Heritage of the Soul Myth Buster By Ananta Gauranga Das. Do you…
→ Dandavats

Heritage of the Soul Myth Buster By Ananta Gauranga Das.
Do you have a friend who asks, “How are you, you ok?” In one fell swoop. Or maybe a mother who tires incessantly to hook you up with anything that remotely resembles a spouse (a pulse being the sole requirement). Are you acquainted with a vocabulary littered with the phrase “this thing” coupled with “and all.” Prepare to be astounded by the versatility of “this thing.” “This thing” can be used as a noun, verb, adjective, conjunction and even a person’s name. Should this resonant with you like the gongs of Big Ben, then you have accurately assimilated the social idiosyncrasies of South Africans of Indian decent.

Do I simply enjoy needling colloquial stereotypical prose or do I have a point? Indeed, I do. Every society consists of a complex myriad of psychosomatic dynamics which program individual and group consciousness. This heritage is hilarious bearing in mind such nuances of linguistics and culture are so alien to our true ancestry. Our family tree stems from the spiritual realm and our Father is begging and pleading for us to return home. Isn’t it unfortunate that we turn a blind eye and deaf ear?

It’s 4 :30am and you under covers on a wintery Monday, you close your eyes for 5 minutes and suddenly it’s 7:45am. Yet at 1:30pm at work, you shut your eyes for 5 minutes and it’s 1:31pm. We endure the daily grind not because we want to, rather we have to, for fear of starvation. We slave away for a boss we loath and a company in which we are but a number. I’ll share with you a secret, an open secret, openly spoken by those who know, to those who wish to hear. We have discovered a superior satisfaction, some say, a soothing of the soul. We hold the key to eternal ecstasy, that elusive commodity, which every being from an ant to Angelina Jolie, yearns for. You see, this is the eternal nature of the soul and it yearns for bliss. Spiritual life is the highest form of indulgence because it’s a decadence consummated in conjunction with God.

Please know when you stagger unceremoniously to your place of residence from a club at 4:30am, our party is only getting started and it’s not just on the weekends and or public holidays. We have come to learn that God is a DJ and we dance to His bhakti beat. This thing, dear friends, is ecstasy – the real heritage of the soul. It’s that which can’t be found at the bottom of a Johnnie Walker Blue or being first in line at a 75% off Louis Vuitton sale. The natural tendency of the soul is to crave pleasure. This euphoria is achieved via the medium of a spiritual practice, as it awakens the dormant love for the Supreme.

Bhakti Yoga is the process of reconnection of the soul to it’s Source. Allow me to pierce your perception of pleasure: there’s more to existence than running the rat race of life on the wheel of impermanence, all the while becoming consumed by that which we consume. Don’t be bewitched by the shimmering broken glass. Insanity will be bequeathed to successive generations if we do not shed the falsity of false identification. Let’s examine the alternative. Cultivate your eternally unique relationship with God and realize your birthright. Our true inheritance is a legacy of an eternal loving relationship to the Supreme.

Climbing the bhakti ladder. Question: What if I can only chant Hare Krsna right now, but I can’t do much service?
→ Dandavats

Climbing the bhakti ladder.
Question: What if I can only chant Hare Krsna right now, but I can’t do much service?
Answer: Chanting Hare Krsna is service. However, when you are chanting “Hare Krsna,” you are also requesting service. After chanting, don’t be surprised when you are awarded more service.
And then when Krsna gives you service, there may be a question about how much service you should take.
On the one hand, Krsna advises in the Gita (18.66) that we simply surrender to Him. And this is actually the main business of a devotee. On the other hand, Krsna tells Uddhava in the Srimad-bhagavatam, sve sve adhikari ya nistah … “It is a good quality to take service according to one’s adhikari, or current capacity.” (SB 11.21.2)

Iskcon’s Bhaktivedanta Manor and several Hindu temples in UK ban the new £5 note
→ Dandavats

Iskcon’s Bhaktivedanta Manor and several Hindu temples in UK joined a vegetarian cafe in BANNING new £5 note because it contains animal fat – as singer Morrissey says people who use them should donate their OWN bodies!
Satish Sharma from the National Council of Hindu Temples UK told BBC Asian Network he’s aware of three temples which aren’t allowing the new fivers, including Bhaktivedanta Manor in Aldenham, Hertfordshire.
Rainbow Cafe in Cambridge is also refusing to accept the notes as its owner said they were “repulsive”.
Speaking more about the issue, the outspoken singer Morrissey said: ‘If it had been revealed by the Bank of England that the new British Five Pound note contained slices of cat or dog, the country would be in an uproar.
To read the entire article click here: https://goo.gl/wsYGuP

The Time Of The Sages – Bhagavata Purana: India’s Jewel of…
→ Dandavats

The Time Of The Sages – Bhagavata Purana: India’s Jewel of Wisdom.
“HH Krishna Ksetra Swami (Dr Kenneth R. Valpey) of the Oxford Center for Hindu Studies and a team of professional filmmakers are preparing to embark upon a quest to uncover the secrets of the jewel of Indian transcendental literature, Bhagavata Purana in a feature documentary.

HH Krishna Kshetra Swami says that “I would like to make a documentary on this great literature to make it more widely known in the West. The Bhagavata Purana invites us to participate in a nontemporal, ever-expanding reality. It’s an engaging nourishment for the soul. I hope we’ll treasure with others through this film.”

Dethrone television from the citadel of your daily regiment and replace it with the Bhagavad-Gita As It Is!
→ Dandavats

Dethrone television from the citadel of your daily regiment and replace it with the Bhagavad-Gita As It Is!
Ananta Gauranga Das: As the taxi got closer, I got deafer. The speakers roared, “I like big butts and I cannot lie, all the other brothers can’t deny.” Being a member of the Hare Krishnas, I practice renunciation, whereby nothing is falsely given up but rather everything is used in the Lord’s service. Could I link such vulgarity to spirituality? Then it dawned on me, using the tune still reverberating within my mind, I revised the lyrics to “I like big books and I cannot lie, all the other brothers can’t deny.” If you don’t already know, we certainly do have voluminous books and we are big on their distribution. Big butts are not the theme of this article rather, the devolution of reading. Alas I live in a generation that’s witnessed book worms mutate to “book face,” I mean Facebook. In short it’s not that we are not readers, it’s just the mechanisms of reading have transmuted. It’s kinda similar to the way chipboard looks like oak, but is not. My observation however is that social media is not the problem, rather our misfortunes are sowed from the seeds of a greed driven economy. The manner in which we abuse and are abused by media is the cause of our woes. Humanity is robbed of independence and intelligence due to the addictive nature of television, Instagram, YouTube and tabloid magazines. These weapons of mass distractions are soul sapping, they hijack our creativity and the need for meaningful human interaction. Did you know that the pornographic industry makes 4 billion dollars more than Hollywood every year? Their tentacles permeate cyber space resulting in toxic audio/ visual material at the push of a button. According to Juniper Research, by 2017, a quarter of a billion people are expected to be accessing mobile adult content from their phones or tablets, an increase of more than 30% from 2013. On a cognitive level using these stimuli create the same chemical response within the cytoplasm of the brain as hard narcotics. If you ever had a thorn under your skin, you will know that you can use another to extricate it. So use your kindles, tablets, smart phones and laptops to infuse spiritual knowledge into your daily activities, in so doing, freedom awaits. We are afforded the rare opportunity to see through the eyes of ancient wisdom. So instead of reading the TV guide or another WhatsApp message, grab hold of one of Prabhupada’s books, which are infused with dynamic spiritual energy. Prabhupada has distilled the essence of the Vedas into the Bhagavad-gita, Srimad Bhagavatam and Chaitanya Charitamrita. Arguably his magnum opus is the translation of the Srimad Bhagavatam. The ability to discriminate between truth and the muck of falsity is awakened when one’s mind and senses have been purified through the revealed words of God. One then gains insight to interpret the world via the medium of knowledge generated from saints. In this way we learn to hear and feel the presence of God in everything around us. Here is a friendly challenge, a social experiment if you will. Dethrone television from the citadel of your daily regiment for seven days, replace it with Bhagavad-Gita As It Is. Take a personal inventory as to how this change affects your mood, energy and relationships. I think you will find that plasma screen, which is so close to your eyes is some distance away from your heart. “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit,” Aristotle.

Iskcon Durban: 10.000 books already distributed during the first…
→ Dandavats

Iskcon Durban: 10.000 books already distributed during the first week of the December book distribution marathon.
Dear Friends
As the first week of the 2016 Prabhupada Book Marathon draws to a close, we are happy to announce that we have reached the 10000-book mark. Our goal is 40000 books. Join us in distributing Srila Prabhupada’s books, join our family business.
The Jahnava Dasis, headed by Rukmini, have secured book tables in various malls. If you are able to dedicate some time to assist, kindly contact her: 084 579 1080.

Your Week Ahead
Saturday, 3 December
Weekly Marathon Sankirtan Festival
(Note: this Festival continues every Saturday until December 24th.)
Join us for a day of book distribution. All you need to do is register and turn up. Register via temple@iskcondurban.net or 031 403 3328. We will arrange a team for you to join, books, a book spot, and transport. The dress code is comfortable. If you feel confident, you may wear devotional dress. We encourage you to come for the morning program to get the full benefit of the festival.
Sankirtan Festival Line up:
4:30am Morning Programme Begins
7:30am Book Distribution Class
8:15am Breakfast
9:00am Team allocation & selection of book distribution spots
9:30am Leave for Book Distribution (Devotees will be going out in groups)
3:30pm Pack up and return to Temple
4:00pm Lunch and realizations

Sunday, 4 December @ 3pm
Love Feast with His Grace Svetadvipa Das

Bhagavad-gita Maha-yajna
Saturday, 10 December
You are invited to sponsor a verse. A Bhagavad-gita will be donated to a worthy recipient on your behalf.
Contact Bhakti Nilaya Das: nakulananda@gmail.com
For more news from Iskcon Durban: https://goo.gl/LYmtvu

The many ways to spread Krsna consciousness!
→ Dandavats

There are many ways to spread Krsna consciousness!
Kadamba Kanana Swami: Preaching will not become successful if we are not endearing ourselves to Krsna. Preaching does not just depend on some techniques otherwise we could all learn hypnosis and with hypnosis, we could take over the world! There are yogis like that who can bring people under their will, “Chant Hare Krsna!” and look into their eyes. This is not the way we want people to chant – by force! We want people to chant voluntarily. We want service to be voluntary.
When Prabhupada invited everyone to come to the Sunday Love Feast, everyone would eat so much, be totally ecstatic and then, they would go home. Prabhupada never asked, he would wait until someone offered to help. If someone wanted to help then he would make them in charge of that particular task. As soon as one extended help, he would take that help but he never forced anyone. In this way, Srila Prabhupada was very expert and captured everyone.

So there are many ways, many fronts in which we can spread Krsna consciousness while dealing with the modes of material nature – battle it out in the soaking rain with a kirtan party or we can stand soaking in the rain with a bag full of books. We can stand in the street with an umbrella and invite people under the umbrella, it was an old system – boys went out in the rain with a big umbrella and then would call someone over and give them a book. Like that, many tricks were employed. Another system was to sit in the car and call people over. They would think that you are lost and you intend asking for the road – people always want to give directions – and then give the books out of the car. Some would stand on the street and knock on the windows of cars.

Anyhow, we have many fronts with which we can deal with people and Prabhupada was broad minded. In this way, this movement is not stereotyped; it is not that there is a particular mould that everyone would have to fit into and that everyone has to be the same. But in one way, everyone must be the same – we have to start taking responsibility for the Krsna consciousness of others. We may do it on our own front, in the area where we are expert, whatever we are good at.

srila-prabhupadaIf we take responsibility for the Krsna consciousness of others, if we keep ourselves preoccupied with that then the mercy will come. If you don’t know what you are good at then we will put you in the book distribution army because that is very powerful.

