Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 9, No. 2
By Krishna-kripa das
(January 2013, part two)
Florida
(Sent from Jacksonville, Florida, on March 6, 2013)
Where I Went and What I Did
During the second half of January, I returned to Gainesville to live at Krishna House and help maintain the program of chanting for two and a half hours during the serving of Krishna Lunch at the University of Florida and chanting at the Gainesville Farmers Market on Wednesday. In addition, I attended a program of our Krishna Club at University of North Florida in Jacksonville.
On Martin Luther King Day five of us chanted in the parade for King, with Damodar Prasad singing enthusiastically and Hladini talking to people and distributing literature, and then we joined the other Krishna House devotees for a picnic in a nearby park. While we were chanting in the park, one man remarked that our chanting was disturbing the wildlife. I laughed to myself, thinking that as we are vegetarian, we do less damage to the environment than your average American meat eater. In addition, all the wildlife made great spiritual benefit which the poor chap could not see.
Devotees from both Alachua and Gainesville drove to Tampa to do harinama at a the Gasparilla Pirate Festival, which is said to be attended by 500,000 people, and I share some descriptions, pictures and video of that.
I have many insights from Srila Prabhupada’s lectures and his books, some notes on a recorded lecture by Niranjana Swami, notes of lectures from Prabhupada disciples, including Kalakantha and Sesa Prabhus, and realizations from newer devotees at Krishna House.
Thanks to Tulasirani dd for the picture of the Krishna House picnic crew, Flickr user BXGD for the picture of the devotees dancing at Gasparilla, and Amanda from Krishna House for the videos.
Chanting at the Gasparilla Pirate Festival in Tampa
The Gasparilla Pirate Festival in Tampa on January 26 was a great event for exposing thousands of people to the Hare Krishna mantra and getting a number of them to dance with our chanting party.
Tulasirani dd from Krishna House commented, “At the Gasparilla Pirate Festival in Tampa people were standing around waiting for something fun to happen, and we supplied the fun with the harinama and people were very happy to dance with us.”
These videos by Amanda from Krishna House in Gainesville will give you a feel for the wildness of it all. In particular, you can see why the Tampa Bay Timeswrote, “A number of apparently well-lubricated spectators danced with devotees of Hare Krishna.”
One girl from the crowd encountered the devotees on three separate occasions and danced enthusiastically with us each time.
A party of devotees from Alachua chanted for three hours, while a party of younger devotees from Gainesville chanted for two. I was amazed that the older people from Alachua showed greater endurance than the Gainesville youth. Perhaps they did not jump up and down so much in the hot sun and thus could keep going longer. After my friends from Gainesville desisted, I joined the Alachua party, as I was psyched to do the whole three hours.
The weather was incredible, sunny and around 75°F [24°C]. I got sunburned as I was not prepared for so much sun in January.
After the afternoon of chanting the Tampa nama-hatta devotees served excellent prasadam in a nearby park for all the devotees.
We all had a great time and look forward to doing it again next year. Come and bring your dancing shoes.
Insights
Srila Prabhupada:
If I am not jolly, maya has attacked me. If I am in contact with Krishna, how can I be morose? That is the test.
We must be enthusiastic, but we cannot be enthusiastic artificially. It has to be based on connection with Krishna.
If we cannot rise early in the morning, we are under the clutches of maya. That is the test. Sleeping is very dangerous. It is the symptom of tamo-guma (the mode of darkness).
A politician may pose that he is advanced spiritually, but when we see he is more interested in politics than Krishna consciousness, we can understand his real position.
Vaishnava means to understand the Absolute Truth is a person.
Krishna understanding is difficult, but by the mercy of Krishna in the form of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, it is possible because of His great liberality. If we do not take advantage, how unfortunate we are!
from Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.18.32, purport:
“Nothing is false. One thing may be permanent and another temporary, but both the permanent and the temporary are facts. For example, if someone becomes angry for a certain period, no one can say that his anger is false. It is simply temporary. Everything we experience in our daily lives is of this same character; it is temporary but real.”
from Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.18.33, purport:
“Philosophers and scientists have been trying to study the entire cosmic situation and have been theorizing and calculating in different ways for millions and millions of years. However, the speculative research work of a so-called scientist or philosopher is always interrupted when he dies, and the laws of nature go on without regard for his work.”
from Bhagavad-gita 5.29, purport:
“A pure soul is the eternal servant of God as His fragmental part and parcel. He comes into contact with maya(illusion) due to the desire to lord it over maya,and that is the cause of his many sufferings. As long as he is in contact with matter, he has to execute work in terms of material necessities. Krishna consciousness, however, brings one into spiritual life even while one is within the jurisdiction of matter, for it is an arousing of spiritual existence by practice in the material world. The more one is advanced, the more he is freed from the clutches of matter. The Lord is not partial toward anyone. Everything depends on one’s practical performance of duties in Krishna consciousness, which helps one control the senses in every respect and conquer the influence of desire and anger. And one who stands fast in Krishnaconsciousness, controlling the abovementioned passions, remains factually in the transcendental stage, or brahma-nirvana.”
from Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.18.4, purport:
“The Lord is always prepared to excuse His devotee, but if a devotee takes advantage of the Lord’s leniency and purposefully commits mistakes again and again, the Lord will certainly punish him by letting him fall down into the clutches of the illusory energy. In other words, theoretical knowledge acquired by studying the Vedas is insufficient to protect one from the clutches of maya.One must strongly adhere to the lotus feet of the Lord in devotional service. Then one’s position is secure.”
from Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.18.7:
“Prahlada Maharaja, the topmost devotee of the Lord, is a reservoir of all the good qualities of great personalities. His character and activities have delivered all the fallen members of his demoniac family.”
from a lecture on Bhagavad-gita 2.13:
Nature is like a great machine. Every machine has an operator. Thus nature must have an operator. We may not be able to see the operator, but the operator is there. That operator is God. Human life is meant for inquiring about God.
All science and philosophy is there, but if you are not interested in philosophy you can just chant Hare Krishna and attain perfection. But if you think “what is this nonsense chanting of Hare Krishna?” Then so many books are there you can read.
Although you are not initiated, your coming here counts as service. It is like depositing a cent in the bank every day. Someday you will have $100. So coming here every day is like depositing a cent every day. When it gets to be $100, you become a devotee.
Q: One man says he is not suffering and he is not afraid of death. What do we say to him?
A: He is a madman.
You can attain Krishna by surrendering to Him. How long does it take to surrender to Krishna? It can be done in a moment. What does surrender mean? You do what Krishna says. What is that? Four things. Man mana bhava mad bhakto . . . Think of Krishna, become His devotee, bow down to Him, and offer homage to Him. Then you come to Him.
A human being will ask how he can control his mind. A dog will never ask how to control this barking habit. That is the difference between a human being and a dog.
from Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.19 Chapter Summary:
“Bharata-varsa has special significance because in this tract of land there exists the Vedic principle of varnasrama-dharma,which divides society into four varnasand four asramas.Furthermore, Narada Muni’s opinion is that even if there is some temporary disturbance in the execution of the varnasrama-dharma principles, they can be revived at any moment. The effect of adhering to the institution of varnasrama is gradual elevation to the spiritual platform and liberation from material bondage. By following the principles of varnasrama-dharma,one gets the opportunity to associate with devotees. Such association gradually awakens one’s dormant propensity to serve the Supreme Personality of Godhead and frees one from all the basic principles of sinful life. One then gets the opportunity to offer unalloyed devotional service to the Supreme Lord, Vasudeva. Because of this opportunity, the inhabitants of Bharata-varsa are praised even in the heavenly planets. Even in the topmost planet of this universe, Brahmaloka, the position of Bharata-varsa is discussed with great relish.”
from The Nectar of Devotion:
“In the Naradiya Purana there is a statement of how this servitorship is transcendental. It is said there that a person who is constantly engaged in devotional service by his body, mind and words, or even a person who is not practically engaged but is simply desiring to be so, is considered to be liberated.”
“Third Canto, Seventh Chapter, verse 19, of Srimad-Bhagavatam: ‘Let me become a sincere servant of the devotees, because by serving them one can achieve unalloyed
devotional service unto the lotus feet of the Lord. The service of devotees diminishes all miserable material conditions and develops within one a deep devotional love for the Supreme Personality of Godhead.’”
“In the Padma Purana also it is stated, ‘The chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra is present only on the lips of a person who has for many births worshiped Vasudeva.’”
from a lecture on Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.6.10 given in Bombay on December 28, 1976:
In India it is simply in name. There is actually no varnasrama. Most people are sudras.
Most people do not have a clear idea of God nor a desire to know Him.
The same activity performed with knowledge of atma-tattva, knowledge of the spiritual truth, leads on to spiritual perfection but performed without such knowledge leads to a hellish condition.
Don’t act anything except for the satisfaction of Krishna. That is Krishna consciousness.
A classless society cannot be. Even in the Russia, the Communist country, they wanted to create a classless society but ended up having to retain a managing class and a working class.
from Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.17.4, purport:
[Srila Prabhupada was not enamored by the accomplishments of material science as statements like this reveal.] “So-called advanced scientists of the modern age are trying to go to the higher planets, but at the same time they are experiencing a power shortage on earth. If they were actually capable scientists, they could personally go by airplane to other planets, but this they are unable to do. Having now given up their moon excursions, they are attempting to go to other planets, but without success.”
from Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.17.24, purport:
“. . . the living entity is entangled in fruitive activities, which are executed by the illusory energy, maya. He is exactly like a computer handled by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The so-called scientists say that nature acts independently, but they cannot explain what nature is. Nature is nothing but a machine operated by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. When one understands the operator, his problems of life are solved.”
from The Nectar of Devotion, Chapter Two:
“As a man’s mental disease is cured by the directions of a psychiatrist, so this sadhana bhakti cures the conditioned soul of his madness under the spell of maya, material illusion.”
“According to Vedic injunctions, when a brahmana eats it is to be understood that the Personality of Godhead is eating through him. It is not, however, that the brahmana should simply eat on behalf of the Lord and not preach the message of Bhagavad-gita to the world. Actually, one who preaches the message of the Gita is very dear to Krishna, as is confirmed in the Gita itself. Such a preacher is factually a brahmana, and thus by feeding him one feeds the Supreme Lord directly.”
Sri Visakhanandabhidha-stotra: Prayers with Names That Are the Bliss of Visakha by Raghunatha Dasa Goswami:
She is known as Radha because the worship (radha) of Her removes all distress.
Niranjana Swami:
from a lecture on Bhagavad-gita6.32 given in Boston on Sunday, December 9, 2012:
Prahlada Maharaja describes the materialists as chewing the chewed, repeating trying to enjoy the same things that have not satisfied them in the past. I had a friend in school who would stick his gum on the bottom of his seat at the end of the day, and then take it off and begin chewing it the next day.
The Lord relishes the activities of those who are selflessly engaged in service to Him and who are thus so satisfied that they desire nothing else. The Lord gives His heart to such a devotee. And that devotee can share the Lord with others.
When Durvasa Muni approached the Lord, desiring His compassion, the Lord indicated that He had given His heart to Maharaja Ambarisa, and therefore Durvasa should approach him.
Devotional service is such a rare, precious, valuable jewel. To render service to the Lord is the most precious gift of life. We must learn to appreciate that gift when it is offered to us. Otherwise we might mistake it for something else.
The Lord can fulfill our desires much better than anyone else. He knows how to fulfill the desires of his devotees.
In Ananda Vrndavana Campu, Kavi Karnapura explains that within His form as an eternal fresh youth, are His baby and childhood forms, and He manifests those forms to please His devotees who want to see Him in those features.
Even when Krishna does something amazing, His intimate associates in Vrindavana are not disturbed by thinking the Krishna is God, but remain fixed in their intimate relationship with Him.
Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami:
They
are the original conjugal couple,
and all love relations expand
from Them, even the perverted
forms in the material world.
When we worship Radha-Krishna
we give up mundane sex desire
and only wish to serve Them
in Their pastimes. To serve
the Lord of the senses with
your senses is the perfection
of bhakti.It is the eternal svarupaor
nature of the liberated
being. It is eternal, blissful, and full of knowledge.
from Shack Notes:
“Love of God takes the form of lust in the material realm. The cleansing process is the chanting and hearing of the name, form, teachings and pastimes of the Supreme Lord. Just apply yourself tobhaktiand all contamination will be washed away. Extra counseling and discussion is only needed by ‘dysfunctional’ persons, or those who think they are dysfunctional. Only those persons who cannot obey the command, ‘Chant and don’t worry’ need special attention. And who is notin that category?”
Akuti Prabhu:
Maya, the Lord’s illusory energy, is sometimes called a witch, and “that which is not.” Hearing these qualities, would we be attracted to serve her?
Devotional service convinces us that in this life we should abandon illusory material enjoyment and engage in the service of Krishna.
Unless we surrender to Krishna, we are surrendering to maya.
One of maya’s tricks is glitter. She can make rotten flesh an exotic culinary preparation or rotten grapes a tasty beverage.
One trick to conquer maya is to get up early. I think she takes a nap at that time.
When the mind bothers you, go outside and chant louder and more distinctly.
Go out and tell someone else about Krishna. It is so healthy for your spiritual life. At least once a week. Tell either a devotee or a new person.
Regularly hear Srimad-Bhagavatam, online if not live.
comment by Kaliya Phani Prabhu: I have a technique for dealing with the mind like the strategy of not letting the salesman get in the door. When the mind proposes something, tell it, “We may do it or may not do it, but we will not do it now.”
comment by Indian student: I found at Krishna House during the break there was less service so my mind became more materially directed. I found if I did more service at Krishna House that solved the problem.
comment by another devotee: Prabhupada said to keep the mind at peace we should think of how to spread this Krishna consciousness.
Ananda Loka Prabhu:
In devotional service, all we give up is temporary and all we gain is eternal.
Bhakticannot be regulated or controlled by anything other than bhakti.
Brahma Tirtha Prabhu:
It is said that death and taxes are for certain. I know some successful tax evaders, but death evaders are harder to come by.
Lord Bhisma was happy that Krishna broke his vow not to raise a weapon in order to protect His devotee Arjuna, thus teaching the people in general that Krishna values protecting His devotees more than keeping His personal promises.
As devotees our biggest challenge is to do something and think of Krishna. Sometimes we decide to just think of Krishna, and we do so, for some time, before our mind wanders. Sometimes we decide just to do something. But to do something and think of Krishna at the same time is a challenge.
My mother-in-law was about as fervent atheist as you can be. As the time of her death was approaching, she moved to Gainesville to be near her daughter. When she talked to her daughter, it was all mundane, but when she would go out of the room, she would turn to me and say, “So what is going to happen when I die.” So I explained about it, and she said, “When I go, I am going to wave goodbye.” When the end was near, my wife and I were reading the Bhagavatam to her and trying to create the better spiritual situation for her passing. At one point, she did wave her hands, and then she was gone.
Q: Some say we must die to live. What does that mean?
A: Of course, we also have to live to die. To me, it means we cannot really live properly without taking into account death.
Comment by Kalakantha Prabhu: We have to give up our false conception of who we are to live spiritually.
from a class by Niranjana Swami played by Brahma Tirtha Prabhu in his class:
This civilization is designed in such a way people are taught to pursue sense gratification without considering there is an ultimate event that is going to come at the end of life and the purpose of life is to understand how to deal with that final event.
Sivarama Swami advised me to be with my mother at the time of death for in that way I could pay back the debt I owed to my mother, and that was one reason I was there.
Kalakantha Prabhu:
Bhismadeva, celebrated as the grandfather of the Pandavas, was so dear to Arjuna he was willing to renounce his occupation as a fighter rather than to fight with him.
The fact is that Bhagavad-gita is considered by the scholars to be a very authentic text, without disputes about the original text, unlike many major religious scriptures.
Utsaha, enthusiasm, means to put a little energy in to doing things nicely for Krishna. To be enthusiastic to serve our creator is our actual position.
When you are sick, focus your devotional energy on chanting your rounds.
Prevention is worth days of recuperation.
When I was a new devotee, there was a devotee who was struggling like anything to stay awake while chanting in the morning on his beads. He finally asked the temple president if he could go upstairs and take rest. When the temple president said “Yes,” the devotee exclaimed, “Jaya!” and ran up the stairs to take rest. This made a big impression on me—most fatigue is mental.
Fatigue is overcome by regulation. Go to sleep early.
from a discussion after lunch:
When packing a car, it is best to put the biggest item in first, and then pack the other smaller items around it. If you put the smaller things in first, you may not have room for the biggest one. Similarly with our spiritual life, we should put our spiritual practice first, and fit the other aspects of our life, our family, our work, etc., around that. If we prioritize our family and our work and other things, we may find we have no time for our spiritual practice, and our life may be wasted without profiting spiritually.
from a Sunday feast lecture in Alachua:
Yamuna Prabhu explained that the recording session that George Harrison did to make the Radha Krishna temple album went late into the night. All the devotees fell asleep except Yamuna who played the harmonium and sang a bhajana, a devotional song, that she had heard Srila Prabhupada sing many times, Bhajahu Re Mana, as she waited for George to finish mixing the recordings.George recorded her singing without her knowing, and decided to include it in the album. Yamuna protested vehemently, but George liked it and included it anyway. Some of the words were wrong and the verses were in the wrong order, but Srila Prabhupada liked it very much, and said she could fix it later.
There are sixty trillion cells in the human body, and the creepy thing is that only ten trillion cells are human, the others being symbiotic or parasitic.
It is not by guilt, fear, coersion, that we advance in devotional service.
We have to be happier performing devotional service, however faulty, than pursuing sense gratification, however successfully.
“O Lord please let me serve you.” I had never heard that prayer in all my life. Usually it is “O Lord give me this or that.”
That is why we like that bhajana (“Bhajahu Re Mana”) so much because it has Srila Prabhupada’s name, Abhaya Caranaravindam.
Srila Prabhupada said that if we just once say, “Krishna, take me, I’m yours” that we may forget it or change our minds, but Krishna never will, and He will make all arrangements for us.
Caru asked Srila Prabhupada how long it takes to become purified once in Australia when he was alone in Srila Prabhupada’s room. Srila Prabhupada replied, “About forty years.”
With what ever discretionary time you have, engage in your favorite devotional service, and you will advance more and more.
Q: Is our spiritual progress stalled if we do not follow the instructions of Krishna’s representative?
A: Yes. Krishna has sent this representative to us, so we must take advantage. Srila Prabhupada said we should not try to become big paramahamsas, but rather we should hang on to his dhoti, for he knows the back door to the spiritual world.
We can tell we are advancing when we spontaneously avoid things detrimental to devotional service because they are no longer appealing.
Even though they may not know a lot, no one can tell them they are not happy in devotional service. That is nistha or steadiness.
If you are enjoying japa you have made advancement.
If we had one-tenth as much faith in Krishna as we do that we are our body, we would attain Krishna prema [love of God].
Sesa Prabhu:
Srila Prabhupada was not so much interested in propagating a religion as giving people the opportunity to have their consciousness fully blossom.
One’s character is a manifestation of one’s consciousness.
Mahabharata addresses who is qualified to be the ruler of the entire world, and can be said to be about properly governing the world and not about religion.
One can take Mahabharata as a job interview by Krishna, the paramesvara (supreme controller), for the position of ruler of the world.
Employers hire for competence and fire for character.
Employers look for ability, track record, character, positive attitude, and enthusiasm.
Duryodhana was asked to find someone greater than himself, and he could not. Yudhisthira was asked to find someone less than himself, and he could not. This indicates that Duryodhana was narcissistic, proud, bombastic, etc. Would you want to hire someone like that? Often when people have these bad qualities, they have other bad qualities because of not being able to deal properly with other people. Recently many military leaders have been found to have other serious character flaws.
There is a path to full developed consciousness that people have followed in the past and which can be followed even now.
Shiva drank an ocean of poison to save humanity from its ill effects.
At a petrol station in India one devotee asked a local student who knew English what he wanted to do with his life. He said that he wanted to do something to bring honor to his father’s name. You won’t get a response like that in America! That is just a remnant of the Vedic culture.
Svayambhuva Manu would use his free time to study the scripture to become a better leader, not to enjoy his senses in different ways.
The real solution to different ills like violence in society is to change the consciousness of the people. Mahabharata gives knowledge by which we can do that.
To make mistakes is human, but as our consciousness develops, we learn from our mistakes.
Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura says others cannot harm us unless we harm ourselves. So just to protect ourselves it is in our self-interest to develop our character.
We can be overcome by lust but if we take shelter of the Lord, He will protect us.
Superficial change is not real change.
comment by Vaishnava dasa: I did not make a plan to be clean, but just by engaging in devotional service that came naturally.
The the asrama divisions in varnasrama follow the natural changes of our body.
The details of what we do might change but the reason we do things, to please Krishna, does not change.
Change should be made to develop our devotional service rather than as a reduction.
The instruction to stay in your own position does not mean to be complacent.
comment by a devotee: Srila Prabhupada used the analogy of cleaning a room to explain how when we begin our spiritual practice it seems that our life initially gets more complicated and confusing.
Q: What should we do when devotees disagree about what is a principle and what is a detail?
A: There is a principle of ista-gosthi, whereby which the devotees discuss the subject in detail, and then even if there seems to be no resolution, you will get mercy from Krishna from following His process of ista-gosthi.
Fault-finding is a very dangerous quality.
When we find faults, that person’s fault does not become magnified, rather our bad qualities become magnified.
Martin Luther King says he has a dream of a day when one is judged not by the color of his skin but by the content of his character.
When I was a brahmacari in LA in the 1970s, the brahmacaris would take prasadam together, mostly in silence. One day one brahmacari said, “Baseball season starts today.” He could have been advising us of good opportunities for harinama or book distribution, but we did not give him a chance. Instead we got on his case for being in maya for talking of materialistic thingsbecause in those days we were very fanatical.
There are different kinds of intelligence, and if a manager because of being attached to a particular one, and not appreciating others, discourages a person that can be very detrimental.
Mostly the criticism is more about the person who makes criticism than the person who is criticized.
Motivations for criticism:
-
gaining a sense of superiority.
-
getting back at someone
-
establish our position as being the best
-
to distract people from considering our own faults
The pure soul is devoid of the quality of fault-finding.
If we can find faults in ourselves, we are in a better position to learn from others’ criticism of ourselves.
comment by Dorian: Before Einstein was a great physicist he worked in a patent office, and his boss said that he would never amount to anything, and he said it just made him work harder.
Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura said, “Look within. Amend yourself rather than pry into the faults of others. Cultivate patience, humility, and respect for others”.
some verses related to the topic of fault-finding from Krishna-kripa das:
“The worker who is always engaged in work against the injunctions of the scripture, who is materialistic, obstinate, cheating and expert in insulting others, and who is lazy, always morose and procrastinating is said to be a worker in the mode of ignorance.” (Bhagavad-gita 18.28)
“One should mentally honor the devotee who chants the holy name of Lord Krishna, one should offer humble obeisances to the devotee who has undergone spiritual initiation [diksa] and is engaged in worshiping the Deity, and one should associate with and faithfully serve that Pure devotee who is advanced in undeviated devotional service and whose heart is completely devoid of the propensity to criticize others.(Nectar of Instruction, verse 5)
Tattva-vit Prabhu:
Desire to serve the Lord personally does not imply service the Lord alone or without any intermediate.
Srila Prabhupada says becoming the servant of the Lord’s servants is the sum and substance of life. Narottama Dasa Thakura prays in that mood, “tadera carana-sebi-bhakta-sane bas—May I live with those devotees who serve the lotus feet of these six Gosvamis.”
Preachers should serve the Lord purely and joyfully to inspire others.
Our body, life, and ego are Krishna’s energy, and thus ultimately Krishna Himself.
Srila Prabhupada writes in The Nectar of Instruction that the first business of spiritual life is to train the senses and the mind.
By associating with devotees one will also come to desire eagerness to serve Krishna.
Srila Prabhupada told a reporter that his message could be very widely accepted if “they would hear it.”
comment by Bhakta Marlon: Because the self is part of Krishna if you present Krishna consciousness by telling people its about themselves that will be more appealing to them than telling them that its is about Krishna, who they are not so interested in.
Dana-keli Prabhu:
We hear about the pastimes so we can become purified and hear about about the pastimes in a deeper way.
Tamal Krishna Goswami in his Ph.D. dissertation explains that Srila Prabhupada special contribution was that he digested all the truths presented by the previous teachers in the spiritual line and expertly presented them for the modern world.
We may have difficulties in our spiritual practice but if we never abandon the association of devotees, ultimately we will attain success.
One thing that attracted me in the beginning of my practice of Krishna consciousness, was the idea that I have a relationship with God that is completely unique, not like that of anyone else’s, and I wanted to experience that.
One person would trick his mind into doing book distribution. When the mind would protest his program of going downtown and distributing books, he would tell his mind, “We are not going to distribute books. We just going to put books in the car and drive downtown.” When he got downtown, his mind would again protest, and he would say, “We are not going to distribute books, we are just going to get out of the car with a bag of books, and walk around.” So he got out of the car with the books and wandered around. When the mind was again worried about distributing books, he would say, “We are not going to distribute books, we are just going to say ‘Hello’ to people.” And by going on and on in this way, he tricked his mind into distributing books.
If we want to read the advanced Vaishnava literature Srila Prabhupada recommended in Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, it is good to do it in the association of devotees.
Madhava Prabhu (from Alachua):
Twice Prabhupada spoke on the teachings of Queen Kunti and from those lectures, the BBT was able to publish the book Teachings of Queen Kunti.
To take shelter of Krishna alone is the great lesson we can learn from Kunti and her sons, the Pandavas. Vyasadeva teaches this important lesson in the very beginning Srimad-Bhagavatam.
Q: In Mahabharata Krishna asks Arjuna to get weapons from the demigods for use in the battle, so some people argue that it is alright to worship the demigods.
A: Krishna is sending Arjuna to his devotees to get the blessings of his devotees, the demigods. It is not that Arjuna is thinking that the demigods can offer him something that Krishna can’t.
Prema Manjari dd:
This is the most important of Kunti’s prayers as it is very rare that someone prays for more calamities.
In a crisis our whole world may fall apart. We may feel fear, depression, etc. Some people fall apart emotionally. Even after the crisis, people continue to suffer for years because of not being able to process what happened.
Psychologists who have analyzed post-traumatic-stress syndrome say those who suffer the most are those who consider themselves as victims.
On the other hand, there are cases of post-traumatic growth, which is a exciting field of new research in psychology. This is symptomized by greater psychological, emotional, and spiritual confidence, greater compassion, increased faith in self and others, more capacity for intimacy, gratitude, etc.
The crisis is an opportunity for us to apply the spiritual knowledge we have acquired, especially by taking completely shelter of Krishna.
This world is not a place where we can be comfortable and happy, but unfortunately most of us do not believe that. Thus Krishna needs to create situations for us to realize this. It is best to see calamities in this way.
After being in the holy dhama, when you return to the West the power of the material energy to impede our spiritual progress is very obvious.
Rohini Kumara Prabhu:
The coach of a team that twice won the Super Bowl said, “Everyone wants to win. My teams wants to prepare to win.”
Caitanya dasi from Krishna House:
Hearing from the learned devotees while in Vrndavana, a common theme was that theoretical spiritual knowledge becomes realized more and more by sharing it with others.
My japa at Radha Damodara temple was very sweet, but it was not my doing it.
Nanda Kumar Prabhu:
What is striking about the narration of the prostitute Pingala, who because of frustration in her profession, surrendered to Krishna?
Typically misery causes frustration, but Pingala’s frustration brought detachment and knowledge. That was due to her past devotional activities.
comment by Tulasirani dd: Although sensual enjoyment is glorified in human society, Pingala the prostitute, comes to the conclusion that it is all useless, and that is very rare, and thus very striking.
comment by Indian student guest: The narration shows how even the most sinful person can get the mercy of the Lord.
Arjuna Prabhu:
It is a goal of mine to see how each of the chapters of Bhagavad-gita contributes to Krishna’s point that He is obtained by bhakti.
Tulasirani dd:
We were coming back from Festival of Inspiration, and we were really tired. The person who was driving swerved off the road. I cried out Krishna like I had never before done in my life. One of the girls was unconscious and covered with blood, and I knew she was not going to live, so I just chanted Hare Krishna and talked to her about Krishna. I was able to do that because I had just heard from my spiritual master at the Festival of Inspiration. There is nothing that anyone could have done for me in that car accident, except to tell me to remember Krishna. Earlier that very day my friend had said, “If I died today I would be so satisfied because I feel that I have this warm blanket of Krishna’s love around me.” I was so upset they took us to separate hospitals, because I would not be able help her remember Krishna, so I prayed to Srila Prabhupada and Krishna. Turns out she was taken to a hospital where a devotee doctor was on duty and happened to remember her name and called all the devotees, and they came and were able to help her remember Krishna at the end of her life. This car accident helped me realize that death can come at any moment.
A friend was telling me that Krishna is the only one she has, all others will be taken away from us. I was surprised to hear she had such an advanced realization.
The devotees are valuable because they remind us to remember Krishna.
I asked one of my friends what made her so inspired. She said, “I think if this was the last day of my life, what are all the things I would do to please Krishna on this day, and then I try to act that way.”
We are dependent on Krishna, but it is up to us to depend on Krishna.
When you are in distress, where do find solace? What are you taking shelter of? It is good to step back and see, was I trying to take shelter of Krishna or something temporary?
We should be making plans to become more attracted to thinking of Krishna by hearing about Him and seriously chanting His holy names.
We should visit the holy dhamas to increase our attraction to Krishna.
Death is something that happens to everyone, yet we talk about so many nonsensical things but we do not want to talk about death.
Prepare for death is not as difficult as preparing for many tests. Going to mangala-arati and singing and dancing with your friends is easier than studying for many other tests.
Q: We make so many plans, getting our Ph.D., getting a job, etc.
A: As a duty to your family and Krishna you have to have to make plans, but you also have to spend time completely absorbed in sadhana [your spiritual practice] every day.
unspoken comments by Krishna-kripa das on the topic of the class:
Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 9, No. 2
By Krishna-kripa das
(January 2013, part two)
Florida
(Sent from Jacksonville, Florida, on March 6, 2013)
Where I Went and What I Did
During the second half of January, I returned to Gainesville to live at Krishna House and help maintain the program of chanting for two and a half hours during the serving of Krishna Lunch at the University of Florida and chanting at the Gainesville Farmers Market on Wednesday. In addition, I attended a program of our Krishna Club at University of North Florida in Jacksonville.
On Martin Luther King Day five of us chanted in the parade for King, with Damodar Prasad singing enthusiastically and Hladini talking to people and distributing literature, and then we joined the other Krishna House devotees for a picnic in a nearby park. While we were chanting in the park, one man remarked that our chanting was disturbing the wildlife. I laughed to myself, thinking that as we are vegetarian, we do less damage to the environment than your average American meat eater. In addition, all the wildlife made great spiritual benefit which the poor chap could not see.
Devotees from both Alachua and Gainesville drove to Tampa to do harinama at a the Gasparilla Pirate Festival, which is said to be attended by 500,000 people, and I share some descriptions, pictures and video of that.
I have many insights from Srila Prabhupada’s lectures and his books, some notes on a recorded lecture by Niranjana Swami, notes of lectures from Prabhupada disciples, including Kalakantha and Sesa Prabhus, and realizations from newer devotees at Krishna House.
Thanks to Tulasirani dd for the picture of the Krishna House picnic crew, Flickr user BXGD for the picture of the devotees dancing at Gasparilla, and Amanda from Krishna House for the videos.
Chanting at the Gasparilla Pirate Festival in Tampa
The Gasparilla Pirate Festival in Tampa on January 26 was a great event for exposing thousands of people to the Hare Krishna mantra and getting a number of them to dance with our chanting party.
Tulasirani dd from Krishna House commented, “At the Gasparilla Pirate Festival in Tampa people were standing around waiting for something fun to happen, and we supplied the fun with the harinama and people were very happy to dance with us.”
These videos by Amanda from Krishna House in Gainesville will give you a feel for the wildness of it all. In particular, you can see why the Tampa Bay Timeswrote, “A number of apparently well-lubricated spectators danced with devotees of Hare Krishna.”
One girl from the crowd encountered the devotees on three separate occasions and danced enthusiastically with us each time.
A party of devotees from Alachua chanted for three hours, while a party of younger devotees from Gainesville chanted for two. I was amazed that the older people from Alachua showed greater endurance than the Gainesville youth. Perhaps they did not jump up and down so much in the hot sun and thus could keep going longer. After my friends from Gainesville desisted, I joined the Alachua party, as I was psyched to do the whole three hours.
The weather was incredible, sunny and around 75°F [24°C]. I got sunburned as I was not prepared for so much sun in January.
After the afternoon of chanting the Tampa nama-hatta devotees served excellent prasadam in a nearby park for all the devotees.
We all had a great time and look forward to doing it again next year. Come and bring your dancing shoes.
Insights
Srila Prabhupada:
If I am not jolly, maya has attacked me. If I am in contact with Krishna, how can I be morose? That is the test.
We must be enthusiastic, but we cannot be enthusiastic artificially. It has to be based on connection with Krishna.
If we cannot rise early in the morning, we are under the clutches of maya. That is the test. Sleeping is very dangerous. It is the symptom of tamo-guma (the mode of darkness).
A politician may pose that he is advanced spiritually, but when we see he is more interested in politics than Krishna consciousness, we can understand his real position.
Vaishnava means to understand the Absolute Truth is a person.
Krishna understanding is difficult, but by the mercy of Krishna in the form of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, it is possible because of His great liberality. If we do not take advantage, how unfortunate we are!
from Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.18.32, purport:
“Nothing is false. One thing may be permanent and another temporary, but both the permanent and the temporary are facts. For example, if someone becomes angry for a certain period, no one can say that his anger is false. It is simply temporary. Everything we experience in our daily lives is of this same character; it is temporary but real.”
from Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.18.33, purport:
“Philosophers and scientists have been trying to study the entire cosmic situation and have been theorizing and calculating in different ways for millions and millions of years. However, the speculative research work of a so-called scientist or philosopher is always interrupted when he dies, and the laws of nature go on without regard for his work.”
from Bhagavad-gita 5.29, purport:
“A pure soul is the eternal servant of God as His fragmental part and parcel. He comes into contact with maya(illusion) due to the desire to lord it over maya,and that is the cause of his many sufferings. As long as he is in contact with matter, he has to execute work in terms of material necessities. Krishna consciousness, however, brings one into spiritual life even while one is within the jurisdiction of matter, for it is an arousing of spiritual existence by practice in the material world. The more one is advanced, the more he is freed from the clutches of matter. The Lord is not partial toward anyone. Everything depends on one’s practical performance of duties in Krishna consciousness, which helps one control the senses in every respect and conquer the influence of desire and anger. And one who stands fast in Krishnaconsciousness, controlling the abovementioned passions, remains factually in the transcendental stage, or brahma-nirvana.”
from Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.18.4, purport:
“The Lord is always prepared to excuse His devotee, but if a devotee takes advantage of the Lord’s leniency and purposefully commits mistakes again and again, the Lord will certainly punish him by letting him fall down into the clutches of the illusory energy. In other words, theoretical knowledge acquired by studying the Vedas is insufficient to protect one from the clutches of maya.One must strongly adhere to the lotus feet of the Lord in devotional service. Then one’s position is secure.”
from Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.18.7:
“Prahlada Maharaja, the topmost devotee of the Lord, is a reservoir of all the good qualities of great personalities. His character and activities have delivered all the fallen members of his demoniac family.”
from a lecture on Bhagavad-gita 2.13:
Nature is like a great machine. Every machine has an operator. Thus nature must have an operator. We may not be able to see the operator, but the operator is there. That operator is God. Human life is meant for inquiring about God.
All science and philosophy is there, but if you are not interested in philosophy you can just chant Hare Krishna and attain perfection. But if you think “what is this nonsense chanting of Hare Krishna?” Then so many books are there you can read.
Although you are not initiated, your coming here counts as service. It is like depositing a cent in the bank every day. Someday you will have $100. So coming here every day is like depositing a cent every day. When it gets to be $100, you become a devotee.
Q: One man says he is not suffering and he is not afraid of death. What do we say to him?
A: He is a madman.
You can attain Krishna by surrendering to Him. How long does it take to surrender to Krishna? It can be done in a moment. What does surrender mean? You do what Krishna says. What is that? Four things. Man mana bhava mad bhakto . . . Think of Krishna, become His devotee, bow down to Him, and offer homage to Him. Then you come to Him.
A human being will ask how he can control his mind. A dog will never ask how to control this barking habit. That is the difference between a human being and a dog.
from Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.19 Chapter Summary:
“Bharata-varsa has special significance because in this tract of land there exists the Vedic principle of varnasrama-dharma,which divides society into four varnasand four asramas.Furthermore, Narada Muni’s opinion is that even if there is some temporary disturbance in the execution of the varnasrama-dharma principles, they can be revived at any moment. The effect of adhering to the institution of varnasrama is gradual elevation to the spiritual platform and liberation from material bondage. By following the principles of varnasrama-dharma,one gets the opportunity to associate with devotees. Such association gradually awakens one’s dormant propensity to serve the Supreme Personality of Godhead and frees one from all the basic principles of sinful life. One then gets the opportunity to offer unalloyed devotional service to the Supreme Lord, Vasudeva. Because of this opportunity, the inhabitants of Bharata-varsa are praised even in the heavenly planets. Even in the topmost planet of this universe, Brahmaloka, the position of Bharata-varsa is discussed with great relish.”
from The Nectar of Devotion:
“In the Naradiya Purana there is a statement of how this servitorship is transcendental. It is said there that a person who is constantly engaged in devotional service by his body, mind and words, or even a person who is not practically engaged but is simply desiring to be so, is considered to be liberated.”
“Third Canto, Seventh Chapter, verse 19, of Srimad-Bhagavatam: ‘Let me become a sincere servant of the devotees, because by serving them one can achieve unalloyed
devotional service unto the lotus feet of the Lord. The service of devotees diminishes all miserable material conditions and develops within one a deep devotional love for the Supreme Personality of Godhead.’”
“In the Padma Purana also it is stated, ‘The chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra is present only on the lips of a person who has for many births worshiped Vasudeva.’”
from a lecture on Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.6.10 given in Bombay on December 28, 1976:
In India it is simply in name. There is actually no varnasrama. Most people are sudras.
Most people do not have a clear idea of God nor a desire to know Him.
The same activity performed with knowledge of atma-tattva, knowledge of the spiritual truth, leads on to spiritual perfection but performed without such knowledge leads to a hellish condition.
Don’t act anything except for the satisfaction of Krishna. That is Krishna consciousness.
A classless society cannot be. Even in the Russia, the Communist country, they wanted to create a classless society but ended up having to retain a managing class and a working class.
from Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.17.4, purport:
[Srila Prabhupada was not enamored by the accomplishments of material science as statements like this reveal.] “So-called advanced scientists of the modern age are trying to go to the higher planets, but at the same time they are experiencing a power shortage on earth. If they were actually capable scientists, they could personally go by airplane to other planets, but this they are unable to do. Having now given up their moon excursions, they are attempting to go to other planets, but without success.”
from Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.17.24, purport:
“. . . the living entity is entangled in fruitive activities, which are executed by the illusory energy, maya. He is exactly like a computer handled by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The so-called scientists say that nature acts independently, but they cannot explain what nature is. Nature is nothing but a machine operated by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. When one understands the operator, his problems of life are solved.”
from The Nectar of Devotion, Chapter Two:
“As a man’s mental disease is cured by the directions of a psychiatrist, so this sadhana bhakti cures the conditioned soul of his madness under the spell of maya, material illusion.”
“According to Vedic injunctions, when a brahmana eats it is to be understood that the Personality of Godhead is eating through him. It is not, however, that the brahmana should simply eat on behalf of the Lord and not preach the message of Bhagavad-gita to the world. Actually, one who preaches the message of the Gita is very dear to Krishna, as is confirmed in the Gita itself. Such a preacher is factually a brahmana, and thus by feeding him one feeds the Supreme Lord directly.”
Sri Visakhanandabhidha-stotra: Prayers with Names That Are the Bliss of Visakha by Raghunatha Dasa Goswami:
She is known as Radha because the worship (radha) of Her removes all distress.
Niranjana Swami:
from a lecture on Bhagavad-gita6.32 given in Boston on Sunday, December 9, 2012:
Prahlada Maharaja describes the materialists as chewing the chewed, repeating trying to enjoy the same things that have not satisfied them in the past. I had a friend in school who would stick his gum on the bottom of his seat at the end of the day, and then take it off and begin chewing it the next day.
The Lord relishes the activities of those who are selflessly engaged in service to Him and who are thus so satisfied that they desire nothing else. The Lord gives His heart to such a devotee. And that devotee can share the Lord with others.
When Durvasa Muni approached the Lord, desiring His compassion, the Lord indicated that He had given His heart to Maharaja Ambarisa, and therefore Durvasa should approach him.
Devotional service is such a rare, precious, valuable jewel. To render service to the Lord is the most precious gift of life. We must learn to appreciate that gift when it is offered to us. Otherwise we might mistake it for something else.
The Lord can fulfill our desires much better than anyone else. He knows how to fulfill the desires of his devotees.
In Ananda Vrndavana Campu, Kavi Karnapura explains that within His form as an eternal fresh youth, are His baby and childhood forms, and He manifests those forms to please His devotees who want to see Him in those features.
Even when Krishna does something amazing, His intimate associates in Vrindavana are not disturbed by thinking the Krishna is God, but remain fixed in their intimate relationship with Him.
Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami:
They
are the original conjugal couple,
and all love relations expand
from Them, even the perverted
forms in the material world.
When we worship Radha-Krishna
we give up mundane sex desire
and only wish to serve Them
in Their pastimes. To serve
the Lord of the senses with
your senses is the perfection
of bhakti.It is the eternal svarupaor
nature of the liberated
being. It is eternal, blissful, and full of knowledge.
from Shack Notes:
“Love of God takes the form of lust in the material realm. The cleansing process is the chanting and hearing of the name, form, teachings and pastimes of the Supreme Lord. Just apply yourself tobhaktiand all contamination will be washed away. Extra counseling and discussion is only needed by ‘dysfunctional’ persons, or those who think they are dysfunctional. Only those persons who cannot obey the command, ‘Chant and don’t worry’ need special attention. And who is notin that category?”
Akuti Prabhu:
Maya, the Lord’s illusory energy, is sometimes called a witch, and “that which is not.” Hearing these qualities, would we be attracted to serve her?
Devotional service convinces us that in this life we should abandon illusory material enjoyment and engage in the service of Krishna.
Unless we surrender to Krishna, we are surrendering to maya.
One of maya’s tricks is glitter. She can make rotten flesh an exotic culinary preparation or rotten grapes a tasty beverage.
One trick to conquer maya is to get up early. I think she takes a nap at that time.
When the mind bothers you, go outside and chant louder and more distinctly.
Go out and tell someone else about Krishna. It is so healthy for your spiritual life. At least once a week. Tell either a devotee or a new person.
Regularly hear Srimad-Bhagavatam, online if not live.
comment by Kaliya Phani Prabhu: I have a technique for dealing with the mind like the strategy of not letting the salesman get in the door. When the mind proposes something, tell it, “We may do it or may not do it, but we will not do it now.”
comment by Indian student: I found at Krishna House during the break there was less service so my mind became more materially directed. I found if I did more service at Krishna House that solved the problem.
comment by another devotee: Prabhupada said to keep the mind at peace we should think of how to spread this Krishna consciousness.
Ananda Loka Prabhu:
In devotional service, all we give up is temporary and all we gain is eternal.
Bhakticannot be regulated or controlled by anything other than bhakti.
Brahma Tirtha Prabhu:
It is said that death and taxes are for certain. I know some successful tax evaders, but death evaders are harder to come by.
Lord Bhisma was happy that Krishna broke his vow not to raise a weapon in order to protect His devotee Arjuna, thus teaching the people in general that Krishna values protecting His devotees more than keeping His personal promises.
As devotees our biggest challenge is to do something and think of Krishna. Sometimes we decide to just think of Krishna, and we do so, for some time, before our mind wanders. Sometimes we decide just to do something. But to do something and think of Krishna at the same time is a challenge.
My mother-in-law was about as fervent atheist as you can be. As the time of her death was approaching, she moved to Gainesville to be near her daughter. When she talked to her daughter, it was all mundane, but when she would go out of the room, she would turn to me and say, “So what is going to happen when I die.” So I explained about it, and she said, “When I go, I am going to wave goodbye.” When the end was near, my wife and I were reading the Bhagavatam to her and trying to create the better spiritual situation for her passing. At one point, she did wave her hands, and then she was gone.
Q: Some say we must die to live. What does that mean?
A: Of course, we also have to live to die. To me, it means we cannot really live properly without taking into account death.
Comment by Kalakantha Prabhu: We have to give up our false conception of who we are to live spiritually.
from a class by Niranjana Swami played by Brahma Tirtha Prabhu in his class:
This civilization is designed in such a way people are taught to pursue sense gratification without considering there is an ultimate event that is going to come at the end of life and the purpose of life is to understand how to deal with that final event.
Sivarama Swami advised me to be with my mother at the time of death for in that way I could pay back the debt I owed to my mother, and that was one reason I was there.
Kalakantha Prabhu:
Bhismadeva, celebrated as the grandfather of the Pandavas, was so dear to Arjuna he was willing to renounce his occupation as a fighter rather than to fight with him.
The fact is that Bhagavad-gita is considered by the scholars to be a very authentic text, without disputes about the original text, unlike many major religious scriptures.
Utsaha, enthusiasm, means to put a little energy in to doing things nicely for Krishna. To be enthusiastic to serve our creator is our actual position.
When you are sick, focus your devotional energy on chanting your rounds.
Prevention is worth days of recuperation.
When I was a new devotee, there was a devotee who was struggling like anything to stay awake while chanting in the morning on his beads. He finally asked the temple president if he could go upstairs and take rest. When the temple president said “Yes,” the devotee exclaimed, “Jaya!” and ran up the stairs to take rest. This made a big impression on me—most fatigue is mental.
Fatigue is overcome by regulation. Go to sleep early.
from a discussion after lunch:
When packing a car, it is best to put the biggest item in first, and then pack the other smaller items around it. If you put the smaller things in first, you may not have room for the biggest one. Similarly with our spiritual life, we should put our spiritual practice first, and fit the other aspects of our life, our family, our work, etc., around that. If we prioritize our family and our work and other things, we may find we have no time for our spiritual practice, and our life may be wasted without profiting spiritually.
from a Sunday feast lecture in Alachua:
Yamuna Prabhu explained that the recording session that George Harrison did to make the Radha Krishna temple album went late into the night. All the devotees fell asleep except Yamuna who played the harmonium and sang a bhajana, a devotional song, that she had heard Srila Prabhupada sing many times, Bhajahu Re Mana, as she waited for George to finish mixing the recordings.George recorded her singing without her knowing, and decided to include it in the album. Yamuna protested vehemently, but George liked it and included it anyway. Some of the words were wrong and the verses were in the wrong order, but Srila Prabhupada liked it very much, and said she could fix it later.
There are sixty trillion cells in the human body, and the creepy thing is that only ten trillion cells are human, the others being symbiotic or parasitic.
It is not by guilt, fear, coersion, that we advance in devotional service.
We have to be happier performing devotional service, however faulty, than pursuing sense gratification, however successfully.
“O Lord please let me serve you.” I had never heard that prayer in all my life. Usually it is “O Lord give me this or that.”
That is why we like that bhajana (“Bhajahu Re Mana”) so much because it has Srila Prabhupada’s name, Abhaya Caranaravindam.
Srila Prabhupada said that if we just once say, “Krishna, take me, I’m yours” that we may forget it or change our minds, but Krishna never will, and He will make all arrangements for us.
Caru asked Srila Prabhupada how long it takes to become purified once in Australia when he was alone in Srila Prabhupada’s room. Srila Prabhupada replied, “About forty years.”
With what ever discretionary time you have, engage in your favorite devotional service, and you will advance more and more.
Q: Is our spiritual progress stalled if we do not follow the instructions of Krishna’s representative?
A: Yes. Krishna has sent this representative to us, so we must take advantage. Srila Prabhupada said we should not try to become big paramahamsas, but rather we should hang on to his dhoti, for he knows the back door to the spiritual world.
We can tell we are advancing when we spontaneously avoid things detrimental to devotional service because they are no longer appealing.
Even though they may not know a lot, no one can tell them they are not happy in devotional service. That is nistha or steadiness.
If you are enjoying japa you have made advancement.
If we had one-tenth as much faith in Krishna as we do that we are our body, we would attain Krishna prema [love of God].
Sesa Prabhu:
Srila Prabhupada was not so much interested in propagating a religion as giving people the opportunity to have their consciousness fully blossom.
One’s character is a manifestation of one’s consciousness.
Mahabharata addresses who is qualified to be the ruler of the entire world, and can be said to be about properly governing the world and not about religion.
One can take Mahabharata as a job interview by Krishna, the paramesvara (supreme controller), for the position of ruler of the world.
Employers hire for competence and fire for character.
Employers look for ability, track record, character, positive attitude, and enthusiasm.
Duryodhana was asked to find someone greater than himself, and he could not. Yudhisthira was asked to find someone less than himself, and he could not. This indicates that Duryodhana was narcissistic, proud, bombastic, etc. Would you want to hire someone like that? Often when people have these bad qualities, they have other bad qualities because of not being able to deal properly with other people. Recently many military leaders have been found to have other serious character flaws.
There is a path to full developed consciousness that people have followed in the past and which can be followed even now.
Shiva drank an ocean of poison to save humanity from its ill effects.
At a petrol station in India one devotee asked a local student who knew English what he wanted to do with his life. He said that he wanted to do something to bring honor to his father’s name. You won’t get a response like that in America! That is just a remnant of the Vedic culture.
Svayambhuva Manu would use his free time to study the scripture to become a better leader, not to enjoy his senses in different ways.
The real solution to different ills like violence in society is to change the consciousness of the people. Mahabharata gives knowledge by which we can do that.
To make mistakes is human, but as our consciousness develops, we learn from our mistakes.
Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura says others cannot harm us unless we harm ourselves. So just to protect ourselves it is in our self-interest to develop our character.
We can be overcome by lust but if we take shelter of the Lord, He will protect us.
Superficial change is not real change.
comment by Vaishnava dasa: I did not make a plan to be clean, but just by engaging in devotional service that came naturally.
The the asrama divisions in varnasrama follow the natural changes of our body.
The details of what we do might change but the reason we do things, to please Krishna, does not change.
Change should be made to develop our devotional service rather than as a reduction.
The instruction to stay in your own position does not mean to be complacent.
comment by a devotee: Srila Prabhupada used the analogy of cleaning a room to explain how when we begin our spiritual practice it seems that our life initially gets more complicated and confusing.
Q: What should we do when devotees disagree about what is a principle and what is a detail?
A: There is a principle of ista-gosthi, whereby which the devotees discuss the subject in detail, and then even if there seems to be no resolution, you will get mercy from Krishna from following His process of ista-gosthi.
Fault-finding is a very dangerous quality.
When we find faults, that person’s fault does not become magnified, rather our bad qualities become magnified.
Martin Luther King says he has a dream of a day when one is judged not by the color of his skin but by the content of his character.
When I was a brahmacari in LA in the 1970s, the brahmacaris would take prasadam together, mostly in silence. One day one brahmacari said, “Baseball season starts today.” He could have been advising us of good opportunities for harinama or book distribution, but we did not give him a chance. Instead we got on his case for being in maya for talking of materialistic thingsbecause in those days we were very fanatical.
There are different kinds of intelligence, and if a manager because of being attached to a particular one, and not appreciating others, discourages a person that can be very detrimental.
Mostly the criticism is more about the person who makes criticism than the person who is criticized.
Motivations for criticism:
-
gaining a sense of superiority.
-
getting back at someone
-
establish our position as being the best
-
to distract people from considering our own faults
The pure soul is devoid of the quality of fault-finding.
If we can find faults in ourselves, we are in a better position to learn from others’ criticism of ourselves.
comment by Dorian: Before Einstein was a great physicist he worked in a patent office, and his boss said that he would never amount to anything, and he said it just made him work harder.
Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura said, “Look within. Amend yourself rather than pry into the faults of others. Cultivate patience, humility, and respect for others”.
some verses related to the topic of fault-finding from Krishna-kripa das:
“The worker who is always engaged in work against the injunctions of the scripture, who is materialistic, obstinate, cheating and expert in insulting others, and who is lazy, always morose and procrastinating is said to be a worker in the mode of ignorance.” (Bhagavad-gita 18.28)
“One should mentally honor the devotee who chants the holy name of Lord Krishna, one should offer humble obeisances to the devotee who has undergone spiritual initiation [diksa] and is engaged in worshiping the Deity, and one should associate with and faithfully serve that Pure devotee who is advanced in undeviated devotional service and whose heart is completely devoid of the propensity to criticize others.(Nectar of Instruction, verse 5)
Tattva-vit Prabhu:
Desire to serve the Lord personally does not imply service the Lord alone or without any intermediate.
Srila Prabhupada says becoming the servant of the Lord’s servants is the sum and substance of life. Narottama Dasa Thakura prays in that mood, “tadera carana-sebi-bhakta-sane bas—May I live with those devotees who serve the lotus feet of these six Gosvamis.”
Preachers should serve the Lord purely and joyfully to inspire others.
Our body, life, and ego are Krishna’s energy, and thus ultimately Krishna Himself.
Srila Prabhupada writes in The Nectar of Instruction that the first business of spiritual life is to train the senses and the mind.
By associating with devotees one will also come to desire eagerness to serve Krishna.
Srila Prabhupada told a reporter that his message could be very widely accepted if “they would hear it.”
comment by Bhakta Marlon: Because the self is part of Krishna if you present Krishna consciousness by telling people its about themselves that will be more appealing to them than telling them that its is about Krishna, who they are not so interested in.
Dana-keli Prabhu:
We hear about the pastimes so we can become purified and hear about about the pastimes in a deeper way.
Tamal Krishna Goswami in his Ph.D. dissertation explains that Srila Prabhupada special contribution was that he digested all the truths presented by the previous teachers in the spiritual line and expertly presented them for the modern world.
We may have difficulties in our spiritual practice but if we never abandon the association of devotees, ultimately we will attain success.
One thing that attracted me in the beginning of my practice of Krishna consciousness, was the idea that I have a relationship with God that is completely unique, not like that of anyone else’s, and I wanted to experience that.
One person would trick his mind into doing book distribution. When the mind would protest his program of going downtown and distributing books, he would tell his mind, “We are not going to distribute books. We just going to put books in the car and drive downtown.” When he got downtown, his mind would again protest, and he would say, “We are not going to distribute books, we are just going to get out of the car with a bag of books, and walk around.” So he got out of the car with the books and wandered around. When the mind was again worried about distributing books, he would say, “We are not going to distribute books, we are just going to say ‘Hello’ to people.” And by going on and on in this way, he tricked his mind into distributing books.
If we want to read the advanced Vaishnava literature Srila Prabhupada recommended in Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, it is good to do it in the association of devotees.
Madhava Prabhu (from Alachua):
Twice Prabhupada spoke on the teachings of Queen Kunti and from those lectures, the BBT was able to publish the book Teachings of Queen Kunti.
To take shelter of Krishna alone is the great lesson we can learn from Kunti and her sons, the Pandavas. Vyasadeva teaches this important lesson in the very beginning Srimad-Bhagavatam.
Q: In Mahabharata Krishna asks Arjuna to get weapons from the demigods for use in the battle, so some people argue that it is alright to worship the demigods.
A: Krishna is sending Arjuna to his devotees to get the blessings of his devotees, the demigods. It is not that Arjuna is thinking that the demigods can offer him something that Krishna can’t.
Prema Manjari dd:
This is the most important of Kunti’s prayers as it is very rare that someone prays for more calamities.
In a crisis our whole world may fall apart. We may feel fear, depression, etc. Some people fall apart emotionally. Even after the crisis, people continue to suffer for years because of not being able to process what happened.
Psychologists who have analyzed post-traumatic-stress syndrome say those who suffer the most are those who consider themselves as victims.
On the other hand, there are cases of post-traumatic growth, which is a exciting field of new research in psychology. This is symptomized by greater psychological, emotional, and spiritual confidence, greater compassion, increased faith in self and others, more capacity for intimacy, gratitude, etc.
The crisis is an opportunity for us to apply the spiritual knowledge we have acquired, especially by taking completely shelter of Krishna.
This world is not a place where we can be comfortable and happy, but unfortunately most of us do not believe that. Thus Krishna needs to create situations for us to realize this. It is best to see calamities in this way.
After being in the holy dhama, when you return to the West the power of the material energy to impede our spiritual progress is very obvious.
Rohini Kumara Prabhu:
The coach of a team that twice won the Super Bowl said, “Everyone wants to win. My teams wants to prepare to win.”
Caitanya dasi from Krishna House:
Hearing from the learned devotees while in Vrndavana, a common theme was that theoretical spiritual knowledge becomes realized more and more by sharing it with others.
My japa at Radha Damodara temple was very sweet, but it was not my doing it.
Nanda Kumar Prabhu:
What is striking about the narration of the prostitute Pingala, who because of frustration in her profession, surrendered to Krishna?
Typically misery causes frustration, but Pingala’s frustration brought detachment and knowledge. That was due to her past devotional activities.
comment by Tulasirani dd: Although sensual enjoyment is glorified in human society, Pingala the prostitute, comes to the conclusion that it is all useless, and that is very rare, and thus very striking.
comment by Indian student guest: The narration shows how even the most sinful person can get the mercy of the Lord.
Arjuna Prabhu:
It is a goal of mine to see how each of the chapters of Bhagavad-gita contributes to Krishna’s point that He is obtained by bhakti.
Tulasirani dd:
We were coming back from Festival of Inspiration, and we were really tired. The person who was driving swerved off the road. I cried out Krishna like I had never before done in my life. One of the girls was unconscious and covered with blood, and I knew she was not going to live, so I just chanted Hare Krishna and talked to her about Krishna. I was able to do that because I had just heard from my spiritual master at the Festival of Inspiration. There is nothing that anyone could have done for me in that car accident, except to tell me to remember Krishna. Earlier that very day my friend had said, “If I died today I would be so satisfied because I feel that I have this warm blanket of Krishna’s love around me.” I was so upset they took us to separate hospitals, because I would not be able help her remember Krishna, so I prayed to Srila Prabhupada and Krishna. Turns out she was taken to a hospital where a devotee doctor was on duty and happened to remember her name and called all the devotees, and they came and were able to help her remember Krishna at the end of her life. This car accident helped me realize that death can come at any moment.
A friend was telling me that Krishna is the only one she has, all others will be taken away from us. I was surprised to hear she had such an advanced realization.
The devotees are valuable because they remind us to remember Krishna.
I asked one of my friends what made her so inspired. She said, “I think if this was the last day of my life, what are all the things I would do to please Krishna on this day, and then I try to act that way.”
We are dependent on Krishna, but it is up to us to depend on Krishna.
When you are in distress, where do find solace? What are you taking shelter of? It is good to step back and see, was I trying to take shelter of Krishna or something temporary?
We should be making plans to become more attracted to thinking of Krishna by hearing about Him and seriously chanting His holy names.
We should visit the holy dhamas to increase our attraction to Krishna.
Death is something that happens to everyone, yet we talk about so many nonsensical things but we do not want to talk about death.
Prepare for death is not as difficult as preparing for many tests. Going to mangala-arati and singing and dancing with your friends is easier than studying for many other tests.
Q: We make so many plans, getting our Ph.D., getting a job, etc.
A: As a duty to your family and Krishna you have to have to make plans, but you also have to spend time completely absorbed in sadhana [your spiritual practice] every day.
unspoken comments by Krishna-kripa das on the topic of the class:<
Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 9, No. 1
By Krishna-kripa das
(January 2013, part one)
New York City
(Sent from Tallahassee, Florida, on February 19, 2013)
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| Harinama in Times Square Subway Station, January 10, 2013. |
Where I Went and What I Did
For the first two weeks of January 2013, I continued chanting in Manhattan with Rama Raya Prabhu and his harinama party, and I continued living in our Brooklyn temple, Sri Sri Radha Govinda Mandir, attending the morning program there, and spending two hours afterward chopping vegetables for the temple and its weekday restaurant program, Govinda’s Vegetarian Lunch. Every afternoon from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. I would chant with Rama Raya Prabhu and his harinama party, consisting of from three to seventeen devotees, at Union Square Park, or on the cold days, in various subway stations at Union Square, Grand Central, Times Square, and Columbus Circle. Sometimes, especially on weekends, we would begin at 3 p.m. or even 2 p.m., and still continue till 8:00 p.m. By the influence of Rama Raya I spent an extra week in New York City with his harinama party, missing the first week of the spring semester at Gainesville’s Krishna House.
I did not hear so many live lectures in New York City, but I have some notes from the many Prabhupada recordings I heard while chopping vegetables, the Prabhupada books I daily read, the articles I proofread for both Back to Godhead magazine and Viraha Bhavan, the daily journal of Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami. I did hear one morning lecture by Romapada Swami, whose informative points I also share.
Harinama in New York City
New Years Day, the 76thanniversary of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saravati Thakura’s disappearance according to both the solar and lunar calendars, was auspicious for us on harinama.
Elizabeth, who just graduated from college in New Paltz and who is originally from New Jersey, listened over an hour to us chant in the Times Square subway station. She explained that she had once lived for two weeks in our ashram in Wellington, New Zealand. She was happy to encounter the Hare Krishnas for the first time in the New York City area, and we told her about our Manhattan and Brooklyn temples and their programs.
Supervisor Nandan Vyasadev, originally from Gujarat, was very happy to have the Hare Krishnas chant in the Time Square subway station where he is in charge. We gave him prasadam cupcakes and laddus, which he appreciated, and we were happy to have found a place indoors where the authorities like us.
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Rama Raya Prabhu, the leader of the Manhattan harinama program asked me to stay another week on the party, as he did not have three people committed to the full four-hour harinama. I told him I planned to go to Gainesville for three months and return to New York City for a week of harinama in April, but he preferred that I do that week of harinama in January. The weather is better in April and my friend, Ekalavya Prabhu, may also be back on the party in April, so April was my preference. I decided to ask Kalakantha Prabhu if he cared whether I came back a week later and stayed an extra week in April. He said it was better for him if I came back when I planned to and not week later, but he liberally said that I could decide for myself. During our harinama in the Times Square subway station, I was thinking about the dilemma and I decided that I should pray to Krishna for a sign indicating what I should do. While I was thinking in that way, a young lady passed our party with a bright smile on her face, her eyes fixed on the party as she walked by. I thought she definitely looked interested and offered her a pamphlet on chanting, so she came over to me. I thought she was so attracted she must have some previous experience with Hare Krishna so I asked her. She replied that she had just heard some people singing in Union Square Park a few times but that was all. I smiled and explained that we were the same people singing at Union Square and that we chant in the subways in the cold weather. She explained that she loved the chanting, and concluded with a smile, saying “that sound is pure joy!” “Wow!” I thought, it is not often that someone says, “That sound is pure joy!” We know that Krishna is eternal, full of knowledge, and full of bliss, and that His name is similarly qualified, but it is not often that people in the crowd have the realization that “that sound is pure joy!” Then and there I decided to stay in New York City another week, and give thousands of New Yorkers each day a chance to hear the “pure joy” of the Hare Krishna mantra. That was sign I was looking for!
At Union Square Park, I talked to a lady who was videoing our chanting, and asked her if she knew about Hare Krishna. Yes, she replied, saying she frequently goes to Govinda’s Restaurant in Stockholm, where she was visiting from. I gave her an invitation to Govinda’s in Brooklyn, and she promised to go on her next visit to New York, as she was returning home the next day.
One girl from Arkansas was videoing the party at Union Square with a big smile on her face. She said she likes to come to New York and see cultural opportunities not present in Arkansas, despite its pleasant scenic natural beauty. From that I could understand the harinama gives people from all parts of the USA, and even the world, a chance to come in touch with Krishna in the course of their pursuing the adventure of a New York City vacation.
Sally, who lives a block from Union Square, and looks to be in her sixties, comes for an hour or two to chant with the devotees each day and throws a donation in the basket before returning home. One day she spontaneously said about the daily kirtana, “This is the best thing that has happened in Union Square since I moved here over forty years ago.”
In Times Square subway station, just above the platform for the “7” train, we were chanting peacefully when a Christian preacher decided to pace back and forth across the hallway from us, giving his hell, fire, and brimstone speech to anyone who could hear him over the kirtana. After I while I decided to advise him that if he moved down the hallway a few yards, it would be easier for people to hear his message. He protested that he has been coming here for years, and it was his place. Then he began to criticize our philosophy. I could see I was not going to get anywhere with him, so I returned to dancing and giving out invitations to people with obvious interest. After a few minutes a well-dressed Afro-American gentlemen convinced the Christian to move down the hallway a few yards, and continued talking with him for some time. Then that man who relocated the Christian came up to where I was standing, and I thanked him for helping us out. He told me he saw from the staircase above how the Christian was harassing us, and thinking that it wasn’t right, he came down to tell the man so. He explained to me that when dealing with Christians, you just have to ask them two questions, “When was the Bible compiled?” and “How many books does it have?” Usually they do not know, and it is embarrassing for them and they are humbled, and then you are able to deal with them. He told me his name was Carlos, and he was a trumpet player for years in that subway station and he knew the Christians well. Then he surprised me by asking for some karatalas, and he played with us for awhile, throwing a donation in the basket as he left.
On the hallway from Grand Central Station to the Times Square shuttle, a man passed by our party, smiling and speaking a few friendly words. Then having a second thought, he returned to look at our books on display. I showed him Bhagavad-gita, and he said he had one. I decided to show him the Krishna book, explaining it was a biography telling of Krishna’s activities in this world. He glanced through it and decided to buy one for ten dollars. He told me he was retired professor with a doctorate in world religions and has been a Christian Brothers monk for fifty years. Then he offered respect with folded hands to each and everyone in our chanting party as he left with a smile.
One night at Union Square, as I taking a breaking from our chanting party to warm my body and to use the rest room, I noticed a young lady who was standing not far away for quite a while and watching us for part of the time. I asked her if she liked the music, and she said she did. She went on to explain that several times she visited a Hare Krishna restaurant when she lived in Arizona. I asked if it was the one in Tucson, and she said it was. I told her how I had spent two months in Tucson, singing three hours a day at the University of Arizona, and eating at our restaurant Govinda’s, and that I really liked the whole experience. I asked her what she was doing in the city, and she said she worked at Carnegie Hall on 57thStreet. I told her we had a Krishna lunch program in at our temple in Brooklyn and that it was just 5 stops on the “Q” train to get there from 57thStreet. She said she had an hour off for lunch, and she would like to go and check it out sometime, so I gave her an invitation. Usually we do not talk to people unless they are obviously very favorable, so I took a risk talking to that young lady, but she was very happy to hear she could get some Krishna food in New York, so I felt happy about it.
Special thanks to Rasika Gopi dd and Bhakta Alex for their wonderful pictures of the harinamas in Manhattan.
Srila Prabhupada:
from Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.14.38, purport:
‘sadhu-sanga,’‘sadhu-sanga’— sarva-shastre kaya
lava-matra sadhu-sange sarva-siddhi haya
(Cc. Madhya 22.54)
Even by a little association with devotees, the conditioned soul can get out of this miserable material condition. This Krishna consciousness movement is therefore trying to give everyone a chance to associate with saintly people. Therefore all the members of this Krishna consciousness society must themselves be perfect sadhus [saints] in order to give a chance to fallen conditioned souls. This is the best humanitarian work.
from a lecture on Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura’s appearance day in Gorakhpur on Feb. 15, 1971:
“Except the devotee of Krishna, everyone is simply giving Krishna trouble, trouble, trouble. . . . Don’t make any plan. Accept Krishna’s plan. . . . A devotee’s principle is not place any plan to Krishna. Let Krishna do . . . . As far as possible our business is to induce persons how to become Krishna conscious. That’s all. For that reason you can make your plan, because that is Krishna’s plan.”
from a lecture on Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.2.7 in Delhi on November 13, 1973:
“A mahatma (a great soul) is not under the control of the material energy. He is under the the shelter of the spiritual energy. . . . He has no other business than to serve the Supreme Lord.”
“We are reminding people that ‘you are son of such great personality, of Krishna, why don’t you go back to your home?’”
“People are searching after God. . . . . God may be like this, God may be like that. Why ‘may be’? Why not say you don’t know? Just admit that you do not know. Why are you cheating.”
Scholars claim to be searching for God, and although the Lord appears as Krishna and is accepted by great spiritual authorities, the scholars foolishly continue to search for Him elsewhere, making different theses.
from a lecture on Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.5.2 given in Hyderabad on March 15, 1975:
“Is it very difficult to constantly remember Krishna? You can do it. You are remembering something. The mind is occupied always with something. Just practice occupying the mind with Krishna. That’s all. Where is the difficulty?”
from a lecture on Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.2.8 in Hyderabad on April 22, 1974:
“Anyone who accepts the supremacy of God, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, his process of worship has to be considered in the category of bhakti-yoga.”
You cannot say, “Let us all become technologist sudras.”Then you can get money for wine and meat but the ideal life is lost.
from a lecture on Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.2.11 in Vrindavan on October 22, 1972:
That the sunshine spreads all over the universe does not make it more important than the sun globe. Similarly the all-pervading Brahman is not more important than the Personality of Godhead from whom it emanates.
By chanting Hare Krishna we immediate contact Krishna, while by other yogic processes that can take many births.
from Sri Caitanya-caritamrita Adi 9.50 verse and purport:
“When Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, the great gardener, sees that people are chanting, dancing and laughing and that some of them are rolling on the floor and some are making loud humming sounds, He smiles with great pleasure.”
“This attitude of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is very important for persons engaged in the Hare Krishna movement of Krishnaconsciousness. In every center of our institution, ISKCON, we have arranged for a love feast every Sunday, and when we actually see people come to our center, chant, dance, take prasadam, become jubilant and purchase books, we know that certainly Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhuis always present in such transcendental activities, and He is very pleased and satisfied. Therefore the members of ISKCON must increase this movement more and more, according to the principles that we are presently trying to execute.Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, thus being pleased, will smilingly glance upon them, bestowing His favor, and the movement will be successful.”
from Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.16.3, purport:
“If one rigidly observes the regulative principle of chanting sixteen rounds of the maha-mantra every day, his dealings with the material world for the sake of spreading the Krishna consciousness movement are not different from the spiritual cultivation of Krishna consciousness.”
from Back to Godhead,Vol. 47, No. 2, March–April 2013, “Protected by Krishna”:
“This is the crucial point. Dehantara-prapti: one has to accept another body. If you can find a means so that you do not accept another body, then you are safe. Otherwise, as soon as you take another birth, then you must die also. And between birth and death are disease and old age.”
“How are these European and American boys and girls advancing, realizing? Simply by using the tongue to chant Hare Krishna and take prasada. You can introduce this process all over the world. Give people a chance to chant the Hare Krishna mantra. But it is difficult also. There was a cartoon. One old lady is requesting her husband, “Chant chant, chant,” and the husband is replying, “Can’t, can’t, can’t.” [Laughter] We are requesting everyone, “Please chant,” and they are replying, “Can’t.” They will not chant. That is the difficulty. Otherwise, we can deliver all the people on this earth back home, back to Godhead, simply by this process: chanting and taking prasada.”
“They cannot give up that small piece of meat. The same thing can be made from milk. Prepare cheese and fry it, and you’ll get the same taste. Let the animal live, take its milk, and prepare so many milk preparations. But these rascals will not do that. They will kill simply for the tongue.”
from Back to Godhead,Vol. 47, No. 2, March–April 2013, “Prabhupada Speaks Out”:
[From aconversation between His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and some of his disciples which took place in September 1975 on an early-morning walk in Vrindavana, India.]
But how have you become embodied if you are the Supreme? What made you embodied? You don’t like to be embodied—the body is bringing so much suffering—so you want liberation. But whoever made you embodied—He is the Supreme. You are not the Supreme.
Romapada Swami:
Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura explained that in the pastime of the cursing of Jaya and Vijaya, the Lord accomplished several purposes. He satisfied Laksmi, Jaya and Vijaya, and the Kumaras. Here is how:
Once Narayana wanted to rest so he posted Jaya and Vijaya to guard the door to his room and not let anyone in. When Laksmi, the eternal consort of the Lord, arrived, they turned her away, and she did not say anything, but she was not happy about it, and later she let Narayana know that she wanted them punished for that mistake.
Jaya and Vijaya knew that the Lord had a chivalrous nature and liked to fight but had no suitable combatant, and so they had a desire to play that role for the Lord.
When Narayana arrived on the scene, He pleased the brahmana Kumaras by supporting the position of the brahmanas by His words and actions.
In steadiness, there may be some residual materialistic inclination, but the bhakti is so powerful it overshadows that slight material tendency.
In disagreements between devotees, it is best not to take sides but to understand the Lord has some plan in that.
The Lord rules the hearts of the residents of Vaikuntha so there is diversity but no conflict and thus no fear, just as there is no conflict between the different organs of the body.
In Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s autobiography, he tells of a scholar who wrote a book of fictional stories about Krishna and showed it to him before publishing. He spent four days without eating or sleeping, explaining to the scholar why one could not write a fiction book about Krishna, and finally the scholar agreed and rewrote the book. Later that scholar recalled, “Whenever I was in his association, very quickly Bhaktivinoda Thakura would begin to talk about acintya-bheda-abheda-tattva [the truth that the living entities are inconceivably and simultaneously one and different from the Supreme Lord].
Recognizing the majesty of the Lord and being satisfied simply to serve Him in that mood is the qualification to live in Vaikuntha.
The love that the residents of Vrindavan have for Krishna is what Lord Caitanya came to give and what people are receiving from Him, step by step, whether they know it or not.
You can be steady in faith, but not steady in the execution of bhakti only because of external circumstances beyond your control.
It is my experience that once a person has regulated his life in a spiritual way, if he again takes to an unregulated life, it is very, very difficult to become regulated in spiritual life again.
The Kumaras generally agree, but occasionally express their individual non-conflicting views.
Q: Is it enough to understand bhakti is the essence and not absorb oneself in all the details?
A: It is certainly good to understand that bhakti is the essence, but appreciating the details we can increasingly relish the pastimes.
Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami:
from an online poem:
“Radha controls Krishna, yet He is the independent Supreme Personality of Godhead.”
from Qualities of Sri Krishna:
“The Nectar of Devotionspeaks of Krishna offering obeisances to Maharaja Yudhisthira before the rajasuya sacrifice as an example of His gentleness, but His most amazing act at the rajasuya sacrifice was His volunteering to wash the feet of the arriving guests. How gentle Krishna is. What other great and powerful king would be willing to overcome his own arrogance to touch the feet of so many people? Krishna did not agree to bathe the guests’ feet out of political motivation; He bathed their feet as an exchange of love. Krishna is both father and mother to all living beings. He likes to care for them in a way that eases their hearts. Certainly, His washing the guests’ feet is an example of His quality of gentleness.
Urmila dd:
from Back to Godhead,Vol. 47, No. 2, March–April 2013, “Offering Dandavat”:
One Sanskrit word Srila Prabhupada translates as “surrender” is prapadyate, which literally means “to throw oneself down at someone’s feet.”
Caitanya-carana Prabhu:
from Back to Godhead, Vol. 47, No. 2, March–April 2013, “The W.R.I.T.E. Service”:
“Though different people may be able to forget worldly miseries by absorption in various activities, devotees know that the transcendence attained by absorption in Krishna is unique because it comprises a this-worldly glimpse of the eternal, ecstatic absorption that awaits them in the next world.”
Vamsi Vihari Prabhu:
from Back to Godhead,Vol. 47, No. 2, March–April 2013, “Sickess: A Friend and Teacher”:
One of my devotee friends shared his realization that Krishna takes the risk of being blamed: “Oh! I am trying to serve You, Krishna, and You are giving me problems. What kind of God are You?” But as a true well-wisher, Krishna is concerned not about being blamed but about ending our material existence as soon as possible.
Sickness can reveal the true level of our spiritual connection by showing whether our foundation is shallow or deep—that is, based on a genuine desire to practice Krishna consciousness in any circumstance. If we are open, we may find the revelation humbling, which in spiritual life is helpful. So, illness can be a turning point in our life. We may understand that we have forced Krishna to put us into this predicament to take us out of the illusion that life in the material world is “the good life.”
Years ago I read the poem “Reduced,” by Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami:
My list of Things to Do
falls to the side.
All I do is rest.
Yet one cry to Krishna
is worth a hundred days
of marching in pride.
Sickness can become a golden opportunity for us to realize our smallness and helplessness and take shelter of Krishna. We have to remember that if Krishna is allowing something to happen to us, it must be good. I have met devotees who feel that the best time of their Krishna conscious lives was when they were going through some difficulty. Not finding any other shelter, they intensely took Krishna’s shelter and felt His presence more evidently than at any other time. That’s why Kunti Devi, the glorious mother of the Pandavas, prayed to Krishna for more and more calamities. “Because,” she reasoned, “calamities inspire me to see Your lotus face, which means I’ll no longer see the face of repeated birth and death.” We need not imitate Kunti Devi by asking for more hardship, however; our destined calamities should be enough for us to turn to Krishna.
—–
tasmat sankirtanam visnor
jagan-mangalam amhasam
mahatam api kauravya
viddhy aikantika-niskrtam
“Sukadeva Gosvami continued: My dear King, the chanting of the holy name of the Lord is able to uproot even the reactions of the greatest sins. Therefore the chanting of the sankirtana movement is the most auspicious activity in the entire universe. Please try to understand this so that others will take it seriously.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 6.3.31)
Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 9, No. 1
By Krishna-kripa das
(January 2013, part one)
New York City
(Sent from Tallahassee, Florida, on February 19, 2013)
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| Harinama in Times Square Subway Station, January 10, 2013. |
Where I Went and What I Did
For the first two weeks of January 2013, I continued chanting in Manhattan with Rama Raya Prabhu and his harinama party, and I continued living in our Brooklyn temple, Sri Sri Radha Govinda Mandir, attending the morning program there, and spending two hours afterward chopping vegetables for the temple and its weekday restaurant program, Govinda’s Vegetarian Lunch. Every afternoon from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. I would chant with Rama Raya Prabhu and his harinama party, consisting of from three to seventeen devotees, at Union Square Park, or on the cold days, in various subway stations at Union Square, Grand Central, Times Square, and Columbus Circle. Sometimes, especially on weekends, we would begin at 3 p.m. or even 2 p.m., and still continue till 8:00 p.m. By the influence of Rama Raya I spent an extra week in New York City with his harinama party, missing the first week of the spring semester at Gainesville’s Krishna House.
I did not hear so many live lectures in New York City, but I have some notes from the many Prabhupada recordings I heard while chopping vegetables, the Prabhupada books I daily read, the articles I proofread for both Back to Godhead magazine and Viraha Bhavan, the daily journal of Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami. I did hear one morning lecture by Romapada Swami, whose informative points I also share.
Harinama in New York City
New Years Day, the 76thanniversary of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saravati Thakura’s disappearance according to both the solar and lunar calendars, was auspicious for us on harinama.
Elizabeth, who just graduated from college in New Paltz and who is originally from New Jersey, listened over an hour to us chant in the Times Square subway station. She explained that she had once lived for two weeks in our ashram in Wellington, New Zealand. She was happy to encounter the Hare Krishnas for the first time in the New York City area, and we told her about our Manhattan and Brooklyn temples and their programs.
Supervisor Nandan Vyasadev, originally from Gujarat, was very happy to have the Hare Krishnas chant in the Time Square subway station where he is in charge. We gave him prasadam cupcakes and laddus, which he appreciated, and we were happy to have found a place indoors where the authorities like us.
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Rama Raya Prabhu, the leader of the Manhattan harinama program asked me to stay another week on the party, as he did not have three people committed to the full four-hour harinama. I told him I planned to go to Gainesville for three months and return to New York City for a week of harinama in April, but he preferred that I do that week of harinama in January. The weather is better in April and my friend, Ekalavya Prabhu, may also be back on the party in April, so April was my preference. I decided to ask Kalakantha Prabhu if he cared whether I came back a week later and stayed an extra week in April. He said it was better for him if I came back when I planned to and not week later, but he liberally said that I could decide for myself. During our harinama in the Times Square subway station, I was thinking about the dilemma and I decided that I should pray to Krishna for a sign indicating what I should do. While I was thinking in that way, a young lady passed our party with a bright smile on her face, her eyes fixed on the party as she walked by. I thought she definitely looked interested and offered her a pamphlet on chanting, so she came over to me. I thought she was so attracted she must have some previous experience with Hare Krishna so I asked her. She replied that she had just heard some people singing in Union Square Park a few times but that was all. I smiled and explained that we were the same people singing at Union Square and that we chant in the subways in the cold weather. She explained that she loved the chanting, and concluded with a smile, saying “that sound is pure joy!” “Wow!” I thought, it is not often that someone says, “That sound is pure joy!” We know that Krishna is eternal, full of knowledge, and full of bliss, and that His name is similarly qualified, but it is not often that people in the crowd have the realization that “that sound is pure joy!” Then and there I decided to stay in New York City another week, and give thousands of New Yorkers each day a chance to hear the “pure joy” of the Hare Krishna mantra. That was sign I was looking for!
At Union Square Park, I talked to a lady who was videoing our chanting, and asked her if she knew about Hare Krishna. Yes, she replied, saying she frequently goes to Govinda’s Restaurant in Stockholm, where she was visiting from. I gave her an invitation to Govinda’s in Brooklyn, and she promised to go on her next visit to New York, as she was returning home the next day.
