durga mandaps, as well as Hindu temples, businesses and homes. During these riots, a mob attacked the ISKCON temple in Noakhali, killing three devotees and disfigured the deity of Srila Prabhupada.

Channeling outrage in two ways

When such things happen, we naturally feel shocked, sickened and outraged. If we don’t feel angry, then where is our devotion? When five-year-old Prahlada was persecuted by his demonic father Hiranyakasipu, Lord Nrsimhadeva took serious action against Hiranyakasipu. We need not imitate Nrsimhadeva’s actions, but feeling anger when things connected with our Lord are threatened or destroyed is a natural sign of devotion. We feel angry about something when we are emotionally invested in it. Feeling indifferent about such incidents is a sign of apathy.
The main question is not whether we should feel angry, but how we should express our emotion of anger. Are our emotions taking control of us, impelling us to do things that we would regret or would make things worse? Or are we controlling our emotions and using their energy intelligently? We need to channel that anger in a constructive way so that our response makes things better.

Broadly speaking, there are two dimensions to our response in such situations:
1. Brahminical response based on scriptures (sastra)
2. Ksatriya response based on weapons (sastra).

The brahminical response with sastra, or scriptures, is used to protect people from misconceptions and to give them the right understanding. sastra or weapons are one part of the ksatriya response; this response is integral to a multi-pronged strategy for protecting the innocent and punishing the wrongdoers. Any healthy society needs to use both sastra and sastra to deal with such situations.

Brahminical response

From a brahminical perspective, we need to do three things:
1. Protect our own faith by taking shelter of scriptures
2. Avoid getting caught up in sectarian anger towards particular groups
3. Work in a collective spirit with those who share our cultural values, even if we may have philosophical differences.

Let us discuss each of them in detail.

1. Protect our own faith: Such events may shake our faith in Krishna’s power to protect us. But scripture offers a holistic understanding of Krishna’s protection. Both in Ramayana and Mahabharata, there were great souls who were on the side of virtue but were killed: Jatayu in Ramayana and Abhimanyu in Mahabharata. In Ramayana, even before the war took place, Lord Rama had come to a place in central India known as Ramateka, where he came across piles of bones. These were the remains of sages who had been performing austerities and had been devoured by cannibalistic demons who […]

Gopi Gita Appreciation part 4, The Monk’s Podcast 166 with Madhavananda Prabhu and Amarendra Prabhu
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Chaitanya Charan · Gopi Gita Appreciation Part 4, The Monk’s Podcast 166 With Madhavananda Prabhu And Amarendra Prabhu

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Chaitanya Charan · Gopi Gita Appreciation part 4, The Monk’s Podcast 166-Madhavananda Prabhu & Amarendra Prabhu summary

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Evolution Bhagavatam What are the issues for devotees The Monk s Podcast 165 with Akhandadhi Prabhu
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Chaitanya Charan · Evolution, Bhagavatam, Life & preaching of a devotee, The Monk’s Podcast 165 with Akhandadhi P

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Chaitanya Charan · Evolution Bhagavatam What are the issues for devotees The Monk s Podcast 165 – Akhandadhi P summary

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Gopi Gita Appreciation part 3, The Monk’s Podcast 164 with Madhavananda Prabhu and Amarendra Prabhu
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Chaitanya Charan · Gopi Gita Appreciation part 3, The Monk’s Podcast 164 with Madhavananda Prabhu and Amarendra Prabhu

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Chaitanya Charan · Gopi Gita Appreciation part 3, The Monk’s Podcast 164 – Madhavananda Prabhu&Amarendra Prabhu summary

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How cow care represents universal ethical principles, The Monk’s Podcast 163 with Krishna Kshetra Maharaj
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Chaitanya Charan · How cow care represents universal ethical principles, The Monk’s Podcast 163 with Krishna Kshetra M

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Chaitanya Charan · How cow care represents universal ethical principles,The Monk’s Podcast 163-Krishna KshetraM summary

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Gopi Gita Appreciation part 2, The Monk’s Podcast 160 – Madhavananda Prabhu and Amarendra Prabhu
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Chaitanya Charan · Gopi Gita Appreciation part 2, The Monk’s Podcast 160 – Madhavananda Prabhu and Amarendra Prabhu

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Chaitanya Charan · Gopi Gita Appreciation part 2, The Monk’s Podcast 160 – Madhavananda Prabhu&Amarendra Prabhu summary

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Gopi Gita Appreciation part 1, The Monk’s Podcast 159 – Amarendra Prabhu and Madhavananda Prabhu
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Chaitanya Charan · Gopi Gita Appreciation part 1, The Monk’s podcast 159 with Amarendra Prabhu and Madhavananda Prabhu

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Chaitanya Charan · Gopi Gita Appreciation part 1, The Monk’s Podcast 159-Amarendra Pr & Madhavananda Pr summary

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Finding guidance in Prabhupada’s books, The Monk’s Podcast 158 with Krishna Dharma P & Chintamani Dharma M
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Chaitanya Charan · Finding guidance in Prabhupada’s books,The Monk’s Podcast 158-Krishna Dharma P & Chintamani Dharma M

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Chaitanya Charan · Finding guidance in Prabhupada’sbooks,The Monk’sPodcast158-KrishnaDharmaP&ChintamaniDharma M summary