Prabhupada was good at that. Prabhupada was very good at taking the essence of things from everywhere, from all the teachings of the acharyas, taking it together, taking the spirit and bringing it home to people. The essence which meant surrender to Krsna and if you read Prabhupada’s books, in so many ways, he is telling us to surrender to Krsna. When you read his books, you get hit from so many different angles with the same message: surrender to Krsna.

The real purpose is pure devotional service; the reason is to give up false ego; one should bow down before Krsna, humility means to do everything for Krsna and so on. Finally after you have been reading for a while you think, “Maybe I should surrender to Krsna!” This is what reading does. So in this way, all of us can surrender in our own individual way. That is the one thing we all have in common. We are all very different – some are intellectuals, some are practical – it does not matter!Preaching will not become successful if we are not endearing ourselves to Krsna. Preaching does not just depend on some techniques otherwise we could all learn hypnosis and with hypnosis, we could take over the world! There are yogis like that who can bring people under their will, “Chant Hare Krsna!” and look into their eyes. This is not the way we want people to chant – by force! We want people to chant voluntarily. We want service to be voluntary.

book_distributionWhen Prabhupada invited everyone to come to the Sunday Love Feast, everyone would eat so much, be totally ecstatic and then, they would go home. Prabhupada never asked, he would wait until someone offered to help. If someone wanted to help then he would make them in charge of that particular task. As soon as one extended help, he would take that help but he never forced anyone. In this way, Srila Prabhupada was very expert and captured everyone.

So there are many ways, many fronts in which we can spread Krsna consciousness while dealing with the modes of material nature – battle it out in the soaking rain with a kirtan party or we can stand soaking in the rain with a bag full of books. We can stand in the street with an umbrella and invite people under the umbrella, it was an old system – boys went out in the rain with a big umbrella and then would call someone over and give them a book. Like that, many tricks were employed. Another system was to sit in the car and call people over. They would think that you are lost and you intend asking for the road – people always want to give directions – and then give the books out of the car. Some would stand on the street and knock on the windows of cars.

Anyhow, we have many fronts with which we can deal with people and Prabhupada was broad minded. In this way, this movement is not stereotyped; it is not that there is a particular mould that everyone would have to fit into and that everyone has to be the same. But in one way, everyone must be the same – we have to start taking responsibility for the Krsna consciousness of others. We may do it on our own front, in the area where we are expert, whatever we are good at.

srila-prabhupadaIf we take responsibility for the Krsna consciousness of others, if we keep ourselves preoccupied with that then the mercy will come. If you don’t know what you are good at then we will put you in the book distribution army because that is very powerful.

Prabhupada was good at that. Prabhupada was very good at taking the essence of things from everywhere, from all the teachings of the acharyas, taking it together, taking the spirit and bringing it home to people. The essence which meant surrender to Krsna and if you read Prabhupada’s books, in so many ways, he is telling us to surrender to Krsna. When you read his books, you get hit from so many different angles with the same message: surrender to Krsna.

The real purpose is pure devotional service; the reason is to give up false ego; one should bow down before Krsna, humility means to do everything for Krsna and so on. Finally after you have been reading for a while you think, “Maybe I should surrender to Krsna!” This is what reading does. So in this way, all of us can surrender in our own individual way. That is the one thing we all have in common. We are all very different – some are intellectuals, some are practical – it does not matter!

Youth Preaching In Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu (Album with photos)…
→ Dandavats

Youth Preaching In Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu (Album with photos)
Acarya Dasa: The ‘All India Padayatra’ was still in the city of Thanjavur or sometimes referred to as Tanjore. We were busy as per usual, going out daily and doing sankirtana in and around the city. The last time we were in this city was 15 years ago and during that visit the people were very much inspired by the darsana of Sri Sri Nitai Gaurasundar and the programs that were arranged. This time the local newspaper featured an article about padayatra.

In the town of Thirumalaisamudram, in the Thanjavur district there is a university called SASTRA (Shanmugha Arts, Science, Technology and Research Academy) University. It is located on the outskirts of the town and is about 10 kilometers away. The university specializes in undergraduate and postgraduate engineering courses, offering courses in engineering, science, education, management and arts. After reading the news that padayatra was in town, the chief of SASTRA University invited us there as guests. He even made arrangements for accommodation, for all of us, in the university guest house. It was so strange that we were on university premises given our vaishnav attire and the fact that we were driving a bullock cart. People who see us often believe that we are not well educated which is why we are going around driving a bullock cart, but the chief of the university was different, he was God’s man. Therefore, he invited us to the university for four days to inspire the students to take up spirituality.

During our stay there we held morning programs, kirtana and gaura arati in the hostel. Akhildhara Dasa gave classes to the students on the importance of spiritual life in modern times. He explained how spirituality can be applied so that one can be happy and prosperous in all fields of life. We also did a question and answer session with them. Afterwards, the students danced with us in sankirtana forgetting all their study-related worries. We were happy that five students started chanting and many took Bhagavad-Gita and other small books.

We had a great experience with the university students and we too felt like we had become students as we danced with them and felt the joy of preaching in our hearts.

All glories to Guru and Gauranga!

Jai Srila Prabhupada!
Find them here: https://goo.gl/k3REZM

All India Padayatra Joins The Vraja Mandala Parikrama (Album…
→ Dandavats

All India Padayatra Joins The Vraja Mandala Parikrama (Album with photos)
Every year the ‘All India Padayatra’ joins the Vraja Mandala Parikrama during the auspicious month of kartikka, and this year was no different. Our party joined the parikrama on October 16th. Along with hundreds of other devotees we followed the beloved forms of Sri Sri Nitai Gaurasundar through the streets of Vraja Bhumi. Our team of padayatris, by the mercy of the Lord, was able to do a little service for the parikrama devotees by serving them prasadam and water. We also led kirtanas and held the aratis during the morning programs.
Vraja Mandala, a special treat for padayatris
The month of kartikka is known as urja vrat, urja means power and vrat refers to a vow. So, as the name suggests, we were given the energy and power to keep travelling throughout India to fulfill the preaching mission of Srila Prabhupada. It was a wonderful experience being on the Vraja Mandala Parikrama and receiving mercy from Srimati Radharani, Nitai Gaurasundar and our beloved Lokanath Swami as well as many other senior devotees. When we are on the streets of India on padayatra, we really do miss the association of sannyasis and senior devotees –but on Vraja Mandala it’s a feast for the ears, eyes and tongue. Every day the nectar flowed from the mouths of vaishnavas who described the different lilas of Lord Krishna. Every day on Vraja Mandal Parikrama was a special day, but the most auspicious one was the Govardhan puja celebrations in Varsana Dhama.

Alas it all ended tooquickly and, with heavy hearts, we had to leave Vrindavan Dhama and the parikrama on November 15th. We travelled for two days till we reached Madurai in the southern part of Tamil Nadu on the evening of November17th to rejoin our padayatra party.

Madurai and the kindness of Balaram Dasa

When we arrived in Madurai, Balaram Dasa, a disciple of Jayapataka Swami happily received us. He had a large guest house which he constructed especially for devotees. It was so large it could accommodate a thousand devotees all at once. We stayed there for three days. Balarama also made tasty arrangements for prasadam.

During our stay in Madurai we made all the necessary preparations for our travels on the streets of India. The padayatra cart and trolley required repairs, which we managed to complete in those three days. On November 21st, with all the repairs done, we held a grand harinama sankirtana in Madurai. This was the first sankirtana we did after kartikka. Balaram Dasa had made all the arrangements for the sankirtana, he had even invited the local residents to participate in the procession which included a large elephant! We circumambulated the famous Minakshi Temple while doing kirtana and distributing many books.

When we were about to leave when Balaram Dasa gave us a one lakh rupee donation, about $1643.65, for Prabhupada seva. We thanked him for his generosity and for his wonderful hospitality. So, the ‘All India Padayatra’ is on the move again; this time we are heading towards Rameswaram and hope to reach there by December 15th. Thus, by the mercy of Vraj Dham and Guru and Gauranga, we are back on our mission, preaching on the streets of India with all enthusiasm and spiritual strength.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/mngYbu

Don’t hold back! Srila Prabhupada made our lives exciting….
→ Dandavats

Don’t hold back!
Srila Prabhupada made our lives exciting. He pushed us and he was definitely not accustomed to thinking small. In thinking of what my life was like while Srila Prabhupada walked the planet, I often recall a famous quotation from Helen Keller: ‘Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.’
Life with Srila Prabhupada was and still is a daring adventure.
After arriving in America, at times, Srila Prabhupada barely had enough money to pay his rent. Even during these lean financial times, he wasn’t at all poor. He carried the most valuable currency of all: absolute faith in the words of his guru and Krsna. He took every risk for Krsna. He was fearless at all times.

Because of this, when meeting Srila Prabhupada, young people – with little or no worldly training – became emboldened and went out to conquer the world on Krsna’s behalf. And they did it!

They were convinced that by following the order of their guru, they would not fail. They were correct.

Young boys and girls traveled the world, meeting dignitaries and rock stars, opening temples, making hit albums, organizing festivals, and publishing and distributing millions of magazines and books.

Remembering the miraculous accomplishments of all these devotees, I’m reminded of another quotation, this one by Goethe:

“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back” Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth that ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.

Speaking of boldness, in 1975 the BBT was moving too slowly to keep up with Srila Prabhupada’s translating. The manuscripts for the Caitanya Caritamrta had been sitting for some time without being published.

Then on a morning walk at Venice Beach in Los Angeles, surrounded by senior devotees and the heads of the BBT, Srila Prabhupada suddenly said that he wanted all seventeen volumes of Caitanya Caritamrta published within two months.

Until that time, the BBT had only been able to publish one book every four months. Now, Srila Prabhupada was ordering that all seventeen be finished in two months! The head of the American BBT, Ramesvara dasa, shocked upon hearing Srila Prabhupada’s order, replied, “Srila Prabhupada, I think that’s impossible …”

Upon hearing this, Srila Prabhupada suddenly stopped walking. He planted his cane in the sand and said, “Impossible is a word found only in the fool’s dictionary.”

The devotees were practically speechless.

But as Srila Prabhupada’s order began to sink in, Ramesvara dasa and the other devotees began to feverishly plan how they would execute his order.

With this, the famous Caitanya Caritamrta marathon began. For the next two months, the devotees worked practically without sleeping or eating to publish the seventeen volumes in just two months.

In Bhagavad-gita 3.15, Lord Krsna says “the all-pervading Transcendence is eternally situated in acts of sacrifice.”

Human life is not for working hard for bodily maintenance, but for reawakening our eternal relationship with the Lord and then going back to Godhead. All this can be achieved by acts of divine sacrifice.

The best sacrifice is to please the pure devotee. Fortunately for us, we’ve been given that chance. Srila Prabhupada has left us with as much service as we like – if we like. It is entirely up to us.

Let us be bold in his service.

Think big.

Don’t hold back.

Go Go Go!