One girl from Arkansas was videoing the party at Union Square with a big smile on her face. She said she likes to come to New York and see cultural opportunities not present in Arkansas, despite its pleasant scenic natural beauty. From that I could understand the harinama gives people from all parts of the USA, and even the world, a chance to come in touch with Krishna in the course of their pursuing the adventure of a New York City vacation.
Sally, who lives a block from Union Square, and looks to be in her sixties, comes for an hour or two to chant with the devotees each day and throws a donation in the basket before returning home. One day she spontaneously said about the daily kirtana, “This is the best thing that has happened in Union Square since I moved here over forty years ago.”
In Times Square subway station, just above the platform for the “7” train, we were chanting peacefully when a Christian preacher decided to pace back and forth across the hallway from us, giving his hell, fire, and brimstone speech to anyone who could hear him over the kirtana. After I while I decided to advise him that if he moved down the hallway a few yards, it would be easier for people to hear his message. He protested that he has been coming here for years, and it was his place. Then he began to criticize our philosophy. I could see I was not going to get anywhere with him, so I returned to dancing and giving out invitations to people with obvious interest. After a few minutes a well-dressed Afro-American gentlemen convinced the Christian to move down the hallway a few yards, and continued talking with him for some time. Then that man who relocated the Christian came up to where I was standing, and I thanked him for helping us out. He told me he saw from the staircase above how the Christian was harassing us, and thinking that it wasn’t right, he came down to tell the man so. He explained to me that when dealing with Christians, you just have to ask them two questions, “When was the Bible compiled?” and “How many books does it have?” Usually they do not know, and it is embarrassing for them and they are humbled, and then you are able to deal with them. He told me his name was Carlos, and he was a trumpet player for years in that subway station and he knew the Christians well. Then he surprised me by asking for some karatalas, and he played with us for awhile, throwing a donation in the basket as he left.
On the hallway from Grand Central Station to the Times Square shuttle, a man passed by our party, smiling and speaking a few friendly words. Then having a second thought, he returned to look at our books on display. I showed him Bhagavad-gita, and he said he had one. I decided to show him the Krishna book, explaining it was a biography telling of Krishna’s activities in this world. He glanced through it and decided to buy one for ten dollars. He told me he was retired professor with a doctorate in world religions and has been a Christian Brothers monk for fifty years. Then he offered respect with folded hands to each and everyone in our chanting party as he left with a smile.
One night at Union Square, as I taking a breaking from our chanting party to warm my body and to use the rest room, I noticed a young lady who was standing not far away for quite a while and watching us for part of the time. I asked her if she liked the music, and she said she did. She went on to explain that several times she visited a Hare Krishna restaurant when she lived in Arizona. I asked if it was the one in Tucson, and she said it was. I told her how I had spent two months in Tucson, singing three hours a day at the University of Arizona, and eating at our restaurant Govinda’s, and that I really liked the whole experience. I asked her what she was doing in the city, and she said she worked at Carnegie Hall on 57thStreet. I told her we had a Krishna lunch program in at our temple in Brooklyn and that it was just 5 stops on the “Q” train to get there from 57thStreet. She said she had an hour off for lunch, and she would like to go and check it out sometime, so I gave her an invitation. Usually we do not talk to people unless they are obviously very favorable, so I took a risk talking to that young lady, but she was very happy to hear she could get some Krishna food in New York, so I felt happy about it.
Special thanks to Rasika Gopi dd and Bhakta Alex for their wonderful pictures of the harinamas in Manhattan.
Srila Prabhupada:
from Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.14.38, purport:
‘sadhu-sanga,’‘sadhu-sanga’— sarva-shastre kaya
lava-matra sadhu-sange sarva-siddhi haya
(Cc. Madhya 22.54)
Even by a little association with devotees, the conditioned soul can get out of this miserable material condition. This Krishna consciousness movement is therefore trying to give everyone a chance to associate with saintly people. Therefore all the members of this Krishna consciousness society must themselves be perfect sadhus [saints] in order to give a chance to fallen conditioned souls. This is the best humanitarian work.
from a lecture on Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura’s appearance day in Gorakhpur on Feb. 15, 1971:
“Except the devotee of Krishna, everyone is simply giving Krishna trouble, trouble, trouble. . . . Don’t make any plan. Accept Krishna’s plan. . . . A devotee’s principle is not place any plan to Krishna. Let Krishna do . . . . As far as possible our business is to induce persons how to become Krishna conscious. That’s all. For that reason you can make your plan, because that is Krishna’s plan.”
from a lecture on Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.2.7 in Delhi on November 13, 1973:
“A mahatma (a great soul) is not under the control of the material energy. He is under the the shelter of the spiritual energy. . . . He has no other business than to serve the Supreme Lord.”
“We are reminding people that ‘you are son of such great personality, of Krishna, why don’t you go back to your home?’”
“People are searching after God. . . . . God may be like this, God may be like that. Why ‘may be’? Why not say you don’t know? Just admit that you do not know. Why are you cheating.”
Scholars claim to be searching for God, and although the Lord appears as Krishna and is accepted by great spiritual authorities, the scholars foolishly continue to search for Him elsewhere, making different theses.
from a lecture on Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.5.2 given in Hyderabad on March 15, 1975:
“Is it very difficult to constantly remember Krishna? You can do it. You are remembering something. The mind is occupied always with something. Just practice occupying the mind with Krishna. That’s all. Where is the difficulty?”
from a lecture on Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.2.8 in Hyderabad on April 22, 1974:
“Anyone who accepts the supremacy of God, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, his process of worship has to be considered in the category of bhakti-yoga.”
You cannot say, “Let us all become technologist sudras.”Then you can get money for wine and meat but the ideal life is lost.
from a lecture on Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.2.11 in Vrindavan on October 22, 1972:
That the sunshine spreads all over the universe does not make it more important than the sun globe. Similarly the all-pervading Brahman is not more important than the Personality of Godhead from whom it emanates.
By chanting Hare Krishna we immediate contact Krishna, while by other yogic processes that can take many births.
from Sri Caitanya-caritamrita Adi 9.50 verse and purport:
“When Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, the great gardener, sees that people are chanting, dancing and laughing and that some of them are rolling on the floor and some are making loud humming sounds, He smiles with great pleasure.”
“This attitude of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is very important for persons engaged in the Hare Krishna movement of Krishnaconsciousness. In every center of our institution, ISKCON, we have arranged for a love feast every Sunday, and when we actually see people come to our center, chant, dance, take prasadam, become jubilant and purchase books, we know that certainly Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhuis always present in such transcendental activities, and He is very pleased and satisfied. Therefore the members of ISKCON must increase this movement more and more, according to the principles that we are presently trying to execute.Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, thus being pleased, will smilingly glance upon them, bestowing His favor, and the movement will be successful.”
from Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.16.3, purport:
“If one rigidly observes the regulative principle of chanting sixteen rounds of the maha-mantra every day, his dealings with the material world for the sake of spreading the Krishna consciousness movement are not different from the spiritual cultivation of Krishna consciousness.”
from Back to Godhead,Vol. 47, No. 2, March–April 2013, “Protected by Krishna”:
“This is the crucial point. Dehantara-prapti: one has to accept another body. If you can find a means so that you do not accept another body, then you are safe. Otherwise, as soon as you take another birth, then you must die also. And between birth and death are disease and old age.”
“How are these European and American boys and girls advancing, realizing? Simply by using the tongue to chant Hare Krishna and take prasada. You can introduce this process all over the world. Give people a chance to chant the Hare Krishna mantra. But it is difficult also. There was a cartoon. One old lady is requesting her husband, “Chant chant, chant,” and the husband is replying, “Can’t, can’t, can’t.” [Laughter] We are requesting everyone, “Please chant,” and they are replying, “Can’t.” They will not chant. That is the difficulty. Otherwise, we can deliver all the people on this earth back home, back to Godhead, simply by this process: chanting and taking prasada.”
“They cannot give up that small piece of meat. The same thing can be made from milk. Prepare cheese and fry it, and you’ll get the same taste. Let the animal live, take its milk, and prepare so many milk preparations. But these rascals will not do that. They will kill simply for the tongue.”
from Back to Godhead,Vol. 47, No. 2, March–April 2013, “Prabhupada Speaks Out”:
[From aconversation between His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and some of his disciples which took place in September 1975 on an early-morning walk in Vrindavana, India.]
But how have you become embodied if you are the Supreme? What made you embodied? You don’t like to be embodied—the body is bringing so much suffering—so you want liberation. But whoever made you embodied—He is the Supreme. You are not the Supreme.
Romapada Swami:
Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura explained that in the pastime of the cursing of Jaya and Vijaya, the Lord accomplished several purposes. He satisfied Laksmi, Jaya and Vijaya, and the Kumaras. Here is how:
Once Narayana wanted to rest so he posted Jaya and Vijaya to guard the door to his room and not let anyone in. When Laksmi, the eternal consort of the Lord, arrived, they turned her away, and she did not say anything, but she was not happy about it, and later she let Narayana know that she wanted them punished for that mistake.
Jaya and Vijaya knew that the Lord had a chivalrous nature and liked to fight but had no suitable combatant, and so they had a desire to play that role for the Lord.
When Narayana arrived on the scene, He pleased the brahmana Kumaras by supporting the position of the brahmanas by His words and actions.
In steadiness, there may be some residual materialistic inclination, but the bhakti is so powerful it overshadows that slight material tendency.
In disagreements between devotees, it is best not to take sides but to understand the Lord has some plan in that.
The Lord rules the hearts of the residents of Vaikuntha so there is diversity but no conflict and thus no fear, just as there is no conflict between the different organs of the body.
In Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s autobiography, he tells of a scholar who wrote a book of fictional stories about Krishna and showed it to him before publishing. He spent four days without eating or sleeping, explaining to the scholar why one could not write a fiction book about Krishna, and finally the scholar agreed and rewrote the book. Later that scholar recalled, “Whenever I was in his association, very quickly Bhaktivinoda Thakura would begin to talk about acintya-bheda-abheda-tattva [the truth that the living entities are inconceivably and simultaneously one and different from the Supreme Lord].
Recognizing the majesty of the Lord and being satisfied simply to serve Him in that mood is the qualification to live in Vaikuntha.
The love that the residents of Vrindavan have for Krishna is what Lord Caitanya came to give and what people are receiving from Him, step by step, whether they know it or not.
You can be steady in faith, but not steady in the execution of bhakti only because of external circumstances beyond your control.
It is my experience that once a person has regulated his life in a spiritual way, if he again takes to an unregulated life, it is very, very difficult to become regulated in spiritual life again.
The Kumaras generally agree, but occasionally express their individual non-conflicting views.
Q: Is it enough to understand bhakti is the essence and not absorb oneself in all the details?
A: It is certainly good to understand that bhakti is the essence, but appreciating the details we can increasingly relish the pastimes.
Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami:
from an online poem:
“Radha controls Krishna, yet He is the independent Supreme Personality of Godhead.”
from Qualities of Sri Krishna:
“The Nectar of Devotionspeaks of Krishna offering obeisances to Maharaja Yudhisthira before the rajasuya sacrifice as an example of His gentleness, but His most amazing act at the rajasuya sacrifice was His volunteering to wash the feet of the arriving guests. How gentle Krishna is. What other great and powerful king would be willing to overcome his own arrogance to touch the feet of so many people? Krishna did not agree to bathe the guests’ feet out of political motivation; He bathed their feet as an exchange of love. Krishna is both father and mother to all living beings. He likes to care for them in a way that eases their hearts. Certainly, His washing the guests’ feet is an example of His quality of gentleness.
Urmila dd:
from Back to Godhead,Vol. 47, No. 2, March–April 2013, “Offering Dandavat”:
One Sanskrit word Srila Prabhupada translates as “surrender” is prapadyate, which literally means “to throw oneself down at someone’s feet.”
Caitanya-carana Prabhu:
from Back to Godhead, Vol. 47, No. 2, March–April 2013, “The W.R.I.T.E. Service”:
“Though different people may be able to forget worldly miseries by absorption in various activities, devotees know that the transcendence attained by absorption in Krishna is unique because it comprises a this-worldly glimpse of the eternal, ecstatic absorption that awaits them in the next world.”
Vamsi Vihari Prabhu:
from Back to Godhead,Vol. 47, No. 2, March–April 2013, “Sickess: A Friend and Teacher”:
One of my devotee friends shared his realization that Krishna takes the risk of being blamed: “Oh! I am trying to serve You, Krishna, and You are giving me problems. What kind of God are You?” But as a true well-wisher, Krishna is concerned not about being blamed but about ending our material existence as soon as possible.
Sickness can reveal the true level of our spiritual connection by showing whether our foundation is shallow or deep—that is, based on a genuine desire to practice Krishna consciousness in any circumstance. If we are open, we may find the revelation humbling, which in spiritual life is helpful. So, illness can be a turning point in our life. We may understand that we have forced Krishna to put us into this predicament to take us out of the illusion that life in the material world is “the good life.”
Years ago I read the poem “Reduced,” by Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami:
My list of Things to Do
falls to the side.
All I do is rest.
Yet one cry to Krishna
is worth a hundred days
of marching in pride.
Sickness can become a golden opportunity for us to realize our smallness and helplessness and take shelter of Krishna. We have to remember that if Krishna is allowing something to happen to us, it must be good. I have met devotees who feel that the best time of their Krishna conscious lives was when they were going through some difficulty. Not finding any other shelter, they intensely took Krishna’s shelter and felt His presence more evidently than at any other time. That’s why Kunti Devi, the glorious mother of the Pandavas, prayed to Krishna for more and more calamities. “Because,” she reasoned, “calamities inspire me to see Your lotus face, which means I’ll no longer see the face of repeated birth and death.” We need not imitate Kunti Devi by asking for more hardship, however; our destined calamities should be enough for us to turn to Krishna.
—–
tasmat sankirtanam visnor
jagan-mangalam amhasam
mahatam api kauravya
viddhy aikantika-niskrtam
“Sukadeva Gosvami continued: My dear King, the chanting of the holy name of the Lord is able to uproot even the reactions of the greatest sins. Therefore the chanting of the sankirtana movement is the most auspicious activity in the entire universe. Please try to understand this so that others will take it seriously.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 6.3.31)
Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 8, No. 24
By Krishna-kripa das
(December 2012, part two)
New York City and Albany
(Sent from Gainesville, Florida, on January 30, 2013)
Where I Went and What I Did
When Yadunandana Swami came to serve Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami on December 19, I left my guru’s personal service to go to New York City to chant in Union Square Park with Rama Raya Prabhu and his harinama party. For the rest of the month I lived in our Brooklyn temple, Sri Sri Radha Govinda Mandir, attended the morning program there, and spent two hours afterward chopping vegetables for the temple and its weekday restaurant program, Govinda’s Vegetarian Lunch. Every afternoon from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. I would chant with Rama Raya Prabhu and his harinama party, consisting of from three to seventeen devotees, at Union Square Park, or on the cold days, in various subway stations at Union Square, Grand Central, Times Square, and Columbus Circle. Sometimes, especially on weekends, we would begin at 3 p.m. or even 2 p.m., and still continue till 8:00 p.m. I took a two-day break for Christmas Eve and Christmas, when I visited my family, my Quaker meeting, and my initiating spiritual master, Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami, along with a few of his disciples including Yadunandana Swami.
I was happy to be visiting New York City at the same time as Radhanath Swami, and I include some notes from his lectures, in addition to some material from Srila Prabhupada directly.
At the end I summarize my activities in the year 2012 and include my annual financial statement and thank my donors. I also talk about what to do differently in 2013.
The Christmas Story Seen from a Hare Krishna Perspective
Twice on Christmas Eve I encountered the story of the appearance of Lord Jesus Christ in this world, once at my Quaker meeting and once reading a book with my relatives, which had become a family tradition at Christmastime since I lived at home, called The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.
Living as a Hare Krishna monk for the last thirty years, I naturally viewed both encounters from the Hare Krishna perspective. Lord Jesus Christ is seen by Hare Krishnas as a realized son of God, and as such, his appearance in and disappearance from this world are spiritual and transcendental, and one advances spiritually by coming in touch with narrations of them. In the Quaker meeting, as newly recruited players from the audience dramatized the script of the event and the congregation sang appropriate songs, I did feel a kind of transcendental joy coming from being in touch with the account and the songs glorifying God and His son. And although it is repeated every year there is a certain freshness and wonder in it.
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, written by Barbara Robinson in 1971,told of another interesting feature, the transforming power of such narrations. The book is summarized aptly on Wikipedia: “It tells the story of Imogene, Claude, Ralph, Leroy, Ollie, and Gladys, six delinquent children surnamed Herdman. They go to church for the first time after being told that the church offers snacks. Despite protests from other church members, they are given roles in the Sunday school’s Christmas play, in which they tell the Christmas story in a nonconventional fashion.” [Buck, Jerry (1983-12-03). “Meanest kids in town make the best pageant”. The Free-Lance Star.] The interesting feature of that story is that the character of the children changes from demonic to divine as a result of hearing the narration of the appearance of Lord Jesus and from acting it out. Hearing the story the first time, the delinquent Herdmen kids, instead displaying their usual mentality of taking pleasure in causing others to suffer, show sympathy for Mary having to give birth to baby Jesus in such an unsuitable environment as a manger, and in a land ruled by a demonic king. Although the kids previously took pleasure in stealing and destroying property, in the course of enacting Christmas story they end up giving charity, without even desiring anything in return. It all calls to mind a few verses from the ancient India spiritual classic Srimad-Bhagavatam (Bhagavata Purana), namely verses 1.2.17–19 which describe how narrations concerning God and his pure devotee, such as Lord Jesus Christ, cleanse the heart of demonic qualities, such as lust, greed, and anger, bring one up to the platform of goodness. It occurred to me that it was the best Christmas pageant ever because it demonstrated the divine power of the spiritual narration to transform the character from demonic to divine, which really is what religion is all about, not just some dogma one claims to have faith in, but narrations with uplift our consciousness to the plane of loving God and all his children, our brothers and sisters. It also calls to mind another verse, our verse for the week in the Gainesville Krishna House, about the pastimes of the Supreme Lord Himself, which was spoken later in Bhagavatam by His most intimate devotees, “The nectar of Your words and the descriptions of Your activities are the life and soul of those suffering in this material world. These narrations, transmitted by learned sages, eradicate one’s sinful reactions and bestow good fortune upon whoever hears them. These narrations are broadcast all over the world and are filled with spiritual power. Certainly those who spread the message of Godhead are most munificent.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.31.9)
Harinamas in New York
Rama Raya Prabhu, playing harmonium above, who was part of Aindra Prabhu’s 24-hour kirtana in Vrindavan for many years, is focusing his attention on steadily doing harinama each day in Manhattan for at least four hours between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m., and I had the good fortune to join his party for three and a half weeks in December 2012 and January 2013. He has been going out since the end of March 2012. Each day for the last two or three hours we would regularly have around eleven people, and sometimes as many as seventeen!
When it was in the 40s (5-10 C) we would chant in the parks, mostly Union Square but sometimes Washington Square.
But when it was in the 30s or less (below 5 C) we would chant in the subway stations, which were warmer.
We had a beautiful Hare Krishna maha-mantra sign that was decorated and lighted.
Whoever gave some coins or just expressed interest got a Krishna Reservoir of Pleasure or an On Chanting Hare Krishna pamphlet.
Whoever gave a dollar got a small book. If they gave five or more, they got a Bhagavad-gita.
Sometimes people would dance with us.
I would dance at one end of our party.
Almost every day on harinama something special happens, that is something in addition to thousands of people becoming from free from karma and taking a step toward Krishna, which are in themselves pretty amazing wonders.
At the Union Square market, one young man who was loading a truck came up to me and said our incense smoke was blowing down to his work site and making it difficult to breathe. He asked if we could put out the incense for an hour until he was finished. I complied as incense is not an important part of our function. To devotees who were upset I joked that Lord Caitanya did not advent Himself to distribute maha-incense. A few minutes later the man came back with two packages of organic sprouts as a donation. Deva Madhava Prabhu suggested we give them to Radha-Govinda so the donor would make great spiritual benefit, and so we did.
One young Oriental man came up to me and said, “Didn’t I see you in Soho (London) giving the lunch program lecture?” And it was true. I gave lectures there this summer and fall. It is a small world! He said he would be in New York City for ten days and asked about our local programs, and I gave him invitations and details about them all. He said he would come to the Bhakti Center Thursday night kirtana the next day. Another day he came by Union Square to listen to the harinama for half an hour and dance a bit.
One young Christian man stopped by and danced for a while, and then came up to talk to me. He told me how he had just come to New York a week ago and that by the grace of Lord Jesus Christ he had money, a place to stay, and a replacement water bottle for one he recently lost. I told him in the course of our conversation that we accept the Biblical idea that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved, that the best spiritual practice was to sing the glories of the Lord congregationally, and that dancing was an expression of love of God. He seemed to be getting into the kirtana, so I invited him to play an instrument, and he sat down and picked up some karatalas and played a beat of his own that was in time with the music, and he stayed in the kirtanafor fifteen minutes.
One young lady with dog on a leash passed our party, and the dog was focused on the chanting devotees the whole time. Even after his owner had passed us, he continued looking back toward us, coming as close as his leash would permit. I had see children often looking backward toward the devotees as their parents pulled or carried them onward, but never a dog.
Young children are often attracted by the chanting, and some of the parents are very open to let them investigate it. We have some small shakers just for kids to use to play along with the music. Some children live in the neighborhood of Union Square, and their parents regularly bring to the park, and some spend fifteen minutes or even half an hour with us. We have smiling Jagannatha stickers for the kids whose parents give donations. Occasionally the kids dance and attract a crowd.
Once several kids, probably all under ten years old, were sitting with us on our mats, playing the different extra instruments like shakers that we brought for people to play. One boy tried playing every instrument we had a least once, demonstrating a lot of natural rhythm as he did so. The kids seemed happily engaged, and seeing them, passersby were attracted. Thanks to Rasika Gopi Devi Dasi and Bhakta Alex of the Bhakti Center for their beautiful photographs on the Manhattan harinamas.
At Union Square, one couple came up to me, and said, “Are you from Gainesville?” I replied, “Yes.” Turns out they were Tiffany and Joshua, occasional attenders at the Krishna House programs. When they saw the Hare Krishnas, they glanced at the chanters looking for Rasaraja Prabhu, who they knew from Krishna House and who came to New York for the break, and then they saw me. I suggested that Rasaraja would probably be at the Bhakti Center Thursday night kirtana at 7:00 p.m. and they might find him there, and so they did.
At Grand Central Station one young man asked how many of the ten or fifteen people chanting were from Gainesville, and I looked at our party, and seeing Rasaraja Prabhu, told him two. He mentioned how he had Krishna Lunch for four years there, and he really missed it. I told him that we have Krishna Lunch in Brooklyn, and he was overjoyed to hear it, and so I gave him an invitation to the Brooklyn temple and its weekday lunch program.
Also at Grand Central I met a guy from India who knew Hare Krishna and even Radhanath Swami from there, and so I invited him to Radhanath Swami’s Sunday lecture at the Bhakti Center.
Again at Grand Central, one lady exclaimed with joy, “Great! You guys are back! I haven’t seen you in 30 years.”
One young lady smiled and watched us the entire time she was walking past. I asked her how she knew about Hare Krishna. She said, “I just know you from this, but I am attracted to what I see.”
Insights
Srila Prabhupada:
from a lecture on Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.5.2 in Johannesburg on October 22, 1975:
The aim should be how to become a friend of God.
Radhanath Swami:
The spirit in which something is spoken and received needs to be understood to have more than a theoretical understanding.
We do not have to experience the extreme situations that Pariksit and Arjuna experienced to learn from their experience.
Maharaja Pariksit would not be rude to an insect but this world is so arranged that despite all good intentions, we make mistakes, and due to circumstances, we make people miserable although we desire to make people happy. This happens to everyone, and so it happened to the King [who when thirsty was so frustrated due to a meditating sage’s neglect to offer him water, he garlanded the sage with a dead snake and was cursed by the sage’s son to die in seven days].
Krishna can reciprocate everyone’s love simultaneously and fully satisfy them.
Due to false ego we become upset if someone is doing something better than us, or even if they are not doing something better than us, but they are getting more credit for it.
Sometimes when people are good at something you can not get them all together in the same room.
In the early 1970s, eight hundred yogis joined together for the first time for a conference. There had never been such an opportunity before or has there been since. At the end, the main sages and yogis each had 2 minutes to speak. I was in ecstasy. I had hitchhiked to India to encounter enlightened beings, and here was a whole stage full of them. The first person spoke ten minutes, the next person about fifteen minutes. As time went on, about a dozen of them were literally fighting over the microphone. It is on film. It was a great embarrassment—so many ‘enlightened’ people acting in such a way. However at Naimisaranya, the sages unanimously agreed that Sukadeva Goswami would speak. He was not arrogant but asked for the blessings of others.
We talk about it as a curse [that he would die in seven days], but Pariksit saw it as a blessing.
When we see this life as all in all, we see everything in one way, but when we see this is just one of many lives, we see it all differently.
One sage said this life is one point in a line that goes on infinitely. When we understand that, then we can harmonize the blessings and curses we receive. We can focus on the opportunity to advance spiritually.
You say you didn’t make castles out of sand as a kid, but your whole life is probably making castles out of sand.
You see the tide is coming in, and you try to build walls to protect your castle. The parents laugh. Why are you taking your castles so seriously? But the enlightened souls see all that we are doing in Washington and Wall Street to be like castles of sand.
The great sages were not concerned that they speak, but rather that some competent person was speaking nicely.
Pariksit. although cursed to die in seven days, was the happiest man in that glorious assembly of sages with such a great opportunity.
Stokakrishna, my disciple in India, at age 32 was diagnosed with one of the most fast acting forms of cancer. When I came to see him he was paralyzed and emaciated. He said, “Why am I so fortunate that I could chant Lord Krishna’s name so many times in this life? Why did I get to hear so many classes on Srimad-Bhagavatam? I did not deserve that. Why did I get the association of such nice devotees? Why did I get to be part of Srila Prabhupada’s movement?” Because he was so consistently happy in such an externally miserable situation some originally doubtful brahmacaris concluded that he must have a higher realization.
If something is inevitable, we might as well see it as a blessing.
Some friends who were brijbasis [residents of the sacred land of Krishna’s childhood pastimes, Vrindavana] happened to visit America, and I invited them to come to chant at Bhakti Tirtha Swami’s deathbed. One of them, Madana Mohan Brijbasi, was singing so simply and so sweetly, tears poured from Bhakti Tirtha Swami’s eyes in a way that his disciples had never seen. Bhakti Tirtha Swami said that because he could not go to Vrindavana, Vrindavana had come to him in the form of these devotees from Vrindavana. Madana Mohan Brijbasi was also there to chant for my disciple Stokakrishna at the end of his life.
We have to deal with the material world responsibly but keep it in perspective and remember our ultimate spiritual aim.
If when we are fasting, we think, “I am so austere, and look at these people, they are eating,” then our body is fasting but our false ego is feasting. Fasting is meant to humble us and meant to help us to take shelter of Krishna. Then we are really fasting.
Unless we prepare for the exams along the way we will not be prepared for the final exam of death.
When the tests come we have to apply all we learned from previous struggles.
To overcome pride, we have to watch from a detached point of view. If we see ourselves thinking “I am better than others,” that is the weed of pride, which impersonates the creeper of devotion and induces us to water it instead. If we see that we are envying others that is also a manifestation of pride.
Krishnadasa Kaviraja Goswami was selected by the great Goswamis of Vrndavana to write Sri Caitanya-caritamrita because of his great realization, scholarship, and humility.
The title The Journey Home [Radhanath Swami’s autobiography] was selected at last moment. The working title was Autobiography of a Worm in Stool, but the publishers would not accept it.
Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami:
From Begging for the Nectar of the Holy Name, quoted in online in his Viraha Bhavan:
“Here is a quote from an initiation lecture by Srila Prabhupada in July 1970 in Los Angeles. Srila Prabhupada spoke on each of the ten offenses and then said, ‘Then, what is next?’
“Devotee: ‘To become inattentive while chanting Hare Krishna.’
“Prabhupada: ‘Yes, when you are chanting, you should hear Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare/ Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare. You should hear at the same time. Then the mind and the senses are compact. That is samadhi. That is perfection of yoga. This yoga is recommended in the Bhagavad-gita.Yoginam api sarvesam mad-gatenantar-atmana. So everyone, by chanting he should hear.’”
A Summary of the Year 2012
I started the year being part of a 12-hour in our Mexico City temple. At that time, we were on the Vaishnava Youth winter bus tour to Mexico and were blessed by the association of Madhava Prabhu, who takes great pleasure sharing Lord Krishna’s name with others in a mood of complete concentration. A 6-hour kirtana in Dallas, and a final kirtanaby Madhava in Alachua finished off the youth tour, which was the best event I had been part of in the months of December and January. The rest of January I spent assisting Krishna House in Gainesville, and the new weekly programs the devotees started in Jacksonville. In February I visited Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami and our temples in Manhattan and downtown London, on my way to India to attend the Kirtana Mela in Mayapur. After a wonderful Gaura Purnima, bathing in the Ganges and reciting verses about Lord Caitanya’s appearance with Danavira Goswami and some of his followers, I joined Navina Nirada, Ekalavya Prabhu, and others at the Bhakti Experience, a two-week Krishna outreach program in Rishikesh in March. We met some interested people and took down contact information for fifty of them. Some even later visited Vrndavana, although previously they had not known of Krishna. Then I returned for more harinama in Mayapur, after an ecstatic Delhi Ratha-yatra and three days on the 24-hour kirtana party in Vrindavana on the way.
I returned to Europe in April, catching the tail end of a Chennai temple opening enroute, for Kadamba Kanana Swami’s Vyasa-puja and the amazing Queen’s Day harinama in Amsterdam. After Queen’s Day we traveled with Leipzig devotees from Belgium, through Luxembourg and Germany to the Nrsimha farm for Nrsimha Caturdasi, doing harinama in several cities on the way. After that, we spent the rest of May and the beginning of June with Janananda Goswami and his followers, based in Newcastle, England, and doing harinama three hours each day. Janananda Goswami greatly encouraged me in my service of harinama by giving me a wonderful amplifier, money for travel, and assistants to chantwith, as well by as his personal example of complete dedication to harinama and by wisdom shared through lectures. On the way to London for Ratha-yatra I attended the monthly harinama in Manchester, nama-hatta programs in Leeds and Sheffield, and the UK brahmacari conference. For me, the attendance of the brahmacaris in the devotee procession in the Borehamwood Carnival (parade), adding lots of extra energy, was a high point. After London Ratha-yatra, I did harinama in London for a few days with some followers of Janananda Goswami, then attending the Stonehenge Solstice festival, where we chant from midnight to 6 a.m. and distribute prasadam. I was invited to a nonexistent weekend warrior program in Croydon, where I chanted for three hours and distributed flyers for the next day’s Ratha-yatra by myself anyway, collecting 27 GBP for the Soho St. temple sankirtana office. On the way back to Newcastle, Sri Gadadhara and I did the Sunday program in Leeds, and nine devotees from the congregation went with us on harinama afterward, causing us to think perhaps post feast program harinamas may be introduced elsewhere. After all Kharkov, Ukraine, does them every week, even in the winter. After two weeks in Newcastle, I returned to the Manchester area for more harinamaand more nama-hatta programs on the way to Ireland. Ananta Nitai Prabhu traveled with me from Dublin to Belfast, to Govindadvipa, where we chanted at a couple nearby towns, and back to Dublin, where by his inspiration we had organized a 12-hour harinama. He and I both did over eleven hours and other people joined for some of the time. We felt it was so successful that we decided to organize more in the future.
Next I flew to France for three days of harinama in Paris, and then to Switzerland for an evening program in Langenthal and two Jhulan Yatras and a harinama in Zurich. Then by train to Berlin and then Kostrzyn for the Polish Woodstock festival where hundreds of thousands of people hear the holy name and take prasadam. Our harinama at the Kostrzyn train station for the those returning home after the festival was the best ever, and the officials were so pleased with the calming effect the chanting had on the tired crowds they asked us to do it next year. I did a few days harinama in Prague and then on to the kirtana mela in Spain, and three harinamas there, two of which directly inspired people to come to our local temples. Then to Trutnov, Czech Republic, for the Czech Woodstock, where we did lots of kirtana late into the night, and a harinama as well, with our guest, Srila Prabhupada’s disciple Guru Das Prabhu. Next I attended a brief Polish padayatra which gave some transcendental experiences to the residents of the towns near our New Shantipur farm, where we had a weekend nama-hatta festival afterward. Then onward to travel with Janananda Goswami doing harinamas and evening programs in Slovakia and one in Czech Republic. After that, we went with Dhruva, Trevor, and Vamana to the Wroclaw Ratha-yatra, and then the German Kirtana Mela, with three harinamas embedded in it, and followed by the wonderful Leipzig Ratha-yatra. Trevor and I then joined the Nitai Gouranga harinama bus tour for a day from Leipzig to Wroclaw where we did a beautiful three-hour harinama in the square where we had Ratha-yatra the week before. We stayed in Wroclaw and did harinama there, next traveling to Bydgoszcz, where we did harinama and an Ekadasi evening program. Then back to Czech Republic for evening kirtana programs in Trutnov and Prague, and a nama-hatta program in Slovakia. Then on the the Ukraine festival (Bhakti Sangama) with lots of seminars and great three-hour evening kirtanas. Then to Warsaw for Radhastami, and then Simhachalam, the German Nrsimha farm, for the festival for the 30thanniversary of the Prahlada-Nrsimha’s installation, with a few small harinamas on the way. That festival ended with the first ever Passau Ratha-yatra.
Then I returned to the UK to travel with Janananda Goswami in The North of England for the World Holy Name Festival, ending with a harinama and an eight-hour kirtana in Edinburgh, Scotland, a new city and country for me. Dhruva Prabhu and I then went to Belfast, where we were joined by Ananta Nitai for more harinama there, and in the cities of Enniskillen, Dublin, and Bray. Ananta Nitai, inspired by the July 12-hour harinama, planned for a 12-hour harinama on Saturday, followed by the Sunday feast, and a 12-hour kirtana in the temple on Monday. The program was successful enough that he wants to do it the first week of every month. Then I went back to Newcastle for a week or so, and then nine days worth of evening lectures beginning there and including all the nama-hattas nearby Manchester, my third swing through there this year, as opposed to my usual one. We preceded the Bolton nama-hatta with the monthly harinamaand were encouraged to see several local children enthusiastically taking part for forty-five minutes. Back to London for a few days with more harinama and lectures, including four hours of harinamaon Halloween, while waiting for New York airports to be reopened after hurricane Sandy.
Then back home to America for a week on harinama in Manhattan with Rama Raya and Ekalavya Prabhus, some days on a book production marathon for Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami’s The Story of My Life, and a brief visit to my family in Albany. Then I flew to Jacksonville where I chanted on the campus for two hours, meeting a couple people I who had come to our programs back in January and a nice Indian man who started coming to our Jacksonville programs as a result. Then I caught the end of a beautiful ceremony in honor of Srila Prabhupada’s disappearance in Alachua with a wonderful feast. The next several days were many evening kirtanas leading up to the 24-hour kirtana, the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving and it was great to hear Madhava Prabhu so much. The 24-hour kirtana was special this year with guests Niranjana Swami and Agnidev Prabhu. Dravida Prabhu led for two hours on a wonderful harinama in Tallahassee that Saturday at the last football game of the season. Then a couple weeks at Gainesville’s Krishna House, and another evening at our Jacksonville program on the way to fly north for Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami’s Vyasa-puja in December in Stuyvesant, where I cooked breakfast and lunch for him for nine days afterward, punctuated by a harinama in Hudson and a day trip to New York City to see Niranjana Swami and do kirtana and harinama. Then we ended the year with eleven days of four hours of harinama in Manhattan, with two-day visit to my family for Christmas in the middle.
Niranjana Swami advised I go to fewer places and stay longer and try to increase the devotional service in those places, and reading the above account where I travel to fifteen countries, it sounds like I was a dismal failure. I did, however, spend 53 days in Newcastle, England, 43 days in Gainesville, 39 days in The Northern UK and Ireland, and 18 days doing harinama in New York City. Successes include new people coming to the temple from the harinamas in Newcastle, Belfast, Sheffield, and Jacksonville, a new popular program, the back-to-back 12-hour harinama and 12-hour temple kirtana in Dublin, and a string of nine evenings of lectures in a different cities in England each night. By the inspiration of Janananda Goswami, we also went to towns where devotees rarely if ever to harinama, so new people got exposure to the recommended spiritual practice of the age. Incidentally, the guy who came from harinama to the Belfast temple bought four books. The best comment on harinama was “seeing your party was the best part of my trip to Dublin” by a girl from Seattle.
With the blessings of my advisers Niranjana Swami and Janananda Goswami, I hope to increase my focus and continue to try to spend more time in fewer places, trying to bring people to a higher level of devotion, including myself. I am thinking of just spending one month in Europe in the summer instead of two, and going to the Lithuanian festival instead of the Ukraine festival so I can return to England and New York sooner.
Financial Statement for 2012
Srila Prabhupada taught his followers to keep careful records of expenditures. People always wonder how devotees get their money and how they spend it. Here is a summary for me for 2012. If for some reason, you want more details, let me know.
|
INCOME
donations
book sales
total income
EXPENSES
travel
gifts to temples, swamis, etc.
maintenance (clothes, medicine)
internet, phone, computer, etc.
festival fees
loans
food (bhoga, prasadam)
rent
unaccounted for expenses
total expenses
balance |
4107.59
18.32
——–
4125.91
3360.59
277.06
88.54
72.25
63.00
50.00
39.25
24.75
130.41
——–
4105.85
-20.06
|
I would like to thank all the very kind and generous people and organizations who contributed to my expenses so I could share the congregational chanting of the holy name with people in fifteen countries this year. These include, with those contributing the most listed first, GN Press, Kalakantha Prabhu, Kaliya Krishna Prabhu, the devotees in Manchester (England), my mother (Pat Beetle), Rama Raya Prabhu, Paramesvara Prabhu and his congregation in Modra (Slovakia), Bhakta Clive, Ali Krishna dd, Janananda Goswami, Touchstone Publishing, Vrajendralal Prabhu, Bhakta Andy (Gainesville), Bhakta Steve (Belfast), Dr. Dina Bandhu Prabhu, Raj Sharma, the congregation in Leeds, Balarama Prabhu (Opole, Poland), the Nama-hatta leaders in Poland, the devotees in Langenthal (Switzerland), the JPS office in Mayapur, Prema Sankirtana Prabhu of Newcastle, Ramai Prabhu of Sunderland, Sidharth from Michigan (who bought me some very nice boots for cold weather harinamas), Pandava Prabhu, Govinda Prabhu from Scotland, Bhakta Andrzej, Bhakta Doug, Bhakta Sumit, Bhakta Suresh, Parananda Prabhu, Gaura Karuna Prabhu, Tara Prabhu, Adi Karta Prabhu, Kishore Prabhu, Bhaktin Padma, Ramiya Prabhu, the over twenty people who donated less than twenty dollars each, and all the people who bought books on harinama. I hope Lord Caitanya blesses them all with some of the transcendental merit from our sharing the congregational chanting of the holy name with the people in general.
—–
yei yahan tahan dana kare prema-phala
phalasvade matta loka ha-ila sakala
“The fruit of love of God is so delicious that wherever a devotee distributes it, those who relish the fruit, anywhere in the world, immediately become intoxicated.” (Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, Adi-lila 9.48)
Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 8, No. 24
By Krishna-kripa das
(December 2012, part two)
New York City and Albany
(Sent from Gainesville, Florida, on January 30, 2013)
Where I Went and What I Did
When Yadunandana Swami came to serve Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami on December 19, I left my guru’s personal service to go to New York City to chant in Union Square Park with Rama Raya Prabhu and his harinama party. For the rest of the month I lived in our Brooklyn temple, Sri Sri Radha Govinda Mandir, attended the morning program there, and spent two hours afterward chopping vegetables for the temple and its weekday restaurant program, Govinda’s Vegetarian Lunch. Every afternoon from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. I would chant with Rama Raya Prabhu and his harinama party, consisting of from three to seventeen devotees, at Union Square Park, or on the cold days, in various subway stations at Union Square, Grand Central, Times Square, and Columbus Circle. Sometimes, especially on weekends, we would begin at 3 p.m. or even 2 p.m., and still continue till 8:00 p.m. I took a two-day break for Christmas Eve and Christmas, when I visited my family, my Quaker meeting, and my initiating spiritual master, Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami, along with a few of his disciples including Yadunandana Swami.
I was happy to be visiting New York City at the same time as Radhanath Swami, and I include some notes from his lectures, in addition to some material from Srila Prabhupada directly.
At the end I summarize my activities in the year 2012 and include my annual financial statement and thank my donors. I also talk about what to do differently in 2013.
The Christmas Story Seen from a Hare Krishna Perspective
Twice on Christmas Eve I encountered the story of the appearance of Lord Jesus Christ in this world, once at my Quaker meeting and once reading a book with my relatives, which had become a family tradition at Christmastime since I lived at home, called The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.
Living as a Hare Krishna monk for the last thirty years, I naturally viewed both encounters from the Hare Krishna perspective. Lord Jesus Christ is seen by Hare Krishnas as a realized son of God, and as such, his appearance in and disappearance from this world are spiritual and transcendental, and one advances spiritually by coming in touch with narrations of them. In the Quaker meeting, as newly recruited players from the audience dramatized the script of the event and the congregation sang appropriate songs, I did feel a kind of transcendental joy coming from being in touch with the account and the songs glorifying God and His son. And although it is repeated every year there is a certain freshness and wonder in it.
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, written by Barbara Robinson in 1971,told of another interesting feature, the transforming power of such narrations. The book is summarized aptly on Wikipedia: “It tells the story of Imogene, Claude, Ralph, Leroy, Ollie, and Gladys, six delinquent children surnamed Herdman. They go to church for the first time after being told that the church offers snacks. Despite protests from other church members, they are given roles in the Sunday school’s Christmas play, in which they tell the Christmas story in a nonconventional fashion.” [Buck, Jerry (1983-12-03). “Meanest kids in town make the best pageant”. The Free-Lance Star.] The interesting feature of that story is that the character of the children changes from demonic to divine as a result of hearing the narration of the appearance of Lord Jesus and from acting it out. Hearing the story the first time, the delinquent Herdmen kids, instead displaying their usual mentality of taking pleasure in causing others to suffer, show sympathy for Mary having to give birth to baby Jesus in such an unsuitable environment as a manger, and in a land ruled by a demonic king. Although the kids previously took pleasure in stealing and destroying property, in the course of enacting Christmas story they end up giving charity, without even desiring anything in return. It all calls to mind a few verses from the ancient India spiritual classic Srimad-Bhagavatam (Bhagavata Purana), namely verses 1.2.17–19 which describe how narrations concerning God and his pure devotee, such as Lord Jesus Christ, cleanse the heart of demonic qualities, such as lust, greed, and anger, bring one up to the platform of goodness. It occurred to me that it was the best Christmas pageant ever because it demonstrated the divine power of the spiritual narration to transform the character from demonic to divine, which really is what religion is all about, not just some dogma one claims to have faith in, but narrations with uplift our consciousness to the plane of loving God and all his children, our brothers and sisters. It also calls to mind another verse, our verse for the week in the Gainesville Krishna House, about the pastimes of the Supreme Lord Himself, which was spoken later in Bhagavatam by His most intimate devotees, “The nectar of Your words and the descriptions of Your activities are the life and soul of those suffering in this material world. These narrations, transmitted by learned sages, eradicate one’s sinful reactions and bestow good fortune upon whoever hears them. These narrations are broadcast all over the world and are filled with spiritual power. Certainly those who spread the message of Godhead are most munificent.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.31.9)
Harinamas in New York
Rama Raya Prabhu, playing harmonium above, who was part of Aindra Prabhu’s 24-hour kirtana in Vrindavan for many years, is focusing his attention on steadily doing harinama each day in Manhattan for at least four hours between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m., and I had the good fortune to join his party for three and a half weeks in December 2012 and January 2013. He has been going out since the end of March 2012. Each day for the last two or three hours we would regularly have around eleven people, and sometimes as many as seventeen!
When it was in the 40s (5-10 C) we would chant in the parks, mostly Union Square but sometimes Washington Square.
But when it was in the 30s or less (below 5 C) we would chant in the subway stations, which were warmer.
We had a beautiful Hare Krishna maha-mantra sign that was decorated and lighted.
Whoever gave some coins or just expressed interest got a Krishna Reservoir of Pleasure or an On Chanting Hare Krishna pamphlet.
Whoever gave a dollar got a small book. If they gave five or more, they got a Bhagavad-gita.
Sometimes people would dance with us.
I would dance at one end of our party.
Almost every day on harinama something special happens, that is something in addition to thousands of people becoming from free from karma and taking a step toward Krishna, which are in themselves pretty amazing wonders.
At the Union Square market, one young man who was loading a truck came up to me and said our incense smoke was blowing down to his work site and making it difficult to breathe. He asked if we could put out the incense for an hour until he was finished. I complied as incense is not an important part of our function. To devotees who were upset I joked that Lord Caitanya did not advent Himself to distribute maha-incense. A few minutes later the man came back with two packages of organic sprouts as a donation. Deva Madhava Prabhu suggested we give them to Radha-Govinda so the donor would make great spiritual benefit, and so we did.
One young Oriental man came up to me and said, “Didn’t I see you in Soho (London) giving the lunch program lecture?” And it was true. I gave lectures there this summer and fall. It is a small world! He said he would be in New York City for ten days and asked about our local programs, and I gave him invitations and details about them all. He said he would come to the Bhakti Center Thursday night kirtana the next day. Another day he came by Union Square to listen to the harinama for half an hour and dance a bit.
One young Christian man stopped by and danced for a while, and then came up to talk to me. He told me how he had just come to New York a week ago and that by the grace of Lord Jesus Christ he had money, a place to stay, and a replacement water bottle for one he recently lost. I told him in the course of our conversation that we accept the Biblical idea that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved, that the best spiritual practice was to sing the glories of the Lord congregationally, and that dancing was an expression of love of God. He seemed to be getting into the kirtana, so I invited him to play an instrument, and he sat down and picked up some karatalas and played a beat of his own that was in time with the music, and he stayed in the kirtanafor fifteen minutes.
One young lady with dog on a leash passed our party, and the dog was focused on the chanting devotees the whole time. Even after his owner had passed us, he continued looking back toward us, coming as close as his leash would permit. I had see children often looking backward toward the devotees as their parents pulled or carried them onward, but never a dog.
Young children are often attracted by the chanting, and some of the parents are very open to let them investigate it. We have some small shakers just for kids to use to play along with the music. Some children live in the neighborhood of Union Square, and their parents regularly bring to the park, and some spend fifteen minutes or even half an hour with us. We have smiling Jagannatha stickers for the kids whose parents give donations. Occasionally the kids dance and attract a crowd.
Once several kids, probably all under ten years old, were sitting with us on our mats, playing the different extra instruments like shakers that we brought for people to play. One boy tried playing every instrument we had a least once, demonstrating a lot of natural rhythm as he did so. The kids seemed happily engaged, and seeing them, passersby were attracted. Thanks to Rasika Gopi Devi Dasi and Bhakta Alex of the Bhakti Center for their beautiful photographs on the Manhattan harinamas.
At Union Square, one couple came up to me, and said, “Are you from Gainesville?” I replied, “Yes.” Turns out they were Tiffany and Joshua, occasional attenders at the Krishna House programs. When they saw the Hare Krishnas, they glanced at the chanters looking for Rasaraja Prabhu, who they knew from Krishna House and who came to New York for the break, and then they saw me. I suggested that Rasaraja would probably be at the Bhakti Center Thursday night kirtana at 7:00 p.m. and they might find him there, and so they did.
At Grand Central Station one young man asked how many of the ten or fifteen people chanting were from Gainesville, and I looked at our party, and seeing Rasaraja Prabhu, told him two. He mentioned how he had Krishna Lunch for four years there, and he really missed it. I told him that we have Krishna Lunch in Brooklyn, and he was overjoyed to hear it, and so I gave him an invitation to the Brooklyn temple and its weekday lunch program.
Also at Grand Central I met a guy from India who knew Hare Krishna and even Radhanath Swami from there, and so I invited him to Radhanath Swami’s Sunday lecture at the Bhakti Center.
Again at Grand Central, one lady exclaimed with joy, “Great! You guys are back! I haven’t seen you in 30 years.”
One young lady smiled and watched us the entire time she was walking past. I asked her how she knew about Hare Krishna. She said, “I just know you from this, but I am attracted to what I see.”
Insights
Srila Prabhupada:
from a lecture on Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.5.2 in Johannesburg on October 22, 1975:
The aim should be how to become a friend of God.
Radhanath Swami:
The spirit in which something is spoken and received needs to be understood to have more than a theoretical understanding.
We do not have to experience the extreme situations that Pariksit and Arjuna experienced to learn from their experience.
Maharaja Pariksit would not be rude to an insect but this world is so arranged that despite all good intentions, we make mistakes, and due to circumstances, we make people miserable although we desire to make people happy. This happens to everyone, and so it happened to the King [who when thirsty was so frustrated due to a meditating sage’s neglect to offer him water, he garlanded the sage with a dead snake and was cursed by the sage’s son to die in seven days].
Krishna can reciprocate everyone’s love simultaneously and fully satisfy them.
Due to false ego we become upset if someone is doing something better than us, or even if they are not doing something better than us, but they are getting more credit for it.
Sometimes when people are good at something you can not get them all together in the same room.
In the early 1970s, eight hundred yogis joined together for the first time for a conference. There had never been such an opportunity before or has there been since. At the end, the main sages and yogis each had 2 minutes to speak. I was in ecstasy. I had hitchhiked to India to encounter enlightened beings, and here was a whole stage full of them. The first person spoke ten minutes, the next person about fifteen minutes. As time went on, about a dozen of them were literally fighting over the microphone. It is on film. It was a great embarrassment—so many ‘enlightened’ people acting in such a way. However at Naimisaranya, the sages unanimously agreed that Sukadeva Goswami would speak. He was not arrogant but asked for the blessings of others.
We talk about it as a curse [that he would die in seven days], but Pariksit saw it as a blessing.
When we see this life as all in all, we see everything in one way, but when we see this is just one of many lives, we see it all differently.
One sage said this life is one point in a line that goes on infinitely. When we understand that, then we can harmonize the blessings and curses we receive. We can focus on the opportunity to advance spiritually.
You say you didn’t make castles out of sand as a kid, but your whole life is probably making castles out of sand.
You see the tide is coming in, and you try to build walls to protect your castle. The parents laugh. Why are you taking your castles so seriously? But the enlightened souls see all that we are doing in Washington and Wall Street to be like castles of sand.
The great sages were not concerned that they speak, but rather that some competent person was speaking nicely.
Pariksit. although cursed to die in seven days, was the happiest man in that glorious assembly of sages with such a great opportunity.
Stokakrishna, my disciple in India, at age 32 was diagnosed with one of the most fast acting forms of cancer. When I came to see him he was paralyzed and emaciated. He said, “Why am I so fortunate that I could chant Lord Krishna’s name so many times in this life? Why did I get to hear so many classes on Srimad-Bhagavatam? I did not deserve that. Why did I get the association of such nice devotees? Why did I get to be part of Srila Prabhupada’s movement?” Because he was so consistently happy in such an externally miserable situation some originally doubtful brahmacaris concluded that he must have a higher realization.
If something is inevitable, we might as well see it as a blessing.
Some friends who were brijbasis [residents of the sacred land of Krishna’s childhood pastimes, Vrindavana] happened to visit America, and I invited them to come to chant at Bhakti Tirtha Swami’s deathbed. One of them, Madana Mohan Brijbasi, was singing so simply and so sweetly, tears poured from Bhakti Tirtha Swami’s eyes in a way that his disciples had never seen. Bhakti Tirtha Swami said that because he could not go to Vrindavana, Vrindavana had come to him in the form of these devotees from Vrindavana. Madana Mohan Brijbasi was also there to chant for my disciple Stokakrishna at the end of his life.
We have to deal with the material world responsibly but keep it in perspective and remember our ultimate spiritual aim.
If when we are fasting, we think, “I am so austere, and look at these people, they are eating,” then our body is fasting but our false ego is feasting. Fasting is meant to humble us and meant to help us to take shelter of Krishna. Then we are really fasting.
Unless we prepare for the exams along the way we will not be prepared for the final exam of death.
When the tests come we have to apply all we learned from previous struggles.
To overcome pride, we have to watch from a detached point of view. If we see ourselves thinking “I am better than others,” that is the weed of pride, which impersonates the creeper of devotion and induces us to water it instead. If we see that we are envying others that is also a manifestation of pride.
Krishnadasa Kaviraja Goswami was selected by the great Goswamis of Vrndavana to write Sri Caitanya-caritamrita because of his great realization, scholarship, and humility.
The title The Journey Home [Radhanath Swami’s autobiography] was selected at last moment. The working title was Autobiography of a Worm in Stool, but the publishers would not accept it.
Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami:
From Begging for the Nectar of the Holy Name, quoted in online in his Viraha Bhavan:
“Here is a quote from an initiation lecture by Srila Prabhupada in July 1970 in Los Angeles. Srila Prabhupada spoke on each of the ten offenses and then said, ‘Then, what is next?’
“Devotee: ‘To become inattentive while chanting Hare Krishna.’
“Prabhupada: ‘Yes, when you are chanting, you should hear Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare/ Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare. You should hear at the same time. Then the mind and the senses are compact. That is samadhi. That is perfection of yoga. This yoga is recommended in the Bhagavad-gita.Yoginam api sarvesam mad-gatenantar-atmana. So everyone, by chanting he should hear.’”
A Summary of the Year 2012
I started the year being part of a 12-hour in our Mexico City temple. At that time, we were on the Vaishnava Youth winter bus tour to Mexico and were blessed by the association of Madhava Prabhu, who takes great pleasure sharing Lord Krishna’s name with others in a mood of complete concentration. A 6-hour kirtana in Dallas, and a final kirtanaby Madhava in Alachua finished off the youth tour, which was the best event I had been part of in the months of December and January. The rest of January I spent assisting Krishna House in Gainesville, and the new weekly programs the devotees started in Jacksonville. In February I visited Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami and our temples in Manhattan and downtown London, on my way to India to attend the Kirtana Mela in Mayapur. After a wonderful Gaura Purnima, bathing in the Ganges and reciting verses about Lord Caitanya’s appearance with Danavira Goswami and some of his followers, I joined Navina Nirada, Ekalavya Prabhu, and others at the Bhakti Experience, a two-week Krishna outreach program in Rishikesh in March. We met some interested people and took down contact information for fifty of them. Some even later visited Vrndavana, although previously they had not known of Krishna. Then I returned for more harinama in Mayapur, after an ecstatic Delhi Ratha-yatra and three days on the 24-hour kirtana party in Vrindavana on the way.
I returned to Europe in April, catching the tail end of a Chennai temple opening enroute, for Kadamba Kanana Swami’s Vyasa-puja and the amazing Queen’s Day harinama in Amsterdam. After Queen’s Day we traveled with Leipzig devotees from Belgium, through Luxembourg and Germany to the Nrsimha farm for Nrsimha Caturdasi, doing harinama in several cities on the way. After that, we spent the rest of May and the beginning of June with Janananda Goswami and his followers, based in Newcastle, England, and doing harinama three hours each day. Janananda Goswami greatly encouraged me in my service of harinama by giving me a wonderful amplifier, money for travel, and assistants to chantwith, as well by as his personal example of complete dedication to harinama and by wisdom shared through lectures. On the way to London for Ratha-yatra I attended the monthly harinama in Manchester, nama-hatta programs in Leeds and Sheffield, and the UK brahmacari conference. For me, the attendance of the brahmacaris in the devotee procession in the Borehamwood Carnival (parade), adding lots of extra energy, was a high point. After London Ratha-yatra, I did harinama in London for a few days with some followers of Janananda Goswami, then attending the Stonehenge Solstice festival, where we chant from midnight to 6 a.m. and distribute prasadam. I was invited to a nonexistent weekend warrior program in Croydon, where I chanted for three hours and distributed flyers for the next day’s Ratha-yatra by myself anyway, collecting 27 GBP for the Soho St. temple sankirtana office. On the way back to Newcastle, Sri Gadadhara and I did the Sunday program in Leeds, and nine devotees from the congregation went with us on harinama afterward, causing us to think perhaps post feast program harinamas may be introduced elsewhere. After all Kharkov, Ukraine, does them every week, even in the winter. After two weeks in Newcastle, I returned to the Manchester area for more harinamaand more nama-hatta programs on the way to Ireland. Ananta Nitai Prabhu traveled with me from Dublin to Belfast, to Govindadvipa, where we chanted at a couple nearby towns, and back to Dublin, where by his inspiration we had organized a 12-hour harinama. He and I both did over eleven hours and other people joined for some of the time. We felt it was so successful that we decided to organize more in the future.
Next I flew to France for three days of harinama in Paris, and then to Switzerland for an evening program in Langenthal and two Jhulan Yatras and a harinama in Zurich. Then by train to Berlin and then Kostrzyn for the Polish Woodstock festival where hundreds of thousands of people hear the holy name and take prasadam. Our harinama at the Kostrzyn train station for the those returning home after the festival was the best ever, and the officials were so pleased with the calming effect the chanting had on the tired crowds they asked us to do it next year. I did a few days harinama in Prague and then on to the kirtana mela in Spain, and three harinamas there, two of which directly inspired people to come to our local temples. Then to Trutnov, Czech Republic, for the Czech Woodstock, where we did lots of kirtana late into the night, and a harinama as well, with our guest, Srila Prabhupada’s disciple Guru Das Prabhu. Next I attended a brief Polish padayatra which gave some transcendental experiences to the residents of the towns near our New Shantipur farm, where we had a weekend nama-hatta festival afterward. Then onward to travel with Janananda Goswami doing harinamas and evening programs in Slovakia and one in Czech Republic. After that, we went with Dhruva, Trevor, and Vamana to the Wroclaw Ratha-yatra, and then the German Kirtana Mela, with three harinamas embedded in it, and followed by the wonderful Leipzig Ratha-yatra. Trevor and I then joined the Nitai Gouranga harinama bus tour for a day from Leipzig to Wroclaw where we did a beautiful three-hour harinama in the square where we had Ratha-yatra the week before. We stayed in Wroclaw and did harinama there, next traveling to Bydgoszcz, where we did harinama and an Ekadasi evening program. Then back to Czech Republic for evening kirtana programs in Trutnov and Prague, and a nama-hatta program in Slovakia. Then on the the Ukraine festival (Bhakti Sangama) with lots of seminars and great three-hour evening kirtanas. Then to Warsaw for Radhastami, and then Simhachalam, the German Nrsimha farm, for the festival for the 30thanniversary of the Prahlada-Nrsimha’s installation, with a few small harinamas on the way. That festival ended with the first ever Passau Ratha-yatra.
Then I returned to the UK to travel with Janananda Goswami in The North of England for the World Holy Name Festival, ending with a harinama and an eight-hour kirtana in Edinburgh, Scotland, a new city and country for me. Dhruva Prabhu and I then went to Belfast, where we were joined by Ananta Nitai for more harinama there, and in the cities of Enniskillen, Dublin, and Bray. Ananta Nitai, inspired by the July 12-hour harinama, planned for a 12-hour harinama on Saturday, followed by the Sunday feast, and a 12-hour kirtana in the temple on Monday. The program was successful enough that he wants to do it the first week of every month. Then I went back to Newcastle for a week or so, and then nine days worth of evening lectures beginning there and including all the nama-hattas nearby Manchester, my third swing through there this year, as opposed to my usual one. We preceded the Bolton nama-hatta with the monthly harinamaand were encouraged to see several local children enthusiastically taking part for forty-five minutes. Back to London for a few days with more harinama and lectures, including four hours of harinamaon Halloween, while waiting for New York airports to be reopened after hurricane Sandy.
Then back home to America for a week on harinama in Manhattan with Rama Raya and Ekalavya Prabhus, some days on a book production marathon for Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami’s The Story of My Life, and a brief visit to my family in Albany. Then I flew to Jacksonville where I chanted on the campus for two hours, meeting a couple people I who had come to our programs back in January and a nice Indian man who started coming to our Jacksonville programs as a result. Then I caught the end of a beautiful ceremony in honor of Srila Prabhupada’s disappearance in Alachua with a wonderful feast. The next several days were many evening kirtanas leading up to the 24-hour kirtana, the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving and it was great to hear Madhava Prabhu so much. The 24-hour kirtana was special this year with guests Niranjana Swami and Agnidev Prabhu. Dravida Prabhu led for two hours on a wonderful harinama in Tallahassee that Saturday at the last football game of the season. Then a couple weeks at Gainesville’s Krishna House, and another evening at our Jacksonville program on the way to fly north for Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami’s Vyasa-puja in December in Stuyvesant, where I cooked breakfast and lunch for him for nine days afterward, punctuated by a harinama in Hudson and a day trip to New York City to see Niranjana Swami and do kirtana and harinama. Then we ended the year with eleven days of four hours of harinama in Manhattan, with two-day visit to my family for Christmas in the middle.
Niranjana Swami advised I go to fewer places and stay longer and try to increase the devotional service in those places, and reading the above account where I travel to fifteen countries, it sounds like I was a dismal failure. I did, however, spend 53 days in Newcastle, England, 43 days in Gainesville, 39 days in The Northern UK and Ireland, and 18 days doing harinama in New York City. Successes include new people coming to the temple from the harinamas in Newcastle, Belfast, Sheffield, and Jacksonville, a new popular program, the back-to-back 12-hour harinama and 12-hour temple kirtana in Dublin, and a string of nine evenings of lectures in a different cities in England each night. By the inspiration of Janananda Goswami, we also went to towns where devotees rarely if ever to harinama, so new people got exposure to the recommended spiritual practice of the age. Incidentally, the guy who came from harinama to the Belfast temple bought four books. The best comment on harinama was “seeing your party was the best part of my trip to Dublin” by a girl from Seattle.
With the blessings of my advisers Niranjana Swami and Janananda Goswami, I hope to increase my focus and continue to try to spend more time in fewer places, trying to bring people to a higher level of devotion, including myself. I am thinking of just spending one month in Europe in the summer instead of two, and going to the Lithuanian festival instead of the Ukraine festival so I can return to England and New York sooner.
Financial Statement for 2012
Srila Prabhupada taught his followers to keep careful records of expenditures. People always wonder how devotees get their money and how they spend it. Here is a summary for me for 2012. If for some reason, you want more details, let me know.
|
INCOME
donations
book sales
total income
EXPENSES
travel
gifts to temples, swamis, etc.
maintenance (clothes, medicine)
internet, phone, computer, etc.
festival fees
loans
food (bhoga, prasadam)
rent
unaccounted for expenses
total expenses
balance |
4107.59
18.32
——–
4125.91
3360.59
277.06
88.54
72.25
63.00
50.00
39.25
24.75
130.41
——–
4105.85
-20.06
|
I would like to thank all the very kind and generous people and organizations who contributed to my expenses so I could share the congregational chanting of the holy name with people in fifteen countries this year. These include, with those contributing the most listed first, GN Press, Kalakantha Prabhu, Kaliya Krishna Prabhu, the devotees in Manchester (England), my mother (Pat Beetle), Rama Raya Prabhu, Paramesvara Prabhu and his congregation in Modra (Slovakia), Bhakta Clive, Ali Krishna dd, Janananda Goswami, Touchstone Publishing, Vrajendralal Prabhu, Bhakta Andy (Gainesville), Bhakta Steve (Belfast), Dr. Dina Bandhu Prabhu, Raj Sharma, the congregation in Leeds, Balarama Prabhu (Opole, Poland), the Nama-hatta leaders in Poland, the devotees in Langenthal (Switzerland), the JPS office in Mayapur, Prema Sankirtana Prabhu of Newcastle, Ramai Prabhu of Sunderland, Sidharth from Michigan (who bought me some very nice boots for cold weather harinamas), Pandava Prabhu, Govinda Prabhu from Scotland, Bhakta Andrzej, Bhakta Doug, Bhakta Sumit, Bhakta Suresh, Parananda Prabhu, Gaura Karuna Prabhu, Tara Prabhu, Adi Karta Prabhu, Kishore Prabhu, Bhaktin Padma, Ramiya Prabhu, the over twenty people who donated less than twenty dollars each, and all the people who bought books on harinama. I hope Lord Caitanya blesses them all with some of the transcendental merit from our sharing the congregational chanting of the holy name with the people in general.
—–
yei yahan tahan dana kare prema-phala
phalasvade matta loka ha-ila sakala
“The fruit of love of God is so delicious that wherever a devotee distributes it, those who relish the fruit, anywhere in the world, immediately become intoxicated.” (Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, Adi-lila 9.48)
Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 8, No. 23
By Krishna-kripa das
(December 2012, part one)
North Florida and New York State
(Sent from Brooklyn, New York, on January 7, 2013)
What I Went and What I Did
December started off with a new event for the North Florida Hare Krishnas on its very first day, the St. Augustine Christmas parade. In Gainesville, we had our last week of Krishna Lunch on the campus for the year, and I chanted on the campus through Wednesday. That Wednesday we had our usual harinama at the Gainesville Farmers Market, which had a special feature this time. Thursday Andy drove me to University of North Florida where Hladini, Amrita, Dorian, and Dorian’s friend, Tim, and I chanted together for four hours outside the Student Union as hundreds of students traded in their used books. Hladini also distributed many cookies and invitations to our Thursday evening program which Tim ended up coming to for the first time. On Friday I flew to Philadelphia where I saw Radha-Saradbihari and Ravindra Svarupa Prabhu, and Sraddha dd, and where I took my niece, Fern, to my friend Haryasva Prabhu’s Govinda’s Restaurant, along with Jaya Sita dd and Varuni, a couple friends from Florida. The next day I went to Stuyvesant Falls, New York, about 100 miles north of New York City, where my initiating guru, Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami had his Vyasa Puja ceremony that weekend. For the next week after that I served Satsvarupa Maharaja, by cooking his breakfast and lunch, cleaning his room, and washing everyone’s dishes. Muktavandya Prabhu, who was also assisting Satsvarupa Maharaja, and I went to Hudson on the warmest day of that week and did harinama for an hour, and we received some favorable gestures and smiles from a few locals and no negativity. On Saturday the 15th, I made a day trip to New York City to do harinama and kirtana, and to hear from my siksa guru, Niranjana Swami. That harinama was a special experience because of the response, and I share some video of some Santa Clauses dancing along with our party.
I share insights of visiting guests like Niranjana and Rtadhvaja Swamis and Malati Prabhu, as well as senior devotees in the Alachua Country community like Kalakantha and Sesa Prabhus. I tell of Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami’s Vyasa Puja ceremony and include some nice excerpts from his autobiography, The Story of My Life, in which he describes the early days with Srila Prabhupada. Then I share details from presentations by newer devotees in Gainesville and Jacksonville.
Lord Jagannatha Blesses the St. Augustine Christmas Parade
By the grace of enthusiastic devotees from Alachua, Ratha-yatras are on the increase in North Florida. For the first time we had a Ratha-yatra cart in the St. Augustine Christmas parade. It was also special as this was first time as the new replica Jagannatha Deities rode on the cart. Dharma-raj Prabhu and his family, as usual, made all kinds of practical arrangements, getting the cart there, and decorated.
Although I love freely distributing promotional literature about Krishna consciousness because I am convinced it will benefit the people, I was not very enthusiastic during the beginning of the parade because I thought the authorities would not appreciate us doing that at the parade and that the vast majority of the people would not be interested. Of course, I did it anyway as a matter of duty, and I was very pleasantly surprised. Many, many people were happy to see the devotees, and they reached out with smiles and words and gestures of approval to take the Krishna, Reservoir of Pleasure and On Chanting Hare Krishna pamphlets that we were distributing. Of course, the prasadam candy canes were even more popular. After two-thirds of the parade, a light rain started, and I hid the pamphlets under my kurta for protection and continued to distribute. Later Kesava Prabhu got a call from the organizers in St. Augustine, saying that we won the award for the most unique float. Of course, that is not so surprising. Who is more unique than Lord Jagannatha, His brother, and sister on their glorious cart and His entourage of singing and dancing followers?
1565Today.com, St. Augustine, Florida’s newest online magazine, in an article “The St. Augustine Christmas Parade Wows the Kids” posted on December 1, writes “And honorable mention goes to the Hare Krishna devotees, who sang and tambourined their way through the city in a colorful injection of ethnic and religious diversity.” The two pictures illustrating this article were taken by Brian Nelson of 1565Today.com and are used with his permission.
A Special Harinama at the Farmers Market
With devotees working on Krishna Lunch and finishing up projects and papers and studying for finals as the semester ended, we had few devotees to chant at the first Gainesville Farmers Market in December. There was one surprise addition to our chanting party though, and that is our friend, Anna, a Quaker lady in her sixties, who originally came in touch with Hare Krishna at the very same Farmers Market perhaps a year or so ago. She developed a fondness for chanting Hare Krishna on beads, attends some programs, and sometimes helps serve out the Krishna Lunch on the porch of Krishna House. She chanted with us for an hour at the Farmers Market, spontaneously giving out invitations to those sitting or standing nearby, so they could benefit from some of the gifts the Krishna consciousness movement is sharing, as she herself has.
December 15 Harinama in New York City
As I walked from 34 West 31th Street, where the Chinese bus from Albany dropped me off, to find our harinama in Union Square, or as it turned out, Washington Square Park, I was amazed to see somewhere between 10% and 25% of the people were dressed as Santa Claus! “What is going on?” I wondered. Later as I researched this article, I found out, “SantaCon!” According to Wikipedia, “SantaCon is an annual mass gathering of people dressed in Santa Claus costumes parading publicly on streets and in bars in cities around the world. The focus is on spontaneity and creativity, while having a good time and spreading cheer and goodwill.” [Donaldson James, Susan (December 11, 2009). “Santa Con: Kringle Chaos is Coming to Town”. ABC News. Retrieved December 18, 2011.]
People are in mood of celebration around Christmas, and during SantaCon, that is intensified. Thus during our five-hour harinama, many jolly Santas danced along with the devotees, as you can see in these videos by Bhakta Peter of The Bhakti Center:
We ended our harinama fifteen minutes to eight, a little early, as many devotees wanted to attend the rest of this month’s six-hour kirtana at the Bhakti Center, with Niranjana Swami as a special guest. We made an announcement to those dancing with us at the end to follow us to 25 First Avenue for some more singing, dancing, and refreshments, and about five or six of the Christmas partiers came along. I noticed two of them stayed at least two hours. The most enthusiastic was Yael, a NYU student, who was attracted to the kirtana in Washington Square Park being a percussionist. Although it was her first encounter with Hare Krishna kirtana, she played the djembe drum with the party for several hours, came to the Bhakti Center for more kirtana and prasadam, and she even washed a few pots. The next day she returned to catch the end of Niranjana Swami’s lecture.
She showed up for a few harinamas the next week, and hopes to visit the Chicago temple when she returns home for the holidays.
It was awesome for me to see all the people doing so many acts of devotion as a result of meeting the harinama party on the SantaCon day. This daily four-hour harinama in Manhattan organized by Rama Raya Prabhu is a very powerful outreach event!
Insights
Niranjana Swami:
To accept one’s imminent death as good news takes realization.
My mother was ninety and had no interested in hearing the word “death.” As far as she was concerned, she would live another hundred years. Although there were signs that things would not improve, she did not take them seriously. Five months before she passed away she was in a rehabilitation hospital and she told me, “I do not belong here. This place is only for old and sick people.” Life is meant for learn how to deal with the unavoidable event of death, but our present society is not dealing with this. My aunt got notice she was going to die within a week, and my sister invited me to visit her. My aunt said about me, “Look at him. Look at his eyes. Look at how peaceful he is! He looks like he knows the purpose of life.” Then she addressed me directly, “I can tell that you can accept whatever happens to you in life. Can you teach me to be like that?” People detected that something was going to happen and so they left, not for a long time as it turned out. I explained that soul exists beyond the body, and takes up another body according to one’s karma. Then an old friend came in and our conversation ended, but at least she could understand her situation and try to deal with it.
As it turned out I was with my mother alone in the room as she was dying. I saw her breathing was slowing down, and I decided to stop reading and chant Hare Krishna kirtana. And so I was chanting Hare Krishna for five minutes when my mother left her body. When I messaged Devamrita Swami, he replied that Prabhupada told Giriraja that parents of devotees at the time they leave their bodies will realize their good fortune of having a child who became a devotee. When my sister came in the room she said to me, “Your face is glowing. As soon as I saw your face. I knew everything was alright.”
We have to feel as a result of our devotional service that Krishna is there making arrangements in our life.
Bali Maharaja was cheated by the Lord, to whom He had offered three steps of land, but who had taken everything in two. But Bali was so elevated, he was not disturbed.
Voluntary repentance is the way to get the Lord’s attention, not to blame others.
Pariksit Maharaja saw the curse as an opportunity to become detached from all his material possessions and to become attached to Krishna.
The devotees have the greatest asset and the greatest benediction—to remember the Lord. The Lord minimizes other things in a devotee’s life to facilitate that.
We should practice developing this consciousness throughout our life, not just at the time of death.
from a conversation after the lecture:
In 1972 I lived in a hippy commune on Cape Cod. There were 15 fifteen of us, and we all had our own dogs. We considered that we would not want to kill our dogs and so it was hypocritical to kill animals for food, and thus we all became vegetarian. Many people liked to cook, but no one liked to clean up, so there were piles of dishes in the sink. As I was becoming a devotee by reading Bhagavad-gita, I knew Krishna would not accept the offering if the kitchen was not clean, so I would always clean the kitchen before I cooked. When the others understood that I would clean the kitchen before it was my turn to cook, they became even less enthusiastic to clean their own pots and dishes. I became resentful that I was doing everyone else’s dishes. When I came to the temple for the first time, I had been reading Bhagavad-gita for some days. When the devotees asked me if I wanted to do some service after the Sunday Feast, I agreed. They led me to the kitchen, and I saw a pile of pots that was bigger than I had ever seen before. I was shocked, but because I agreed to do some service, I did it, although reluctantly. When I was halfway through, another devotee came in. His name was Narendra. He was rejoicing seeing my fortunate position being engaged in the Lord’s service, but it was difficult to appreciate his mood. Then he spoke to me some words that completely transformed my consciousness: “By cleaning Krishna’s pots, you are cleaning your heart.” Then I saw the service in a completely different way. It was different than cleaning the pots at the co-op house. These were indeed Krishna’s pots, and I was becoming closer to Krishna by cleaning them.
Rtadhvaja Swami:
from Kalakantha Prabhu’s grandchild’s grains ceremony:
When we were having festivals almost every weekend in LA, Srila Prabhupada told us, “If you let me know, I can give you a festival for every day.”
These events, like the child’s grains ceremony, allow us to remember that human life is meant for self-realization not sense gratification.
There is a pastime with Narottama Dasa Thakura. He would not take the grains at his grains ceremony repeatedly. Then they realized that the grains had not been offered to Krishna first. They made a new batch, and offered it to Krishna, and tried again, this time successfully.
Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami [Vyasa-puja address]:
The purpose of the guru is to guide the disciple to go back to Godhead as soon as possible. Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura advised to go back in this life. Why wait for additional births?
Srila Prabhupada said if you are 75% pure you can go back.
Srila Prabhupada said, “If you hold on my dhoti I can take you back to Godhead. I have a key to the back door.”
My task is to represent Srila Prabhupada to you. I have been representing Srila Prabhupada to people since being temple president in Boston.
I am in stable health and sound mind, and I am determined to serve you for the forseeable future.
It is said of the guru that he lives forever, and the follower lives with him by his instructions.
We serve the guru by taking care of him and serving his preaching mission.
I preach by the way I live my life and by my writing.
I wrote Srila Prabhupada asking if I could write, but fearfully, that I was so daring to write when he has written so nicely.
Srila Prabhupada replied, mentioning all the acaryas [previous spiritual teachers] who wrote extensively and saying, “Any self-realized soul can write unlimited books not deviating from the original purpose.”
Lilamrita [Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami’s biography of Hare Krishna founder Srila Prabhupada] is second best selling Bhaktivedanta Book Trust (BBT) book next to Bhagavad-gita As It Is.
I am writing now for my daily web site, beginning with quotations from a rasa-sastra, accompanied by illustrations, and then a japa report. I continue the japa report although it is repetitious because devotees say it helps their japa. I draw a picture. Then I tell about my life, telling my interactions with the devotees I live with, the local devotees, and those who visit here, along with material from the books I am hearing each day. And finally I tell about my deity worship.
By reading these writings is the best way for my disciples to keep in touch with me. It takes only ten minutes to have a relationship for me in cyberspace each day.
I try to write a book a year and present it to my disciples on Vyasa-puja day.
We have 150 books on Kindle and e-readers.
Radhanatha Swami looked through Prabhupada Smaranam and liked it very much. He promised to get help to print many copies for his followers.
I have written about Prabhupada, practices of devotional service, and the chanting of the holy name.
It is the duty of us all to produce as many Krishna conscious books as possible. People can help with these different tasks:
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We have funds. We need cover designs and proofreading for fifty low run books.
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Locating and digitizing art work.
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Obtaining a tripod for photography.
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Typists and proofreaders for my autobiography.
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Buy ebooks and post comments on them.
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Print 50 sets of 100 of my books to place in schools and libraries at $7 per book.
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Transferring audio tapes to digital format.
We owe such a debt to the Goswamis, Krishna dasa Kaviraja Goswami, Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura and Srila Prabhupada for all their books.
I wrote 25 books about Srila Prabhupada.
I give people Caitanya Vaishnavism through a variety of genres.
If you attain pure love for Krishna, I will consider my spiritual master duties successful, and you can bless me, and we can go back to Godhead together. Srila Prabhupada writes about this in connection with Dhruva Maharaja taking his mother back to Godhead. That is my request of you. Thank you very much.
Vyasa-puja Homages:
Haridasa Prabhu:
You have led us by your example to be a follower of Srila Prabhupada. You are his faithful and empowered representative. Your writing of books is a great contribution in this. You are inextricably linked with Srila Prabupada. Your honesty has endeared you to your readers.
Rama Raya Prabhu:
You have linked us to Srila Prabhupada wonderfully for so many years. When I have your association I feel Srila Prabhupada’s presence.
I could distribute cards for your site on harinama.
Krishna-kripa das:
You praised your disciples who are publishing and selling Russian translations of your books. I just wanted to say from my own experience at the Ukraine festival, Isani and Alexi Prabhus set up their GN Press book table at the very beginning of the festival and go to the very end. Instead of working a single book table together as many couples would do, they have two separate tables at different locations to increase sales. This year new and reprinted titles numbered five, including Entering a Life of Prayer, Prabhupada Appreciation, Japa Transformations, and Distribute Books.
When I quote from your journal on my blog, I could include a link to it.
A friend of my loved your Begging for the Nectar of the Holy Name in which you share your personal struggle. He learned from that it is alright for devotees to be personal and to share feelings, not just to be austere and stoic.
How did you help us? Your writings gave me faith in Srila Prabhupada and the holy name. Your instruction to dance more in kirtana has made me so enthusiastic to dance in kirtana, I do it even when everyone else is sitting down.
Haryasva Prabhu:
I feel sadness that I am not reading or distributing your books as I have in the past.
Prabhupada and the holy name are two gifts you emphasized.
I felt I just missed Srila Prabhupada, but through your writings I feel connected with him.
I find that new people find your books to be easy reading.
Baladeva Vidyabhusana Prabhu:
After three years of interviewing for Lilamrita, the message I got from the devotees was that they wished they had given Srila Prabhupada more time to write as that is what is left, and that they feel bad they did not take advantage of his presence while he was here. This is a realization I had that any disciple can help to do these two things in connection with you.
Mother Lilavatara:
When I met you I felt you were someone special and would be someone special, and you were.
Thanks for teaching us to be more regulated.
The pictures Guru Das posts are special to me.
Your drawings of the devotees are so funny to me and make me so joyful. They make my heart feel so light.
Thank you inspiring us to go back to Godhead by improving our chanting.
Your servants have done such a wonderful job for you over the years.
Thank you for guiding me to become more Krishna consciousness.
Satsvarupa dasa Goswami:
reading from his autobiography, The Story of My Life:
“No talent is required to make a combined diary and autobiography interesting.”—Mark Twain
“The Swami kept leading the chanting for a full half hour. After awhile I got bored, but I kept going and eventually entered into a trancelike stage. It was far out. I went past boredom and became absorbed in the sound vibration. . . . I had the mantra almost memorized, and I was mesmerized. By the time it was over I felt that I was high. I left the storefront and walked home chanting in my mind and feeling certain that I would continue to attend the meetings. I felt I wanted to change my life and become pure.”
“My first personal contact with Srila Prabhupada was in a formal setting — the question and answer period after his lecture. In the company of about fifteen people I raised my hand, and he recognized me. I asked, “Is misery eternal?” My question came from my reading of Van Gogh’s letters to his brother, Dear Theo. In one letter Van Gogh proposes to his brother that “misery is eternal.” I wanted to know what the Swami thought. Without hesitating he answered me, “Yes misery is eternal. You may break your arm and go to the hospital and have your arm healed. But then you may go out and break your leg. In this world there is no end to miseries. But there is another world . . . ” Swamiji explained that if you develop love of God and go back to the spiritual world you will be free of miseries, because there is no misery there. I was satisfied to be recognized, and his answer was assuring, overriding Van Gogh’s dismal view.”
“The early years with Swamiji were my favorite as ISKCON was a small movement, like a family.”
from a talk with disciples about japa:
Acaryas [the great spiritual teachers] say kirtana [chanting loudly with others] is more important than japa [individually chanting softly] because more people benefit, but that does not mean japa is not important, it is fundamental. Srila Prabhupada said it is the most essential instruction.