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Exploring parallels between Carl Jung & Bhaktisiddhanta, The Monk’s Podcast 156 with Hanumat Preshaka Maharaj
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Chaitanya Charan · Exploring parallelsbetween Carl Jung&Bhaktisiddhanta,The Monk’s Podcast 156-Hanumat Preshaka Maharaj

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Chaitanya Charan · ExploringParallelsBetweenCarl Jung&Bhaktisiddhanta,The Monk’s Podcast 156-Hanumat Preshaka M Summary

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Book Distribution As The Engine For Community Building,The Monk’s Podcast 155-Vaisesika Prabhu, @Bhadra Purnima special
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Chaitanya Charan · Book Distribution As The Engine For Community Building,The Monk’s Podcast 155-Vaisesika Prabhu,

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Chaitanya Charan · Book distribution as the engineforcommunitybuilding,The Monk’s Podcast 155-Vaisesika Prabhu, summary

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Book Distribution As The Engine For Community Building,The Monk’s Podcast 155-Vaisesika Prabhu, @Bhadra Purnima special
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Chaitanya Charan · Book Distribution As The Engine For Community Building,The Monk’s Podcast 155-Vaisesika Prabhu,

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Chaitanya Charan · Book distribution as the engineforcommunitybuilding,The Monk’s Podcast 155-Vaisesika Prabhu, summary

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How decentralized management can help the bhakti movement flourish, The Monk’s Podcast153 with Urmila M
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Chaitanya Charan · 153 How decentralized management can help the bhakti movement flourish, The Monk’s Podcast-Urmila M

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Chaitanya Charan · How DecentralizedManagementCanHelpTheBhaktiMovementFlourish, The Monk’s Podcast 153-Urmila M Summary

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Maslow’s theory of motivations – A Spiritual Perspective, The Monk’s Podcast 154 with Shyamananda P
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Chaitanya Charan · Maslow’s theory of motivations – A Spiritual Perspective, The Monk’s Podcast 154-Shyamananda Prabhu

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Chaitanya Charan · Maslow’s theory of motivations – A Spiritual Perspective,The Monk’s Podcast 154-Shyamananda Psummary

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Taliban’s conquest of Afghanistan A dharmic perspective. The Monk’s Podcast 152 with Hridayananda M part 2
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Chaitanya Charan · 152 Taliban’sConquestOfAfghanistan A Dharmic Perspective-The Monk’s Podcast 152-Hridayananda M Part2

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Chaitanya Charan · Taliban’sConquestOfAfghanistan A DharmicPerspective.The Monk’s Podcast 152-HridayanandaMPart Summary

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Appreciating others’ individuality for redefining preaching, The Monk’s Podcast 151-Shaunaka Rishi Prabhu
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Chaitanya Charan · Appreciating others’ individuality for redefining preaching, The Monk’s Podcast 151-Shaunaka Rishi P

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Chaitanya Charan · AppreciatingOthersIndividualityForRedefiningPreaching, The Monk’s Podcast 151-ShaunakaRishiP Summary

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Taliban’s conquest of Afghanistan A dharmic perspective-The Monk’s Podcast 150 with Hridayananda Maharaj part 1
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Chaitanya Charan · Taliban’s Conquest Of Afghanistan A Dharmic Perspective-The Monk’s Podcast 150-Hridayananda M Part 1

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Chaitanya Charan · Taliban’s Conquest OfAfghanistanADharmicPerspective-TheMonk’sPodcast 150-HridayanandaMPart 1 Summary

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How Vedic wisdom can be empirically demonstrated. The Monk’s Podcast 148 with Lila Purushottam Prabhu
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Chaitanya Charan · How Vedic wisdom can be empirically demonstrated -The Monk’s Podcast 148-Lila Purushottam Prabhu

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Chaitanya Charan · How Vedic wisdom can be empirically demonstrated-The Monk’s Podcast 148-Lila Purushottam P summary

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The Bhagavatam’s relevance for a postmodern audience, The Monk’s Podcast 146 with Kaustubha Prabhu
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Chaitanya Charan · The Bhagavatam’s relevance for a postmodern audience, The Monk’s Podcast 146 with Kaustubha Prabhu

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Chaitanya Charan · The Bhagavatam’s Relevance For A Postmodern Audience, The Monk’s Podcast 146-Kaustubha Pr Summary

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Western perceptions of India & how they affect bhakti outreach, The Monk’s Podcast 144, Yogesvara Prabhu
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Chaitanya Charan · Western perceptions of India & how they affect bhakti outreach, The Monk’s Podcast 144, Yogeshvara P

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Chaitanya Charan · Western Perceptions Of India&HowTheyAffect BhaktiOutreach,The Monk’s Podcast 144-Yogesvara P Summary

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Preserving Gaudiya culture by fostering a mood of inclusion, The Monk’s Podcast 143 Madhavananda Prabhu
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Chaitanya Charan · Preserving Gaudiya culture by fostering a mood of inclusion, The Monk’s Podcast 143 Madhavananda P

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Chaitanya Charan · Preserving GaudiyaCulture ByFostering AMoodOfInclusion,The Monk’s Podcast 143 Madhavananda P Summary

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