Hare Krishna!
Vaisesika Das

Swedish Author Tells Extraodinary Tale of Coming to Krishna Consciousness
→ Dandavats

‘Looking For My Life’
“Looking for My Life” recounts Prapujaka’s adventures as he visited Vrindavan, staying in the austere Fogal ashram as there was no ISKCON temple at the time. Attending Prabhupada’s lectures in a pandal, he saw the ISKCON Founder-Acharya only from a distance, and struggled to understand his strong Bengali accent. But when Giriraja Swami took Prapujaka on as his assistant and brought him up to see Srila Prabhupada, the young man knew he had found his guru.
Prapujaka might be an ordinary guy, but he does come with some pedigree. A Srila Prabhupada disciple, he is related to celebrated Swedish author Selma Lagerlöf, who won the Nobel Prize for literature. And his previous book “A Spiritual Journey,” about his time with the Radha-Damodar Traveling Sankirtan Party from 1974 to ‘77, was dubbed “first class storytelling,” by author Ranchor Prime.
To read the entire article click here: https://goo.gl/IJ35Ml

Devotees Take Srila Prabhupada on Historic Trip to Antarctica….
→ Dandavats

Devotees Take Srila Prabhupada on Historic Trip to Antarctica.
In a unique offering for ISKCON’s 50th anniversary, two devotees have made a preaching trip to Antarctica, the southernmost and coldest continent in the world.
The two held the first kirtan in Antarctica and distributed Prabhupada’s books there for the first time, placing the Bhagavad-gita As It Is in several Antarctic research stations.
What’s more, in bringing a murti of Srila Prabhupada himself with them, they have ensured that the ISKCON Founder-Acharya has now visited every continent in the world.
To read the entire article click here: https://goo.gl/EdL6og

ROOFTOP MONKS (4 min video) A recent video we did in New York….
→ Dandavats

ROOFTOP MONKS (4 min video)
A recent video we did in New York. Transcendental sound for our friends!
Srila Prabhupada: His [the Supreme Lord’s] existence can be realized by one who has the single qualification of submissiveness and who thereby becomes a surrendered soul. The development of submissiveness is the cause of proportionate spiritual realization, by which one can ultimately meet the Supreme Lord in person, as a man meets another man face to face. [Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila 1.55 purport]
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/v86C5j

Kartik Nabadvip Mandal Parikram 2016 “A full twelve hours of…
→ Dandavats

Kartik Nabadvip Mandal Parikram 2016
“A full twelve hours of pure unalloyed Krsna Consciousness.” – (Shatadhanya Prabhu)
“How can I ever have a favourite part? The kirtans are fantastic, there is so much senior association, all the devotees want to serve, the management is par excellent, the prasad is delicious, and the Dham is so beautiful! Still hearing from the disciples of Srila Prabhupada is my favourite part.” – (Nimai Sundar Prabhu)
“The parikram brings the pastimes of Lord Chaitanya to life in our hearts.” – (Laxmimoni Mataji)
“Recommend it!? It’s a must! If you haven’t been on the Mayapur Chandra’s Parikrama, 50% of your life is wasted.” – (Pankajanghri Prabhu)

Dear Devotees, welcome to the Mayapur Chandra’s Parikrama. These were some of the realizations from our attending Vaisnavas and their experience, observations, interactions and discussions have joyously revealed that, though the praise was lavish it was far from exaggerated.
Sunrise to sunset there is one goal on this Parikrama – to hear and chant about Krsna, in His Dham, with His dear most devotees. Members of ISKCON from all over the world and all ages flock in annual attendance to this Prema-filled Parikrama. It is just the perfect package!
There are so many devotees, but not too many; the mood stays intimate. The management is perfect, but flexible; any devotee so inspired always has an opportunity for some service. And best of all, no matter how much your mind tries to wander; there is Krsna Consciousness at every step. No one can escape into the shadows of Maya and the result is brilliant, darkness dispersed, everyone happily accepts their fate and absorbs themselves in the names, abodes, and pastimes of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. In six short days, you will get the experience of a lifetime. And though admittedly exhausting, it is equally ecstatic.
Ladies and gentleman, this is not some unreachable utopia, nor a lavish lie. This is Navadwip Dham. It is the spiritual world. Respected Vaishnavas, this is Mayapur Chandra’s Kartik Parikrama.

For those devotees who couldn’t attend this year’s Parikrama, can grab the opportunity for next year’s Parikrama. The dates are 18th,19th,21st,22nd,24th & 25th October 2017 (no parikrama on 20th Goverdhan puja & 23rd Srila Prabhupada’s disappearance day)

Special participants for Kartik Nabadvip Mandal Parikram are H.H Jayapathaka Swami, H.H Kavichandra Swami, H.H Bhakti Purushottam Swami, H.H Bhakti Brihad Bhagavat Swami, H.G Pankajangri Prabhu, H.G Jananivas Prabhu and many more Srila Prabhupada’s disciple and senior devotees.

Your humble servant Adidev Das

What I love about ISKCON Mayapur. Urmila Devi Dasi: What I love…
→ Dandavats

What I love about ISKCON Mayapur.
Urmila Devi Dasi: What I love about ISKCON Mayapur (among many other things) is that there are three–THREE–3–schools here for elementary and high school (primary and secondary). And, and, and, the students in those schools are very prominent, valued members of the community. Every morning it’s the kids who recite the Siksastaka after Tulasi worship. The elephant (hati) procession is almost entirely a program done by the youth. It’s kids and teenagers on the elephants, worshipping the Deities, singing the mantras, playing the drums, drawing the rangooli designs. No, the schools aren’t perfect; yes, involvement from SMIS and the National School in the community could be (should be I would argue) greatly increased, and so many negative (truthful) things could be said. In fact, I say them to the (I hope) right persons at (I hope) the right time and place. But, still, this is one of the few–very few–communities of devotees of Krishna where the roles of the schools and the students in them is so vital and public in the community. YES!!!
In Mayapur, I’ve been doing some service I really relish–assisting the schools here. There are new heads of the Sri Mayapur International School (SMIS) and of the National School. In the SMIS, they have been using our Dr. Best Learn to Read for some time very successfully, as they do in the Bhaktivedanta Academy (usually called the boys’ gurukula). Both of those schools use Learn to Read as their basal (core, main) reading program and love it. We had a training with the National school teachers who have over fifty new sets of Learn to Read so they can also use them as their core reading program.
It was great to take the new SMIS head to see both the Academy and the National School–places to which she had not yet had a chance to visit. I was fortunate to have discussions with the leaders of all three schools about development of school identity and increased visibility and participation in the Mayapur community.
Altogether much positive is going on (though, again, there is always room for improvement) and I feel very encouraged.

Harinama in a cold Arbat street, a pedestrian street about one…
→ Dandavats

Harinama in a cold Arbat street, a pedestrian street about one kilometer long in the historical center of Moscow (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: In the beginning, a conditioned soul is bereft of Krsna consciousness and is always morose in his material activities. Later, by associating with a pure devotee, one becomes inquisitive to know the Absolute Truth. In this way one begins to engage in the transcendental service of the Lord. Next, by the Lord’s grace all misconceptions are vanquished and the heart is cleansed of all material dirt. It is only then that the pleasure of transcendental bliss is awakened. By the Lord’s mercy one is completely convinced of the value of devotional service. When one can see the pastimes of the Lord everywhere, he is firmly situated in transcendental bliss. Such a devotee is relieved of all kinds of material desires, and he preaches the glories of the Lord all over the world. These Krsna conscious activities separate him from material activities and the desire for liberation, for at every step the devotee feels himself connected with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Although such a devotee may sometimes be involved in household life, he is untouched by material existence due to his constant engagement in devotional service. Thus everyone is advised to take shelter of devotional service to become happy and liberated. >>> Ref. VedaBase => Madhya 10.119
Find them here: https://goo.gl/HzLGHZ

Updates from Bhaktivedanta Research Center. We’ve decided…
→ Dandavats

Updates from Bhaktivedanta Research Center.
We’ve decided to implement a new method to keep you up to date. Our new blog, BRC Bulletin, will be continually updated as we make a commitment to keep you more informed and connected to our service developments.
This edition’s topics include:
An index of selected scanned texts in English that have recently been added to online catalog
A University of Oxford scholar explains how his research at BRC library benefited his latest publication
Highlights from our adaptation of Open Source technology, including Koha
Detailed, step by step explanation of how to access scanned texts from our online catalog
A report from our Manuscripts Mission on their recent visits to several libraries in West Bengal
Technologically detailed explanation of our digital processing of text from scanning to cataloging
A new social networking forum for BRC donors and members.

Please note If you would like to be notified each time we post, you may register your email address on the blog.

We greatly appreciate your interest and support. We hope you visit our website often. Please visit us when you come to Kolkata. Our sincere well wishes to you and your loved ones.

– Your aspiring servants at BRC
BRC Bulletin: https://brcbulletin.blogspot.com/

Parikrama in Vrindavana: the best medicine! (Album with…
→ Dandavats

Parikrama in Vrindavana: the best medicine! (Album with photos)
Indradyumna Swami: Not feeling well for a couple of weeks I had not journeyed outside.Yesterday I took a short walk for some fresh air and brought my camera along with me. It’s amazing what variety of culture one capture in Vrindavan in 90 minutes!
Find them here: https://goo.gl/LbYBcC

ISKCON Aruppukottai – Mandap Program Nov 2016 (Album with…
→ Dandavats

ISKCON Aruppukottai – Mandap Program Nov 2016 (Album with photos)
Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati: The Supreme Lord is saying, “I have arranged so much misery, so much pain, so much trouble and danger, not to make you suffer, but to teach you that all this misery is unnecessary; so you will search for the happiness that is eternally desirable, the joy that is eternally adorable.“
Find them here: https://goo.gl/qjy63w

Festival of The Holy Name in Alachua (2016) (Album with photos)…
→ Dandavats

Festival of The Holy Name in Alachua (2016) (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: My Guru Maharaja used to say, prana ache yara sei hetu pracara. A person can become a preacher if he has got life. A dead man cannot become a preacher. So you must be very enthusiastic that “I shall preach the glories of the Lord to my best capacity.” It is not that one has to become very learned scholar to become a preacher. Simply it requires enthusiasm, “My Lord is so great, so kind, so beautiful, so wonderful. So I must speak something about my Lord.” This is the qualification, enthusiasm. >>> Ref. VedaBase => The Nectar of Devotion – Vrndavana, October 20, 1972
Find them here: https://goo.gl/uV3v1K

WALL ART. Harinama’s striking mural art. Mandakini devi dasi:…
→ Dandavats

WALL ART. Harinama’s striking mural art.
Mandakini devi dasi: Harinama and his wife, Laksmi Priya devi dasi, with their three children – Caitanya five years, Nityananda four years and Bhakti aged one – recently moved onto New Govardhana Farm, Australia. The Perth couple had visited the farm several times and was keen to provide their children with a Krishna conscious education. At present the couple are busily engaged in renovating the Lily Pond house and cultivating the surrounding land. Harinama took to spiritual life 20 years ago soon after he graduated with a Diploma of Art from the Perth School of Fine Art. Inspired to paint wall murals at the farm, he has to date completed an impressive Krishna lifting Govardhana Hill at Carpark 1. Another work is in progress on the wall as you walk up to the temple from Carpark 1. This shows the scene from Srimad-Bhagavatam of Sukadeva Gosvami preaching to Maharaja Pariksit and the sages. With wall art being much in vogue, Harinama is hoping to continue the trend by painting several more murals.