Japa is so personal. We speak to Krishna and Radha, and ask Them to engage us in Their service.
Lord Caitanya would not eat at the house of anyone who did not daily chant 64 rounds (100,000 names of the Lord).
I know one lady who plays the harmonium and sings kirtana, but does not chant her sixteen rounds of japa. Better that she would chant sixteen rounds first and then play the harmonium.
The mantras are a gift and should be handled gratefully.
In recent years, I have finally been able to pay attention to the names while I chant.
I pray to the holy name, “Please forgive me. Please protect me.”
I long for the day when I feel emotion like in “Siksastakam.”
Chanting is cozy, intimate and warms the heart.
Q: What does it mean no hard and fast rules?
A: It is not like Deity worship where you have to clean yourself first. You can chant morning or night. You can chant in the bathroom. The mantra can be chanted by anyone. You do not have to be initiated to chant. You can even still be doing sinful activities and still chant.
Q: Can you change the words?
A: No. Srila Prabhupada said not “Dear John.” No om, no sivaya. You can play any variety of instruments, and Prabhupada encouraged the musicians to play with us.
Q [by Rama Raya Prabhu]: How would you encourage us to preach in America?
A: Do Union Square harinama. There are bright spots: Kalakantha, Vaisesika, Hari Vilasa. Jayadvaita Swami said the Las Vegas center is encouraging. Take a place and do something, and it will become a bright spot that will be inspiring to others.
comment by Mother Lilavatara: I say Hare Krishna to the people. When they ask what it means? I said it is a blessing. They like that. They say, “I need all the blessings I can get.” Saying Hare Krishna to everyone I meet helps me, as now that I am older and cannot go out so much to share Krishna with people.
comment by Sankarsana Prabhu: Your example of chanting, getting up early, and being regulated, inspies me.
I yearn to progress to suddha-nama.
My disciple in Russia, Isani wrote a prayer, “Dear Lord, please give my guru maharaja nama-ruci [taste for the holy name].”
One should not chant too slowly.
Kalakantha Prabhu:
The conditions of Satya-yuga are similar to the Biblical description of the Garden of Eden. Then when Adam and Eve begot Cain and Able they two brothers got involved in agriculture which corresponds to the second age, Treta.
comment by Vaishnava Dasa: At Janaki Kunda in India one sage was reading the Vishnu Purana. There it said at the end of this age of Kali, the maximum age a human will live is seventeen years while the average is only twelve. A girl could conceive a child at age five.
No doubt that the teaching of Jesus Christ is pure bhakti, but with all that has happened over the years, it is hard to encounter his pure teachings.
I was involved with one meditation group where I had to pay for the mantra, and each successive class was more expensive than the last. The introduction to pure devotion is free, the intermediate instruction in devotion is also free, and the advanced classes in devotional service are also free.
Malati Prabhu:
There are two levels of liberation (1) freedom from material desires, and (2) positive engagement in Krishna’s service.
The Mayavadis accept the light but do not find out the source of the light, so theirs is an inferior understanding.
The natural instinct of the liberated person is to engage in the devotional service of the Lord.
Bowing down before the Lord is offering a service to Him.
Srila Prabhupada said we should not give children younger than ten the deities because they have not yet developed the necessary cleanliness.
Strictly speaking one should not set the holy books on one’s lap because the clothing below the waist is impure.
Srila Prabhupada’s father gave him 5-inch Radha-Krishna Deities which Prabhupada named Radha-Govinda like the larger Deities of his neighbors.
Srila Prabhupada said the Ratha-yatra cart is not different from the Lord and by decorating the cart one can make great advancement.
The Ratha-yatra symbolizes the gopis pulling Krishna from Kurukshetra to Vrindavana.
All religions are meant for awakening the dormant instinct for devotion for the Supreme Lord—to reconnect with the Supreme Lord.
When we went to England, we were thinking, “We are going to meet the Beatles and get them to chant Hare Krishna.” That was our strategic plan.
We could understand we needed special empowerment to spread Krishna consciousness in England. We had heard from the scriptures about the glories of the lotus feet of the spiritual master, so before leaving for England, we asked Srila Prabhupada if we could touch his feet. We had seen the Indians do it, but we could see Srila Prabhupada did not really like it. He consented, and so we did.
I have interviewed 183 of Srila Prabhupada’s female disciples and at least 180 said he was glowing.
When leading kirtanas in Tompkins Square Park, Srila Prabhupada would encourage people to sing along, and more people began to get involved.
Srila Prabhupada called his society “The International Society for Krishna Consciousness” because he wanted people to understand that Krishna is God.
As soon as George Harrison came in contact with the devotees his devotion sprouted up.
I have had people tell me that they had no idea what Hare Krishna was but because George Harrison made the record, they chanted.
From 1970 to 1971 was a Hare Krishna explosion with 32 new temples being opened.
In the beginning we called the Sunday Feast, the Sunday Love Feast. I think we should get back to calling it that. The world needs a lot more love.
On Srila Prabhupada’s morning walks you got insight on practically applying the teachings in life.
Srila Prabhupada was an expert musician, especially with mrdanga and harmonium, but he made it clear that playing the instruments was simply an accompaniment to the chanting of the maha-mantra.
Srila Prabhupada wrote 6,000 letters that have been archived, and 30,000 photos were taken of him and 70 hours of videos made about him.
Mahatma Prabhu was interesting how organizations were managed. He had seen the Hare Krishnas with their chanting and dancing and happy disposition, and wondered how they were managed. He secured the opportunity to witness a meeting between Srila Prabhupada and his main leaders. Prabhupada began by preaching. Two hours later he was still preaching. Then Mahatma understood that Srila Prabhupada managed by preaching.
Sesa Prabhu:
My daughter was teaching some 1st or 2nd graders as a student teacher as part of getting her teaching degree. One of the boys in the class said to her, “Miss Spellman, I saw you in the parade!” So she had to explain to the teacher and the class that she was in the UF Homecoming parade as a Hare Krishna devotee. The husband of the teacher came by and mentioned how he enjoyed the Krishna Lunch as a student. Then the teacher asked my daughter, “What do you believe?” Later at home at the dinner table, we discussed the best way to answer this, and concluded, “We believe the purpose of life is to love God and serve Him.”
Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura considered that first three processes of devotional service, sravanam, kirtanam, vishnu smaranam, hearing, chanting, and remembering the Supreme Lord, are primary, and the other six are contained within these.
We can become absorbed in so many things in life, but they may not be good for ourselves or others, but Krishna kirtana is good for both ourselves and others.
Remembering the Lord is natural, especially when we are in difficulty. When the U.S. astronauts were in a dangerous situation, the American leaders advised the citizens to pray to God for their safety.
The five kinds of smaranam (remembering):
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to contemplate something we previously experienced
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dharana: to focus our meditation on a specific subject
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dhyanam: to meditate on a specific form of the Lord
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dhruvanusmriti: a flow of remembrance of some pastime of the Lord.
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samadhi: complete absorption.
comment by Mother Akuti: After I gave a class where we talked about how Lord Caitanya got all the animals to dance, we went on harinama, and I encouraged the devotees at least to get all the people to dance. That day we saw a lot of people dressed in animal costumes, and they all danced with us.
Citsukananda Prabhu was preaching in Trinidad, and he met the person who corresponded with Srila Prabhupada before he came to America about coming to Trinidad. The man even showed him the letters he received from Srila Prabhupada.
comment by Malati Prabhu: At the first arati of Radha-Shyamasundara in Vrindavana, Visakha Prabhu wanted to get a picture of Prabhupada doing the arati, but a tall sannyasi was standing in her way. She tapped the sannyasi on the shoulder twice, and the second time said pointing to her camera, “If you stand where you are, you will get a nice vision of Srila Prabhupada offering arati. but if you let me stand there the whole world will get that vision.” The sannyasi kindly traded places with her, and so we have that historic photo.
Tulasi Priya dd:
People who travel tend to be less bigoted, more tolerant, and more open minded.
A temple or place of pilgrimage is so powerful that no matter what your consciousness is, you will connect with Krishna simply by going there.
The Muslims have an idea that at least once in your life you should visit Mecca. Similarly, for us it is valuable if once in our life, we can go to India and visit Krishna’s birthplace.
We watch people’s lives like we watch a movie. We wonder what will happen to our friends next.
Dina Bandhu Prabhu:
In the purport to Bhagavad-gita 11.55 is a description of the spiritual world as having many planets. This tradition has more details of the spiritual world and what is going on there.
Our activities of exploiting material nature which we are thinking are making us happy are actually creating our distress.
Mental speculation is to think that by the power of our inductive reasoning we can understand the ultimate truth without hearing about it from a higher authority.
Bhagavad-gita 18.55 gives make practical suggestions of how to engage in devotional service to Krishna.
Srila Prabhupada explained to one devotee who was entering the household life and worried about how he would get good association there, “If when you are working, if you are remembering that you are working for Krishna, then you are associating with Krishna.”
Amrita Keli dd:
This Hare Krishna mantra is spiritual sound vibration, and it is completely different from any other sound vibration you have heard.
I started chanting Hare Krishna on my way to class, and I found my day went much better.
Bhaktin Laura:
As a result of chanting eight rounds a day, I became more peaceful and was not haunted by things I had done in my past. Recently, because of the end of the semester, I have been too busy to chant eight rounds a day, and I can see I am sometimes haunted by such thoughts as before. I am so glad I am finished now, and I can return to chanting eight rounds.
Bhakta John:
In addition to the famous example of God appearing to Moses as a burning bush, in the Bible it also says the Lord manifest as, “A pillar of a cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night.”
comment by Ananda Loka Prabhu: When I was a tennis instructor, I would remember Krishna by chanting before and after going to work, bringing prasadam to the students, and bringing a small set of beads I could chant on when not otherwise engaged.
comment by Sruti Sagar Prabhu: To avoid bad association, Indradyumna Swami advised me to chant 64 rounds then, glorifying that practice for two minutes before saying at least chant 16 very good rounds.
Krishna-kripa das:
Sign on a church between Gainesville and Jacksonville, “You are the only Bible some people will read.”
from a post on Facebook:
Forty years ago on this day, Dec. 9, 1972, I broke my leg skiing. It hurt like hell, and it was awkward using crutches for six weeks with the snow and ice. In July of that year, my father had passed away, and my grandmother was to pass away in May of the next year. Thus when the Hare Krishnas told me seven years later, that the material world was a miserable place, I felt they actually understood the truth.
—–
susrusoh sraddadhanasya
vasudeva-katha-rucih
syan mahat-sevaya viprah
punya-tirtha-nisevanat
“O twice-born sages, by serving those devotees who are completely freed from all vice, great service is done. By such service, one gains affinity for hearing the messages of Vasudeva [the Supreme Lord].” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.2.16)
Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 8, No. 23
By Krishna-kripa das
(December 2012, part one)
North Florida and New York State
(Sent from Brooklyn, New York, on January 7, 2013)
What I Went and What I Did
December started off with a new event for the North Florida Hare Krishnas on its very first day, the St. Augustine Christmas parade. In Gainesville, we had our last week of Krishna Lunch on the campus for the year, and I chanted on the campus through Wednesday. That Wednesday we had our usual harinama at the Gainesville Farmers Market, which had a special feature this time. Thursday Andy drove me to University of North Florida where Hladini, Amrita, Dorian, and Dorian’s friend, Tim, and I chanted together for four hours outside the Student Union as hundreds of students traded in their used books. Hladini also distributed many cookies and invitations to our Thursday evening program which Tim ended up coming to for the first time. On Friday I flew to Philadelphia where I saw Radha-Saradbihari and Ravindra Svarupa Prabhu, and Sraddha dd, and where I took my niece, Fern, to my friend Haryasva Prabhu’s Govinda’s Restaurant, along with Jaya Sita dd and Varuni, a couple friends from Florida. The next day I went to Stuyvesant Falls, New York, about 100 miles north of New York City, where my initiating guru, Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami had his Vyasa Puja ceremony that weekend. For the next week after that I served Satsvarupa Maharaja, by cooking his breakfast and lunch, cleaning his room, and washing everyone’s dishes. Muktavandya Prabhu, who was also assisting Satsvarupa Maharaja, and I went to Hudson on the warmest day of that week and did harinama for an hour, and we received some favorable gestures and smiles from a few locals and no negativity. On Saturday the 15th, I made a day trip to New York City to do harinama and kirtana, and to hear from my siksa guru, Niranjana Swami. That harinama was a special experience because of the response, and I share some video of some Santa Clauses dancing along with our party.
I share insights of visiting guests like Niranjana and Rtadhvaja Swamis and Malati Prabhu, as well as senior devotees in the Alachua Country community like Kalakantha and Sesa Prabhus. I tell of Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami’s Vyasa Puja ceremony and include some nice excerpts from his autobiography, The Story of My Life, in which he describes the early days with Srila Prabhupada. Then I share details from presentations by newer devotees in Gainesville and Jacksonville.
Lord Jagannatha Blesses the St. Augustine Christmas Parade
By the grace of enthusiastic devotees from Alachua, Ratha-yatras are on the increase in North Florida. For the first time we had a Ratha-yatra cart in the St. Augustine Christmas parade. It was also special as this was first time as the new replica Jagannatha Deities rode on the cart. Dharma-raj Prabhu and his family, as usual, made all kinds of practical arrangements, getting the cart there, and decorated.
Although I love freely distributing promotional literature about Krishna consciousness because I am convinced it will benefit the people, I was not very enthusiastic during the beginning of the parade because I thought the authorities would not appreciate us doing that at the parade and that the vast majority of the people would not be interested. Of course, I did it anyway as a matter of duty, and I was very pleasantly surprised. Many, many people were happy to see the devotees, and they reached out with smiles and words and gestures of approval to take the Krishna, Reservoir of Pleasure and On Chanting Hare Krishna pamphlets that we were distributing. Of course, the prasadam candy canes were even more popular. After two-thirds of the parade, a light rain started, and I hid the pamphlets under my kurta for protection and continued to distribute. Later Kesava Prabhu got a call from the organizers in St. Augustine, saying that we won the award for the most unique float. Of course, that is not so surprising. Who is more unique than Lord Jagannatha, His brother, and sister on their glorious cart and His entourage of singing and dancing followers?
1565Today.com, St. Augustine, Florida’s newest online magazine, in an article “The St. Augustine Christmas Parade Wows the Kids” posted on December 1, writes “And honorable mention goes to the Hare Krishna devotees, who sang and tambourined their way through the city in a colorful injection of ethnic and religious diversity.” The two pictures illustrating this article were taken by Brian Nelson of 1565Today.com and are used with his permission.
A Special Harinama at the Farmers Market
With devotees working on Krishna Lunch and finishing up projects and papers and studying for finals as the semester ended, we had few devotees to chant at the first Gainesville Farmers Market in December. There was one surprise addition to our chanting party though, and that is our friend, Anna, a Quaker lady in her sixties, who originally came in touch with Hare Krishna at the very same Farmers Market perhaps a year or so ago. She developed a fondness for chanting Hare Krishna on beads, attends some programs, and sometimes helps serve out the Krishna Lunch on the porch of Krishna House. She chanted with us for an hour at the Farmers Market, spontaneously giving out invitations to those sitting or standing nearby, so they could benefit from some of the gifts the Krishna consciousness movement is sharing, as she herself has.
December 15 Harinama in New York City
As I walked from 34 West 31th Street, where the Chinese bus from Albany dropped me off, to find our harinama in Union Square, or as it turned out, Washington Square Park, I was amazed to see somewhere between 10% and 25% of the people were dressed as Santa Claus! “What is going on?” I wondered. Later as I researched this article, I found out, “SantaCon!” According to Wikipedia, “SantaCon is an annual mass gathering of people dressed in Santa Claus costumes parading publicly on streets and in bars in cities around the world. The focus is on spontaneity and creativity, while having a good time and spreading cheer and goodwill.” [Donaldson James, Susan (December 11, 2009). “Santa Con: Kringle Chaos is Coming to Town”. ABC News. Retrieved December 18, 2011.]
People are in mood of celebration around Christmas, and during SantaCon, that is intensified. Thus during our five-hour harinama, many jolly Santas danced along with the devotees, as you can see in these videos by Bhakta Peter of The Bhakti Center:
We ended our harinama fifteen minutes to eight, a little early, as many devotees wanted to attend the rest of this month’s six-hour kirtana at the Bhakti Center, with Niranjana Swami as a special guest. We made an announcement to those dancing with us at the end to follow us to 25 First Avenue for some more singing, dancing, and refreshments, and about five or six of the Christmas partiers came along. I noticed two of them stayed at least two hours. The most enthusiastic was Yael, a NYU student, who was attracted to the kirtana in Washington Square Park being a percussionist. Although it was her first encounter with Hare Krishna kirtana, she played the djembe drum with the party for several hours, came to the Bhakti Center for more kirtana and prasadam, and she even washed a few pots. The next day she returned to catch the end of Niranjana Swami’s lecture.
She showed up for a few harinamas the next week, and hopes to visit the Chicago temple when she returns home for the holidays.
It was awesome for me to see all the people doing so many acts of devotion as a result of meeting the harinama party on the SantaCon day. This daily four-hour harinama in Manhattan organized by Rama Raya Prabhu is a very powerful outreach event!
Insights
Niranjana Swami:
To accept one’s imminent death as good news takes realization.
My mother was ninety and had no interested in hearing the word “death.” As far as she was concerned, she would live another hundred years. Although there were signs that things would not improve, she did not take them seriously. Five months before she passed away she was in a rehabilitation hospital and she told me, “I do not belong here. This place is only for old and sick people.” Life is meant for learn how to deal with the unavoidable event of death, but our present society is not dealing with this. My aunt got notice she was going to die within a week, and my sister invited me to visit her. My aunt said about me, “Look at him. Look at his eyes. Look at how peaceful he is! He looks like he knows the purpose of life.” Then she addressed me directly, “I can tell that you can accept whatever happens to you in life. Can you teach me to be like that?” People detected that something was going to happen and so they left, not for a long time as it turned out. I explained that soul exists beyond the body, and takes up another body according to one’s karma. Then an old friend came in and our conversation ended, but at least she could understand her situation and try to deal with it.
As it turned out I was with my mother alone in the room as she was dying. I saw her breathing was slowing down, and I decided to stop reading and chant Hare Krishna kirtana. And so I was chanting Hare Krishna for five minutes when my mother left her body. When I messaged Devamrita Swami, he replied that Prabhupada told Giriraja that parents of devotees at the time they leave their bodies will realize their good fortune of having a child who became a devotee. When my sister came in the room she said to me, “Your face is glowing. As soon as I saw your face. I knew everything was alright.”
We have to feel as a result of our devotional service that Krishna is there making arrangements in our life.
Bali Maharaja was cheated by the Lord, to whom He had offered three steps of land, but who had taken everything in two. But Bali was so elevated, he was not disturbed.
Voluntary repentance is the way to get the Lord’s attention, not to blame others.
Pariksit Maharaja saw the curse as an opportunity to become detached from all his material possessions and to become attached to Krishna.
The devotees have the greatest asset and the greatest benediction—to remember the Lord. The Lord minimizes other things in a devotee’s life to facilitate that.
We should practice developing this consciousness throughout our life, not just at the time of death.
from a conversation after the lecture:
In 1972 I lived in a hippy commune on Cape Cod. There were 15 fifteen of us, and we all had our own dogs. We considered that we would not want to kill our dogs and so it was hypocritical to kill animals for food, and thus we all became vegetarian. Many people liked to cook, but no one liked to clean up, so there were piles of dishes in the sink. As I was becoming a devotee by reading Bhagavad-gita, I knew Krishna would not accept the offering if the kitchen was not clean, so I would always clean the kitchen before I cooked. When the others understood that I would clean the kitchen before it was my turn to cook, they became even less enthusiastic to clean their own pots and dishes. I became resentful that I was doing everyone else’s dishes. When I came to the temple for the first time, I had been reading Bhagavad-gita for some days. When the devotees asked me if I wanted to do some service after the Sunday Feast, I agreed. They led me to the kitchen, and I saw a pile of pots that was bigger than I had ever seen before. I was shocked, but because I agreed to do some service, I did it, although reluctantly. When I was halfway through, another devotee came in. His name was Narendra. He was rejoicing seeing my fortunate position being engaged in the Lord’s service, but it was difficult to appreciate his mood. Then he spoke to me some words that completely transformed my consciousness: “By cleaning Krishna’s pots, you are cleaning your heart.” Then I saw the service in a completely different way. It was different than cleaning the pots at the co-op house. These were indeed Krishna’s pots, and I was becoming closer to Krishna by cleaning them.
Rtadhvaja Swami:
from Kalakantha Prabhu’s grandchild’s grains ceremony:
When we were having festivals almost every weekend in LA, Srila Prabhupada told us, “If you let me know, I can give you a festival for every day.”
These events, like the child’s grains ceremony, allow us to remember that human life is meant for self-realization not sense gratification.
There is a pastime with Narottama Dasa Thakura. He would not take the grains at his grains ceremony repeatedly. Then they realized that the grains had not been offered to Krishna first. They made a new batch, and offered it to Krishna, and tried again, this time successfully.
Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami [Vyasa-puja address]:
The purpose of the guru is to guide the disciple to go back to Godhead as soon as possible. Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura advised to go back in this life. Why wait for additional births?
Srila Prabhupada said if you are 75% pure you can go back.
Srila Prabhupada said, “If you hold on my dhoti I can take you back to Godhead. I have a key to the back door.”
My task is to represent Srila Prabhupada to you. I have been representing Srila Prabhupada to people since being temple president in Boston.
I am in stable health and sound mind, and I am determined to serve you for the forseeable future.
It is said of the guru that he lives forever, and the follower lives with him by his instructions.
We serve the guru by taking care of him and serving his preaching mission.
I preach by the way I live my life and by my writing.
I wrote Srila Prabhupada asking if I could write, but fearfully, that I was so daring to write when he has written so nicely.
Srila Prabhupada replied, mentioning all the acaryas [previous spiritual teachers] who wrote extensively and saying, “Any self-realized soul can write unlimited books not deviating from the original purpose.”
Lilamrita [Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami’s biography of Hare Krishna founder Srila Prabhupada] is second best selling Bhaktivedanta Book Trust (BBT) book next to Bhagavad-gita As It Is.
I am writing now for my daily web site, beginning with quotations from a rasa-sastra, accompanied by illustrations, and then a japa report. I continue the japa report although it is repetitious because devotees say it helps their japa. I draw a picture. Then I tell about my life, telling my interactions with the devotees I live with, the local devotees, and those who visit here, along with material from the books I am hearing each day. And finally I tell about my deity worship.
By reading these writings is the best way for my disciples to keep in touch with me. It takes only ten minutes to have a relationship for me in cyberspace each day.
I try to write a book a year and present it to my disciples on Vyasa-puja day.
We have 150 books on Kindle and e-readers.
Radhanatha Swami looked through Prabhupada Smaranam and liked it very much. He promised to get help to print many copies for his followers.
I have written about Prabhupada, practices of devotional service, and the chanting of the holy name.
It is the duty of us all to produce as many Krishna conscious books as possible. People can help with these different tasks:
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We have funds. We need cover designs and proofreading for fifty low run books.
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Locating and digitizing art work.
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Obtaining a tripod for photography.
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Typists and proofreaders for my autobiography.
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Buy ebooks and post comments on them.
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Print 50 sets of 100 of my books to place in schools and libraries at $7 per book.
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Transferring audio tapes to digital format.
We owe such a debt to the Goswamis, Krishna dasa Kaviraja Goswami, Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura and Srila Prabhupada for all their books.
I wrote 25 books about Srila Prabhupada.
I give people Caitanya Vaishnavism through a variety of genres.
If you attain pure love for Krishna, I will consider my spiritual master duties successful, and you can bless me, and we can go back to Godhead together. Srila Prabhupada writes about this in connection with Dhruva Maharaja taking his mother back to Godhead. That is my request of you. Thank you very much.
Vyasa-puja Homages:
Haridasa Prabhu:
You have led us by your example to be a follower of Srila Prabhupada. You are his faithful and empowered representative. Your writing of books is a great contribution in this. You are inextricably linked with Srila Prabupada. Your honesty has endeared you to your readers.
Rama Raya Prabhu:
You have linked us to Srila Prabhupada wonderfully for so many years. When I have your association I feel Srila Prabhupada’s presence.
I could distribute cards for your site on harinama.
Krishna-kripa das:
You praised your disciples who are publishing and selling Russian translations of your books. I just wanted to say from my own experience at the Ukraine festival, Isani and Alexi Prabhus set up their GN Press book table at the very beginning of the festival and go to the very end. Instead of working a single book table together as many couples would do, they have two separate tables at different locations to increase sales. This year new and reprinted titles numbered five, including Entering a Life of Prayer, Prabhupada Appreciation, Japa Transformations, and Distribute Books.
When I quote from your journal on my blog, I could include a link to it.
A friend of my loved your Begging for the Nectar of the Holy Name in which you share your personal struggle. He learned from that it is alright for devotees to be personal and to share feelings, not just to be austere and stoic.
How did you help us? Your writings gave me faith in Srila Prabhupada and the holy name. Your instruction to dance more in kirtana has made me so enthusiastic to dance in kirtana, I do it even when everyone else is sitting down.
Haryasva Prabhu:
I feel sadness that I am not reading or distributing your books as I have in the past.
Prabhupada and the holy name are two gifts you emphasized.
I felt I just missed Srila Prabhupada, but through your writings I feel connected with him.
I find that new people find your books to be easy reading.
Baladeva Vidyabhusana Prabhu:
After three years of interviewing for Lilamrita, the message I got from the devotees was that they wished they had given Srila Prabhupada more time to write as that is what is left, and that they feel bad they did not take advantage of his presence while he was here. This is a realization I had that any disciple can help to do these two things in connection with you.
Mother Lilavatara:
When I met you I felt you were someone special and would be someone special, and you were.
Thanks for teaching us to be more regulated.
The pictures Guru Das posts are special to me.
Your drawings of the devotees are so funny to me and make me so joyful. They make my heart feel so light.
Thank you inspiring us to go back to Godhead by improving our chanting.
Your servants have done such a wonderful job for you over the years.
Thank you for guiding me to become more Krishna consciousness.
Satsvarupa dasa Goswami:
reading from his autobiography, The Story of My Life:
“No talent is required to make a combined diary and autobiography interesting.”—Mark Twain
“The Swami kept leading the chanting for a full half hour. After awhile I got bored, but I kept going and eventually entered into a trancelike stage. It was far out. I went past boredom and became absorbed in the sound vibration. . . . I had the mantra almost memorized, and I was mesmerized. By the time it was over I felt that I was high. I left the storefront and walked home chanting in my mind and feeling certain that I would continue to attend the meetings. I felt I wanted to change my life and become pure.”
“My first personal contact with Srila Prabhupada was in a formal setting — the question and answer period after his lecture. In the company of about fifteen people I raised my hand, and he recognized me. I asked, “Is misery eternal?” My question came from my reading of Van Gogh’s letters to his brother, Dear Theo. In one letter Van Gogh proposes to his brother that “misery is eternal.” I wanted to know what the Swami thought. Without hesitating he answered me, “Yes misery is eternal. You may break your arm and go to the hospital and have your arm healed. But then you may go out and break your leg. In this world there is no end to miseries. But there is another world . . . ” Swamiji explained that if you develop love of God and go back to the spiritual world you will be free of miseries, because there is no misery there. I was satisfied to be recognized, and his answer was assuring, overriding Van Gogh’s dismal view.”
“The early years with Swamiji were my favorite as ISKCON was a small movement, like a family.”
from a talk with disciples about japa:
Acaryas [the great spiritual teachers] say kirtana [chanting loudly with others] is more important than japa [individually chanting softly] because more people benefit, but that does not mean japa is not important, it is fundamental. Srila Prabhupada said it is the most essential instruction.
Japa is so personal. We speak to Krishna and Radha, and ask Them to engage us in Their service.
Lord Caitanya would not eat at the house of anyone who did not daily chant 64 rounds (100,000 names of the Lord).
I know one lady who plays the harmonium and sings kirtana, but does not chant her sixteen rounds of japa. Better that she would chant sixteen rounds first and then play the harmonium.
The mantras are a gift and should be handled gratefully.
In recent years, I have finally been able to pay attention to the names while I chant.
I pray to the holy name, “Please forgive me. Please protect me.”
I long for the day when I feel emotion like in “Siksastakam.”
Chanting is cozy, intimate and warms the heart.
Q: What does it mean no hard and fast rules?
A: It is not like Deity worship where you have to clean yourself first. You can chant morning or night. You can chant in the bathroom. The mantra can be chanted by anyone. You do not have to be initiated to chant. You can even still be doing sinful activities and still chant.
Q: Can you change the words?
A: No. Srila Prabhupada said not “Dear John.” No om, no sivaya. You can play any variety of instruments, and Prabhupada encouraged the musicians to play with us.
Q [by Rama Raya Prabhu]: How would you encourage us to preach in America?
A: Do Union Square harinama. There are bright spots: Kalakantha, Vaisesika, Hari Vilasa. Jayadvaita Swami said the Las Vegas center is encouraging. Take a place and do something, and it will become a bright spot that will be inspiring to others.
comment by Mother Lilavatara: I say Hare Krishna to the people. When they ask what it means? I said it is a blessing. They like that. They say, “I need all the blessings I can get.” Saying Hare Krishna to everyone I meet helps me, as now that I am older and cannot go out so much to share Krishna with people.
comment by Sankarsana Prabhu: Your example of chanting, getting up early, and being regulated, inspies me.
I yearn to progress to suddha-nama.
My disciple in Russia, Isani wrote a prayer, “Dear Lord, please give my guru maharaja nama-ruci [taste for the holy name].”
One should not chant too slowly.
Kalakantha Prabhu:
The conditions of Satya-yuga are similar to the Biblical description of the Garden of Eden. Then when Adam and Eve begot Cain and Able they two brothers got involved in agriculture which corresponds to the second age, Treta.
comment by Vaishnava Dasa: At Janaki Kunda in India one sage was reading the Vishnu Purana. There it said at the end of this age of Kali, the maximum age a human will live is seventeen years while the average is only twelve. A girl could conceive a child at age five.
No doubt that the teaching of Jesus Christ is pure bhakti, but with all that has happened over the years, it is hard to encounter his pure teachings.
I was involved with one meditation group where I had to pay for the mantra, and each successive class was more expensive than the last. The introduction to pure devotion is free, the intermediate instruction in devotion is also free, and the advanced classes in devotional service are also free.
Malati Prabhu:
There are two levels of liberation (1) freedom from material desires, and (2) positive engagement in Krishna’s service.
The Mayavadis accept the light but do not find out the source of the light, so theirs is an inferior understanding.
The natural instinct of the liberated person is to engage in the devotional service of the Lord.
Bowing down before the Lord is offering a service to Him.
Srila Prabhupada said we should not give children younger than ten the deities because they have not yet developed the necessary cleanliness.
Strictly speaking one should not set the holy books on one’s lap because the clothing below the waist is impure.
Srila Prabhupada’s father gave him 5-inch Radha-Krishna Deities which Prabhupada named Radha-Govinda like the larger Deities of his neighbors.
Srila Prabhupada said the Ratha-yatra cart is not different from the Lord and by decorating the cart one can make great advancement.
The Ratha-yatra symbolizes the gopis pulling Krishna from Kurukshetra to Vrindavana.
All religions are meant for awakening the dormant instinct for devotion for the Supreme Lord—to reconnect with the Supreme Lord.
When we went to England, we were thinking, “We are going to meet the Beatles and get them to chant Hare Krishna.” That was our strategic plan.
We could understand we needed special empowerment to spread Krishna consciousness in England. We had heard from the scriptures about the glories of the lotus feet of the spiritual master, so before leaving for England, we asked Srila Prabhupada if we could touch his feet. We had seen the Indians do it, but we could see Srila Prabhupada did not really like it. He consented, and so we did.
I have interviewed 183 of Srila Prabhupada’s female disciples and at least 180 said he was glowing.
When leading kirtanas in Tompkins Square Park, Srila Prabhupada would encourage people to sing along, and more people began to get involved.
Srila Prabhupada called his society “The International Society for Krishna Consciousness” because he wanted people to understand that Krishna is God.
As soon as George Harrison came in contact with the devotees his devotion sprouted up.
I have had people tell me that they had no idea what Hare Krishna was but because George Harrison made the record, they chanted.
From 1970 to 1971 was a Hare Krishna explosion with 32 new temples being opened.
In the beginning we called the Sunday Feast, the Sunday Love Feast. I think we should get back to calling it that. The world needs a lot more love.
On Srila Prabhupada’s morning walks you got insight on practically applying the teachings in life.
Srila Prabhupada was an expert musician, especially with mrdanga and harmonium, but he made it clear that playing the instruments was simply an accompaniment to the chanting of the maha-mantra.
Srila Prabhupada wrote 6,000 letters that have been archived, and 30,000 photos were taken of him and 70 hours of videos made about him.
Mahatma Prabhu was interesting how organizations were managed. He had seen the Hare Krishnas with their chanting and dancing and happy disposition, and wondered how they were managed. He secured the opportunity to witness a meeting between Srila Prabhupada and his main leaders. Prabhupada began by preaching. Two hours later he was still preaching. Then Mahatma understood that Srila Prabhupada managed by preaching.
Sesa Prabhu:
My daughter was teaching some 1st or 2nd graders as a student teacher as part of getting her teaching degree. One of the boys in the class said to her, “Miss Spellman, I saw you in the parade!” So she had to explain to the teacher and the class that she was in the UF Homecoming parade as a Hare Krishna devotee. The husband of the teacher came by and mentioned how he enjoyed the Krishna Lunch as a student. Then the teacher asked my daughter, “What do you believe?” Later at home at the dinner table, we discussed the best way to answer this, and concluded, “We believe the purpose of life is to love God and serve Him.”
Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura considered that first three processes of devotional service, sravanam, kirtanam, vishnu smaranam, hearing, chanting, and remembering the Supreme Lord, are primary, and the other six are contained within these.
We can become absorbed in so many things in life, but they may not be good for ourselves or others, but Krishna kirtana is good for both ourselves and others.
Remembering the Lord is natural, especially when we are in difficulty. When the U.S. astronauts were in a dangerous situation, the American leaders advised the citizens to pray to God for their safety.
The five kinds of smaranam (remembering):
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to contemplate something we previously experienced
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dharana: to focus our meditation on a specific subject
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dhyanam: to meditate on a specific form of the Lord
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dhruvanusmriti: a flow of remembrance of some pastime of the Lord.
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samadhi: complete absorption.
comment by Mother Akuti: After I gave a class where we talked about how Lord Caitanya got all the animals to dance, we went on harinama, and I encouraged the devotees at least to get all the people to dance. That day we saw a lot of people dressed in animal costumes, and they all danced with us.
Citsukananda Prabhu was preaching in Trinidad, and he met the person who corresponded with Srila Prabhupada before he came to America about coming to Trinidad. The man even showed him the letters he received from Srila Prabhupada.
comment by Malati Prabhu: At the first arati of Radha-Shyamasundara in Vrindavana, Visakha Prabhu wanted to get a picture of Prabhupada doing the arati, but a tall sannyasi was standing in her way. She tapped the sannyasi on the shoulder twice, and the second time said pointing to her camera, “If you stand where you are, you will get a nice vision of Srila Prabhupada offering arati. but if you let me stand there the whole world will get that vision.” The sannyasi kindly traded places with her, and so we have that historic photo.
Tulasi Priya dd:
People who travel tend to be less bigoted, more tolerant, and more open minded.
A temple or place of pilgrimage is so powerful that no matter what your consciousness is, you will connect with Krishna simply by going there.
The Muslims have an idea that at least once in your life you should visit Mecca. Similarly, for us it is valuable if once in our life, we can go to India and visit Krishna’s birthplace.
We watch people’s lives like we watch a movie. We wonder what will happen to our friends next.
Dina Bandhu Prabhu:
In the purport to Bhagavad-gita 11.55 is a description of the spiritual world as having many planets. This tradition has more details of the spiritual world and what is going on there.
Our activities of exploiting material nature which we are thinking are making us happy are actually creating our distress.
Mental speculation is to think that by the power of our inductive reasoning we can understand the ultimate truth without hearing about it from a higher authority.
Bhagavad-gita 18.55 gives make practical suggestions of how to engage in devotional service to Krishna.
Srila Prabhupada explained to one devotee who was entering the household life and worried about how he would get good association there, “If when you are working, if you are remembering that you are working for Krishna, then you are associating with Krishna.”
Amrita Keli dd:
This Hare Krishna mantra is spiritual sound vibration, and it is completely different from any other sound vibration you have heard.
I started chanting Hare Krishna on my way to class, and I found my day went much better.
Bhaktin Laura:
As a result of chanting eight rounds a day, I became more peaceful and was not haunted by things I had done in my past. Recently, because of the end of the semester, I have been too busy to chant eight rounds a day, and I can see I am sometimes haunted by such thoughts as before. I am so glad I am finished now, and I can return to chanting eight rounds.
Bhakta John:
In addition to the famous example of God appearing to Moses as a burning bush, in the Bible it also says the Lord manifest as, “A pillar of a cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night.”
comment by Ananda Loka Prabhu: When I was a tennis instructor, I would remember Krishna by chanting before and after going to work, bringing prasadam to the students, and bringing a small set of beads I could chant on when not otherwise engaged.
comment by Sruti Sagar Prabhu: To avoid bad association, Indradyumna Swami advised me to chant 64 rounds then, glorifying that practice for two minutes before saying at least chant 16 very good rounds.
Krishna-kripa das:
Sign on a church between Gainesville and Jacksonville, “You are the only Bible some people will read.”
from a post on Facebook:
Forty years ago on this day, Dec. 9, 1972, I broke my leg skiing. It hurt like hell, and it was awkward using crutches for six weeks with the snow and ice. In July of that year, my father had passed away, and my grandmother was to pass away in May of the next year. Thus when the Hare Krishnas told me seven years later, that the material world was a miserable place, I felt they actually understood the truth.
—–
susrusoh sraddadhanasya
vasudeva-katha-rucih
syan mahat-sevaya viprah
punya-tirtha-nisevanat
“O twice-born sages, by serving those devotees who are completely freed from all vice, great service is done. By such service, one gains affinity for hearing the messages of Vasudeva [the Supreme Lord].” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.2.16)
Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 8, No. 22
By Krishna-kripa das
(November 2012, part two)
Alachua and Gainesville, Florida
(Sent from Radha Govinda Temple, Brooklyn, New York, on December 21, 2012)
Where I Went and What I Did
I had greatly hoped to make it to Alachua in time to hear the wonderful remembrances on Srila Prabhupada’s disappearance day, but I just caught the end of the kirtana and the feast, and a few remembrances in the evening, which I include below. The next day, we chanted for two hours before the football game in Gainesville, and Dravida Prabhu, who loves to chant, joined us, making it even better than usual. That night we went to a nice festival Madhava Prabhu from the Alachua community had at his place with beautiful kirtanas, enlightening talks, and tasty prasadam in celebration of the anniversary of the appearance of Krishna as Govardhan–sila in his life. Sunday was the Govardhan Puja festival in Alachua. For several days leading up to The Festival of the Holy Name in Alachua, Madhava Prabhu, the kirtana leader from Switzerland, sang kirtana for two or three hours every night and by the grace of Krishna and my friends with cars, I was able to attend all of them. Wednesday we had an amazing harinama at the Farmers Market with thirteen people taking part. Thursday I got to speak about gratitude for Thanksgiving, and people said they liked the lecture. I sent it to the ISKCON Desire Tree website, and you will be able to find it there in a few days. This year’s Festival of the Holy Name was the best so far, and I will mention a few high points for me. Dravida Prabhu, who visits this time of year specifically for the Festival of the Holy Name impressed me by taking eight hours out of the festival to drive with us to Tallahassee to lead the harinama before the football game for a couple of hours. For the final week of November, I stayed in Gainesville’s Krishna House, helping to maintain the harinamas and evening programs, and inspired to see and work with some very enthusiastic new devotees.
Among the insights, there are many wonderful quotes from the letters of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saravati Thakura, soon to be published as Patramrita, by Touchstone Publishing. Also particularly inspiring are realizations from Dravida and Kalakantha Prabhus. And there are other gems as well.
Prabhupada Disappearance Remembrances
Rasa Lila dd:
Srila Prabhupada patiently teaches me every day something new about Krishna, just as he did when he was present.
He taught you can do something amazing for Krishna at any age, and now that we are approaching his age, we might consider that if we are thinking we are too old to do anything, we should think again.
Mukunda Prabhu:
The Bhaktivedanta Archives is building a concrete room with a door like a bank vault to preserve Prabhupada’s materials and just today on his disappearance day someone came through with a donation.
Vegavati dd:
In Hawaii there were two camps of devotees that disagreed, but when Srila Prabhupada was there and the kirtana was going on, there was so much spiritual love no differences existed.
Puskara Prabhu:
I was in Vrindavan in 1977 the whole time from April to November, when Srila Prabhupada left this world.
Toward the end, rickshaws were delivering salt for the samadhi [holy tomb] but we were in some kind of illusion thinking that Srila Prabhupada would stay.
I was given the job of calling Ramesvara in LA to tell him that Prabhupada had left.
When there was a debate about whether Srila Prabhupada would go to Govardhan or not [just a few days before he left this world]. I asked Bhagatji [a friend of Srila Prabhupada’s] whether Prabhupada would go, and he said with conviction, “He will not go,” as if I were a fool for asking.
There was a devotee Sac-cid-ananda who would sing every day for Srila Prabhupada in his last days. One day he did not sing and Prabhupada asked for him to.
Several times Krishnadasa Babaji Maharaja came. Prabhupada very much liked his association. At different times Srila Prabhupada said he was paramahamsa [topmost devotee].
Once I was painting trees in Vrindavan, thinking all the trees in Vrindavan were desire trees and so it was OK. Then I felt bad because Krishna wasn’t there, so I added Krishna and some cowherd boys. I showed it to Srila Prabhupada. Prabhupada looked for a long time and didn’t say anything. Then he said, “What is the idea? Where is it in the books?”
I said, “The Nectar of Devotion.”
“What verse?” Srila Prabhupada replied.
I said, “Krishna is unlimited.”
Srila Prabhupada replied, “Krishna is unlimited, but you are limited. Stick to the book.”
Gauranga Prasada Prabhu’s Going Away Party
Gauranga Prasada Prabhu was a new devotee in Gainesville who was very eager to apply himself to different aspects of Krishna consciousness such as cooking for the Lord and playing the harmonium and singing. He left Krishna House after not even two years to become the bhakta leader in the Tucson temple, and the Krishna House devotees had a nice going away party for him.
Kalakantha Prabhu: Gauranga Prasada was seeking the truth. He was immediately attracted by Krishna consciousness. He was supported by his family. He has many talents. It is clear he is continuing his practice from a previous life.
Hanan Prabhu asked devotees to say three things each about him:
Clayton: Sincerity, simplicity, wailing on the harmonium with total absorption. Ananda Loka Prabhu: His bright smile. Srutisagara Prabhu: Hard-working, humble. Ghee, butter, hing. Tulasi Priya dd: A good example for me. Dr. Dina Bandhu Prabhu: Always said “welcome home” each weekend when I returned from Jacksonville. New lady: Made me feel at home. Girl with glasses: Eye-opening, laughter. Tall Indian male: Positive. Jai Nitai Gauranga Prabhu: Reliable. Father: An old soul. He had a wisdom about him. He has given so much. Mother: He is well loved. Thank you all here for showing him compassion and giving him safety. Haribol. Amrita Keli dd: Completely lovable, without fault, potent. Just today he came into my dream to remind me to help in the kitchen five minutes after I said I would be there. Andy: A mine of valuable gems like potency, kindness. I feel very enriched. Syamala Kishori dd: Enthusiasm. I love your kirtana.
I mentioned his enthusiasm, his happiness, and his kindness. He kindly sent some Krishna sweets to my relatives for me when I was overseas. I wish him well.
Gauranga Prasada Prabhu:
My plan for life was originally very clear, go to school, get a job, raise a family, but now I feel my life is much more uncertain, but in the best possible way. I just want to serve Krishna and be with the devotees. The rest is just details.
I am grateful for the service opportunities here at Krishna House, which I think are more extensive than any other temple.
comment by Kalakantha Prabhu: I appreciate you were always willing to do the needful.
Harinama at the Farmers Market
The Wednesday before Thanksgiving there were no classes at University of Florida, and so both students and Krishna Lunch workers had more free time. Thus we were able to have a harinama with thirteen people at the Farmers Market! Four of us came together, driven by Michele, a new devotee who loves kirtana. Then a couple more devotees joined us. Then two Krishna Lunch workers along with the sister of one of them. Michele gave the new girl a mantra card, and she chanted Hare Krishna for the first time. Jaya Sri Krishna Prabhu joined us and played the drum. One lady on a nearby bench seemed to be enjoying the kirtana, so we gave her a mantra card, and she chanted along. Later Damodar Prasada gave her a book. Thus Krishna really reciprocated with my desire to have a well-attended harinama in the Farmers Market upon my return to Gainesville. It was great that two new people chanted the mantra.
The Festival of the Holy Name
Festival of the Holy Name is an annual kirtana festival during Thanksgiving weekend featuring two days of 12 hours of kirtana at ISKCON New Raman Reti in Alachua, Florida. This year’s was the third festival.
It was a treat having Niranjana Swami fly in just to be part of the Festival of the Holy Name this year. Agnidev Prabhu, a legendary Hare Krishna kirtana leader, also was a special guest. And of course, there were Madhava and Amala, as usual, as well as Mitra Prabhu, who came from North Carolina, and locals like Visvambhara and Jagannatha Kirtana Prabhus, to name a few.
One friend from Tallahassee, Sara Black, a young Mormon music major, who just completed her Ph.D. dissertation on kirtana at Hare Krishna festivals came to the Festival of the Holy Name for at least the second year. Inspired by her research, she is now writing a book on the recent explosion of interest in kirtana. I encouraged her to stay and hear Niranjana Swami, and she stayed and appreciated the kirtanas of both Niranjana Swami and Agnidev Prabhu. In fact, she and her husband stayed to hear Visvambhara Prabhu whose singing they had previously developed an attachment for and who did the last segment on Friday evening. It was wonderful to see them both intently singing Hare Krishna and clapping along with the music. She developed an interest in Hare Krishna festivals when she grew up in Utah and attended the Holi festival that Caru Prabhu organized his temple in Spanish Fork.
The group of local second generation American Vaishnavas including Gaura Shakti, Krishna Dhama, Govinda, and Ramachandra, and many more, who organized the festival did a great job, and it gets better every year. All thanks and blessings to them.
Insights
Srila Prabhupada:
from a lecture on Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.5.1, given in Bombay, on December 25, 1976:
“This is the difficulty at the present moment that we take leadership of the society although we remain in the bodily conception of life.”
There is a not a problem of overpopulation. We are all sons of Krishna, and He is providing for us. The problem is that we are mismanaging and then claiming God is not providing.
The more you become godless, the more miseries will be inflicted by material nature.
Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura (from Patravali, a collection of his letters soon to be published by Touchstone Publishing in an abridged work called Patramrita):
If the mind does not become disturbed at the time of chanting mantras then it should be understood that the chanting is being done perfectly.
In order to test us and benefit us, the Supreme Lord has placed different types of inconveniences in this world. We have to realize those things as being beneficial for us and thus accept them gracefully. Glorious are those who serve the Supreme Lord. In the midst of all difficulties, keep hearing about, chanting, and remembering the Supreme Lord. Other than this I have no better advice. You should always chant a fixed number of rounds of the holy names of Lord Hari. If there is any problem for openly decorating your body with tilaka then you can do it mentally while chanting the appropriate mantras. Know for certain that the holy name of Hari and Lord Hari Himself are one and the same. Know for certain that chanting the holy names of Hari and meeting the Supreme Lord directly are one and the same. Sri Harinama Prabhu is the worshipable Lord of liberated persons.
There is no comparison to Sri Gaurasundara’s compassion, and there is no limit to Sri Krishnacandra’s sweetness.
Simply by reading about glorification of the Supreme Lord and the devotees, all our needs will be fulfilled. Do not be impatient for the result, but rather always chant the holy names of Krishna with patience and tolerance. The Supreme Lord will certainly not sit quietly. According to the degree of one’s sadhana, Sri Gaurahari certainly awards one auspicious results. Service to Hari is called bhakti. You will realize that chanting of the names of Krishna is in itself bhakti.
The forefathers of that family in which a devotee takes birth attain special benefit so that their lives become successful. There is no need to pray for them separately.
Dreams are false. They are manifestations of the enjoyment of one’s thoughts, and they are the results of one’s previous bad association. Therefore just throw away those things from the heart.
Sri Gaurasundara tests us in various ways by putting us into difficulties and different kinds of association. It depends on the good fortune of the living entities for them to pass those tests. As the indwelling Supersoul, Sri Gaurahari has revealed the eternal truth in the hearts of the living entities out of His causeless mercy. Those who have taken shelter at the lotus feet of Lord Hari and the spiritual master never trust the illusory words of misguided people. Only unfortunate people become bewildered by hearing deceitful words. One need not worry about that.
It is the duty of householders to worship the deity of the Supreme Lord with faith and devotion. A householder who has taken complete shelter of the holy names, having realized his relationship with the Supreme Lord, respects deity worshipers. Those who avoid worshiping the deity just to save money incur the sin known as vittasa?hya, or miserliness. Householders with abominable characters and restless minds must engage in deity worship.
You are a learned person and so you must know the scriptural evidence the smarta Bhattacarya Raghunandan has quoted in the ekadasi-tattva.
devata pratimam drstva. yatinacaiva tridandinam
namaskaram na kuryaccet upavasena suddhati
“You are the father, but still you should offer obeisance to your sannyasi son, otherwise you will have to purify yourself of that fault by observing a fast for one full day.”
You were inspiring him to enter a miserable family life, which is a more severe form of vow than the severe vow one takes to worship Hari, because it instills a great fear in one’s mind. Your attempt was not proper.
Those who are faithful and devoted never face obstacles or inauspiciousness. Only those who desire material enjoyment and liberation face inauspiciousness in life.
I have been wandering about since my birth for the attainment of the goal of life about which you have been deceived for the last twelve years. I did not feel any need to hanker after sense gratification, which is the aim of your life and wealth. I never felt any need to accumulate wealth to mitigate my hunger, to maintain my wife and children, or to supply fuel for my illicit desires. I have never made any endeavor for material wealth like you.
Lord Krishna has never put me into any sort of difficulty or anxiety regarding filling my belly, like He has you. I only try to earn that much wealth with which I can engage in the service of Lord Vishnu, and with which I can keep my sinful body healthy just to serve Lord Hari. Apart from that, I never tried to earn any wealth whatsoever. Even today, I am not greedy for anyone’s wealth. I am not greedy for perishable material wealth like you.
Please bless me so that I can remain greedy for eternal wealth, birth after birth. I wish that even my greatest enemy would not have greed for enjoyable wealth. May I not have any desire other than to pray for the benefit of my greatest enemy. Bless me that I may not see in the last days of my life the face of atheists who are greedy for wealth for the purpose of enjoying profit, adoration, distinction, gold, and women.
We, surrounded by enemies, are determined to engage in the service of Lord Hari and His devotees. All of us are more or less forgetful of Lord Krishna while serving the six enemies. All of you together should serve Lord Hari with unity. This is my request. Ekaki amara nahi paya bala. “I have no strength to do it alone.” Remembering this line, all of you should continue to execute kirtana-yajña, which is the goal of life. The responsibility of the leaders in charge of the execution of kirtana-yajña is to make friendship with all, and especially satisfy all the Vai??avas, while engaging in the service of Hari.
This material world is temporary—nobody has come here to live forever. When the Supreme Lord keeps one in a particular place, he should gladly stay there and accept His rewards and punishments. All types of rewards and punishments awarded by the Supreme Lord are meant for our benefit. We welcome the rewards of the Lord’s external energy, maya, whereas we consider her punishments as troublesome. Since the punishments of maya are awarded so that one can obtain the Lord’s mercy, the devotees do not disregard them; rather they gladly accept them as the Lord’s mercy and simply tolerate them. Those who cannot understand worldly inconveniences to be the Lord’s mercy ultimately fall into a state of disappointment while searching for material happiness and advancement.
Our material miseries and scarcities will go away by participating in festivals in the association of those who serve the Supreme Lord. To always remain engaged in hearing and chanting the glories of Lord Hari is the instruction of saintly persons, scriptures, and the Supreme Lord.
According to proper etiquette, in day-to-day business, one should normally start a letter by saying, “all glories to,” or by offering obeisances at the top of the letter.
By calling out the holy names of the Supreme Lord while fixing our mind upon Him, all auspiciousness is achieved. The Supreme Lord alone is the one who awards worldly prosperity, happiness, and distress. We are maintained by Him and are surrendered unto Him. Whatever arrangements He makes for us, we should humbly accept.
Every disturbance is a fault of my mind; nobody can actually harm me in this world.
Try to avoid quarreling. There is no possibility of disharmony if the purpose is one. In the spiritual world, apparent conflict of interests helps to increase the glories of loving service to the Supreme Lord.
Even by riding on the motorcar of the Madras Gaudiya Matha, the principle and guise of a sincere beggar can be maintained. There is no need to externally display artificial renunciation, or luxury by imitating the sahajiyas. Renunciation is a state of the heart. There is a gulf of difference between the considerations of those who misuse renunciation and that of the followers of King Janaka and Raya Ramananda. By taking advantage of, and by imitating, King Janaka or Raya Ramananda, and thus acting like Ravana, is not internal renunciation, or yukta-vairagya. When duplicity is externally displayed, having entered the heart, nobody can achieve his true welfare.
People are extremely averse to us and so their behavior will surely be exhibited according to this mentality. If we can patiently tolerate their insults then one day they will definitely repent their misdeeds.
None of you should be afraid of natural calamities, such as heavy rain or disease. Embrace them and then bid them farewell in due course of time. Srila Jagannatha Dasa Babaji Maharaja used to say that when painful diseases come to our body, if they are not pampered, or do not get excellent food, they will automatically leave. Diseases stay longer in the bodies of aristocratic people because of their luxurious living.
As soon as bodily pleasures are increased, the propensity for serving the Supreme Lord decreases. That is why the Supreme Lord spreads thorns on the path of all kinds of comfort for those upon whom He shows mercy.
I have received your humble letter dated the 29th March and have understood your present physical and mental condition. Always remember the lotus feet of Lord Hari, the spiritual master, and other Vaishnavas without interruption while accepting that all physical and mental miseries are a result of one’s previous karma. In this mood, always pray for the mercy of the Supreme Lord. Gradually, by Krishna’s will, all types of miseries will be destroyed and you will become empowered for the service of the Supreme Lord so that the inclination for constantly worshiping Lord Hari will be awakened. All impediments in the form of bad association will be removed and the propensity to always serve Lord Hari, the spiritual master, and the Vaishnavas will predominate.
I hope that you will soon be cured of your physical and mental illness by the Lord’s mercy so that you will increase our happiness by being engaged in the worship of Hari. It is quite warm here. If you feel extreme pain then invite a devotee known to you from Gaudiya Matha and hear from him Hari-katha and Hari-nama.
There is no happiness in the material world. The material world creates many disturbances by manifesting various kinds of disasters. Although there is good and bad, and partial purity in it, material life often produces varieties of disturbances. That is why the tat te nu’kampam verse has been presented.
There are no such disturbances in the abode of Goloka. Anyway, there is no alternative but to tolerate all inconveniences that come to us at various times and at various places.
Let them harass you as much as possible; you simply must quietly tolerate these disturbances. We firmly believe that the people of the world will not allow injustices to predominate. The Supreme Lord arranges everything for our benefit—this is our firm faith. The atheists cannot flourish in this world for long, for eventually they are pulled down by the punishment of providence. Everything takes place by the will of the Supreme Lord.
The duty of relatives is that they should first offer some foodstuffs to the Supreme Lord on the day of sraddha and then offer some portion of the Lord’s prasada to the departed soul and thus help him achieve his ultimate welfare. Offering the departed souls prasada will satisfy the devotees of the Supreme Lord. There should also be performance of harinama.
When maya conditions us, we remain busy calculating who is big and who is small.
We should unconditionally accept whatever condition Krishna puts us in at any time. The desire to gain physical health with the sole intention of worshiping Krishna is also favorable for devotional service. A non-devotee’s endeavor to demand service from the Supreme Lord, such as becoming cured so that he can attain the platform of anarthas is not acceptable. But to pray for good health to the destroyer of obstacles, Ganesa, and at the lotus feet of the destroyer of obstacles, Lord Nrsimha, for the sake of Krishna bhajana is certainly acceptable.
If our photograph is worshiped when we are alive; this will make us fall down.
If you constantly engage your mind in the Lord’s service then no one can harm you. If you are restless or dissatisfied with others then an inclination for the Lord’s service will not be present within your mind. Your words, body, and mind will form a mental displeasure that will not allow you to serve Hari. Therefore become tolerant like a tree, and by the Lord’s will stay at Samanta-pañcaka. This will be beneficial for you. Wait for the day when Lord Gaura Hari will send you elsewhere.
The dear devotees of Sri Gaurasundara have no other business than to take the treasure of His distribution of Krishna-prema [love of God] and distribute it door to door. This business is their only means of livelihood as they execute their loving devotional service to Krishna.
As Srila Rupa Gosvami elaborately explains in his Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu, there are five principal rasas—neutrality, servitude, friendship, parental love, and conjugal love—and seven secondary rasas—amazement, humor, chivalry, compassion, fury, fear, and dread. Altogether there are twelve rasas, the supreme object of them all is Sri Krishna. In other words, our love and affection are actually meant for Sri Krishna. Unfortunately, out of ignorance, we stubbornly try to squeeze happiness and love out of material relationships, which are not directly connected to Krishna, and thus life is experienced as a constant frustration. The solution is simple: surrender to Krishna, love Krishna, love Krishna’s devotees, and be happy forever.
Pray to the holy name with your heart and soul so that the holy name may bestow mercy upon you. Remembering astakaliya-lila is not to be performed when one is full of anarthas. Only by kirtana can smarana be practiced. At that time, realization of astakaliya-lila-seva is possible. One should not artificially practice astakaliya-lila-smara?a.
We are insignificant beggars. If a rich person or a particular community harasses us then Lord Nrisimha will protect us. No community can hurt our feelings for our religious beliefs.
When the futility of false ego is understood, then we give up bad association and come to know that worldly happiness, worldly knowledge, and worldly settlement, etc., are all useless in comparison to realization of the Supreme Lord, who is eternal, and full of knowledge and bliss. Only when one is initiated into Krishna consciousness like this can he obtain supreme auspiciousness.
By installing deities of Lord Jagannatha and Lord Mahaprabhu in the villages of England and offering Indian foodstuffs to the Lord and then distributing them as maha-prasada, gradually the people of England will support the service of the Supreme Lord by showing sympathy and being faithful. In the future, qualified persons will go there and benefit the people by propagating pure sanatana-dharma.
Oh!When will the time come when all the people of that country honor the transcendental maha-prasada in the Lord’s temple while chanting the holy names of Lord Gauranga with a purified heart and thus understand the value of spiritual life?
Because we will forget the Supreme Lord if we are are satisfied with material happiness, the merciful Lord has created various dangers to test us. Happiness in this material world guarantees forgetfulness of Krishna. Hence, miseries are examples of His compassion.
There are differences of opinion between the resident devotees of the matha and the “big” householder devotees. According to the considerations put forth by Maharaja in Delhi, the Supreme Lord and His devotees are the only objects of service. Just by serving the Supreme Lord and the devotees, the weight of our attached household activities will decrease. But if the residents of the dhama think of themselves as “big devotees,” just like the sahajiyas of Kuliya, and transform the servants of the matha into their servants, then rather than serving the dhama, they will imagine themselves as being objects of service in Vaiku??ha. Living in the dhama is only to serve the devotees, but if instead of serving the Supreme Lord and the devotees, service is demanded from them and displeasure is shown at their activities, then rather than dhama-seva, an offense called dhama-bhoga will be committed.
It is better to live in a place of material enjoyment and serve the devotees of the dhama from a distance than to be an enjoyer of the dhama.
Simply by worshiping Hari, the body, mind, and soul will remain healthy, but if one is averse to bhajana, these three will act unfavorably.
The tendency for material enjoyment is one hundred percent present in the Western countries. Therefore their faith in God is very weak.
Sastra says, “One should take shelter of saintly persons while giving up bad association.” Those who mistake nondevotees to be devotees make a mistake like trying to cheat a blacksmith out of steel. We need not talk about others, but while serving Lord Hari, the spiritual master, and other Vaishnavas, discussions of Agha, Baka, Ravana, and so on automatically arise. Anyway, everything is the Lord’s test. I did not expect such unfavorable behavior from my so-called disciples. Anyhow, this is Kali-yuga and so everything is possible.
To ascertain the varna of a person is the essence of varnasrama. To merge familial identity with one’s personal nature is not its purpose.
The followers of Sri Rupa, without putting faith in their own power, attribute all their successes to the original source. We too do everything for the pleasure of Sri Krishna Caitanya, Sri Rupa, Sri Bhaktivinoda, and our spiritual master.
Bhakti Tirtha Swami (from a YouTube video lecture):
The Vedic scriptures are the oldest scriptures on the planet, and if you follow them, they will make you a better Christian or a better Moslem. And the end result of that is that you will understand that we are servants of God, beyond all sectarian designations.
In our movement we have people of different nations and races all working together to benefit society. Where else is there such an example?
Niranjana Swami:
When a diplomat visited Prabhupada in Geneva, Srila Prabhupada started out by asking if he had any questions. The man said, “No.” Then Srila Prabhupada asked for the harmonium, and played a beautiful Hare Krishna tune for twenty minutes or so. Then he said to the man, “This is what we do.” Then he asked Guru Gauranga Prabhu to give the man prasadam. So I tell this story as a simple introduction to this 12-hour kirtana program. This is what we do.
Badahari Prabhu (from Krishna House):
Using mechanical substitutes for essential body parts or functions cannot extend life without the sanction of the Lord.
Our hearing apparatus works 24/7 and thus can protect us from calamity at all times.
Morning is best for the spiritual cultivation because the ether is not polluted by materialistic sound vibrations.
Srila Prabhupada and Krishna are ready to take you with them, if you are willing to give up the desire to control.
It is hard to be detached from the material world, but because someday you will need to be, it is good to practice.
Beg borrow or steal, somehow get devotional service. The more devotional service we do, we build up our spiritual body.
Comment by Gauranga Prasada Prabhu: Laksmimani dd says that pride, such as that in Vedic scholarship, is one thing that remains as indicated by the word prayesu [almost to nil] in Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.2.18.
Caturatma Prabhu:
In Vrindavan, I was noticing three Govardhan silas on Indradyumna Swami’s altar at the MVT. I asked the origin of them. He said he had to confiscate them from his disciples, and he did not know what he was going to do with them. I said, well I have been wanting to worship Govardhan for some time, I would like to worship them. He said, “Well you’re not shy about asking.” He also had a very large sila, one that was completely impractical to travel with and, he did not have a clue what he would do with Him. I said, “I know just the person, a hefty devotee, who has a desire to worship Govardhan. That was Madhava [from the Alachua community].”
Dravida Prabhu:
The prayers of Brahma are very conclusive and many acaryas have written explanations of them.
Brahma had just experienced that his intellect had failed to appreciate the divinity of Krishna, and so he spoke this verse (SB 10.14.3): “Those who, even while remaining situated in their established social positions, throw away the process of speculative knowledge and with their body, words and mind offer all respects to descriptions of Your personality and activities, dedicating their lives to these narrations, which are vibrated by You personally and by Your pure devotees, certainly conquer Your Lordship, although You are otherwise unconquerable by anyone within the three worlds.”
“What is the ultimate goal of life and how to attain it?” is the main question of a seeker.
There is a logical order to the four imperfections of a conditioned soul. First we have imperfect senses, then we make mistakes, and when we make enough mistakes, we become illusioned, and when we present our illusions as factual knowledge we cheat others.
Adhoksaja is a combination of three words, ja meaning janma or birth, aksa meaning the eyes, or the senses in general, adha which means pushing down. Aksaja thus means knowledge born of sense perception, and adhoksaja therefore means that which pushes down this knowledge born of sense perceptions.
Krishna wants only one thing: love.
One may be a multi-millionaire but if he has no one to exchange love with he is unhappy.
How to serve the topics of the Lord? With our body, by following His instructions, with our minds, by thinking of the topics, and with our words, by repeating them to others.
Two of Jarasandha’s daughters were wives of Kamsa, so he was upset with Krishna for killing Kamsa and leaving them unprotected.
Everything begins with hearing. If we had not heard about Krishna, how could we have become attracted to Him?
Kathamritam means that hearing about Krishna is like nectar, but you cannot drink too much of such nectar, nor does it have any bad side effects.
Our constitutional position is not to be a university student nor to work a certain job, nor to be a man or woman, nor even a human being.
On Halloween people dress in costumes but if they forget it is just a costume and continue to act as a ghost or Napolean, then they really have a problem. That is our situation in this world.
The topics glorifying Krishna are the purifying force.
The most valuable thing you have is your desire to be Krishna consciousness, and that we must increase by our practice.
The main reason we stay in the material world is because of our desire to hear about things other than Krishna.
Srila Prabhupada said if you take one step toward Krishna, Krishna takes ten steps toward you. These steps are the taste He gives you.
Everything depends on the intensity of one’s attention.
The secret is to keep everything fresh and new. For me it is verses. There are always more verses, and the verses have great depth. The verses are like old friends. And the books . . .
The sastra [with a long ‘a’ (the scripture)] cuts off our attachments, but the sastra [with a short ‘a’ (the weapon)] cuts off our head.
The Siksastakam is throughout the Padyavali (a collection of verses) of Rupa Goswami and was gathered together by Krishnadas Kaviraja Goswami.
Step to memorize verses:
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read translation
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figure out meter
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look at word meanings for the first line
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practice saying the first line while remembering its meaning
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repeat steps 3 and 4 with all the lines of the verse
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practice your verses periodically
The “Madhurastkam,” which describes the sweetness of Krishna, only works because it is about Him. It would become trite to describe any other person as being sweet in so many ways.
Similarly if anyone were dressed as opulently as the Deity one would consider the person to be overdressed but for Krishna such opulence is appropriate and pleasing.
Some people look for the bliss at this festival and that festival, but hooking up with Lord Caitanya and His movement and all the previous spiritual masters by making a contribution to the mission, we taste the real bliss. We forget that this is something bestowed upon us.
Constant prayer and willingness to do austerity for Krishna makes us advanced.
Prabhodananda Sarasvati said, “Lord Caitanya is more magnanimous than ten million mothers.”
The real friend is the friend who will introduce you to your eternal friend Krishna.
The real guru inspires you to chant the holy name.
The holy name is like a touchstone. When our consciousness touches the holy name it becomes transformed.
The chanting is attractive because Krishna is present there.
Three things come from devotional service, the pleasure of serving Krishna, direct experience of Krishna, and detachment from other things. This is compared to the pleasure of eating, nourishment, and freedom from hunger.
Ajamila was so grateful that the holy name saved him from the Yamadutas that he very seriously took to devotional service and attained perfection.
The holy name is supremely pure and made of spiritual bliss.
If we want to associate with Krishna, He is willing to associate with us, primarily through His avatar as the holy name.
There is no downside or bad effect to the pleasure of the holy name. It is all up. Stay high forever.
Talks of materialistic people steal the most valuable gem, our desire for Krishna.
By associating with the faithful, we become faithful.
Progressing in devotional service means refining our activities so they are supportive of chanting.
By chanting japa during class we can commit two offenses at once, inattention to chanting and insulting the Bhagavatam speaker.
Srila Prabhupada was always completely focused on what he was doing for Krishna, and thus he was able to do so much in just eleven years.
In the Eleventh Canto, one verse states that the greatest pure devotee does not want to forget Krishna even for a moment, even in exchange for all the wealth in the world.
Comment by Lilananda Prabhu: Bringing a television into your home is like bring in billions of people who are against Krishna.
Comment: If one chants the names of Nitai Gauranga, Bhakti devi comes chasing after you.
Comment by Kaliyaphani Prabhu: Regarding the Gauranga campaign you mentioned where devotees in Scotland put up posters saying “Chant Gauranga” everywhere, I have a couple stories:
“A devotee doing street sankirtana [book distribution] in Scotland stopped a young mother with a small son. He was a scruffy, cheeky-looking kid. After the exchange, the devotee said to the kid, ‘Can you say Gauranga?’ The reply was, ‘Aye, I can. But it’s nae Gauranga, it’s Gauruunga!’
“
Two devotees going door-to-door in central Edinburgh entered a very posh-looking restaurant with the idea of going round the tables to collect. There were big pillars, chandeliers, etc. They hesitated at the doorway thinking it was too posh. Then a customer at a table must have recognized them and at the top of his voiced yelled out, ‘Gaaaaauuuuraaaangaaaa!’ the sound reverberating round the hall and shattering the devotee’s doubts!”
If you make a habit of glorifying devotees you will derive such pleasure from that activity that you will not feel the tendency to criticize devotees. Radhanath Swami is a good example of that.
When we are doing japa and kirtana, we should think, “Now is my time to associate directly with Krishna and to forget everything else.”
We have to come to the platform of always following Srila Prabhupada’s instructions to attain purity in chanting.
Dhanesvara Prabhu was the manager of the production team of me (Dravida Prabhu), Gopiparanadhana Prabhu, and Hridayananda dasa Goswami to complete Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavatam translation. At one point, things were difficult and Gopiparanadhana Prabhu suggested that we worship the Bhagavatam. So we set up an altar and put the Bhagavatam on it, and worshiped it, and ultimately we were successful in completing the translation and publishing it.
We should think, “By chanting the holy name purely all my aspirations will be fulfilled.”
Because we are chanting Hare Krishna, Krishna is reducing our taste for meat eating, illicit sex, intoxication, and gambling.
All of us have the capacity to appreciate the holy name as Rupa Goswami did: “I do not know how much nectar the two syllables ‘Krish-na’ have produced. When the holy name of Krishna is chanted, it appears to dance within the mouth. We then desire many, many mouths. When that name enters the holes of the ears, we desire many millions of ears. And when the holy name dances in the courtyard of the heart, it conquers the activities of the mind, and therefore all the senses become inert.”
We can pray to the holy name for the strength to avoid sinful activities.
Kalakantha Prabhu:
One devotee walked from Africa to Mayapur chanting Hare Krishna. The devotees in general were very impressed with him, but Srila Prabhupada was not impressed. That devotee eventually stopped talking with other devotees and lived alone, saying he wanted to focus on his chanting. Ultimately, however, he went away because people stopped paying attention to him.
Bhaktivinoda Thakura was opposed to the idea of seminal succession of spiritual masters, and so rather than initiating his son, he advised his son to approach Gaurakisora Dasa Babaji Maharaja for initiation.
We cannot become advanced by imitating the symptoms of advanced devotees, but rather absorbing ourselves in Krishna and naturally becoming advanced.
Whatever taste we have for hearing about Krishna is our greatest gift.
The great acaryas [spiritual teachers who teach by example] are not appointed but emerge.
After a day of searching by the order of Dronacarya, their teacher, Duryodhana could not find anyone superior to himself and Yudhisthira could not find anyone inferior to himself. Dronacarya then proclaimed, “Yudhisthira is fit to rule the world and Duryodhana is fit to have his body eaten by jackals.”
Anuttama Prabhu tells a story of an experience on sankirtana:
One man said, “I don’t want your book. I have my own religion. You are going to hell.” Anuttama replied, “What religion are you?”
The man said, “Christian.”
Anuttama inquired, “Are all Christians going to heaven?”
The man said, “No, not all Christians.”
Anuttama asked, “So only people in your church?”
The man replied, “No, not all people in my church are going to heaven.”
The madhyama devotee’s relationship with the innocent person is this: “I want to help this person as much as he wants my help.”
As soon as you take to spiritual life seriously, some people will love you and other people will hate you.
The neophyte devotee cannot abandon the society, friendship, and love of the material world to pursue Krishna.
In no religious scripture will you see a statement like “I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from Me.” Only Krishna is so bold as to say this, but He says it not because He is arrogant, but to establish the truth. He does this in half a verse. And in rest of the four main verses He talks about His devotees and how He reciprocates with them.
There is a long standing discussion in theology about whether God is attained by works or grace. The relationship between the two is cleared up in Bhagavad-gita: “To those who are constantly devoted to serving Me with love, I give the understanding by which they can come to Me.” (Bg. 10.10)
If the most important thing to a person is God, then that person is a devotee or a Vaishnava.
Nondevotees consider the activities of the Lord are too amazing to be true. But what do you expect God to do? Actually the more amazing the activities of Krishna are, the more they are wor
Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 8, No. 22
By Krishna-kripa das
(November 2012, part two)
Alachua and Gainesville, Florida
(Sent from Radha Govinda Temple, Brooklyn, New York, on December 21, 2012)
Where I Went and What I Did
I had greatly hoped to make it to Alachua in time to hear the wonderful remembrances on Srila Prabhupada’s disappearance day, but I just caught the end of the kirtana and the feast, and a few remembrances in the evening, which I include below. The next day, we chanted for two hours before the football game in Gainesville, and Dravida Prabhu, who loves to chant, joined us, making it even better than usual. That night we went to a nice festival Madhava Prabhu from the Alachua community had at his place with beautiful kirtanas, enlightening talks, and tasty prasadam in celebration of the anniversary of the appearance of Krishna as Govardhan–sila in his life. Sunday was the Govardhan Puja festival in Alachua. For several days leading up to The Festival of the Holy Name in Alachua, Madhava Prabhu, the kirtana leader from Switzerland, sang kirtana for two or three hours every night and by the grace of Krishna and my friends with cars, I was able to attend all of them. Wednesday we had an amazing harinama at the Farmers Market with thirteen people taking part. Thursday I got to speak about gratitude for Thanksgiving, and people said they liked the lecture. I sent it to the ISKCON Desire Tree website, and you will be able to find it there in a few days. This year’s Festival of the Holy Name was the best so far, and I will mention a few high points for me. Dravida Prabhu, who visits this time of year specifically for the Festival of the Holy Name impressed me by taking eight hours out of the festival to drive with us to Tallahassee to lead the harinama before the football game for a couple of hours. For the final week of November, I stayed in Gainesville’s Krishna House, helping to maintain the harinamas and evening programs, and inspired to see and work with some very enthusiastic new devotees.
Among the insights, there are many wonderful quotes from the letters of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saravati Thakura, soon to be published as Patramrita, by Touchstone Publishing. Also particularly inspiring are realizations from Dravida and Kalakantha Prabhus. And there are other gems as well.
Prabhupada Disappearance Remembrances
Rasa Lila dd:
Srila Prabhupada patiently teaches me every day something new about Krishna, just as he did when he was present.
He taught you can do something amazing for Krishna at any age, and now that we are approaching his age, we might consider that if we are thinking we are too old to do anything, we should think again.
Mukunda Prabhu:
The Bhaktivedanta Archives is building a concrete room with a door like a bank vault to preserve Prabhupada’s materials and just today on his disappearance day someone came through with a donation.
Vegavati dd:
In Hawaii there were two camps of devotees that disagreed, but when Srila Prabhupada was there and the kirtana was going on, there was so much spiritual love no differences existed.
Puskara Prabhu:
I was in Vrindavan in 1977 the whole time from April to November, when Srila Prabhupada left this world.
Toward the end, rickshaws were delivering salt for the samadhi [holy tomb] but we were in some kind of illusion thinking that Srila Prabhupada would stay.
I was given the job of calling Ramesvara in LA to tell him that Prabhupada had left.
When there was a debate about whether Srila Prabhupada would go to Govardhan or not [just a few days before he left this world]. I asked Bhagatji [a friend of Srila Prabhupada’s] whether Prabhupada would go, and he said with conviction, “He will not go,” as if I were a fool for asking.
There was a devotee Sac-cid-ananda who would sing every day for Srila Prabhupada in his last days. One day he did not sing and Prabhupada asked for him to.
Several times Krishnadasa Babaji Maharaja came. Prabhupada very much liked his association. At different times Srila Prabhupada said he was paramahamsa [topmost devotee].
Once I was painting trees in Vrindavan, thinking all the trees in Vrindavan were desire trees and so it was OK. Then I felt bad because Krishna wasn’t there, so I added Krishna and some cowherd boys. I showed it to Srila Prabhupada. Prabhupada looked for a long time and didn’t say anything. Then he said, “What is the idea? Where is it in the books?”
I said, “The Nectar of Devotion.”
“What verse?” Srila Prabhupada replied.
I said, “Krishna is unlimited.”
Srila Prabhupada replied, “Krishna is unlimited, but you are limited. Stick to the book.”
Gauranga Prasada Prabhu’s Going Away Party
Gauranga Prasada Prabhu was a new devotee in Gainesville who was very eager to apply himself to different aspects of Krishna consciousness such as cooking for the Lord and playing the harmonium and singing. He left Krishna House after not even two years to become the bhakta leader in the Tucson temple, and the Krishna House devotees had a nice going away party for him.
Kalakantha Prabhu: Gauranga Prasada was seeking the truth. He was immediately attracted by Krishna consciousness. He was supported by his family. He has many talents. It is clear he is continuing his practice from a previous life.
Hanan Prabhu asked devotees to say three things each about him:
Clayton: Sincerity, simplicity, wailing on the harmonium with total absorption. Ananda Loka Prabhu: His bright smile. Srutisagara Prabhu: Hard-working, humble. Ghee, butter, hing. Tulasi Priya dd: A good example for me. Dr. Dina Bandhu Prabhu: Always said “welcome home” each weekend when I returned from Jacksonville. New lady: Made me feel at home. Girl with glasses: Eye-opening, laughter. Tall Indian male: Positive. Jai Nitai Gauranga Prabhu: Reliable. Father: An old soul. He had a wisdom about him. He has given so much. Mother: He is well loved. Thank you all here for showing him compassion and giving him safety. Haribol. Amrita Keli dd: Completely lovable, without fault, potent. Just today he came into my dream to remind me to help in the kitchen five minutes after I said I would be there. Andy: A mine of valuable gems like potency, kindness. I feel very enriched. Syamala Kishori dd: Enthusiasm. I love your kirtana.
I mentioned his enthusiasm, his happiness, and his kindness. He kindly sent some Krishna sweets to my relatives for me when I was overseas. I wish him well.
Gauranga Prasada Prabhu:
My plan for life was originally very clear, go to school, get a job, raise a family, but now I feel my life is much more uncertain, but in the best possible way. I just want to serve Krishna and be with the devotees. The rest is just details.
I am grateful for the service opportunities here at Krishna House, which I think are more extensive than any other temple.
comment by Kalakantha Prabhu: I appreciate you were always willing to do the needful.
Harinama at the Farmers Market
The Wednesday before Thanksgiving there were no classes at University of Florida, and so both students and Krishna Lunch workers had more free time. Thus we were able to have a harinama with thirteen people at the Farmers Market! Four of us came together, driven by Michele, a new devotee who loves kirtana. Then a couple more devotees joined us. Then two Krishna Lunch workers along with the sister of one of them. Michele gave the new girl a mantra card, and she chanted Hare Krishna for the first time. Jaya Sri Krishna Prabhu joined us and played the drum. One lady on a nearby bench seemed to be enjoying the kirtana, so we gave her a mantra card, and she chanted along. Later Damodar Prasada gave her a book. Thus Krishna really reciprocated with my desire to have a well-attended harinama in the Farmers Market upon my return to Gainesville. It was great that two new people chanted the mantra.
The Festival of the Holy Name
Festival of the Holy Name is an annual kirtana festival during Thanksgiving weekend featuring two days of 12 hours of kirtana at ISKCON New Raman Reti in Alachua, Florida. This year’s was the third festival.
It was a treat having Niranjana Swami fly in just to be part of the Festival of the Holy Name this year. Agnidev Prabhu, a legendary Hare Krishna kirtana leader, also was a special guest. And of course, there were Madhava and Amala, as usual, as well as Mitra Prabhu, who came from North Carolina, and locals like Visvambhara and Jagannatha Kirtana Prabhus, to name a few.
One friend from Tallahassee, Sara Black, a young Mormon music major, who just completed her Ph.D. dissertation on kirtana at Hare Krishna festivals came to the Festival of the Holy Name for at least the second year. Inspired by her research, she is now writing a book on the recent explosion of interest in kirtana. I encouraged her to stay and hear Niranjana Swami, and she stayed and appreciated the kirtanas of both Niranjana Swami and Agnidev Prabhu. In fact, she and her husband stayed to hear Visvambhara Prabhu whose singing they had previously developed an attachment for and who did the last segment on Friday evening. It was wonderful to see them both intently singing Hare Krishna and clapping along with the music. She developed an interest in Hare Krishna festivals when she grew up in Utah and attended the Holi festival that Caru Prabhu organized his temple in Spanish Fork.
The group of local second generation American Vaishnavas including Gaura Shakti, Krishna Dhama, Govinda, and Ramachandra, and many more, who organized the festival did a great job, and it gets better every year. All thanks and blessings to them.
Insights
Srila Prabhupada:
from a lecture on Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.5.1, given in Bombay, on December 25, 1976:
“This is the difficulty at the present moment that we take leadership of the society although we remain in the bodily conception of life.”
There is a not a problem of overpopulation. We are all sons of Krishna, and He is providing for us. The problem is that we are mismanaging and then claiming God is not providing.
The more you become godless, the more miseries will be inflicted by material nature.
Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura (from Patravali, a collection of his letters soon to be published by Touchstone Publishing in an abridged work called Patramrita):
If the mind does not become disturbed at the time of chanting mantras then it should be understood that the chanting is being done perfectly.
In order to test us and benefit us, the Supreme Lord has placed different types of inconveniences in this world. We have to realize those things as being beneficial for us and thus accept them gracefully. Glorious are those who serve the Supreme Lord. In the midst of all difficulties, keep hearing about, chanting, and remembering the Supreme Lord. Other than this I have no better advice. You should always chant a fixed number of rounds of the holy names of Lord Hari. If there is any problem for openly decorating your body with tilaka then you can do it mentally while chanting the appropriate mantras. Know for certain that the holy name of Hari and Lord Hari Himself are one and the same. Know for certain that chanting the holy names of Hari and meeting the Supreme Lord directly are one and the same. Sri Harinama Prabhu is the worshipable Lord of liberated persons.
There is no comparison to Sri Gaurasundara’s compassion, and there is no limit to Sri Krishnacandra’s sweetness.
Simply by reading about glorification of the Supreme Lord and the devotees, all our needs will be fulfilled. Do not be impatient for the result, but rather always chant the holy names of Krishna with patience and tolerance. The Supreme Lord will certainly not sit quietly. According to the degree of one’s sadhana, Sri Gaurahari certainly awards one auspicious results. Service to Hari is called bhakti. You will realize that chanting of the names of Krishna is in itself bhakti.
The forefathers of that family in which a devotee takes birth attain special benefit so that their lives become successful. There is no need to pray for them separately.
Dreams are false. They are manifestations of the enjoyment of one’s thoughts, and they are the results of one’s previous bad association. Therefore just throw away those things from the heart.
Sri Gaurasundara tests us in various ways by putting us into difficulties and different kinds of association. It depends on the good fortune of the living entities for them to pass those tests. As the indwelling Supersoul, Sri Gaurahari has revealed the eternal truth in the hearts of the living entities out of His causeless mercy. Those who have taken shelter at the lotus feet of Lord Hari and the spiritual master never trust the illusory words of misguided people. Only unfortunate people become bewildered by hearing deceitful words. One need not worry about that.
It is the duty of householders to worship the deity of the Supreme Lord with faith and devotion. A householder who has taken complete shelter of the holy names, having realized his relationship with the Supreme Lord, respects deity worshipers. Those who avoid worshiping the deity just to save money incur the sin known as vittasa?hya, or miserliness. Householders with abominable characters and restless minds must engage in deity worship.
You are a learned person and so you must know the scriptural evidence the smarta Bhattacarya Raghunandan has quoted in the ekadasi-tattva.
devata pratimam drstva. yatinacaiva tridandinam
namaskaram na kuryaccet upavasena suddhati
“You are the father, but still you should offer obeisance to your sannyasi son, otherwise you will have to purify yourself of that fault by observing a fast for one full day.”
You were inspiring him to enter a miserable family life, which is a more severe form of vow than the severe vow one takes to worship Hari, because it instills a great fear in one’s mind. Your attempt was not proper.
Those who are faithful and devoted never face obstacles or inauspiciousness. Only those who desire material enjoyment and liberation face inauspiciousness in life.
I have been wandering about since my birth for the attainment of the goal of life about which you have been deceived for the last twelve years. I did not feel any need to hanker after sense gratification, which is the aim of your life and wealth. I never felt any need to accumulate wealth to mitigate my hunger, to maintain my wife and children, or to supply fuel for my illicit desires. I have never made any endeavor for material wealth like you.
Lord Krishna has never put me into any sort of difficulty or anxiety regarding filling my belly, like He has you. I only try to earn that much wealth with which I can engage in the service of Lord Vishnu, and with which I can keep my sinful body healthy just to serve Lord Hari. Apart from that, I never tried to earn any wealth whatsoever. Even today, I am not greedy for anyone’s wealth. I am not greedy for perishable material wealth like you.
Please bless me so that I can remain greedy for eternal wealth, birth after birth. I wish that even my greatest enemy would not have greed for enjoyable wealth. May I not have any desire other than to pray for the benefit of my greatest enemy. Bless me that I may not see in the last days of my life the face of atheists who are greedy for wealth for the purpose of enjoying profit, adoration, distinction, gold, and women.
We, surrounded by enemies, are determined to engage in the service of Lord Hari and His devotees. All of us are more or less forgetful of Lord Krishna while serving the six enemies. All of you together should serve Lord Hari with unity. This is my request. Ekaki amara nahi paya bala. “I have no strength to do it alone.” Remembering this line, all of you should continue to execute kirtana-yajña, which is the goal of life. The responsibility of the leaders in charge of the execution of kirtana-yajña is to make friendship with all, and especially satisfy all the Vai??avas, while engaging in the service of Hari.
This material world is temporary—nobody has come here to live forever. When the Supreme Lord keeps one in a particular place, he should gladly stay there and accept His rewards and punishments. All types of rewards and punishments awarded by the Supreme Lord are meant for our benefit. We welcome the rewards of the Lord’s external energy, maya, whereas we consider her punishments as troublesome. Since the punishments of maya are awarded so that one can obtain the Lord’s mercy, the devotees do not disregard them; rather they gladly accept them as the Lord’s mercy and simply tolerate them. Those who cannot understand worldly inconveniences to be the Lord’s mercy ultimately fall into a state of disappointment while searching for material happiness and advancement.
Our material miseries and scarcities will go away by participating in festivals in the association of those who serve the Supreme Lord. To always remain engaged in hearing and chanting the glories of Lord Hari is the instruction of saintly persons, scriptures, and the Supreme Lord.
According to proper etiquette, in day-to-day business, one should normally start a letter by saying, “all glories to,” or by offering obeisances at the top of the letter.
By calling out the holy names of the Supreme Lord while fixing our mind upon Him, all auspiciousness is achieved. The Supreme Lord alone is the one who awards worldly prosperity, happiness, and distress. We are maintained by Him and are surrendered unto Him. Whatever arrangements He makes for us, we should humbly accept.
Every disturbance is a fault of my mind; nobody can actually harm me in this world.
Try to avoid quarreling. There is no possibility of disharmony if the purpose is one. In the spiritual world, apparent conflict of interests helps to increase the glories of loving service to the Supreme Lord.
Even by riding on the motorcar of the Madras Gaudiya Matha, the principle and guise of a sincere beggar can be maintained. There is no need to externally display artificial renunciation, or luxury by imitating the sahajiyas. Renunciation is a state of the heart. There is a gulf of difference between the considerations of those who misuse renunciation and that of the followers of King Janaka and Raya Ramananda. By taking advantage of, and by imitating, King Janaka or Raya Ramananda, and thus acting like Ravana, is not internal renunciation, or yukta-vairagya. When duplicity is externally displayed, having entered the heart, nobody can achieve his true welfare.
People are extremely averse to us and so their behavior will surely be exhibited according to this mentality. If we can patiently tolerate their insults then one day they will definitely repent their misdeeds.
None of you should be afraid of natural calamities, such as heavy rain or disease. Embrace them and then bid them farewell in due course of time. Srila Jagannatha Dasa Babaji Maharaja used to say that when painful diseases come to our body, if they are not pampered, or do not get excellent food, they will automatically leave. Diseases stay longer in the bodies of aristocratic people because of their luxurious living.
As soon as bodily pleasures are increased, the propensity for serving the Supreme Lord decreases. That is why the Supreme Lord spreads thorns on the path of all kinds of comfort for those upon whom He shows mercy.
I have received your humble letter dated the 29th March and have understood your present physical and mental condition. Always remember the lotus feet of Lord Hari, the spiritual master, and other Vaishnavas without interruption while accepting that all physical and mental miseries are a result of one’s previous karma. In this mood, always pray for the mercy of the Supreme Lord. Gradually, by Krishna’s will, all types of miseries will be destroyed and you will become empowered for the service of the Supreme Lord so that the inclination for constantly worshiping Lord Hari will be awakened. All impediments in the form of bad association will be removed and the propensity to always serve Lord Hari, the spiritual master, and the Vaishnavas will predominate.
I hope that you will soon be cured of your physical and mental illness by the Lord’s mercy so that you will increase our happiness by being engaged in the worship of Hari. It is quite warm here. If you feel extreme pain then invite a devotee known to you from Gaudiya Matha and hear from him Hari-katha and Hari-nama.
There is no happiness in the material world. The material world creates many disturbances by manifesting various kinds of disasters. Although there is good and bad, and partial purity in it, material life often produces varieties of disturbances. That is why the tat te nu’kampam verse has been presented.
There are no such disturbances in the abode of Goloka. Anyway, there is no alternative but to tolerate all inconveniences that come to us at various times and at various places.
Let them harass you as much as possible; you simply must quietly tolerate these disturbances. We firmly believe that the people of the world will not allow injustices to predominate. The Supreme Lord arranges everything for our benefit—this is our firm faith. The atheists cannot flourish in this world for long, for eventually they are pulled down by the punishment of providence. Everything takes place by the will of the Supreme Lord.
The duty of relatives is that they should first offer some foodstuffs to the Supreme Lord on the day of sraddha and then offer some portion of the Lord’s prasada to the departed soul and thus help him achieve his ultimate welfare. Offering the departed souls prasada will satisfy the devotees of the Supreme Lord. There should also be performance of harinama.
When maya conditions us, we remain busy calculating who is big and who is small.
We should unconditionally accept whatever condition Krishna puts us in at any time. The desire to gain physical health with the sole intention of worshiping Krishna is also favorable for devotional service. A non-devotee’s endeavor to demand service from the Supreme Lord, such as becoming cured so that he can attain the platform of anarthas is not acceptable. But to pray for good health to the destroyer of obstacles, Ganesa, and at the lotus feet of the destroyer of obstacles, Lord Nrsimha, for the sake of Krishna bhajana is certainly acceptable.
If our photograph is worshiped when we are alive; this will make us fall down.
If you constantly engage your mind in the Lord’s service then no one can harm you. If you are restless or dissatisfied with others then an inclination for the Lord’s service will not be present within your mind. Your words, body, and mind will form a mental displeasure that will not allow you to serve Hari. Therefore become tolerant like a tree, and by the Lord’s will stay at Samanta-pañcaka. This will be beneficial for you. Wait for the day when Lord Gaura Hari will send you elsewhere.
The dear devotees of Sri Gaurasundara have no other business than to take the treasure of His distribution of Krishna-prema [love of God] and distribute it door to door. This business is their only means of livelihood as they execute their loving devotional service to Krishna.
As Srila Rupa Gosvami elaborately explains in his Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu, there are five principal rasas—neutrality, servitude, friendship, parental love, and conjugal love—and seven secondary rasas—amazement, humor, chivalry, compassion, fury, fear, and dread. Altogether there are twelve rasas, the supreme object of them all is Sri Krishna. In other words, our love and affection are actually meant for Sri Krishna. Unfortunately, out of ignorance, we stubbornly try to squeeze happiness and love out of material relationships, which are not directly connected to Krishna, and thus life is experienced as a constant frustration. The solution is simple: surrender to Krishna, love Krishna, love Krishna’s devotees, and be happy forever.
Pray to the holy name with your heart and soul so that the holy name may bestow mercy upon you. Remembering astakaliya-lila is not to be performed when one is full of anarthas. Only by kirtana can smarana be practiced. At that time, realization of astakaliya-lila-seva is possible. One should not artificially practice astakaliya-lila-smara?a.
We are insignificant beggars. If a rich person or a particular community harasses us then Lord Nrisimha will protect us. No community can hurt our feelings for our religious beliefs.
When the futility of false ego is understood, then we give up bad association and come to know that worldly happiness, worldly knowledge, and worldly settlement, etc., are all useless in comparison to realization of the Supreme Lord, who is eternal, and full of knowledge and bliss. Only when one is initiated into Krishna consciousness like this can he obtain supreme auspiciousness.
By installing deities of Lord Jagannatha and Lord Mahaprabhu in the villages of England and offering Indian foodstuffs to the Lord and then distributing them as maha-prasada, gradually the people of England will support the service of the Supreme Lord by showing sympathy and being faithful. In the future, qualified persons will go there and benefit the people by propagating pure sanatana-dharma.
Oh!When will the time come when all the people of that country honor the transcendental maha-prasada in the Lord’s temple while chanting the holy names of Lord Gauranga with a purified heart and thus understand the value of spiritual life?
Because we will forget the Supreme Lord if we are are satisfied with material happiness, the merciful Lord has created various dangers to test us. Happiness in this material world guarantees forgetfulness of Krishna. Hence, miseries are examples of His compassion.
There are differences of opinion between the resident devotees of the matha and the “big” householder devotees. According to the considerations put forth by Maharaja in Delhi, the Supreme Lord and His devotees are the only objects of service. Just by serving the Supreme Lord and the devotees, the weight of our attached household activities will decrease. But if the residents of the dhama think of themselves as “big devotees,” just like the sahajiyas of Kuliya, and transform the servants of the matha into their servants, then rather than serving the dhama, they will imagine themselves as being objects of service in Vaiku??ha. Living in the dhama is only to serve the devotees, but if instead of serving the Supreme Lord and the devotees, service is demanded from them and displeasure is shown at their activities, then rather than dhama-seva, an offense called dhama-bhoga will be committed.
It is better to live in a place of material enjoyment and serve the devotees of the dhama from a distance than to be an enjoyer of the dhama.
Simply by worshiping Hari, the body, mind, and soul will remain healthy, but if one is averse to bhajana, these three will act unfavorably.
The tendency for material enjoyment is one hundred percent present in the Western countries. Therefore their faith in God is very weak.
Sastra says, “One should take shelter of saintly persons while giving up bad association.” Those who mistake nondevotees to be devotees make a mistake like trying to cheat a blacksmith out of steel. We need not talk about others, but while serving Lord Hari, the spiritual master, and other Vaishnavas, discussions of Agha, Baka, Ravana, and so on automatically arise. Anyway, everything is the Lord’s test. I did not expect such unfavorable behavior from my so-called disciples. Anyhow, this is Kali-yuga and so everything is possible.
To ascertain the varna of a person is the essence of varnasrama. To merge familial identity with one’s personal nature is not its purpose.
The followers of Sri Rupa, without putting faith in their own power, attribute all their successes to the original source. We too do everything for the pleasure of Sri Krishna Caitanya, Sri Rupa, Sri Bhaktivinoda, and our spiritual master.
Bhakti Tirtha Swami (from a YouTube video lecture):
The Vedic scriptures are the oldest scriptures on the planet, and if you follow them, they will make you a better Christian or a better Moslem. And the end result of that is that you will understand that we are servants of God, beyond all sectarian designations.
In our movement we have people of different nations and races all working together to benefit society. Where else is there such an example?
Niranjana Swami:
When a diplomat visited Prabhupada in Geneva, Srila Prabhupada started out by asking if he had any questions. The man said, “No.” Then Srila Prabhupada asked for the harmonium, and played a beautiful Hare Krishna tune for twenty minutes or so. Then he said to the man, “This is what we do.” Then he asked Guru Gauranga Prabhu to give the man prasadam. So I tell this story as a simple introduction to this 12-hour kirtana program. This is what we do.
Badahari Prabhu (from Krishna House):
Using mechanical substitutes for essential body parts or functions cannot extend life without the sanction of the Lord.
Our hearing apparatus works 24/7 and thus can protect us from calamity at all times.
Morning is best for the spiritual cultivation because the ether is not polluted by materialistic sound vibrations.
Srila Prabhupada and Krishna are ready to take you with them, if you are willing to give up the desire to control.
It is hard to be detached from the material world, but because someday you will need to be, it is good to practice.
Beg borrow or steal, somehow get devotional service. The more devotional service we do, we build up our spiritual body.
Comment by Gauranga Prasada Prabhu: Laksmimani dd says that pride, such as that in Vedic scholarship, is one thing that remains as indicated by the word prayesu [almost to nil] in Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.2.18.
Caturatma Prabhu:
In Vrindavan, I was noticing three Govardhan silas on Indradyumna Swami’s altar at the MVT. I asked the origin of them. He said he had to confiscate them from his disciples, and he did not know what he was going to do with them. I said, well I have been wanting to worship Govardhan for some time, I would like to worship them. He said, “Well you’re not shy about asking.” He also had a very large sila, one that was completely impractical to travel with and, he did not have a clue what he would do with Him. I said, “I know just the person, a hefty devotee, who has a desire to worship Govardhan. That was Madhava [from the Alachua community].”
Dravida Prabhu:
The prayers of Brahma are very conclusive and many acaryas have written explanations of them.
Brahma had just experienced that his intellect had failed to appreciate the divinity of Krishna, and so he spoke this verse (SB 10.14.3): “Those who, even while remaining situated in their established social positions, throw away the process of speculative knowledge and with their body, words and mind offer all respects to descriptions of Your personality and activities, dedicating their lives to these narrations, which are vibrated by You personally and by Your pure devotees, certainly conquer Your Lordship, although You are otherwise unconquerable by anyone within the three worlds.”
“What is the ultimate goal of life and how to attain it?” is the main question of a seeker.
There is a logical order to the four imperfections of a conditioned soul. First we have imperfect senses, then we make mistakes, and when we make enough mistakes, we become illusioned, and when we present our illusions as factual knowledge we cheat others.
Adhoksaja is a combination of three words, ja meaning janma or birth, aksa meaning the eyes, or the senses in general, adha which means pushing down. Aksaja thus means knowledge born of sense perception, and adhoksaja therefore means that which pushes down this knowledge born of sense perceptions.
Krishna wants only one thing: love.
One may be a multi-millionaire but if he has no one to exchange love with he is unhappy.
How to serve the topics of the Lord? With our body, by following His instructions, with our minds, by thinking of the topics, and with our words, by repeating them to others.
Two of Jarasandha’s daughters were wives of Kamsa, so he was upset with Krishna for killing Kamsa and leaving them unprotected.
Everything begins with hearing. If we had not heard about Krishna, how could we have become attracted to Him?
Kathamritam means that hearing about Krishna is like nectar, but you cannot drink too much of such nectar, nor does it have any bad side effects.
Our constitutional position is not to be a university student nor to work a certain job, nor to be a man or woman, nor even a human being.
On Halloween people dress in costumes but if they forget it is just a costume and continue to act as a ghost or Napolean, then they really have a problem. That is our situation in this world.
The topics glorifying Krishna are the purifying force.
The most valuable thing you have is your desire to be Krishna consciousness, and that we must increase by our practice.
The main reason we stay in the material world is because of our desire to hear about things other than Krishna.
Srila Prabhupada said if you take one step toward Krishna, Krishna takes ten steps toward you. These steps are the taste He gives you.
Everything depends on the intensity of one’s attention.
The secret is to keep everything fresh and new. For me it is verses. There are always more verses, and the verses have great depth. The verses are like old friends. And the books . . .
The sastra [with a long ‘a’ (the scripture)] cuts off our attachments, but the sastra [with a short ‘a’ (the weapon)] cuts off our head.
The Siksastakam is throughout the Padyavali (a collection of verses) of Rupa Goswami and was gathered together by Krishnadas Kaviraja Goswami.
Step to memorize verses:
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read translation
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figure out meter
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look at word meanings for the first line
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practice saying the first line while remembering its meaning
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repeat steps 3 and 4 with all the lines of the verse
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practice your verses periodically
The “Madhurastkam,” which describes the sweetness of Krishna, only works because it is about Him. It would become trite to describe any other person as being sweet in so many ways.
Similarly if anyone were dressed as opulently as the Deity one would consider the person to be overdressed but for Krishna such opulence is appropriate and pleasing.
Some people look for the bliss at this festival and that festival, but hooking up with Lord Caitanya and His movement and all the previous spiritual masters by making a contribution to the mission, we taste the real bliss. We forget that this is something bestowed upon us.
Constant prayer and willingness to do austerity for Krishna makes us advanced.
Prabhodananda Sarasvati said, “Lord Caitanya is more magnanimous than ten million mothers.”
The real friend is the friend who will introduce you to your eternal friend Krishna.
The real guru inspires you to chant the holy name.
The holy name is like a touchstone. When our consciousness touches the holy name it becomes transformed.
The chanting is attractive because Krishna is present there.
Three things come from devotional service, the pleasure of serving Krishna, direct experience of Krishna, and detachment from other things. This is compared to the pleasure of eating, nourishment, and freedom from hunger.
Ajamila was so grateful that the holy name saved him from the Yamadutas that he very seriously took to devotional service and attained perfection.
The holy name is supremely pure and made of spiritual bliss.
If we want to associate with Krishna, He is willing to associate with us, primarily through His avatar as the holy name.
There is no downside or bad effect to the pleasure of the holy name. It is all up. Stay high forever.
Talks of materialistic people steal the most valuable gem, our desire for Krishna.
By associating with the faithful, we become faithful.
Progressing in devotional service means refining our activities so they are supportive of chanting.
By chanting japa during class we can commit two offenses at once, inattention to chanting and insulting the Bhagavatam speaker.
Srila Prabhupada was always completely focused on what he was doing for Krishna, and thus he was able to do so much in just eleven years.
In the Eleventh Canto, one verse states that the greatest pure devotee does not want to forget Krishna even for a moment, even in exchange for all the wealth in the world.
Comment by Lilananda Prabhu: Bringing a television into your home is like bring in billions of people who are against Krishna.
Comment: If one chants the names of Nitai Gauranga, Bhakti devi comes chasing after you.
Comment by Kaliyaphani Prabhu: Regarding the Gauranga campaign you mentioned where devotees in Scotland put up posters saying “Chant Gauranga” everywhere, I have a couple stories:
“A devotee doing street sankirtana [book distribution] in Scotland stopped a young mother with a small son. He was a scruffy, cheeky-looking kid. After the exchange, the devotee said to the kid, ‘Can you say Gauranga?’ The reply was, ‘Aye, I can. But it’s nae Gauranga, it’s Gauruunga!’
“
Two devotees going door-to-door in central Edinburgh entered a very posh-looking restaurant with the idea of going round the tables to collect. There were big pillars, chandeliers, etc. They hesitated at the doorway thinking it was too posh. Then a customer at a table must have recognized them and at the top of his voiced yelled out, ‘Gaaaaauuuuraaaangaaaa!’ the sound reverberating round the hall and shattering the devotee’s doubts!”
If you make a habit of glorifying devotees you will derive such pleasure from that activity that you will not feel the tendency to criticize devotees. Radhanath Swami is a good example of that.
When we are doing japa and kirtana, we should think, “Now is my time to associate directly with Krishna and to forget everything else.”
We have to come to the platform of always following Srila Prabhupada’s instructions to attain purity in chanting.
Dhanesvara Prabhu was the manager of the production team of me (Dravida Prabhu), Gopiparanadhana Prabhu, and Hridayananda dasa Goswami to complete Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavatam translation. At one point, things were difficult and Gopiparanadhana Prabhu suggested that we worship the Bhagavatam. So we set up an altar and put the Bhagavatam on it, and worshiped it, and ultimately we were successful in completing the translation and publishing it.
We should think, “By chanting the holy name purely all my aspirations will be fulfilled.”
Because we are chanting Hare Krishna, Krishna is reducing our taste for meat eating, illicit sex, intoxication, and gambling.
All of us have the capacity to appreciate the holy name as Rupa Goswami did: “I do not know how much nectar the two syllables ‘Krish-na’ have produced. When the holy name of Krishna is chanted, it appears to dance within the mouth. We then desire many, many mouths. When that name enters the holes of the ears, we desire many millions of ears. And when the holy name dances in the courtyard of the heart, it conquers the activities of the mind, and therefore all the senses become inert.”
We can pray to the holy name for the strength to avoid sinful activities.
Kalakantha Prabhu:
One devotee walked from Africa to Mayapur chanting Hare Krishna. The devotees in general were very impressed with him, but Srila Prabhupada was not impressed. That devotee eventually stopped talking with other devotees and lived alone, saying he wanted to focus on his chanting. Ultimately, however, he went away because people stopped paying attention to him.
Bhaktivinoda Thakura was opposed to the idea of seminal succession of spiritual masters, and so rather than initiating his son, he advised his son to approach Gaurakisora Dasa Babaji Maharaja for initiation.
We cannot become advanced by imitating the symptoms of advanced devotees, but rather absorbing ourselves in Krishna and naturally becoming advanced.
Whatever taste we have for hearing about Krishna is our greatest gift.
The great acaryas [spiritual teachers who teach by example] are not appointed but emerge.
After a day of searching by the order of Dronacarya, their teacher, Duryodhana could not find anyone superior to himself and Yudhisthira could not find anyone inferior to himself. Dronacarya then proclaimed, “Yudhisthira is fit to rule the world and Duryodhana is fit to have his body eaten by jackals.”
Anuttama Prabhu tells a story of an experience on sankirtana:
One man said, “I don’t want your book. I have my own religion. You are going to hell.” Anuttama replied, “What religion are you?”
The man said, “Christian.”
Anuttama inquired, “Are all Christians going to heaven?”
The man said, “No, not all Christians.”
Anuttama asked, “So only people in your church?”
The man replied, “No, not all people in my church are going to heaven.”
The madhyama devotee’s relationship with the innocent person is this: “I want to help this person as much as he wants my help.”
As soon as you take to spiritual life seriously, some people will love you and other people will hate you.
The neophyte devotee cannot abandon the society, friendship, and love of the material world to pursue Krishna.
In no religious scripture will you see a statement like “I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from Me.” Only Krishna is so bold as to say this, but He says it not because He is arrogant, but to establish the truth. He does this in half a verse. And in rest of the four main verses He talks about His devotees and how He reciprocates with them.
There is a long standing discussion in theology about whether God is attained by works or grace. The relationship between the two is cleared up in Bhagavad-gita: “To those who are constantly devoted to serving Me with love, I give the understanding by which they can come to Me.” (Bg. 10.10)
If the most important thing to a person is God, then that person is a devotee or a Vaishnava.
Nondevotees consider the activities of the Lord are too amazing to be true. But what do you expect God to do? Actually the more amazing the activities of Krishna are, the more they are wor
Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 8, No. 21
By Krishna-kripa das
(November 2012, part one)
London, New York, Jacksonville
(Sent from Stuyvesant Falls, New York, on December 17, 2012)
Where I Went and What I Did
I continued to do harinama and lectures in London, based at Radha-Londonisvara’s temple on Soho Street for three days, flying to New York City the afternoon of the third day, to do harinama for a week with Rama Raya and Ekalavya Prabhus and their party who chant for four hours a day, mostly at Union Square. It was amazing to see the enthusiasm of those devotees for harinama and the enthusiasm of the New Yorkers who listened, gave donations, and took books about Krishna consciousness. I took a three-day break from the harinama party to visit family members. I visited my sister and my mother for a day each, cooking several meals and helping my mother with various computer issues. I visited my diksa-guru, Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami, where I assisted his team in a successful marathon to get the first volume of his autobiography, The Story of My Life, printed by the beginning of December. On November 15, I flew to Jacksonville, where I spent a very enlivening day assisting in our outreach at the University of North Florida there.
This issue is bountiful with the insights of great souls. I begin with many quotes from the books and lecture of our founder-acarya Srila Prabhupada. Next there are some wonderful insights from the letters of his guru maharaja, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura from a collection of his letters called Patravali, soon to be published in an abridged form by Touchstone Publishing as Patramrita. After that there some useful quotes from Bhakti Charu Swami and Radhanath Swami. Then I have excerpts from the first volume of the recently published, The Story of My Life, by Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami, mostly memories about the early days of our first center at 26 Second Ave. Then there are some revolutionary quotes by Aindra Prabhu, a great lover of the holy name. And Rama Raya Prabhu, a follower of Aindra, shares his conviction about the public chanting of the holy name. And there is still more!
Itinerary
Dec. 17–19, 2012: serving Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami in Stuyvesant, NY
Dec. 19–23, 2012: harinama in New York City
Dec. 24–25, 2012: visiting family in Albany, NY
Dec. 26, 2012–
Jan. 7, 2013: harinama in New York City
Jan. 8–April 2013: Gainesville, FL (with visits to Tallahassee and Jacksonville)
London Harinamas
I did harinama in London the first three days of November, before flying to New York. As the month of Karttika was starting, there was increased impetus to do more chanting and that boosted attendance on our harinamas. The after-breakfast harinama in London was much more regular and attended by more devotees than usual. In addition, late Friday afternoon we did harinama to Kings Cross for their Friday evening program at their storefront called “Matchless Gifts.” The Saturday Weekend Warrior program of chanting and book distribution was located in Ealing, a London borough which is practically on the way to Heathrow Airport, so I was able to participate for three hours before flying to New York.
Harinama in Manhattan
For several months Rama Raya Prabhu, who spent many years on Aindra Prabhu’s 24-Hour team in Vrindavan, and Ekalavya Prabhu, who plays the trumpet and is an excellent musician and performer, have been doing harinama in Manhattan, usually at Union Square, for four hours each and every day from 4 to 8 p.m. I joined their party for seven days. Once during foul weather we were chanting at Roosevelt Avenue subway station. I was singing my favorite tune of Hare Krishna and Ekalavya Prabhu played trumpet and a crowd of at least fifty people were watching us. I was amazed to see so many people stopped to watch a kirtana in America, especially one I was leading. One Sunday we chanted at Union Square for six hours from 2 to 8 p.m. One time we had seventeen people chanting, mostly practicing devotees with a few new people who had become interested from the daily public chanting in their city. Another day we had fifteen people. Even the slowest days we always had six or seven people at the end, although sometimes in the beginning there were just three or four of us. Some devotees are dedicated and go out every day for at least part of the time. One of these is Rasika Gopi dd, who as Bhaktin Rose went out on harinama with me twice in the Netherlands two and a half years ago.
Several new people have developed an interest in kirtana and Krishna consciousness during the several months the daily harinama has been going on and several thousand books have been distributed to people, just from them hearing the holy name and choosing to give a donation. Both Rama Raya and Ekalavya Prabhus are very enthusiastic about the program, and after a short break from January to March to go on pilgrimage in India, they are looking forward to another successful year.
Sharing Krishna at the University of North Florida
I have been singing on the campus of the University of North Florida in Jacksonville a few times a year since back in 2003 or 2004. I find the students are less under pressure in that relatively small school, and you always find interesting and interested people. People buy books, play instruments with us, like our treats, and talk about spiritual issues.
After a two-and-a-half-hour flight and a two-hour bus ride, I arrived at the campus too tired to chant, so I took lunch and a nap. Then in the late afternoon I decided to sit on a bench on the green and play my harmonium and sing for a couple of hours before our Thursday evening program and invite some new people to come.
I was surprised to meet Regina, one girl who remembered me from our weekly programs back in January, and who told me she has been coming to them ever since. Another girl, Jessica, just came to a single program, back in January, and also remembered me from that. We had a nice conversation about some supernatural experiences she had, and she promised to come to the program. On top of that, I met a math professor, who had done her graduate studies at University of California at San Diego and developed a love for the Krishna lunch the devotees served there each week. I had met her before on the green at UNF, and on days I did not see her there, I would bring prasadam to her office. It was wonderful that she spontaneously walked by during the brief time I was chanting there. I also met one young Indian man who is a Krishna devotee, and had looked online for Krishna temples in the area but had failed to find any. I told him about our program on the campus, and about our temples in Alachua and Gainesville. As a result he became a regular attendee at our programs at UNF.
By the fall semester of 2012, Dina Bandhu and Amrita Keli Prabhus, the devotees doing programs at UNF nature pavilion since January, had created enough interest in the students that they could create a Krishna Club with meetings on the campus. I was happy to see about fifteen people at the weekly program. Sometimes they said they got twenty-five. They do some yoga, have a talk related to Bhagavad-gita, have chanting of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra with instruments, and then Krishna prasadam, spiritual food for the soul. When I was there, after the program they discussed plans for a weekend field trip to a home program in LaCrosse and the Govardhan Puja festival in our Alachua temple. I was surprised to see the number of students interested in the devotional adventure. It was inspiring for me to see the interest in Krishna consciousness in a new place, and I bet such programs could be started on many campuses by enthusiastic young devotees who simply share in a straight forward way whatever they have learned about Krishna with others.
Insights
Srila Prabhupada:
from Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, Adi-lila 1.55, purport:
“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. Because of his development of transcendental attachment for the Supreme Lord, a surrendered soul feels the presence of his beloved everywhere, and all his senses are engaged in the loving service of the Lord. His eyes are engaged in seeing the beautiful couple Sri Radha and Krishna sitting on a decorated throne beneath a desire tree in the transcendental land of Vrindavan. His nose is engaged in smelling the spiritual aroma of the lotus feet of the Lord. Similarly, his ears are engaged in hearing messages from Vaikuntha, and his hands embrace the lotus feet of the Lord and His associates. Thus the Lord is manifested to a pure devotee from within and without. This is one of the mysteries of the devotional relationship in which a devotee and the Lord are bound by a tie of spontaneous love. To achieve this love should be the goal of life for every living being.”
from a lecture:
In this material life, you will never be able to make anyone happy by your activities. That is not possible. Neither you will be happy.
For the jnanis (those interested in cultivating knowledge) Krishna says, “After many births and deaths, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare.” (Bg. 7.19), for the karmis (those interested in enjoying their senses) Krishna says, “Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer or give away, and whatever austerities you perform — do that, O son of Kunti, as an offering to Me.” (Bg. 9.27), and for the yogis Krishna says, “A yogi is greater than the ascetic, greater than the empiricist and greater than the fruitive worker. Therefore, O Arjuna, in all circumstances, be a yogi” (Bg. 6.46).
Nirguna means Krishna is not influenced by the three qualities of material nature (gunas) not that He has no transcendental qualities.
from a lecture:
Meditation begins with the lotus feet of Lord. Meditation on Krishna’s lotus feet destroys the dirty things in our heart.
Krishna’s feet are marked with four primary symbols: ankusa (goad), vajra (thunderbolt), sauraubya (lotus), . . .
When a British reporter asked me where hell was. I told him London is hell. There is no sun. It is always rainy and cold. You to do not have to search out hell in another place, hell is already here.
There is no light so you are paying electricity bill, but in the spiritual world no additional illumination is required. Why do you not go there? Why should we pay the electric bill? Go to the spiritual world. Every planet is effulgence.
In the material world, even the richest person is full of anxiety, but the spiritual world is Vaikuntha, without anxiety, so we should aspire to go there.
No material condition can check Krishna consciousness.
from an early-morning walk in Vrindvana, India, in September 1975:
On one side they promote contraceptives, and on the other side they encourage women
to marry three times a week. This is their civilization. If you want to stop increasing the population, why are you inducing people: “Indulge in sex”? Everything is contradictory. And it is all based on sense gratification.
from a lecture on Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.2.6 in London on July 23, 1973:
Without following the religious principle there is not humanity. . . . It does not matter what kind of religion you follow, it doesn’t matter, but you must follow. . . . That is the duty, dharma. Human civilization begins when there is a religious conception of life.
Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura:
from the abridged Patravali, known as Patramrita, to be printed by Touchstone Publishing:
If you pray for the well-being of your subordinates then your own spiritual progress will take place.
As far as the present anarthas [unwanted tendencies] are concerned, if your hearing and chanting is very strong, they cannot display their prominence.
When I think that I am well, I become averse to Krishna, and as a result, I consider senior devotees to be junior to me. That is why, considering this, Lord Krishna keeps me in various distressful conditions, such as in ill health and other inconveniences. At such times I try to understand the meaning of the verse beginning with tat te’nukampam [My dear Lord, one who earnestly waits for You to bestow Your causeless mercy upon him, all the while patiently suffering the reactions of his past misdeeds and offering You respectful obeisances with his heart, words and body, is surely eligible for liberation, for it has become his rightful claim. (Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.14.8)].
When we remain absorbed in material subjects, which are not related to Krishna, we are inclined to quarrel with the different people of the world.
I am very glad to learn that Bhaktisarvasva Giri has received an English certificate. If the sannyasis and brahmacaris keep proving their merit in this way at different places, our happiness will know no bounds.
We should have churches for devotion and love all over India (preaching centers for pure devotional service and love of Krishna). Perhaps you remember the teachings of Mahaprabhu:
prithivite ache yata nagaradi-grama
sarvatra pracara haibe mora nama
“In every town and village of the world, My name [the holy name of Krishna] will be preached.”
No one has the right to drink even a drop of nectar from the ocean of the transcendental mellows of Lord Krishna’s pastimes without the mercy of the daughter of King Vrishabhanu [Radharani, Lord Krishna’s consort].
The dim reflection of madhurya-rasa is svakiya-rasa, and so it is simply another form of dasya-rasa. Many people make a mistake by accepting Lord Narayana’s pastimes with His legitimate wife as madhurya-rasa.
“A Vaishnava comes to this material world according to his karma, and after spending a fixed amount of time here, he goes to where he is being sent by Baladeva, according to his qualifications. Mahalaksmi resides within Balarama, and within Mahalaksmi resides the Supreme Lord. Therefore, Tota has gone back to serve his worshipable Lord. He was a Vaishnava part and parcel of Nityananda Prabhu, the predominating Lord of the sandhini potency and so if you learn to treat Lord Vishnu as your son, you will no longer feel the absence of your son.
“As the Supreme Lord lived in the heart of Tota and so you served Him, so now you should serve Lord Baladeva. The material body of Tota has been merged into the five gross material elements. The spirit soul of Tota will remain engaged in the service of the energetic Lord. Your material son has been separated from his material father. He is meant to be enjoyed by the Supreme Lord and so his real business is to serve Him. Realizing that you are not conditioned by maya, the Supreme Lord will not allow you to become overwhelmed with grief and will bestow upon you His unlimited mercy and power. This is my feeling.”
When Mahaprabhu accepted the renounced order of life, He said to His old mother, His wife Vishnupriya-devi, and the residents of Navadvipa, “I am only a human being and I am related to all of you in some kind of relationship. When I am gone, you should establish your relationship with Krishna instead of Me and thus give Me an opportunity to serve Lord Hari independently.”
“They may think that sincere premika bhaktas, who are under the shelter of the transcendental parakiya-rasa, are less ethical, but love for Hari has such a wonderful power that even a greatly delightful moral standard becomes dim in front of it.”
The Supreme Lord keeps Himself hidden within this universe in order to test us. If we can perceive Him behind every object, our apparent misunderstandings will diminish.
The Supreme Lord’s testing place is this material world. In order to pass this test, one has to hear glorification of Hari from the mouths of devotees of Hari.
Only those whose time for the destruction of anarthas has arrived will hear lectures on the topics of Hari and thus become successful in their attempt to achieve the ultimate goal of life.
If you chant one hundred thousand holy names every day then the offenders will not be able to disturb your bhajana.
There cannot be any better and more favorable condition for bhajana than giving up bad association.
In the inclination for service on the path of aisvarya, the chanting of the holy name, Hare Rama, refers to Lord Rama, the son of Dasaratha. But the devotees who worship the Lord on the path of madhurya know Rama to be Gopi-ramana, or the enjoyer of the gopis. He is the son of Nanda. In that case, the word Rama refers to Radha-ramana, and the word Hara refers to the daughter of Vrsabhanu.
There is never any possibility of falling down for a person who has received even a hint, or reflection, of the mula-mantra, or the secret of unalloyed bhajana. Still, as full-fledged members, their inability to accept the authority of the matha as a result of their previous offenses committed against the Vaishnavas is ultimately due to their personal weakness. When, by the grace of the Supreme Lord, the service attitude is progressively increased within their heart, they will not fall prey to sinful propensities. Try to benefit such fallen persons by helping them. That will be an act of real friendship.
Thoughtless and ignorant people who are unable to comprehend the magnanimous pastimes of exalted personalities question, “Why did Kala Krishnadasa, who was under the shelter of Gaurasundara, become attracted to the Bhattathari women? Why did Chota Haridasa, rather than exhibiting the example of a devotee, engage in inferior activity on the pretext of serving Gaura? Why did Ramacandra Puri give up his subordination to Madhavendra Puri? Why did a few so-called sons of Advaita Acarya Prabhu, and a few so-called disciples of Virabhadra, become independent?”
Ignorant people may like the arguments that challenge the faith of those on the kanistha and madhyama platforms which are put forth by those who are out of touch with reality and cannot accept the actual truth, but when these foolish people enter the deep meaning of the transcendentally magnanimous pastimes of exalted personalities who are under the shelter of Lord Caitanya or His devotees, they will understand that in order to provide an opportunity for well-being to all unfit and fallen souls, Lord Caitanya has revealed the truth that all living entities are constitutionally servants of Lord Krishna. Even though the service of Krishna temporarily manifested in a perverted form as an aversion to Krishna when combined with material enjoyment is abominable in the eyes of unqualified gross materialists who believe in direct perception, it does not violate the principle of the api cet suduracara verse. A maha-bhagavata knows everyone as his spiritual master and therefore only a maha-bhagavata is the spiritual master of the whole world.
The goal of our service is to arrange a meeting between the object of worship and the worshiper.
Bhajana is not something to make a show of. If we chant the holy name loudly, the enjoyment of idleness cannot devour us.
Bhakti Charu Swami:
Lord Caitanya taught Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Vrindavan is His abode, and the gopis method of worship is best.
If Yasoda knew that Krishna was the Supreme Personality could she try to tie Him up?
Everyone forgets that Krishna is God in Vrindavan.
The relationships of friendship, parenthood, and conjugal love are prominent in Vrindavan.
Aghasura could not be killed by the demigods, who would tremble in fear at the sound of his name.
If one performs vaidhi-bhakti he attains Vaikuntha.
After Krishna demonstrated his pastimes, he considered that when bhakti is merely performed according to rules and regulations, no one would ever attain Goloka Vrindavan.
Raganuga means to follow a resident of Vrindavan. By serving Lord Caitanya, we are serving Radharani, and what greater resident of Vrindavan is there than Radharani?
Asvatthama had the benediction from Lord Shiva to be invisible for one night, and so he could kill the sleeping Pandavas without being stopped. Why would Krishna would allow them to be killed? They had played their role in His pastimes and so they would not be needed in this world.
At the border of Vrindavan and Mathura when Krishna and Akrura bathed, Shyamasundara Krishna returned to Vrindavan and Vasudeva Krishna continued to Mathura and Dvaraka.
To go from Vaikuntha to Goloka Vrindavan, you have to come to this world and do sankirtana in Vrindavan.
Regarding your mother, because she went back to Godhead, you should consider what is your relationship with her now. Do you want to follow her example? Do you want to assist her in her service to Krishna? Do you want to pray to her that you might also be engaged in Krishna’s service?
When you give up an old car and buy a new one, do you lament? So in the same way, we should not lament when one gets a better body for serving Krishna.
A rich man is always changing his car while a poor man holds on to it until it is a piece of junk. We are neither the rich man nor the poor man. We are the chauffeur of the richest man, and He will certainly make sure we have a first class car to drive in His service, so we do not have to worry.
Radhanath Swami:
from a BTG article:
Mother Theresa spoke to me years ago, “The greatest problem in this world is not the hunger of the stomach but the hunger of the heart. All over the world both rich and poor suffer. They are lonely, starving for love. Only God’s love can satisfy the hunger of the heart.”
Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami:
from his autobiography, The Story of My Life:
It is always good to live with the chanting and to bring it out in a time of difficulty. It may seem odd to the people who are confining you, but it will always work in your favor. They will know you are religious and serious.
And I was there among the first. I feel he [Srila Prabhupada] will always remember me as “Satsvarupa” from my typing and donations and giving him a daily mango. He picked me up as a sad lonely hippie and made me a happy and responsible son. I will never forget those days or fail to treasure them.
At the welfare office I chanted Hare Krishna mantras silently in my mind. The Swami had approved the practice. I had told him my co-workers engaged in talking nonsense. He said, “Even the greatest philosophers are talking nonsense. Go on chanting Hare Krishna in your mind.”
Going to meet the Swami was the nectar of life, and I did it every morning for Caitanya-caritamrta class and every evening for kirtana and his Bhagavad-gita class. He was so kind and inviting, accepting me as I was, and giving me typing tasks. I gave him my money and that solidified my relationship. He called me “Sat-svaroop.” I don’t have to make up the early days. I just have to remember them as they were. Gradually more intimacy developed and a sense of belonging to his group. I was learning the philosophy of Krishna and eating lunch with him daily and taking “heavenly porridge” with the boys in the morning. It was a favorable burgeoning time. I remember leaving the storefront in the morning and walking to my workplace, feeling that I was a cowherd boy with my necktie in my back pocket. I had friendly talks with Rayarama and the others and felt they were my brotherhood of friends. I had moments alone with the Swami when I asked him questions about the philosophy and commented on how I was feeling. I was no longer intimidated by the city buildings in the concrete jungle. I saw them as material energy, and now they were temporary and in a sense unreal. Real was Krishna in the spiritual world. We had pictures of Radha and Krishna in Goloka Vrindavan. Gradually we were setting the foundation for lifelong commitment starting with the summer of 1966. We kind of knew what we were getting into.
I knew the Swami as my spiritual master, the guru of my soul. He was guiding me into my relationship with Krishna through him. We needed him to be there, and we wanted him and he was there. We knew where to find him, in his apartment, in his temple. He started a Sunday Love Feast and chanting in Tompkins Square Park. He was like putting milk in a bowl, and we were like cats lapping it up. Everything was auspicious, even as the season changed. So life revolved around the activities with the Swami and the future seemed eternal. We didn’t think of it ending. This was just fine, getting up at 1 a.m. and chanting japa on the red beads, sitting on the floor. Then dressing and leaving the apartment, entering the streets and passing people on your way to the storefront. As dependable as the Big Ben clock in London, the Swami would enter the storefront and step out of his shoes and sit and lead us in the morning tune chant for twenty minutes. Then he set up his reel-to-reel tape recorder and started lecturing about Sanatana Swami’s getting out of jail and going to meet Lord Caitanya in Benares. A cliff hanger lecture every morning. I can keep going back and remembering, and it’s always there. I don’t have to make it up. It all actually happened, and it was wonderful as he took me up and molded me into a devotee of Krishna consciousness. He is my Swami, and I hope to remember him now and at the hour of my death and to somehow go to him in that same mood as when I first joined him.
Aindra Prabhu:
from a lecture on March 16, 2009, in Varsana:
Humility means you have to be humble enough to realize that you are a fallen conditioned soul and your only hope is the sankirtana which has been specifically prescribed by the scripture and by Lord Caitanya and His representatives for the fallen souls of this age. No other process can help you.
Manadena means to respect the actual position of the living entities by engaging them in devotional service.
Book distribution is meant to convince the people to take to the sankirtana movement of Lord Caitanya.
If people do not do sankirtana. they will look for a higher taste elsewhere.
Japa is like taking tablets, and sankirtana is an injection.
from a lecture in March of 2010:
There are five more important items of devotional service, but the supreme item is nama-sankirtana. The other items cannot be complete without nama-sankirtana.
One comes to Vrindavan for the service of Srimati Radharani, and the best way to please Srimati Radharani is by chanting Hare Krishna. By pleasing Radharani only can we get the original Krishna.
We used to chant 8 or 10 hours a day [in public], and on Saturday 15 hours. Srila Prabhupada wrote a letter full of approval to Damodara Prabhu, our temple president, for our program in Washington, D.C., where we were chanting 14 hours a day.
In Vrindavan, for every hour of kirtana we get credit for a thousand hours of kirtana.
All except nama-sankirtana [the congregational chanting of the holy name] and what supports it, are cheating religion.
Laksmi Nrsimha Prabhu:
Rupa Goswami read Bharata Muni’s Rasa-tattva, describing mundane relationships in detail, and used his ideas in describing the eternal relationships we can have with Krishna.
In explaining the different rasas to people, I ask them, “Isn’t the love you have for your children different from the love you have for your spouse or the love you have for your parents?”
Dasa Mula—Ten Roots given by Bhaktivinoda Thakura
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Pramana: Evidence comes from the scripture.
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Parama-tattva: Hari alone is the Truth.
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He is the possessor of all potency.
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He is the source of all relationships, rasa.
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We are all his amsas (parts).
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Souls in this world are baddha (bound by maya [illusion]).
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Liberated souls are free from maya.
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We are simultaneous one with and different from Krishna [acintya-bheda-abheda].
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Pure devotion the is only means for perfection.
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Love of Krishna is the goal.
Respect means to look again and appreciate the good qualities of the person.
Aldous Huxley says the most realistic vision is to see our ourselves the way others see us and to see others the way they see themselves.
William James says that when two person are in a room there are actually six people: the way each person sees himself, the way each person sees the other, and the way each person actually is.
There is a Sufi saying that “words that come from the heart go to the heart, and words that just come from the lips do not make it past the ears.”
If we appreciate the qualities of others, we should express it.
Dayananda Swami:
Srila Prabhupada did not think the strategy of his godbrothers to distribute the books of his guru maharaja which were written for another time and place was so wise.
As we develop bhakti, our bhakti will impel us to spread it to others.
Maya likes senior devotees. [She says:] “Come with me . . . ”
Rama Raya Prabhu:
This sankirtana movement is not meant just to make a few street vendors teasingly take a few dance steps but to bring everyone on the planet to the point of chanting Hare Krishna with faith and love.
Because of the devotee’s attraction to Krishna, what is going on in the material world, no matter how popular or well advertised it is, is not of interest to him.
Q (by me): Is is sufficient just to go on harinama, which purifies the people, knowingly or unknowingly, to bring everyone on the planet to the point of chanting with faith and love or should we be doing other things too?
A: When the disease is severe, the medicine must be stronger and more frequently given. Thus there should be thousands of sankirtana parties going out regularly all over the world to bring people up to such a level of purity.
Radha Caran Prabhu:
Krishna arranges that the material bodies of the gopis stay home to please their family members while they go in the rasa dance with Krishna.
Pride disturbs the rasa [intimate relationship] we have Krishna, even in the case of the gopis [His most advanced devotees].
Ahladini Radharani Devi Dasa from her BTG article [Vol. 47, No. 1, page 22]:
“Just as red-hot cinders may smolder beneath a pile of hot ashes, love of God, though hidden, burns within the heart of every living entity. And just as blowing air on hot cinders can rekindle a flame, hearing the glories of the Lord can invoke one’s dormant love of God and revive one’s connection to Him.”
Caitanya-carana Prabhu:
Saying a resounding yes to Krsna is the most effective way of saying a decisive no to parasitic material desires.
Dr. Dina Bandhu Prabhu:
Religion regulates behavior, but so does our family or political system.
Religion is not so much different from other fields of study where there are teachers and a path.
Just as achieving an M.D. is not cheap, neither is attaining spiritual perfection.
Murali Gopal Prabhu:
Materialists love to know past, present, and future so they can maximize their sense grati
Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 8, No. 21
By Krishna-kripa das
(November 2012, part one)
London, New York, Jacksonville
(Sent from Stuyvesant Falls, New York, on December 17, 2012)
Where I Went and What I Did
I continued to do harinama and lectures in London, based at Radha-Londonisvara’s temple on Soho Street for three days, flying to New York City the afternoon of the third day, to do harinama for a week with Rama Raya and Ekalavya Prabhus and their party who chant for four hours a day, mostly at Union Square. It was amazing to see the enthusiasm of those devotees for harinama and the enthusiasm of the New Yorkers who listened, gave donations, and took books about Krishna consciousness. I took a three-day break from the harinama party to visit family members. I visited my sister and my mother for a day each, cooking several meals and helping my mother with various computer issues. I visited my diksa-guru, Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami, where I assisted his team in a successful marathon to get the first volume of his autobiography, The Story of My Life, printed by the beginning of December. On November 15, I flew to Jacksonville, where I spent a very enlivening day assisting in our outreach at the University of North Florida there.
This issue is bountiful with the insights of great souls. I begin with many quotes from the books and lecture of our founder-acarya Srila Prabhupada. Next there are some wonderful insights from the letters of his guru maharaja, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura from a collection of his letters called Patravali, soon to be published in an abridged form by Touchstone Publishing as Patramrita. After that there some useful quotes from Bhakti Charu Swami and Radhanath Swami. Then I have excerpts from the first volume of the recently published, The Story of My Life, by Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami, mostly memories about the early days of our first center at 26 Second Ave. Then there are some revolutionary quotes by Aindra Prabhu, a great lover of the holy name. And Rama Raya Prabhu, a follower of Aindra, shares his conviction about the public chanting of the holy name. And there is still more!
Itinerary
Dec. 17–19, 2012: serving Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami in Stuyvesant, NY
Dec. 19–23, 2012: harinama in New York City
Dec. 24–25, 2012: visiting family in Albany, NY
Dec. 26, 2012–
Jan. 7, 2013: harinama in New York City
Jan. 8–April 2013: Gainesville, FL (with visits to Tallahassee and Jacksonville)
London Harinamas
I did harinama in London the first three days of November, before flying to New York. As the month of Karttika was starting, there was increased impetus to do more chanting and that boosted attendance on our harinamas. The after-breakfast harinama in London was much more regular and attended by more devotees than usual. In addition, late Friday afternoon we did harinama to Kings Cross for their Friday evening program at their storefront called “Matchless Gifts.” The Saturday Weekend Warrior program of chanting and book distribution was located in Ealing, a London borough which is practically on the way to Heathrow Airport, so I was able to participate for three hours before flying to New York.
Harinama in Manhattan
For several months Rama Raya Prabhu, who spent many years on Aindra Prabhu’s 24-Hour team in Vrindavan, and Ekalavya Prabhu, who plays the trumpet and is an excellent musician and performer, have been doing harinama in Manhattan, usually at Union Square, for four hours each and every day from 4 to 8 p.m. I joined their party for seven days. Once during foul weather we were chanting at Roosevelt Avenue subway station. I was singing my favorite tune of Hare Krishna and Ekalavya Prabhu played trumpet and a crowd of at least fifty people were watching us. I was amazed to see so many people stopped to watch a kirtana in America, especially one I was leading. One Sunday we chanted at Union Square for six hours from 2 to 8 p.m. One time we had seventeen people chanting, mostly practicing devotees with a few new people who had become interested from the daily public chanting in their city. Another day we had fifteen people. Even the slowest days we always had six or seven people at the end, although sometimes in the beginning there were just three or four of us. Some devotees are dedicated and go out every day for at least part of the time. One of these is Rasika Gopi dd, who as Bhaktin Rose went out on harinama with me twice in the Netherlands two and a half years ago.
Several new people have developed an interest in kirtana and Krishna consciousness during the several months the daily harinama has been going on and several thousand books have been distributed to people, just from them hearing the holy name and choosing to give a donation. Both Rama Raya and Ekalavya Prabhus are very enthusiastic about the program, and after a short break from January to March to go on pilgrimage in India, they are looking forward to another successful year.
Sharing Krishna at the University of North Florida
I have been singing on the campus of the University of North Florida in Jacksonville a few times a year since back in 2003 or 2004. I find the students are less under pressure in that relatively small school, and you always find interesting and interested people. People buy books, play instruments with us, like our treats, and talk about spiritual issues.
After a two-and-a-half-hour flight and a two-hour bus ride, I arrived at the campus too tired to chant, so I took lunch and a nap. Then in the late afternoon I decided to sit on a bench on the green and play my harmonium and sing for a couple of hours before our Thursday evening program and invite some new people to come.
I was surprised to meet Regina, one girl who remembered me from our weekly programs back in January, and who told me she has been coming to them ever since. Another girl, Jessica, just came to a single program, back in January, and also remembered me from that. We had a nice conversation about some supernatural experiences she had, and she promised to come to the program. On top of that, I met a math professor, who had done her graduate studies at University of California at San Diego and developed a love for the Krishna lunch the devotees served there each week. I had met her before on the green at UNF, and on days I did not see her there, I would bring prasadam to her office. It was wonderful that she spontaneously walked by during the brief time I was chanting there. I also met one young Indian man who is a Krishna devotee, and had looked online for Krishna temples in the area but had failed to find any. I told him about our program on the campus, and about our temples in Alachua and Gainesville. As a result he became a regular attendee at our programs at UNF.
By the fall semester of 2012, Dina Bandhu and Amrita Keli Prabhus, the devotees doing programs at UNF nature pavilion since January, had created enough interest in the students that they could create a Krishna Club with meetings on the campus. I was happy to see about fifteen people at the weekly program. Sometimes they said they got twenty-five. They do some yoga, have a talk related to Bhagavad-gita, have chanting of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra with instruments, and then Krishna prasadam, spiritual food for the soul. When I was there, after the program they discussed plans for a weekend field trip to a home program in LaCrosse and the Govardhan Puja festival in our Alachua temple. I was surprised to see the number of students interested in the devotional adventure. It was inspiring for me to see the interest in Krishna consciousness in a new place, and I bet such programs could be started on many campuses by enthusiastic young devotees who simply share in a straight forward way whatever they have learned about Krishna with others.
Insights
Srila Prabhupada:
from Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, Adi-lila 1.55, purport:
“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. Because of his development of transcendental attachment for the Supreme Lord, a surrendered soul feels the presence of his beloved everywhere, and all his senses are engaged in the loving service of the Lord. His eyes are engaged in seeing the beautiful couple Sri Radha and Krishna sitting on a decorated throne beneath a desire tree in the transcendental land of Vrindavan. His nose is engaged in smelling the spiritual aroma of the lotus feet of the Lord. Similarly, his ears are engaged in hearing messages from Vaikuntha, and his hands embrace the lotus feet of the Lord and His associates. Thus the Lord is manifested to a pure devotee from within and without. This is one of the mysteries of the devotional relationship in which a devotee and the Lord are bound by a tie of spontaneous love. To achieve this love should be the goal of life for every living being.”
from a lecture:
In this material life, you will never be able to make anyone happy by your activities. That is not possible. Neither you will be happy.
For the jnanis (those interested in cultivating knowledge) Krishna says, “After many births and deaths, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare.” (Bg. 7.19), for the karmis (those interested in enjoying their senses) Krishna says, “Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer or give away, and whatever austerities you perform — do that, O son of Kunti, as an offering to Me.” (Bg. 9.27), and for the yogis Krishna says, “A yogi is greater than the ascetic, greater than the empiricist and greater than the fruitive worker. Therefore, O Arjuna, in all circumstances, be a yogi” (Bg. 6.46).
Nirguna means Krishna is not influenced by the three qualities of material nature (gunas) not that He has no transcendental qualities.
from a lecture:
Meditation begins with the lotus feet of Lord. Meditation on Krishna’s lotus feet destroys the dirty things in our heart.
Krishna’s feet are marked with four primary symbols: ankusa (goad), vajra (thunderbolt), sauraubya (lotus), . . .
When a British reporter asked me where hell was. I told him London is hell. There is no sun. It is always rainy and cold. You to do not have to search out hell in another place, hell is already here.
There is no light so you are paying electricity bill, but in the spiritual world no additional illumination is required. Why do you not go there? Why should we pay the electric bill? Go to the spiritual world. Every planet is effulgence.
In the material world, even the richest person is full of anxiety, but the spiritual world is Vaikuntha, without anxiety, so we should aspire to go there.
No material condition can check Krishna consciousness.
from an early-morning walk in Vrindvana, India, in September 1975:
On one side they promote contraceptives, and on the other side they encourage women
to marry three times a week. This is their civilization. If you want to stop increasing the population, why are you inducing people: “Indulge in sex”? Everything is contradictory. And it is all based on sense gratification.
from a lecture on Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.2.6 in London on July 23, 1973:
Without following the religious principle there is not humanity. . . . It does not matter what kind of religion you follow, it doesn’t matter, but you must follow. . . . That is the duty, dharma. Human civilization begins when there is a religious conception of life.
Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura:
from the abridged Patravali, known as Patramrita, to be printed by Touchstone Publishing:
If you pray for the well-being of your subordinates then your own spiritual progress will take place.
As far as the present anarthas [unwanted tendencies] are concerned, if your hearing and chanting is very strong, they cannot display their prominence.
When I think that I am well, I become averse to Krishna, and as a result, I consider senior devotees to be junior to me. That is why, considering this, Lord Krishna keeps me in various distressful conditions, such as in ill health and other inconveniences. At such times I try to understand the meaning of the verse beginning with tat te’nukampam [My dear Lord, one who earnestly waits for You to bestow Your causeless mercy upon him, all the while patiently suffering the reactions of his past misdeeds and offering You respectful obeisances with his heart, words and body, is surely eligible for liberation, for it has become his rightful claim. (Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.14.8)].
When we remain absorbed in material subjects, which are not related to Krishna, we are inclined to quarrel with the different people of the world.
I am very glad to learn that Bhaktisarvasva Giri has received an English certificate. If the sannyasis and brahmacaris keep proving their merit in this way at different places, our happiness will know no bounds.
We should have churches for devotion and love all over India (preaching centers for pure devotional service and love of Krishna). Perhaps you remember the teachings of Mahaprabhu:
prithivite ache yata nagaradi-grama
sarvatra pracara haibe mora nama
“In every town and village of the world, My name [the holy name of Krishna] will be preached.”
No one has the right to drink even a drop of nectar from the ocean of the transcendental mellows of Lord Krishna’s pastimes without the mercy of the daughter of King Vrishabhanu [Radharani, Lord Krishna’s consort].
The dim reflection of madhurya-rasa is svakiya-rasa, and so it is simply another form of dasya-rasa. Many people make a mistake by accepting Lord Narayana’s pastimes with His legitimate wife as madhurya-rasa.
“A Vaishnava comes to this material world according to his karma, and after spending a fixed amount of time here, he goes to where he is being sent by Baladeva, according to his qualifications. Mahalaksmi resides within Balarama, and within Mahalaksmi resides the Supreme Lord. Therefore, Tota has gone back to serve his worshipable Lord. He was a Vaishnava part and parcel of Nityananda Prabhu, the predominating Lord of the sandhini potency and so if you learn to treat Lord Vishnu as your son, you will no longer feel the absence of your son.
“As the Supreme Lord lived in the heart of Tota and so you served Him, so now you should serve Lord Baladeva. The material body of Tota has been merged into the five gross material elements. The spirit soul of Tota will remain engaged in the service of the energetic Lord. Your material son has been separated from his material father. He is meant to be enjoyed by the Supreme Lord and so his real business is to serve Him. Realizing that you are not conditioned by maya, the Supreme Lord will not allow you to become overwhelmed with grief and will bestow upon you His unlimited mercy and power. This is my feeling.”
When Mahaprabhu accepted the renounced order of life, He said to His old mother, His wife Vishnupriya-devi, and the residents of Navadvipa, “I am only a human being and I am related to all of you in some kind of relationship. When I am gone, you should establish your relationship with Krishna instead of Me and thus give Me an opportunity to serve Lord Hari independently.”
“They may think that sincere premika bhaktas, who are under the shelter of the transcendental parakiya-rasa, are less ethical, but love for Hari has such a wonderful power that even a greatly delightful moral standard becomes dim in front of it.”
The Supreme Lord keeps Himself hidden within this universe in order to test us. If we can perceive Him behind every object, our apparent misunderstandings will diminish.
The Supreme Lord’s testing place is this material world. In order to pass this test, one has to hear glorification of Hari from the mouths of devotees of Hari.
Only those whose time for the destruction of anarthas has arrived will hear lectures on the topics of Hari and thus become successful in their attempt to achieve the ultimate goal of life.
If you chant one hundred thousand holy names every day then the offenders will not be able to disturb your bhajana.
There cannot be any better and more favorable condition for bhajana than giving up bad association.
In the inclination for service on the path of aisvarya, the chanting of the holy name, Hare Rama, refers to Lord Rama, the son of Dasaratha. But the devotees who worship the Lord on the path of madhurya know Rama to be Gopi-ramana, or the enjoyer of the gopis. He is the son of Nanda. In that case, the word Rama refers to Radha-ramana, and the word Hara refers to the daughter of Vrsabhanu.
There is never any possibility of falling down for a person who has received even a hint, or reflection, of the mula-mantra, or the secret of unalloyed bhajana. Still, as full-fledged members, their inability to accept the authority of the matha as a result of their previous offenses committed against the Vaishnavas is ultimately due to their personal weakness. When, by the grace of the Supreme Lord, the service attitude is progressively increased within their heart, they will not fall prey to sinful propensities. Try to benefit such fallen persons by helping them. That will be an act of real friendship.
Thoughtless and ignorant people who are unable to comprehend the magnanimous pastimes of exalted personalities question, “Why did Kala Krishnadasa, who was under the shelter of Gaurasundara, become attracted to the Bhattathari women? Why did Chota Haridasa, rather than exhibiting the example of a devotee, engage in inferior activity on the pretext of serving Gaura? Why did Ramacandra Puri give up his subordination to Madhavendra Puri? Why did a few so-called sons of Advaita Acarya Prabhu, and a few so-called disciples of Virabhadra, become independent?”
Ignorant people may like the arguments that challenge the faith of those on the kanistha and madhyama platforms which are put forth by those who are out of touch with reality and cannot accept the actual truth, but when these foolish people enter the deep meaning of the transcendentally magnanimous pastimes of exalted personalities who are under the shelter of Lord Caitanya or His devotees, they will understand that in order to provide an opportunity for well-being to all unfit and fallen souls, Lord Caitanya has revealed the truth that all living entities are constitutionally servants of Lord Krishna. Even though the service of Krishna temporarily manifested in a perverted form as an aversion to Krishna when combined with material enjoyment is abominable in the eyes of unqualified gross materialists who believe in direct perception, it does not violate the principle of the api cet suduracara verse. A maha-bhagavata knows everyone as his spiritual master and therefore only a maha-bhagavata is the spiritual master of the whole world.
The goal of our service is to arrange a meeting between the object of worship and the worshiper.
Bhajana is not something to make a show of. If we chant the holy name loudly, the enjoyment of idleness cannot devour us.
Bhakti Charu Swami:
Lord Caitanya taught Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Vrindavan is His abode, and the gopis method of worship is best.
If Yasoda knew that Krishna was the Supreme Personality could she try to tie Him up?
Everyone forgets that Krishna is God in Vrindavan.
The relationships of friendship, parenthood, and conjugal love are prominent in Vrindavan.
Aghasura could not be killed by the demigods, who would tremble in fear at the sound of his name.
If one performs vaidhi-bhakti he attains Vaikuntha.
After Krishna demonstrated his pastimes, he considered that when bhakti is merely performed according to rules and regulations, no one would ever attain Goloka Vrindavan.
Raganuga means to follow a resident of Vrindavan. By serving Lord Caitanya, we are serving Radharani, and what greater resident of Vrindavan is there than Radharani?
Asvatthama had the benediction from Lord Shiva to be invisible for one night, and so he could kill the sleeping Pandavas without being stopped. Why would Krishna would allow them to be killed? They had played their role in His pastimes and so they would not be needed in this world.
At the border of Vrindavan and Mathura when Krishna and Akrura bathed, Shyamasundara Krishna returned to Vrindavan and Vasudeva Krishna continued to Mathura and Dvaraka.
To go from Vaikuntha to Goloka Vrindavan, you have to come to this world and do sankirtana in Vrindavan.
Regarding your mother, because she went back to Godhead, you should consider what is your relationship with her now. Do you want to follow her example? Do you want to assist her in her service to Krishna? Do you want to pray to her that you might also be engaged in Krishna’s service?
When you give up an old car and buy a new one, do you lament? So in the same way, we should not lament when one gets a better body for serving Krishna.
A rich man is always changing his car while a poor man holds on to it until it is a piece of junk. We are neither the rich man nor the poor man. We are the chauffeur of the richest man, and He will certainly make sure we have a first class car to drive in His service, so we do not have to worry.
Radhanath Swami:
from a BTG article:
Mother Theresa spoke to me years ago, “The greatest problem in this world is not the hunger of the stomach but the hunger of the heart. All over the world both rich and poor suffer. They are lonely, starving for love. Only God’s love can satisfy the hunger of the heart.”
Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami:
from his autobiography, The Story of My Life:
It is always good to live with the chanting and to bring it out in a time of difficulty. It may seem odd to the people who are confining you, but it will always work in your favor. They will know you are religious and serious.
And I was there among the first. I feel he [Srila Prabhupada] will always remember me as “Satsvarupa” from my typing and donations and giving him a daily mango. He picked me up as a sad lonely hippie and made me a happy and responsible son. I will never forget those days or fail to treasure them.
At the welfare office I chanted Hare Krishna mantras silently in my mind. The Swami had approved the practice. I had told him my co-workers engaged in talking nonsense. He said, “Even the greatest philosophers are talking nonsense. Go on chanting Hare Krishna in your mind.”
Going to meet the Swami was the nectar of life, and I did it every morning for Caitanya-caritamrta class and every evening for kirtana and his Bhagavad-gita class. He was so kind and inviting, accepting me as I was, and giving me typing tasks. I gave him my money and that solidified my relationship. He called me “Sat-svaroop.” I don’t have to make up the early days. I just have to remember them as they were. Gradually more intimacy developed and a sense of belonging to his group. I was learning the philosophy of Krishna and eating lunch with him daily and taking “heavenly porridge” with the boys in the morning. It was a favorable burgeoning time. I remember leaving the storefront in the morning and walking to my workplace, feeling that I was a cowherd boy with my necktie in my back pocket. I had friendly talks with Rayarama and the others and felt they were my brotherhood of friends. I had moments alone with the Swami when I asked him questions about the philosophy and commented on how I was feeling. I was no longer intimidated by the city buildings in the concrete jungle. I saw them as material energy, and now they were temporary and in a sense unreal. Real was Krishna in the spiritual world. We had pictures of Radha and Krishna in Goloka Vrindavan. Gradually we were setting the foundation for lifelong commitment starting with the summer of 1966. We kind of knew what we were getting into.
I knew the Swami as my spiritual master, the guru of my soul. He was guiding me into my relationship with Krishna through him. We needed him to be there, and we wanted him and he was there. We knew where to find him, in his apartment, in his temple. He started a Sunday Love Feast and chanting in Tompkins Square Park. He was like putting milk in a bowl, and we were like cats lapping it up. Everything was auspicious, even as the season changed. So life revolved around the activities with the Swami and the future seemed eternal. We didn’t think of it ending. This was just fine, getting up at 1 a.m. and chanting japa on the red beads, sitting on the floor. Then dressing and leaving the apartment, entering the streets and passing people on your way to the storefront. As dependable as the Big Ben clock in London, the Swami would enter the storefront and step out of his shoes and sit and lead us in the morning tune chant for twenty minutes. Then he set up his reel-to-reel tape recorder and started lecturing about Sanatana Swami’s getting out of jail and going to meet Lord Caitanya in Benares. A cliff hanger lecture every morning. I can keep going back and remembering, and it’s always there. I don’t have to make it up. It all actually happened, and it was wonderful as he took me up and molded me into a devotee of Krishna consciousness. He is my Swami, and I hope to remember him now and at the hour of my death and to somehow go to him in that same mood as when I first joined him.
Aindra Prabhu:
from a lecture on March 16, 2009, in Varsana:
Humility means you have to be humble enough to realize that you are a fallen conditioned soul and your only hope is the sankirtana which has been specifically prescribed by the scripture and by Lord Caitanya and His representatives for the fallen souls of this age. No other process can help you.
Manadena means to respect the actual position of the living entities by engaging them in devotional service.
Book distribution is meant to convince the people to take to the sankirtana movement of Lord Caitanya.
If people do not do sankirtana. they will look for a higher taste elsewhere.
Japa is like taking tablets, and sankirtana is an injection.
from a lecture in March of 2010:
There are five more important items of devotional service, but the supreme item is nama-sankirtana. The other items cannot be complete without nama-sankirtana.
One comes to Vrindavan for the service of Srimati Radharani, and the best way to please Srimati Radharani is by chanting Hare Krishna. By pleasing Radharani only can we get the original Krishna.
We used to chant 8 or 10 hours a day [in public], and on Saturday 15 hours. Srila Prabhupada wrote a letter full of approval to Damodara Prabhu, our temple president, for our program in Washington, D.C., where we were chanting 14 hours a day.
In Vrindavan, for every hour of kirtana we get credit for a thousand hours of kirtana.
All except nama-sankirtana [the congregational chanting of the holy name] and what supports it, are cheating religion.
Laksmi Nrsimha Prabhu:
Rupa Goswami read Bharata Muni’s Rasa-tattva, describing mundane relationships in detail, and used his ideas in describing the eternal relationships we can have with Krishna.
In explaining the different rasas to people, I ask them, “Isn’t the love you have for your children different from the love you have for your spouse or the love you have for your parents?”
Dasa Mula—Ten Roots given by Bhaktivinoda Thakura
-
Pramana: Evidence comes from the scripture.
-
Parama-tattva: Hari alone is the Truth.
-
He is the possessor of all potency.
-
He is the source of all relationships, rasa.
-
We are all his amsas (parts).
-
Souls in this world are baddha (bound by maya [illusion]).
-
Liberated souls are free from maya.
-
We are simultaneous one with and different from Krishna [acintya-bheda-abheda].
-
Pure devotion the is only means for perfection.
-
Love of Krishna is the goal.
Respect means to look again and appreciate the good qualities of the person.
Aldous Huxley says the most realistic vision is to see our ourselves the way others see us and to see others the way they see themselves.
William James says that when two person are in a room there are actually six people: the way each person sees himself, the way each person sees the other, and the way each person actually is.
There is a Sufi saying that “words that come from the heart go to the heart, and words that just come from the lips do not make it past the ears.”
If we appreciate the qualities of others, we should express it.
Dayananda Swami:
Srila Prabhupada did not think the strategy of his godbrothers to distribute the books of his guru maharaja which were written for another time and place was so wise.
As we develop bhakti, our bhakti will impel us to spread it to others.
Maya likes senior devotees. [She says:] “Come with me . . . ”
Rama Raya Prabhu:
This sankirtana movement is not meant just to make a few street vendors teasingly take a few dance steps but to bring everyone on the planet to the point of chanting Hare Krishna with faith and love.
Because of the devotee’s attraction to Krishna, what is going on in the material world, no matter how popular or well advertised it is, is not of interest to him.
Q (by me): Is is sufficient just to go on harinama, which purifies the people, knowingly or unknowingly, to bring everyone on the planet to the point of chanting with faith and love or should we be doing other things too?
A: When the disease is severe, the medicine must be stronger and more frequently given. Thus there should be thousands of sankirtana parties going out regularly all over the world to bring people up to such a level of purity.
Radha Caran Prabhu:
Krishna arranges that the material bodies of the gopis stay home to please their family members while they go in the rasa dance with Krishna.
Pride disturbs the rasa [intimate relationship] we have Krishna, even in the case of the gopis [His most advanced devotees].
Ahladini Radharani Devi Dasa from her BTG article [Vol. 47, No. 1, page 22]:
“Just as red-hot cinders may smolder beneath a pile of hot ashes, love of God, though hidden, burns within the heart of every living entity. And just as blowing air on hot cinders can rekindle a flame, hearing the glories of the Lord can invoke one’s dormant love of God and revive one’s connection to Him.”
Caitanya-carana Prabhu:
Saying a resounding yes to Krsna is the most effective way of saying a decisive no to parasitic material desires.
Dr. Dina Bandhu Prabhu:
Religion regulates behavior, but so does our family or political system.
Religion is not so much different from other fields of study where there are teachers and a path.
Just as achieving an M.D. is not cheap, neither is attaining spiritual perfection.
Murali Gopal Prabhu:
Materialists love to know past, present, and future so they can maximize their sense grati
Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 8, No. 20
By Krishna-kripa das
(October 2012, part two)
The North of England and London
(Sent from Stuyvesant Falls, New York, on December 12, 2012)
Where I Went and What I Did
As Newcastle and The North of England are my base in the summer, I felt I should return there before going to the U.S.A. for the winter. I spent a few days in Newcastle and was happy that Prema Sankirtana Prabhu encouraged a few new devotees to go out with us on harinama, and they all had pleasant experiences. During one busy period from October 21 to October 29, I gave nine evening lectures, in Newcastle, Sunderland, Leeds, Sheffield, Preston, Liverpool, Bolton, Manchester, and London. Harinamas in Sheffield, Preston, and Bolton stand out in my mind. In Sheffield favorable people talked to me, in Preston a couple who met us on harinama came to our evening program, and in Bolton several children joined us, carrying our mantra signs, chanting, dancing, and even trying to play the drum. I have several pictures of that lively Bolton harinama. I was planning to fly to New York on October 30, so I could be there to do harinama on Halloween, but Hurricane Sandy, under the direction of the Supreme Lord, delayed my departure, so I got to chant for a few days with my London friends on Oxford Street. One London devotee who was committed to doing harinama every Thursday night at 6:00 p.m., decided to increase for Karttika and do harinama 6:00 p.m. every night that he had no other engagement. Thus as it turned out on Halloween, I got to give two lectures and go on harinama for four hours. Indeed, had I turned down the second lecture opportunity and continued with the harinama, it would have been six hours. I like college outreach programs, however, as I met the devotees at that time in my life and like to encourage people of that age, so I spoke to the students instead of doing more harinama. In London, I also met some friends from America, specifically, my former temple president in St. Augustine, Vasudeva Prabhu, who came to the UK to help start a devotee restaurant in Nottingham, and Estefania, who encountered the devotees in Gainesville, and was enroute to India to study Bhakti-sastri and for pilgrimage. She joined us for harinama in London on Halloween.
I do not have so many lecture notes to share, as I was staying at places without morning programs, just a few from London where I ended out the month, most notably one by Candramauli Swami and another by Gaura Krishna Prabhu.
Itinerary
Dec. 12–19, 2012: Serving Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami in Stuyvesant, NY
Dec. 19–23, 2012: harinama in New York City
Dec. 24–25, 2012: Visiting family in Albany, NY
Dec. 26, 2012–
Jan. 7, 2013: harinama in New York City
Jan. 8–April 2013: Gainesville, FL (with visits to Tallahassee and Jacksonville)
Memorable Harinamas in the North of England
This time in Sheffield was the only time I could not find anyone to go out with me on harinama. Moreover it was lightly sprinkling a lot of the time. Still a few people stopped to talk:
-
an Eastern European who did not know we had Hare Krishna programs in Sheffield.
-
two Muslim couples, stopping at different times, who upon hearing my explanation, considered that chanting God’s names in public was a good thing to do.
-
a lady who was a follower of another Gaudiya Vaishnava group who did not know there were Hare Krishna programs in Sheffield.
Because of informing a few people about our local programs and our process of chanting the holy name, the fact that I was chanting alone in the rain did not negatively color my experience, but rather I felt glad I had gone out on harinama in Sheffield.
In Preston, Bhakta Doug is full of enthusiasm. The weekly Thursday program that had been reduced to a monthly Thursday program has been elevated to its former status as a weekly program by him. Moreover Bhakta Doug is always ready to go on harinama. While the two of us were on harinama, we met a couple who attend our programs at Bhaktivedanta Manor. The man works during the week at different cities in the UK, sometimes at a company office in Chorley, just 20 minutes from Preston. He was happy to learn of our Thursday programs in Preston, and he and his wife attended it that very night.
I was surprised to see the number of people roaming the streets of Bolton on Saturday during the time of our monthly harinama. Some were children who were attracted to join our kirtana party.
A few boys danced.
Two girls carried our Hare Krishna mantra signs in front of our party for some time.
One guy even tried playing the drum.
One girl bowed down to the the devotees.
One girl delighted in taking pictures of her friends with the devotees. The children must have participated for at least 45 minutes. Local devotees say that this was not the first time the kids participated. After the harinama, as we were driving to the temple for the program after, two of the girls who had held our mantra signs, spotted us in the car, and ran up to smilingly knuckle touch our driver.
Vrajendralal Prabhu, singing in front in the picture below, is the leader of the monthly Bolton harinama program, which is generally the last Saturday of the month.
Insights
Candramauli Swami:
Even the residents of Vrindavana got into trouble because of their relationship with Krishna, but He saved them in the end. Krishna will always save you. Sometimes not in the beginning but in the end.
Life is about learning how to die in the right consciousness, thinking of Krishna, so you attain the spiritual world. One is happy to leave when Krishna says it is time to go.
Spiritual life is difficult, but material life is impossible. Material life is impossible because whatever you gain you lose, but in spiritual life, your spiritual assets come with you to the next life.
Hanuman becomes a physician, Murari Gupta, in Lord Caitanya’s pastimes. Actually he was also a physician in Lord Rama’s pastimes because he brought the herbs to bring Laksman back to life.
In the last stanza of the “Damodarastakam” the phrase “your unlimited pastimes” refers to rasa-lila [Lord Krishna’s celebrated dance with the gopis].
If we could hear Krishna’s flute we would drop everything in the material world.
When pride enters, Krishna is gone.
Bhakti means to assist the Lord in His pastimes.
The gopis always aspire to assist Radha and Krishna in Their pastimes.
People say they love God, but what do they actually do for God?
If you want to do something to increase the happiness of the other person, that is love.
Radharani can please Krishna by being mad at Him, and that is difficult to do, but Radha can do it.
Krishna wants to taste love from each and every soul.
In this world, people pray to God for food, but in the spiritual world, they consider what food to offer to God.
Prabhupada says Krishna’s favorite sweet is rasgulla.
The soft sweet sound in the heart is the Lord, and that loud voice is our false ego.
Krishna’s name, Gopi-vallabha, means one who gives ever newer pleasure to the gopis.
Niranjana Swami:
from a recorded lecture in Ukraine:
Krishna enjoys by sharing the pleasure He enjoys with His devotees.
Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami:
from his autobiography entitled, The Story of My Life:
“Krishna-kripa quoted Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati as saying harinama sankirtana was the emperor of all sadhanas. Every form of sadhana must have its connection with harinama sankirtana in order to have its meaning. He said this was the best quote he had ever found and Agnideva said, ‘Wow!’ I hope I connected to harinama sankirtana while describing the spring, otherwise it’s useless. We chant while we work, singing the Lord’s Names.”
from Viraha Bhavan, October 25, 2012 poem:
I am remembering Bhaktisiddhanta
Sarasvati’s saying that the Hare Krishna mantra
is nama-bhajana to Radha.