The Sound of Krishna’s Flute. Last month artist Dhanesvara dasa…
→ Dandavats

The Sound of Krishna’s Flute.
Last month artist Dhanesvara dasa produced a series of works at a Murwillumbah studio (Studio 88) focusing on Krishna’s pastimes, calling the exhibition ‘The Sound of Krishna’s Flute’. He used traditional images with a contemporary twist. Dhanesvara hopes that these images reflect the devotional rasa’s that inspire our continual journey of bhakti-yoga, perfecting our love for Krishna and His devotees. The launch for the exhibition will be held Friday, 2 December at 6pm. Talented musicians Malcolm Knights (on flute) and his wife, Lila Kirtan devi dasi, leading the kirtana will be an additional highlight. A light supper of chai and nibbles will also be provided. Please come along Friday, 2 December at 6pm, 88 Main Street, Murwillumbah.
Read more: https://goo.gl/F6IJtg

Lismore High Religious Studies School Students Visit…
→ Dandavats

Lismore High Religious Studies School Students Visit Iskcon’s New Govardhana Farm Community, Australia.
Damodara Pandit dasa: Lismore has always been a great place to visit and tell people about Krishna, so it was no surprise when the local Lismore High School contacted us requesting a visit. On Wednesday, 26 October, myself and Ambarish dasa made the journey down south. It was a pleasant surprise to be greeted by Paul Von Bratt, the Chaplain and Religious Studies teacher, who was extremely happy to see us. He then introduced us to the senior Religious Studies class. During the following hour we shared a nice kirtana led by Ambarish, and discussed the practice of Krishna Consciousness. The students were very interested and a few even stayed on during lunch to ask more transcendental questions.
Richmond River High Campus is a caring school of excellence which maintains – through curricular and extra-curricular initiatives – a strong commitment to quality.

Melbourne’s First Rathayatra Festival, Monday, 17 July 1972….
→ Dandavats

Melbourne’s First Rathayatra Festival, Monday, 17 July 1972.
“Prabhupada was convinced that the festival was an important part of Krsna consciousness culture, and had personally told Madhudvisa that the Rathayatra parade was so spiritually potent that just by following the chariot of Lord Jagannatha as it passed down the road, one would be liberated from repeated birth and death.
Madhudvisa also had his own, special, personal experience of the potency of the Ratha-yatra festival – it had first attracted him to become a devotee, and later he had helped organize the 1969 and 1970 Ratha-yatra festivals in San Francisco.
Madhudvisa was well aware of the enormity of such an event, and he inspired others. May and June 1972 saw devotees in Melbourne work tirelessly on the multifarious aspects of Ratha-yatra – fund raising, purchase and acquisition of materials, publicity, planning the actual parade, hiring a hall for after the parade, and organizing a feast for thousands
Vaibhavi, now an accomplished artist, drew up plans for the cart from studying pictures of the massive chariots in Jagannatha Puri. After corresponding with Nara-Narayana who had designed the first carts in America, she came up with an especially scaled-down version that would fit into a single Melbourne traffic-lane. Notable also would be a special, custom-made mechanism to lower and raise the silken canopy to avoid the overhead tram lines that spanned the city streets.
Vaibhavi decided on the final color scheme, the position of the colorful blue and white swan motifs, the size of the Deity platform, and the location of the fencing. She tended to even the smallest details – the dimensions of the spire, the design of the kumbha, the parrots, the length of the flag, and even the angle of slope for the multicoloured canopy.
Work began under extreme weather conditions – the Melbourne winter of 1972 was a severe one. A vacant lot in Carlton was donated for the duration of the construction. Devotees labored day and night. Sometimes unknown men and women would turn up on the rugged, muddy site and volunteer their services for painting or construction.
Once, an old staggering drunk insisted on holding a kerosene lamp for hours so the devotees could work through the night. To the devotees, it seemed that Lord Jagannatha – Krsna, the Lord of the Universe – was personally, causelessly engaging these persons in His devotional service. Some of these men and women became so inspired that they actually became devotees.
And where was Lord Jagannatha? A Ratha-yatra parade held no meaning without the smiling, angular-faced Deities of the Lord and His brother Balarama and His sister Subhadra.
Dipak recalls: “One grey, overcast day I was out driving when I came upon an old sawmill. There I saw a huge seasoned log of hardwood lying on the ground. I purchased it and had it cut into three pieces then drove them back to the newly acquired Hare Krsna shop in Little Lonsdale Street and set them up in the chilly loft. The Lord had come to Melbourne!”
Dwaipayana Das recalls: “I had a desire and one day it was fulfilled. Vaibhavi asked me if I would like to help carve Lord Jagannatha! I was thrilled and honored.
Dipak came back from the sawmill with three logs and we carried them upstairs to an area partitioned off from the Mighty Apollo Gymnasium. We started with a chainsaw and then continued with hand tools. Dipak carved Lord Balarama and I carved Subhadra and Jagannatha. Finally, Nartaki painted them.”
Dipak: “I remember daily entering that freezing loft. There was such a holy atmosphere. Each morning we would come and offer our obeisances to the unfinished Deities and then commence our work. It had such a powerful effect on us. To this very day, I have a deep attraction to Lord Jagannatha.””
From The Great Transcendental Adventure, by Kurma dasa

A Visitor’s Reflections. Vrindavani Briant: My two-month visit…
→ Dandavats

A Visitor’s Reflections.
Vrindavani Briant: My two-month visit from 21 July to 26 September 2016 to New Govardhana dhama wasn’t a trip I originally planned to make. After I visited New Govardhana briefly in April of this year – also an unplanned trip! – the sweetness of the New Govardhana temple and community made me feel compelled to return. With this in mind, I made inquiries into staying at the New Govardhana brahmacharini ashrama and received such a welcoming and encouraging response that I returned to New Govardhana in July for a two-month stay in the ashrama. The residents of New Govardhana dhama are a fortunate bunch. The farm, with its lush hills and clear river and lakes, is one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited. In addition to the beauty of its scenery, it is blessed with such a loving community of devotees. Although essentially a stranger, I instantly felt like I was part of the New Govardhana family, thanks to the kindness and care showered on me by the devotees. New Govardhana is further exalted by the ultimate blessing, the central focus of everything: Their Lordships Sri Sri Radha Govardhanadhari, Sri Sri Krishna Balarama, Sri Sri Gaura Nitai and Sri Giriraja. Thank you to all of the New Govardhana community for allowing me to experience the sweetness of life in New Govardhana, and for your kindness during my stay. Although I have left New Govardhana, a part of my heart remains.

Awaking Devotion.Vaisesika das: In the backyard of my home, I…
→ Dandavats

Awaking Devotion.
Vaisesika das: In the backyard of my home, I recently set up a bird feeder that I inherited from my father several years ago. For the past few weeks, I have been regularly filling it with Nyger seeds, much liked by Finches. Today, as I watched a group of happy Finches devouring these seeds, I mused at how they have no idea where the seeds come from, or how the feeder magically fills up every few days. They only merrily eat without considering the source of their food.

This is true of most living entities. As the soul transmigrates from one physical body to another, passing progressively through eight million primitive species of life, it is Krsna who provides him his food and other necessities. The soul, covered by ignorance takes these gifts for granted.

When the soul attains the rare human body however, he can come to see that Krsna has been thoughtfully maintaining him all along.

This revelation is a beginning step in bhakti.

Children rarely appreciate the gifts and nurture given them by their parents. But, when the children mature into adults, if they are not spoiled, they begin to appreciate that their parent’s made sacrifices to raise them and they think of ways to reciprocate.

In a similar way, spiritually advanced people appreciating Krsna’s generosity, organize their lives around serving Him.

After drinking water a devotee thinks how kind Krsna is to provide such a remarkable beverage that quenches thirst and maintains the body.

Or, looking at the perfection of a fruit tree like the Avocado – whose skin is the perfect wrapper; whose “flesh” is a perfect food; whose branches hold forth its fruits as if from outstretched arms, saying, “Come here and take as many as you wish!” – a devotee sees Krsna’s charity and fine sense for design.

Out of appreciation for these gifts, a devotee offers them back to Krsna out of gratitude; and Krsna reciprocates with the devotee from within the devotee’s heart.

Krsna says: “If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, fruit or water, I will accept it.” (Bg 9.26)

Prahlada Maharaja notes that when someone gives to Krsna, it is not for Krsna’s benefit. Rather, it is for the benefit of the giver. When one decorates one’s face, Prahlada says, the reflection of one’s face in the mirror is also seen to be decorated.

The great secret of happiness in life lies in offering ourselves and everything else to Krsna. As we do this, we feel satisfied and blissful.

Such satisfaction drives the devotee to serve the Lord with all his heart and soul and to encourage others in such service. This service is eternal and ever-increasing.

Festival of the Holy Name 2016 in Alachua, Florida (Album with…
→ Dandavats

Festival of the Holy Name 2016 in Alachua, Florida (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: “Who God is” can be summed up in only five words. Krsna is the Supreme controller. If you become convinced of this, and preach it enthusiastically, success is assured, and you will be doing the greatest service for all living entities. So you continue more and more to serve Krsna, and He will help you. >>> Ref. VedaBase => Letter to: Danavir — Honolulu 5 May, 1972
Find them here: https://goo.gl/JZr05e

What happens after death?
→ Dandavats

What happens after death?
One who has taken his birth is sure to die, and after death one is sure to take birth again. Therefore, in the unavoidable discharge of your duty, you should not lament. (Bhagavad-Gita—-2:27—-translation)
Yamaraja, the great controller of life after death, decides the living entities’ destinies in their next lives. He is surely among the most confidential representatives of the Lord. Such confidential posts are offered to great devotees of the Lord who are as good as His eternal associates in the spiritual sky. (Srimad Bhagavatam—-3:5:21—-purport).

Unfortunately people do not know that there is life after death; therefore mundane people waste their time amassing material profit which has to be left behind at the time of death. Such profit has no eternal benefit. Similarly, adoration by mundane people is valueless because after death one has to accept another body. Material adoration and titles are decorations that cannot be carried over to the next body. In the next life, everything is forgotten. (Sri Caitanya Caritamrta—-2:19:159—-purport).

Just as the most sinful wretch lives in a ghostly body after death and moves about in the ether, having been denied a gross body, so the impersonalist, although rising to the point of liberation in the transcendental position, falls back down to the material world because of not having developed the mood of loving service to the Supreme Lord. Therefore the severe austerities and penances the impersonalist performs are not equivalent to the eternal religion of devotional service. (Renunciation Through Wisdom).

In this life, an envious person commits violent acts against many living entities. Therefore after his death, when he is taken to hell by Yamaraja, those living entities who were hurt by him appear as animals called rurus to inflict very severe pain upon him. Learned scholars call this hell Raurava. Not generally seen in this world, the ruru is more envious than a snake. (Srimad Bhagavatam—-5:26:11—-translation).

A person is considered no better than a crow if after receiving some food, he does not divide it among guests, old men and children, but simply eats it himself, or if he eats it without performing the five kinds of sacrifice. After death he is put into the most abominable hell, known as Krmibhojana. In that hell is a lake 100,000 yojanas (800,000 miles) wide and filled with worms. He becomes a worm in that lake and feeds on the other worms there, who also feed on him. Unless he atones for his actions before his death, such a sinful man remains in the hellish lake of Krmibhojana for as many years as there are yojanas in the width of the lake. (Srimad Bhagavatam—-5:26:18—-translation).

“Work done as a sacrifice for Vishnu has to be performed, otherwise work binds one to this material world. Therefore, O son of Kunti, perform your prescribed duties for His satisfaction, and in that way you will always remain unattached and free from bondage.” If we do not perform yajña and distribute prasada to others, our lives are condemned. Only after performing yajña and distributing the prasada to all dependents children, brahmanas and old men should one eat. However, one who cooks only for himself or his family is condemned, along with everyone he feeds. After death he is put into the hell known as Krmibhojana. (Srimad Bhagavatam—-5:26:18—-translation).

A person who indulges in sex indiscriminately even with animals is taken after death to the hell known as Vajrakanta-salmani. In this hell there is a silk-cotton tree full of thorns as strong as thunderbolts. The agents of Yamaraja hang the sinful man on that tree and pull him down forcibly so that the thorns very severely tear his body. (Srimad Bhagavatam—-5:26:21—-translation).

The shameless husbands of lowborn sudra women live exactly like animals, and therefore they have no good behavior, cleanliness or regulated life. After death, such persons are thrown into the hell called Puyoda, where they are put into an ocean filled with pus, stool, urine, mucus, saliva and similar things. Sudras who could not improve themselves fall into that ocean and are forced to eat those disgusting things. (Srimad Bhagavatam—-5:26:23—-translation).

If in this life a man of the higher classes (brahmana, kshatriya and vaishya) is very fond of taking his pet dogs, mules or asses into the forest to hunt and kill animals unnecessarily, he is placed after death into the hell known as Pranarodha. There the assistants of Yamaraja make him their targets and pierce him with arrows. (Srimad Bhagavatam—-5:26:24—-translation).

A person who in this life is proud of his eminent position, and who heedlessly sacrifices animals simply for material prestige, is put into the hell called Visasana after death. There the assistants of Yamaraja kill him after giving him unlimited pain. (Srimad Bhagavatam—-5:26:25—-translation).

If a foolish member of the twice-born classes (brahmana, kshatriya and vaishya) forces his wife to drink his semen out of a lusty desire to keep her under control, he is put after death into the hell known as Lalabhaksha. There he is thrown into a flowing river of semen, which he is forced to drink. (Srimad Bhagavatam—-5:26:26—-translation).

In this world, some persons are professional plunderers who set fire to others’ houses or administer poison to them. Also, members of the royalty or government officials sometimes plunder mercantile men by forcing them to pay income tax and by other methods. After death such demons are put into the hell known as Sarameyadana. On that planet there are 720 dogs with teeth as strong as thunderbolts. Under the orders of the agents of Yamaraja, these dogs voraciously devour such sinful people. (Srimad Bhagavatam—-5:26:27—-translation).

A person who in this life bears false witness or lies while transacting business or giving charity is severely punished after death by the agents of Yamaraja. Such a sinful man is taken to the top of a mountain eight hundred miles high and thrown headfirst into the hell known as Avicimat. This hell has no shelter and is made of strong stone resembling the waves of water. There is no water there, however, and thus it is called Avicimat (waterless). Although the sinful man is repeatedly thrown from the mountain and his body broken to tiny pieces, he still does not die but continuously suffers chastisement. (Srimad Bhagavatam—-5:26:28—-translation).

A lowborn and abominable person who in this life becomes falsely proud, thinking “I am great,” and who thus fails to show proper respect to one more elevated than he by birth, austerity, education, behavior, caste or spiritual order, is like a dead man even in this lifetime, and after death he is thrown headfirst into the hell known as Ksharakardama. There he must great suffer great tribulation at the hands of the agents of Yamaraja. (Srimad Bhagavatam—-5:26:30—-translation).

There are men and women in this world who sacrifice human beings to Bhairava or Bhadra Kali and then eat their victims’ flesh. Those who perform such sacrifices are taken after death to the abode of Yamaraja, where their victims, having taken the form of Rakshasas, cut them to pieces with sharpened swords. Just as in this world the man-eaters drank their victims’ blood, dancing and singing in jubilation, their victims now enjoy drinking the blood of the sacrificers and celebrating in the same way. (Srimad Bhagavatam—-5:26:31—-translation).

In this life some people give shelter to animals and birds that come to them for protection in the village or forest, and after making them believe that they will be protected, such people pierce them with lances or threads and play with them like toys, giving them great pain. After death such people are brought by the assistants of Yamaraja to the hell known as Sulaprota, where their bodies are pierced with sharp, needle like lances. They suffer from hunger and thirst, and sharp-beaked birds such as vultures and herons come at them from all sides to tear at their bodies. Tortured and suffering, they can then remember the sinful activities they committed in the past. (Srimad Bhagavatam—-5:26:32—-translation).

Those who in this life are like envious serpents, always angry and giving pain to other living entities, fall after death into the hell known as Dandasuka. My dear King, in this hell there are serpents with five or seven hoods. These serpents eat such sinful persons just as snakes eat mice. (Srimad Bhagavatam—-5:26:33—-translation).

Those who in this life confine other living entities in dark wells, granaries or mountain caves are put after death into the hell known as Avamta-nirodhana. There they themselves are pushed into dark wells, where poisonous fumes and smoke suffocate them and they suffer very severely. (Srimad Bhagavatam—-5:26:34—-translation).

According to the Vedic etiquette, even an enemy who comes to a householder’s home should be received in such a gentle way that he forgets that he has come to the home of an enemy. A guest who comes to one’s home should be received very politely. If he is unwanted, the householder should not stare at him with blinking eyes, for one who does so will be put into the hell known as Paryvartana after death, and there many ferocious birds like vultures, crows, and coknis will suddenly come upon him and pluck out his eyes. (Srimad Bhagavatam—-5:26:35—-translation).

A person who is very cruel is regarded as dead even while living, for while he is living or after his death, everyone condemns him. And after the death of a person in the bodily concept of life, he is undoubtedly transferred to the hell known as Andhatama. (Srimad Bhagavatam—-10:2:22—-translation).

While living one may be proud of one’s body, thinking oneself a very big man, minister, president or even demigod, but whatever one may be, after death this body will turn either into worms, into stool or into ashes. If one kills poor animals to satisfy the temporary whims of this body, one does not know that he will suffer in his next birth, for such a sinful miscreant must go to hell and suffer the results of his actions. (Srimad Bhagavatam—-10:10:10—-translation).

A son who, though able to do so, fails to provide for his parents with his physical resources and wealth is forced after his death to eat his own flesh. (Srimad Bhagavatam—-10:45:6—-translation).

The body of a brahmana is not intended to enjoy insignificant material sense gratification; rather, by accepting difficult austerities in his life, a brahmana will enjoy unlimited happiness after death. (Srimad Bhagavatam—-11:17:42—-translation).

The material color of the mind is changed when one washes it from contaminations of life-breathing and thereby frees it from the contamination of repeated births and deaths and situates it in pure spiritual life. All is manifested by the temporary embodiment of the material body, which is a production of the mind at the time of death, and if the mind is purified by practice of transcendental loving service to the Lord and is constantly engaged in the service of the lotus feet of the Lord, there is no more chance of the mind’s producing another material body after death. It will be freed from absorption in material contamination. The pure soul will be able to return home, back to Godhead. (Srimad Bhagavatam—-1:15:41—-translation).

Apparently a devotee may grow old, but he is not subjected to the symptoms of defeat experienced by a common man in old age. Consequently, old age does not make a devotee fearful of death, as a common man is fearful of death. When jara, or old age, takes shelter of a devotee, Kalakanya diminishes the devotee’s fear. A devotee knows that after death he is going back home, back to Godhead; therefore he has no fear of death. Thus instead of depressing a devotee, advanced age helps him become fearless and thus happy. (Srimad Bhagavatam—-4:27:24—-purport).

In due course of time, when a pure devotee is completely prepared, all of a sudden the change of body occurs which is commonly called death. And for the pure devotee such a change takes place exactly like lightning, and illumination follows simultaneously. That is to say a devotee simultaneously changes his material body and develops a spiritual body by the will of the Supreme. Even before death, a pure devotee has no material affection, due to his body’s being spiritualized like a red-hot iron in contact with fire. (Srimad Bhagavatam—-1:6:27
This is a link to an interview of an elevated Vaishnava talking about the final lesson: https://goo.gl/5YHpBW

Whoever you meet (Album with photos) The sankirtan strategy of…
→ Dandavats

Whoever you meet (Album with photos)
The sankirtan strategy of the Supreme Lord is simple and sublime… whoever you meet, tell them about Krishna! Every day we meet people… at work, at university, while shopping, on the train, in the surgery. Why not share something spiritual with them? What’s the worst that could happen? Imagine how many people would be touched. Try it today, and Gauranga Mahaprabhu may well orchestrate a few transcendental miracles. We don’t need a special time for sankirtan, just make it part of your daily life.
Mahesh Dhokia prabhu works all day in his shop but gives books to his customers.
Matsya Das (in the photo) is jet-setting the world on airplanes but gives books to the passengers.
Amazing Vaisnavas, thank you.
Manor devotees are doing a solid 1,000 books-a-day. After 4 days we have reached 4,044 books. Nice and steady, see more photos and the latest scoresheet here: https://goo.gl/nVZNpb

Vrindavan pilgrims (Album with photos) Srila Prabhupada: The…
→ Dandavats

Vrindavan pilgrims (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: The preacher must love the people. Otherwise why he is taking? He can do it for himself at home. Why he is taking so much trouble? Why in eighty years old I have come here if I do not love? So who can love better than a preacher? Srila Prabhupada, Morning Walk–May 17, 1975, Perth
Find them here: https://goo.gl/4SQDVT

Qualified By Simplicity
→ Dandavats

Qualified By Simplicity.
For serving Lord Krsna, is being simple a bad thing?
Giriraja Swami: After successfully launching the Hare Krsna movement in the West, Srila Prabhupada returned to India with plans to build at least three large centers, including one in Mumbai. I worked on the Mumbai project, and because Prabhupada was intimately involved with it, I was fortunate to learn many valuable lessons from him during that time. In late 1971 a prominent businessman, Mr. A. B. Nair, offered Prabhupada some land in Juhu, on the outskirts of Mumbai. Later we discovered that Mr. Nair was very tricky and cunning. Before taking money for the land from Prabhupada, he had already taken—and kept—money from two other parties.

After Prabhupada signed the purchase agreement and left Mumbai, Yaduvara Dasa and I had to deal with Mr. Nair. We would meet him at his home in Juhu and talk, but we couldn’t understand: Was he our friend, or was he our enemy?

Ultimately, from thousands of miles away in Los Angeles, Prabhupada concluded that Mr. Nair was trying to cheat us.

Eventually Prabhupada came to Mumbai to deal with the matter. Tamal Krsna Goswami told him how Mr. Nair had bluffed me. Perhaps he expected Prabhupada to reprove me. But Prabhupada replied, “Giriraja is simple. What can be done?”

Prabhupada’s words stayed in my mind: “Giriraja is simple.” I considered my simplicity a fault or a disqualification.

Some months later, while reading the book Krsna to Prabhupada during his morning walks on Juhu Beach, I came to the chapter “The Salvation of Trnavarta,” in which Lord Krsna defeats a demon who had assumed the form of a whirlwind. There I read: “After observing such wonderful happenings, Nanda Maharaja [Krsna’s foster father] began to think of the words of Vasudeva [Krsna’s father] again and again.”

Previously we had read how Nanda Maharaja considered Vasudeva a great sage and mystic yogi because Vasudeva had foretold an incident that happened in Vrndavana, where Krsna was living.

Prabhupada remarked, “Vasudeva is a ksatriya [a member of the ruling or martial class]. With political eyesight, Vasudeva predicted, ‘This may happen,’ but Nanda Maharaja, as a vaisya, a simple agriculturalist, thought, ‘Oh, Vasudeva is a foreseer.’ ”

I noticed that Prabhupada was applying the word simple to a pure devotee—Nanda Maharaja—and I was surprised. I wondered how a pure devotee like Nanda Maharaja could have a disqualification such as being simple.

So I asked Prabhupada, “Simplicity is not considered a bad quality?”

Prabhupada replied, “No, no. For him it is all right. He is a vaisya, so he should believe like that. And a politician should act like Vasudeva. One should not imitate. For example, a physician does operations, but I should not imitate and take the knife and operate. That is not my business.”

Then Prabhupada explained, “But Vasudeva was thinking of Krsna, and Nanda Maharaja was also thinking of Krsna. As a simple agriculturalist, Nanda Maharaja was thinking of Krsna. And Vasudeva, when he was asking Nanda Maharaja, ÔGo take care of your children there,’ he was also thinking of Krsna. If thinking of Krsna is there, then whether ksatriya or vaisya or brahmana—it doesn’t matter. Everyone gets the same benefit.