Gaura Krishna Prabhu:
When Gopa Kumara attained Goloka Vrindavana and ran up to Krishna and embraced Him, they both fainted in ecstasy. At Heathrow you will see many reunions, but nothing like that.
Our reunion with Krishna comes through service.
We each have a special thing to offer to Krishna. Although He is self-sufficient He is missing that special thing until we reconnect and offer it to Him.
Kirtida dd:
Krishna explains that without tolerating dualities we cannot come up to the level of spiritual knowledge.
Radha Mohan Prabhu:
Just as people all over world were interested when Bin Ladin was killed, all the demigods were very interested to hear that Krishna had killed Aghasura.
Although Krishna as the Lord is worthy of being served, He took pleasure in letting His friends eat their lunch while He searched for the calves.
comment by Gaura Prabhu:
One student who joined a devotional retreat in South Africa became convinced that this Krishna consciousness was something special by the end of it because all we did was sing the same song and yet it got better and better. Thus he joined and became a very good preacher.
Radha Ramana Prabhu (of Wales):
conversation of prospective disciple with Radhanatha Swami:
prospective disciple: I feel you are my spiritual master.
Radhanatha Swami: I feel I am your servant.
—–
tava kathamritam tapta-jivanam
kavibhir iditam kalmashapaham
sravana-mangalam srimad atatam
bhuvi grinanti ye bhuri-da janah
[The gopis addressing Lord Krishna:] “The nectar of Your words and the descriptions of Your activities are the life and soul of those suffering in this material world. These narrations, transmitted by learned sages, eradicate one’s sinful reactions and bestow good fortune upon whoever hears them. These narrations are broadcast all over the world and are filled with spiritual power. Certainly those who spread the message of Godhead are most munificent.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.31.9)
Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 8, No. 20
By Krishna-kripa das
(October 2012, part two)
The North of England and London
(Sent from Stuyvesant Falls, New York, on December 12, 2012)
Where I Went and What I Did
As Newcastle and The North of England are my base in the summer, I felt I should return there before going to the U.S.A. for the winter. I spent a few days in Newcastle and was happy that Prema Sankirtana Prabhu encouraged a few new devotees to go out with us on harinama, and they all had pleasant experiences. During one busy period from October 21 to October 29, I gave nine evening lectures, in Newcastle, Sunderland, Leeds, Sheffield, Preston, Liverpool, Bolton, Manchester, and London. Harinamas in Sheffield, Preston, and Bolton stand out in my mind. In Sheffield favorable people talked to me, in Preston a couple who met us on harinama came to our evening program, and in Bolton several children joined us, carrying our mantra signs, chanting, dancing, and even trying to play the drum. I have several pictures of that lively Bolton harinama. I was planning to fly to New York on October 30, so I could be there to do harinama on Halloween, but Hurricane Sandy, under the direction of the Supreme Lord, delayed my departure, so I got to chant for a few days with my London friends on Oxford Street. One London devotee who was committed to doing harinama every Thursday night at 6:00 p.m., decided to increase for Karttika and do harinama 6:00 p.m. every night that he had no other engagement. Thus as it turned out on Halloween, I got to give two lectures and go on harinama for four hours. Indeed, had I turned down the second lecture opportunity and continued with the harinama, it would have been six hours. I like college outreach programs, however, as I met the devotees at that time in my life and like to encourage people of that age, so I spoke to the students instead of doing more harinama. In London, I also met some friends from America, specifically, my former temple president in St. Augustine, Vasudeva Prabhu, who came to the UK to help start a devotee restaurant in Nottingham, and Estefania, who encountered the devotees in Gainesville, and was enroute to India to study Bhakti-sastri and for pilgrimage. She joined us for harinama in London on Halloween.
I do not have so many lecture notes to share, as I was staying at places without morning programs, just a few from London where I ended out the month, most notably one by Candramauli Swami and another by Gaura Krishna Prabhu.
Itinerary
Dec. 12–19, 2012: Serving Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami in Stuyvesant, NY
Dec. 19–23, 2012: harinama in New York City
Dec. 24–25, 2012: Visiting family in Albany, NY
Dec. 26, 2012–
Jan. 7, 2013: harinama in New York City
Jan. 8–April 2013: Gainesville, FL (with visits to Tallahassee and Jacksonville)
Memorable Harinamas in the North of England
This time in Sheffield was the only time I could not find anyone to go out with me on harinama. Moreover it was lightly sprinkling a lot of the time. Still a few people stopped to talk:
-
an Eastern European who did not know we had Hare Krishna programs in Sheffield.
-
two Muslim couples, stopping at different times, who upon hearing my explanation, considered that chanting God’s names in public was a good thing to do.
-
a lady who was a follower of another Gaudiya Vaishnava group who did not know there were Hare Krishna programs in Sheffield.
Because of informing a few people about our local programs and our process of chanting the holy name, the fact that I was chanting alone in the rain did not negatively color my experience, but rather I felt glad I had gone out on harinama in Sheffield.
In Preston, Bhakta Doug is full of enthusiasm. The weekly Thursday program that had been reduced to a monthly Thursday program has been elevated to its former status as a weekly program by him. Moreover Bhakta Doug is always ready to go on harinama. While the two of us were on harinama, we met a couple who attend our programs at Bhaktivedanta Manor. The man works during the week at different cities in the UK, sometimes at a company office in Chorley, just 20 minutes from Preston. He was happy to learn of our Thursday programs in Preston, and he and his wife attended it that very night.
I was surprised to see the number of people roaming the streets of Bolton on Saturday during the time of our monthly harinama. Some were children who were attracted to join our kirtana party.
A few boys danced.
Two girls carried our Hare Krishna mantra signs in front of our party for some time.
One guy even tried playing the drum.
One girl bowed down to the the devotees.
One girl delighted in taking pictures of her friends with the devotees. The children must have participated for at least 45 minutes. Local devotees say that this was not the first time the kids participated. After the harinama, as we were driving to the temple for the program after, two of the girls who had held our mantra signs, spotted us in the car, and ran up to smilingly knuckle touch our driver.
Vrajendralal Prabhu, singing in front in the picture below, is the leader of the monthly Bolton harinama program, which is generally the last Saturday of the month.
Insights
Candramauli Swami:
Even the residents of Vrindavana got into trouble because of their relationship with Krishna, but He saved them in the end. Krishna will always save you. Sometimes not in the beginning but in the end.
Life is about learning how to die in the right consciousness, thinking of Krishna, so you attain the spiritual world. One is happy to leave when Krishna says it is time to go.
Spiritual life is difficult, but material life is impossible. Material life is impossible because whatever you gain you lose, but in spiritual life, your spiritual assets come with you to the next life.
Hanuman becomes a physician, Murari Gupta, in Lord Caitanya’s pastimes. Actually he was also a physician in Lord Rama’s pastimes because he brought the herbs to bring Laksman back to life.
In the last stanza of the “Damodarastakam” the phrase “your unlimited pastimes” refers to rasa-lila [Lord Krishna’s celebrated dance with the gopis].
If we could hear Krishna’s flute we would drop everything in the material world.
When pride enters, Krishna is gone.
Bhakti means to assist the Lord in His pastimes.
The gopis always aspire to assist Radha and Krishna in Their pastimes.
People say they love God, but what do they actually do for God?
If you want to do something to increase the happiness of the other person, that is love.
Radharani can please Krishna by being mad at Him, and that is difficult to do, but Radha can do it.
Krishna wants to taste love from each and every soul.
In this world, people pray to God for food, but in the spiritual world, they consider what food to offer to God.
Prabhupada says Krishna’s favorite sweet is rasgulla.
The soft sweet sound in the heart is the Lord, and that loud voice is our false ego.
Krishna’s name, Gopi-vallabha, means one who gives ever newer pleasure to the gopis.
Niranjana Swami:
from a recorded lecture in Ukraine:
Krishna enjoys by sharing the pleasure He enjoys with His devotees.
Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami:
from his autobiography entitled, The Story of My Life:
“Krishna-kripa quoted Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati as saying harinama sankirtana was the emperor of all sadhanas. Every form of sadhana must have its connection with harinama sankirtana in order to have its meaning. He said this was the best quote he had ever found and Agnideva said, ‘Wow!’ I hope I connected to harinama sankirtana while describing the spring, otherwise it’s useless. We chant while we work, singing the Lord’s Names.”
from Viraha Bhavan, October 25, 2012 poem:
I am remembering Bhaktisiddhanta
Sarasvati’s saying that the Hare Krishna mantra
is nama-bhajana to Radha.
Gaura Krishna Prabhu:
When Gopa Kumara attained Goloka Vrindavana and ran up to Krishna and embraced Him, they both fainted in ecstasy. At Heathrow you will see many reunions, but nothing like that.
Our reunion with Krishna comes through service.
We each have a special thing to offer to Krishna. Although He is self-sufficient He is missing that special thing until we reconnect and offer it to Him.
Kirtida dd:
Krishna explains that without tolerating dualities we cannot come up to the level of spiritual knowledge.
Radha Mohan Prabhu:
Just as people all over world were interested when Bin Ladin was killed, all the demigods were very interested to hear that Krishna had killed Aghasura.
Although Krishna as the Lord is worthy of being served, He took pleasure in letting His friends eat their lunch while He searched for the calves.
comment by Gaura Prabhu:
One student who joined a devotional retreat in South Africa became convinced that this Krishna consciousness was something special by the end of it because all we did was sing the same song and yet it got better and better. Thus he joined and became a very good preacher.
Radha Ramana Prabhu (of Wales):
conversation of prospective disciple with Radhanatha Swami:
prospective disciple: I feel you are my spiritual master.
Radhanatha Swami: I feel I am your servant.
—–
tava kathamritam tapta-jivanam
kavibhir iditam kalmashapaham
sravana-mangalam srimad atatam
bhuvi grinanti ye bhuri-da janah
[The gopis addressing Lord Krishna:] “The nectar of Your words and the descriptions of Your activities are the life and soul of those suffering in this material world. These narrations, transmitted by learned sages, eradicate one’s sinful reactions and bestow good fortune upon whoever hears them. These narrations are broadcast all over the world and are filled with spiritual power. Certainly those who spread the message of Godhead are most munificent.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.31.9)
Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 8, No. 19
By Krishna-kripa das
(October 2012, part one)
The North of England, Scotland, and Ireland
(Sent from Stuyvesant Falls, New York, on December 8, 2012)
Where I Went and What I Did
As the World Holy Name Festival continued into October, I continued traveling with Janananda Goswami and his party around Manchester, Newcastle, and up to Edinburgh, Scotland, where devotees held an 8-hour kirtana in the hall of a church downtown, and invited their yoga friends, and the people in general. I left the two-day Scottish festival, which continued on at Karuna Bhavan, to go to Belfast and help with a program for Quaker children at our temple there. Then after three days of harinama in Belfast, we chanted in Enniskillen, near Govindadvipa (Inis Rath), our Hare Krishna island in Northern Ireland. Friday we did harinama to all three Govinda’s Restaurants in Dublin. Saturday we did our second 12-hour harinama in Dublin, and got a larger participation than before. Sunday was the Sunday feast program, and Monday we did 12-hours of kirtana at the temple. Tuesday we did harinama in Bray, a city outside of Dublin and the usual Tuesday evening kirtana program, before returning to The North of England.
I share Srila Prabhupada notes as usual, and notes from Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami’s writings, including his recently printed autobiography, The Story of My Life, which includes new Prabhupada stories and Hare Krishna history. I also have realizations from Janananda Goswami and several Prabhupada disciples from the UK and Ireland, and a few other devotees.
Itinerary
Dec. 8–9, 2012: Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami Vyasa-puja
Dec. 10–23, 2012: Serving SDG in Stuyvesant, NY
Dec. 24–25, 2012: Visiting family in Albany, NY
Dec. 26, 2012–
Jan. 7, 2013: harinama in New York City
Jan. 8–April 2013: Gainesville, FL (with visits to Tallahassee and Jacksonville)
Edinburgh 8-hour Kirtana
I was happy that my first visit to Scotland was on the occasion of an 8-hour kirtana in Edinburgh. Janananda Goswami arrived just over an hour early and organized a harinama in the streets of Edinburgh, and we distributed the remaining invitations to the interested people. The venue for the event was a church community room, and different yoga people and alternative people came, some for the first time. Diya from Sunderland led a lively kirtana, and many of her friends danced nicely in the audience. Janananda Goswami led a super lively kirtana, with almost everyone dancing, and our only lamentation was he was not given a longer slot. Some of the organizers knew me and kindly allowed me to sing for half an hour. Gaura Prabhu from South Africa, who lives in Mayapur, played the drum, and by the end a lot of people danced nicely.
Quaker Kids Program at Belfast Temple
Every four years the First Day School teacher at the Belfast Friends Meeting (Quakers) brings her students to the Hare Krishna temple to experience another religious practice. Shelina, who had done the program four years ago, led the program again, and I assisted. I mentioned some of important similarities in the two philosophies, such as life is meant for seeking spiritual truth and the Lord is within everyone’s heart. I also taught a simple mrdanga (drum) beat to any child who wanted to learn, and I dressed interested boys in cadars. I was impressed with the good behavior of the kids. One boy almost immediately picked up the drum beat.
Enniskillen and Dublin Harinamas
During the whole bus ride from Belfast to Enniskillen rain was pouring down. Earlier I had been joking with the devotees about whether praying for good weather was bona fide. When we began to chant the rain stopped, and by the end of the three-hour kirtana the sun could often be seen. One lady who was interested in yoga bought a book from our book distributor and gave us a donation beyond that. She was happy to hear we had a temple in nearby Derrylin. Thus austerity of the bus ride and inclement weather was worth it as someone was happy to come in touch with Krishna.
The next we went to Dublin and did harinama in the late afternoon. My friend, Dhruva Prabhu, who is an ISKCON tourist was happy that on our evening harinama we visited all three of our restaurants in Dublin. We had tea in a couple places in addition to spring rolls, but unfortunately the desserts had already sold out. My fingers suffered from playing instruments in the cold weather.
Dublin’s Second 12-hour Harinama and 12-hour Kirtana
Everyone who went on our 12-hour harinama back in July really liked it, so Ananta Nitai Prabhu and I organized another one for October.
Ananta Nitai was so enthusiastic he also organized a 12-hour kirtana at the temple two days later. Having a positive experience, he decided to try to do a 12-hour harinama the first Saturday of each month, and follow it by a 12-hour kirtana on the following Monday. This time a traveling party of brahmacari book distributors mostly from Poland joined forces with us for the 12-hour harinama and increased our ecstasy.
One man who had seen us chanting for 12-hours on Saturday was surprised to see us chanting on Sunday morning. Nanda Kumar Prabhu and Bhaktin Anet distributed many books during the course of the harinama, which spend most of its time at the big intersection near the temple. In the evening, instead of doing the usual sit-down harinama, since the sidewalk was wet, we did harinama to a crowded area called Temple Bar, which is frequented more for its bars than its temples. One Indian girl looked with interest at our chanting party, and I talked with her and she followed us. She explained that because it was Saturday the train schedule was different, and she missed her last train home and thus had the opportunity to meet our harinama party. That was Krishna’s mercy on her. She expressed an interest in coming to our events, and I hope she remembers this desire of hers at the opportune time to act on it.
Devotees joined our 12-hour kirtana throughout the day on Monday, and there were always just enough people to keep in going.
Manu Prabhu, one of Dublin ISKCON’s celebrated kirtana leaders, was one of the singers.
I danced a lot of the time.
Caitanya-candrodaya Prabhu took pictures of the devotees during the kirtana, and they are all so meditative. I share a couple. Thanks for all of your pictures of the harinama and kirtana in Dublin, Caitanya!
On Tuesday we traveled with the brahmacari book distributors to Bray, about half an hour from Dublin, and we chanted as they distributed books. Because we had chanted for twelve hours the previous Saturday and Monday, we found two and three-quarters hours went by like no time at all.
Insights
Srila Prabhupada:
from Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.14.26, purport:
“The scientists are cheaters because they present so many bogus things in the name of science. They propose going to the moon, but actually they end up cheating the entire public of large sums of money for their experiments. They cannot do anything useful. Unless one can find a person transcendental to the four basic defects, one should not accept advice and become a victim of the material condition. The best process is to take the advice and instructions of Sri Krishna or His bona fide representative. In this way one can be happy in this life and the next.”
Janananda Goswami:
If we had as much enthusiasm for Krishna as we do for our computers and mobiles, we could make rapid advancement.
There are some things we do every day, eat, sleep, use the toilet, and brush our teeth. Similarly we should read Srila Prabhupada’s books every day.
Krishna consciousness is not just to make our material life or our present existence more comfortable. It is to go to the spiritual world and to become released from birth and death and redevelop our relationship with Krishna.
Four things given by Srila Prabhupada to make your house a temple.
-
have an altar
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offer your food to Krishna
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chant the holy name, the Hare Krishna maha-mantra
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read the scriptures
Another important activity for householders is taking care of guests.
Srila Prabhupada told his GBC members their first duty is to make sure everyone in the temple is chanting 16 rounds of Hare Krishna and following the four rules prohibiting intoxication, meat-eating, illicit sex, and gambling.
Haridasa Thakura was chanting 300,000 names of the Lord before Lord Caitanya’s appearance.
Sometimes it is described that some devotee of the Lord is an incarnation of two intimate associates of the Lord. This is not so strange as in the material world sometimes someone is haunted by a ghost and two souls are inhabiting the same body and vying for control. Of course, in the Lord’s pastimes, the two devotees are cooperating to serve the Lord’s mission.
Q: How to measure spiritual strength?
A: Enthusiasm for chanting and hearing and association with devotees, enthusiasm to render service, being less affected by our material situation, taking shelter of guru and Krishna, all these are symptoms of spiritual strength. When the body ages, you may not be able to do so much physical activity, but you still have enthusiasm for them.
One devotee who was 93 years old was explaining he could not remember anything but Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare, but in one sense, that is a good thing.
If we are not feeling increasing spiritual strength, perhaps we are being tested by Krishna or else we have done something unfavorable.
When we carry on our spiritual practice beyond our slip ups, we can become stronger than before.
One devotee had a late night program and so his sadhana was quite irregular and the devotees were concerned and asked Srila Prabhupada whether he should be asked to leave the temple. Srila Prabhupada replied that if he at least goes to mangala-arati, our early morning service, then he can stay.
We had five classes a day in our first temple in London on Bury Place—two in the morning, The Nectar of Devotion or Sri Isopanisad before greeting of the deities, Bhagavatam class after, The Nectar of Devotion or Sri Isopanisad (whichever was not done in the morning) before the evening arati, Bhagavad-gita after, then a song class and Krishna book reading after the evening arati.
comments by Saksi Gopal Prabhu:
In the early days one new devotee was sent by the treasurer, with a half-shaved head to go out and collect for a razor blade to finish the job.
One time in the early days the pujari came through temple room to bring the breakfast offering to the deities and found that not only had everyone hearing the morning class fallen asleep but the speaker had also fallen asleep.
from Narada-bhakti-sutra, text 67, purport:
“Being single-pointed in devotional service does not mean shutting out reality. Exclusivity can become sectarian if one focuses on relative truths or dedicates oneself to an ordinary person. But when the object of appreciation is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one attains the broadest vision, the vision of a mahatma.”
They say if you prematurely
think yourself a sakhi you
will come back next life
as a material woman.
from Viraha Bhavan, October 15, 2012, poem:
Prabhupada said if we
follow him he has a key
to enter the back door of
Goloka Vrndavana. I am
counting on that, although I am
completely unfit.
from The Story of My Life, his autobiography:
“[At Ananda Ashram] We had a wild kirtana in the big yoga studio. Swamiji let a black man play a big double bass, swinging it in rhythm like a jazz beat. We danced around in a big circle. The ISKCON people mixed with the Ananda Ashram people. Round and round we danced in ecstasy for an hour.”
“Himavati made him [Srila Prabhupada] a set of clothes for Them [his Radha-Krishna deities]. Radharani’s skirt was a little short. “That is all right,” he wrote, “It affords us a look at Her lotus feet.”
A boy had raised his hand for a question. “What happens when you go inside and you look further and further and further and Further!?” He was crazy. Prabhupada replied, “That I do not know. You know.” That boy chanted Hare Krishna and became an initiated disciple in time, Kusakratha. He became a great Sanskrit scholar.
ISKCON is like the Ganges, sometimes it is flowing thin and somewhere it is roaring wide, but it is always flowing.
Srila Prabhupada asked us why we closed the temple and came to New York. What did we leave Jagannath, Baladeva, and Subhadra locked up? “If you left me locked up in a room how would I eat?” he asked. He told us not to do that again.
Once I was preparing eggplant and small peanuts at his request and he [Srila Prabhupada] came into the kitchen to see how I was doing. He said, “I don’t ask for this because I want it. I just want to train you in how to cook it.”
He [Srila Prabhupada] liked a cup of warm milk with sugar in the evening also.
I took part in an all-night schedule of single men going inside Prabhupada’s mosquito net and sitting on his bed and rubbing his body. I would take the ten to midnight or the midnight to 2 a.m. time. That was very intimate, and you had to use all your strength to keep rubbing him and stay awake. I managed to do this, and it was a great thrill of loving exchange towards him. It was hard to keep awake, and I did it by thinking who Prabhupada was, siksa-guru for anyone who had the sense to come to him, and diksa-guru for anyone who had vowed to be his eternal servant. “I am so fallen, Prabhupada,” I thought, “I want to fall asleep. I must stay awake and massage you for your comfort.” I managed to say awake, and when my shift was over I looked forward to doing it again.
from Passing Places, Eternal Truths:
“Walking for japa at 6:00 A.M. by Raman Reti:
A mangy dog approached me with gruff barking. I thought, ‘If you come any closer, you’ll get the end of this danda,’ and he went away. Madhu and I then circumambulated the Krishna-Balarama Tree. At the same spot there were two old Indian matajis bowing down in the sand. They smiled slightly to us. Then the same aggressive dog went up to one old lady. She was so small and had no stick. To my surprise, she began speaking softly to the dog in low tones. He sat down before her, making gruff sounds. She then disentangled her hand from her bead bag, reached into another bag, pulled out a piece of food and threw it on the ground for the dog. By now we had passed her, and I saw this by looking back. Once again I saw that I had misunderstood the meaning of Vrndavana.”
Bhagavatasraya Prabhu:
Last semester students at Bath got 25 signatures for a club on Krishna consciousness, and this year they got 100 signatures.
If you ask people what they want most in life, they invariably say that they want to be happy. Then if you ask them how long they want to be happy for, they will tell you they want to be happy forever. It is not surprising that everyone wants a condition of eternal happiness because that is the nature of the soul.
We are so conditioned, we think this body is alive and that we need a material body to be alive.
Srila Prabhupada’s greatest challenge to create life out of matter which has never been done because it can never be done.
When you come into this world, you become so conditioned that you cannot get out. You do not even know which direction out is.
The nectar for which we are always anxious is the nectar of our relationship with Krishna.
Only through the intervention of the Lord in human society, as in his instructions in Bhagavad-gita can we know of spiritual world and how we can get there.
Krishna gives you the ticket to get out of the material world, but we have to take the ride.
Previous misconceptions of God are very difficult to remove from the mind.
It is not difficult to have faith in Krishna because we immediately begin to feel happy by following His instructions.
Arjuna surrenders to Krishna twice in Bhagavad-gita, to be instructed in Bg. 2.7 and in Bg. 18.73 when he agrees to follow Krishna’s instructions.
We are brought up with the idea that evil is separate from God, but nothing is separate from God.
We have to give up the idea that we are the victim of something beside our own actions.
Dhrtarastra asked Krishna why he was born blind, and Krishna showed him his past 100 births. For 99 births he was an ideal king, but in the previous birth he had a skin disease, and the only cure was to prepare an ointment from the bodies of 100 swans. Instead of worrying about the protection of the swans residing in his kingdom as an ideal king, he ordered the 100 swans killed and the ointment prepared, and his disease was cured and for the rest of his life, he was an ideal king. For his blindness in not protecting the swans for his own sensual pleasure 100 births ago, he was born blind and the 100 swans took birth as his sons, his sons were all killed, and he lost his kingdom. [The speaker said he heard this from Krishna Das Swami.]
In our material conditional life we cannot see Krishna because our desire to forget Krishna blinds us.
We see Krishna first by hearing from the scripture.
In our conditioned state our love for Krishna is in a dormant state like a tree in the winter which appears leafless and lifeless.
We need to learn that Krishna exists, our relationship with Krishna exists, and to act in relationship with Krishna is our constitutional position.
Perfection in Krishna consciousness does not come quickly, just as walnut trees take 50 years to mature or olive trees take 100 years to produce the best olives.
Remaining in the association of devotees and developing a strong practice of hearing can protect us from maya.
We are making rapid progress back to Godhead, but our experience is one of gradual development.
Srila Prabhupada gave excellent lectures on Narada’s instructions to Vyasa, and I think they should make it into book.
Few people are interested in Krishna consciousness because it takes a long time being kicked by maya before one asks if there is something else.
\Bhakti Charu Swami argues that the whole development of modern civilization over the last several hundred years which started about the time of Lord Caitanya was meant to facilitate the spread of Lord Caitanya’s sankirtana movement.
We should deepen our conviction to do what we are doing for the simply for pleasure of Krishna.
Gopal Kumara’s guru told him that your fix your intention and then chant the mantra and your will get that result. So make your intention to do just what you are doing for the pleasure of Krishna.
When asked at Bhaktivedanta Manor by a journalist about the purpose of life, Srila Prabhupada explained that the purpose of life is to enjoy. Then he explained that we have forgotten the real platform of enjoyment.
If we stop serving the Lord favorably we will have to serve the Lord unfavorably and indirectly, and that will not be satisfying to ourselves or to anybody else.
Krishna knows that the living entity cannot be happy without being engaged in the Lord’s service because that is his constitutional position.
One time there was complication regarding a preaching program, and a devotee expressed concern that Prabupada be inconvenienced. Srila Prabhupada replied, “Preaching means inconvenience.”
Sometimes devotees complain, “I gave the best years of my life to ISKCON, and what did ISKCON do for me?” Praghosa Prabhu has offered this response which I like, “Actually ISKCON has given you the best years of your life, and you should really try to understand what ISKCON did give you.”
Here it is described how a person whose body, mind, and words, are fully engaged in devotional service is liberated. I experienced this traveling with Vaisesika Prabhu in England. Our itinerary was ill-conceived and we drove two and a half hours from Leicester to Manchester for an evening program, returning at 1 a.m. Then we had to drive to London for a program at 6:30 a.m. in the morning. Vaisesika cheerfully participated as he was expected to and would absorb himself in reading during the journey, not disturbed by his surroundings.
Prabhupada observed that in the West the people have all material facility but they are suffering greatly mentally.
One woman wrote a book called The Secret, which speaks about the universe as reciprocating your desire. This conception is expressed by Srila Prabhupada: “Such materialists cannot even imagine that there is a transcendental body which is imperishable, full of knowledge and eternally blissful. . . . For such materialistic men, the form of the gigantic material manifestation is supreme.” (Bhagavad-gita 4.10, purport)
Lord Caitanya would sit on the floor and his intimates associates would describe Lord Krishna’s pastimes and He would cry. Srila Prabhupada explained that is our practice: sit down, hear about Krishna, and cry.
When I was young I had the opportunity to read a copy of Krishna book that was in a house I was sharing with someone. I read it for awhile, and I could not deny anything that was written there, but at a certain point, I decided I was not ready for this, and I put it aside. Then Krishna put me through the wringer, and two years later I was ready for this.
When the Bible or Koran says “You cannot see the face of God and live,” it is my conviction that it means that you cannot engage in an ordinary materialistic life once you have seen God and not that you literally die.
We are all here because our love for Krishna has been reawakened. Ecstasy means to go beyond the static.
The question is, “How close do you want to sit to the fire of sankirtana?”
The degree that this knowledge is revealed to you and the degree that you apply it determine how soon you become Krishna consciousness.
You can become Krishna conscious in a minute, but that minute may take millions of births to reach.
Srila Bhaktivinoda in explaining Bhagavad-gita 9.30 says that eventually the devotional service will displace all the materialistic tendencies.
He, referring to a godbrother who remembered the Lord at death, was liberated, but he was not famous. You do not have to be famous to be liberated.
Duryodhana Guru Prabhu [one of Srila Prabhupada’s Sanskrit editors]:
Religion is often a relationship with dogma while spirituality is a relationship with God.
Some people are very uncomfortable with the term God because they have had a bad experience with a particular religion and thus they have negative feelings toward God.
In Kali-yuga the degradation progresses, but there is within it, an age of enlightenment, and we see evidence of the both progressive degradation and the enlightenment.
I was in Nashville, Tennessee, and we stopped at one traffic light, and on each of the four corners there was a church.
Hinduism has no founder and no founding date, unlike the other major religions which all appeared in the age of Kali, the age of degradation.
Dharma is duty, obligation, honesty, integrity, and acting according to our own nature.
Yoga is the union of the soul with God.
Bhakti-yoga the yoga of love and devotion.
We are all attracted to bhakti-yoga, whether we know it or not, because we are all looking for love.
What does God wear? What does he like to eat? Most religions cannot answer these questions.
Who did the Indian people invade? Nobody. The Indian people invaded no one for the last ten thousand years. Neither the Hindus invaded others, nor the Buddhists. The Jews also were not interested in invasion. But the religions that arose later in Kali-yuga, the age of degradation, Christianity and Islam, are always invading others.
If you are thinking you are God, you will find it difficult to have a loving relationship with God, because love requires two people.
We can become free from material limitations by serving God.
Once you choose a spiritual path, stick with it until you attain success
In the spiritual world, everything is conscious. When Radha cooks rice for Krishna, she asks the rice, “Are you done yet?” And the rice says, “No. It will be a couple more minutes.”
Q: Is astrology useful in bhakti-yoga?
A: Of course, that is what I do, and I have been doing that for thirty-five years. Astrology is a tool. As long as you understand it is tool, you can use it.
Q: What is the price to become as free as Narada Muni?
A: Complete surrender..
As deep as your love goes, that is the level Krishna will reciprocate at.
Pundarika Vidyanidhi Prabhu:
In 1973 Srila Prabhupada began speaking about varnasrama. Prior to that he spoke about chanting Hare Krishna and becoming purified in that way. This is because he saw people leaving his society because of not being engaged properly.
There is some injunction that says if you follow varnasrama for seventy lives you will attain liberation.
Krishna tells Arjuna not to follow the Vedas (Bg. 2.45) because they deal with the three models of material nature, and yet He also says He is goal of the Vedas (Bg. 15.15). Thus there is transcendental aspect to the Vedas that is valuable for us.
A mature devotee is willing to do whatever is required in the service of the Lord, but if we engage a new person in doing whatever needs to be done, disregarding the person’s natural propensity, he may not stick around long enough to become a mature devotee, being dissatisfied at working contrary to his own nature.
Saksi Gopal Prabhu:
According to the Vedas, you can offer rice wine to Varuna on a certain day of the moon, but that is not for those on the highest level of religious practice.
Every tradition has mystics that can access other realms.
Many ancient traditions are being lost. Who would have thought that India, which has a cultural of cow protection, would become the world’s second largest exporter of beef.
It is rare in yoga that the means and end are the same, but in bhakti-yoga, because it is our eternal activity, both the means and end are the same.
Srila Prabhupada once said, “Do not think that I am not also making advancement.”
Once Srila Prabhupada said at Bhaktivedanta Manor, “Don’t take birth again in Kali-yuga [this present age of degradation].” At the time, I was thinking it was not so bad, but now that over 30 years have passed, I see how things have degraded and how we have had so many problems, even in the Hare Krishna movement.
We have a spiritual cleaning service.
Bhakti-yoga is a process for constantly purifying our intentions.
comment by Janananda Goswami:
Eight years ago I was talking to someone from the Sioux Indian tribe who was a scholar who taught their history in the university. I asked him about their origins, and he said they came from India about 25,000 years ago. He also said that their totem pole derived from the Garuda stambha.
Dayananda Swami:
From sraddha to bhava two symptoms are prominent, klesa-ghni, freedom from miseries, and subha-da, the beginning of all of auspiciousness. Then at bhava, moksa-laghu-krt, the minimization of liberation, and sudurlabham, the rareness of attainment is experienced.
I used to think it would be nice if I had a service where I could just chant, but then later I realized that the quality of my chanting was not so great that that would be best for me.
A devotee asked Srila Prabhupada how one could attain perfection in a moment. Prabhupada replied with an analogy. Dry wood placed in a hot fire can immediately burst into flames, while wet wood takes awhile to come to the point of burning. So if one is advanced from a previous practice, very quickly one can attain perfection.
At nistha one realizes there is no difference between the holy name and Krishna.
Everything is already Krishna’s, we just have to agree to it, and then engage everything in Krishna’s service.
Ananta Nitai Prabhu:
I was distributing books on Grafton Street in Dublin early in the morning. People were going to work. I tried to stop one young man. He said he could not stop, he was in a rush. So I said to him, ““Are you in a rush to die?”” He stopped dead in his tracks and asked me what I meant by that statement.I said, ““Well, you are in a rush today, you will be in a rush tomorrow, and the next day, and the next, so ultimately you’re in a rush to die.”” He was struck by what I said and took Science of Self-Realization and gave a donation.
Nanda Kumar IDS Prabhu:
All yoga traditions stress the importance of the spiritual teacher.
Once a bhajana leader in Radha-Ramana temple one evening chanted Guruvastakam, and I could participate and felt Srila Prabupada had the gave the essence of Vrajavasi life.
Jesu [from a conversation on an Irish ferry]:
Mahavishnu Swami and I went to see George Harrison and ask him about his interest in reincarnation as we had heard about it but wanted to know the truth of it. We went to his house in the morning and saw him sitting in his garden chanting Hare Krishna japa, and we offered obeisances and chanted pranamas to Srila Prabhupada in George’s presence so he would know we were followers of Srila Prabhupada. When we arose, he said something that made us all crack up laughing, “What are you? Dropouts from the Hare Krishna temple?” In fact, Mahavishnu Swami was so absorbed in laughing that I ended up talking to George myself.
——
sa hanis tan mahac chidram
sa mohah sa ca vibhramah
yan-muhurtam ksanam vapi
vasudevam na cintayet
“If even for a moment remembrance of Vasudeva, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is missed, that is the greatest loss, that is the greatest illusion, and that is the greatest anomaly.” (Vishnu Purana, quoted in Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.9.36, purport)
Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 8, No. 19
By Krishna-kripa das
(October 2012, part one)
The North of England, Scotland, and Ireland
(Sent from Stuyvesant Falls, New York, on December 8, 2012)
Where I Went and What I Did
As the World Holy Name Festival continued into October, I continued traveling with Janananda Goswami and his party around Manchester, Newcastle, and up to Edinburgh, Scotland, where devotees held an 8-hour kirtana in the hall of a church downtown, and invited their yoga friends, and the people in general. I left the two-day Scottish festival, which continued on at Karuna Bhavan, to go to Belfast and help with a program for Quaker children at our temple there. Then after three days of harinama in Belfast, we chanted in Enniskillen, near Govindadvipa (Inis Rath), our Hare Krishna island in Northern Ireland. Friday we did harinama to all three Govinda’s Restaurants in Dublin. Saturday we did our second 12-hour harinama in Dublin, and got a larger participation than before. Sunday was the Sunday feast program, and Monday we did 12-hours of kirtana at the temple. Tuesday we did harinama in Bray, a city outside of Dublin and the usual Tuesday evening kirtana program, before returning to The North of England.
I share Srila Prabhupada notes as usual, and notes from Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami’s writings, including his recently printed autobiography, The Story of My Life, which includes new Prabhupada stories and Hare Krishna history. I also have realizations from Janananda Goswami and several Prabhupada disciples from the UK and Ireland, and a few other devotees.
Itinerary
Dec. 8–9, 2012: Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami Vyasa-puja
Dec. 10–23, 2012: Serving SDG in Stuyvesant, NY
Dec. 24–25, 2012: Visiting family in Albany, NY
Dec. 26, 2012–
Jan. 7, 2013: harinama in New York City
Jan. 8–April 2013: Gainesville, FL (with visits to Tallahassee and Jacksonville)
Edinburgh 8-hour Kirtana
I was happy that my first visit to Scotland was on the occasion of an 8-hour kirtana in Edinburgh. Janananda Goswami arrived just over an hour early and organized a harinama in the streets of Edinburgh, and we distributed the remaining invitations to the interested people. The venue for the event was a church community room, and different yoga people and alternative people came, some for the first time. Diya from Sunderland led a lively kirtana, and many of her friends danced nicely in the audience. Janananda Goswami led a super lively kirtana, with almost everyone dancing, and our only lamentation was he was not given a longer slot. Some of the organizers knew me and kindly allowed me to sing for half an hour. Gaura Prabhu from South Africa, who lives in Mayapur, played the drum, and by the end a lot of people danced nicely.
Quaker Kids Program at Belfast Temple
Every four years the First Day School teacher at the Belfast Friends Meeting (Quakers) brings her students to the Hare Krishna temple to experience another religious practice. Shelina, who had done the program four years ago, led the program again, and I assisted. I mentioned some of important similarities in the two philosophies, such as life is meant for seeking spiritual truth and the Lord is within everyone’s heart. I also taught a simple mrdanga (drum) beat to any child who wanted to learn, and I dressed interested boys in cadars. I was impressed with the good behavior of the kids. One boy almost immediately picked up the drum beat.
Enniskillen and Dublin Harinamas
During the whole bus ride from Belfast to Enniskillen rain was pouring down. Earlier I had been joking with the devotees about whether praying for good weather was bona fide. When we began to chant the rain stopped, and by the end of the three-hour kirtana the sun could often be seen. One lady who was interested in yoga bought a book from our book distributor and gave us a donation beyond that. She was happy to hear we had a temple in nearby Derrylin. Thus austerity of the bus ride and inclement weather was worth it as someone was happy to come in touch with Krishna.
The next we went to Dublin and did harinama in the late afternoon. My friend, Dhruva Prabhu, who is an ISKCON tourist was happy that on our evening harinama we visited all three of our restaurants in Dublin. We had tea in a couple places in addition to spring rolls, but unfortunately the desserts had already sold out. My fingers suffered from playing instruments in the cold weather.
Dublin’s Second 12-hour Harinama and 12-hour Kirtana
Everyone who went on our 12-hour harinama back in July really liked it, so Ananta Nitai Prabhu and I organized another one for October.
Ananta Nitai was so enthusiastic he also organized a 12-hour kirtana at the temple two days later. Having a positive experience, he decided to try to do a 12-hour harinama the first Saturday of each month, and follow it by a 12-hour kirtana on the following Monday. This time a traveling party of brahmacari book distributors mostly from Poland joined forces with us for the 12-hour harinama and increased our ecstasy.
One man who had seen us chanting for 12-hours on Saturday was surprised to see us chanting on Sunday morning. Nanda Kumar Prabhu and Bhaktin Anet distributed many books during the course of the harinama, which spend most of its time at the big intersection near the temple. In the evening, instead of doing the usual sit-down harinama, since the sidewalk was wet, we did harinama to a crowded area called Temple Bar, which is frequented more for its bars than its temples. One Indian girl looked with interest at our chanting party, and I talked with her and she followed us. She explained that because it was Saturday the train schedule was different, and she missed her last train home and thus had the opportunity to meet our harinama party. That was Krishna’s mercy on her. She expressed an interest in coming to our events, and I hope she remembers this desire of hers at the opportune time to act on it.
Devotees joined our 12-hour kirtana throughout the day on Monday, and there were always just enough people to keep in going.
Manu Prabhu, one of Dublin ISKCON’s celebrated kirtana leaders, was one of the singers.
I danced a lot of the time.
Caitanya-candrodaya Prabhu took pictures of the devotees during the kirtana, and they are all so meditative. I share a couple. Thanks for all of your pictures of the harinama and kirtana in Dublin, Caitanya!
On Tuesday we traveled with the brahmacari book distributors to Bray, about half an hour from Dublin, and we chanted as they distributed books. Because we had chanted for twelve hours the previous Saturday and Monday, we found two and three-quarters hours went by like no time at all.
Insights
Srila Prabhupada:
from Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.14.26, purport:
“The scientists are cheaters because they present so many bogus things in the name of science. They propose going to the moon, but actually they end up cheating the entire public of large sums of money for their experiments. They cannot do anything useful. Unless one can find a person transcendental to the four basic defects, one should not accept advice and become a victim of the material condition. The best process is to take the advice and instructions of Sri Krishna or His bona fide representative. In this way one can be happy in this life and the next.”
Janananda Goswami:
If we had as much enthusiasm for Krishna as we do for our computers and mobiles, we could make rapid advancement.
There are some things we do every day, eat, sleep, use the toilet, and brush our teeth. Similarly we should read Srila Prabhupada’s books every day.
Krishna consciousness is not just to make our material life or our present existence more comfortable. It is to go to the spiritual world and to become released from birth and death and redevelop our relationship with Krishna.
Four things given by Srila Prabhupada to make your house a temple.
-
have an altar
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offer your food to Krishna
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chant the holy name, the Hare Krishna maha-mantra
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read the scriptures
Another important activity for householders is taking care of guests.
Srila Prabhupada told his GBC members their first duty is to make sure everyone in the temple is chanting 16 rounds of Hare Krishna and following the four rules prohibiting intoxication, meat-eating, illicit sex, and gambling.
Haridasa Thakura was chanting 300,000 names of the Lord before Lord Caitanya’s appearance.
Sometimes it is described that some devotee of the Lord is an incarnation of two intimate associates of the Lord. This is not so strange as in the material world sometimes someone is haunted by a ghost and two souls are inhabiting the same body and vying for control. Of course, in the Lord’s pastimes, the two devotees are cooperating to serve the Lord’s mission.
Q: How to measure spiritual strength?
A: Enthusiasm for chanting and hearing and association with devotees, enthusiasm to render service, being less affected by our material situation, taking shelter of guru and Krishna, all these are symptoms of spiritual strength. When the body ages, you may not be able to do so much physical activity, but you still have enthusiasm for them.
One devotee who was 93 years old was explaining he could not remember anything but Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare, but in one sense, that is a good thing.
If we are not feeling increasing spiritual strength, perhaps we are being tested by Krishna or else we have done something unfavorable.
When we carry on our spiritual practice beyond our slip ups, we can become stronger than before.
One devotee had a late night program and so his sadhana was quite irregular and the devotees were concerned and asked Srila Prabhupada whether he should be asked to leave the temple. Srila Prabhupada replied that if he at least goes to mangala-arati, our early morning service, then he can stay.
We had five classes a day in our first temple in London on Bury Place—two in the morning, The Nectar of Devotion or Sri Isopanisad before greeting of the deities, Bhagavatam class after, The Nectar of Devotion or Sri Isopanisad (whichever was not done in the morning) before the evening arati, Bhagavad-gita after, then a song class and Krishna book reading after the evening arati.
comments by Saksi Gopal Prabhu:
In the early days one new devotee was sent by the treasurer, with a half-shaved head to go out and collect for a razor blade to finish the job.
One time in the early days the pujari came through temple room to bring the breakfast offering to the deities and found that not only had everyone hearing the morning class fallen asleep but the speaker had also fallen asleep.
from Narada-bhakti-sutra, text 67, purport:
“Being single-pointed in devotional service does not mean shutting out reality. Exclusivity can become sectarian if one focuses on relative truths or dedicates oneself to an ordinary person. But when the object of appreciation is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one attains the broadest vision, the vision of a mahatma.”
They say if you prematurely
think yourself a sakhi you
will come back next life
as a material woman.
from Viraha Bhavan, October 15, 2012, poem:
Prabhupada said if we
follow him he has a key
to enter the back door of
Goloka Vrndavana. I am
counting on that, although I am
completely unfit.
from The Story of My Life, his autobiography:
“[At Ananda Ashram] We had a wild kirtana in the big yoga studio. Swamiji let a black man play a big double bass, swinging it in rhythm like a jazz beat. We danced around in a big circle. The ISKCON people mixed with the Ananda Ashram people. Round and round we danced in ecstasy for an hour.”
“Himavati made him [Srila Prabhupada] a set of clothes for Them [his Radha-Krishna deities]. Radharani’s skirt was a little short. “That is all right,” he wrote, “It affords us a look at Her lotus feet.”
A boy had raised his hand for a question. “What happens when you go inside and you look further and further and further and Further!?” He was crazy. Prabhupada replied, “That I do not know. You know.” That boy chanted Hare Krishna and became an initiated disciple in time, Kusakratha. He became a great Sanskrit scholar.
ISKCON is like the Ganges, sometimes it is flowing thin and somewhere it is roaring wide, but it is always flowing.
Srila Prabhupada asked us why we closed the temple and came to New York. What did we leave Jagannath, Baladeva, and Subhadra locked up? “If you left me locked up in a room how would I eat?” he asked. He told us not to do that again.
Once I was preparing eggplant and small peanuts at his request and he [Srila Prabhupada] came into the kitchen to see how I was doing. He said, “I don’t ask for this because I want it. I just want to train you in how to cook it.”
He [Srila Prabhupada] liked a cup of warm milk with sugar in the evening also.
I took part in an all-night schedule of single men going inside Prabhupada’s mosquito net and sitting on his bed and rubbing his body. I would take the ten to midnight or the midnight to 2 a.m. time. That was very intimate, and you had to use all your strength to keep rubbing him and stay awake. I managed to do this, and it was a great thrill of loving exchange towards him. It was hard to keep awake, and I did it by thinking who Prabhupada was, siksa-guru for anyone who had the sense to come to him, and diksa-guru for anyone who had vowed to be his eternal servant. “I am so fallen, Prabhupada,” I thought, “I want to fall asleep. I must stay awake and massage you for your comfort.” I managed to say awake, and when my shift was over I looked forward to doing it again.
from Passing Places, Eternal Truths:
“Walking for japa at 6:00 A.M. by Raman Reti:
A mangy dog approached me with gruff barking. I thought, ‘If you come any closer, you’ll get the end of this danda,’ and he went away. Madhu and I then circumambulated the Krishna-Balarama Tree. At the same spot there were two old Indian matajis bowing down in the sand. They smiled slightly to us. Then the same aggressive dog went up to one old lady. She was so small and had no stick. To my surprise, she began speaking softly to the dog in low tones. He sat down before her, making gruff sounds. She then disentangled her hand from her bead bag, reached into another bag, pulled out a piece of food and threw it on the ground for the dog. By now we had passed her, and I saw this by looking back. Once again I saw that I had misunderstood the meaning of Vrndavana.”
Bhagavatasraya Prabhu:
Last semester students at Bath got 25 signatures for a club on Krishna consciousness, and this year they got 100 signatures.
If you ask people what they want most in life, they invariably say that they want to be happy. Then if you ask them how long they want to be happy for, they will tell you they want to be happy forever. It is not surprising that everyone wants a condition of eternal happiness because that is the nature of the soul.
We are so conditioned, we think this body is alive and that we need a material body to be alive.
Srila Prabhupada’s greatest challenge to create life out of matter which has never been done because it can never be done.
When you come into this world, you become so conditioned that you cannot get out. You do not even know which direction out is.
The nectar for which we are always anxious is the nectar of our relationship with Krishna.
Only through the intervention of the Lord in human society, as in his instructions in Bhagavad-gita can we know of spiritual world and how we can get there.
Krishna gives you the ticket to get out of the material world, but we have to take the ride.
Previous misconceptions of God are very difficult to remove from the mind.
It is not difficult to have faith in Krishna because we immediately begin to feel happy by following His instructions.
Arjuna surrenders to Krishna twice in Bhagavad-gita, to be instructed in Bg. 2.7 and in Bg. 18.73 when he agrees to follow Krishna’s instructions.
We are brought up with the idea that evil is separate from God, but nothing is separate from God.
We have to give up the idea that we are the victim of something beside our own actions.
Dhrtarastra asked Krishna why he was born blind, and Krishna showed him his past 100 births. For 99 births he was an ideal king, but in the previous birth he had a skin disease, and the only cure was to prepare an ointment from the bodies of 100 swans. Instead of worrying about the protection of the swans residing in his kingdom as an ideal king, he ordered the 100 swans killed and the ointment prepared, and his disease was cured and for the rest of his life, he was an ideal king. For his blindness in not protecting the swans for his own sensual pleasure 100 births ago, he was born blind and the 100 swans took birth as his sons, his sons were all killed, and he lost his kingdom. [The speaker said he heard this from Krishna Das Swami.]
In our material conditional life we cannot see Krishna because our desire to forget Krishna blinds us.
We see Krishna first by hearing from the scripture.
In our conditioned state our love for Krishna is in a dormant state like a tree in the winter which appears leafless and lifeless.
We need to learn that Krishna exists, our relationship with Krishna exists, and to act in relationship with Krishna is our constitutional position.
Perfection in Krishna consciousness does not come quickly, just as walnut trees take 50 years to mature or olive trees take 100 years to produce the best olives.
Remaining in the association of devotees and developing a strong practice of hearing can protect us from maya.
We are making rapid progress back to Godhead, but our experience is one of gradual development.
Srila Prabhupada gave excellent lectures on Narada’s instructions to Vyasa, and I think they should make it into book.
Few people are interested in Krishna consciousness because it takes a long time being kicked by maya before one asks if there is something else.
\Bhakti Charu Swami argues that the whole development of modern civilization over the last several hundred years which started about the time of Lord Caitanya was meant to facilitate the spread of Lord Caitanya’s sankirtana movement.
We should deepen our conviction to do what we are doing for the simply for pleasure of Krishna.
Gopal Kumara’s guru told him that your fix your intention and then chant the mantra and your will get that result. So make your intention to do just what you are doing for the pleasure of Krishna.
When asked at Bhaktivedanta Manor by a journalist about the purpose of life, Srila Prabhupada explained that the purpose of life is to enjoy. Then he explained that we have forgotten the real platform of enjoyment.
If we stop serving the Lord favorably we will have to serve the Lord unfavorably and indirectly, and that will not be satisfying to ourselves or to anybody else.
Krishna knows that the living entity cannot be happy without being engaged in the Lord’s service because that is his constitutional position.
One time there was complication regarding a preaching program, and a devotee expressed concern that Prabupada be inconvenienced. Srila Prabhupada replied, “Preaching means inconvenience.”
Sometimes devotees complain, “I gave the best years of my life to ISKCON, and what did ISKCON do for me?” Praghosa Prabhu has offered this response which I like, “Actually ISKCON has given you the best years of your life, and you should really try to understand what ISKCON did give you.”
Here it is described how a person whose body, mind, and words, are fully engaged in devotional service is liberated. I experienced this traveling with Vaisesika Prabhu in England. Our itinerary was ill-conceived and we drove two and a half hours from Leicester to Manchester for an evening program, returning at 1 a.m. Then we had to drive to London for a program at 6:30 a.m. in the morning. Vaisesika cheerfully participated as he was expected to and would absorb himself in reading during the journey, not disturbed by his surroundings.
Prabhupada observed that in the West the people have all material facility but they are suffering greatly mentally.
One woman wrote a book called The Secret, which speaks about the universe as reciprocating your desire. This conception is expressed by Srila Prabhupada: “Such materialists cannot even imagine that there is a transcendental body which is imperishable, full of knowledge and eternally blissful. . . . For such materialistic men, the form of the gigantic material manifestation is supreme.” (Bhagavad-gita 4.10, purport)
Lord Caitanya would sit on the floor and his intimates associates would describe Lord Krishna’s pastimes and He would cry. Srila Prabhupada explained that is our practice: sit down, hear about Krishna, and cry.
When I was young I had the opportunity to read a copy of Krishna book that was in a house I was sharing with someone. I read it for awhile, and I could not deny anything that was written there, but at a certain point, I decided I was not ready for this, and I put it aside. Then Krishna put me through the wringer, and two years later I was ready for this.
When the Bible or Koran says “You cannot see the face of God and live,” it is my conviction that it means that you cannot engage in an ordinary materialistic life once you have seen God and not that you literally die.
We are all here because our love for Krishna has been reawakened. Ecstasy means to go beyond the static.
The question is, “How close do you want to sit to the fire of sankirtana?”
The degree that this knowledge is revealed to you and the degree that you apply it determine how soon you become Krishna consciousness.
You can become Krishna conscious in a minute, but that minute may take millions of births to reach.
Srila Bhaktivinoda in explaining Bhagavad-gita 9.30 says that eventually the devotional service will displace all the materialistic tendencies.
He, referring to a godbrother who remembered the Lord at death, was liberated, but he was not famous. You do not have to be famous to be liberated.
Duryodhana Guru Prabhu [one of Srila Prabhupada’s Sanskrit editors]:
Religion is often a relationship with dogma while spirituality is a relationship with God.
Some people are very uncomfortable with the term God because they have had a bad experience with a particular religion and thus they have negative feelings toward God.
In Kali-yuga the degradation progresses, but there is within it, an age of enlightenment, and we see evidence of the both progressive degradation and the enlightenment.
I was in Nashville, Tennessee, and we stopped at one traffic light, and on each of the four corners there was a church.
Hinduism has no founder and no founding date, unlike the other major religions which all appeared in the age of Kali, the age of degradation.
Dharma is duty, obligation, honesty, integrity, and acting according to our own nature.
Yoga is the union of the soul with God.
Bhakti-yoga the yoga of love and devotion.
We are all attracted to bhakti-yoga, whether we know it or not, because we are all looking for love.
What does God wear? What does he like to eat? Most religions cannot answer these questions.
Who did the Indian people invade? Nobody. The Indian people invaded no one for the last ten thousand years. Neither the Hindus invaded others, nor the Buddhists. The Jews also were not interested in invasion. But the religions that arose later in Kali-yuga, the age of degradation, Christianity and Islam, are always invading others.
If you are thinking you are God, you will find it difficult to have a loving relationship with God, because love requires two people.
We can become free from material limitations by serving God.
Once you choose a spiritual path, stick with it until you attain success
In the spiritual world, everything is conscious. When Radha cooks rice for Krishna, she asks the rice, “Are you done yet?” And the rice says, “No. It will be a couple more minutes.”
Q: Is astrology useful in bhakti-yoga?
A: Of course, that is what I do, and I have been doing that for thirty-five years. Astrology is a tool. As long as you understand it is tool, you can use it.
Q: What is the price to become as free as Narada Muni?
A: Complete surrender..
As deep as your love goes, that is the level Krishna will reciprocate at.
Pundarika Vidyanidhi Prabhu:
In 1973 Srila Prabhupada began speaking about varnasrama. Prior to that he spoke about chanting Hare Krishna and becoming purified in that way. This is because he saw people leaving his society because of not being engaged properly.
There is some injunction that says if you follow varnasrama for seventy lives you will attain liberation.
Krishna tells Arjuna not to follow the Vedas (Bg. 2.45) because they deal with the three models of material nature, and yet He also says He is goal of the Vedas (Bg. 15.15). Thus there is transcendental aspect to the Vedas that is valuable for us.
A mature devotee is willing to do whatever is required in the service of the Lord, but if we engage a new person in doing whatever needs to be done, disregarding the person’s natural propensity, he may not stick around long enough to become a mature devotee, being dissatisfied at working contrary to his own nature.
Saksi Gopal Prabhu:
According to the Vedas, you can offer rice wine to Varuna on a certain day of the moon, but that is not for those on the highest level of religious practice.
Every tradition has mystics that can access other realms.
Many ancient traditions are being lost. Who would have thought that India, which has a cultural of cow protection, would become the world’s second largest exporter of beef.
It is rare in yoga that the means and end are the same, but in bhakti-yoga, because it is our eternal activity, both the means and end are the same.
Srila Prabhupada once said, “Do not think that I am not also making advancement.”
Once Srila Prabhupada said at Bhaktivedanta Manor, “Don’t take birth again in Kali-yuga [this present age of degradation].” At the time, I was thinking it was not so bad, but now that over 30 years have passed, I see how things have degraded and how we have had so many problems, even in the Hare Krishna movement.
We have a spiritual cleaning service.
Bhakti-yoga is a process for constantly purifying our intentions.
comment by Janananda Goswami:
Eight years ago I was talking to someone from the Sioux Indian tribe who was a scholar who taught their history in the university. I asked him about their origins, and he said they came from India about 25,000 years ago. He also said that their totem pole derived from the Garuda stambha.
Dayananda Swami:
From sraddha to bhava two symptoms are prominent, klesa-ghni, freedom from miseries, and subha-da, the beginning of all of auspiciousness. Then at bhava, moksa-laghu-krt, the minimization of liberation, and sudurlabham, the rareness of attainment is experienced.
I used to think it would be nice if I had a service where I could just chant, but then later I realized that the quality of my chanting was not so great that that would be best for me.
A devotee asked Srila Prabhupada how one could attain perfection in a moment. Prabhupada replied with an analogy. Dry wood placed in a hot fire can immediately burst into flames, while wet wood takes awhile to come to the point of burning. So if one is advanced from a previous practice, very quickly one can attain perfection.
At nistha one realizes there is no difference between the holy name and Krishna.
Everything is already Krishna’s, we just have to agree to it, and then engage everything in Krishna’s service.
Ananta Nitai Prabhu:
I was distributing books on Grafton Street in Dublin early in the morning. People were going to work. I tried to stop one young man. He said he could not stop, he was in a rush. So I said to him, ““Are you in a rush to die?”” He stopped dead in his tracks and asked me what I meant by that statement.I said, ““Well, you are in a rush today, you will be in a rush tomorrow, and the next day, and the next, so ultimately you’re in a rush to die.”” He was struck by what I said and took Science of Self-Realization and gave a donation.
Nanda Kumar IDS Prabhu:
All yoga traditions stress the importance of the spiritual teacher.
Once a bhajana leader in Radha-Ramana temple one evening chanted Guruvastakam, and I could participate and felt Srila Prabupada had the gave the essence of Vrajavasi life.
Jesu [from a conversation on an Irish ferry]:
Mahavishnu Swami and I went to see George Harrison and ask him about his interest in reincarnation as we had heard about it but wanted to know the truth of it. We went to his house in the morning and saw him sitting in his garden chanting Hare Krishna japa, and we offered obeisances and chanted pranamas to Srila Prabhupada in George’s presence so he would know we were followers of Srila Prabhupada. When we arose, he said something that made us all crack up laughing, “What are you? Dropouts from the Hare Krishna temple?” In fact, Mahavishnu Swami was so absorbed in laughing that I ended up talking to George myself.
——
sa hanis tan mahac chidram
sa mohah sa ca vibhramah
yan-muhurtam ksanam vapi
vasudevam na cintayet
“If even for a moment remembrance of Vasudeva, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is missed, that is the greatest loss, that is the greatest illusion, and that is the greatest anomaly.” (Vishnu Purana, quoted in Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.9.36, purport)
Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 8, No. 18
By Krishna-kripa das
(September 2012, part two)
Ukraine Festival, Bavaria, British Harinamas
(Sent from Gainesville, Florida, on December 3, 2012)
Apologies
I have been so busy proofreading, doing evening programs, and going on additional harinamas and kirtana events, I am two months behind on this journal. I hope to really focus on it and catch up by the end of the year and not fall behind next year.
Where I Was and What I Did
The last half of September was wonderful because of all the good spiritual association at the Ukraine festival, where I collected many jewels from the swamis to share with you. After that Trevor, my harinama and traveling partner, and I went to Warsaw for Radhastami. I continued on to attend the last two days of the 30th anniversary of the installation of Prahlada-Nrsimha at Simhachalam, our Bavarian Hare Krishna farm, which ended with the first annual Passau Ratha-yatra. Then I flew to London where the book distributors shared their realizations from their Radhastami book marathon. The next day I began traveling with Janananda Goswami and his followers, doing harinama in and around Manchester, England, for the beginning of the World Holy Name Festival. I offer thanks to Vishnujana Prabhu for the photos of the Ukraine Festival and the Passau Ratha-yatra.
The insights this time begin with Srila Prabhupada quotes from books and lectures, and includes nectar by lots of swamis attending the Ukraine festival, such as Bhaktivaibhava Swami, Bhanu Swami, Candramauli Swami, Devamrita Swtami, Indradyumna Swami, Niranjana Swami, Prahladananda Swami, and Sivarama Swami. There are also notes from Warsaw’s Radhastami and Bavaria’s Prahlada-Nrsimha installation anniversary festivals. As usual, there is material from Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami’s journal and his books, this time including lots of prayers, and there are lectures by Janananda Goswami in The North of England as well.
Itinerary
Dec. 3–5, 2012: Gainesville, FL
Dec. 6, 2012: Jacksonville, FL (UNF)
Dec. 7, 2012: Philadelphia and New York
Dec. 8–9, 2012: Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami Vyasa-puja
Dec. 10–23, 2012: Serving SDG in Stuyvesant, NY
Dec. 24–25, 2012: Visiting family in Albany, NY
Dec. 26, 2012–
Jan. 7, 2013: harinama in New York City
Jan. 8–April 2013: Gainesville, FL (with visits to Tallahassee and Jacksonville)
Bhakti Sangama (Ukraine Festival) 2012
I went to the Ukraine festival for the eighth consecutive year. Formerly in Odessa, the last few years, it has been held outside Evpatoriya, on the coast of the Black Sea, an hour or so from Simferopol, in Crimea. The festival has many nice features for me. Niranjana Swami, who invited me to live in the NYC temple back in 1979, is almost always there, and it is always nice to see and hear from him.
Many other swamis I know and like also come there regularly. This year Bhaktivaibhava Swami, B. B. Govinda Swami, Candramauli Swami, Devamrita Swami, Indradyumna Swami, Prahladananda Swami, and Sivarama Swami were also there. This year Madhavananda Prabhu came for the first time. There are three hours of kirtana every night. The last three years Madhava Prabhu has come to participate in that. I know some of the devotees from Indradyumna Swami’s Festival of India in Poland, and it is nice to see them again. Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami, my diksa guru, has some disciples there who are always coming out with new titles in Russian, and it nice to encourage them in their service. Every year more people come to the festival, and this year there were 7,000. The devotees have such a nice service attitude there, I always feel very welcome. The weather was perfect every day this year, sunny and warm. There are so many good speakers, you can never attend all the seminars you want to, but you always hear lots of spiritual knowledge you can apply in your life and share with others, and you can find some of it under “Insights” below.
I got to talk to some of the swamis I have known for years, and Candramauli Swami and Prahladananda Swami encouraged me in my program focusing on just a couple places and trying to assist with our outreach there, as Niranjana Swami, my siksa guru, advised me. The places I choose are Newcastle in The North of England, by the invitation of Janananda Goswami, and Gainesville, Florida, my home for several years.
At the Ukraine festival, the morning program kirtanas, especially guru-puja, and the evening kirtana, are so powerful with many devotees participating and are always a highlight for me. During guru-puja I would recall how Srila Prabhupada came to Moscow and talked to one Russian, who became a devotee, and now in Ukraine, part of the former USSR, forty years later, there is a yearly festival with seven thousand people and in Russia a festival with over ten thousand people. Such is the influence of the pure devotee of the Lord. It was spiritually very enlivening to witness that amazing result.
Harinamas from Ukraine to Germany
Andre, who we knew from the Polish tour and other Ukraine festivals, kindly arranged us a ride to the Simferopol train station with devotees in a car with plenty of room and horsepower. The two devotees who came with us did not know English but had an iPad with Russian-English translation and communicated to us in that way. After we loaded our bags on the train, I decided to chant for the twenty minutes on the platform before we left. The two devotees who brought us there sang along for several minutes before going on their way. Several people looked with curiosity and some took pictures. The conductor motioned it was time to get aboard when there was still almost ten minutes till the train was to leave, but at least some harinama went on. At the first lengthy stop on the train, Trevor and I chanted for ten minutes or so, as people bought and sold things, smoked cigarettes and got some fresh air during the break, and again, a few people looked with curiosity and took pictures, and no one hindered our chanting.
Three or four times on the trains to and from the Ukraine festival, I would get out and chant like this when we stopped for fifteen minutes or more. No one protested, although occasionally, the conductor indicated it was time to get back on the train five or ten minutes early. Some people would always stand and listen, others would smile, and still others would take pictures.
The several times I have crossed the border from Shegyni, Ukraine, to Medyka, Poland, there has always been a minibus waiting to take people to the Przemysl train station to continue their journey through Poland. This time there was just a crowd of people hanging out, some of them selling liquor and cigarettes. I assumed some of them were waiting for the minibus, so I decided to play harmonium and chant while waiting. After a while, Trevor got out his karatalas, and we had a kirtana with about fifty people surrounding us. I chanted some more, and then let Trevor take over. Some people took pictures and others took movies, some for many minutes. A couple of men danced a bit. I saw a bus across the street and wondered if it went to the train station, assuming if it did, it would stop here where people were waiting. Then a lady informed me in Polish that it was the bus to Przemysl and the bus stop was across the street and some thirty meters away. We stopped singing abruptly and ran to catch the bus. As Trevor packed up his harmonium, some people gave him some kind of sugar candy as a gift. We must have chanted half an hour.
Trevor stayed in Warsaw where we spent Radhastami in the association of many friends from the Polish tour. I continued to Simhachalam for the end of the 30th anniversary of the Prahlad Nrsimha installation.
I took a train from Warsaw to Czech Republic, changing trains in different places, including Brno, where I chanted at the station during the morning rush hour and three large trainloads of commuters got to hear the Hare Krishna mantra as they rushed to work and a bum gave a couple of small donations. I then took Czech trains to the last stop near the German border, and walked to the town of Haldmühle where I chanted with my harmonium by the side of the road as I waited almost an hour for the devotees to pick me up and drive me to Simhacalam. Two ladies came by at different times, one clearly a senior citizen. One gave a 10 euro donation and the other gave a couple euros. One of them was chanting Hare Krishna as she walked away. I was amazed to see such appreciation for the chanting in a small rural Bavarian village.
I had been on trains for seventeen hours from Warsaw to the German border, and had only done two hours of harinama, in one each in Brno and Haldmühle, so when Advaita Gauranga Prabhu, my driver to Simhachalam told me he was going on book distribution after dropping me off at the temple, I suggested I could go with him and we might do harinama at the same time. He recruited another harinama devotee and another book distributor, and I grabbed a large plate of the super excellent festival prasadam from Simhachalam, which included srikhand, one of my favorite sweets, and we drove to the nearby town of Waldkirchen, and chanted and distributed books for an hour before the evening kirtana. A few people smiled, but in general, you could understand people were uncertain and unfamiliar. I think that not too much harinama has happened in Waldkirchen. Still it was great to go out and complete my program of trying to chant three hours a day.
Passau Ratha-yatra
In my travels I see Lord Jagannatha and His associates are performing the Ratha-yatra pastime in more and more cities each year. In 2007 Ratha-yatra came to Brno, CZ, and in 2008 to Prague, CZ, in 2009 to Wroclaw, PL, in 2011 to Hamburg, Germany, and now in 2012 to Passau, Germany, the nearest city to Simhachalam, our Bavarian Nrsimha farm.
Hare Krishna guru and scholar, Krishna Ksetra Prabhu, seen playing harmonium above, blessed the event by his presence, and there were a number of devotees mostly from Germany, Czech Republic, and Poland.
People at the sidewalk cafes were attracted by the unusual site of Lord Jagannatha and His cart, and His associates.
I was with my friends Vishnujana and Gaura Karuna Prabhus, who really like harinama, and we chanted around Passau both before and after the Ratha-yatra for practically an hour each time.
Soho Street Devotees Remember Their Radhastami Book Distribution Marathon
Saci Kishore Prabhu:
I do not have the ability to convince people take books. But doing book distribution is an opportunity for me to see Krishna working His magic.
Bhakta Lawry:
I was distributing books at one location where there was a man on the roof who was threatening to jump off and a crowd watching. There were people who were shouting “Jump. Jump.” I couldn’t believe it. I distributed books for several hours. Then I heard a scream when the person actually jumped. One man who passed by later said, “I missed all the fun.” I was shocked to see how people were so degraded they were taking pleasure in man’s mental anguish and suicide. This age is becoming worse and worse.
Bhakta Alexi:
I met two people who were dumb and could not speak. A devotee had taught me the hand gestures for the language of the dumb. I taught them the mantra using this and they learned it. They gave a donation and took a book.
World Holy Name Festival, Part I
Once a year, usually in September, the Hare Krishna movement really tries to increase its program of congregational chanting, both in the temple and outside. Janananda Goswami, my authority in The North of England, is committed to harinama, the congregational chanting of Hare Krishna in the streets of the towns, and he invited me to travel with him in The North of England and Scotland during The World Holy Name Festival this year.
Janananda Goswami really likes to go to places that we rarely or never go to and to small places, into addition to the metropolitan areas where we often chant.
One day, traveling between Manchester and Liverpool, we chanted in St. Helens and Prescot. I rarely distribute books, but in St. Helens, a couple people were so attracted by our kirtana, that even I was willing and able to sell them books.
Most amazing was a well attended Saturday harinama in Leeds, where we had so many enthusiastic devotees chanting on harinama that I was able to distribute five books without much endeavor.
Sunday, September 30, was my birthday, and I bought ingredients at the local shop to make laddus for the Manchester Sunday feast, as an offering to purify my birth. They came out really good by Krishna’s mercy. Janananda Goswami was so generous that he encouraged the congregation to support my program of traveling and doing harinama, and they were so kind, I got enough to pay over half the cost of my ticket to the USA and back for another summer in the UK. I thank all the Manchester congregation who kindly helped out in that way.
Insights
Srila Prabhupada:
from a purport to SB 5.12.13:
The pure devotee is never interested in material topics. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu has strictly prohibited His devotees to talk about worldly matters. Gramya-varta na kahibe: [Cc. Antya 6.236] one should not indulge in talking unnecessarily about news of the material world. One should not waste time in this way. This is a very important feature in the life of a devotee. A devotee has no other ambition than to serve Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This Krishna consciousness movement was started to engage people twenty-four hours daily in the service of the Lord and in His glorification. The students in this institution engage in the cultivation of Krishna consciousness from five in the morning to ten at night. They actually have no opportunity to waste their time unnecessarily by discussing politics, sociology and current events. These will go their own way. A devotee is concerned only with serving Krishna positively and seriously.
from a conversation with a guest, August 1973, in London, quoted in Back to Godhead, Vol. 46, No. 6, Nov./Dec. 2012:
“When you paint a flower with a brush, the brush is not the creator of that painting—you are the creator. Similarly, in the creation of a real flower, nature is only the brush, but the creator is God.”
from a lecture on Bhagavad-gita 9.15 in given in New York City on December 1, 1966, quoted in Back to Godhead, Vol. 46, No. 6, Nov./Dec. 2012:
We are very much proud of seeing, but as soon as the light is turned off, we cannot see. So our seeing is conditional. All our senses are conditional. Therefore they are imperfect. . . . Nobody can become a representative of Krishna, or God, without becoming His devotee. One who thinks “I am God” cannot become the representative
of God. Suppose you are a businessman and you send your representative to secure business. If he represents himself to the customer, “I am the proprietor,” how long can he continue? As soon as the master knows “This foolish man is representing himself as the proprietor of this firm,” he will cancel his employment at once. Because the so-called representative is cheating; he’s not the proprietor. Similarly, anyone who says “I am God” should not preach. . . . You cannot preach, “I am God.” Because if you promote yourself as God, then people may ask you, “If you are God, then show me your allpowerfulness.” That you cannot show. So you cannot preach, “I am God.”
from a lecture on Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.2.6 given in London on July 23, 1973:
One can ask questions of the guru once one has fully surrendered. Otherwise it will not act. Don’t waste your time.
In the beginning Arjuna has friendly talks with Krishna, but nothing was solved, and so Arjuna surrendered to Him as a disciple.
from Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.13.25, purport:
The whole world is revolving under the bodily conception; therefore there must be devotees all over the world to deliver people from the false bodily conception and fully
engage them in Krishna consciousness.
from Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.14.2, purport:
This Krishna consciousness movement is therefore teaching people to control the mind and five knowledge-acquiring senses by a definite process. One should practice a
little austerity and not spend money on anything other than the regulative life of devotional service. The senses demand that one see beautiful things; therefore money should be spent for decorating the Deity in the temple. Similarly, the tongue has to taste good food, which should be bought and offered to the Deity. The nose can be utilized in
smelling the flowers offered to the Deity, and the hearing can be utilized by listening to the vibration of the Hare Krishna mantra. In this way the senses can be regulated and utilized to advance Krishna consciousness.
Bhaktivaibhava Swami:
Incidents when we call out to Krishna and He protects us make our faith strong, but when we see so many people engaged in materialistic activities and we are very few, we may again have some doubt. These festivals where thousands of devotees chant together are therefore valuable. Actually this movement is meant for the masses. The more people join, the more ecstatic it becomes. This movement is meant to drown the entire world in the holy name.
Bhanu Swami:
In the material world, if we do not like our master, we can run away and find another master, but we can not run away from our eternal master, Krishna.
The master expresses gratitude for service, and the relationship is one of respect and love.
Sometimes people think that Krishna wants to exploit His servants like happens in the material world.
Krishna is master because He is the supreme controller and He knows everything.
When we say master, when mean a person, not an entity with no personal qualities.
Krishna does not need anyone or anything because he is made of bliss. Yet because he is compassionate, he shows perfect love.
Krishna reciprocates according one’s surrender and one’s favorable attitude. But because He is independent, He can break all the rules and show extraordinary mercy to an unqualified person as with Putana.
Krishna does not hate the demons—he enjoys fighting with them and He purifies them.
The prison is a manifestation of the government which is an attempt to reform the prisoners, although the prisoners may not appreciate that.
The Lord shows special compassion to those who recognize themselves as servants of the Lord.
Those who follow no rules for elevation are considered uncivilized. Better than them are those who follow the varnasrama guidelines or the karma-kanda path, but still their goal is the material world, and so the jnanis and yogis are better because their aim is beyond this world. The devotees are beyond these.
Krishna is not eager to give benefits that will disturb a person’s devotional service.
Krishna prefers pure devotional service, but he considers contaminated devotional service better than no devotional service. The mixed devotees get better reciprocation from Krishna than either the karmis or jnanis, but not the ultimate perfection that comes from pure devotional service.
Bhakti is the desire to please Krishna and nothing else.
When we perform sadhana, we are not trying to get something from Krishna for ourselves.
Sometimes people mix elements from other practices in with our bhakti, and if these do not obstruct the bhakti, they are not a problem.
Bhakti can also be mixed with the three modes of material nature, if we have motivations. The mode of ignorance causes us to harm others, the mode of passion causes us to desire material enjoyment.
In prema the devotee gives himself completely to Krishna, and Krishna gives Himself to the devotee. That is the highest bliss in which both the Lord and the jiva are satisfied.
Because Krishna is complete, the servant and master relationship transforms in different ways, with Krishna becoming equal as a friend, with Krishna becoming inferior as the son of Yasoda, or of Krishna surrendering completely, as with Radha. Still all the while Krishna remains the master and the devotee is the servant.
Vishnu is not a lesser God than Krishna because there is only one God. Vishnu has all the qualities of Krishna, but He does not manifest them in the form of Vishnu. Just as when you go to work, you show some qualities to your boss, but at home, you show more qualities to your family.
Shiva is isvara, the Lord, not jiva, an ordinary living entity, but he manifests fewer qualities than Vishnu, and therefore, is not on the same level. Although he appears to be contaminated by the mode of ignorance, having long hair and living near the crematorium, he always isvara, the Lord, and therefore factually transcendental to the modes of nature.
Saktyavesa-avataras, or empowered jivas, being jivas, are always servants, and thus can never become the Lord.
The conclusion is that Brahman and Paramatma exist and are included within the Lord and His name, and thus we can realize all these features of the Lord by chanting His holy name.
We should not accept food offered to the devatas (demigods) alone.
Demigods can be pleased by offering them the prasadam of Lord Vishnu.
Strictly speaking, Vishnu does not come from Krishna, nor Krishna from Vishnu, for they are both eternal. We say expansion because the expansion manifests fewer qualities.
Each Veda has four divisions: samhitas, brahmanas, aranyakas, and upanisads.
To blaspheme the scriptures or to come to the wrong conclusion about them are two ways we offend the scriptures.
The universal form of the Lord describing His bodily parts as features of the universe seems to be symbolic.
Candramauli Swami:
Prahlad Maharaja is embarrassed that Lord Nrsimha wants to offer him a benediction because he is happy serving.
It is the position of the living entities to be happy in service but that gets covered in the material world if we think of ourselves as only serving in a particular way.
Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, when asked how many disciples he had, said none. They are all his teachers, and he learns something from each.
Balarama serves Krishna is each of the five rasas. In neutrality as the Lord’s paraphenalia and in conjugal love as Ananga Manjari.
Without concern for the object of service, it becomes routine.
When Lord Nrsimha persisted in offering a benediction to Prahlada Maharaja he asked to remain here to benefit the souls.
Four things block our progress in bhakti, the devotional service of the Lord:
1. Philosophical misconceptions.
2. Pious activities.
3. Impious activities.
4. Offenses.
According to Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura in his Madhurya Kadambini:
Misconceptions about bhakti are partially removed at bhajana-kriya, completely removed at nistha, and will not return at the stage of ruci (taste).
Sinful and pious desires are almost completely removed at bhajana-kriya, completely removed at nistha, and will not return at the platform of asakti (attachment).
Offenses are partially removed at the stage of bhajana kriya (spiritual practice), greatly removed at nistha (steadiness), almost completely removed at bhava (preliminary love of God), completely removed at prema (love of God), and will not return when one has attained shelter at the lotus feet of the Lord.
Jaya and Vijaya are evidence that offenses can still arise even at the stage of love of God.
We must become adosa-darsi, one who does not see the faults in others.
Harinama sankirtana can destroy all anarthas.
Bharata Maharaja’s defect was he did not have regular association with the devotees. If he did, seeing him so attached to the deer, they would have said, “Hey Bharata, you are in maya [illusion]!”
The holy name is Krishna, but Krishna is coming and going according to our consciousness.
There are so many things we can say about Krishna:
Krishna was born on Wednesday.
Krishna’s favorite sweet is rasgulla.
A nice exercise is to read something about Krishna and share with others each day.
Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura said chanting without krishna-katha, is like Krishna without Radha (His internal potency).
Someone once requested Srila Prabhupada, “Please give me your mercy.” Prabhupada responded, “I am giving everyone my mercy. Just take it.” Association of the devotees is mercy, prasadam is mercy. Just take it.
There are two kinds of ruci. One in which one has a taste for hearing the kirtana if the melody is nice and the singing is nice, and one in which one has a taste for hearing the holy name regardless of the quality of singing or the melody.
We may make special endeavors to make Krishna available for others, but for ourselves, we do not make special endeavors for basic needs.
If Krishna wants, He provides what you need, and if he doesn’t provide, it just means that you did not need it, or you did not need it at that time.
Devamrita Swami:
Love of God is so exalted that even if it takes many hundreds of births to attain, it is still worth the price.
We are like children who do not know what we want, but it is difficult to admit that.
Once we understand that Krishna is the Supreme Enjoyer, we should also understand that He knows how to get the greatest love.
Yasoda never accepted that Krishna lifted the hill. She thought His father did it.
In the spiritual world, there is so much crying, anxiety, and pain, but it is all ecstatic. Do you still want to go?
You will learn how to be in anxiety in ecstasy, how to cry in ecstasy, and how to suffer the pain of separation in ecstasy.
Krishna is the butter thief, and Balarama is His assistant.
Krishna does not steal milk products because He wants to eat them, but rather because He just likes to steal.
Yasoda did not see the universes in Krishna’s mouth but in His belly, according Lord Brahma. Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura said there was dirt His mouth as well as the whole universe, but seeing the entire universe distracted Yasoda from noticing the dirt.
The pure devotees’ accusations against Krishna are based on pure love, but our accusations against Krishna are based on frustration of material desires.
Q: Krishna’s pastimes sometimes seem like fairy tales.
A: Actually material life is a fairy tale. If you get this and that, you will be happy. Isn’t it a fairy tale?
Death for a devotee is a change of service. It may look like the death of a nondevotee just as food offered to Krishna may look like ordinary food, but there is a great difference. Srila Prabhupada used the analogy of the kitten and rat in the mouth of the cat to illustrate this point. The kitten feels protection in the mouth of the cat while the rat feels fear and imminent death. The body gets to the point where it cannot serve Krishna anymore. Why should we want to maintain it, if it can not longer serve Krishna?
Neophytes consider fulfillment of their desires for sense gratification to be Krishna’s mercy. But we should consider that Krishna’s mercy acts to increase our devotional service.
Krishna does not want us to enjoy material things because He has better things to give us but we are so stubborn, we do not believe it.
There is a story of a kid whose parents were so proud of their child’s devotion to Krishna they told the kid to give me his favorite toy truck. He came right up to me, but at the last moment, he could not do it and started crying. The parents thought he was just attached to that truck, so they arranged he give away a brand new truck, but at the last moment, he could not give that away either without crying.
Although a child, Prahlada knew the cause of spiritual destruction, material desire. He understood that not by experience gained in life but simply by hearing from his guru. Sometimes we have difficulty understanding that experience acquired through hearing is also experience.
Material desire is not some innocent thing but the cause of our ultimate destruction.
Srila Prabhupada explained in Bombay in 1977 that guru-puja is not just some ritual but the receiving of divine knowledge from the guru.
Krishna is expert at purifying devotees who have material desires. If Krishna could handle Kubja, He can handle you. Kubja was filled with desires to enjoy with Krishna in an materialistic way, but as she approached Him to embrace Him, she was purified of all material contamination by smelling the fragrance of His feet, and then she embraced Him as a completely liberated soul. If we cooperate with Krishna’s program, He can expertly purify us.
Indradyumna Swami:
Human life begins when we inquire beyond the body.