“Everyone should understand, whatever I may be, I am an eternal servant of Krsna.’ So if this consciousness is maintained and everyone is engaged in the service of Krsna by his work and by his occupational duty, then he is perfect.”

Prabhupada’s answer was deep. He said that for a person in a certain position simplicity may be a good qualification, and for another it may not be. For a vaisya or a brahmana to be simple may be good, but not for a ksatriya, who has to deal with politics and diplomacy. Yet ultimately it doesn’t matter whether one is a brahmana, a ksatriya, a vaisya, or whatever. What matters is that one works in Krsna’s service and thinks of Him in love—in Krsna consciousness.

NASA article on Sanskrit. Modern scientists hail the ancient…
→ Dandavats

NASA article on Sanskrit.
Modern scientists hail the ancient language of the gods as the only unambiguous natural language on the planet!
In ancient India the intention to discover truth was so consuming, that in the process, they discovered perhaps the most perfect tool for fulfilling such a search that the world has ever known – the Sanskrit language.
Of all the discoveries that have occurred and developed in the course of human history, language is the most significant and probably the most taken for granted. Without language, civilization could obviously not exist. On the other hand, to the degree that language becomes sophisticated and accurate in describing the subtlety and complexity of human life, we gain power and effectiveness in meeting its challenges. The access to modern technology which has been designed to give ease, efficiency and enjoyment in meeting our daily needs did not exist at the beginning of the century. It was made possible by accelerated advancement in the field of mathematics, a “language” which has helped us to discover the interrelationship of energy and matter with a high degree of precision. The resulting technology is evidence of the tremendous power that is unleashed simply by being able to make the finer and finer distinction that a language like mathematics affords.

At the same time humankind has fallen far behind the advancements in technology. The precarious state of political and ecological imbalance that we are now experiencing is an obvious sign of the power of technology far exceeding the power of human beings to be in control of it. It could easily be argued that we have fallen far behind the advancements in technology, simply because the languages we use for daily communication do not help us to make the distinctions required to be in balance with the technology that has taken over our lives.
Relevant to this there has recently been an astounding discovery made at the NASA research center. The following quote is from an article which appeared in AI Magazine (Artificial Intelligence)
To read the entire article click here: https://goo.gl/6HMwgW

These things are required: Tapasa Brahmacaryena. (August 11,…
→ Dandavats

These things are required: Tapasa Brahmacaryena.
(August 11, 1976, Tehran Morn Walk)
“Prabhupada: …I.A.S. civil service examination before one man is posted in some responsible office. Similarly, to be recognized by Krsna, as He says na ca tasman manusyesu, one has to pass examination, severe test of examination. All the big, big devotees we see. Narada Muni, before becoming Narada Muni, he had to pass through severe examination, test. That chance is there in the human form of life, to pass the examination, test. But they are passing this human life with ordinary animal propensities. They are not trained up to pass the examination and be recognized by God. That civilization is lost, Vedic civilization, to prepare the human beings for passing the test, examination for being recognized by God.

tapasa brahmacaryena samena ca damena ca tyagena satya-saucabhyam yamena niyamena va

These things are required, tapasa brahmacaryena.
Atreya Rsi: To pass the examination, one must follow a strict, austere life.
Prabhupada: Yes. Tapasa brahmacaryena, beginning tapasya, austerity. Brahmacarya, celibacy. Tapasa brahmacaryena samena damena, controlling the senses, controlling the mind. Tyagena, by renunciation. Satya-saucabhyam, by following truthfulness and cleanliness. Yamena niyamena va, by practicing yoga, yama-niyama. These are the different items of being qualified. But all these things can be done by one stroke, kevalaya bhaktya, by engaging oneself in devotion, vasudeva-parayanah.

kecit kevalaya bhaktya vasudeva-parayanah agham dhunvanti kartsnyena niharam iva bhaskarah

One becomes qualified by one stroke of bhakti to Vasudeva. Just like the sunrise immediately dissipates the fog. Agham dhunvanti kartsnyena niharam iva bhaskarah. In the Kali-yuga, this one item of bhakti can make one perfectly fit candidate to pass the examination. Agham dhunvanti kartsnyena niharam iva bhaskarah. What is this nonsense life? There is no tapasya, no spiritual culture,”

(New Vrndavana, 1976)
Prabhupada: Now questions?
Devotee (1): So is there ever, for someone whose determination wavers and slackens here and there, is there ever a point where the neophyte devotee is in danger of just forgetting everything and falling, tumbling completely back?
Prabhupada: Everyone is neophyte. He should practice determination, that’s all. If he cannot practice, then why should he enter into this association? Let him remain aloof. One who has entered with the determination that “I must practice,” so if he cannot practice, then why this make show that “I belong to Krsna consciousness movement. I am initiated.” Why this farce? He must practice with determination that “By practicing I’ll be success.” That is wanted. He has no determination, why should he make a show? Drdha-vrata. Bhajante mam drdha-vratah. Drdha-vrata, that is wanted, determination. Hmm, go on. When one is determined, his success is assured. If he’s not determined, then success or failure.
Devotee (1): Can one develop determination gradually?
Prabhupada: Why gradually? When you promise before your spiritual master that no illicit sex, no gambling, no meat-eating, why should you fall down? If you have no determination, why should you promise in presence of the Deity, fire, spiritual master, Vaisnava? Why do you make this farce, if you have no determination? If you want to make it a farce, that depends on you. But you should not.
Devotee (1): When we make that promise…
Prabhupada: Yes, you should not fall down, that is determination. That is gentleman’s determination, that “I have given my promise. Why shall I fall down?” That is determination. “I must respect promise.” That is called drdha-vrata. So he’ll success. Where is the difficulty? There is no difficulty. But if we want to cheat, that is another thing. If we have no determination, we should not take up this life. Therefore, chance is given that “Stay with us for six months or one year, be determined. Then be initiated.” If you are not determined, what is the use of false initiation?
Devotee (1): Sometimes this weakness seems to be…
Prabhupada: Weakness there, you should rectify weakness. Why you should give any importance to weakness? Weakness is weakness. Rectify it.
Kuladri: This promise is the minimum determination.
Prabhupada: Hmm?
Kuladri: This promise of following four regulative principles, chanting sixteen rounds daily, that is the minimum determination. Then, from there, he must increase.

(Morning Walk at Stow Lake, March 23, 1968, San Francisco)

“Prabhupada: We should forego sleeping even. The real regulated life is that if sixteen rounds is not completed, then we have to forego sleeping. You should take out hours from sleeping. We should be… The main thing is that we should always be careful that… We are going, we have taken up a very responsible task, Krsna consciousness. So we should be very much careful in discharging the duty. The devotee should be so much careful that he’ll always see “Whether this moment is spoiled or utilized?” Avyartha-kalatvam. Avyartha-kalatvam, that “My time may not be wasted.” He should be so careful, “Whether my time is being wasted?” and time wasted, the time we engage for our bodily necessities, that is wasted. Generally, conditioned souls, they are simply wasting their time. Only the period which we have engaged in Krsna consciousness, that is utilized. So we should be very much careful whether time is being wasted or being utilized.
Devotee (1): Sometimes, well, if you (we) slept less, we could do more for Krsna, but at the same time you (we) would be very tired. I mean, you could be… Well, you could regulate that.
Prabhupada: Yes. Practically everything depends on practice. Abhyasa-yoga-yuktena cetasa nanya-gamina. Abhyasa-yoga. Abhyasa-yoga means yoga practice… Practice it. So this whole Krsna consciousness movement is to practice transfering from one kind of consciousness to another. So we require practice. Just like one man can run few miles. I cannot run even one mile. He has practiced. We see some boys, they run, run on. They practice. Practice it. Strength of the heart increasing by practice. And if I run, my heart will be palpitating. Because I have no practice. So by practice, everything can be attained. Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. (break) …determination. And this determination is increased by celibacy. Brahmacarya is recommended to keep oneself determined. A brahmacari, if he determines something, he executes. He has got that strength of mind. Those who are too much addicted to sex life, they cannot be determined. They cannot be fixed-up. They are fluctuating, changing.”

(Lect SB. 6.1.13-14 NY 7/27/71)
Vimarsanam means to be thoughtful. Without being thoughtful, philosopher, how one can understand, what is his position? Thoughtful. And that thoughtfulness comprehends so many things. Tapasa. One has to learn it by tapasya. Just like if one wants to pass M.A. examination, then he has to go school, follow the principle of the schools, college, study, and take some pains. Then gradually he’ll come a passed M.A. student. And if he plays all the day on the street, how he can…? That is not possible. Therefore the process is being explained by Sukadeva Gosvami: tapasa. First thing is tapasya, austerity. Even it is painful… Austerity’s painful. Brahmacarya is painful. Because we want, unrestricted, to do everything. But no. As soon as it is regulated it appears to be painful. When it is practiced, it is not painful. One brahmacari in Indian city, in severe cold, he was sleeping in the open air, without any covering. And it was severe cold. But it was practice. During Magha-mela, many saintly persons come there on the bank of the Ganga, Ganges. This year we had our own camp; we have seen. The whole night they are sitting in the open air, without any covering.
So practice. So practice means if you undergo austerity, tapasya, everything will be practiced. That is a Bengali proverb: sarire na mahasaya(?). Mahasaya is a word used in India, a very respectable gentleman, mahasaya. So this sarira, this body is mahasaya. Ya sa haye sa taicha(?). Whatever he’ll practice, it will be accustomed. So practice. So here this Krsna consciousness movement is bringing them to the practice. Therefore you find, so nice, boys and girls, they’re practiced. As soon as they’re neglectful to the practice—-falls down. They cannot stay. Immediately goes out. So that is called austerity, tapasya. Practice. Practical life. So these are the processes.

tapasa brahmacaryena samena ca damena ca tyagena satya-saucabhyam yamena niyamena va deha-vag-buddhijam dhira dharmajnah sraddhayanvitah ksipanty agham mahad api venu-gulmam ivanalah

Venu-gulmam ivanalah. Just like there is a jungle—so many unwanted creepers—so you set fire. Everything will be burned into ashes and the field will be cleared, cleansed. So it is said: deha-vag-buddhijam dhira dharmajnah sraddhayanvitah. Those who are dhira… Dhira and adhira. Dhira means sober and adhira means extravagant. There are two classes of men, dhira and adhira. Here Sukadeva Gosvami’s speaking of the dhira. Who is dhira? Dhira means in spite of provocation, in spite of something present which agitates the mind, one remains, I mean to say, in his position, steady. He’s called dhira.

The dhira example is given by Kalidasa Pandita, a great poet in India, Sanskrit poet, long, long ago. He has written one book: Kumara-sambhava. Kumara-sambhava. In our college we read that book in Sanskrit class. Kumara-sambhava. So he has given one example of dhira about Lord Siva, Mahadeva. He was meditating and the demigods, they had a plan, that “The demons are fighting with us. We are being defeated. We want a commander in chief, who must be born out of the semina of Lord Siva.” But he was in meditation. So how to do it? So Parvati, she was sent. She was young girl. And she was worshiping the genital of Lord Siva. So a young girl, touching the genital, and she’s present, but still Lord Siva was in meditation. So Kalidasa—-here is the example of dhira. He’s called dhira. In spite of presence of a young girl touching the genital, he’s not, I mean to say, disturbed.

Just like Haridasa Thakura. You have heard the Haridasa Thakura. He was chanting Hare Krsna mantra, and somebody wanted to cut down. He was young man. So young prostitute was sent at dead of night. And he, she proposed… Haridasa Thakura said, “Yes, it is very nice proposal. Please sit down. Let me finish my chanting, and I shall enjoy.” So it became morning. The prostitute became, I mean to say, perturbed. And Haridasa Thakura replied, “I am very sorry. I could not finish my chanting. Please come this night again.” The first night, second night…, third night the prostitute fell down on his feet and said, “Sir, this was my intention. I was induced to do this act by some man who is your enemy. So kindly excuse me.” So Haridasa Thakura replied, “I knew that. But because you came to me, therefore I allowed you to come here, three days, so that you may be converted to be a devotee. So now take these chanting beads. You sit down. Go on chanting. I am leaving this place.” Here is another dhira.

So here it is said, deha-vag-buddhijam dhira dharmajnah. One who has control, deha, the body, vak, the words, buddhi, intelligence—they are dhira. So this tridandi. This tridandi-sannyasa means to become dhira, controlling sarira; deha, the body; vak, words; and intelligence. These things should be utilized. How? By dhira, those who are dhira. Dharmajna. One who knows actually the principle of religion. Dharmajna. Deha-vag-buddhijam dhira dharmajnah sraddhayanvitah, ksipanty agham mahad api. So because our life is continuously committing sinful activities, from time immemorial… You do not know when it began. Evolution, many births. Therefore this life is meant for rectifying all mistakes that we had committed in our previous life or in this life. How? By this process. Ksipanty agham. Agham means the resultant action of sinful life. Mahad api. Although it is very great, mahad api, how? Venu-gulmam, venu-gulmam ivanalah. Just like if you set fire to unwanted grass and creepers in the field. You set fire, and they will be all burned. Similarly, by this process, tapasa brahmacaryena, you can liquidate all of your sinful activities of life and you become purified.

The first thing is tapasya. The first… Tapasya means you have to accept some austerity. The same example can be given that the doctor says… Suppose a diabetic patient. So doctor prohibits him that “You cannot eat. You have to starve for some days.” So I do not like to starve, nobody likes to starve. But because doctor says you have to starve, if you want to cure a disease, then I have to voluntarily accept, accept starving. This is called tapasya: voluntarily accept some miserable condition of life. That is good. And human life is meant for that purpose.

So tapasya is required. Without tapasya you cannot make advancement in spiritual life, or life of knowledge. If you simply give away…, in the animal propensities of life, eating, sleeping, mating and defending and don’t accept the process of tapasya, then your human life is failure. You have to accept some tapasya if you want to make solution of the problems of life. Sukadeva Gosvami first recommends tapasya. Just like here, in our institution, whoever comes and becomes an initiated member, we first of all ask them to undergo tapasya. Tapasya. Especially in your country, it is a great tapasya to give up illicit sex life, to give up intoxication up to the point of smoking and tea drinking, and to give up meat-eating, and to give up gambling. Although they’re only four, but it is very difficult to give up these four items. Even Lord Zetland, in England, when he was asked to do this, one of my Godbrothers, Lord Zetland, Marquis of Zetland, he inquired from my Godbrother, “Swamiji, whether you can make us brahmana?” So he said, “Yes, why not? You have to give up these four principles of life, prohibited: no illicit sex, no intoxication, no gambling, and no meat-eating.” The Lord Zetland replied “Impossible.” Yes, it is impossible. Because in Europe and America, this is the way of life from the very beginning. And from India, our Indian gentlemen come here to learn this art, how to do it nicely. And they think it is advancement. India is automatically taught this tapasya by their culture, but they come here to forget that culture and accept another type of life.
But real, real fact is if you want to advance in spiritual understanding, if you want to make a solution of all the problems of your life, then you have to accept this life of austerity, tapasya. Restriction. Restriction is meant for human beings, not for the animals. Just like in our common dealings, when you drive your car, you have got some restriction. You cannot drive your car on the left side. That is offense. “Keep to the right.” You cannot drive your car when there is red light, or yellow light. You have to follow the restriction. But the dog, if it keeps to the left or crosses the street when there is red light, it is not punished, because it is animal, dog. But if you violate the laws, you’ll be punished. Why? That means you have got advanced consciousness. If you do not follow the rules and regulation, then you are nothing but animal. Human being, human life means voluntarily accepting the laws, the rules and regulation. That is human life. But now the propaganda is that everyone, one wants to be free, no regulative life. This is animal life. Just try to understand. The regulations, lawbooks, restrictions, they are meant for human being, not for animals. And if you want freedom from all restrictions, then you come to the animal life. Therefore Sukadeva Gosvami recommends first tapasya. If you want to stop the problems of life, then you have to accept the life of austerity, tapasya.
And what is the tapasya? That is also… Brahmacaryena. Brahmacaryena. Brahmacaryena means restricted sex life. Real meaning is no sex life, no sex, celibacy, completely. This is tapasya. Therefore, according to Vedic culture, the first beginning of life is brahmacari. (break) But in the brahmacari life there is no sex life. Only in the grhastha life there is sex life, married life. I was reading the other day a magazine, Watch… What is that? Watchtower. So this paper was criticizing so many immoral activities in the Christian world. And one item I was surprised to read that a Christian priest has sanctioned marriage between man to man. That was written there. I do not wish to discuss all those things, but people are degrading for want of this tapasya. People are not taught how to execute tapasya life, tapasvi life. Simply by criticizing will not do. Practically you have to be trained in the life of tapasya. Then it will be effective. Just like we are doing. Here, in our Krsna consciousness movement, in every center, everyone, at least who are living within this temple, must get up at four o’clock to perform the aratrika. This morning I was asking somebody that if you cannot rise, then you cannot live in this temple. Because this temple is meant for tapasya, not for extravagancy. Unless you follow the life of tapasya, you cannot make progress.
So this temple, we are inviting everyone to live here, to live with us, and practice tapasya. Then your life will be advanced. Then you’ll understand what is your constitutional position, what is God, or Krsna, what is your relationship with Him, what is the aim of life, how to execute it, how to make life successful. These things are taught here. This is called tapasya. And in the Vedas it is said that those who are executing the regulative life of tapasya, they are brahmanas. Etad viditva yah prayati sa eva brahmanah. Etad aviditva yah prayati sa krpanah(?). These are the Vedic injunctions. One who is dying… Everyone is dying. Nobody can live here permanently. That’s a fact. But one who is dying after executing the life of tapasya, he’s a brahmana. And one who is dying like cats and dogs, without any execution of tapasya, he’s called krpana. The two words are there in the Vedic literature: one is brahmana and one is krpana. Krpana means miser, and brahmana means liberal, broad-minded. Brahma janati iti brahmanah, or one who knows the Supreme, the Absolute Truth, he’s brahmana. And one who does not know, that is animal. This is the difference between animal and man. Man should be educated to understand the Absolute Truth. Therefore in the human society there is school, colleges, universities, philosophers, scientists, mathematician. Because human life is meant for knowledge. The animal life, they’re not required to take education. They are simply busy with how…, with the business how to eat, how sleep, how to mate and how to defend. That’s all.
So the tapasya life begins from celibacy, brahmacaryena. Sukadeva Gosvami recommends. Brahmacarya is described in the sastras that smaranam kirtanam kelih preksanam guhyam asanam(?). Sex life, smaranam, thinking of sex life, that is against brahmacarya. Complete celibacy means one should not think of even sex life. Smaranam. Or talk of sex life. Our modern literature, newspaper and everything, simply full with talks of sex life. But this is against brahmacarya life. Smaranam kirtanam keli. And actually indulging in sex life. Preksanam: looking, overlooking a nice boy or nice girl, that is also against brahmacarya. Guhyam asanam: whispering between girls and boys, that is also against brahmacari. Guhyam asanam sankalpam. Then determination of sex life. Vyavasaya: endeavoring how to effect sex life. So when we can stop all these activities, that is real brahmacarya. It is very difficult at the present age. Etan maithunyam astangam pravadanti manisinah vikarita brahmacaryam eda astanam laksanam iti(?). So brahmacarya means that you cannot think of sex life, you cannot talk of sex life, you cannot whisper about sex life, or you cannot endeavor for sex life. These eight types of activities in sex indulgence are against brahmacari life. But here it is prescribed that if you want to make solution of the problems of life, then you adopt, you have to adopt a life of tapasya, austerity, which begins from brahmacari.
To summarize this brahmacarya life in this age, we have given a simple formula, that “No illicit sex.” Sex is there. Sex is not bad. In the Bhagavad-gita it is said, dharmaviruddhah kamo ’smi: “Sex life which is not against the religious principles of life, that is I am.” Krsna says. So dharmaviruddha, according to Vedic civilization, one should have sex indulgence only once in a month. That is the prescription. And when the wife is pregnant there is no sex life. That is dharmaviruddha. That is not against the religious principles. Even in your life, married life, if you indulge sex life more than once in a month, or in pregnancy, that is against religious principles. So Krsna dharmaviruddhah kamo ’smi: “Lust, sex indulgence, which is not against the rules of religious principles, that is I am.” That means only for begetting children, nice children, so that there may not be disturbance. Unless there are nice population, children born in a systematic way, how you can expect peace in the world? That is described in the Bhagavad-gita. When there are varna-sankara the whole world becomes hell. This is described in the Bhagavad-gita. So the life of austerity begins from the life of celibacy, brahmacarya. So brahmacarya, the descriptions are given here, how you can execute brahmacari life. You cannot think of sex life, you cannot talk of sex life, you cannot whisper about sex life. There are eight types of different regulation to stop sex life. But these things are very difficult in this age. Therefore we have simply summarized that don’t have sex life beyond the married life. That is not good.
Then how brahmacarya can be executed? That is also given here: tapasa brahmacaryena samena. Samena means controlling the mind. The yoga system, astanga-yoga system, practicing the asana, sitting posture, breathing exercise, controlling the senses from outside engagement, pratyahara, these are, this yoga system is meant for controlling the mind and controlling the sense. If there is no control of mind and no control of senses, the so-called yoga practice is bogus. It has no meaning. Yoga indriya samyama. Yoga means to control the senses. That is the real meaning of yoga. So if one is unable to control the senses… I have seen in some yoga practice institution in New York. They are practicing some, this asana, and just after finishing, immediately smoking. You see. This much control they learned. So these, these are all bogus. This is not yoga system. Yoga system is not so easy, especially in this age. Yoga system means to control the senses, control the mind; and control the mind means you have to control so many things—your eating, your sleeping, your behaving. These are prescribed in the Bhagavad-gita, how to practice the astanga-yoga. You have to find out a suitable place, a sacred place, a solitary place. Therefore real yogis, they used to go to Himalaya. Sometimes some young men, here, in your country, they inquire from me how to go to Himalaya, and what you’ll do there, going there, Himalaya? So you are not practiced. So instead of practicing yoga in the Himalaya, you practice yoga here. We have come here to help you. Here this Krsna consciousness movement is there. If you are serious about practicing yoga, this, take bhakti-yoga. That will come, how it happens in the next lines.
So this astanga-yoga is not possible in this age—samo damah, controlling the mind, controlling the senses. Because nobody can properly practice the astanga-yoga system. Impossible. It is not only impossible now—even five thousand years ago, when Krsna was advising about this astanga-yoga to Arjuna. Arjuna was not ordinary man. He was friend of Krsna. He was a great son of a royal family. And Arjuna’s name and fame, everyone knows. So he said to Krsna: “My dear Krsna, this yoga practice is not possible to be performed by me. I am unable.” So Arjuna said frankly that he was unable to practice this yoga system. And what we are, in comparison to Arjuna? So this astanga-yoga system is not possible at all in this age. If you are satisfied by learning some sitting posture, artificially, that may give you some chance of good exercise of the body. You can keep good health. But there is no chance of spiritual realization by astanga-yoga practice in this age. So Sukadeva Gosvami says samena. Sama means manasa-niyamam, controlling the mind. The mind’s business is acception, acceptance and rejection. This is mind’s business. Even one is very elevated, the mind’s business is mind’s business. Mind will accept something: “It is very good,” and next moment it will reject. That is mind’s business. But you have to fix up your mind in something which you cannot reject. That is only the lotus feet of Krsna. If you fix up your mind on the lotus feet of Krsna, then your mind cannot go elsewhere. You practice it and you’ll see it. Sa vai manah krsna-padaravindayoh.
Therefore Ambarisa Maharaja fixed up his mind always… Our Krsna consciousness movement we are teaching our students, how to fix up the mind always in Krsna, some way or other. That is the first-class yoga system. And Krsna also advises. (break) …feet, and pray, bhajate. “Krsna, I am Your eternal servant. Kindly again engage me in Your service. Somehow or other, without being engaged in Your service, I have been dragged to the service of maya. Service I am going. I am rendering service. Because I am eternal servant, therefore my serving process is going on. But where it is going on? I am serving my lust, I am serving my anger, I am serving my greediness. So that means, in one word, I am serving my sense gratification. So kindly help me. Instead of serving my sense gratification, let me serve Your sense gratification.” That is yoga. That is first-class yoga. Pray always, fix up your mind in Krsna’s lotus feet, and pray that “I am eternal servant. Now I’m engaged in the service of my sense gratification, and You please help me. I have come to my senses, to engage my(self) in Your sense gratification.” The business is there, sense gratification. But Krsna consciousness means instead of satisfying one’s own senses, one should be ready to satisfy the senses of Krsna. That is Krsna consciousness.