Because Krishna is unlimited, there are unlimited questions we can ask about Him. Unfortunately, we do not even know what to ask, so the great spiritual teachers teach us
Krishna consciousness is presented to us on a silver platter, but we do not take it.
Unless we know who we are, we cannot conduct our lives to live in a better way.
We should have learned at five years old that we are not our bodies but servants of Krishna.
As Srila Prabhupada is our ever well-wisher, we should be ever grateful.
Janananda Goswami:
There is nothing more powerful in life than love and devotion.
People are attracted to Hare Krishna because it touches something deeper in the heart.
The Bhagavad-gita wasn’t understood in the West for centuries for to understand it you have to practice the instructions in it.
Drama as “Rama” in it.
It is important to know how to apply knowledge.
Paul McCartney’s office is around the corner from our Soho temple, and he would regularly take prasadam.
Ananta Caturdasi is famous in South India in the Sri Sampradaya as the appearance day of their worshipable deity of Padmanabha.
The circumstances of the birth of Haridasa Thakura are not known in certainty or how he came to point of chanting 300,000 names of Krishna per day.
After the Brahma-vihomana-lila, Brahma went to Navadvipa and performed austerities desiring to be purified from his pride. Lord Caitanya appeared and said during His next appearance, Brahma would appear from a low-born family as Haridasa Thakura, and teach by his example that there is no material disqualification for chanting the holy name. In this way, it can be said that Haridasa Thakura was initiated into the chanting of the holy name and given the name Haridasa Thakura by Lord Caitanya before his appearance.
Haridasa Thakura appeared about 36 years before Lord Caitanya, according to Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura.
Haridasa Thakura exemplified Lord Caitanya’s “Siksastakam,” be humble and tolerant, and no matter what, keep chanting.
Although Haridasa Thakura forgave Gopal Cakravarti for his offense, Gopal still had to suffer because he had defamed Haridasa Thakura in public. Had he made a public apology and had he glorified Haridasa Thakura to the same extent as he defamed him, he could have been completely relieved from any reaction to the offense.
With the strong association of devotees, the impossible can become possible.
Sannyasa means never alone, always remembering that Krishna is present.
Q: Some people says that the title “Goswami” is given to those who were previously married and then took “sannyasa” while the title “Swami” is given to sannyasis who were never married before.
A: As far as the sannyasis Srila Prabhupada initiated, that is not true in every case. Srila Prabhupada writes in a purport that the name does not change at sannyasa.
Sannyasa is a state of mind not just an order. You can be a grhastha and much more renounced than a sannyasi.
The consciousness that must be developed, whether one officially takes sannyasa or not, is to become more dependent on Krishna.
We have found millions of things to eat on Ekadasi. Devotees have discovered many tasty preparations without grains. You do not need to eat grains.
Five hundred Gitas were sold to a crowd of mostly students at the Boston hemp festival which coincides with the Hare Krishna festival in Boston for the anniversary of Srila Prabhupada’s original arrival in Boston in 1965.
The record in a gulabjamun eating contest in my experience was a mataji by the name of Subha-laksmi who ate 96 gulabjamuns in one sitting.
Once I ate two trays of laddus with 70 laddhus on each tray. It was very cold and the others were jumping up and down outside the van to stay warm. My duty was to look after the van, and noticed the three trays of laddus.
Bhaktivinoda Thakura said, “My only hope lies in the limitless nectar of Your holy name.”
Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 8, No. 18
By Krishna-kripa das
(September 2012, part two)
Ukraine Festival, Bavaria, British Harinamas
(Sent from Gainesville, Florida, on December 3, 2012)
Apologies
I have been so busy proofreading, doing evening programs, and going on additional harinamas and kirtana events, I am two months behind on this journal. I hope to really focus on it and catch up by the end of the year and not fall behind next year.
Where I Was and What I Did
The last half of September was wonderful because of all the good spiritual association at the Ukraine festival, where I collected many jewels from the swamis to share with you. After that Trevor, my harinama and traveling partner, and I went to Warsaw for Radhastami. I continued on to attend the last two days of the 30th anniversary of the installation of Prahlada-Nrsimha at Simhachalam, our Bavarian Hare Krishna farm, which ended with the first annual Passau Ratha-yatra. Then I flew to London where the book distributors shared their realizations from their Radhastami book marathon. The next day I began traveling with Janananda Goswami and his followers, doing harinama in and around Manchester, England, for the beginning of the World Holy Name Festival. I offer thanks to Vishnujana Prabhu for the photos of the Ukraine Festival and the Passau Ratha-yatra.
The insights this time begin with Srila Prabhupada quotes from books and lectures, and includes nectar by lots of swamis attending the Ukraine festival, such as Bhaktivaibhava Swami, Bhanu Swami, Candramauli Swami, Devamrita Swtami, Indradyumna Swami, Niranjana Swami, Prahladananda Swami, and Sivarama Swami. There are also notes from Warsaw’s Radhastami and Bavaria’s Prahlada-Nrsimha installation anniversary festivals. As usual, there is material from Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami’s journal and his books, this time including lots of prayers, and there are lectures by Janananda Goswami in The North of England as well.
Itinerary
Dec. 3–5, 2012: Gainesville, FL
Dec. 6, 2012: Jacksonville, FL (UNF)
Dec. 7, 2012: Philadelphia and New York
Dec. 8–9, 2012: Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami Vyasa-puja
Dec. 10–23, 2012: Serving SDG in Stuyvesant, NY
Dec. 24–25, 2012: Visiting family in Albany, NY
Dec. 26, 2012–
Jan. 7, 2013: harinama in New York City
Jan. 8–April 2013: Gainesville, FL (with visits to Tallahassee and Jacksonville)
Bhakti Sangama (Ukraine Festival) 2012
I went to the Ukraine festival for the eighth consecutive year. Formerly in Odessa, the last few years, it has been held outside Evpatoriya, on the coast of the Black Sea, an hour or so from Simferopol, in Crimea. The festival has many nice features for me. Niranjana Swami, who invited me to live in the NYC temple back in 1979, is almost always there, and it is always nice to see and hear from him.
Many other swamis I know and like also come there regularly. This year Bhaktivaibhava Swami, B. B. Govinda Swami, Candramauli Swami, Devamrita Swami, Indradyumna Swami, Prahladananda Swami, and Sivarama Swami were also there. This year Madhavananda Prabhu came for the first time. There are three hours of kirtana every night. The last three years Madhava Prabhu has come to participate in that. I know some of the devotees from Indradyumna Swami’s Festival of India in Poland, and it is nice to see them again. Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami, my diksa guru, has some disciples there who are always coming out with new titles in Russian, and it nice to encourage them in their service. Every year more people come to the festival, and this year there were 7,000. The devotees have such a nice service attitude there, I always feel very welcome. The weather was perfect every day this year, sunny and warm. There are so many good speakers, you can never attend all the seminars you want to, but you always hear lots of spiritual knowledge you can apply in your life and share with others, and you can find some of it under “Insights” below.
I got to talk to some of the swamis I have known for years, and Candramauli Swami and Prahladananda Swami encouraged me in my program focusing on just a couple places and trying to assist with our outreach there, as Niranjana Swami, my siksa guru, advised me. The places I choose are Newcastle in The North of England, by the invitation of Janananda Goswami, and Gainesville, Florida, my home for several years.
At the Ukraine festival, the morning program kirtanas, especially guru-puja, and the evening kirtana, are so powerful with many devotees participating and are always a highlight for me. During guru-puja I would recall how Srila Prabhupada came to Moscow and talked to one Russian, who became a devotee, and now in Ukraine, part of the former USSR, forty years later, there is a yearly festival with seven thousand people and in Russia a festival with over ten thousand people. Such is the influence of the pure devotee of the Lord. It was spiritually very enlivening to witness that amazing result.
Harinamas from Ukraine to Germany
Andre, who we knew from the Polish tour and other Ukraine festivals, kindly arranged us a ride to the Simferopol train station with devotees in a car with plenty of room and horsepower. The two devotees who came with us did not know English but had an iPad with Russian-English translation and communicated to us in that way. After we loaded our bags on the train, I decided to chant for the twenty minutes on the platform before we left. The two devotees who brought us there sang along for several minutes before going on their way. Several people looked with curiosity and some took pictures. The conductor motioned it was time to get aboard when there was still almost ten minutes till the train was to leave, but at least some harinama went on. At the first lengthy stop on the train, Trevor and I chanted for ten minutes or so, as people bought and sold things, smoked cigarettes and got some fresh air during the break, and again, a few people looked with curiosity and took pictures, and no one hindered our chanting.
Three or four times on the trains to and from the Ukraine festival, I would get out and chant like this when we stopped for fifteen minutes or more. No one protested, although occasionally, the conductor indicated it was time to get back on the train five or ten minutes early. Some people would always stand and listen, others would smile, and still others would take pictures.
The several times I have crossed the border from Shegyni, Ukraine, to Medyka, Poland, there has always been a minibus waiting to take people to the Przemysl train station to continue their journey through Poland. This time there was just a crowd of people hanging out, some of them selling liquor and cigarettes. I assumed some of them were waiting for the minibus, so I decided to play harmonium and chant while waiting. After a while, Trevor got out his karatalas, and we had a kirtana with about fifty people surrounding us. I chanted some more, and then let Trevor take over. Some people took pictures and others took movies, some for many minutes. A couple of men danced a bit. I saw a bus across the street and wondered if it went to the train station, assuming if it did, it would stop here where people were waiting. Then a lady informed me in Polish that it was the bus to Przemysl and the bus stop was across the street and some thirty meters away. We stopped singing abruptly and ran to catch the bus. As Trevor packed up his harmonium, some people gave him some kind of sugar candy as a gift. We must have chanted half an hour.
Trevor stayed in Warsaw where we spent Radhastami in the association of many friends from the Polish tour. I continued to Simhachalam for the end of the 30th anniversary of the Prahlad Nrsimha installation.
I took a train from Warsaw to Czech Republic, changing trains in different places, including Brno, where I chanted at the station during the morning rush hour and three large trainloads of commuters got to hear the Hare Krishna mantra as they rushed to work and a bum gave a couple of small donations. I then took Czech trains to the last stop near the German border, and walked to the town of Haldmühle where I chanted with my harmonium by the side of the road as I waited almost an hour for the devotees to pick me up and drive me to Simhacalam. Two ladies came by at different times, one clearly a senior citizen. One gave a 10 euro donation and the other gave a couple euros. One of them was chanting Hare Krishna as she walked away. I was amazed to see such appreciation for the chanting in a small rural Bavarian village.
I had been on trains for seventeen hours from Warsaw to the German border, and had only done two hours of harinama, in one each in Brno and Haldmühle, so when Advaita Gauranga Prabhu, my driver to Simhachalam told me he was going on book distribution after dropping me off at the temple, I suggested I could go with him and we might do harinama at the same time. He recruited another harinama devotee and another book distributor, and I grabbed a large plate of the super excellent festival prasadam from Simhachalam, which included srikhand, one of my favorite sweets, and we drove to the nearby town of Waldkirchen, and chanted and distributed books for an hour before the evening kirtana. A few people smiled, but in general, you could understand people were uncertain and unfamiliar. I think that not too much harinama has happened in Waldkirchen. Still it was great to go out and complete my program of trying to chant three hours a day.
Passau Ratha-yatra
In my travels I see Lord Jagannatha and His associates are performing the Ratha-yatra pastime in more and more cities each year. In 2007 Ratha-yatra came to Brno, CZ, and in 2008 to Prague, CZ, in 2009 to Wroclaw, PL, in 2011 to Hamburg, Germany, and now in 2012 to Passau, Germany, the nearest city to Simhachalam, our Bavarian Nrsimha farm.
Hare Krishna guru and scholar, Krishna Ksetra Prabhu, seen playing harmonium above, blessed the event by his presence, and there were a number of devotees mostly from Germany, Czech Republic, and Poland.
People at the sidewalk cafes were attracted by the unusual site of Lord Jagannatha and His cart, and His associates.
I was with my friends Vishnujana and Gaura Karuna Prabhus, who really like harinama, and we chanted around Passau both before and after the Ratha-yatra for practically an hour each time.
Soho Street Devotees Remember Their Radhastami Book Distribution Marathon
Saci Kishore Prabhu:
I do not have the ability to convince people take books. But doing book distribution is an opportunity for me to see Krishna working His magic.
Bhakta Lawry:
I was distributing books at one location where there was a man on the roof who was threatening to jump off and a crowd watching. There were people who were shouting “Jump. Jump.” I couldn’t believe it. I distributed books for several hours. Then I heard a scream when the person actually jumped. One man who passed by later said, “I missed all the fun.” I was shocked to see how people were so degraded they were taking pleasure in man’s mental anguish and suicide. This age is becoming worse and worse.
Bhakta Alexi:
I met two people who were dumb and could not speak. A devotee had taught me the hand gestures for the language of the dumb. I taught them the mantra using this and they learned it. They gave a donation and took a book.
World Holy Name Festival, Part I
Once a year, usually in September, the Hare Krishna movement really tries to increase its program of congregational chanting, both in the temple and outside. Janananda Goswami, my authority in The North of England, is committed to harinama, the congregational chanting of Hare Krishna in the streets of the towns, and he invited me to travel with him in The North of England and Scotland during The World Holy Name Festival this year.
Janananda Goswami really likes to go to places that we rarely or never go to and to small places, into addition to the metropolitan areas where we often chant.
One day, traveling between Manchester and Liverpool, we chanted in St. Helens and Prescot. I rarely distribute books, but in St. Helens, a couple people were so attracted by our kirtana, that even I was willing and able to sell them books.
Most amazing was a well attended Saturday harinama in Leeds, where we had so many enthusiastic devotees chanting on harinama that I was able to distribute five books without much endeavor.
Sunday, September 30, was my birthday, and I bought ingredients at the local shop to make laddus for the Manchester Sunday feast, as an offering to purify my birth. They came out really good by Krishna’s mercy. Janananda Goswami was so generous that he encouraged the congregation to support my program of traveling and doing harinama, and they were so kind, I got enough to pay over half the cost of my ticket to the USA and back for another summer in the UK. I thank all the Manchester congregation who kindly helped out in that way.
Insights
Srila Prabhupada:
from a purport to SB 5.12.13:
The pure devotee is never interested in material topics. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu has strictly prohibited His devotees to talk about worldly matters. Gramya-varta na kahibe: [Cc. Antya 6.236] one should not indulge in talking unnecessarily about news of the material world. One should not waste time in this way. This is a very important feature in the life of a devotee. A devotee has no other ambition than to serve Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This Krishna consciousness movement was started to engage people twenty-four hours daily in the service of the Lord and in His glorification. The students in this institution engage in the cultivation of Krishna consciousness from five in the morning to ten at night. They actually have no opportunity to waste their time unnecessarily by discussing politics, sociology and current events. These will go their own way. A devotee is concerned only with serving Krishna positively and seriously.
from a conversation with a guest, August 1973, in London, quoted in Back to Godhead, Vol. 46, No. 6, Nov./Dec. 2012:
“When you paint a flower with a brush, the brush is not the creator of that painting—you are the creator. Similarly, in the creation of a real flower, nature is only the brush, but the creator is God.”
from a lecture on Bhagavad-gita 9.15 in given in New York City on December 1, 1966, quoted in Back to Godhead, Vol. 46, No. 6, Nov./Dec. 2012:
We are very much proud of seeing, but as soon as the light is turned off, we cannot see. So our seeing is conditional. All our senses are conditional. Therefore they are imperfect. . . . Nobody can become a representative of Krishna, or God, without becoming His devotee. One who thinks “I am God” cannot become the representative
of God. Suppose you are a businessman and you send your representative to secure business. If he represents himself to the customer, “I am the proprietor,” how long can he continue? As soon as the master knows “This foolish man is representing himself as the proprietor of this firm,” he will cancel his employment at once. Because the so-called representative is cheating; he’s not the proprietor. Similarly, anyone who says “I am God” should not preach. . . . You cannot preach, “I am God.” Because if you promote yourself as God, then people may ask you, “If you are God, then show me your allpowerfulness.” That you cannot show. So you cannot preach, “I am God.”
from a lecture on Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.2.6 given in London on July 23, 1973:
One can ask questions of the guru once one has fully surrendered. Otherwise it will not act. Don’t waste your time.
In the beginning Arjuna has friendly talks with Krishna, but nothing was solved, and so Arjuna surrendered to Him as a disciple.
from Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.13.25, purport:
The whole world is revolving under the bodily conception; therefore there must be devotees all over the world to deliver people from the false bodily conception and fully
engage them in Krishna consciousness.
from Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.14.2, purport:
This Krishna consciousness movement is therefore teaching people to control the mind and five knowledge-acquiring senses by a definite process. One should practice a
little austerity and not spend money on anything other than the regulative life of devotional service. The senses demand that one see beautiful things; therefore money should be spent for decorating the Deity in the temple. Similarly, the tongue has to taste good food, which should be bought and offered to the Deity. The nose can be utilized in
smelling the flowers offered to the Deity, and the hearing can be utilized by listening to the vibration of the Hare Krishna mantra. In this way the senses can be regulated and utilized to advance Krishna consciousness.
Bhaktivaibhava Swami:
Incidents when we call out to Krishna and He protects us make our faith strong, but when we see so many people engaged in materialistic activities and we are very few, we may again have some doubt. These festivals where thousands of devotees chant together are therefore valuable. Actually this movement is meant for the masses. The more people join, the more ecstatic it becomes. This movement is meant to drown the entire world in the holy name.
Bhanu Swami:
In the material world, if we do not like our master, we can run away and find another master, but we can not run away from our eternal master, Krishna.
The master expresses gratitude for service, and the relationship is one of respect and love.
Sometimes people think that Krishna wants to exploit His servants like happens in the material world.
Krishna is master because He is the supreme controller and He knows everything.
When we say master, when mean a person, not an entity with no personal qualities.
Krishna does not need anyone or anything because he is made of bliss. Yet because he is compassionate, he shows perfect love.
Krishna reciprocates according one’s surrender and one’s favorable attitude. But because He is independent, He can break all the rules and show extraordinary mercy to an unqualified person as with Putana.
Krishna does not hate the demons—he enjoys fighting with them and He purifies them.
The prison is a manifestation of the government which is an attempt to reform the prisoners, although the prisoners may not appreciate that.
The Lord shows special compassion to those who recognize themselves as servants of the Lord.
Those who follow no rules for elevation are considered uncivilized. Better than them are those who follow the varnasrama guidelines or the karma-kanda path, but still their goal is the material world, and so the jnanis and yogis are better because their aim is beyond this world. The devotees are beyond these.
Krishna is not eager to give benefits that will disturb a person’s devotional service.
Krishna prefers pure devotional service, but he considers contaminated devotional service better than no devotional service. The mixed devotees get better reciprocation from Krishna than either the karmis or jnanis, but not the ultimate perfection that comes from pure devotional service.
Bhakti is the desire to please Krishna and nothing else.
When we perform sadhana, we are not trying to get something from Krishna for ourselves.
Sometimes people mix elements from other practices in with our bhakti, and if these do not obstruct the bhakti, they are not a problem.
Bhakti can also be mixed with the three modes of material nature, if we have motivations. The mode of ignorance causes us to harm others, the mode of passion causes us to desire material enjoyment.
In prema the devotee gives himself completely to Krishna, and Krishna gives Himself to the devotee. That is the highest bliss in which both the Lord and the jiva are satisfied.
Because Krishna is complete, the servant and master relationship transforms in different ways, with Krishna becoming equal as a friend, with Krishna becoming inferior as the son of Yasoda, or of Krishna surrendering completely, as with Radha. Still all the while Krishna remains the master and the devotee is the servant.
Vishnu is not a lesser God than Krishna because there is only one God. Vishnu has all the qualities of Krishna, but He does not manifest them in the form of Vishnu. Just as when you go to work, you show some qualities to your boss, but at home, you show more qualities to your family.
Shiva is isvara, the Lord, not jiva, an ordinary living entity, but he manifests fewer qualities than Vishnu, and therefore, is not on the same level. Although he appears to be contaminated by the mode of ignorance, having long hair and living near the crematorium, he always isvara, the Lord, and therefore factually transcendental to the modes of nature.
Saktyavesa-avataras, or empowered jivas, being jivas, are always servants, and thus can never become the Lord.
The conclusion is that Brahman and Paramatma exist and are included within the Lord and His name, and thus we can realize all these features of the Lord by chanting His holy name.
We should not accept food offered to the devatas (demigods) alone.
Demigods can be pleased by offering them the prasadam of Lord Vishnu.
Strictly speaking, Vishnu does not come from Krishna, nor Krishna from Vishnu, for they are both eternal. We say expansion because the expansion manifests fewer qualities.
Each Veda has four divisions: samhitas, brahmanas, aranyakas, and upanisads.
To blaspheme the scriptures or to come to the wrong conclusion about them are two ways we offend the scriptures.
The universal form of the Lord describing His bodily parts as features of the universe seems to be symbolic.
Candramauli Swami:
Prahlad Maharaja is embarrassed that Lord Nrsimha wants to offer him a benediction because he is happy serving.
It is the position of the living entities to be happy in service but that gets covered in the material world if we think of ourselves as only serving in a particular way.
Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, when asked how many disciples he had, said none. They are all his teachers, and he learns something from each.
Balarama serves Krishna is each of the five rasas. In neutrality as the Lord’s paraphenalia and in conjugal love as Ananga Manjari.
Without concern for the object of service, it becomes routine.
When Lord Nrsimha persisted in offering a benediction to Prahlada Maharaja he asked to remain here to benefit the souls.
Four things block our progress in bhakti, the devotional service of the Lord:
1. Philosophical misconceptions.
2. Pious activities.
3. Impious activities.
4. Offenses.
According to Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura in his Madhurya Kadambini:
Misconceptions about bhakti are partially removed at bhajana-kriya, completely removed at nistha, and will not return at the stage of ruci (taste).
Sinful and pious desires are almost completely removed at bhajana-kriya, completely removed at nistha, and will not return at the platform of asakti (attachment).
Offenses are partially removed at the stage of bhajana kriya (spiritual practice), greatly removed at nistha (steadiness), almost completely removed at bhava (preliminary love of God), completely removed at prema (love of God), and will not return when one has attained shelter at the lotus feet of the Lord.
Jaya and Vijaya are evidence that offenses can still arise even at the stage of love of God.
We must become adosa-darsi, one who does not see the faults in others.
Harinama sankirtana can destroy all anarthas.
Bharata Maharaja’s defect was he did not have regular association with the devotees. If he did, seeing him so attached to the deer, they would have said, “Hey Bharata, you are in maya [illusion]!”
The holy name is Krishna, but Krishna is coming and going according to our consciousness.
There are so many things we can say about Krishna:
Krishna was born on Wednesday.
Krishna’s favorite sweet is rasgulla.
A nice exercise is to read something about Krishna and share with others each day.
Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura said chanting without krishna-katha, is like Krishna without Radha (His internal potency).
Someone once requested Srila Prabhupada, “Please give me your mercy.” Prabhupada responded, “I am giving everyone my mercy. Just take it.” Association of the devotees is mercy, prasadam is mercy. Just take it.
There are two kinds of ruci. One in which one has a taste for hearing the kirtana if the melody is nice and the singing is nice, and one in which one has a taste for hearing the holy name regardless of the quality of singing or the melody.
We may make special endeavors to make Krishna available for others, but for ourselves, we do not make special endeavors for basic needs.
If Krishna wants, He provides what you need, and if he doesn’t provide, it just means that you did not need it, or you did not need it at that time.
Devamrita Swami:
Love of God is so exalted that even if it takes many hundreds of births to attain, it is still worth the price.
We are like children who do not know what we want, but it is difficult to admit that.
Once we understand that Krishna is the Supreme Enjoyer, we should also understand that He knows how to get the greatest love.
Yasoda never accepted that Krishna lifted the hill. She thought His father did it.
In the spiritual world, there is so much crying, anxiety, and pain, but it is all ecstatic. Do you still want to go?
You will learn how to be in anxiety in ecstasy, how to cry in ecstasy, and how to suffer the pain of separation in ecstasy.
Krishna is the butter thief, and Balarama is His assistant.
Krishna does not steal milk products because He wants to eat them, but rather because He just likes to steal.
Yasoda did not see the universes in Krishna’s mouth but in His belly, according Lord Brahma. Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura said there was dirt His mouth as well as the whole universe, but seeing the entire universe distracted Yasoda from noticing the dirt.
The pure devotees’ accusations against Krishna are based on pure love, but our accusations against Krishna are based on frustration of material desires.
Q: Krishna’s pastimes sometimes seem like fairy tales.
A: Actually material life is a fairy tale. If you get this and that, you will be happy. Isn’t it a fairy tale?
Death for a devotee is a change of service. It may look like the death of a nondevotee just as food offered to Krishna may look like ordinary food, but there is a great difference. Srila Prabhupada used the analogy of the kitten and rat in the mouth of the cat to illustrate this point. The kitten feels protection in the mouth of the cat while the rat feels fear and imminent death. The body gets to the point where it cannot serve Krishna anymore. Why should we want to maintain it, if it can not longer serve Krishna?
Neophytes consider fulfillment of their desires for sense gratification to be Krishna’s mercy. But we should consider that Krishna’s mercy acts to increase our devotional service.
Krishna does not want us to enjoy material things because He has better things to give us but we are so stubborn, we do not believe it.
There is a story of a kid whose parents were so proud of their child’s devotion to Krishna they told the kid to give me his favorite toy truck. He came right up to me, but at the last moment, he could not do it and started crying. The parents thought he was just attached to that truck, so they arranged he give away a brand new truck, but at the last moment, he could not give that away either without crying.
Although a child, Prahlada knew the cause of spiritual destruction, material desire. He understood that not by experience gained in life but simply by hearing from his guru. Sometimes we have difficulty understanding that experience acquired through hearing is also experience.
Material desire is not some innocent thing but the cause of our ultimate destruction.
Srila Prabhupada explained in Bombay in 1977 that guru-puja is not just some ritual but the receiving of divine knowledge from the guru.
Krishna is expert at purifying devotees who have material desires. If Krishna could handle Kubja, He can handle you. Kubja was filled with desires to enjoy with Krishna in an materialistic way, but as she approached Him to embrace Him, she was purified of all material contamination by smelling the fragrance of His feet, and then she embraced Him as a completely liberated soul. If we cooperate with Krishna’s program, He can expertly purify us.
Indradyumna Swami:
Human life begins when we inquire beyond the body.
Because Krishna is unlimited, there are unlimited questions we can ask about Him. Unfortunately, we do not even know what to ask, so the great spiritual teachers teach us
Krishna consciousness is presented to us on a silver platter, but we do not take it.
Unless we know who we are, we cannot conduct our lives to live in a better way.
We should have learned at five years old that we are not our bodies but servants of Krishna.
As Srila Prabhupada is our ever well-wisher, we should be ever grateful.
Janananda Goswami:
There is nothing more powerful in life than love and devotion.
People are attracted to Hare Krishna because it touches something deeper in the heart.
The Bhagavad-gita wasn’t understood in the West for centuries for to understand it you have to practice the instructions in it.
Drama as “Rama” in it.
It is important to know how to apply knowledge.
Paul McCartney’s office is around the corner from our Soho temple, and he would regularly take prasadam.
Ananta Caturdasi is famous in South India in the Sri Sampradaya as the appearance day of their worshipable deity of Padmanabha.
The circumstances of the birth of Haridasa Thakura are not known in certainty or how he came to point of chanting 300,000 names of Krishna per day.
After the Brahma-vihomana-lila, Brahma went to Navadvipa and performed austerities desiring to be purified from his pride. Lord Caitanya appeared and said during His next appearance, Brahma would appear from a low-born family as Haridasa Thakura, and teach by his example that there is no material disqualification for chanting the holy name. In this way, it can be said that Haridasa Thakura was initiated into the chanting of the holy name and given the name Haridasa Thakura by Lord Caitanya before his appearance.
Haridasa Thakura appeared about 36 years before Lord Caitanya, according to Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura.
Haridasa Thakura exemplified Lord Caitanya’s “Siksastakam,” be humble and tolerant, and no matter what, keep chanting.
Although Haridasa Thakura forgave Gopal Cakravarti for his offense, Gopal still had to suffer because he had defamed Haridasa Thakura in public. Had he made a public apology and had he glorified Haridasa Thakura to the same extent as he defamed him, he could have been completely relieved from any reaction to the offense.
With the strong association of devotees, the impossible can become possible.
Sannyasa means never alone, always remembering that Krishna is present.
Q: Some people says that the title “Goswami” is given to those who were previously married and then took “sannyasa” while the title “Swami” is given to sannyasis who were never married before.
A: As far as the sannyasis Srila Prabhupada initiated, that is not true in every case. Srila Prabhupada writes in a purport that the name does not change at sannyasa.
Sannyasa is a state of mind not just an order. You can be a grhastha and much more renounced than a sannyasi.
The consciousness that must be developed, whether one officially takes sannyasa or not, is to become more dependent on Krishna.
We have found millions of things to eat on Ekadasi. Devotees have discovered many tasty preparations without grains. You do not need to eat grains.
Five hundred Gitas were sold to a crowd of mostly students at the Boston hemp festival which coincides with the Hare Krishna festival in Boston for the anniversary of Srila Prabhupada’s original arrival in Boston in 1965.
The record in a gulabjamun eating contest in my experience was a mataji by the name of Subha-laksmi who ate 96 gulabjamuns in one sitting.
Once I ate two trays of laddus with 70 laddhus on each tray. It was very cold and the others were jumping up and down outside the van to stay warm. My duty was to look after the van, and noticed the three trays of laddus.
Bhaktivinoda Thakura said, “My only hope lies in the lim
Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 8, No. 17
By Krishna-kripa das
(September 2012, part one)
Wroclaw and Leipzig Ratha-yatras, Kirtana-Mela, Kirtan in Eastern Europe
(Sent from London, England, on November 2, 2012)
Where I Went and What I Did
After traveling with Janananda Goswami in Slovakia and Czech Republic, Dhruva, Trevor, Vamana, and I went to Poland for the Wroclaw (pronounced Vrotswav) Ratha-yatra and then onward to Germany for Kirtana-Mela, which culminated in a wonderful Leipzig Ratha-yatra. The next day Trevor and I joined the Nitai Gauranga harinama bus tour led by temple president Ananda Vardhana Prabhu of Talinn, Estonia, and returned to Wroclaw with them for an ecstatic harinama there with over twenty devotees. Trevor and I did harinama in Wroclaw two more days, and then went to Bydgoszcz (pronounced Bidgoshch) for harinama and an Ekadasi evening kirtana program. Then Trevor and I traveled south and participated in evening kirtana programs arranged by Punya Palaka Prabhu in Trutnov and Prague, Czech Republic, and held at restaurants Baladeva and Gauranga, respectively. Next we went to Modra, Slovakia, where Parmesvara and Gopali Prabhus have a very successful nama-hatta program at their home, and we had a lot of nice kirtana, and more people asked more questions than usual after the lecture. Then Trevor and I traveled by an overnight bus and then an overnight train to Crimea for Bhakti Sangama, popularly known as the Ukraine festival.
Highlights in the “Insights” section include some quotes from a Srila Prabhupada lecture and purport and some great appreciations of the chanting of the holy name by the senior devotees who came to Kirtana-Mela, such as Bhaktivaibhava Swami, Lokanatha Swami, Sacinandana Swami, Krishna Ksetra Prabhu, Kadamba Kanana Swami.
Itinerary
London – Nov. 2–3
New York State – Nov. 4 – 14
Jacksonville, Florida: Nov. 15
Gainesville, Florida: Nov. 16, 2012–April 2013
Wroclaw Ratha-yatra
Of the three Wroclaw Ratha-yatras I have been on, this was one of the best. We went around the Rynek Square four times, more than some years, and the sound system was better. One year Trivikrama Swami had been there, and his enthusiasm in kirtana, would have certainly added some extra life, complementing the beautiful bhajanas and more mellow kirtana of Krishna Ksetra Prabhu, who played wonderfully on the stage in the show afterward, which was watched by a good crowd. There were not an unlimited number of invitations to the stage show afterward, but it was nearby, and there were flyers for those who showed obvious interest. Seeing I had flyers in my hand, some people even approached me asking for them, revealing their enthusiasm for the devotional event.
Kirtana-Mela in Germany
Kirtana-Mela in Germany was attended by fewer people than last year, but the people I talked to were all glad that they came. The fact that the fee was higher and its payment more enforced may be one reason why.
As a brahmacari I got a discount in exchange for doing a service which was to amount to four hours a day, but turned out to be less. I cut vegetables in the kitchen after lunch as usually my favorite kirana singers were in the morning or the evening. The second day we decided to have our own kirtana while chopping vegetables, and we went on for three hours, with different devotees taking turns leading. It felt good as we were there for kirtana and we were doing kirtana but at the same time were we serving the devotees who love kirtana by helping prepare their meals, and so we felt we got a special benediction.
Advaita Gauranga Prabhu, a Jayapataka Swami disciple from Ukraine who has lived in Germany a number of years, was inspired to organize a couple of harinamas, and other devotees inspired by those, organized one of their own the following day. The first was in Limbach, the town where the Kirtana-Mela was held.
The second harinama, the one in Chemnitz was attended by thirty-two devotees.
Several people took videos of us, and we passed out invitations to the upcoming Leipzig Ratha-yatra and biweekly Leipzig Sunday feast to the interested people.
There was also a harinama for the children around the compound where the Kirtana-Mela was held. The harinama was just after a drama about Lord Caitanya inspiring the animals in Jharikhanda Forest to chant and dance, and so many of the children were still wearing their animal costumes, so it was an especially wild sight! Several children took turns leading, including one girl who was dressed as Lord Caitanya, and it was beautiful to see. The following video shows just one of the child singers chanting in the parking lot, but before and after, the harinama visited other parts of the camp.
At Kirtana-Mela, B. B. Govinda Swami was beautiful to hear:
Lokanath Swami was full of transcendental life-giving energy, and he got a lot of people dancing. Candramauli and Janananda Maharajas’ excelled in the dancing department, inspiring others. Yadubara Prabhu chanted one of my favorite tunes in a beautiful way. Kadamba Kanana Swami led during the same time as we went out on the harinamas, and I felt bad to miss so many of his kirtanas, as he always seems to give it all he has in the way of enthusiasm. Madhava Prabhu’s singing reminded me of our trip on the Mexico bus tour where we got to hear him sing live practically every evening for three weeks. It is always a tease that now our encounters with him are just a few days here or there, never like the three-week stretch on the Mexican bus tour. Shyamananda Prabhu from Ireland put in more hours than all the male dancers and really excelled in that area. We feel gratitude toward all the kirtana leaders and responders who shared their enthusiasm for the holy name and to those great souls who helped organize the event.
Although we left early to take advantage of a ride to Leipzig with temple president, Sadbhuja Prabhu, we heard that Sacinandana Swami said at the morning class that that would be the last Kirtana-Mela there in Germany. Apparently not all of the organizers had known of his decision and many were upset as the festival was very successful from the point of view of the participants and the organizers had enjoyed the sacrifice to make it possible for all. We also appreciate all the work done by the largely Russian group of devotees who took a lot of trouble to give hundreds of people a chance to hear and chant the holy name for hours a day together and increase their inspiration in Krishna consciousness, and we hope that by the enthusiasm of the devotees it will continue in the future.
Leipzig Ratha-yatra
I have been to Leipzig Ratha-yatra three times and this year was clearly the best. As last year, it was right after the Kirtana-Mela so all the leaders and most of the responders were filled with enthusiasm from that event.
It reminded us of how Lord Caitanya and His associates did their year of nocturnal kirtanas at Srivasa Thakura’s house, and then brought their enthusiasm to the streets of Navadvipa in massive sankirtana. Leipzig has a small downtown, and it is easy to reach many people in that concentrated place.
I think of the many Ratha-yatras I have attended, Leipzig excels in the promotion department with three sizes of promotional literature describing the Ratha-yatra, the stage show after, the local temple programs, and the history of the event. Often people who see our Ratha-yatras are not invited to the stage show after nor the local temple programs and that is a great loss from the promotional point of view. Also an amazing large number of devotees volunteered to distribute the literature. The devotees also passed out fruit, cookies, and sweet balls, as the prasadam of Lord Jagannatha, and book distribution went on as well. There was always a crowd of people viewing the stage show which continued till almost 8:00 p.m. in the evening. The public feast was wonderful, with a curd and vegetable preparation and all the srikhand you could eat! Many, many thanks to Sadbhuja Prabhu and his team for putting on a wonderful Ratha-yatra event. Thanks to Vishnujana Prabhu (alias Harinama Ruci) for the pictures. More can be found on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.420275604702047.101837.100001588327802&type=3
A Day with the Nitai Gauranga Harinama Bus Party
Devotees, numbering about eighteen, from various countries, especially the Baltics, headed by Ananda Vardhana Prabhu of Tallinn, Estonia, have a six-month long traveling harinama bus program in the summer visiting different cities in Europe. Bhakta Trevor and I had the pleasure of traveling with them to Wroclaw after the Leipzig Ratha-yatra, and chanting with them there for three hours. Having an additional eighteen devotees to do harinama with for a day was a great blessing. There are many good singers, instrumentalists, and dancers in the party. We chanted in the Rynek Square where just one week before we had the Wroclaw Ratha-yatra, and it was great to be giving the people there another chance to connect with Krisna through kirtana. Several devotees distribute books and CDs simultaneously to spread the mercy and to maintain the program. Devotees in Wroclaw have open programs periodically at a venue other than the temple to attract new people, and we distributed many invitations to the upcoming one.
Other Harinamas in Wroclaw
Trevor and I did a couple days of three hours of harinama in Wroclaw afterward, the first day joined by Balarama Prabhu, who does programs in his hometown of Opole. You can see people are attracted by the chanting, even from a small party. The second day, we sang for an hour each, before, after, and during a semi-weekly prasadam distribution program, near popular Rynek Square. Many of the regular prasadam eaters were happy with the live kirtana. (Usually there is a tape playing.) One lady we met earlier on harinama, joined us again to listen, to take prasadam, to buy incense, and to give me the ultimate small donation, one grosze ($0.003). An enthusiastic personality in the prasadam program is a young lady named Vishnu Patni Dasi, from Pogorzelica, a coastal town in the north, who met Indradyumna Swami’s festival tour when she was sixteen. Now thirteen years later, she is initiated and assists greatly with the deity worship and prasadam distribution in our Wroclaw temple. I have seen her come many years on the tour festivals, and it is wonderful to witness the development of her enthusiasm for spiritual life.
Harinama and Program in Bydgoszcz, Poland
Several years ago Parananda Prabhu, nama-hatta leader in Bydgoszcz, invited me to harinama in his town. I thought if I went there alone, the two of us would not make much of a party, but this year as Trevor was traveling with me, I decided to go there as we could have a better harinama.
We found a lot of people smiled, moved with the music, and seemed to appreciate the kirtana. One man who had an administrative role in one section of the city said he would like us to perform there sometime.
We had a program with a few devotees, a talk, and a very lively kirtana, with a lot of dancing, and some fine Ekadasi prasadam.
Trutnov Evening Kirtana
Punya Palaka Prabhu, who organizes our Krishna camp at Trutnov Open Air Music Festival (the Czech Woodstock) arranged evening kirtanas in Trutnov and Prague.
It was an adventure getting to Trutnov as I was depending on a bus to cross the Polish-Czech border which never came. Turns out it only ran on Fridays, and it was Thursday. We walked about 4 km to the first Czech town but found the last bus for the day had already left. While Trevor was doing his voice lessons, and I was trying to get a ride, a couple stopped and offered to give us a ride to the next town to catch the bus. The guy knew a little English, and I knew a little Polish, and we managed to converse. They were impressed I knew as much Polish as I did, which is very slight. The lady was from Poland and the guy from Czech. She spoke Polish, and he spoke a combination of the two languages from living near the border. From my attempted conversation, they decided that they liked us and drove us the whole 16 km to Trutnov, and we were very grateful.
The kirtana was at the devotee restaurant there called Baladeva. We were happy to get some prasadam after our long journey.
Martin, the organizer of the Trutnov festival, and his kids came for the kirtana. He has a fascination for Lord Jagannatha’s smiling face which appears on all the promotional material for the festival. Martin’s kids amazed me because all though they could not have been more than four or five years old, they played some shakers in time with the music for over half an hour. Trevor did a good job leading some kirtana. A few other people came, and they all had a good time.
Prague Evening Kirtana
We went on the usual Friday harinama in Prague, and then did a kirtana program at the not-yet-opened-at-that-time restaurant known as Gauranga. There are so many Hare Krishna restaurants in Prague now, I lost count of them. The husband and wife running this new Gauranga restaurant were very hospitable. While traveling there from Govindas, we met a couple who had some interest in Hare Krishna, and they came along with us and stayed for the entire three and a half hour kirtana. The man was familiar with Hare Krishna, yet it was new for the woman, and you could see she really liked it, and I was happy that by the will of Providence, she got that opportunity.
Parmesvara and Gopali’s Program in Modra
Parmesvara and Gopali are very friendly and enthusiastic disciples of Kadamba Kanana Swami, and they have fifteen or twenty Krishna programs each year at their house in Modra, a suburb of Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, under an hour from the Czech border.
I went there three and four years old, but was too busy the last two years, so I was happy to go again. Some of my friends from Czech Republic and Slovakia that I knew from the Polish Woodstock, the Czech Woodstock, and from Mayapur were there. There must have been about twenty people for the program which was an hour of kirtana and an hour of class. Valmiki Prabhu, who does kirtana at the Czech Woodstock, and Trevor chanted nicely, and then I spoke. I was pleased that several people asked nice questions. The prasadam was very nice and kept us going on the overnight bus ride to the Lvov, where we were to catch a train to Crimea for the Ukraine festival. There was a little time for an additional kirtana before we left on our trip, and I took advantage of that. Paramesvara Prabhu kindly asked his congregation to donate for my Ukraine trip as well as helping out himself, and I offer thanks to all the people who helped out in that way.
Insights
Srila Prabhupada:
from a recorded lecture on Srimad-Bhagavatam.
It is the duty of the father to instruct his the sons in the matter of the aim of life. Human life is meant for tapasya (austerity), not to imitate the hogs and dogs. People do not want to hear this, but because we are servants of Krishna we must instruct them anyway.
By our association with different modes of nature we are producing our next body.
The first instruction in Bhagavad-gta is “you are eternal.” Hearing this the intelligent person asks, “Why am I dying?”
Mukti means attaining your original form.
Although there are many processes for self-realization mentioned in Bhagavat-gita, Krishna recommends if you want to know Him, you should execute bhakti.
Any child can do it. If a child sees the form of Krishna in the temple, he can remember that form. Then one can do a little offering. A little flower, fruit, water.
To miss this opportunity to attain your original form by the simple practice of bhakti is suicidal.
If you accept something as prasadam, the mercy of the Lord, then there is no reaction, but if you accept something for your own enjoyment, you become entangled.
Ashram, whether brahmacari, grhastha, or sannyasa, means consciousness of Krishna is there.
You are kicked by the material nature, and you are master? Why are you so falsely proud?
from Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, Adi-lila 8.78:
“To engage in the service of the Lord is the natural function of the living entity, but because he is covered by the influence of maya, the material energy, he thinks it to be a very difficult task. But if he places himself under the guidance of a spiritual master and does everything sincerely, immediately the Lord, who is situated within everyone’s heart, dictates how to serve Him (dadami buddhi-yogam tam). The Lord gives this direction, and thus the devotee’s life becomes perfect.”
Bhakivaibhava Swami:
Sometimes hearing is stressed and sometimes chanting is stressed. Why both? Because they both go together.
When Srila Prabhupada heard George Harrison and John Lennon liked to chant Hare Krishna, he invited them to lead the Ratha-yatra procession in London. Unfortunately that did not happen.
In the early days, we chanted minimum six or eight hours a day. We literally witnessed miracles right on the street.
One time a very rough looking person came toward the party, and I worried what would happen. Then he slipped and fell on his head, and walked away.
Once one devotee was speaking and stressing preaching, the brhad-mrdanga. Srila Prabhupada said, “If you do not know how to play the small mrdanga, how will you play the big mrdanga.” In other words if we are not attracted to Hare Krishna, how will we inspire others.
Association with devotees leads to attraction to chanting the holy name, and so it can be conceived of as most important. The Bhagavatam declares glories of the holy name. The dhama is constantly vibrating the holy name of the Lord. The mantras used in deity worship are filled with Krishna’s names. Also Jiva Goswami and Hari-bhakta-vilasa say deity worship should be accompanied by the chanting of the holy name.
There is no other religious practice as pure as the chanting of the holy name.
Four Vishnudutas came because Ajamila chanted the four syllables of Narayana. They opposed the three Yamaduta who came because Ajamila commited sins with body, mind, and words.
Although one may commit offenses, the solution is never to stop chanting. One must submit to the holy name, ask for forgiveness, and continue chanting.
Srila Prabhupada says our mauna vrata (vow of silence) is not to speak until we finish chanting our 16 rounds each day.
Lokanath Swami:
We are chanting the same mantra that made Lord Caitanya mad, and our goal is also to become mad with love for God.
Our madness in this world is a perverted reflection of the madness of the spiritual world.
Lord Caitanya had a night club, where they chanted and danced all night [Srivasa Angam]. You can say that Kirtana-Mela started at Srivasa Angam.
Wherever there is Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, there is Kirtana-Mela. Those who come in contact with Him immediately begin chanting and dancing.
This Hare Krishna mantra is a Radha Krishna mantra, so if you chant it your ultimate destination will be Vrndavana.
The Lord has come to stop our endeavors for bhukti, mukti, and siddhi?sense enjoyment, liberation, and mystic power.
Lord Caitanya has talked less and chanted more.
Lord Caitanya even made the animals mad with love of God. The deer and tigers were embracing and kissing.
If you want to become fearless, chant Hare Krishna (etan nirvidyamanamam . . . ).
We are in the Krishna sun, and we are in the present?no past, no future.
There was left over nectar from the Kumbha-mela pot, and the people possessing it proposed to Sukadeva Goswami that he give some to Maharaja Pariksit in exchange for Krishna–katha. Sukadeva Goswami’s response was in effect, “Get lost.” Why? Because they committed a big offense comparing narrations of Krishna to fruitive activities.
Sacinandana Swami:
Bring your attention, your everything to the first name, the first “Hare.” If you pay attention to the first “Hare,” by the grace of Radharani, you will see that you can easily pay attention to the entire mantra. It will be as effortless as swimming downstream with the current of Mother Ganges. We have to start somewhere, so start with the first “Hare.”
Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami:
from his autobiography:
[Returning from a UN prayer meeting,] Swamiji said, “They will never have peace unless they chant and give up their sinful activities.”
from ISKCON in the 1970s:
In India, ISKCON published a book listing the names of every Indian scholar who supported us and his address. It was suggested that we do the same thing in America for the Americans. I suggested that this might be dangerous in America because our enemies had already taken the names of whatever professors we have published and written to them. They have slandered and blasphemed our movement to try to turn them away from us, and it hasn’t been good. When Prabhupada heard that, he immediately agreed that it would not be a good idea to publish a book like that in America. He said, ‘It will damage us by counter-propaganda. Yes, Canakya Pandita says don’t disclose your secrets, the enemy will take advantage.’ I asked Prabhupada, ‘But what about the injunction that a devotee should treat his enemy so openly that he should be willing to reveal everything to him?’ Prabhupada said that the days are different now in Kali-yuga. If the other party are cheaters, I shall cheat; otherwise they will take advantage.
He asked how much fifty books cost. He was told $250. ‘Is that much for an American? Make a policy and organization, whereby you introduce the books in every home?a full set in every home. Everyone can afford $250. The GBC should make such a plan. Print the full sets in every language. You have to use your intelligence. You have to find out how to remove $250 from their pockets and give them fifty books. They won’t be cheated. They will gain greater value for their lives. Don’t think your business is finished. There’s much work ahead. This is the water of the seed which has already taken root. Distribute more and more books and go on opening more centers. People should hear about us. In this way you have to protect the seed that is already planted there.’
“I told him the leaders were not enthusiastic about this outpost in Bhuvanesvara. He said, ‘Why not? This is the capital of Orissa. People are coming here. We have to have centers in every town, and even if it is not a big center, some have to work and stay here. Even if the people are coming every night only to eat kichari, that is also preaching.’
“Then he said that, ‘Our program for everywhere is kirtana and prasadam distribution. We distribute books and the collection is to support these things, kirtana and prasadam distribution.’ I mentioned that in America over the years, the devotees are not seen in the streets shaven-headed holding kirtana. He said, ‘It is not necessary to stress chanting in the streets. Distribute books and invite them to come for the love feast. They will see us by coming to the temple and joining in the kirtana.’”
Krishna Ksetra Prabhu:
Kirtana comes from kirti which means “fame” and implies that it should be spread.
Hobbs says, “Memory is the fading of experience.”
I see memories as being like cooking and the flavors are coming out.
Jiva Goswami says to make arcana (deity worship) complete we should have kirtana (chanting of the glories of God) before, after, and during the worship.
Narada Muni says the best way to see the Lord is to hear the Lord and to chant His name.
Vandanam (offering prayers) is part of arcanam (deity worship).
With gratitude we are acknowledging we are receptacles for the Lord’s mercy, and thus we become eligible to receive more mercy.
Srila Prabhupada indicated that we have one prayer, “O Lord, O energy of Lord, please engage us in eternal loving devotional service.”
The Hare Krishna mantra is in the vocative, calling out to Krishna. And when you call out, you hope to get a response. Not that you are so inattentive, you do not notice if there is any response or not.
Coming to Kirtana Mela, we get a sense that, “We have arrived. This is what it is all about.”
Q: How to recognize Krishna’s response?
A: By hearing the response of the kirtana of devotees we are hearing Krishna response to our chanting. By seeing how Krishna acts in our life is another way.
Kadamba Kanana Swami:
Generally we pray to the Lord to free ourselves from anxiety, but here Haridasa Thakura is desiring that the Lord be free from anxiety.
Those living entities who can’t chant, like the trees, are purified by the chanting of others.
For the materialists in their festivals there is just the pleasure of the moment, but for the devotees, there is the pleasure of the moment plus the eternal spiritual benefit. For us the benefit does not end when the kirtana (chanting) ends.
When Radha discovers a quality of Krishna, Her love embraces it. This continues more and more.
Most of the things I was asked to do as a devotee, I did not want to do, but I did them because it looked bad to say no. And people would say you have done so wonderfully, but I was just doing it because I was told to.
In Sri Caitanya-caritamrita it is said Lord Jagannatha is the most merciful deity.
If your ticket is booked to leave before the Ratha-yatra [at the end of the Kirtana-Mela], it is a useless ticket. Throw it away.
Externally Srivasa Thakura was a party animal until an astrologer told him he had one year to live and he was wasting his life. Then he engaged in the devotional service day and night. One night he was hearing Srimad-Bhagavatam and felt he difficulty breathing so he went to a balcony and in his weakened condition he fell off the balcony. He was caught by an unknown person who disappeared in the crowd. That was on the day he was supposed to die. The next morning the first book Srivasa Thakura saw was the Brhan-Naradiya Purana and the verse, harer nama harer nama, and Srivas Thakura began having kirtana every night at his home.
In a Caitanya-caritamrita purport, Srila Prabhupada tells whenever there are the activities of the Sunday feast Lord Caitanya is personally present. There is a special guest at the Sunday feast [Lord Caitanya]!
So here at Kirtana-Mela Lord Caitanya is also personally present. We may not see.
Our habits can be purified. We can be what we are, but purified. Purified by the chanting. May we leave here with wave of enthusiasm and end our festival with Ratha-yatra. Tell those who stayed home they made a mistake. Tell our friends who stayed home to watch it on the Internet.
The faithful can mean full of faith or loyal, and as faith increases we can be more loyal.
We have moments that give us faith and keep us going.
How can you miss the Ratha-yatra? How can use miss the dessert? You had the curd subji, but you can’t have the dessert?
We have come here not just to taste the nectar we know but also the nectar we do not know.
If you want to see the entire lecture as a video, click below:
Ananda Caitanya Prabhu:
Without being humble we cannot perform sacrifice.
Ratha-yatra is meant for engaging the people in general in the auspicious congregational chanting of the holy name.
In Puri almost all the attenders of Ratha-yatra are devotees, but in the West we see the extent of Lord Jagannatha’s mercy.
In Lithuania one person came to the temple and inquired, “Can I participate in hearing, chanting, and worshiping with you?” “Yes,” we replied, “but how did you hear about it?” The person explained, “Someone asked me to guard his books one December ten years ago . . .”
Compassion arises when we are happy in Krishna consciousness, and when we see how everyone is suffering.
Lord Brahma says, “O great actor, my Lord, all these poor creatures are constantly perplexed by hunger, thirst, severe cold, secretion and bile, attacked by coughing winter, blasting summer, rains and many other disturbing elements, and overwhelmed by strong sex urges and indefatigable anger. I take pity on them, and I am very much aggrieved for them.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.9.8)
Krishna teaches that to the extent the you give up the desire to enjoy the fruits of your actions you can be peaceful.
The lotus relies on the sun although the sun is so very far away.
When you are self-centered cooperation is impossible, but for those who are Krishna centered, cooperation is possible.
Strive for the association of pure unalloyed devotees, and you will receive the inspiration.
Ananta Vardhana Prabhu:
Lord Caitanya forbade his followers from making fun of the defeated Kesvava Kasmiri, showing that although the Lord was victorious, He was not proud.
When Shiva was bewildered by Mohini, he did not feel angry at the Lord, but rather appreciated the greatness of the Lord.
—–
bhakti-sadhana-srestha sunite haila mana
prabhu upadesa kaila nama-sankirtana
“Then the Bhattacarya asked Caitanya Mahaprabhu, ‘Which item is most important in the execution of devotional service?’ The Lord replied that the most important item was the chanting of the holy name of the Lord.” (Sri Caitanya-caritmrita, Madhya 6.241)
Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 8, No. 17
By Krishna-kripa das
(September 2012, part one)
Wroclaw and Leipzig Ratha-yatras, Kirtana-Mela, Kirtan in Eastern Europe
(Sent from London, England, on November 2, 2012)
Where I Went and What I Did
After traveling with Janananda Goswami in Slovakia and Czech Republic, Dhruva, Trevor, Vamana, and I went to Poland for the Wroclaw (pronounced Vrotswav) Ratha-yatra and then onward to Germany for Kirtana-Mela, which culminated in a wonderful Leipzig Ratha-yatra. The next day Trevor and I joined the Nitai Gauranga harinama bus tour led by temple president Ananda Vardhana Prabhu of Talinn, Estonia, and returned to Wroclaw with them for an ecstatic harinama there with over twenty devotees. Trevor and I did harinama in Wroclaw two more days, and then went to Bydgoszcz (pronounced Bidgoshch) for harinama and an Ekadasi evening kirtana program. Then Trevor and I traveled south and participated in evening kirtana programs arranged by Punya Palaka Prabhu in Trutnov and Prague, Czech Republic, and held at restaurants Baladeva and Gauranga, respectively. Next we went to Modra, Slovakia, where Parmesvara and Gopali Prabhus have a very successful nama-hatta program at their home, and we had a lot of nice kirtana, and more people asked more questions than usual after the lecture. Then Trevor and I traveled by an overnight bus and then an overnight train to Crimea for Bhakti Sangama, popularly known as the Ukraine festival.
Highlights in the “Insights” section include some quotes from a Srila Prabhupada lecture and purport and some great appreciations of the chanting of the holy name by the senior devotees who came to Kirtana-Mela, such as Bhaktivaibhava Swami, Lokanatha Swami, Sacinandana Swami, Krishna Ksetra Prabhu, Kadamba Kanana Swami.
Itinerary
London – Nov. 2–3
New York State – Nov. 4 – 14
Jacksonville, Florida: Nov. 15
Gainesville, Florida: Nov. 16, 2012–April 2013
Wroclaw Ratha-yatra
Of the three Wroclaw Ratha-yatras I have been on, this was one of the best. We went around the Rynek Square four times, more than some years, and the sound system was better. One year Trivikrama Swami had been there, and his enthusiasm in kirtana, would have certainly added some extra life, complementing the beautiful bhajanas and more mellow kirtana of Krishna Ksetra Prabhu, who played wonderfully on the stage in the show afterward, which was watched by a good crowd. There were not an unlimited number of invitations to the stage show afterward, but it was nearby, and there were flyers for those who showed obvious interest. Seeing I had flyers in my hand, some people even approached me asking for them, revealing their enthusiasm for the devotional event.
Kirtana-Mela in Germany
Kirtana-Mela in Germany was attended by fewer people than last year, but the people I talked to were all glad that they came. The fact that the fee was higher and its payment more enforced may be one reason why.
As a brahmacari I got a discount in exchange for doing a service which was to amount to four hours a day, but turned out to be less. I cut vegetables in the kitchen after lunch as usually my favorite kirana singers were in the morning or the evening. The second day we decided to have our own kirtana while chopping vegetables, and we went on for three hours, with different devotees taking turns leading. It felt good as we were there for kirtana and we were doing kirtana but at the same time were we serving the devotees who love kirtana by helping prepare their meals, and so we felt we got a special benediction.
Advaita Gauranga Prabhu, a Jayapataka Swami disciple from Ukraine who has lived in Germany a number of years, was inspired to organize a couple of harinamas, and other devotees inspired by those, organized one of their own the following day. The first was in Limbach, the town where the Kirtana-Mela was held.
The second harinama, the one in Chemnitz was attended by thirty-two devotees.
Several people took videos of us, and we passed out invitations to the upcoming Leipzig Ratha-yatra and biweekly Leipzig Sunday feast to the interested people.
There was also a harinama for the children around the compound where the Kirtana-Mela was held. The harinama was just after a drama about Lord Caitanya inspiring the animals in Jharikhanda Forest to chant and dance, and so many of the children were still wearing their animal costumes, so it was an especially wild sight! Several children took turns leading, including one girl who was dressed as Lord Caitanya, and it was beautiful to see. The following video shows just one of the child singers chanting in the parking lot, but before and after, the harinama visited other parts of the camp.
At Kirtana-Mela, B. B. Govinda Swami was beautiful to hear:
Lokanath Swami was full of transcendental life-giving energy, and he got a lot of people dancing. Candramauli and Janananda Maharajas’ excelled in the dancing department, inspiring others. Yadubara Prabhu chanted one of my favorite tunes in a beautiful way. Kadamba Kanana Swami led during the same time as we went out on the harinamas, and I felt bad to miss so many of his kirtanas, as he always seems to give it all he has in the way of enthusiasm. Madhava Prabhu’s singing reminded me of our trip on the Mexico bus tour where we got to hear him sing live practically every evening for three weeks. It is always a tease that now our encounters with him are just a few days here or there, never like the three-week stretch on the Mexican bus tour. Shyamananda Prabhu from Ireland put in more hours than all the male dancers and really excelled in that area. We feel gratitude toward all the kirtana leaders and responders who shared their enthusiasm for the holy name and to those great souls who helped organize the event.
Although we left early to take advantage of a ride to Leipzig with temple president, Sadbhuja Prabhu, we heard that Sacinandana Swami said at the morning class that that would be the last Kirtana-Mela there in Germany. Apparently not all of the organizers had known of his decision and many were upset as the festival was very successful from the point of view of the participants and the organizers had enjoyed the sacrifice to make it possible for all. We also appreciate all the work done by the largely Russian group of devotees who took a lot of trouble to give hundreds of people a chance to hear and chant the holy name for hours a day together and increase their inspiration in Krishna consciousness, and we hope that by the enthusiasm of the devotees it will continue in the future.
Leipzig Ratha-yatra
I have been to Leipzig Ratha-yatra three times and this year was clearly the best. As last year, it was right after the Kirtana-Mela so all the leaders and most of the responders were filled with enthusiasm from that event.
It reminded us of how Lord Caitanya and His associates did their year of nocturnal kirtanas at Srivasa Thakura’s house, and then brought their enthusiasm to the streets of Navadvipa in massive sankirtana. Leipzig has a small downtown, and it is easy to reach many people in that concentrated place.
I think of the many Ratha-yatras I have attended, Leipzig excels in the promotion department with three sizes of promotional literature describing the Ratha-yatra, the stage show after, the local temple programs, and the history of the event. Often people who see our Ratha-yatras are not invited to the stage show after nor the local temple programs and that is a great loss from the promotional point of view. Also an amazing large number of devotees volunteered to distribute the literature. The devotees also passed out fruit, cookies, and sweet balls, as the prasadam of Lord Jagannatha, and book distribution went on as well. There was always a crowd of people viewing the stage show which continued till almost 8:00 p.m. in the evening. The public feast was wonderful, with a curd and vegetable preparation and all the srikhand you could eat! Many, many thanks to Sadbhuja Prabhu and his team for putting on a wonderful Ratha-yatra event. Thanks to Vishnujana Prabhu (alias Harinama Ruci) for the pictures. More can be found on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.420275604702047.101837.100001588327802&type=3
A Day with the Nitai Gauranga Harinama Bus Party
Devotees, numbering about eighteen, from various countries, especially the Baltics, headed by Ananda Vardhana Prabhu of Tallinn, Estonia, have a six-month long traveling harinama bus program in the summer visiting different cities in Europe. Bhakta Trevor and I had the pleasure of traveling with them to Wroclaw after the Leipzig Ratha-yatra, and chanting with them there for three hours. Having an additional eighteen devotees to do harinama with for a day was a great blessing. There are many good singers, instrumentalists, and dancers in the party. We chanted in the Rynek Square where just one week before we had the Wroclaw Ratha-yatra, and it was great to be giving the people there another chance to connect with Krisna through kirtana. Several devotees distribute books and CDs simultaneously to spread the mercy and to maintain the program. Devotees in Wroclaw have open programs periodically at a venue other than the temple to attract new people, and we distributed many invitations to the upcoming one.
Other Harinamas in Wroclaw
Trevor and I did a couple days of three hours of harinama in Wroclaw afterward, the first day joined by Balarama Prabhu, who does programs in his hometown of Opole. You can see people are attracted by the chanting, even from a small party. The second day, we sang for an hour each, before, after, and during a semi-weekly prasadam distribution program, near popular Rynek Square. Many of the regular prasadam eaters were happy with the live kirtana. (Usually there is a tape playing.) One lady we met earlier on harinama, joined us again to listen, to take prasadam, to buy incense, and to give me the ultimate small donation, one grosze ($0.003). An enthusiastic personality in the prasadam program is a young lady named Vishnu Patni Dasi, from Pogorzelica, a coastal town in the north, who met Indradyumna Swami’s festival tour when she was sixteen. Now thirteen years later, she is initiated and assists greatly with the deity worship and prasadam distribution in our Wroclaw temple. I have seen her come many years on the tour festivals, and it is wonderful to witness the development of her enthusiasm for spiritual life.
Harinama and Program in Bydgoszcz, Poland
Several years ago Parananda Prabhu, nama-hatta leader in Bydgoszcz, invited me to harinama in his town. I thought if I went there alone, the two of us would not make much of a party, but this year as Trevor was traveling with me, I decided to go there as we could have a better harinama.
We found a lot of people smiled, moved with the music, and seemed to appreciate the kirtana. One man who had an administrative role in one section of the city said he would like us to perform there sometime.
We had a program with a few devotees, a talk, and a very lively kirtana, with a lot of dancing, and some fine Ekadasi prasadam.
Trutnov Evening Kirtana
Punya Palaka Prabhu, who organizes our Krishna camp at Trutnov Open Air Music Festival (the Czech Woodstock) arranged evening kirtanas in Trutnov and Prague.
It was an adventure getting to Trutnov as I was depending on a bus to cross the Polish-Czech border which never came. Turns out it only ran on Fridays, and it was Thursday. We walked about 4 km to the first Czech town but found the last bus for the day had already left. While Trevor was doing his voice lessons, and I was trying to get a ride, a couple stopped and offered to give us a ride to the next town to catch the bus. The guy knew a little English, and I knew a little Polish, and we managed to converse. They were impressed I knew as much Polish as I did, which is very slight. The lady was from Poland and the guy from Czech. She spoke Polish, and he spoke a combination of the two languages from living near the border. From my attempted conversation, they decided that they liked us and drove us the whole 16 km to Trutnov, and we were very grateful.
The kirtana was at the devotee restaurant there called Baladeva. We were happy to get some prasadam after our long journey.
Martin, the organizer of the Trutnov festival, and his kids came for the kirtana. He has a fascination for Lord Jagannatha’s smiling face which appears on all the promotional material for the festival. Martin’s kids amazed me because all though they could not have been more than four or five years old, they played some shakers in time with the music for over half an hour. Trevor did a good job leading some kirtana. A few other people came, and they all had a good time.
Prague Evening Kirtana
We went on the usual Friday harinama in Prague, and then did a kirtana program at the not-yet-opened-at-that-time restaurant known as Gauranga. There are so many Hare Krishna restaurants in Prague now, I lost count of them. The husband and wife running this new Gauranga restaurant were very hospitable. While traveling there from Govindas, we met a couple who had some interest in Hare Krishna, and they came along with us and stayed for the entire three and a half hour kirtana. The man was familiar with Hare Krishna, yet it was new for the woman, and you could see she really liked it, and I was happy that by the will of Providence, she got that opportunity.
Parmesvara and Gopali’s Program in Modra
Parmesvara and Gopali are very friendly and enthusiastic disciples of Kadamba Kanana Swami, and they have fifteen or twenty Krishna programs each year at their house in Modra, a suburb of Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, under an hour from the Czech border.
I went there three and four years old, but was too busy the last two years, so I was happy to go again. Some of my friends from Czech Republic and Slovakia that I knew from the Polish Woodstock, the Czech Woodstock, and from Mayapur were there. There must have been about twenty people for the program which was an hour of kirtana and an hour of class. Valmiki Prabhu, who does kirtana at the Czech Woodstock, and Trevor chanted nicely, and then I spoke. I was pleased that several people asked nice questions. The prasadam was very nice and kept us going on the overnight bus ride to the Lvov, where we were to catch a train to Crimea for the Ukraine festival. There was a little time for an additional kirtana before we left on our trip, and I took advantage of that. Paramesvara Prabhu kindly asked his congregation to donate for my Ukraine trip as well as helping out himself, and I offer thanks to all the people who helped out in that way.
Insights
Srila Prabhupada:
from a recorded lecture on Srimad-Bhagavatam.
It is the duty of the father to instruct his the sons in the matter of the aim of life. Human life is meant for tapasya (austerity), not to imitate the hogs and dogs. People do not want to hear this, but because we are servants of Krishna we must instruct them anyway.
By our association with different modes of nature we are producing our next body.
The first instruction in Bhagavad-gta is “you are eternal.” Hearing this the intelligent person asks, “Why am I dying?”
Mukti means attaining your original form.
Although there are many processes for self-realization mentioned in Bhagavat-gita, Krishna recommends if you want to know Him, you should execute bhakti.
Any child can do it. If a child sees the form of Krishna in the temple, he can remember that form. Then one can do a little offering. A little flower, fruit, water.
To miss this opportunity to attain your original form by the simple practice of bhakti is suicidal.
If you accept something as prasadam, the mercy of the Lord, then there is no reaction, but if you accept something for your own enjoyment, you become entangled.
Ashram, whether brahmacari, grhastha, or sannyasa, means consciousness of Krishna is there.
You are kicked by the material nature, and you are master? Why are you so falsely proud?
from Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, Adi-lila 8.78:
“To engage in the service of the Lord is the natural function of the living entity, but because he is covered by the influence of maya, the material energy, he thinks it to be a very difficult task. But if he places himself under the guidance of a spiritual master and does everything sincerely, immediately the Lord, who is situated within everyone’s heart, dictates how to serve Him (dadami buddhi-yogam tam). The Lord gives this direction, and thus the devotee’s life becomes perfect.”
Bhakivaibhava Swami:
Sometimes hearing is stressed and sometimes chanting is stressed. Why both? Because they both go together.
When Srila Prabhupada heard George Harrison and John Lennon liked to chant Hare Krishna, he invited them to lead the Ratha-yatra procession in London. Unfortunately that did not happen.
In the early days, we chanted minimum six or eight hours a day. We literally witnessed miracles right on the street.
One time a very rough looking person came toward the party, and I worried what would happen. Then he slipped and fell on his head, and walked away.
Once one devotee was speaking and stressing preaching, the brhad-mrdanga. Srila Prabhupada said, “If you do not know how to play the small mrdanga, how will you play the big mrdanga.” In other words if we are not attracted to Hare Krishna, how will we inspire others.
Association with devotees leads to attraction to chanting the holy name, and so it can be conceived of as most important. The Bhagavatam declares glories of the holy name. The dhama is constantly vibrating the holy name of the Lord. The mantras used in deity worship are filled with Krishna’s names. Also Jiva Goswami and Hari-bhakta-vilasa say deity worship should be accompanied by the chanting of the holy name.
There is no other religious practice as pure as the chanting of the holy name.
Four Vishnudutas came because Ajamila chanted the four syllables of Narayana. They opposed the three Yamaduta who came because Ajamila commited sins with body, mind, and words.
Although one may commit offenses, the solution is never to stop chanting. One must submit to the holy name, ask for forgiveness, and continue chanting.
Srila Prabhupada says our mauna vrata (vow of silence) is not to speak until we finish chanting our 16 rounds each day.
Lokanath Swami:
We are chanting the same mantra that made Lord Caitanya mad, and our goal is also to become mad with love for God.
Our madness in this world is a perverted reflection of the madness of the spiritual world.
Lord Caitanya had a night club, where they chanted and danced all night [Srivasa Angam]. You can say that Kirtana-Mela started at Srivasa Angam.
Wherever there is Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, there is Kirtana-Mela. Those who come in contact with Him immediately begin chanting and dancing.
This Hare Krishna mantra is a Radha Krishna mantra, so if you chant it your ultimate destination will be Vrndavana.
The Lord has come to stop our endeavors for bhukti, mukti, and siddhi?sense enjoyment, liberation, and mystic power.
Lord Caitanya has talked less and chanted more.
Lord Caitanya even made the animals mad with love of God. The deer and tigers were embracing and kissing.
If you want to become fearless, chant Hare Krishna (etan nirvidyamanamam . . . ).
We are in the Krishna sun, and we are in the present?no past, no future.
There was left over nectar from the Kumbha-mela pot, and the people possessing it proposed to Sukadeva Goswami that he give some to Maharaja Pariksit in exchange for Krishna–katha. Sukadeva Goswami’s response was in effect, “Get lost.” Why? Because they committed a big offense comparing narrations of Krishna to fruitive activities.
Sacinandana Swami:
Bring your attention, your everything to the first name, the first “Hare.” If you pay attention to the first “Hare,” by the grace of Radharani, you will see that you can easily pay attention to the entire mantra. It will be as effortless as swimming downstream with the current of Mother Ganges. We have to start somewhere, so start with the first “Hare.”
Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami:
from his autobiography:
[Returning from a UN prayer meeting,] Swamiji said, “They will never have peace unless they chant and give up their sinful activities.”
from ISKCON in the 1970s:
In India, ISKCON published a book listing the names of every Indian scholar who supported us and his address. It was suggested that we do the same thing in America for the Americans. I suggested that this might be dangerous in America because our enemies had already taken the names of whatever professors we have published and written to them. They have slandered and blasphemed our movement to try to turn them away from us, and it hasn’t been good. When Prabhupada heard that, he immediately agreed that it would not be a good idea to publish a book like that in America. He said, ‘It will damage us by counter-propaganda. Yes, Canakya Pandita says don’t disclose your secrets, the enemy will take advantage.’ I asked Prabhupada, ‘But what about the injunction that a devotee should treat his enemy so openly that he should be willing to reveal everything to him?’ Prabhupada said that the days are different now in Kali-yuga. If the other party are cheaters, I shall cheat; otherwise they will take advantage.
He asked how much fifty books cost. He was told $250. ‘Is that much for an American? Make a policy and organization, whereby you introduce the books in every home?a full set in every home. Everyone can afford $250. The GBC should make such a plan. Print the full sets in every language. You have to use your intelligence. You have to find out how to remove $250 from their pockets and give them fifty books. They won’t be cheated. They will gain greater value for their lives. Don’t think your business is finished. There’s much work ahead. This is the water of the seed which has already taken root. Distribute more and more books and go on opening more centers. People should hear about us. In this way you have to protect the seed that is already planted there.’
“I told him the leaders were not enthusiastic about this outpost in Bhuvanesvara. He said, ‘Why not? This is the capital of Orissa. People are coming here. We have to have centers in every town, and even if it is not a big center, some have to work and stay here. Even if the people are coming every night only to eat kichari, that is also preaching.’
“Then he said that, ‘Our program for everywhere is kirtana and prasadam distribution. We distribute books and the collection is to support these things, kirtana and prasadam distribution.’ I mentioned that in America over the years, the devotees are not seen in the streets shaven-headed holding kirtana. He said, ‘It is not necessary to stress chanting in the streets. Distribute books and invite them to come for the love feast. They will see us by coming to the temple and joining in the kirtana.’”
Krishna Ksetra Prabhu:
Kirtana comes from kirti which means “fame” and implies that it should be spread.
Hobbs says, “Memory is the fading of experience.”
I see memories as being like cooking and the flavors are coming out.
Jiva Goswami says to make arcana (deity worship) complete we should have kirtana (chanting of the glories of God) before, after, and during the worship.
Narada Muni says the best way to see the Lord is to hear the Lord and to chant His name.
Vandanam (offering prayers) is part of arcanam (deity worship).
With gratitude we are acknowledging we are receptacles for the Lord’s mercy, and thus we become eligible to receive more mercy.
Srila Prabhupada indicated that we have one prayer, “O Lord, O energy of Lord, please engage us in eternal loving devotional service.”
The Hare Krishna mantra is in the vocative, calling out to Krishna. And when you call out, you hope to get a response. Not that you are so inattentive, you do not notice if there is any response or not.
Coming to Kirtana Mela, we get a sense that, “We have arrived. This is what it is all about.”
Q: How to recognize Krishna’s response?
A: By hearing the response of the kirtana of devotees we are hearing Krishna response to our chanting. By seeing how Krishna acts in our life is another way.
Kadamba Kanana Swami:
Generally we pray to the Lord to free ourselves from anxiety, but here Haridasa Thakura is desiring that the Lord be free from anxiety.
Those living entities who can’t chant, like the trees, are purified by the chanting of others.
For the materialists in their festivals there is just the pleasure of the moment, but for the devotees, there is the pleasure of the moment plus the eternal spiritual benefit. For us the benefit does not end when the kirtana (chanting) ends.
When Radha discovers a quality of Krishna, Her love embraces it. This continues more and more.
Most of the things I was asked to do as a devotee, I did not want to do, but I did them because it looked bad to say no. And people would say you have done so wonderfully, but I was just doing it because I was told to.
In Sri Caitanya-caritamrita it is said Lord Jagannatha is the most merciful deity.
If your ticket is booked to leave before the Ratha-yatra [at the end of the Kirtana-Mela], it is a useless ticket. Throw it away.
Externally Srivasa Thakura was a party animal until an astrologer told him he had one year to live and he was wasting his life. Then he engaged in the devotional service day and night. One night he was hearing Srimad-Bhagavatam and felt he difficulty breathing so he went to a balcony and in his weakened condition he fell off the balcony. He was caught by an unknown person who disappeared in the crowd. That was on the day he was supposed to die. The next morning the first book Srivasa Thakura saw was the Brhan-Naradiya Purana and the verse, harer nama harer nama, and Srivas Thakura began having kirtana every night at his home.
In a Caitanya-caritamrita purport, Srila Prabhupada tells whenever there are the activities of the Sunday feast Lord Caitanya is personally present. There is a special guest at the Sunday feast [Lord Caitanya]!
So here at Kirtana-Mela Lord Caitanya is also personally present. We may not see.
Our habits can be purified. We can be what we are, but purified. Purified by the chanting. May we leave here with wave of enthusiasm and end our festival with Ratha-yatra. Tell those who stayed home they made a mistake. Tell our friends who stayed home to watch it on the Internet.
The faithful can mean full of faith or loyal, and as faith increases we can be more loyal.
We have moments that give us faith and keep us going.
How can you miss the Ratha-yatra? How can use miss the dessert? You had the curd subji, but you can’t have the dessert?
We have come here not just to taste the nectar we know but also the nectar we do not know.
If you want to see the entire lecture as a video, click below:
Ananda Caitanya Prabhu:
Without being humble we cannot perform sacrifice.
Ratha-yatra is meant for engaging the people in general in the auspicious congregational chanting of the holy name.
In Puri almost all the attenders of Ratha-yatra are devotees, but in the West we see the extent of Lord Jagannatha’s mercy.
In Lithuania one person came to the temple and inquired, “Can I participate in hearing, chanting, and worshiping with you?” “Yes,” we replied, “but how did you hear about it?” The person explained, “Someone asked me to guard his books one December ten years ago . . .”
Compassion arises when we are happy in Krishna consciousness, and when we see how everyone is suffering.
Lord Brahma says, “O great actor, my Lord, all these poor creatures are constantly perplexed by hunger, thirst, severe cold, secretion and bile, attacked by coughing winter, blasting summer, rains and many other disturbing elements, and overwhelmed by strong sex urges and indefatigable anger. I take pity on them, and I am very much aggrieved for them.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.9.8)
Krishna teaches that to the extent the you give up the desire to enjoy the fruits of your actions you can be peaceful.
The lotus relies on the sun although the sun is so very far away.
When you are self-centered cooperation is impossible, but for those who are Krishna centered, cooperation is possible.
Strive for the association of pure unalloyed devotees, and you will receive the inspiration.
Ananta Vardhana Prabhu:
Lord Caitanya forbade his followers from making fun of the defeated Kesvava Kasmiri, showing that although the Lord was victorious, He was not proud.
When Shiva was bewildered by Mohini, he did not feel angry at the Lord, but rather appreciated the greatness of the Lord.
—–
bhakti-sadhana-srestha sunite haila mana
prabhu upadesa kaila nama-sankirtana
“Then the Bhattacarya asked Caitanya Mahaprabhu, ‘Which item is most important in the execution of devotional service?’ The Lord replied that the most important item was the chanting of the holy name of the Lord.” (Sri Caitanya-caritmrita, Madhya 6.241)
Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 8, No. 16
By Krishna-kripa das
(August 2012, part two)
Czech Woodstock, Polish Padayatra & Festival, Slovakia
(Sent from Manchester, England, on September 30, 2012)
Where I Went and What I Did
After the Kirtana Mela in Spain, I took a late night flight to Budapest, spent the night with Uddhava Prabhu, who I knew from America, and then took buses to Prague and then to Trutnov for the Trutnov Open Air Music Festival, also known as the Czech Woodstock. I love sharing kirtana with the people at that event, and I share with you some highlights. Next at the invitation of my Polish devotee friends, I attended their padayatra and nama-hatta festival, both very satisfying experiences. Then I met up with Bhakta Trevor and Dhruva Prabhu and traveled to eastern Slovakia where we joined Janananda Goswami and his followers and did harinamas and programs in Slovakia and one Czech Republic.
I have an extensive “Insights” section this time, and include points from Srila Prabhupada’s lectures and books, realizations by Janananda Goswami, notes from the lectures, books, and online journal of Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami, notes on a seminar by Krishna Ksetra Prabhu on yama and niyama, as well as an initiation lecture by him, and notes by lectures by senior devotees in the Polish yatra.
More Polish Woodstock Stories
Since I wrote about the Polish Woodstock, I have heard more nice stories about it from different devotees.
One devotee from Wroclaw told me he saw a girl at the Woodstock who loved dancing in our Ratha-yatra procession. She was so enthusiastic that she induced her boyfriend and another couple to also participate and so they all spend three hours dancing in the Ratha-yatra procession. A month later the devotee telling me the story was standing by the book table after the Ratha-yatra in Wroclaw, and he saw that very same girl, and she inquired from him which of the book he recommended.
For several years, several of my friends and I have done harinama at the train station the day after the Polish Woodstock. Many hundreds of people are camped out around the train station waiting for trains, and those who liked visiting our Krishna’s Village of Peace are happy to see us once again before returning home. If you haven’t seen the video for this year, here is a link to it:
Gatida Prabhu, who organizes the questions and answers tent on the Polish tour, has a friendly relationship with the person in charge of organizing all the extra trains needed to take the thousands of people back to their homes after the event. That man told him that there was a lot of tension there at the train station among the people waiting for hours for the trains, but when the devotees came through with their chanting, the tension disappeared. The man requested, or practically ordered, that each year the devotees do harinama at the train station after the Woodstock to keep the peace. The man is also involved in naming the extra trains. One of the trains this year was a Polish phrase that meant warm and sweet, and referred to the halava that the devotees serve 150,000 plates of during the Woodstock event. Gatida said we could have some input into the train names and perhaps next year they could be given names like “Jagannath Express,” one of the trains in India from Howrah to Puri.
Trutnov Open Air Music Festival
(Czech Woodstock)
Our participation in the Trutnov Open Air Music Festival (also known as Czech Woodstock) continues for three and a half days. Mostly we do chanting and distribution of spiritual food. Beyond that there is bharat-natyam dance, face painting, a questions and answers booth, and of course, a book table. We are friends with Martin, the organizer, who loves the form of Lord Jagannatha, and includes His face on all the stages, wristbands, and promotional material.
Thus we have our own stage and camp. There are other stages, and we also got to chant and discuss our philosophy on the stage next to the main stage this year for a change.
I danced with the mantra sign in front of the stage because I could not find a good place to put it on the stage.
Guru Das (center above), disciple of Srila Prabhupada, who joined in San Francisco in 1967, was our guest this year, and he spoke several times at a couple different venues. His theme was that open air music concerts were about more than music and drugs, but a place where people can get to together and share ideas about living a better life and benefiting the world.