CELEBRITY SANKIRTAN. Radha Damodar dasa: Srila Prabhupada asked…
→ Dandavats

CELEBRITY SANKIRTAN.
Radha Damodar dasa: Srila Prabhupada asked that his disciples go out and distribute his books. In the early days the main engagement of the devotees was to go to the busiest part of the city and blissfully sing the Hare Krishna mantra accompanied at first by guitars and kartals (cymbals) and later by mrdunga drums and kartals. So, we started to also ask the passing people to buy a book or maagazine and even went door to door to sell books but the result wasn’t satisfying. People weren’t interested and only gave us a little change to get rid of us. About 1975, mostly due to the ideas of Tripurari dasa, we developed a new technique called “undercover Samkirtan” or “karmi clothes Samkirtan”. Samkirtan means to publicly glorify the Lord. We would put on Western style clothes such as shirts and trousers or even suits and the men would wear wigs or hats. We wore Identification Badges or carried some kind of license or certificate and went to every crowded place. Our main method was “the numbers game” which was to keep on asking for a donation from as many people as you could. The number of donations, quarters, dollars, etc. added up and any man could collect a hundred dollars or more in a day. The money went mostly to the BBT press to pay for the printing of Srila Prabhupada’s books.

So we would go to malls, shopping center parking lots, sports events, State Fairs. The best place to go was to the airport terminal because it was always crowded, you rarely met the same people twice and you were inside, protected from the elements of weather. Airport officials did not like us but the courts had to uphold our right to preach in a public place as long as we did not sell but merely “accepted donations”. We would hand out a small gift such as a stick of incense or a lollipop to get the people to stop. Then we would give them a brief statement of our need for donations for a good cause and if they gave a donation we would give them a large or small book and then run to the next prospect. In this way, many thousands of enthusiastic young men and women blitzed every store, every home in every town and village in the U.S., Europe, India, and everywhere else in the world between 1975 and 1985. More about this in my next essay “The Good Old Days” but now my personal recollections of distributing or preaching to celebrities:

One day in 1974, I was distributing at the door of a Target Department Store in Denver, Colorado. I was dressed in an orange dhoti and was handing out incense and magazines. At noon I called the temple and the president told me that “Bob Dylan was just here looking like he stepped off an album cover with faded jeans and tussled hair. He just went into the temple room and chanted on his beads for a couple of hours while the devotee couple that he’s travelling with collected all the prasadam (remnants of the Lord’s foodstuff) they could and bought books and posters.”

A few minutes later Puspa dasa came up and introduced himself and said, “Bob wants to see you in the van.” I picked up my box and went out to the van and there he was, strumming his guitar on the floor of the van. “Please come in,” he said.“Please have some prasadam.” Puspa and his wife gave me a big tray of all kinds of prasad such as sweets, halavah, vegetables and rice with milk to drink. I looked about – all around the top of the van walls were colourful pictures torn from Back to Godhead magazine and on his guitar was a picture of Lord Krishna on the body and the logo of Srila Prabhupada on the neck. I praised his involvement in IsKcon but Bob appeared very shy. Puspa suggested that Bob sing the song about Krsna that he’d just wrote so he sang “Come to Krsna, Hari Bol” and they sang along with enthusiasm. I then thanked them and left, going back to my Samkirtan.

At the Denver airport I met Timothy Leary, who is famous for synthesizing the hallucinogenic drug LSD. He was familiar with our philosophy, so we were chatting. I had a gulab jamon (a juicy sweetball) and I had just persuaded him to put the whole stick sweetball in his mouth when a female devotee from the temple said, “How nice, now you won’t have to be a ghost,” and he spat it out into an ash tray saying, “ I want to be a ghost, ” and he walked away.

I distributed at the Denver airport about 40 hours a week for many years. Usually I would pin a carnation on the lapel of a traveller and ask for a donation, then give them some literature. One day, the other devotees called me over to try to get a donation from Rock guitarist Gregg Allman. He was on his way to Vail for a ski vacation with his wife, singer Cher and her daughter Chastity. I showed him the book Bhagavad Gita and they all listened nicely to me for half an hour, then he gave me $5, a good donation in those days and I gave him the Gita.

One day, I saw actor-singer-dancer Sammy Davis Jr. coming through the airport. I gave him a flower and asked for a donation. His companion said, “Look, we get this all the time. We just can’t…” but Mr. Davis snapped, “Listen, give me a couple of bucks for me!” His friend gave me a dollar very reluctantly but didn’t want a magazine. A few minutes later I gave Mr. Davis a Bhagavad Gita and he put it under his arm and said, “thank you, I promise to read this.”

The Beach Boys were running with their luggage to catch a plane but Mike Love came over to me and said,“oh, wow I could really use a Bhagavad Gita where I’m going, would $5 be allright, I never carry much money when I travel.”

I often met the Turtles. They had read our books before and were not interested but they were friendly and would joke and play around with me.

I met John Denver in the baggage claim and he said he liked out literature and he gave $4 for a couple of magazines.

I recognized Clint Eastwood in the baggage claim, old and tired looking in a dark suit but when I approached him I was driven away by a young lady who gave me a good tongue lashing, poking my chest with her finger nail. Mr. Eastwood looked apologetic.

When I saw Ronald Reagan, then Governor of California and Presidential candidate coming up the hall, surrounded by reporters and photographers, I went right up and pinned a flower on his lapel and asked for a donation. He just said, “thank you, this is very lovely indeed.” He shook my hand hard and asked me to vote for him.

A few of us met the rock group called the Mothers of Invention at the Denver airport, they were very amusing. Frank Zappa was wearing a T-shirt with his own picture on it and he gave us his baggage claim stub, saying “you ought to be able to get $5 for this,” and he gave us his comb, saying “ you ought to be able to get $20 for this!”

I met comedian Jerry Lewis several times, although he was willing to discuss, he wasn’t interested in Krishna Consciousness and never took a book. One day I saw him walking up the concourse with elegant young ladies on each arm and when he got to the limo pick up area he was yelling “Where’s my bags? I brought 20 bags and I want to see them all right here!”

At the Las Vegas airport I distributed literature to many celebrities including golf pro Jack Armstrong, comedian Red Foxx, Elvis impersonator Big El and the actor who starred in the TV show “Palladin.”

I met comedian Danny Thomas at the Las Vegas airport and offerred him a small Krsna Book. He said, “ No thank you son, I have that book at home. I’ve read it.” He gave $5.

I had a long talk one day with singer Rod Stewart. He said he didn’t like devotees, our philosophy or the pushy way we distribute books but a couple of weeks later I saw sitting with book distributor Bopadev dasa talking quite warmly.

One day, in Las Vegas I saw Leader of the Opposition Tip O’Neil coming down the concourse, very drunk. I pinned a flower on him and asked for a donation. He said, “Son, I’m a U.S. congressman,” he gave me his card,“I don’t give to the people, I steal from them! HA HA HA.”

I met the Zoo Director of the Denver Zoo while distributing there. He drove up and told me how much he disliked the prescence of preachers, such as myself, at his facility. I asked him what his philosophy was and he said, “ I believe man is a carnivore, and my greatest happiness in life is to eat every species!” He then told me of his travels in the four directions’ such as “I’ve been to the North and eaten walrus and bear.” And then he said, “I realize that some animals are going extinct, therefore I want to eat them first! I don’t want to miss anything.” Actually there’s a club in America that has large charity funding dinners where members pay thousands of dollars to dine on dinners of rare Endangered Species prepared by hotel chefs.

There were others, but that’s all I remember right now.

Appreciation. Voltaire wrote: “Appreciation is a wonderful…
→ Dandavats

Appreciation.
Voltaire wrote: “Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.”
And in her prayer about the power of bhakti, Queen Kunti uses the word, “grnanti” (“appreciating”) to say that those who appreciate other’s devotional service are themselves performing high grade devotional service, just by deeply appreciating how others are doing their service. Queen Kunti says, these “appreciators” will come to see the Lord directly.
As we become purified, our ability to appreciate Krsna and His devotees increases more and more.

Really, the soul is naturally and eternally an appreciator. The Vedas say: eko bahu-syam: “The one Lord has become many.” Why? Vedanta Sutra answers: Anandamayo bhyasat, “For enjoyment.” In other words, the soul, Krsna’s part and parcel, exists for Krsna’s pleasure and has the eternal privilege of appreciating Krsna, Krsna’s devotees, and the process of devotional service.

Krsna is an ocean of attractiveness, but what makes His attractiveness forever increase is the dynamic relationship between Him and His devotees. “A pure devotee does not want anything from Krsna; he simply wants to serve Him. And Krsna also looks for the opportunity to serve His devotee. Krsna is always as anxious to please His devotee as the devotee is to please Him … This is spiritual competition.” SSR 8

Seeing Radharani (Krsna’s supreme appreciator) Krsna thinks: “There is constant competition between My sweetness and the mirror of Radha’s love. They both go on increasing, but neither knows defeat.” (Cc Adi 4.142) “Whatever pleasure I get from tasting My love for Srimati Radharani, She tastes ten million times more than Me by Her love.” (Cc Adi 4.126)

Appreciation for Krsna moves the devotee to smile, to dance and to serve. In his Samhita, Brahma describes how in Goloka, “every word is a song, every gait is a dance.” There the residents move out of a joy driven by their overflowing appreciation for Krsna, Krsna’s devotees and devotional service.

To this end, one evening during our hari nama sankirtana performance in Palo Alto, CA, I watched as an elderly women smiled broadly upon beholding our devotees chanting blissfully on the sidewalk. Soon the force of her appreciation moved her to clap her hands to the beat of the kirtana; soon after that she swayed with obvious happiness, waving her hands in the air.

People spend their whole lives looking for things and people to appreciate. They flock to natural scenes like the Grand Canyon, eulogize talented or famous singers, writers and athletes, and gaze at beauty in all its forms …

Bhakti yoga is the simple act of connecting all such appreciations to Krsna and His devotees. Watering these seeds of appreciation brings forth the beautiful creeper of prema, pure love for the Supreme Person, the only true satisfaction of the soul.

Humbly in service and with deep appreciation of your association,
Vaisesika Das