He talked about the history of open air music events beginning in the sixties and of his relationship with George Harrison and the Beatles. He was happy doing his own thing in those days, but when he met Srila Prabhupada he became even happier. The high of drugs wore off and became a low, but the swami had a program for staying high forever, and it worked. “Don’t take my word for it,” he said. “Try it yourself. Chant Hare Krishna.” I think anyone with a tendency to seek a higher consciousness would have been moved by his words and his friendly appeal. One young lady in the front row of the audience laughed at the humorous points he made during one talk, so I decided to give her a mantra card and invitation to our programs, which she gave to a friend. That night she returned and sat again in the front row, listening to the kirtana. Then she suddenly jumped up and began chanting and dancing like everyone else in front of her. Then she would sit down for a little bit, but it would become to ecstatic, and again she would get up and chant and dance. The beautiful thing about Trutnov is you can see attendees gradually advance in attraction to Krishna even in the course of a single festival.
Some people in the audience put a lot of feeling in their chanting which was impressive to me. Some even chanted during both the lead and response, and a few would go on for hours. Often you could just look at people and chant, smile, and dance, and they would begin to chant, smile, and dance, too.
One group of five people from Holland told me they have been coming to Trutnov for seven years. Dancing and singing with the Hare Krishnas is a regular daily part of the festival for them. We remembered each other from previous years, and they all wanted their picture taken with me. I told them how we have 200 people singing at Queen’s Day in Amsterdam.
My harinama friend Vishnujana Prabhu said some people told him they have been coming to our Krishna camp at Trutnov for five years.
At our spiritual food booth run by Govinda’s restaurant, two girls came by with trays and a list of food items for a band on the main stage called Anti-Flag. Apparently three of the band members wanted vegan Krishna food for dinner and had sent their staff to get it! According to Wikipedia, Anti-Flag is an American punk rock band from Pittsburg started back in 1988. They also played at the Polish Woodstock.
I would dance a certain step on our stage, and some people in the crowd would faithfully follow it with delight. The next two days some of the people would see me and begin the dance I taught them with smiles on their faces.
I saw Shari and Elishka chanting and dancing in crowd, mutual friends who I have known for three years and who appear my video from 2009. At Trutnov, Shari says, she only eats our food, and the other food makes her sick. Shari wants to get a Ph.D. in ethnology specializing in religion. She is friends with the people who run the devotee restaurant named Baladeva’s in Trutnov. She likes the Trutnov festival because you can count on their being kirtana there whenever you go, whereas kirtana programs at Govinda’s in Prague are rare. I suggested periodically we should do a six-hour kirtana at Govinda’s in Prague, later Punya Palaka Prabhu and I began to make plans for one.
One girl stayed in our tent for over an a hour with her boyfriend, who was often chanting, but although she smiled, she never chanted the whole time. I wondered, “What will it take to get that girl to chant?”
The next day the couple met us on harinama and during the harinama she began to sing along. Later she came to our camp and chanted with us as well.
One lady, who looked to be in her thirties, remembered me from last year. She said she came to our camp the previous night and found the kirtanavery powerful, so much so it brought tears to her eyes.
A brother and sister from Brno both liked the chanting and dancing. I told them I planned to be in Brno the evening of August 27 hoped to do some chanting then, and they gave me they contact details so I could inform them.
One young lady whose mother is Czech and whose father is Italian was singing both during the lead and the response and dancing vigorously, with heart and soul. She seemed so enthusiastic that I thought she must have had previous experience with the devotees, but she said coming to our tent the night before was her first experience. Mostly she lives in Prague, so I gave her an invitation to the our Wednesday program at the Govinda’s restaurant there, which she was happy to receive. Seeing her enthusiasm I was reminded that Krishna promises to reward us as we surrender to Him, and so if someone puts their heart and soul into chanting His names, they will certainly experience some reciprocation from Krishna, who will inspire them to continue.
One person who only knew Czech I referred to Punya Palaka Prabhu who later told me what he said. He had very grave look on his face and he said he experienced the Hare Krishna mantra to be like a powerful drug, not just marijuana but like heroin. Punya could not understand if he felt Hare Krishna was positive or not, so he asked him. The man said gravely that it was neither bad nor good but very powerful. I found that to be an interesting realization because transcendental pleasure is beyond the good and bad of the material world, and the Hare Krishnal mantra is described to be so powerful it can free one from all his karma. Later on in my reading of Caitanya-caritamrita, I found that the author compared the love of God distributed by Lord Caitanya through the medium of the holy name with a great intoxicant: “The fruit of love of Godhead distributed by Caitanya Mahaprabhu is such a great intoxicant that anyone who eats it, filling his belly, immediately becomes maddened by it, and automatically he chants, dances, laughs and enjoys.” So this young Czech man had a little realization of this, although he was worried because he was not aware that the effect is beneficial.
On the last night, I brought my harmonium and sound system in case some of the Trutnov attendees wanted to continue the chanting while other devotees were packing up our camp. One lady and three guys stayed and we chanted another 15 minutes or so, along with Bhaktin Martina (known as TG) from Slovakia, who likes to sing. The lady in the group lives in Trutnov, and Punya Palaka Prabhu explained to her that we have periodic programs in our restaurant there called Baladeva.
Sri Sri Gaura Nitai and Srila Prabhupada were the actual leaders of the Polish Padayatra, whose participants walked for five days, August 19 to 23, between and through villages around New Shantipur farm in southwestern Poland.
The Polish devotees did padayatra with a small ox cart pulled by one bull.
Here we passed cows in the field, and they looked like they longed to join our party.
The devotees did a two-hour evening program with sit down bhajans,
Ramayana puppet show, lecture,
a stand up kirtana,
and prasadam each evening.
During the walk we would chant Hare Krishna the entire time. One or two devotees would distribute books.
Also a teenage devotee girl named Devaki would distribute prasadam cookies, and she was very successful, getting almost everyone to take one, and friend of hers took pictures. Sometimes during the afternoon one or two devotees would distribute books in the village where the evening program was to be held and invite people to it.
The people in general were happy to see the devotees. One man removed his hat and waved it in salute, speaking words of praise as the cart bearing Gaura-Nitai and Srila Prabhupada, and followed by their harinama sankirtana party, passed. One man offered a military salute. Many people waved, smiled, and took pictures. Even the drivers of cars passing us slowed down and took pictures.
One car had a sun roof, and a child stood on the seat of the car and took pictures from the opening in the roof as the car drove slowly by. From the same car, an adult took pictures through the opened window on the passenger side of the vehicle. One car passed us and stopped, and a lady got out to take pictures. I thought about Lord Caitanya’s prediction of his name being chanted in every town and village and was filled with ecstatic emotions seeing it gradually happening. I usually focus on chanting in the cities because more people benefit, but Lord Caitanya actually said “nagaradi grama,” every town and village. He is so merciful, He wants to benefit everyone everywhere, in all the teeny little villages, not just the masses in the cities.
The family of Visvakarma Prabhu, a former head cook on the Polish tour, impressed me with their participation in the evening bhajanas. Husband, wife, and children were very much into the kirtana, all happily chanting, and the young twin girls were singing, smiling, clapping, and swaying back and forth with the music the entire time. Usually kids space out after awhile and lose interest, but the twin girls were enthusiastic the whole time, and it was beautiful to see.
Srila Prabhupada says on his popular recording describing the Hare Krishna mantra that “even a dog can take part in the chanting.” I never had so much realization of the truth of this as at one evening program on the padayatra, when four kids from the audience danced to the kirtana, with their pet dog in the middle of them.
Two kids were on each side of the dog, with the two kids next to the dog each holding one of the front paws of the animal, while it danced on its back two legs. It was amazing to see.
Here is a video with some highlights of the Polish Padayatra:
For those averse to austerities, I recommend the Polish padayatra over the Slovenian and Czech padayatras, which I visited in 2009.In Poland only the bull and one or two devotees camped out where our walk finished each day. The rest of the devotees returned to the temple by minibus and came back early the next afternoon. There was only about two hours of walking each day, compared to the longest padayatraI visited, the one in Slovenia where they do sometimes five or six hours a day. The Polish padayatra included a public program every evening, like the Czech one. The Slovenian padayatra did a public evening program every fourth day or so, but had a more extensive program of prasadam and book distribution during the walk.
When I first saw the cart which was much smaller than the ones in Czech and Slovenia, I was thinking in material way that this was a small time event. I mentioned my surprise at the small cart to a brahmacari friend, Pancatattva Prabhu, who said “Small is beautiful.” And indeed it was a very wonderful padayatra despite its apparent smallness. It was beautiful to see the happiness of the souls in the different towns and villages who from their words and smiles you could see had a spontaneous attraction to the devotees and their chanting. It reminded me of Srila Prabhupada’s statement:
“Krishna consciousness is not an artificial imposition on the mind. This consciousness is the original energy of the living entity. When we hear the transcendental vibration, this consciousness is revived and the process is recommended by authorities for this age. By practical experience also, we can perceive that by chanting this maha-mantra,or the great chanting for deliverance, one can at once feel transcendental ecstasy from the spiritual stratum.”
The last day of the padayatra was the best. We passed out all the prasadam cookies as we walked. Sometimes some children followed us for ten or fifteen minutes, sometimes half an hour, walking or riding their bicycles. I gave a Polish mantra card to a couple of girls who seemed older and more seriously attracted than the rest, and they chanted a few mantras with us.
At the final kirtana of the program, three moms in the audience, perhaps in their thirties, loudly chanted the Hare Krishna mantra with big smiles on their faces. Several people videoed the parts of the kirtana, and one man videoed the whole thing. We only had a few mantra cards which we gave to the most enthusiastic chanters. As we were packing up, the three ladies amazed us by starting a Hare Krishna kirtana themselves. Some of the girls danced, and some of the devotees joined in and began playing the instruments.
We talk about how Krishna consciousness is universal and meant for everyone. Sometimes we have doubts because few are attracted. This program was a powerful confirmation for me that Krishna consciousness is for everyone and Krishna is all-attractive. Otherwise, how is it that thirty or forty people from a town so small I cannot find its population listed stay interested in the whole two-hour program? And how were these moms, with no prior experience of it, suddenly so happy to chant and so much attracted they wanted to start chanting on their own when we stopped?
Lord Caitanya wanted His name chanted in every town and village, and we can see that He does reciprocate when His followers endeavor in that way. We can only hope that more devotees in more countries, cities, towns, and villages, might endeavor in this way, and Lord Caitanya’s prediction might be realized sooner, rather than later, and many, many people will be benefited.
Poland Nama-Hatta Festival
Each year the Polish devotees have a nama-hatta festival at their farm in south Poland, New Shantipur. This year’s special guest was Krishna Ksetra Prabhu, who did a series of lectures on yama and nivasa, the first two steps of the astanga, or eight-step, yoga system. These two also have relevance in bhakti-yoga, and he talked about that. Lots of devotees like kirtana there, and it was fun to chant with them. I did a little seminar on the meanings of our daily songs and prayers as they are more fulfilling to sing when we know what they mean, and the few people who came were glad they had.A special feature they added this year was a Ratha-yatra on the roads surrounding the farm.
I was given a kerosene torch to hold, and I found it challenging to illuminate Lord Jagannatha while walking along with the cart. You had to avoid stepping on other people’s toes, setting the cart on fire, or stepping in the stinging nettle plants along the side of the road. Still it was great to do another Ratha-yatra, although I recommended they might consider doing it during the daytime next year. Nama Hatta leader, Trisama Prabhu, who I have known from coming to the Polish tour for years, kindly gave me a donation for my travels and invited me back to the festival next year.
Chanting Enroute from Poland to Slovakia
Trevor, who aspires to be initiated by Janananda Goswami, and I traveled together from Wroclaw, Poland, to Bratislava, Slovakia, together, to meet my friend, Dhruva Prabhu, who was flying in from London, and then continued to join Janananda Goswami’s traveling harinama party which was presently based on our farm, New Ekacakra, outside Presov, in eastern Slovakia. While traveling we chanting in Wroclaw before our train began, and in Klodzko, Poland, while waiting for a bus that was meant to replace our train to Miedzylesie, the town on the Polish/Czech border. Two construction workers took a break from their work to investigate us. Having a limited Polish vocabulary, I explained our performance as “spiritual vibrations from India,” which they seemed to understand, accept, and appreciate.
At Ústí n.Orlicí in Czech we met a girl I remembered from the Czech Woodstock this year. She dressed like a hippie, with a long colorful skirt and had come every day to our Krishna camp with her friends, and always seemed happy to be there. I mentioned we had programs in different part of Czech, and she said that she was already in contact with one of the devotee girls about them. She said she had come to the Trutnov festival five times. She was so into it she had the armbands for all five festivals on her arm! I gave her some maha-prasadam, burfi from our Polish farm, and she was very happy to receive it. I was trying to figure out if there was some reason Krishna arranged we miss our train in Poland and had to take a later one, and I came to the conclusion one reason might be He wanted to give that girl some more mercy.
We were too late to chant much at Brno, where I hoped we would do harinama. We did chant some while waiting for a tram, on the way to our place to stay, offered by a Brno student we had met at Trutnov the previous year, who has began regularly attending the weekly programs at our local center. (The book distributors were traveling so we could not stay at the center.) While we were chanting a lady came up to us, smiling happily to encounter the Hare Krishnas, and she began to sing along. She talked to our host, and we learned that the woman apparently lived in Australia from where, she said, she knew about Hare Krishnas and that she is really into eastern philosophy. Both at the train station and on the way to our place several people said, “Hare Krishna” to us. This is probably because each Friday the devotees do harinama around the train station in Brno. We chanted the evening tune with our host, who we helped to learn the standard karatala beat, as Trevor cooked an Ekadasi dinner of potatoes and tomatoes. The next morming we chanted for the commuters waiting for the city bus, and people at the train station who happened to be standing on the same platform as our train toward Bratislava.
We got to Bratislava airport early, and we must have chanted for an hour there, both before and after meeting Dhruva Prabhu. We were pleased that the authorities allowed our chanting to continue unabated. Trevor practiced a few Hare Krishna tunes in the space between the carriages on the train to eastern Slovakia and also was not disturbed by the authorities.
Harinamas in Slovakia
Gypsy village near New Ekacakra:
We chanted for one and half hours at a gypsy village near the Hare Krishna farm in eastern Slovakia, Nova Ekacakra. For an hour we had an audience of 100 people. Some smiled, some clapped, some danced, and some even chanted Hare Krishna in tune. When we left the village 50 gypsy children followed us back to our car. We had one car and nine people so we had to make two trips to back to the temple, and some of us kept chanting while we waited for the car to return for us. When the last car left, there were still twenty kids there to wave good-bye to the chanting party.
Roznava:
We must have had about twelve devotees, led by Janananda Goswami, on harinama in Roznava, a district town in eastern Slovakia.
You could understand Hare Krishnas were a rare sight in Roznava by seeing the reactions of the people, but there are always some who smile approvingly, who give the old thumbs up, or take pictures. We started at Tesco, a traditional harinama meeting point in different cities, only surpassed by Marks and Spencers in the UK. Unfortunately we could not even stay a whole hour as we had to catch a couple buses to Hankova, which Maharaja has a disciple and where we stayed the night.
Stitnik:
It took two buses to Hankova, and so we had twenty minute layover at Stitnik,at a bus stop, surrounded by shops in the middle of that small town, with a bunch of people hanging out. I decided to chant, using our amplifier, as we sat on the bench waiting for the bus. A couple people came up close and took pictures. One lady wanted to have her picture taken with the devotees, and Jivananda Prabhu, the only one of the four of us who knew the Slovak language spoke to her. A boy took five minutes of video, smiling a lot while he was filming. Jivananda Prabhu said book distributors who later came to Stitnik found the residents still remembering favorably our spontaneous kirtana there.
Lucenec, where a very few devotees live, was another short and sweet harinama. We went up and down the main street once before having to catch our train to Bratislava. Janananda Goswami is very liberal to look after these devotees in small cities in eastern Slovakia by coming there and doing harinamas and programs with them.
Chanting in Czech
Janananda Goswami attended a monthly nama-hatta program just outside the medium-sized city of Pardubice, in northern Czech Republic, just 85 miles from the Polish border, the city where the first Czech temple was started. As our over-priced EC train arrived over an hour before the program, I suggested we do a harinama, and so four of us did. I always feel victorious to chant in a new city. We met two very favorable people. One was a young man who says he already chants Hare Krishna because he had heard a popular recording of the mantra a Czech pop singer had made in the 1960s or 1970s. Jivananda Prabhu talked to him and gave him information about our programs in Czech Republic. Another was a middle-aged gypsy woman who loved music, and imitated all our dance steps, spending over 20 minutes participating in our harinama. She kept trying to get her friends to join in, and one came over to look for a few minutes. It reminded me how attraction to Krishna sound is such an individual thing. Trevor considered the whole 75-minute harinama successful because that one lady was inspired to hear it so much and dance along. We’ chanted another ten minutes later at the Pardubice train station as we waited for our train to Poland for the next day’s Ratha-yatra in Wroclaw, which for us was to be followed by Kirtana-Mela in Germany.
Insights
Srila Prabhupada:
from a lecture on Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.5.2 given in Hyderabad, April 13, 1975:
Mukti[liberation] means to live without conditions.
To follow the mahajanas means to serve their mission. We are followers of Rupa Goswami. Why? Because he wanted to establish the mission of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He understood that Caitanya was Krishna come as a devotee to demonstrate the process to love Him.
We are bound up, but we are declaring independence. That is our foolishness. If you really want independence you have to surrender to Krishna or His representative.
For one who determined to be happy in the material world, it is impossible to advance in Krishna consciousness.
We are thinking we are purusa, the enjoyer, but we are actually prakrti, that which is enjoyed. When we accept our identity as prakrti and understandthat we are to be enjoyed by Krishna, then we are liberated.
As long as we want something, we cannot be prasanta, peaceful.
from lecture on Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.5.2 in London on September 17, 1969:
Liberation or freedom means you go to the spiritual world and do not come back. Not like the scientists going to the moon planet, collecting some dust, and coming back.
People are like animals. They have two hands and two legs, but they are animals, because they have been trained to be like animals.
If you associate with a mahatma(great soul) you become mahatma, if you associate with debauch, you become debauch.
from his Srimad-Bhagavatam5.7.6 purport:
If we massage a person’s legs, we do not really serve the legs but the person who possesses the legs. All the demigods are different parts of the Lord, and if we offer service to them, we actually serve the Lord Himself.
Janananda Goswami:
The Goswamis are our friends and our primary siksa [instructing] gurus. By serving them all obstacles to devotional service are vanquished and all spiritual desires are fulfilled. This result is obtained in proportion to our degree of surrender.
Taking the shelter of feet of the Six Goswamis can be understood to mean taking shelter of the servants of the Six Goswamis by following their instructions.
Rupa Manjari is in the party of Lalita.
We cannot write songs imitating Narottama Dasa Thakura or Bhaktivinoda Thakura as they are eternal associates of the Lord who have come to reveal a little of the spiritual world to us.
If we do not like serve the immediate predecessor, we will not make it in the spiritual world, because there also the devotees serve their immediate superior in the service of the Lord. They are satisfied to be the servant of the servant.
Raganuga spontaneously arises after the stage of liberation, after all anartas or unwanted things are eliminated. It is not something you can read about in book and practice. The removal of the anarthas happens by the mercy of Krishna who is pleased our practice of following the instructions of the scriptures and the saintly persons.
The barometer of advancement is increase in faith.
One of the biggest reasons we do not advance as that we do not hear attentively.
The guru gives us practical service we can render to remove anarthas. In the beginning we may not be able to understand how the practice Srila Prabhupada gave us is complete, but if we continue acting according to it, we will see how we are purified.
Although the asta-kalika lila is not part of our practice, our acaryas have given us different songs for different times of day, such as udilo aruna for the morning, bhaja bhakata at noon,and kiba jaya jaya gourcander in the evening.
The sankirtana movement is primarily the movement of Lord Nityananda. When He sees someone trying to distribute the holy name, He becomes very merciful.
To have no fear, remember Lord Nityananda and chant the holy name.
Q: What does khoda nitai mean?
A: Lord Nityananda is Himself the Owner and Manager [of the marketplace of the holy name].
Dhruva Maharaja by following the instructions of Narada he got the darsana of the Supreme Lord and offered many prayers from his purified consciousness to Supreme Lord.
Sri Caitanya Mahaprabu liked especially the pastimes of Dhruva Maharaja and Prahlada Maharaja. He was not just absorbed in the the madhurya-lila.
When we engage our senses in the service of Krishna, we become free from maya.
Maya is just to see things separately from Krishna. It is not a separate energy competing with Krishna like Satan.
Fire is in paper and a iron rod, but it takes more energy to realize the fire in a iron rod than in paper. But when either paper or a iron is hot, they can ignite something else.
When the senses are purified, one sees this material world as the spiritual world.
In practically every chapter, Krishna is telling Arjuna how he can remember Him.
Srila Prabhupada was asked, “What is Vaikuntha [the spiritual world] like?”
Srila Prabhupada replied, “ . . . You cannot see?”
We cannot see electricity but we can see the effect of electricity, and so it is true of the Lord. Electricity can create heat or cold or produce images on a screen and thus we can understand that the electricity is present. Similarly the Supersoul enters the inert material energy and produces effects by which understand His presence.
When we try to enjoy this material energy in different ways we get burned.
Devotional service means learning how to use that which is at our disposal in relationship with Krishna.
Instead of being in the lap of maya, we have to come to the lap of Krishna. In age this is possible through the chanting of the holy name of the Lord.
The same material energy becomes the vehicle for our going back to Godhead when we engage it in devotional service.
The Lord delivers one who tries to engage everything in is devotional service.
Duryodhana is said to be an expansion of Kali.
Srila Prabhupada explained that some of the eternal servants of the Lord serve the Lord only in his pastimes in the material world, and he gave the example of Arjuna.
Google Goswami is the siksa-guru for everyone and everyone can approach him to inquire. [jokingly]
Q[by Dhruva Prabhu]: This verse seems to say that we should not be afraid of maya rather, we should welcome her and engage her in Krishna’s service.
A: That depends on our qualification. One who is not so advanced cannot engage the material energy in Krishna’s service in all respects. Prahlada Maharaja has prayers declaring his fear ofmaya and others declaring his fearlessness of maya. In the neophtye state we should be afraid of maya and use fear in Krishna’s service in that way.
On harinama in villages in Africa, and even in India, in the beginning it looks like no one is there and then suddenly people will appear from all directions.
You may have problems with your mind. But at least you have a mind, and as the song indicates, your task is simply to redirect the mind to the lotus feet for the Lord.
This is the way to control the mind. To chant Hare Krishna with others. This is the austerity for this age. It is the essential practice for all of us. It is not the age for solitary bhajanas.
The leaders brought in some German devotees to organize the English devotees to collect money to cover past debts. We bathed wherever we found water, pure or impure. The food was austere. We worked long hours, intimidating people to give money. It was complete contrary to my nature. It was so miserable I could not take it anymore, and I prayed to Krishna. Suddenly I could deal with the whole situation in a jovial way and when we came back to the temple that weekend, I was taken off that service and given just the service I desired.
Draupadi offended both this month of Purusottama Masa and Durvasa Muni in a previous life. She wanted a husband, and Durvasa Muni told her to worship the month of Purusottama, but she did not listen and thus she offended both the muniand the month. Thus she had to suffer very much in her next life. Everyone had rejected this month, but Krishna had accepted it and made it his own, naming it Purusottama masa, and so had become the the best of all holy months. After suffering greatly in her life as Draupadi, Krishna advised that she and the Pandavas worship the month of Purusottama, and their fortune completely changed. They regained everything they had lost.
Sometimes people complain, “Krishna married 16,108 wives. He is simply interested in sex. What a debauchee!” We can ask them where did you get that information that Krishna had so many wives. “From your books.” But did you continue reading how He expanded in 16,108 forms and lived with each wife in her own palace and satisfied them in all respects? You can hardly maintain one wife, and yet he perfectly maintained so many.
Srila Prabhupada made the point that Krishna as the Supreme Lord is the proprietor of everything and thus all the ladies belong to him. Thus the men who claim women as their wives are claiming Krishna’s women as their own and thus they could be considered debauchees but not Krishna.
Radhanatha Swami’s friend Ghanashyama was a prince in a royal family, but he fell in love with Vrindavana while on pilgrimage with the family, and decided to stay there. When after several attempts to get him to return, his family threatened that they would disinherit him and he would be poverty stricken. He picked up a grain of a dust from Vrindavan, and said this one grain of dust is more valuable than all the opulence of the material world.
Purnima is a holy day, and it is in Purusottama, a holy month. So it is a very, very holy day.
In English we say holiday, which derives from holy day, because most holidays were originally holy days.
Now, of course, holy days are not so holy. They have calculated more illegitimate children are conceived on Christmas and more liquor is drunk on Christmas than any other day. My father would never drink, smoke, or gamble, but on Christmas he would make an exception and do all three. He would eat meat, but on Christmas he would eat more than usual.
We should take advantage of holy days, such as Purnima and Ekadasi, to increase our hearing and chanting about Krishna.
The Six Goswamis wrote books, established temples, excavated the pastimes places of the Lord, and they taught the practical process of deity worship.
Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s song Suddha-bhakata teaches the value of devotional service.
When we associate with someone we are affected by their qualities. Thus if we associate with people who are attracted to Krishna we are affected by that.
When Krishna sees we are serving His devotees, He is very pleased and cleanses our hearts, and our natural attraction for Krishna arises.
When there is dirt on an electric contact, it will not conduct properly, until we clean it. In the same way, when our heart is cleansed with can connect with Krishna.
Ultimately it is the mercy of Krishna that we become attracted to Him, so we try to live in such a way that we attract Krishna’s mercy.
The material world is mostly upside down, and thus we end up going down.
The material world is very entangling, like a maze. We cannot see where was have come from or where we are going. We do not even know where we supposed to be going.
The seed that produced the tree cannot be seen once the tree has come into being. In the same way, we cannot see our origin.
How this material world works or what causes it to work we cannot understand.
When we stop trying to enjoy, control, and exploit this material world, and we try to surrender to Krishna, He releases us from this material world.
Devotional service is a practical way of living our lives in the consciousness that Krishna is the proprietor.
Some people say we have get rid of our ego, but that is not actually a fact. Ego means identity. So we cannot get rid of our identity, but we can get rid of our false ego, or misconception of our identity. Otherwise it is like getting rid of our head to get rid of a headache. The falsity needs to be removed, not the ego.
Some people thinks that individually is temporary, but in Bg. 15.7 explains that individuality is eternal.
The nature of the expansion of the living entities to serve the supreme.
In the material world we see ourselves in the center, but in the spiritual world we see Krishna in the center. By seeing the things in this center in relationship to Krishna we become qualified to go to the spiritual world.
So people consider if we take parts away from the whole, the whole becomes less, but there are examples that this is not always true. For example, when a mother gives birth to a child, both the mother and child continue to exist. Similarly when Krishna expands as the living entities, He does not lose His identity nor become lessened.
What are manifestations of pride?
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Acting without considering the desire of Krishna.
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Lessening one’s spiritual practice.
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Becoming upset if we are not honored.
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Blaming others for our failings.
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Becoming upset when advised by others.
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We see that Krishna, the material energy, and our guru all meant to serve us.
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Showing off.
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Faultfinding.
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Inappropriately instructing others.
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Making no effort to be attentive while chanting japa because you think you have something better to do.
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You do not want to serve. You want to be served.
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Never forgiving.
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Forgetting the misery of being in maya (illusion).
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Taking things for granted.
When the deity installation ceremony was being televised in Australia, Srila Prabhupada did not refrain from correcting his disciples, although it may be misunderstood, because he was more concerned that Krishna be served properly than what people taught about him.
One who is not proud never takes offense at all. He sees that Krishna is trying to educate him or purified him.
Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 8, No. 16
By Krishna-kripa das
(August 2012, part two)
Czech Woodstock, Polish Padayatra & Festival, Slovakia
(Sent from Manchester, England, on September 30, 2012)
Where I Went and What I Did
After the Kirtana Mela in Spain, I took a late night flight to Budapest, spent the night with Uddhava Prabhu, who I knew from America, and then took buses to Prague and then to Trutnov for the Trutnov Open Air Music Festival, also known as the Czech Woodstock. I love sharing kirtana with the people at that event, and I share with you some highlights. Next at the invitation of my Polish devotee friends, I attended their padayatra and nama-hatta festival, both very satisfying experiences. Then I met up with Bhakta Trevor and Dhruva Prabhu and traveled to eastern Slovakia where we joined Janananda Goswami and his followers and did harinamas and programs in Slovakia and one Czech Republic.
I have an extensive “Insights” section this time, and include points from Srila Prabhupada’s lectures and books, realizations by Janananda Goswami, notes from the lectures, books, and online journal of Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami, notes on a seminar by Krishna Ksetra Prabhu on yama and niyama, as well as an initiation lecture by him, and notes by lectures by senior devotees in the Polish yatra.
More Polish Woodstock Stories
Since I wrote about the Polish Woodstock, I have heard more nice stories about it from different devotees.
One devotee from Wroclaw told me he saw a girl at the Woodstock who loved dancing in our Ratha-yatra procession. She was so enthusiastic that she induced her boyfriend and another couple to also participate and so they all spend three hours dancing in the Ratha-yatra procession. A month later the devotee telling me the story was standing by the book table after the Ratha-yatra in Wroclaw, and he saw that very same girl, and she inquired from him which of the book he recommended.
For several years, several of my friends and I have done harinama at the train station the day after the Polish Woodstock. Many hundreds of people are camped out around the train station waiting for trains, and those who liked visiting our Krishna’s Village of Peace are happy to see us once again before returning home. If you haven’t seen the video for this year, here is a link to it:
Gatida Prabhu, who organizes the questions and answers tent on the Polish tour, has a friendly relationship with the person in charge of organizing all the extra trains needed to take the thousands of people back to their homes after the event. That man told him that there was a lot of tension there at the train station among the people waiting for hours for the trains, but when the devotees came through with their chanting, the tension disappeared. The man requested, or practically ordered, that each year the devotees do harinama at the train station after the Woodstock to keep the peace. The man is also involved in naming the extra trains. One of the trains this year was a Polish phrase that meant warm and sweet, and referred to the halava that the devotees serve 150,000 plates of during the Woodstock event. Gatida said we could have some input into the train names and perhaps next year they could be given names like “Jagannath Express,” one of the trains in India from Howrah to Puri.
Trutnov Open Air Music Festival
(Czech Woodstock)
Our participation in the Trutnov Open Air Music Festival (also known as Czech Woodstock) continues for three and a half days. Mostly we do chanting and distribution of spiritual food. Beyond that there is bharat-natyam dance, face painting, a questions and answers booth, and of course, a book table. We are friends with Martin, the organizer, who loves the form of Lord Jagannatha, and includes His face on all the stages, wristbands, and promotional material.
Thus we have our own stage and camp. There are other stages, and we also got to chant and discuss our philosophy on the stage next to the main stage this year for a change.
I danced with the mantra sign in front of the stage because I could not find a good place to put it on the stage.
Guru Das (center above), disciple of Srila Prabhupada, who joined in San Francisco in 1967, was our guest this year, and he spoke several times at a couple different venues. His theme was that open air music concerts were about more than music and drugs, but a place where people can get to together and share ideas about living a better life and benefiting the world.
He talked about the history of open air music events beginning in the sixties and of his relationship with George Harrison and the Beatles. He was happy doing his own thing in those days, but when he met Srila Prabhupada he became even happier. The high of drugs wore off and became a low, but the swami had a program for staying high forever, and it worked. “Don’t take my word for it,” he said. “Try it yourself. Chant Hare Krishna.” I think anyone with a tendency to seek a higher consciousness would have been moved by his words and his friendly appeal. One young lady in the front row of the audience laughed at the humorous points he made during one talk, so I decided to give her a mantra card and invitation to our programs, which she gave to a friend. That night she returned and sat again in the front row, listening to the kirtana. Then she suddenly jumped up and began chanting and dancing like everyone else in front of her. Then she would sit down for a little bit, but it would become to ecstatic, and again she would get up and chant and dance. The beautiful thing about Trutnov is you can see attendees gradually advance in attraction to Krishna even in the course of a single festival.
Some people in the audience put a lot of feeling in their chanting which was impressive to me. Some even chanted during both the lead and response, and a few would go on for hours. Often you could just look at people and chant, smile, and dance, and they would begin to chant, smile, and dance, too.
One group of five people from Holland told me they have been coming to Trutnov for seven years. Dancing and singing with the Hare Krishnas is a regular daily part of the festival for them. We remembered each other from previous years, and they all wanted their picture taken with me. I told them how we have 200 people singing at Queen’s Day in Amsterdam.
My harinama friend Vishnujana Prabhu said some people told him they have been coming to our Krishna camp at Trutnov for five years.
At our spiritual food booth run by Govinda’s restaurant, two girls came by with trays and a list of food items for a band on the main stage called Anti-Flag. Apparently three of the band members wanted vegan Krishna food for dinner and had sent their staff to get it! According to Wikipedia, Anti-Flag is an American punk rock band from Pittsburg started back in 1988. They also played at the Polish Woodstock.
I would dance a certain step on our stage, and some people in the crowd would faithfully follow it with delight. The next two days some of the people would see me and begin the dance I taught them with smiles on their faces.
I saw Shari and Elishka chanting and dancing in crowd, mutual friends who I have known for three years and who appear my video from 2009. At Trutnov, Shari says, she only eats our food, and the other food makes her sick. Shari wants to get a Ph.D. in ethnology specializing in religion. She is friends with the people who run the devotee restaurant named Baladeva’s in Trutnov. She likes the Trutnov festival because you can count on their being kirtana there whenever you go, whereas kirtana programs at Govinda’s in Prague are rare. I suggested periodically we should do a six-hour kirtana at Govinda’s in Prague, later Punya Palaka Prabhu and I began to make plans for one.
One girl stayed in our tent for over an a hour with her boyfriend, who was often chanting, but although she smiled, she never chanted the whole time. I wondered, “What will it take to get that girl to chant?”
The next day the couple met us on harinama and during the harinama she began to sing along. Later she came to our camp and chanted with us as well.
One lady, who looked to be in her thirties, remembered me from last year. She said she came to our camp the previous night and found the kirtanavery powerful, so much so it brought tears to her eyes.
A brother and sister from Brno both liked the chanting and dancing. I told them I planned to be in Brno the evening of August 27 hoped to do some chanting then, and they gave me they contact details so I could inform them.
One young lady whose mother is Czech and whose father is Italian was singing both during the lead and the response and dancing vigorously, with heart and soul. She seemed so enthusiastic that I thought she must have had previous experience with the devotees, but she said coming to our tent the night before was her first experience. Mostly she lives in Prague, so I gave her an invitation to the our Wednesday program at the Govinda’s restaurant there, which she was happy to receive. Seeing her enthusiasm I was reminded that Krishna promises to reward us as we surrender to Him, and so if someone puts their heart and soul into chanting His names, they will certainly experience some reciprocation from Krishna, who will inspire them to continue.
One person who only knew Czech I referred to Punya Palaka Prabhu who later told me what he said. He had very grave look on his face and he said he experienced the Hare Krishna mantra to be like a powerful drug, not just marijuana but like heroin. Punya could not understand if he felt Hare Krishna was positive or not, so he asked him. The man said gravely that it was neither bad nor good but very powerful. I found that to be an interesting realization because transcendental pleasure is beyond the good and bad of the material world, and the Hare Krishnal mantra is described to be so powerful it can free one from all his karma. Later on in my reading of Caitanya-caritamrita, I found that the author compared the love of God distributed by Lord Caitanya through the medium of the holy name with a great intoxicant: “The fruit of love of Godhead distributed by Caitanya Mahaprabhu is such a great intoxicant that anyone who eats it, filling his belly, immediately becomes maddened by it, and automatically he chants, dances, laughs and enjoys.” So this young Czech man had a little realization of this, although he was worried because he was not aware that the effect is beneficial.
On the last night, I brought my harmonium and sound system in case some of the Trutnov attendees wanted to continue the chanting while other devotees were packing up our camp. One lady and three guys stayed and we chanted another 15 minutes or so, along with Bhaktin Martina (known as TG) from Slovakia, who likes to sing. The lady in the group lives in Trutnov, and Punya Palaka Prabhu explained to her that we have periodic programs in our restaurant there called Baladeva.
Sri Sri Gaura Nitai and Srila Prabhupada were the actual leaders of the Polish Padayatra, whose participants walked for five days, August 19 to 23, between and through villages around New Shantipur farm in southwestern Poland.
The Polish devotees did padayatra with a small ox cart pulled by one bull.
Here we passed cows in the field, and they looked like they longed to join our party.
The devotees did a two-hour evening program with sit down bhajans,
Ramayana puppet show, lecture,
a stand up kirtana,
and prasadam each evening.
During the walk we would chant Hare Krishna the entire time. One or two devotees would distribute books.
Also a teenage devotee girl named Devaki would distribute prasadam cookies, and she was very successful, getting almost everyone to take one, and friend of hers took pictures. Sometimes during the afternoon one or two devotees would distribute books in the village where the evening program was to be held and invite people to it.
The people in general were happy to see the devotees. One man removed his hat and waved it in salute, speaking words of praise as the cart bearing Gaura-Nitai and Srila Prabhupada, and followed by their harinama sankirtana party, passed. One man offered a military salute. Many people waved, smiled, and took pictures. Even the drivers of cars passing us slowed down and took pictures.
One car had a sun roof, and a child stood on the seat of the car and took pictures from the opening in the roof as the car drove slowly by. From the same car, an adult took pictures through the opened window on the passenger side of the vehicle. One car passed us and stopped, and a lady got out to take pictures. I thought about Lord Caitanya’s prediction of his name being chanted in every town and village and was filled with ecstatic emotions seeing it gradually happening. I usually focus on chanting in the cities because more people benefit, but Lord Caitanya actually said “nagaradi grama,” every town and village. He is so merciful, He wants to benefit everyone everywhere, in all the teeny little villages, not just the masses in the cities.
The family of Visvakarma Prabhu, a former head cook on the Polish tour, impressed me with their participation in the evening bhajanas. Husband, wife, and children were very much into the kirtana, all happily chanting, and the young twin girls were singing, smiling, clapping, and swaying back and forth with the music the entire time. Usually kids space out after awhile and lose interest, but the twin girls were enthusiastic the whole time, and it was beautiful to see.
Srila Prabhupada says on his popular recording describing the Hare Krishna mantra that “even a dog can take part in the chanting.” I never had so much realization of the truth of this as at one evening program on the padayatra, when four kids from the audience danced to the kirtana, with their pet dog in the middle of them.
Two kids were on each side of the dog, with the two kids next to the dog each holding one of the front paws of the animal, while it danced on its back two legs. It was amazing to see.
Here is a video with some highlights of the Polish Padayatra:
For those averse to austerities, I recommend the Polish padayatra over the Slovenian and Czech padayatras, which I visited in 2009.In Poland only the bull and one or two devotees camped out where our walk finished each day. The rest of the devotees returned to the temple by minibus and came back early the next afternoon. There was only about two hours of walking each day, compared to the longest padayatraI visited, the one in Slovenia where they do sometimes five or six hours a day. The Polish padayatra included a public program every evening, like the Czech one. The Slovenian padayatra did a public evening program every fourth day or so, but had a more extensive program of prasadam and book distribution during the walk.
When I first saw the cart which was much smaller than the ones in Czech and Slovenia, I was thinking in material way that this was a small time event. I mentioned my surprise at the small cart to a brahmacari friend, Pancatattva Prabhu, who said “Small is beautiful.” And indeed it was a very wonderful padayatra despite its apparent smallness. It was beautiful to see the happiness of the souls in the different towns and villages who from their words and smiles you could see had a spontaneous attraction to the devotees and their chanting. It reminded me of Srila Prabhupada’s statement:
“Krishna consciousness is not an artificial imposition on the mind. This consciousness is the original energy of the living entity. When we hear the transcendental vibration, this consciousness is revived and the process is recommended by authorities for this age. By practical experience also, we can perceive that by chanting this maha-mantra,or the great chanting for deliverance, one can at once feel transcendental ecstasy from the spiritual stratum.”
The last day of the padayatra was the best. We passed out all the prasadam cookies as we walked. Sometimes some children followed us for ten or fifteen minutes, sometimes half an hour, walking or riding their bicycles. I gave a Polish mantra card to a couple of girls who seemed older and more seriously attracted than the rest, and they chanted a few mantras with us.
At the final kirtana of the program, three moms in the audience, perhaps in their thirties, loudly chanted the Hare Krishna mantra with big smiles on their faces. Several people videoed the parts of the kirtana, and one man videoed the whole thing. We only had a few mantra cards which we gave to the most enthusiastic chanters. As we were packing up, the three ladies amazed us by starting a Hare Krishna kirtana themselves. Some of the girls danced, and some of the devotees joined in and began playing the instruments.
We talk about how Krishna consciousness is universal and meant for everyone. Sometimes we have doubts because few are attracted. This program was a powerful confirmation for me that Krishna consciousness is for everyone and Krishna is all-attractive. Otherwise, how is it that thirty or forty people from a town so small I cannot find its population listed stay interested in the whole two-hour program? And how were these moms, with no prior experience of it, suddenly so happy to chant and so much attracted they wanted to start chanting on their own when we stopped?
Lord Caitanya wanted His name chanted in every town and village, and we can see that He does reciprocate when His followers endeavor in that way. We can only hope that more devotees in more countries, cities, towns, and villages, might endeavor in this way, and Lord Caitanya’s prediction might be realized sooner, rather than later, and many, many people will be benefited.
Poland Nama-Hatta Festival
Each year the Polish devotees have a nama-hatta festival at their farm in south Poland, New Shantipur. This year’s special guest was Krishna Ksetra Prabhu, who did a series of lectures on yama and nivasa, the first two steps of the astanga, or eight-step, yoga system. These two also have relevance in bhakti-yoga, and he talked about that. Lots of devotees like kirtana there, and it was fun to chant with them. I did a little seminar on the meanings of our daily songs and prayers as they are more fulfilling to sing when we know what they mean, and the few people who came were glad they had.A special feature they added this year was a Ratha-yatra on the roads surrounding the farm.
I was given a kerosene torch to hold, and I found it challenging to illuminate Lord Jagannatha while walking along with the cart. You had to avoid stepping on other people’s toes, setting the cart on fire, or stepping in the stinging nettle plants along the side of the road. Still it was great to do another Ratha-yatra, although I recommended they might consider doing it during the daytime next year. Nama Hatta leader, Trisama Prabhu, who I have known from coming to the Polish tour for years, kindly gave me a donation for my travels and invited me back to the festival next year.
Chanting Enroute from Poland to Slovakia
Trevor, who aspires to be initiated by Janananda Goswami, and I traveled together from Wroclaw, Poland, to Bratislava, Slovakia, together, to meet my friend, Dhruva Prabhu, who was flying in from London, and then continued to join Janananda Goswami’s traveling harinama party which was presently based on our farm, New Ekacakra, outside Presov, in eastern Slovakia. While traveling we chanting in Wroclaw before our train began, and in Klodzko, Poland, while waiting for a bus that was meant to replace our train to Miedzylesie, the town on the Polish/Czech border. Two construction workers took a break from their work to investigate us. Having a limited Polish vocabulary, I explained our performance as “spiritual vibrations from India,” which they seemed to understand, accept, and appreciate.
At Ústí n.Orlicí in Czech we met a girl I remembered from the Czech Woodstock this year. She dressed like a hippie, with a long colorful skirt and had come every day to our Krishna camp with her friends, and always seemed happy to be there. I mentioned we had programs in different part of Czech, and she said that she was already in contact with one of the devotee girls about them. She said she had come to the Trutnov festival five times. She was so into it she had the armbands for all five festivals on her arm! I gave her some maha-prasadam, burfi from our Polish farm, and she was very happy to receive it. I was trying to figure out if there was some reason Krishna arranged we miss our train in Poland and had to take a later one, and I came to the conclusion one reason might be He wanted to give that girl some more mercy.
We were too late to chant much at Brno, where I hoped we would do harinama. We did chant some while waiting for a tram, on the way to our place to stay, offered by a Brno student we had met at Trutnov the previous year, who has began regularly attending the weekly programs at our local center. (The book distributors were traveling so we could not stay at the center.) While we were chanting a lady came up to us, smiling happily to encounter the Hare Krishnas, and she began to sing along. She talked to our host, and we learned that the woman apparently lived in Australia from where, she said, she knew about Hare Krishnas and that she is really into eastern philosophy. Both at the train station and on the way to our place several people said, “Hare Krishna” to us. This is probably because each Friday the devotees do harinama around the train station in Brno. We chanted the evening tune with our host, who we helped to learn the standard karatala beat, as Trevor cooked an Ekadasi dinner of potatoes and tomatoes. The next morming we chanted for the commuters waiting for the city bus, and people at the train station who happened to be standing on the same platform as our train toward Bratislava.
We got to Bratislava airport early, and we must have chanted for an hour there, both before and after meeting Dhruva Prabhu. We were pleased that the authorities allowed our chanting to continue unabated. Trevor practiced a few Hare Krishna tunes in the space between the carriages on the train to eastern Slovakia and also was not disturbed by the authorities.
Harinamas in Slovakia
Gypsy village near New Ekacakra:
We chanted for one and half hours at a gypsy village near the Hare Krishna farm in eastern Slovakia, Nova Ekacakra. For an hour we had an audience of 100 people. Some smiled, some clapped, some danced, and some even chanted Hare Krishna in tune. When we left the village 50 gypsy children followed us back to our car. We had one car and nine people so we had to make two trips to back to the temple, and some of us kept chanting while we waited for the car to return for us. When the last car left, there were still twenty kids there to wave good-bye to the chanting party.
Roznava:
We must have had about twelve devotees, led by Janananda Goswami, on harinama in Roznava, a district town in eastern Slovakia.
You could understand Hare Krishnas were a rare sight in Roznava by seeing the reactions of the people, but there are always some who smile approvingly, who give the old thumbs up, or take pictures. We started at Tesco, a traditional harinama meeting point in different cities, only surpassed by Marks and Spencers in the UK. Unfortunately we could not even stay a whole hour as we had to catch a couple buses to Hankova, which Maharaja has a disciple and where we stayed the night.
Stitnik:
It took two buses to Hankova, and so we had twenty minute layover at Stitnik,at a bus stop, surrounded by shops in the middle of that small town, with a bunch of people hanging out. I decided to chant, using our amplifier, as we sat on the bench waiting for the bus. A couple people came up close and took pictures. One lady wanted to have her picture taken with the devotees, and Jivananda Prabhu, the only one of the four of us who knew the Slovak language spoke to her. A boy took five minutes of video, smiling a lot while he was filming. Jivananda Prabhu said book distributors who later came to Stitnik found the residents still remembering favorably our spontaneous kirtana there.
Lucenec, where a very few devotees live, was another short and sweet harinama. We went up and down the main street once before having to catch our train to Bratislava. Janananda Goswami is very liberal to look after these devotees in small cities in eastern Slovakia by coming there and doing harinamas and programs with them.
Chanting in Czech
Janananda Goswami attended a monthly nama-hatta program just outside the medium-sized city of Pardubice, in northern Czech Republic, just 85 miles from the Polish border, the city where the first Czech temple was started. As our over-priced EC train arrived over an hour before the program, I suggested we do a harinama, and so four of us did. I always feel victorious to chant in a new city. We met two very favorable people. One was a young man who says he already chants Hare Krishna because he had heard a popular recording of the mantra a Czech pop singer had made in the 1960s or 1970s. Jivananda Prabhu talked to him and gave him information about our programs in Czech Republic. Another was a middle-aged gypsy woman who loved music, and imitated all our dance steps, spending over 20 minutes participating in our harinama. She kept trying to get her friends to join in, and one came over to look for a few minutes. It reminded me how attraction to Krishna sound is such an individual thing. Trevor considered the whole 75-minute harinama successful because that one lady was inspired to hear it so much and dance along. We’ chanted another ten minutes later at the Pardubice train station as we waited for our train to Poland for the next day’s Ratha-yatra in Wroclaw, which for us was to be followed by Kirtana-Mela in Germany.
Insights
Srila Prabhupada:
from a lecture on Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.5.2 given in Hyderabad, April 13, 1975:
Mukti[liberation] means to live without conditions.
To follow the mahajanas means to serve their mission. We are followers of Rupa Goswami. Why? Because he wanted to establish the mission of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He understood that Caitanya was Krishna come as a devotee to demonstrate the process to love Him.
We are bound up, but we are declaring independence. That is our foolishness. If you really want independence you have to surrender to Krishna or His representative.
For one who determined to be happy in the material world, it is impossible to advance in Krishna consciousness.
We are thinking we are purusa, the enjoyer, but we are actually prakrti, that which is enjoyed. When we accept our identity as prakrti and understandthat we are to be enjoyed by Krishna, then we are liberated.
As long as we want something, we cannot be prasanta, peaceful.
from lecture on Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.5.2 in London on September 17, 1969:
Liberation or freedom means you go to the spiritual world and do not come back. Not like the scientists going to the moon planet, collecting some dust, and coming back.
People are like animals. They have two hands and two legs, but they are animals, because they have been trained to be like animals.
If you associate with a mahatma(great soul) you become mahatma, if you associate with debauch, you become debauch.
from his Srimad-Bhagavatam5.7.6 purport:
If we massage a person’s legs, we do not really serve the legs but the person who possesses the legs. All the demigods are different parts of the Lord, and if we offer service to them, we actually serve the Lord Himself.
Janananda Goswami:
The Goswamis are our friends and our primary siksa [instructing] gurus. By serving them all obstacles to devotional service are vanquished and all spiritual desires are fulfilled. This result is obtained in proportion to our degree of surrender.
Taking the shelter of feet of the Six Goswamis can be understood to mean taking shelter of the servants of the Six Goswamis by following their instructions.
Rupa Manjari is in the party of Lalita.
We cannot write songs imitating Narottama Dasa Thakura or Bhaktivinoda Thakura as they are eternal associates of the Lord who have come to reveal a little of the spiritual world to us.
If we do not like serve the immediate predecessor, we will not make it in the spiritual world, because there also the devotees serve their immediate superior in the service of the Lord. They are satisfied to be the servant of the servant.
Raganuga spontaneously arises after the stage of liberation, after all anartas or unwanted things are eliminated. It is not something you can read about in book and practice. The removal of the anarthas happens by the mercy of Krishna who is pleased our practice of following the instructions of the scriptures and the saintly persons.
The barometer of advancement is increase in faith.
One of the biggest reasons we do not advance as that we do not hear attentively.
The guru gives us practical service we can render to remove anarthas. In the beginning we may not be able to understand how the practice Srila Prabhupada gave us is complete, but if we continue acting according to it, we will see how we are purified.
Although the asta-kalika lila is not part of our practice, our acaryas have given us different songs for different times of day, such as udilo aruna for the morning, bhaja bhakata at noon,and kiba jaya jaya gourcander in the evening.
The sankirtana movement is primarily the movement of Lord Nityananda. When He sees someone trying to distribute the holy name, He becomes very merciful.
To have no fear, remember Lord Nityananda and chant the holy name.
Q: What does khoda nitai mean?
A: Lord Nityananda is Himself the Owner and Manager [of the marketplace of the holy name].
Dhruva Maharaja by following the instructions of Narada he got the darsana of the Supreme Lord and offered many prayers from his purified consciousness to Supreme Lord.
Sri Caitanya Mahaprabu liked especially the pastimes of Dhruva Maharaja and Prahlada Maharaja. He was not just absorbed in the the madhurya-lila.
When we engage our senses in the service of Krishna, we become free from maya.
Maya is just to see things separately from Krishna. It is not a separate energy competing with Krishna like Satan.
Fire is in paper and a iron rod, but it takes more energy to realize the fire in a iron rod than in paper. But when either paper or a iron is hot, they can ignite something else.
When the senses are purified, one sees this material world as the spiritual world.
In practically every chapter, Krishna is telling Arjuna how he can remember Him.
Srila Prabhupada was asked, “What is Vaikuntha [the spiritual world] like?”
Srila Prabhupada replied, “ . . . You cannot see?”
We cannot see electricity but we can see the effect of electricity, and so it is true of the Lord. Electricity can create heat or cold or produce images on a screen and thus we can understand that the electricity is present. Similarly the Supersoul enters the inert material energy and produces effects by which understand His presence.
When we try to enjoy this material energy in different ways we get burned.
Devotional service means learning how to use that which is at our disposal in relationship with Krishna.
Instead of being in the lap of maya, we have to come to the lap of Krishna. In age this is possible through the chanting of the holy name of the Lord.
The same material energy becomes the vehicle for our going back to Godhead when we engage it in devotional service.
The Lord delivers one who tries to engage everything in is devotional service.
Duryodhana is said to be an expansion of Kali.
Srila Prabhupada explained that some of the eternal servants of the Lord serve the Lord only in his pastimes in the material world, and he gave the example of Arjuna.
Google Goswami is the siksa-guru for everyone and everyone can approach him to inquire. [jokingly]
Q[by Dhruva Prabhu]: This verse seems to say that we should not be afraid of maya rather, we should welcome her and engage her in Krishna’s service.
A: That depends on our qualification. One who is not so advanced cannot engage the material energy in Krishna’s service in all respects. Prahlada Maharaja has prayers declaring his fear ofmaya and others declaring his fearlessness of maya. In the neophtye state we should be afraid of maya and use fear in Krishna’s service in that way.
On harinama in villages in Africa, and even in India, in the beginning it looks like no one is there and then suddenly people will appear from all directions.
You may have problems with your mind. But at least you have a mind, and as the song indicates, your task is simply to redirect the mind to the lotus feet for the Lord.
This is the way to control the mind. To chant Hare Krishna with others. This is the austerity for this age. It is the essential practice for all of us. It is not the age for solitary bhajanas.
The leaders brought in some German devotees to organize the English devotees to collect money to cover past debts. We bathed wherever we found water, pure or impure. The food was austere. We worked long hours, intimidating people to give money. It was complete contrary to my nature. It was so miserable I could not take it anymore, and I prayed to Krishna. Suddenly I could deal with the whole situation in a jovial way and when we came back to the temple that weekend, I was taken off that service and given just the service I desired.
Draupadi offended both this month of Purusottama Masa and Durvasa Muni in a previous life. She wanted a husband, and Durvasa Muni told her to worship the month of Purusottama, but she did not listen and thus she offended both the muniand the month. Thus she had to suffer very much in her next life. Everyone had rejected this month, but Krishna had accepted it and made it his own, naming it Purusottama masa, and so had become the the best of all holy months. After suffering greatly in her life as Draupadi, Krishna advised that she and the Pandavas worship the month of Purusottama, and their fortune completely changed. They regained everything they had lost.
Sometimes people complain, “Krishna married 16,108 wives. He is simply interested in sex. What a debauchee!” We can ask them where did you get that information that Krishna had so many wives. “From your books.” But did you continue reading how He expanded in 16,108 forms and lived with each wife in her own palace and satisfied them in all respects? You can hardly maintain one wife, and yet he perfectly maintained so many.
Srila Prabhupada made the point that Krishna as the Supreme Lord is the proprietor of everything and thus all the ladies belong to him. Thus the men who claim women as their wives are claiming Krishna’s women as their own and thus they could be considered debauchees but not Krishna.
Radhanatha Swami’s friend Ghanashyama was a prince in a royal family, but he fell in love with Vrindavana while on pilgrimage with the family, and decided to stay there. When after several attempts to get him to return, his family threatened that they would disinherit him and he would be poverty stricken. He picked up a grain of a dust from Vrindavan, and said this one grain of dust is more valuable than all the opulence of the material world.
Purnima is a holy day, and it is in Purusottama, a holy month. So it is a very, very holy day.
In English we say holiday, which derives from holy day, because most holidays were originally holy days.
Now, of course, holy days are not so holy. They have calculated more illegitimate children are conceived on Christmas and more liquor is drunk on Christmas than any other day. My father would never drink, smoke, or gamble, but on Christmas he would make an exception and do all three. He would eat meat, but on Christmas he would eat more than usual.
We should take advantage of holy days, such as Purnima and Ekadasi, to increase our hearing and chanting about Krishna.
The Six Goswamis wrote books, established temples, excavated the pastimes places of the Lord, and they taught the practical process of deity worship.
Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s song Suddha-bhakata teaches the value of devotional service.
When we associate with someone we are affected by their qualities. Thus if we associate with people who are attracted to Krishna we are affected by that.
When Krishna sees we are serving His devotees, He is very pleased and cleanses our hearts, and our natural attraction for Krishna arises.
When there is dirt on an electric contact, it will not conduct properly, until we clean it. In the same way, when our heart is cleansed with can connect with Krishna.
Ultimately it is the mercy of Krishna that we become attracted to Him, so we try to live in such a way that we attract Krishna’s mercy.
The material world is mostly upside down, and thus we end up going down.
The material world is very entangling, like a maze. We cannot see where was have come from or where we are going. We do not even know where we supposed to be going.
The seed that produced the tree cannot be seen once the tree has come into being. In the same way, we cannot see our origin.
How this material world works or what causes it to work we cannot understand.
When we stop trying to enjoy, control, and exploit this material world, and we try to surrender to Krishna, He releases us from this material world.
Devotional service is a practical way of living our lives in the consciousness that Krishna is the proprietor.
Some people say we have get rid of our ego, but that is not actually a fact. Ego means identity. So we cannot get rid of our identity, but we can get rid of our false ego, or misconception of our identity. Otherwise it is like getting rid of our head to get rid of a headache. The falsity needs to be removed, not the ego.
Some people thinks that individually is temporary, but in Bg. 15.7 explains that individuality is eternal.
The nature of the expansion of the living entities to serve the supreme.
In the material world we see ourselves in the center, but in the spiritual world we see Krishna in the center. By seeing the things in this center in relationship to Krishna we become qualified to go to the spiritual world.
So people consider if we take parts away from the whole, the whole becomes less, but there are examples that this is not always true. For example, when a mother gives birth to a child, both the mother and child continue to exist. Similarly when Krishna expands as the living entities, He does not lose His identity nor become lessened.
What are manifestations of pride?
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Acting without considering the desire of Krishna.
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Lessening one’s spiritual practice.
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Becoming upset if we are not honored.
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Blaming others for our failings.
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Becoming upset when advised by others.
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We see that Krishna, the material energy, and our guru all meant to serve us.
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Showing off.
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Faultfinding.
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Inappropriately instructing others.
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Making no effort to be attentive while chanting japa because you think you have something better to do.
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You do not want to serve. You want to be served.
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Never forgiving.
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Forgetting the misery of being in maya (illusion).
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Taking things for granted.
When the deity installation ceremony was being televised in Australia, Srila Prabhupada did not refrain from correcting his disciples, although it may be misunderstood, because he was more concerned that Krishna be served properly than what people t
Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 8, No. 15
By Krishna-kripa das
(August 2012, part one)
Polish Woodstock, Prague, Spain
(Sent from Wroclaw, Poland, on September 2, 2012)
Where I Went and What I Did
I went on the Polish Woodstock for the twelfth time. It was nice to see how each year people become more favorable to Krishna consciousness, and more devotees I know from America come each year. I went to Prague for a couple of days and did harinama with some friends from Slovakia and Czech Republic. Then I went to Spain, with my friend, Dhruva Prabhu, at the request of Yadunandana Swami, who invited me when he traveled through Dublin. I felt victorious as in the eight days we were in Spain we did three harinamas and participated in a three-day kirtana-mela. Two of the harinamas inspired people to come to the temple and visit, a rarity.
Bhaktivaibhava Swami and Kadamba Kanana Swami share beautiful realizations at Spain’s three-day kirtana-mela. Devotees in Málaga share moving Prabhupada pastimes and words of gratitude on his Vyasa Puja. As usual I pass on insights from the journal and books of Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami. I also include the words of senior devotees like Vedavyasa Prabhu and Yadunandana Swami.
Thanks to Ananta Vrindavan Prabhu, Vishnujana Prabhu, and aatist_kks for the photos. A picture is worth a thousand words.
Polish Woodstock 2012
After over 14 hours on trains starting in Zurich, I made it to the Woodstock for the first harinama. More devotees than I had even seen since I started coming in 2001 took part in that harinama, and more people from the festival joined us in chanting and dancing than usual, some staying with us till the end.
It is nice to see friends from ISKCON Alachua like Bada Haridas, Chaturatma Dasa, Purusartha Das are here again. New York kirtana leader, Acyuta Gopi, came for the first time and chanted both on Ratha-yatra and the kirtana tent.
It is difficult for me to sift through the pictures and choose the best. Here are a couple albums you can look at. Click on the “>>” above the right side of the image to view the next image:
Twenty Woodstock attendees were dancing on the Ratha-yatra at the busier times, some with the women and some amidst the men. Some pulled the ratha, with beer in hand. Here are three videos of the Ratha-yatra so you can see what it was like:
You also see new T-shirts with new slogans and novel costumes each year. One young woman wore a green T-shirt with the question “Can you maintain me?” written on it with white letters. That reminded me of how according to the scripture, male-female relationships are meant to be regulated through marriage for spiritual elevation of human society. The man’s duty is to maintain the woman he wishes to have an intimate relationship with, but in this age so many men neglect that duty, and so the T-shirt is a reminder by the woman to the man about his duty.
Anna, who talked to Indradyumna Swami two years before, asked us to arrange another meeting with him now, and I had one of my former interpreters, Radhanandini Dasi, help her out with that.
One girl had a great time in our camp at the first two days of the festival, and so she told me she wanted to join us. Knowing the tour is not really equipped to train new people, and it was not possible to tell the depth of her seriousness immediately, I urged her to first attend the Sunday feast in Wroclaw, where she lives, and then see about joining us. Still it was impressive that she was so happy in the association of the devotees that she was thinking in that way. Later in the summer Polish told me that she was joining one of our temples.
I met one person who remembered me from Zary over eight years ago, and many people remembered me from more recent years. It is so embarrassing that so many remember me, and I remember so few of them.
I danced in back of the kirtana tent. In the evening, it was packed full of people.
One young lady followed my dance step and learned it. After a little while, I smiled, and said “Dobrze! [Very good.]” Then, as it is not my dharma to dance with the ladies, I stood just outside our tent, to facilitate encouraging people to come in tent or thanking them for their dancing as they left. Over half an hour later on her way out that same young lady wanted to dance that step she learned from me one more time, and six more people joined in, some people chanting as well as dancing.
One girl asked to know what is Hare Krishna, and I looked around for someone who could translate for me, and a girl who worked reception in previous years volunteered.
Two girls, Monika and Ana, remembered me from last year. They are from Kostrzyn, the city where the Woodstock has been held since 2004. Monika and her friends came and danced on several occasions throughout the four-and-half-day event. She knew English very well merely from studying it high school. The last day I gave Monika my Krishna.com business card and explained that she and her friends could find nice Krishna music which they liked so much on that web site.
The guy who remembered me from Zary and sent me photos he took a previous year, offered me some plums the second time he saw me this year. He said our kirtana yoga tent was best of venue of all as it was only one with lyrics to the songs displayed on the walls for everyone to see.
A boy said we had the best party of all. He and his friend took pleasure in singing and dancing with us.
I would dance to the music in the kirtana tent by myself in the beginning, but then gradually more people would gather. Sometimes I would tell the devotees sitting around the perimeter of the kirtana tent to dance as it would attract people to come to watch and thus hear the kirtana. During one kirtana, I taught a dance step to seven people. Usually it was the girls who were more inclined to dance, and it was awkward being a brahmacari showing them a dance. Later I danced outside the tent with eight people or so, half men and half women. While passing out mantra cards, I met another person who I taught a dance to, and who wanted to dance with me again.
Someone asked me where he could buy a dhoti, and I pointed to our gift shop.
I met a couple who offered to do some service. They said they had seen me at several Woodstocks. I suggested serving prasadam or picking up trash. They chose the trash, so I got plastic gloves and trash bags for them. I gave them my card and promised to send contact information for the devotees who does programs in their city of Krakow. Later I saw the girl dancing in the kirtana.
Another couple from Krakow wanted to get a CD of the kirtana in our kirtana yoga tent and get the contact information for the Krishna programs in their city. Perhaps we should put the recordings from the kirtana tent online, so the people who loved our chanting could keep it with them.
We did not go quite as late as last year, ending our chanting at 0:50, 2:15, 2:45 and 2:30, respectively, the four nights of the festival.
Sometimes two or three people would come running, skipping, or dancing, with smiles on their faces to join our kirtanas in the tent. Sometimes a girlfriend would drag a reluctant boyfriend into the kirtana tent, and sometimes a boyfriend would drag in a reluctant girlfriend. Whole families would come and listen, watch, and dance. Sometimes the parents would reject my offer of a mantra card because they thought Krishna consciousness was opposed to their Christian tradition, but as entertainment, they liked the kirtana, and they encouraged their children in it.
Often the devotees would dance in such a way that each person was holding the hand of the person before him and the person after him, as in a chain. Sometimes devotees would try to grab people from the audience and add them to the chain and sometimes those visiting our camp would also also grab people to add them to the chain. Sometimes some of the guys visiting our camp were a little too eager to grab the attractive girls, even the devotee girls, and add them to the chain.
One young lady from Bydgoszcz came to our camp for four years. She said she waits a whole year to eat our food. I told her there is a couple in Bydgoszcz that does a few programs a year, so she could have Krishna food more often, and she took down their phone number.
One man from Szczecin took the invitation to the Berlin temple, the closest one to him.
Izabela from Kostrzyn who has been coming and bringing her friends to Krishna’s Village of Peace for the food for years told me she finally graduated and will soon being working in Wroclaw. I gave her an invitation to the Wroclaw Ratha-yatra and Wroclaw temple Sunday feast, and she said she would try to make it for the Ratha-yatra.
Another girl from Kostrzyn happily told me she has been coming to our camp for the spiritual food since Woodstock came to her city back in 2004.
After our final Ratha-yatra, one girl from Germany’s Baltic coast asked me to explain what the Hare Krishna philosophy is. I stressed how the soul is present in all bodies and is symptomized by consciousness. Human life is special because we can awaken our love for God, the supreme conscious person, through the chanting of His holy name, especially the Hare Krishna mantra. I gave her our invitation to the Berlin temple and told her about Hamburg and Leipzig Ratha-yatras coming up on August 25 and September 8, respectively. She said she likes to go to Leipzig and will come for the Ratha-yatha. I explained how that one is special because the week before several hundred of us who will participate in it will be chanting for eight hours a day for six days. This year the city gave us a better location for our festival after the parade so more people will come. She explained that she is just beginning a spiritual search.
One young man from Berlin took an invitation to that center after I briefly explained the philosophy to him.
Another young man said that when he was in our kirtana yoga tent, he forgot all his problems.
Sometimes the people could not speak English very well, so I would tell them in Polish that we have a questions and answers booth over there, pointing in its direction, and go back to dancing and distributing mantra cards.
When I would show people who had been visiting the kirtana yoga tent the mantra cards, a small minority of people were averse, some people were indifferent, but most people were favorable, often very much so. Often they would smile in recognition, seeing the text representation of the song they were hearing and/or singing. Some would begin singing along to the words, often with their friends, and I would smile and sing along with them and dance. I often would remember a recent newsletter by Janananda Goswami wherein he quoted Srila Prabhupada many times saying, “Somehow or other, get them to chant.”
Lots of people wanted to have their pictures taken with us.
Gaura Hari Prabhu, a brahmacari from Leipzig who came for the first time, was impressed with the qualities of the people in the kirtana tent. Alhtough drunk, they are not as sexually motivated or angry as drunk people usually are at such late night music events. They were also very respectful.
Jananivasa Prabhu, one of my former interpreters, told me that each year the quality of the questions in the question and answers booth improves. Now there are no longer people who are just joking around trying to call attention to themselves, but rather, many sincere spiritual inquirers. A devotee who worked in our book tent told me that the questions of the people get more serious each year.
For several years, the day after the Woodstock festival, some of my friends and I have done harinama at the train station.
I think this was the best year, as each year it gets better. We had eight devotees participate, more than usual, and we encountered more people there waiting for the trains. Some were very happy to see us.
People of the town came to their windows to see us.
Others danced with us.
We chanted both by the station and by the tracks.
One devotee took a movie of it.
Harinama in Prague
Lokanatha Swami told in me 2004 that Prague is the best city for harinama, and when I chanted there with my friends for two days after the Polish Woodstock, I could see how that is true. In one place you meet people from all over the world, and the people are not so much in a rush as in London, but more relaxed and looking for some kind of cultural experience. Many people take pictures and have some pleasing interaction with the harinama devotees. I gave the words of the mantra to one girl who was appreciating the kirtana, but she said did not need them because in Prague the people hear it so much they know the words.
Once we were detained in a area that was protected from the rain. The drunks who were also taking shelter there were a little angry at first but by the power of the kirtana they either mellowed out or went away. Other people there liked having the entertainment while waiting out the storm.
Harinamas in Spain
I had no plan to go to Spain when I came to Europe this year, but I met my Spanish friend and godbrother, Yadunandana Swami, in both England and Ireland this year, and he invited me to a three-day kirtana-mela at our farm outside of Madrid. I cannot afford to travel to Spain, but I asked my friend and benefactor Dhruva Prabhu, who has traveled with me to different European festivals if he wanted to go and would be willing to help me out, and he agreed. I wanted to go for just the three days of the kirtana-mela, as I know for certain I have friends to do harinama with in Czech Republic and Germany, whereas Spain I did not know about. Dhruva, however, thought if we were going to Spain we should go for at least a week. Thus reluctantly I went to Spain with five whole days before the mela. Fortunately Yadunandana Swami helped me organize some harinamas, and we were able to go out three of the days before the festival.
Brihuega:
Brihuega is the town nearest our farm project an hour from Madrid known as Nueva (New) Vraja Mandala. In recent years devotees have just done a weekly harinama in Madrid. Previously they would do four days a week, and include Guadalajara and two other cities. Still in recent times they had not chanted in Brihuega, the closest town to them at all. We chanted from 8:30 p.m. to 10:15 p.m. in a square in the center of town that had some restaurants off to one side. That is not a late hour there as people take a break during the heat of the day and stay up late as a regular lifestyle. We set up near one entrance to the park so a lot of people would have to pass by us, not too close to the restaurants, in case the managers did not like it and told us to stop. Originally we were going to do a sitting down harinama, but some of the devotees thought people may not like us constantly chanting in one place, so we planned to walk around. As it turned out, we were so well-received in the park that we just stayed there, standing instead of sitting as we did not bring our mats. At one point, when I was singing and two young devotee ladies were dancing together in a nice pattern, quite a crowd gathered. I counted forty people, mostly elementary school aged children and a few adults. In fact, we always had some people watching from the beginning to the end of the harinama. The two ladies engaged some of the more brave children in dancing with them. One gave one of the young girls a flower garland which she was happy to receive. At the end of the evening five or six teenaged girls came by and had a great time dancing with the young devotee lady who stayed till the end. Afterward, the girls wanted to have their picture with her. One man watched us the whole time. He explained to me in Spanish that he was half Indian. He also wanted his picture taken with the devotees. Surprisingly enough, four days later I saw him on our farm at the cow festival following the Sunday feast program. It is not everyday that someone who meets the harinama party ends up coming to the temple, but such was the case with my first harinama in Spain. Seeing the popularity of the harinama in their local village, I advised them to do at least one harinama each week in Brihuega. Let’s hope they can do it.
Málaga:
We began our Janmastami celebration in Málaga by doing a 1½ hour harinama attended by eight devotees. Our plan was to go right after the morning class, before it got too hot and the devotees became tired from fasting. As it turned out it was from 11:15 to 12:45 that we chanted. Lots of people, mostly tourists took pictures. Three people danced with us. We gave out invitations to the evening Janmastami program, as well as the weekly Sunday feast, and several people were interested in coming. One Spanish man, who had spent two months in Vrindavan, was happy to hear the chanting again in his own country. In Central London, devotees do harinama in Janmastami in the afternoon on Oxford Street, and in Leipzig they do it in the evening when the curtains are closed before the final arati. In the future, you may consider celebrating Janmastami by doing harinama in a city near you!
Churriana:
On Vyasa Puja day, just before our evening program, we did 40 minutes of harinama with four devotees around Churriana, the town where our Málaga temple is located. We passed out five invitations to our Sunday program, and although it was Saturday, seven people came to the temple, three staying to hear a few homages to Srila Prabhupada. I was overjoyed, and I saw this as Srila Prabhupada’s reciprocation for us doing outreach on his glorious appearance day!
They have incredibly beautiful Radha Krishna deities called Radha Govindacandra there at Nueva Vraja Mandala, and it was a pleasure to chant for them.
There were not too many people at this kirtana-mela, perhaps fifty to eighty or so. I was happy that there was room to dance. During the hot part of the day, we stayed inside.
When it cooled we went outside.
Bhaktivaibhava Swami and Kadamba Kanana Swami were both there and led very lively kirtanas, as did some other kirtana leaders from Spain that I did not know.
Kadamba Kanana Swami also inspired people to dance when others, especially Bhaktivaibhava Swami, led kirtana.
I personally had a great time dancing.
There were lots of great realizations about chanting which you can read in the “Insights” below. Kadamba Kanana Swami at the end challenged the devotees to have a kirtana-mela with two hundred devotees for next year’s anniversary of the installation of the deities there.
I am grateful to Yadunandana Swami and Dhruva Prabhu for giving me with such a wonderful opportunity in Spain.
Insights
Bhaktivaibhava Swami:
When Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya asked Lord Caitanya the best process of bhakti He quoted the verse beginning harer nama harer nama . . . in this age there is no other process for self-realization other than the chanting of the holy name.
The iti sodasakam verse indicates that specifically the maha-mantra is the best spiritual practice in all the Vedas.
The illusory energy of the Lord makes one forget that he endeavored for material happiness before and he just got beaten over the head.
The devotees are most fortunate because they are utilizing lives properly.
We are not painting everything black. Birth, death, old age, and disease are a fact. If death is natural, why does every living entity resist it if you try to kill it?
If we maintain the purity of our chanting, others will be attracted in the future, as we were attracted in the past.
Krishna appears as His holy name when we have a service-inclined tongue and ears. When the tongue is controlled, all the senses become controlled
In the Garuda Purana, it describes many subtle beings, and all these beings are liberated when the harinama party goes by.
Pudma Purana describes that even by thinking of the Ganges River, one becomes liberated.
There is a story of frog couple who went on pilgrimage to go to the Ganges River and dive in and become liberated. Unfortunately, they met a snake on the way. They tried to preach to the snake that they were innocent and should not be killed. The snake preached to the frogs, that by God’s arrangement they were his prey and it was right for him to eat them. The snake prepared to eat them, and they cried out “Ganga Mayi” as they left their bodies. Thus both frogs attained the heavenly planets, the male shared the throne with Indra. After many, many years of enjoyment on the heavenly planets, a Vaikunntha airplane came to take the two former frogs to the spiritual world.
One who perfectly follows his spiritual master reaches the Supersoul.
One can learn by hearing or by experience, but it is better to learn by hearing.
My mother told me, “My dear son, do not marry.” She had not had a good experience of marriage, and thus so she instructed me thus. So I accepted it.
We are not against material desires. We will not be successful in our preaching if we instruct people, especially young people, not to have material desires. But they should go about the fulfillment of their material desires in the proper way, and in this way they will suffer less.
Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami:
I am not serving any big projects
in ISKCON, just writing, reading,
telling of my little life and tending to
my sadhana. I’m doing as my departed
Godbrother, Sridhara Maharaja, said,
“Just be yourself
and make your contribution.”
from Journal and Poems, Volume 3:
“Then, where are the directly God conscious, devotional haikus? One cannot say that they are omitted in a neutral, natural way. To omit the Absolute Truth is itself a metaphysical statement. To light incense and not offer it to God. To write of erotic moments in defiance of scriptural codes. To write hundreds of nature poems assuming that the perception of birds, beasts, sky, elements, etc., is sufficient spiritual nourishment—and that God is just another ‘thing.’ These are all atheistic proclamations.
“Write of the bomb? Write of a sexual affair? ‘We must,’ they say, ‘because this is our life, this is reality.’
“I am no Buddha
no Jayadeva,
but someone has to say it:
Which haiku
will save us
at death?
“Basho’s death poem
is a wishful hope,
wandering across the moor.
“Issa gave a humble farewell—
‘I was a fool,
so are we all!
“Which haiku will save us?
The frog jumps in?
The wings of the dragonfly?
“Talented poets,
please make a poem-prayer.
But first you have to learn it.
“Delicate senses
in a floating world,
is not enough.
“Don’t you know
we all have to come back
to another body?
“Now who will come forward
and say it with beauty?
“Alas, my gayatris go by too quickly, and I can’t get them back. Is it that I think my time is better spent in writing?
“‘But how do you know there is God?’
“‘Because the Srimad-Bhagavatam assures us.’
“‘But isn’t that just an old book of stories?’
“‘No, it’s sastra. It’s the book of authority. Srila Prabhupada said, ‘At least we have a book.’ Srimad-Bhagavatam is solid authority, at least among those who cherish it and who are learned in spiritual science. It is self-effulgent, describes the highest nature of religion as love of God. Are we so dull that we can’t appreciate its standard?’
“So it goes, me and the atheist, like two guys at a sidewalk café in Paris arguing over whether or not God exists.
from Karttika Notes:
In this temple [in Mayapura] they keep moving people who are in front of honored guests like me and so I had a clear vision of Sri Sri Nrsimhadeva. I can’t say that I prayed to Him to remove the anarthas, but at least I was enthusiastic to be in His presence, and I know that He is fierce and that He is going to work on you when you come close to Him in a respectful devotional way.
Today is Gopastami. The Deities of the gopis and Radharani had their feet showing. They said the reason is because these gopis are all going to see the cows for Gopastami and they don’t want to get their saris muddy so they lifted them up a bit.
[Pankajanghri Prabhu said in a letter to Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami]: “Opposite to any other place I’ve stayed, Sri Mayapura gets more and more attractive the longer one stays and one’s attachment to it increases proportionately.”
I have many favorite memories [of Srila Prabhupada]. One memory I like is of a lecture that Prabhupada gave in 1975 at the annual Mayapur festival. Prabhupada quoted Bhaktivinoda Thakura saying that he longed for the day when the Europeans (and Americans) would join with their Bengali brothers and chant the holy names of Krishna and Caitanya. Prabhupada announced from the vyasasana that now that prophecy had taken place today. It was a wonderful moment of history to be present while Prabhupada announced that the prophecy of Bhaktivinoda Thakura had been fulfilled by Prabhupada’s own work and by his own movement and witnessed at Sri Caitanya-candrodaya Mandir.
Yes. Prabhupada asked all of his devotees to write. Krishna is our best friend, so we can express ourselves to him in the form of a journal. It may contain sastric verses and our own realizations, and even our lamentations at our lack of realizations. A devotee’s journal is not mundane, but it is filled with transcendental aspirations and is a recommended way of practicing Krishna consciousness.
My drawing for today is
three colorful sankirtaneros
dancing with upraised arms.
They are red and black and green
and smiling in the bliss of harinama.
Swirls of color surround them as auras
of auspiciousness, and they make the viewer
happy. That is the symptom of the maha-
bhagavata, that he induces others to also
chant Hare Krishna. These three are infectious,
and they invite you to join with them in the most
important function: the congregational
chanting of the holy names.
from My Letters from Srila Prabhupada, Volume 2, You Cannot Leave Boston:
“I had another service which I liked very much, which was writing the blurbs on the back of the books and the introductions describing what the books were. I took a lot of pleasure in that assignment. It was an area where I could use my knowledge of the Western mentality and of readers and to try to attract readers who knew nothing about Krishna. Writing those blurbs was always challenging. When we printed the Second Canto chapters as small paperbacks, I also titled the chapters. Those were the first books ISKCON Press printed. Prabhupada liked them, but after a while our printing mistakes became obvious as the books started to fall apart. We were still in an experimental stage at that time. I chose the titles from references in each chapter and tried to use Srila Prabhupada’s varied expressions.
from Narada-bhakti-sutra, verse 23:
“‘On the other hand, displays of devotion without knowledge of God’s greatness are no better than the affairs of illicit lovers.’
Vedavyasa Prabhu:
One can listen for a long time, but if he is not submissive, he will not benefit.
Any topic in relationship with Krishna is glorious and worth hearing.
Bhaktisiddhana Sarasvati Thakura spoke to Radha Kunda babajis about Prahlada Maharaja instead of satisfying their desire to hear of Krishna’s intimate pastimes.
Kasyapa had the duty to satisfy his wife Diti sexually, but not at an inauspicious time.
Q: It is difficult to liberate one’s children in this age, so is better not to have any?
A: We must have the intent to liberate them.
Bhakti Vidya Purna Swami says that the man is either completely rational or completely emotional while the woman is always half rational and half emotional, and so a man when in his state of being completely emotional can take shelter of the intelligence of the woman.
If a householder is sensually agitated he can always take shelter of his wife, while those in the renounced order can become completely degraded if they cannot tolerate the agitation.
There were cases where people could not follow the strictly follow the principle of having sex only for procreation, and Prabhupada advised them to minimize the sex as far as possible.
If there is no repentance of inability to follow but just the offering of excuses, that presents a problem to progress.
The idea is that by having sex according to dharma and raising the children properly you will be purified from the sex desire. Otherwise it will remain.
It is better to go through some authority to arrange a male-female relationship to leading to a marriage. Sometimes persons in a spiritual community pursue male-female relationships without intending to get married, but that ends up creating a disturbance.
Kadamba Kanana Swami:
A gray van came to my town and too many pink men come out. I popped into a shop. Someone said they are a dangerous sect. They looked dangerous to me. When I heard them on TV three months later, explaining their philosophy, no meat eating, no intoxication, no illicit sex, and no gambling, and chanting 16 rounds a day then I knew they were dangerous.
The power of the holy name is such that even the reluctant would be touched by the holy nmae of the Lord.
The holy name penetrates into our heart and gradually our desires change and thus it can create a revolution in this entire world.
The mercy of the pure devotee of the Lord is very possible. In Sri Caitanya-caritamrita one devotee is described as able to deliver the entire world. Seeing Srila Prabhupada’s activities we can understand how this is possible.
Srila Prabhupada understood that by their hearing the holy name, it will work in their heart, and they will come back.
Smita Krishna Swami said that Srila Prabhupada said that when a harinama party goes through the street it does not just change the people in the street, it changes the whole street as well. Anyone who goes through that street later becomes purified.
Once Srila Prabhupada said, “We do not need to use this microphone. We are using this microphone to purify the microphone maker.”
It is not only the people who chant Hare Krishna that benefit, but also those that hear.
Once in Spain there was an ad with four Hare Krishnas on a big Easyrider, Harley Davidson motorcycle. The people in general think it is funny—monks on a motorcycle. But we laugh because monks are at home on a motorcycle. This movement is meant to pick up all kinds of people.
The holy name can reach out to the most fallen. It does not require any qualification.
We travel all over the people to meet the same people and do the same thing—chant Hare Krishna. But it is not always the same, it is a great transcendental adventure. Sometimes there is magic in the kirtana, and we can all feel the presence of Krishna, and we think this is the best, and for that moment, our eyes are open, and we experience the truth, that chanting the holy name is the best thing.
In New Mayapur, in central France, Prabhupada told the devotees to offer some fruits to the Deities in the afternoon. A devotee said he would buy some. Prabhupada said, “Why buy? Just pick some bananas from the garden.” The devotees said they are no bananas in our garden, but Prabhupada said in the future there will be.
Q: Who gets more purified? The chanter or the hearer?
A: One may chant with partial faith, but another can hear it with complete faith and can make great progress. Often persons have heard about Krishna originally from unserious persons but became very serious themselves.
The holy name is Krishna, and He has an individual relationship with each one so you never know who gets purified.
Srila Prabhupada just let the holy name act. He was not trying to change the world by his power. He had prayed to Krishna, “Why can I say to deliver these people? I can only repeat your words.” Prabhupada was convinced. Are we convinced? If we were, we would just stay here and chant Hare Krishna all day. We chant, but we also looking for happiness elsewhere.
It is said that Ajamila was the best by far among those in the gurukula at that time, so the teachers decided to do his astrological chart and find out how great a personality he was. But when they saw his chart, it was not so auspicious. He was in a Jupiter period and doing very well, but it was not to last. So they decided to get him married to a nice brahmani
Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 8, No. 15
By Krishna-kripa das
(August 2012, part one)
Polish Woodstock, Prague, Spain
(Sent from Wroclaw, Poland, on September 2, 2012)
Where I Went and What I Did
I went on the Polish Woodstock for the twelfth time. It was nice to see how each year people become more favorable to Krishna consciousness, and more devotees I know from America come each year. I went to Prague for a couple of days and did harinama with some friends from Slovakia and Czech Republic. Then I went to Spain, with my friend, Dhruva Prabhu, at the request of Yadunandana Swami, who invited me when he traveled through Dublin. I felt victorious as in the eight days we were in Spain we did three harinamas and participated in a three-day kirtana-mela. Two of the harinamas inspired people to come to the temple and visit, a rarity.
Bhaktivaibhava Swami and Kadamba Kanana Swami share beautiful realizations at Spain’s three-day kirtana-mela. Devotees in Málaga share moving Prabhupada pastimes and words of gratitude on his Vyasa Puja. As usual I pass on insights from the journal and books of Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami. I also include the words of senior devotees like Vedavyasa Prabhu and Yadunandana Swami.
Thanks to Ananta Vrindavan Prabhu, Vishnujana Prabhu, and aatist_kks for the photos. A picture is worth a thousand words.
Polish Woodstock 2012
After over 14 hours on trains starting in Zurich, I made it to the Woodstock for the first harinama. More devotees than I had even seen since I started coming in 2001 took part in that harinama, and more people from the festival joined us in chanting and dancing than usual, some staying with us till the end.
It is nice to see friends from ISKCON Alachua like Bada Haridas, Chaturatma Dasa, Purusartha Das are here again. New York kirtana leader, Acyuta Gopi, came for the first time and chanted both on Ratha-yatra and the kirtana tent.
It is difficult for me to sift through the pictures and choose the best. Here are a couple albums you can look at. Click on the “>>” above the right side of the image to view the next image:
Twenty Woodstock attendees were dancing on the Ratha-yatra at the busier times, some with the women and some amidst the men. Some pulled the ratha, with beer in hand. Here are three videos of the Ratha-yatra so you can see what it was like:
You also see new T-shirts with new slogans and novel costumes each year. One young woman wore a green T-shirt with the question “Can you maintain me?” written on it with white letters. That reminded me of how according to the scripture, male-female relationships are meant to be regulated through marriage for spiritual elevation of human society. The man’s duty is to maintain the woman he wishes to have an intimate relationship with, but in this age so many men neglect that duty, and so the T-shirt is a reminder by the woman to the man about his duty.
Anna, who talked to Indradyumna Swami two years before, asked us to arrange another meeting with him now, and I had one of my former interpreters, Radhanandini Dasi, help her out with that.
One girl had a great time in our camp at the first two days of the festival, and so she told me she wanted to join us. Knowing the tour is not really equipped to train new people, and it was not possible to tell the depth of her seriousness immediately, I urged her to first attend the Sunday feast in Wroclaw, where she lives, and then see about joining us. Still it was impressive that she was so happy in the association of the devotees that she was thinking in that way. Later in the summer Polish told me that she was joining one of our temples.
I met one person who remembered me from Zary over eight years ago, and many people remembered me from more recent years. It is so embarrassing that so many remember me, and I remember so few of them.
I danced in back of the kirtana tent. In the evening, it was packed full of people.
One young lady followed my dance step and learned it. After a little while, I smiled, and said “Dobrze! [Very good.]” Then, as it is not my dharma to dance with the ladies, I stood just outside our tent, to facilitate encouraging people to come in tent or thanking them for their dancing as they left. Over half an hour later on her way out that same young lady wanted to dance that step she learned from me one more time, and six more people joined in, some people chanting as well as dancing.
One girl asked to know what is Hare Krishna, and I looked around for someone who could translate for me, and a girl who worked reception in previous years volunteered.
Two girls, Monika and Ana, remembered me from last year. They are from Kostrzyn, the city where the Woodstock has been held since 2004. Monika and her friends came and danced on several occasions throughout the four-and-half-day event. She knew English very well merely from studying it high school. The last day I gave Monika my Krishna.com business card and explained that she and her friends could find nice Krishna music which they liked so much on that web site.
The guy who remembered me from Zary and sent me photos he took a previous year, offered me some plums the second time he saw me this year. He said our kirtana yoga tent was best of venue of all as it was only one with lyrics to the songs displayed on the walls for everyone to see.
A boy said we had the best party of all. He and his friend took pleasure in singing and dancing with us.
I would dance to the music in the kirtana tent by myself in the beginning, but then gradually more people would gather. Sometimes I would tell the devotees sitting around the perimeter of the kirtana tent to dance as it would attract people to come to watch and thus hear the kirtana. During one kirtana, I taught a dance step to seven people. Usually it was the girls who were more inclined to dance, and it was awkward being a brahmacari showing them a dance. Later I danced outside the tent with eight people or so, half men and half women. While passing out mantra cards, I met another person who I taught a dance to, and who wanted to dance with me again.
Someone asked me where he could buy a dhoti, and I pointed to our gift shop.
I met a couple who offered to do some service. They said they had seen me at several Woodstocks. I suggested serving prasadam or picking up trash. They chose the trash, so I got plastic gloves and trash bags for them. I gave them my card and promised to send contact information for the devotees who does programs in their city of Krakow. Later I saw the girl dancing in the kirtana.
Another couple from Krakow wanted to get a CD of the kirtana in our kirtana yoga tent and get the contact information for the Krishna programs in their city. Perhaps we should put the recordings from the kirtana tent online, so the people who loved our chanting could keep it with them.
We did not go quite as late as last year, ending our chanting at 0:50, 2:15, 2:45 and 2:30, respectively, the four nights of the festival.
Sometimes two or three people would come running, skipping, or dancing, with smiles on their faces to join our kirtanas in the tent. Sometimes a girlfriend would drag a reluctant boyfriend into the kirtana tent, and sometimes a boyfriend would drag in a reluctant girlfriend. Whole families would come and listen, watch, and dance. Sometimes the parents would reject my offer of a mantra card because they thought Krishna consciousness was opposed to their Christian tradition, but as entertainment, they liked the kirtana, and they encouraged their children in it.
Often the devotees would dance in such a way that each person was holding the hand of the person before him and the person after him, as in a chain. Sometimes devotees would try to grab people from the audience and add them to the chain and sometimes those visiting our camp would also also grab people to add them to the chain. Sometimes some of the guys visiting our camp were a little too eager to grab the attractive girls, even the devotee girls, and add them to the chain.
One young lady from Bydgoszcz came to our camp for four years. She said she waits a whole year to eat our food. I told her there is a couple in Bydgoszcz that does a few programs a year, so she could have Krishna food more often, and she took down their phone number.
One man from Szczecin took the invitation to the Berlin temple, the closest one to him.
Izabela from Kostrzyn who has been coming and bringing her friends to Krishna’s Village of Peace for the food for years told me she finally graduated and will soon being working in Wroclaw. I gave her an invitation to the Wroclaw Ratha-yatra and Wroclaw temple Sunday feast, and she said she would try to make it for the Ratha-yatra.
Another girl from Kostrzyn happily told me she has been coming to our camp for the spiritual food since Woodstock came to her city back in 2004.
After our final Ratha-yatra, one girl from Germany’s Baltic coast asked me to explain what the Hare Krishna philosophy is. I stressed how the soul is present in all bodies and is symptomized by consciousness. Human life is special because we can awaken our love for God, the supreme conscious person, through the chanting of His holy name, especially the Hare Krishna mantra. I gave her our invitation to the Berlin temple and told her about Hamburg and Leipzig Ratha-yatras coming up on August 25 and September 8, respectively. She said she likes to go to Leipzig and will come for the Ratha-yatha. I explained how that one is special because the week before several hundred of us who will participate in it will be chanting for eight hours a day for six days. This year the city gave us a better location for our festival after the parade so more people will come. She explained that she is just beginning a spiritual search.
One young man from Berlin took an invitation to that center after I briefly explained the philosophy to him.
Another young man said that when he was in our kirtana yoga tent, he forgot all his problems.
Sometimes the people could not speak English very well, so I would tell them in Polish that we have a questions and answers booth over there, pointing in its direction, and go back to dancing and distributing mantra cards.
When I would show people who had been visiting the kirtana yoga tent the mantra cards, a small minority of people were averse, some people were indifferent, but most people were favorable, often very much so. Often they would smile in recognition, seeing the text representation of the song they were hearing and/or singing. Some would begin singing along to the words, often with their friends, and I would smile and sing along with them and dance. I often would remember a recent newsletter by Janananda Goswami wherein he quoted Srila Prabhupada many times saying, “Somehow or other, get them to chant.”
Lots of people wanted to have their pictures taken with us.
Gaura Hari Prabhu, a brahmacari from Leipzig who came for the first time, was impressed with the qualities of the people in the kirtana tent. Alhtough drunk, they are not as sexually motivated or angry as drunk people usually are at such late night music events. They were also very respectful.
Jananivasa Prabhu, one of my former interpreters, told me that each year the quality of the questions in the question and answers booth improves. Now there are no longer people who are just joking around trying to call attention to themselves, but rather, many sincere spiritual inquirers. A devotee who worked in our book tent told me that the questions of the people get more serious each year.
For several years, the day after the Woodstock festival, some of my friends and I have done harinama at the train station.
I think this was the best year, as each year it gets better. We had eight devotees participate, more than usual, and we encountered more people there waiting for the trains. Some were very happy to see us.
People of the town came to their windows to see us.
Others danced with us.
We chanted both by the station and by the tracks.
One devotee took a movie of it.
Harinama in Prague
Lokanatha Swami told in me 2004 that Prague is the best city for harinama, and when I chanted there with my friends for two days after the Polish Woodstock, I could see how that is true. In one place you meet people from all over the world, and the people are not so much in a rush as in London, but more relaxed and looking for some kind of cultural experience. Many people take pictures and have some pleasing interaction with the harinama devotees. I gave the words of the mantra to one girl who was appreciating the kirtana, but she said did not need them because in Prague the people hear it so much they know the words.
Once we were detained in a area that was protected from the rain. The drunks who were also taking shelter there were a little angry at first but by the power of the kirtana they either mellowed out or went away. Other people there liked having the entertainment while waiting out the storm.
Harinamas in Spain
I had no plan to go to Spain when I came to Europe this year, but I met my Spanish friend and godbrother, Yadunandana Swami, in both England and Ireland this year, and he invited me to a three-day kirtana-mela at our farm outside of Madrid. I cannot afford to travel to Spain, but I asked my friend and benefactor Dhruva Prabhu, who has traveled with me to different European festivals if he wanted to go and would be willing to help me out, and he agreed. I wanted to go for just the three days of the kirtana-mela, as I know for certain I have friends to do harinama with in Czech Republic and Germany, whereas Spain I did not know about. Dhruva, however, thought if we were going to Spain we should go for at least a week. Thus reluctantly I went to Spain with five whole days before the mela. Fortunately Yadunandana Swami helped me organize some harinamas, and we were able to go out three of the days before the festival.
Brihuega:
Brihuega is the town nearest our farm project an hour from Madrid known as Nueva (New) Vraja Mandala. In recent years devotees have just done a weekly harinama in Madrid. Previously they would do four days a week, and include Guadalajara and two other cities. Still in recent times they had not chanted in Brihuega, the closest town to them at all. We chanted from 8:30 p.m. to 10:15 p.m. in a square in the center of town that had some restaurants off to one side. That is not a late hour there as people take a break during the heat of the day and stay up late as a regular lifestyle. We set up near one entrance to the park so a lot of people would have to pass by us, not too close to the restaurants, in case the managers did not like it and told us to stop. Originally we were going to do a sitting down harinama, but some of the devotees thought people may not like us constantly chanting in one place, so we planned to walk around. As it turned out, we were so well-received in the park that we just stayed there, standing instead of sitting as we did not bring our mats. At one point, when I was singing and two young devotee ladies were dancing together in a nice pattern, quite a crowd gathered. I counted forty people, mostly elementary school aged children and a few adults. In fact, we always had some people watching from the beginning to the end of the harinama. The two ladies engaged some of the more brave children in dancing with them. One gave one of the young girls a flower garland which she was happy to receive. At the end of the evening five or six teenaged girls came by and had a great time dancing with the young devotee lady who stayed till the end. Afterward, the girls wanted to have their picture with her. One man watched us the whole time. He explained to me in Spanish that he was half Indian. He also wanted his picture taken with the devotees. Surprisingly enough, four days later I saw him on our farm at the cow festival following the Sunday feast program. It is not everyday that someone who meets the harinama party ends up coming to the temple, but such was the case with my first harinama in Spain. Seeing the popularity of the harinama in their local village, I advised them to do at least one harinama each week in Brihuega. Let’s hope they can do it.
Málaga:
We began our Janmastami celebration in Málaga by doing a 1½ hour harinama attended by eight devotees. Our plan was to go right after the morning class, before it got too hot and the devotees became tired from fasting. As it turned out it was from 11:15 to 12:45 that we chanted. Lots of people, mostly tourists took pictures. Three people danced with us. We gave out invitations to the evening Janmastami program, as well as the weekly Sunday feast, and several people were interested in coming. One Spanish man, who had spent two months in Vrindavan, was happy to hear the chanting again in his own country. In Central London, devotees do harinama in Janmastami in the afternoon on Oxford Street, and in Leipzig they do it in the evening when the curtains are closed before the final arati. In the future, you may consider celebrating Janmastami by doing harinama in a city near you!
Churriana:
On Vyasa Puja day, just before our evening program, we did 40 minutes of harinama with four devotees around Churriana, the town where our Málaga temple is located. We passed out five invitations to our Sunday program, and although it was Saturday, seven people came to the temple, three staying to hear a few homages to Srila Prabhupada. I was overjoyed, and I saw this as Srila Prabhupada’s reciprocation for us doing outreach on his glorious appearance day!
They have incredibly beautiful Radha Krishna deities called Radha Govindacandra there at Nueva Vraja Mandala, and it was a pleasure to chant for them.
There were not too many people at this kirtana-mela, perhaps fifty to eighty or so. I was happy that there was room to dance. During the hot part of the day, we stayed inside.
When it cooled we went outside.
Bhaktivaibhava Swami and Kadamba Kanana Swami were both there and led very lively kirtanas, as did some other kirtana leaders from Spain that I did not know.
Kadamba Kanana Swami also inspired people to dance when others, especially Bhaktivaibhava Swami, led kirtana.
I personally had a great time dancing.
There were lots of great realizations about chanting which you can read in the “Insights” below. Kadamba Kanana Swami at the end challenged the devotees to have a kirtana-mela with two hundred devotees for next year’s anniversary of the installation of the deities there.
I am grateful to Yadunandana Swami and Dhruva Prabhu for giving me with such a wonderful opportunity in Spain.
Insights
Bhaktivaibhava Swami:
When Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya asked Lord Caitanya the best process of bhakti He quoted the verse beginning harer nama harer nama . . . in this age there is no other process for self-realization other than the chanting of the holy name.
The iti sodasakam verse indicates that specifically the maha-mantra is the best spiritual practice in all the Vedas.
The illusory energy of the Lord makes one forget that he endeavored for material happiness before and he just got beaten over the head.
The devotees are most fortunate because they are utilizing lives properly.
We are not painting everything black. Birth, death, old age, and disease are a fact. If death is natural, why does every living entity resist it if you try to kill it?
If we maintain the purity of our chanting, others will be attracted in the future, as we were attracted in the past.
Krishna appears as His holy name when we have a service-inclined tongue and ears. When the tongue is controlled, all the senses become controlled
In the Garuda Purana, it describes many subtle beings, and all these beings are liberated when the harinama party goes by.
Pudma Purana describes that even by thinking of the Ganges River, one becomes liberated.
There is a story of frog couple who went on pilgrimage to go to the Ganges River and dive in and become liberated. Unfortunately, they met a snake on the way. They tried to preach to the snake that they were innocent and should not be killed. The snake preached to the frogs, that by God’s arrangement they were his prey and it was right for him to eat them. The snake prepared to eat them, and they cried out “Ganga Mayi” as they left their bodies. Thus both frogs attained the heavenly planets, the male shared the throne with Indra. After many, many years of enjoyment on the heavenly planets, a Vaikunntha airplane came to take the two former frogs to the spiritual world.
One who perfectly follows his spiritual master reaches the Supersoul.
One can learn by hearing or by experience, but it is better to learn by hearing.
My mother told me, “My dear son, do not marry.” She had not had a good experience of marriage, and thus so she instructed me thus. So I accepted it.
We are not against material desires. We will not be successful in our preaching if we instruct people, especially young people, not to have material desires. But they should go about the fulfillment of their material desires in the proper way, and in this way they will suffer less.
Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami:
I am not serving any big projects
in ISKCON, just writing, reading,
telling of my little life and tending to
my sadhana. I’m doing as my departed
Godbrother, Sridhara Maharaja, said,
“Just be yourself
and make your contribution.”
from Journal and Poems, Volume 3:
“Then, where are the directly God conscious, devotional haikus? One cannot say that they are omitted in a neutral, natural way. To omit the Absolute Truth is itself a metaphysical statement. To light incense and not offer it to God. To write of erotic moments in defiance of scriptural codes. To write hundreds of nature poems assuming that the perception of birds, beasts, sky, elements, etc., is sufficient spiritual nourishment—and that God is just another ‘thing.’ These are all atheistic proclamations.
“Write of the bomb? Write of a sexual affair? ‘We must,’ they say, ‘because this is our life, this is reality.’
“I am no Buddha
no Jayadeva,
but someone has to say it:
Which haiku
will save us
at death?
“Basho’s death poem
is a wishful hope,
wandering across the moor.
“Issa gave a humble farewell—
‘I was a fool,
so are we all!
“Which haiku will save us?
The frog jumps in?
The wings of the dragonfly?
“Talented poets,
please make a poem-prayer.
But first you have to learn it.
“Delicate senses
in a floating world,
is not enough.
“Don’t you know
we all have to come back
to another body?
“Now who will come forward
and say it with beauty?
“Alas, my gayatris go by too quickly, and I can’t get them back. Is it that I think my time is better spent in writing?
“‘But how do you know there is God?’
“‘Because the Srimad-Bhagavatam assures us.’
“‘But isn’t that just an old book of stories?’
“‘No, it’s sastra. It’s the book of authority. Srila Prabhupada said, ‘At least we have a book.’ Srimad-Bhagavatam is solid authority, at least among those who cherish it and who are learned in spiritual science. It is self-effulgent, describes the highest nature of religion as love of God. Are we so dull that we can’t appreciate its standard?’
“So it goes, me and the atheist, like two guys at a sidewalk café in Paris arguing over whether or not God exists.
from Karttika Notes:
In this temple [in Mayapura] they keep moving people who are in front of honored guests like me and so I had a clear vision of Sri Sri Nrsimhadeva. I can’t say that I prayed to Him to remove the anarthas, but at least I was enthusiastic to be in His presence, and I know that He is fierce and that He is going to work on you when you come close to Him in a respectful devotional way.
Today is Gopastami. The Deities of the gopis and Radharani had their feet showing. They said the reason is because these gopis are all going to see the cows for Gopastami and they don’t want to get their saris muddy so they lifted them up a bit.
[Pankajanghri Prabhu said in a letter to Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami]: “Opposite to any other place I’ve stayed, Sri Mayapura gets more and more attractive the longer one stays and one’s attachment to it increases proportionately.”
I have many favorite memories [of Srila Prabhupada]. One memory I like is of a lecture that Prabhupada gave in 1975 at the annual Mayapur festival. Prabhupada quoted Bhaktivinoda Thakura saying that he longed for the day when the Europeans (and Americans) would join with their Bengali brothers and chant the holy names of Krishna and Caitanya. Prabhupada announced from the vyasasana that now that prophecy had taken place today. It was a wonderful moment of history to be present while Prabhupada announced that the prophecy of Bhaktivinoda Thakura had been fulfilled by Prabhupada’s own work and by his own movement and witnessed at Sri Caitanya-candrodaya Mandir.
Yes. Prabhupada asked all of his devotees to write. Krishna is our best friend, so we can express ourselves to him in the form of a journal. It may contain sastric verses and our own realizations, and even our lamentations at our lack of realizations. A devotee’s journal is not mundane, but it is filled with transcendental aspirations and is a recommended way of practicing Krishna consciousness.
My drawing for today is
three colorful sankirtaneros
dancing with upraised arms.
They are red and black and green
and smiling in the bliss of harinama.
Swirls of color surround them as auras
of auspiciousness, and they make the viewer
happy. That is the symptom of the maha-
bhagavata, that he induces others to also
chant Hare Krishna. These three are infectious,
and they invite you to join with them in the most
important function: the congregational
chanting of the holy names.
from My Letters from Srila Prabhupada, Volume 2, You Cannot Leave Boston:
“I had another service which I liked very much, which was writing the blurbs on the back of the books and the introductions describing what the books were. I took a lot of pleasure in that assignment. It was an area where I could use my knowledge of the Western mentality and of readers and to try to attract readers who knew nothing about Krishna. Writing those blurbs was always challenging. When we printed the Second Canto chapters as small paperbacks, I also titled the chapters. Those were the first books ISKCON Press printed. Prabhupada liked them, but after a while our printing mistakes became obvious as the books started to fall apart. We were still in an experimental stage at that time. I chose the titles from references in each chapter and tried to use Srila Prabhupada’s varied expressions.
from Narada-bhakti-sutra, verse 23:
“‘On the other hand, displays of devotion without knowledge of God’s greatness are no better than the affairs of illicit lovers.’
Vedavyasa Prabhu:
One can listen for a long time, but if he is not submissive, he will not benefit.
Any topic in relationship with Krishna is glorious and worth hearing.
Bhaktisiddhana Sarasvati Thakura spoke to Radha Kunda babajis about Prahlada Maharaja instead of satisfying their desire to hear of Krishna’s intimate pastimes.
Kasyapa had the duty to satisfy his wife Diti sexually, but not at an inauspicious time.
Q: It is difficult to liberate one’s children in this age, so is better not to have any?
A: We must have the intent to liberate them.
Bhakti Vidya Purna Swami says that the man is either completely rational or completely emotional while the woman is always half rational and half emotional, and so a man when in his state of being completely emotional can take shelter of the intelligence of the woman.
If a householder is sensually agitated he can always take shelter of his wife, while those in the renounced order can become completely degraded if they cannot tolerate the agitation.
There were cases where people could not follow the strictly follow the principle of having sex only for procreation, and Prabhupada advised them to minimize the sex as far as possible.
If there is no repentance of inability to follow but just the offering of excuses, that presents a problem to progress.
The idea is that by having sex according to dharma and raising the children properly you will be purified from the sex desire. Otherwise it will remain.
It is better to go through some authority to arrange a male-female relationship to leading to a marriage. Sometimes persons in a spiritual community pursue male-female relationships without intending to get married, but that ends up creating a disturbance.
Kadamba Kanana Swami:
A gray van came to my town and too many pink men come out. I popped into a shop. Someone said they are a dangerous sect. They looked dangerous to me. When I heard them on TV three months later, explaining their philosophy, no meat eating, no intoxication, no illicit sex, and no gambling, and chanting 16 rounds a day then I knew they were dangerous.
The power of the holy name is such that even the reluctant would be touched by the holy nmae of the Lord.
The holy name penetrates into our heart and gradually our desires change and thus it can create a revolution in this entire world.
The mercy of the pure devotee of the Lord is very possible. In Sri Caitanya-caritamrita one devotee is described as able to deliver the entire world. Seeing Srila Prabhupada’s activities we can understand how this is possible.
Srila Prabhupada understood that by their hearing the holy name, it will work in their heart, and they will come back.
Smita Krishna Swami said that Srila Prabhupada said that when a harinama party goes through the street it does not just change the people in the street, it changes the whole street as well. Anyone who goes through that street later becomes purified.
Once Srila Prabhupada said, “We do not need to use this microphone. We are using this microphone to purify the microphone maker.”
It is not only the people who chant Hare Krishna that benefit, but also those that hear.
Once in Spain there was an ad with four Hare Krishnas on a big Easyrider, Harley Davidson motorcycle. The people in general think it is funny—monks on a motorcycle. But we laugh because monks are at home on a motorcycle. This movement is meant to pick up all kinds of people.
The holy name can reach out to the most fallen. It does not require any qualification.
We travel all over the people to meet the same people and do the same thing—chant Hare Krishna. But it is not always the same, it is a great transcendental adventure. Sometimes there is magic in the kirtana, and we can all feel the presence of Krishna, and we think this is the best, and for that moment, our eyes are open, and we experience the truth, that chanting the holy name is the best thing.
In New Mayapur, in central France, Prabhupada told the devotees to offer some fruits to the Deities in the afternoon. A devotee said he would buy some. Prabhupada said, “Why buy? Just pick some bananas from the garden.” The devotees said they are no bananas in our garden, but Prabhupada said in the future there will be.
Q: Who gets more purified? The chanter or the hearer?
A: One may chant with partial faith, but another can hear it with complete faith and can make great progress. Often persons have heard about Krishna originally from unserious persons but became very serious themselves.
The holy name is Krishna, and He has an individual relationship with each one so you never know who gets purified.
Srila Prabhupada just let the holy name act. He was not trying to change the world by his power. He had prayed to Krishna, “Why can I say to deliver these people? I can only repeat your words.” Prabhupada was convinced. Are we convinced? If we were, we would just stay here and chant Hare Krishna all day. We chant, but we also looking for happiness elsewhere.
It is said that Ajamila was the best by far among those in the gurukula at that time, so the teachers decided to do his astrological chart and find out how great a personality he was. But when they saw his chart, it was not so auspicious. He was in a Jupiter period and doing very well, but it was not to last. So they decided to get him married to a nice brahmani lady. But he saw a low class man embracing a low class women intimately, and he decided that he must have that woman. So he engaged her as a maidservant, and sent his wife back to her father, and later s
Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 8, No. 14
By Krishna-kripa das
(July 2012, part two)
Ireland, Paris, Switzerland
(Sent from New Shantipur Farm, Czarnów, Poland, on August 25, 2012)
Where I Went and What I Did
After chanting in Dublin and Belfast, Ananta Nitai and I went to Govindadvipa to chant at a couple towns near our Krishna island, namely Enniskillen, Northern Island, and Cavan, Ireland, with Bhagavata Dasi, who has great enthusiasm for sharing Krishna. Then we returned to Dublin for the 12-hour harinama that we organized for that coming Saturday. After a few more days of harinama in Dublin, I went to chant for three days with my friends in Paris. Then I went to Langenthal, Switzerland, for the Saturday feast program, and to Zurich for the Sunday Jhulan Yatra festival and harinama on Monday. Then off to Berlin enroute to Kostrzyn, Poland, for my twelfth year at the Polish Woodstock festival which I describe in my next journal.
I share insights from a variety of Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami’s books, which are quoted in his online journal, Viraha Bhavan, which I regularly proofread, from Gour Govinda Swami’s disciple, Madhavananda Prabhu, who was visiting Paris, from Bhakti-sastri teacher, Adi Purusa Prabhu, who was visiting Zurich, and from my harinama partners in Dublin and Paris. I also include the experience of a man I met on a bus who met the Hare Krishna devotees at a festival.
Invited by Bhagavata Dasi, Ananta Nitai Prabhu and I went to Govindadvipa to do harinamas in two nearby towns, Enniskillen, in Northern Ireland, and Cavan, in the Republic.
In Enniskillen, devotees chant in a little pedestrian area in the center of the town. The people were more appreciative and more charitable in general than the people in Cavan the next day. Bhagavata Dasi had some small books we gave all those who gave a donation, no matter how small. We did, however, encounter one macabre surprise, a fight between two women, perhaps in their twenties or thirties, no more than three meters in front of where we were chanting. One knocked the other down on the ground and was shouting and punching her out, to the horror of her son, who was standing, helpless, nearby. The one on the ground ended up with a bloody nose. No one intervened in the fight, other than a man who said a few words to no avail. The woman who was knocked down had her belongings scattered, and some people helped her pick them up, including the women who punched her out, who found her cell phone a little ways away and returned it to her. Five policemen came and interrogated the aggressive lady. It was truly a bizarre scene. I was singing and playing the harmonium at the time, so I just kept on chanting, as it was not clear what else I could really do. No one seemed to have a better idea. For me, it was just another example of how degrading humanity is becoming?that one woman would beat up another and that no one would try to intervene and prevent injury.
In Cavan the next day we had another great location in the center of the town where we chanted another three hours. The temple president, Gopal Acarya Prabhu, and his family encouraged us by coming out for the first hour or so. The best part was a young man coming up to the devotees, looking for Bhagavad-gita, and giving twenty euros. Otherwise, except for a few smiles, there was not a great response.
Twelve-Hour Harinama in Dublin
The previous week, Ananta Nitai Prabhu suggested that we might do a twenty-four hour harinama in Dublin. Thinking back on how I always have to take a break for three hours to get some rest during the twenty-four hour kirtanas, I suggested we start with a twelve-hour harinama. We settled on a week from Saturday, specifically, Saturday, July 21, and Premarnava Prabhu advertised it on Facebook, and we told all our harinama friends. I was most impressed by the participation of Ananta Nitai Prabhu himself, who participated for at least eleven hours, and the participation of a couple of devotee ladies from out of town, who we had chanted with during our brief tour of Ireland. Bhagavata Dasi took the bus two hours each way from Govindadvipa and chanted for four and half hours. Anet took the train one hour each way from her home and amazingly distributed books during the harinama for ten hours. Her only comment at the end, before returning home, was “When is the next one?” Premarnava Prabhu also put in five hours, and Robert came extra early for the regular Saturday evening harinama to participate. One break dancer enjoyed dancing with us in the afternoon, and group of young boys and one young lady really got into the dancing in the evening.
A couple of girls from Seattle girl happened to encounter our harinama at least twice during the day, and their smiles of joy inspired me to talk with them. One said that seeing the harinama was the best part of her Dublin trip. I encouraged them to visit our temple in Seattle, when they return home, for the local Sunday feast program there. I participated myself in our twelve-hour harinama for over eleven hours. Not realizing the strength of the Irish sun in that chilly land, I got the worst sunburn this year. I learned some strategies for my increasing participation. Just have a small lunch so you do not become tired and need to take rest, and do not drink so much you have to always take a bathroom break. I reported our harinama successes to my authority in the UK and Ireland, Janananda Goswami, who encouraged me to return to Ireland again after I come back to the UK from Europe in late September.
Metroyoga in Paris
I was happy to join my friends, Chandrasekhara Acharya Prabhu, Gadadhara Priya Prabhu, and Bhaktin Sara, in chanting on the metros in Paris again, a program called Metroyoga. Recently Chandrasekhara Acharya has written a nice article for Back to Godhead describing the program. You always meet some people who really appreciate the chanting and the presentation, and that makes it all worth it.
Langenthal, Switzerland
There is a growing community of devotees in Langenthal, Switzerland, about an hour from Zurich, in the German-speaking part of the country. They have a larger temple room than most of our temples in Europe. There were a lot of devotees there who had enthusiasm for the kirtana at their weekly Saturday feast program. At Langenthal three householder families have a prasadam business by which they maintain themselves.
Zurich
I was in Zurich for the Jhulan Yatra (Radha Krishna swing festival) on Sunday and harinama by the lake on Monday. Special features of the Zurich Jhulan Yatra are that the swing is suspended over a pool of water, and to satisfy both the Tamil-speaking congregation, largely from Sri Lanka, and the local German-speaking congregation, the festival is held twice, so I got to swing Radha-Krishna two times. This festival is observed in our temples with Radha Krishna deities for the five days before and including Lord Balarama’s appearance day, but in recent years I had not been in a temple where it was held, so it was a treat to be there in Zurich and to swing Radha and Krishna twice in one day. The Gaudiya Vaishnava sampradaya stresses service to the divine couple, Radha and Krishna, and this swing festival of Theirs gives everyone in the congregation a little experience of that. For that reason, it is one of my favorite festivals.
I felt indebted to temple president, Krishna Prema Rupa Prabhu, who kindly organized a nearly two-hour harinama on Monday with ten devotees down along the lake in Zurich. There was a lot of enthusiasm among the devotees. We even went further around the lake than they ever do, through a small region where they do not have permission to chant, to the other side of the lake where it is again permitted. We passed out many temple invitations, both to the Sunday feast and the upcoming Janmastami festival. One woman came up to me asking about devotees’ summer festival, and I gave her an invitation for the Janmastami event. Apparently there the devotees celebrate Janmastami so nicely people in the city look forward to it each year.
I took a night train from Zurich to Berlin on the way to the Polish Woodstock. Although it was over eleven hours, it was only $43, a rare deal from the Swiss train company, SBB.
Insights
Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami:
Emerson says, “Beware what you set your heart upon, for it will surely be yours.”
Make war on Maya in your life.
O Ugra Lion-Man,
Your black body,Your
stance of ready-to-fight,
massive black head
plainly silver teeth and
10 arms and hands I can
almost see them all?
be real for me,
I don’t fear You because
You are our protector against
evil. Therefore I ask You
please come alive?and
tear out form the roots
my anarthas.
And life ebbs out like from a slightly leaking pot.
I thought this is so strange. The blue-faced murti of a calm Nrsimha holding Laksmi on His lap. India, and a religion of strange forms. Is it not that way? Unless you are born and raised here (or you live here many years and become Indian-religionized) it remains alien to you. But you have one thing?your surrender to Prabhupada. And he expertly teaches and induces you to accept Krsna consciousness in a scientific nonsectarian way. Except for him, even Gaudiya Vaisnavism remains strange gods, alien words, hard to believe miracles. . . .
Srila Prabhupada followed his guru life and soul yet made his own way in America, innovated, etc. Can you?
Don’t want to die “off” or die having not fulfilled what you could have become if you dared. Let everyone live out the best he or she can become.
“How do you develop selfless service for
the guru?” she asks. I’m at a loss to
answer precisely because
I don’t know it myself!
I am in lap of Gaura-Nitai [being in Mayapura]. Please I ask Them, please shape me and give good meaning to my visit.
I can occupy myself splendidly if people would just leave me alone.
But you have seen Lord Nrsimha
and can call His names,
please protect me from demons,
please kill my own demons
in the heart.
A day here is worth
millions somewhere else says
Navadvipa Mahatmya.
Bumpkin returns to the
West with stars in eyes
and plan. He’ll be a
Prabhupada Gauranga man.
Tell them. . . . I love you, I love this, but I also love to be alone?it’s hard work but very rewarding in a quiet and deep way.
O Lord, I thank You, it’s You who arrange this, who guide me to do it. Now may I do it purely.
Well life and death are somewhat the same and they are definitely related. When you are aware of death then you live in a certain way, a better way. The certainty of death, and thinking about it, turns your life more serious. It doesn’t mean you live in a deathlike way. You can still be very much in the moment, and so to speak, enjoy it all, but you’re aware that it’s really over soon, and you live in a way to improve your next life. So you see what I mean, how death and life are connected?
Yesterday you were complaining a little that there has been so much talk in your life about people dying, especially devotees in Vrndavana. But partly it’s just your own fear and avoidance of death that makes you not want to hear all of this. And the positive way to take it is to be aware of death as you live. That doesn’t spoil everything in the present moment, but it rather infuses it with a certain energetic fervent quality. If you can drive out sense gratification and serve Krsna then you are successful.
Tomorrow we’ll try a new strategy of just completely closing the windows because the bugs are coming right through the screens. I’ve never seen any place where they have such multitudes of insects. Prabhupada talks about it in some of his lectures, how in Mayapur during the night these creatures are born and live and die in one night and how in the morning you see heaps and heaps of bodies. Sometimes when I heard the lecture I felt perhaps he was exaggerating when he said that there were thousands and thousands of bugs and heaps and heaps of bodies in the morning and that you could sweep them away. But now I see it’s true. Why don’t I take Prabhupada literally true on face value all the time? Just it’s a matter of time before you find out that what he says is true.
from My Letters from Srila Prabhupada, Volume 3, I am Never Displeased with Any Member:
“I was recently speaking with one devotee who told me that her fifteen-year-old daughter is so fixed on becoming a devotee that she even thought of running away from home and joining an ISKCON temple (her mother wants her to stay home and finish school). Despite the horrors that so many of us suffered, there’s another side: Living in a temple really helped us become devotees, solidly fixed in sadhana.
“We shared living space, bathrooms, food, cooking duties, trouble, anxiety and the triumph of having received such a letter from Prabhupada. We worshiped together and felt the bliss of collective peak experience that comes from working hard for Krishna. Our lives were so different from anything we could have imagined them to be. We weren’t living abstract ideas of unity and community as were the hippies in their cynicism. Prabhupada had given us the real thing. Prabhupada was the center. It wasn’t always easy?and I’m aware that I’m stressing the good side?but we were all devotees, disciples, together. There was no question that we could do other than we did if we were sincere. Putting aside the old ISKCON debate, we should be mature enough to just try and feel the essence of something Prabhupada gave us and which many of us are so fortunate to have taken part in, even if things have changed. We joined the spiritual world.”
from Srila Prabhupapa Samadhi Diary:
“O Prabhupada, may we live in you until we die; may we serve in this life and the next. May we study your words and repeat them with joy and conviction. May we know Krishna and Radha through you.”
Dhruva Prabhu:
The Sanskrit verses of the scripture purify us so it is good to chant them repeatedly.
Prabhupada was very liberal and said it does not matter what religion you follow but that you must follow strictly whatever religion you choose. Just like you have to learn math, but which math book you use is up to you.
If we love someone, we must remember that person and we must do something for that person, and so it is with Krishna.
The greatest gift is love of God.
In America the greatest worry is “will my money run out before I die?”
The beauty of Krishna consciousness is the giver and the receiver both benefit.
A saint is not recognized in his own town. The great example is Prabhupada who had so much difficulty preaching Krishna consciousness in India but became very successful in the West.
In the material world if someone praises you, you praise them, “You must be so intelligent to realize how intelligent I am.”
Our preaching is successful if one comes to appreciate different features of Krishna consciousness, the harinama, the prasadam, and the books.
I have been on many harinamas, but the ones that Indradyumna Swami has in Poland are the most amazing. The devotees are all dressed very nicely and play the instruments very nicely. People are very attracted, and you can see it.
In India the children see the mother and father as God because mother and father maintain them as God maintains them.
It is no wonder we fall several times a day, but we must recognize we have fallen, and continue chanting.
We do not see our big faults, but we are very expert in finding innumerable insignificant faults in others.
Ananta Nitai Prabhu:
I always liked harinama, congregational chanting in public, but it was not until I read what Aindra Prabhu wrote that I understood its great importance.
We cannot judge devotees externally. Externals do not represent the internal mood of the devotee, but it is the internal mood that Krishna reciprocates with.
Krishna’s statements in the Gita are enacted in His pastimes.
Tribhuvananatha Prabhu said, referring to the spiritually ignorant, a husband and wife love each other’s false egos at best.
I could chant four rounds a day, and I resigned my self to that, thinking I would never chant anymore than four. I heard that the association of devotees was valuable, so I took a week off from work and attended the temple morning program with fourteen devotees every day. By the fourth day, I was chanting sixteen rounds, and I have been chanting sixteen rounds a day ever since. That was thirteen years ago. Thus I practically can see the power of the association of devotees in my own life.
Mayesvara Prabhu:
Hridayananda Maharaja says just by seeing the smile of the empowered preacher of Krishna consciousness you can understand you are not your body.
comment by me: That reminds me of this description given by Srila Prabhupada in a purport about Kardama Muni, “Pure devotees are so absorbed in thought Krishna that they have no other engagement; although they may seem to think or act otherwise, they are always thinking of Krishna. The smile of such a Krishna conscious person is so attractive that simply by smiling he wins so many admirers, disciples and followers.” (SB 3.22.21)
Madhavananda Prabhu:
In America there was a poll showing that 60%–70% of the people who believe in God do not believe in religion. There is a popular book called How I Left Religion and Found God.
People have not found satisfaction through sectarian religion because they have missed the essence of religion, unmotivated, uninterrupted service to God.
Krishna explains that religion is meant to be practically experienced and to be happily performed. (Bg. 9.2)
Srila Prabhupada said, “Our only business is to get people to chant Hare Krishna.” We do not want anything in exchange. Elsewhere he explained, “Our only business is to make people happy.” He also explained that we are nonsectarian society with members coming from many different religions and that members of ISKCON may retain their own religious faiths.
In Zurich there are many streams but you cannot hear their sweet sounds during the day because of all the cars and buses. In the same way, we cannot hear the soul because of the radio of our minds.
There are saints in every religion who cry for the Lord, and the Lord hears their cries.
If you go to seek a job and when asked your qualification, you say you have none or that you are the most useless person in the world, will you get a job? No. But in spiritual life, it is different.
Having straw in your teeth, both indicates that you are not going to protest nor are you going to cry with your mouth but with your heart.
Narottama Dasa Thakura prays to the Lord, “You are famous as the savior of the most fallen, but if you do not save me, you will have to change your name.”
We have to cry in such a way that it is clear to Krishna that no toys He may give us will satisfy us; nothing will satisfy us except Him.
Sadhus say smaranam means maranam. Remembrance of God means death to all our material desires.
Krishna explains to Arjuna that only those who chant his name, crying from their souls, are dear Him.
All the great religions of the world are based on great saintly persons but later on their so-called followers became more interested in business.
bhakti-yoga bhakti-yoga bhakti-yoga dana
bhakti sei krishna-nama smarane krandana
Visvanatha Cakravati Thakura states that bhakti-yoga is the greatest charity, and bhakti-yoga means chanting the holy name of the Lord with remembrance and with crying.
Ramachandra Dev, was King of Jagannatha Puri, but he was defeated by a Muslim general. After thirteen months and fifteen days in prison, the general offered to release him and allow him to be king again, only he would have to become a Muslim and marry a Muslim woman. Seeing that as the only opportunity to continue his service to Jagannatha, he accepted the condition. All his other wives rejected him, and left him, along with their children. His friends also rejected him. He went to the Puri temple, but the priests would not even let him in, although he was the king of Puri, because he had a Muslim wife. Every night after the temple closed, Ramachandra Dev would go outside it and cry. When he was so aggrieved and he was about to end his life, the Lord appeared and said, “Do not cry.” Then the Lord manifested the Patita-pavana deity outside the temple so the king could see him.
When Ramachandra Dev cried for Krishna, Jagannatha (Krishna) cried for him.
Lord Jagannatha is the form of the greatest ecstasy.
In Orissa there Muslims who help build and pull the Ratha-yatra.
They say in Orissa, “The name of Rama is like a laddu, and the name of Krishna is like ghee, and the name of Hare is like sweetened condensed milk, and you mix them and drink it. That is the Hare Krishna mantra.”
Q: How do I cry for Krishna?
A: Associate with people who are crying for Krishna.
Gour Govinda Swami explained there are two secrets for success:
1. Every day say some prayers to Lord Nityananda.
2. Pray for other people.
There are three kinds of mercy:
1. Mercy for the body.
2. Mercy for the mind.3. Mercy for the soul.
The Deity Govindaji in Jaipur appears effulgent because of all the devotees of the city love Him so much.
It is important to respect the leaders, otherwise progress is difficult.
There is a cartoon with a group of executives sitting at a table, with one at the head. The chief executive had an ax above his head and swords in his side. The chief executive is asking who wants to be the next chief executive.
If we expect people to be able to follow the varnasrama rules and regulations and we reject them if they do not, then we will become irrelevant.
Bhaktivinoda Thakura explains the dress of a Vaishnava is a way we can use the body to progress spiritually. However, if we think that such external features are required, and we disrespect real Vaishnavas who do not follow them, we become sectarian.
There is verse where is it said if you address Krishna before Radha, you get the reaction for killing a brahmana. That because it is so distasteful to Krishna.
In Mahabharata, it is said that the mother is ten times more respectable than the father.
India has the lowest divorce rate in the world.
Adi Purusa Prabhu:
Sankhya, analytical knowledge, is like a kaleidoscope. It is very attractive on the outside, but if you look inside you will find nothing of value.
One should not criticize people. One should not even criticize things because they are Krishna’s things.
A Vaishnava never chastises anyone except his students and disciples, and then only in a loving way.
There is one devotee who is a software engineer. He is so patient, kind, and respectful, all the workers in the company want him as a supervisor.
The biggest sacrifice is to give up your false ego.
If we accept that we do not have to be in the superior position, then that will help us in conflicts with other people.
Once I was arguing and arguing with another devotee. At one point, it occurred to me, I should try to understand how he was seeing things. Much to my surprise, as soon as I starting thinking in this way, the other devotee said, “Now I can understand what you are saying.”
Krishna allows each of us the right to be wrong. If we allow others the right to be wrong, that is a sign of respect. Everyone has a right to their opinion, even if it is not good for them.
Sacinandana Swami explained that our body belongs to Krishna, and therefore, we should loving take of it for Krishna’s service.
Who is the doer? In summary, the soul is responsible but dependent, and the Supersoul and material nature are neutral doers.
Every religion teaches there is a higher reality which is indestructible.
I came to Krishna consciousness because I wanted to find a method so I could experience a higher reality.
Previously I was a Buddhist, but I wondered what was after nirvana and never got clear answer.
We are entitled to eternity, bliss, and knowledge, but now we have turned away, so we have reconnect.
The highest pleasure is experienced in loving relationships by giving love.
Da Vinci depicted God as an old man, perhaps 60 or 70 years old. Why not a million years old? Because he is all-powerful he can stop aging. But if you could stop aging, would you choose to be 60 or 70 years old? No, you would choose to remain youthful. And so it is with Krishna. He is an eternal youth. Krishna is the original cool teenager.
At one point the Vatican removed some references to God as the supreme judge and giver of punishment.
In Vrndavana only the priests can swing Radha-Krishna. Srila Prabhupada has given us very special mercy to allow even visitors to the temple to participate in this pastime by swinging the Lord.
The eight gopis are associated with the eight directions.
By hearing about Krishna’s pure pastimes of love we connect with Him, and we remember these when we pull Radha Krishna on the swing.
Bhakti is pure if the goal is to serve Krishna with love, and that we do bhakti only to attain this goal. In addition, one must understand Krishna in truth, and engage in the nine kinds of devotional service.
My siksa guru, Niranjana Swami, has given me the best guidance in my life as a devotee. He explains the key to bhakti is intention. One simply has to act with the desire to please Krishna. If you feel unconnected to Krishna, try adjusting your intention, and you will see it makes all the difference.
Dave [a carpenter from Dublin I met on the bus from Beauvais Airport to Paris]:
I saw the Hare Krishnas in Dublin. Once I spent two hours in a Krishna tent at a festival. It just felt like 40 minutes. Many tunes of the same song, Hare Krishna, and they played in my mind for days after. [I gave him the card for the Sunday feast and Tuesday evening kirtana program in Dublin.]
—–
naham tisthami vaikunthe
yoginam hrdayesu va
tatra tisthami narada
yatra gayanti mad-bhaktah
[Lord Krishna to Narada:] “I am not in Vaikuntha [the spiritual world] nor in the hearts of the yogis. I remain where My devotees engage in glorifying My activities. (Padma Purana, quoted in Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.21.41, purport)
Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 8, No. 14
By Krishna-kripa das
(July 2012, part two)
Ireland, Paris, Switzerland
(Sent from New Shantipur Farm, Czarnów, Poland, on August 25, 2012)
Where I Went and What I Did
After chanting in Dublin and Belfast, Ananta Nitai and I went to Govindadvipa to chant at a couple towns near our Krishna island, namely Enniskillen, Northern Island, and Cavan, Ireland, with Bhagavata Dasi, who has great enthusiasm for sharing Krishna. Then we returned to Dublin for the 12-hour harinama that we organized for that coming Saturday. After a few more days of harinama in Dublin, I went to chant for three days with my friends in Paris. Then I went to Langenthal, Switzerland, for the Saturday feast program, and to Zurich for the Sunday Jhulan Yatra festival and harinama on Monday. Then off to Berlin enroute to Kostrzyn, Poland, for my twelfth year at the Polish Woodstock festival which I describe in my next journal.
I share insights from a variety of Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami’s books, which are quoted in his online journal, Viraha Bhavan, which I regularly proofread, from Gour Govinda Swami’s disciple, Madhavananda Prabhu, who was visiting Paris, from Bhakti-sastri teacher, Adi Purusa Prabhu, who was visiting Zurich, and from my harinama partners in Dublin and Paris. I also include the experience of a man I met on a bus who met the Hare Krishna devotees at a festival.
Invited by Bhagavata Dasi, Ananta Nitai Prabhu and I went to Govindadvipa to do harinamas in two nearby towns, Enniskillen, in Northern Ireland, and Cavan, in the Republic.
In Enniskillen, devotees chant in a little pedestrian area in the center of the town. The people were more appreciative and more charitable in general than the people in Cavan the next day. Bhagavata Dasi had some small books we gave all those who gave a donation, no matter how small. We did, however, encounter one macabre surprise, a fight between two women, perhaps in their twenties or thirties, no more than three meters in front of where we were chanting. One knocked the other down on the ground and was shouting and punching her out, to the horror of her son, who was standing, helpless, nearby. The one on the ground ended up with a bloody nose. No one intervened in the fight, other than a man who said a few words to no avail. The woman who was knocked down had her belongings scattered, and some people helped her pick them up, including the women who punched her out, who found her cell phone a little ways away and returned it to her. Five policemen came and interrogated the aggressive lady. It was truly a bizarre scene. I was singing and playing the harmonium at the time, so I just kept on chanting, as it was not clear what else I could really do. No one seemed to have a better idea. For me, it was just another example of how degrading humanity is becoming?that one woman would beat up another and that no one would try to intervene and prevent injury.
In Cavan the next day we had another great location in the center of the town where we chanted another three hours. The temple president, Gopal Acarya Prabhu, and his family encouraged us by coming out for the first hour or so. The best part was a young man coming up to the devotees, looking for Bhagavad-gita, and giving twenty euros. Otherwise, except for a few smiles, there was not a great response.
Twelve-Hour Harinama in Dublin
The previous week, Ananta Nitai Prabhu suggested that we might do a twenty-four hour harinama in Dublin. Thinking back on how I always have to take a break for three hours to get some rest during the twenty-four hour kirtanas, I suggested we start with a twelve-hour harinama. We settled on a week from Saturday, specifically, Saturday, July 21, and Premarnava Prabhu advertised it on Facebook, and we told all our harinama friends. I was most impressed by the participation of Ananta Nitai Prabhu himself, who participated for at least eleven hours, and the participation of a couple of devotee ladies from out of town, who we had chanted with during our brief tour of Ireland. Bhagavata Dasi took the bus two hours each way from Govindadvipa and chanted for four and half hours. Anet took the train one hour each way from her home and amazingly distributed books during the harinama for ten hours. Her only comment at the end, before returning home, was “When is the next one?” Premarnava Prabhu also put in five hours, and Robert came extra early for the regular Saturday evening harinama to participate. One break dancer enjoyed dancing with us in the afternoon, and group of young boys and one young lady really got into the dancing in the evening.
A couple of girls from Seattle girl happened to encounter our harinama at least twice during the day, and their smiles of joy inspired me to talk with them. One said that seeing the harinama was the best part of her Dublin trip. I encouraged them to visit our temple in Seattle, when they return home, for the local Sunday feast program there. I participated myself in our twelve-hour harinama for over eleven hours. Not realizing the strength of the Irish sun in that chilly land, I got the worst sunburn this year. I learned some strategies for my increasing participation. Just have a small lunch so you do not become tired and need to take rest, and do not drink so much you have to always take a bathroom break. I reported our harinama successes to my authority in the UK and Ireland, Janananda Goswami, who encouraged me to return to Ireland again after I come back to the UK from Europe in late September.
Metroyoga in Paris
I was happy to join my friends, Chandrasekhara Acharya Prabhu, Gadadhara Priya Prabhu, and Bhaktin Sara, in chanting on the metros in Paris again, a program called Metroyoga. Recently Chandrasekhara Acharya has written a nice article for Back to Godhead describing the program. You always meet some people who really appreciate the chanting and the presentation, and that makes it all worth it.
Langenthal, Switzerland
There is a growing community of devotees in Langenthal, Switzerland, about an hour from Zurich, in the German-speaking part of the country. They have a larger temple room than most of our temples in Europe. There were a lot of devotees there who had enthusiasm for the kirtana at their weekly Saturday feast program. At Langenthal three householder families have a prasadam business by which they maintain themselves.
Zurich
I was in Zurich for the Jhulan Yatra (Radha Krishna swing festival) on Sunday and harinama by the lake on Monday. Special features of the Zurich Jhulan Yatra are that the swing is suspended over a pool of water, and to satisfy both the Tamil-speaking congregation, largely from Sri Lanka, and the local German-speaking congregation, the festival is held twice, so I got to swing Radha-Krishna two times. This festival is observed in our temples with Radha Krishna deities for the five days before and including Lord Balarama’s appearance day, but in recent years I had not been in a temple where it was held, so it was a treat to be there in Zurich and to swing Radha and Krishna twice in one day. The Gaudiya Vaishnava sampradaya stresses service to the divine couple, Radha and Krishna, and this swing festival of Theirs gives everyone in the congregation a little experience of that. For that reason, it is one of my favorite festivals.
I felt indebted to temple president, Krishna Prema Rupa Prabhu, who kindly organized a nearly two-hour harinama on Monday with ten devotees down along the lake in Zurich. There was a lot of enthusiasm among the devotees. We even went further around the lake than they ever do, through a small region where they do not have permission to chant, to the other side of the lake where it is again permitted. We passed out many temple invitations, both to the Sunday feast and the upcoming Janmastami festival. One woman came up to me asking about devotees’ summer festival, and I gave her an invitation for the Janmastami event. Apparently there the devotees celebrate Janmastami so nicely people in the city look forward to it each year.
I took a night train from Zurich to Berlin on the way to the Polish Woodstock. Although it was over eleven hours, it was only $43, a rare deal from the Swiss train company, SBB.
Insights
Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami:
Emerson says, “Beware what you set your heart upon, for it will surely be yours.”
Make war on Maya in your life.
O Ugra Lion-Man,
Your black body,Your
stance of ready-to-fight,
massive black head
plainly silver teeth and
10 arms and hands I can
almost see them all?
be real for me,
I don’t fear You because
You are our protector against
evil. Therefore I ask You
please come alive?and
tear out form the roots
my anarthas.
And life ebbs out like from a slightly leaking pot.
I thought this is so strange. The blue-faced murti of a calm Nrsimha holding Laksmi on His lap. India, and a religion of strange forms. Is it not that way? Unless you are born and raised here (or you live here many years and become Indian-religionized) it remains alien to you. But you have one thing?your surrender to Prabhupada. And he expertly teaches and induces you to accept Krsna consciousness in a scientific nonsectarian way. Except for him, even Gaudiya Vaisnavism remains strange gods, alien words, hard to believe miracles. . . .
Srila Prabhupada followed his guru life and soul yet made his own way in America, innovated, etc. Can you?
Don’t want to die “off” or die having not fulfilled what you could have become if you dared. Let everyone live out the best he or she can become.
“How do you develop selfless service for
the guru?” she asks. I’m at a loss to
answer precisely because
I don’t know it myself!
I am in lap of Gaura-Nitai [being in Mayapura]. Please I ask Them, please shape me and give good meaning to my visit.
I can occupy myself splendidly if people would just leave me alone.
But you have seen Lord Nrsimha
and can call His names,
please protect me from demons,
please kill my own demons
in the heart.
A day here is worth
millions somewhere else says
Navadvipa Mahatmya.
Bumpkin returns to the
West with stars in eyes
and plan. He’ll be a
Prabhupada Gauranga man.
Tell them. . . . I love you, I love this, but I also love to be alone?it’s hard work but very rewarding in a quiet and deep way.
O Lord, I thank You, it’s You who arrange this, who guide me to do it. Now may I do it purely.
Well life and death are somewhat the same and they are definitely related. When you are aware of death then you live in a certain way, a better way. The certainty of death, and thinking about it, turns your life more serious. It doesn’t mean you live in a deathlike way. You can still be very much in the moment, and so to speak, enjoy it all, but you’re aware that it’s really over soon, and you live in a way to improve your next life. So you see what I mean, how death and life are connected?
Yesterday you were complaining a little that there has been so much talk in your life about people dying, especially devotees in Vrndavana. But partly it’s just your own fear and avoidance of death that makes you not want to hear all of this. And the positive way to take it is to be aware of death as you live. That doesn’t spoil everything in the present moment, but it rather infuses it with a certain energetic fervent quality. If you can drive out sense gratification and serve Krsna then you are successful.
Tomorrow we’ll try a new strategy of just completely closing the windows because the bugs are coming right through the screens. I’ve never seen any place where they have such multitudes of insects. Prabhupada talks about it in some of his lectures, how in Mayapur during the night these creatures are born and live and die in one night and how in the morning you see heaps and heaps of bodies. Sometimes when I heard the lecture I felt perhaps he was exaggerating when he said that there were thousands and thousands of bugs and heaps and heaps of bodies in the morning and that you could sweep them away. But now I see it’s true. Why don’t I take Prabhupada literally true on face value all the time? Just it’s a matter of time before you find out that what he says is true.
from My Letters from Srila Prabhupada, Volume 3, I am Never Displeased with Any Member:
“I was recently speaking with one devotee who told me that her fifteen-year-old daughter is so fixed on becoming a devotee that she even thought of running away from home and joining an ISKCON temple (her mother wants her to stay home and finish school). Despite the horrors that so many of us suffered, there’s another side: Living in a temple really helped us become devotees, solidly fixed in sadhana.
“We shared living space, bathrooms, food, cooking duties, trouble, anxiety and the triumph of having received such a letter from Prabhupada. We worshiped together and felt the bliss of collective peak experience that comes from working hard for Krishna. Our lives were so different from anything we could have imagined them to be. We weren’t living abstract ideas of unity and community as were the hippies in their cynicism. Prabhupada had given us the real thing. Prabhupada was the center. It wasn’t always easy?and I’m aware that I’m stressing the good side?but we were all devotees, disciples, together. There was no question that we could do other than we did if we were sincere. Putting aside the old ISKCON debate, we should be mature enough to just try and feel the essence of something Prabhupada gave us and which many of us are so fortunate to have taken part in, even if things have changed. We joined the spiritual world.”
from Srila Prabhupapa Samadhi Diary:
“O Prabhupada, may we live in you until we die; may we serve in this life and the next. May we study your words and repeat them with joy and conviction. May we know Krishna and Radha through you.”
Dhruva Prabhu:
The Sanskrit verses of the scripture purify us so it is good to chant them repeatedly.
Prabhupada was very liberal and said it does not matter what religion you follow but that you must follow strictly whatever religion you choose. Just like you have to learn math, but which math book you use is up to you.
If we love someone, we must remember that person and we must do something for that person, and so it is with Krishna.
The greatest gift is love of God.
In America the greatest worry is “will my money run out before I die?”
The beauty of Krishna consciousness is the giver and the receiver both benefit.
A saint is not recognized in his own town. The great example is Prabhupada who had so much difficulty preaching Krishna consciousness in India but became very successful in the West.
In the material world if someone praises you, you praise them, “You must be so intelligent to realize how intelligent I am.”
Our preaching is successful if one comes to appreciate different features of Krishna consciousness, the harinama, the prasadam, and the books.
I have been on many harinamas, but the ones that Indradyumna Swami has in Poland are the most amazing. The devotees are all dressed very nicely and play the instruments very nicely. People are very attracted, and you can see it.
In India the children see the mother and father as God because mother and father maintain them as God maintains them.
It is no wonder we fall several times a day, but we must recognize we have fallen, and continue chanting.
We do not see our big faults, but we are very expert in finding innumerable insignificant faults in others.
Ananta Nitai Prabhu:
I always liked harinama, congregational chanting in public, but it was not until I read what Aindra Prabhu wrote that I understood its great importance.
We cannot judge devotees externally. Externals do not represent the internal mood of the devotee, but it is the internal mood that Krishna reciprocates with.
Krishna’s statements in the Gita are enacted in His pastimes.
Tribhuvananatha Prabhu said, referring to the spiritually ignorant, a husband and wife love each other’s false egos at best.
I could chant four rounds a day, and I resigned my self to that, thinking I would never chant anymore than four. I heard that the association of devotees was valuable, so I took a week off from work and attended the temple morning program with fourteen devotees every day. By the fourth day, I was chanting sixteen rounds, and I have been chanting sixteen rounds a day ever since. That was thirteen years ago. Thus I practically can see the power of the association of devotees in my own life.
Mayesvara Prabhu:
Hridayananda Maharaja says just by seeing the smile of the empowered preacher of Krishna consciousness you can understand you are not your body.
comment by me: That reminds me of this description given by Srila Prabhupada in a purport about Kardama Muni, “Pure devotees are so absorbed in thought Krishna that they have no other engagement; although they may seem to think or act otherwise, they are always thinking of Krishna. The smile of such a Krishna conscious person is so attractive that simply by smiling he wins so many admirers, disciples and followers.” (SB 3.22.21)
Madhavananda Prabhu:
In America there was a poll showing that 60%–70% of the people who believe in God do not believe in religion. There is a popular book called How I Left Religion and Found God.
People have not found satisfaction through sectarian religion because they have missed the essence of religion, unmotivated, uninterrupted service to God.
Krishna explains that religion is meant to be practically experienced and to be happily performed. (Bg. 9.2)
Srila Prabhupada said, “Our only business is to get people to chant Hare Krishna.” We do not want anything in exchange. Elsewhere he explained, “Our only business is to make people happy.” He also explained that we are nonsectarian society with members coming from many different religions and that members of ISKCON may retain their own religious faiths.
In Zurich there are many streams but you cannot hear their sweet sounds during the day because of all the cars and buses. In the same way, we cannot hear the soul because of the radio of our minds.
There are saints in every religion who cry for the Lord, and the Lord hears their cries.
If you go to seek a job and when asked your qualification, you say you have none or that you are the most useless person in the world, will you get a job? No. But in spiritual life, it is different.
Having straw in your teeth, both indicates that you are not going to protest nor are you going to cry with your mouth but with your heart.
Narottama Dasa Thakura prays to the Lord, “You are famous as the savior of the most fallen, but if you do not save me, you will have to change your name.”
We have to cry in such a way that it is clear to Krishna that no toys He may give us will satisfy us; nothing will satisfy us except Him.
Sadhus say smaranam means maranam. Remembrance of God means death to all our material desires.
Krishna explains to Arjuna that only those who chant his name, crying from their souls, are dear Him.
All the great religions of the world are based on great saintly persons but later on their so-called followers became more interested in business.
bhakti-yoga bhakti-yoga bhakti-yoga dana
bhakti sei krishna-nama smarane krandana
Visvanatha Cakravati Thakura states that bhakti-yoga is the greatest charity, and bhakti-yoga means chanting the holy name of the Lord with remembrance and with crying.
Ramachandra Dev, was King of Jagannatha Puri, but he was defeated by a Muslim general. After thirteen months and fifteen days in prison, the general offered to release him and allow him to be king again, only he would have to become a Muslim and marry a Muslim woman. Seeing that as the only opportunity to continue his service to Jagannatha, he accepted the condition. All his other wives rejected him, and left him, along with their children. His friends also rejected him. He went to the Puri temple, but the priests would not even let him in, although he was the king of Puri, because he had a Muslim wife. Every night after the temple closed, Ramachandra Dev would go outside it and cry. When he was so aggrieved and he was about to end his life, the Lord appeared and said, “Do not cry.” Then the Lord manifested the Patita-pavana deity outside the temple so the king could see him.
When Ramachandra Dev cried for Krishna, Jagannatha (Krishna) cried for him.
Lord Jagannatha is the form of the greatest ecstasy.
In Orissa there Muslims who help build and pull the Ratha-yatra.
They say in Orissa, “The name of Rama is like a laddu, and the name of Krishna is like ghee, and the name of Hare is like sweetened condensed milk, and you mix them and drink it. That is the Hare Krishna mantra.”
Q: How do I cry for Krishna?
A: Associate with people who are crying for Krishna.
Gour Govinda Swami explained there are two secrets for success:
1. Every day say some prayers to Lord Nityananda.
2. Pray for other people.
There are three kinds of mercy:
1. Mercy for the body.
2. Mercy for the mind.3. Mercy for the soul.
The Deity Govindaji in Jaipur appears effulgent because of all the devotees of the city love Him so much.
It is important to respect the leaders, otherwise progress is difficult.
There is a cartoon with a group of executives sitting at a table, with one at the head. The chief executive had an ax above his head and swords in his side. The chief executive is asking who wants to be the next chief executive.
If we expect people to be able to follow the varnasrama rules and regulations and we reject them if they do not, then we will become irrelevant.
Bhaktivinoda Thakura explains the dress of a Vaishnava is a way we can use the body to progress spiritually. However, if we think that such external features are required, and we disrespect real Vaishnavas who do not follow them, we become sectarian.
There is verse where is it said if you address Krishna before Radha, you get the reaction for killing a brahmana. That because it is so distasteful to Krishna.
In Mahabharata, it is said that the mother is ten times more respectable than the father.
India has the lowest divorce rate in the world.
Adi Purusa Prabhu:
Sankhya, analytical knowledge, is like a kaleidoscope. It is very attractive on the outside, but if you look inside you will find nothing of value.
One should not criticize people. One should not even criticize things because they are Krishna’s things.
A Vaishnava never chastises anyone except his students and disciples, and then only in a loving way.
There is one devotee who is a software engineer. He is so patient, kind, and respectful, all the workers in the company want him as a supervisor.
The biggest sacrifice is to give up your false ego.
If we accept that we do not have to be in the superior position, then that will help us in conflicts with other people.
Once I was arguing and arguing with another devotee. At one point, it occurred to me, I should try to understand how he was seeing things. Much to my surprise, as soon as I starting thinking in this way, the other devotee said, “Now I can understand what you are saying.”
Krishna allows each of us the right to be wrong. If we allow others the right to be wrong, that is a sign of respect. Everyone has a right to their opinion, even if it is not good for them.
Sacinandana Swami explained that our body belongs to Krishna, and therefore, we should loving take of it for Krishna’s service.
Who is the doer? In summary, the soul is responsible but dependent, and the Supersoul and material nature are neutral doers.
Every religion teaches there is a higher reality which is indestructible.
I came to Krishna consciousness because I wanted to find a method so I could experience a higher reality.
Previously I was a Buddhist, but I wondered what was after nirvana and never got clear answer.
We are entitled to eternity, bliss, and knowledge, but now we have turned away, so we have reconnect.
The highest pleasure is experienced in loving relationships by giving love.
Da Vinci depicted God as an old man, perhaps 60 or 70 years old. Why not a million years old? Because he is all-powerful he can stop aging. But if you could stop aging, would you choose to be 60 or 70 years old? No, you would choose to remain youthful. And so it is with Krishna. He is an eternal youth. Krishna is the original cool teenager.
At one point the Vatican removed some references to God as the supreme judge and giver of punishment.
In Vrndavana only the priests can swing Radha-Krishna. Srila Prabhupada has given us very special mercy to allow even visitors to the temple to participate in this pastime by swinging the Lord.
The eight gopis are associated with the eight directions.
By hearing about Krishna’s pure pastimes of love we connect with Him, and we remember these when we pull Radha Krishna on the swing.
Bhakti is pure if the goal is to serve Krishna with love, and that we do bhakti only to attain this goal. In addition, one must understand Krishna in truth, and engage in the nine kinds of devotional service.
My siksa guru, Niranjana Swami, has given me the best guidance in my life as a devotee. He explains the key to bhakti is intention. One simply has to act with the desire to please Krishna. If you feel unconnected to Krishna, try adjusting your intention, and you will see it makes all the difference.
Dave [a carpenter from Dublin I met on the bus from Beauvais Airport to Paris]:
I saw the Hare Krishnas in Dublin. Once I spent two hours in a Krishna tent at a festival. It just felt like 40 minutes. Many tunes of the same song, Hare Krishna, and they played in my mind for days after. [I gave him the card for the Sunday feast and Tuesday evening kirtana program in Dublin.]
—–
naham tisthami vaikunthe
yoginam hrdayesu va
tatra tisthami narada
yatra gayanti mad-bhaktah
[Lord Krishna to Narada:] “I am not in Vaikuntha [the spiritual world] nor in the hearts of the yogis. I remain where My devotees engage in glorifying My activities. (Padma Purana, quoted in Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.21.41, purport)
Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 8, No. 13
By Krishna-kripa das
(July 2012, part one)
The North of England, Dublin, and Belfast
(Sent from New Shantipur Farm, Czarnów, Poland, on August 20, 2012)
Where I Went and What I Did
The first week of July I spent in Newcastle doing harinama with Sri Gadadhara Prabhu, and sometimes joined by Prema Sankirtana Prabhu, and once also with photographer, Bhakta Lauris. As usual, sometimes we chanted in Newcastle itself and sometimes in neighboring regions. Next we went to the monthly Manchester harinama, the second Sunday of the month. GBC of the UK Praghosa Prabhu was there, and I got to tell him about my new program of working in his region in the summers under the direction of Janananda Goswami. Brahmacaris from the Bhaktivedanta Manor were visiting and did harinamas with us in Manchester on Monday and Leeds on Tuesday. Wednesday was a wild day traveling from Leeds to Manchester to help with a program for elementary students, and then going to Sheffield for the afternoon harinama and evening program, and then taking a train to Birmingham to catch a bus to Dublin. I spent a few days in Dublin and Belfast chanting three hours almost every day with my new harinama partner, a disciple of Maha-Vishnu Swami, Ananta Nitai Prabhu.
I share a couple quotes from Krishnadasa Kaviraja Goswami about the most sacred place in the world, and Srila Prabhupada’s explanation for why certain activities are considered sinful. I include insights from Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami from a variety of his books. Yadunandana Swami came to Dublin and shared some insights which I include. The question of remembering Krishna at the time of death and the potential problem of Alzheimer’s disease generated an interesting discussion and devotees share some real life stories about that. GBC Praghosa Prabhu at the Manchester Sunday Feast glorified Srila Prabhupada and encouraged us to follow his example. My harinama partners also share some interesting realizations in their classes.
I apologize for the lack of photos to illustrate this issue. My camera died, and I was not enthusiastic enough to ask the devotee photographers for the pictures they took at the time. I tried writing some of them by email later, asking for pictures, but no one responded.
More Harinamas in The North of England
We chanted in Sunderland and three boys, perhaps ten or twelve or so, amazed us by trying to chant and for dancing with us for fifteen minutes. One was especially fired up. Later Sri Gadadhara Prabhu sold a Bhagavad-gita to a couple girls who reminded us of the hippie era by their dress and behavior. They maintained themselves by face painting and Tarot card reading. They joined our harinama and chanted and danced so in such a lively way as we passed through the streets and malls of Sunderland, it was as though they were brahmacarinis from one of our ashrams.
In Manchester we had such a fired up harinama that two or three young Muslim ladies danced right in the middle of one of two facing lines of dancing devotees who were repeatedly coming together, jumping, and moving apart. Although Muslim ladies are often attracted, usually they just smile, take pictures, or dance with their friends a little distant from our party, but this time they were right in the thick of it. At the same time, a couple of visiting Italian girls, also danced in one of the lines of dancing devotees at one end. One man from Kuwait was watching when the Muslim ladies danced and spoke disapprovingly about them to me, saying they were from Pakistan and were setting a bad example for Muslim ladies. His comment seemed a little humorous to me, perhaps because I had not encountered such internal disagreements among the Muslims before.
Sutapa Prabhu and a van load of devotees from Bhaktivedanta Manor were visiting the Manchester area, and we did an amazing four hours of harinama in downtown Manchester on Monday and then harinama for a couple of hours in Leeds on Tuesday before the evening program there. Having all the extra devotees made the kirtana at the Leeds program very lively. As a result of a good experience, Sutapa Prabhu is considering coming to The North of England with some of his party more often to assist the outreach up there.
Manchester Program for School Students
Tribhangananda Prabhu does programs for school children who come to the temple to learn about Hinduism. He makes it really interactive for them by having them dress up as avatars, demigods and demigoddess, and having them hold dolls of different Hindu deities, and pass them around the room. Then he talks about the qualities and activities of each deity. I was surprised that some of the students remembered details of the Ramayana from their Hinduism class at school and were able to identify some of the personalities from it. Sri Gadadhara Prabhu and I played a brief role by leading kirtana for the kids and demonstrating the musical instruments. The kids and their teachers all get prasadam afterward. You could see that both the students and the teachers liked the program. It was impressive to me that the teachers expressed appreciation that my friend and I had taken time out of our lives just to sing for them. As it was, by running and taking two buses, I made it to the train station just two minutes before my train to Sheffield, but my friend, who was less determined, missed his flight to Czech.
Sheffield Harinama and Program
I like Sheffield because you can always count on some of the local devotees to come on harinama. Kay, the leader, and her daughter Radha, are almost always there. Another young man is very steady as well. Radha was scheduled to work but asked for the rest of the afternoon off because it was a slow day, and her boss gave it to her. Mark, who had not been coming around for awhile, saw me when I was chanting alone in the beginning, and he passed out flyers for me. When the others came, he continued with the harinama, and later came to the program. Four girls danced as they walked by the harinama, and then again when they passed by in the other direction. While Radha was singing, she encouraged three girls who were friends to participate. First the girls danced, and then they chanted, and they had a great time. At the program a new lady from India who heard about our ISKCON program from a student at the university, and who knew the devotees from Bangalore, came, stayed the whole time, bought some beads and made a vow to chant one round a day. Steven from Ghana, a regular at that program, and a taxi driver, gave me a complimentary ride to the train. As I reached the train to Sheffield, just two minutes before its departure, which caused me too much anxiety, this time we got there seven minutes early.
Dublin Harinamas
Premarnava and Ananta Nitai Prabhu have a regular program of going out every day on harinama for an hour or an hour and a half, sometimes joined by Mayesvara Prabhu, and so it was great to have their association. Ananta Nitai, in particular, did not mind increasing to three hours almost every day. We chanted in Dublin a couple of days, once assisted by Yadunandana Swami who was visiting and Mayesvara Prabhu, a regular.
Belfast Harinamas
Ananta Nitai Prabhu and I went to the usual Belfast harinama stop after arriving from Dublin by bus, as we had invited the temple devotees to join us there. Soon Bhaktin Annete, who loves distributing books on harinama, appeared and later Satya Rupa Devi, a disciple of Srila Prabhupada who had moved to Ireland from Australia since I visited last year.
The next day we decided to do harinama before the Sunday feast for two and a half hours. This time, Shyama Mayi Devi, a regular on last year’s harinamas who had chanted with our Mayapur harinama party this spring, came out along with Annete. The advantage to pre-Sunday feast harinamas is that the interested people you meet can come back to the temple for the program, and this time it actually happened. A man, perhaps in his forties or fifties, who seemed to be on a spiritual search, came back with us by bus to the temple for the Sunday lecture, kirtana, and feast. I decided to sit with him during the feast, as no one else seemed very interested in talking to him. I asked what he thought of the philosophy, and he said he liked it. Because of his interest, I suggested that Ananta Nitai Prabhu might try to sell him a book. And so he did, not one, but four, and the man gave a 60 pound donation, almost $100. I saw it as Krishna encouraging us in our humble attempts to do outreach.
Monday, another enthusiastic devotee lady, Rukmamati Devi, who is a full-time pujari, joined the harinama, along with one of the other ladies, and Shyama Mayi joined us on Tuesday. I suggested to the four ladies who had come out on harinama over the four days we were there that they arrange their service schedules so they could go out on harinama two or three times a week, as they all were very happy to be chanting in the streets again, and I hope they do.
Next we went to Govindadvipa to chant with Bhagavata Dasi, a very enthusiastic devotee lady who is somewhere around sixty years in age, but still loves to go chanting in the towns near our temple there.
Insights
Krishnadasa Kaviraja Goswami [from Govinda-lilamrita]:
Describing the arena of Lord Krishna’s rasa dance:
Beneath a kalpa-druma tree [desire tree] is a palace wherein Lord Krishna’s jeweled throne is situated in a sacred place, and where the Agama-sastra explains the Lord has multitudes of pastimes with the gopis. It is also said that in this monarch of all places that by seeing Lord Govinda one would attain the qualities of Radharani and Her gopi friends with great joy.”
[Glorifying the names of Krishna is performed by the gopis, Krishna’s greatest devotees:]
By playing on His flute Lord Krishna announced His desire to enjoy the rasa dance. The gopis responded by singing various songs glorifying Lord Krishna’s names. These songs greatly pleased the Lord.”
Srila Prabhupada:
from a lecture in Bombay, February 24, 1974:
Why are meat-eating, illicit sex, intoxication, and gambling considered sinful? Because they force the soul to accept another body, which is the source of misery.
Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami:
from Prabhupada Meditations IV:
?It has been almost fourteen years since Prabhupada left us. We are getting older physically, but we are still spiritual infants. We have so much to learn. We pray to Prabhupada for better vision. Arjuna prayed for the eyes to see the Universal Form; we need the eyes to see what is in Prabhupada’s books. We need to understand the deeper meanings of Krishna consciousness. This doesn’t mean that Prabhupada didn’t give us everything. It only means that we have failed to recognize it.”
from his journal, Viraha Bhavan, for July 16, 2012:
It’s
nice when sadhus
dance so beautifully, like
Lord Caitanya did.
It enhances the performance
of sankirtana and induces
onlookers to appreciate and
even participate.
from Karttika Papers:
This is Mayapura where
you can commit offenses.
Everything you do is blessed
The Two Brothers Reign.
They bring you to gopi-bhava.
Prabhupada said, “Death is not
wonderful. Life is wonderful. And
this is life, Krsna consciousness.”
We need to take a break from the arduous duties and just hear the pastimes of Krsna.
from Journal and Poems, Volume One:
?In 1977 when Prabhupada was quite ill, he attended a big pandal in Bombay. He had to be carried onto the stage and the audience could see that he was physically diminished. Yet Prabhupada never preached more powerfully. At one of those programs, a man asked, ‘What about health?’ Prabhupada replied, ‘What is health? You’re going to die, so how can you be considered healthy?’ So one of the things I seem to be gaining during this recuperation period is the deepening realization that I’m going to die. I’m trying to recoup a little strength so that I can go on for many more years, but there’s no question of reversing the incurable process of aging unto death. Although this truth should be commonly understood, many have not realized it.
from Vrindavana Writing:
I want to taste the nectar so I can become like a maddened bee and remain always in the lotus of Your confidential pastimes. O Lord, I do not know anything but the spiritual masters who guide me are enticing me toward the goal. I’m not happy to be chanting and hearing without feeling the ecstasy of attraction for You. I am ashamed that this is my condition. I beg You to please relieve me of that shame.
Dear Lord, if there are obstacles to be removed before You grant me this request, then I further request that You show me those obstacles and teach me to surmount them. Give me the courage and intelligence to overcome a weak heart.
If You think I require more time to ripen before You will find me an enjoyable and attractive servant in Your pastimes, then I only ask to be allowed to associate in this world with devotees who have a deep affection for Srimati Radharani. Please allow me to serve those devotees life after life and to learn from them how to return to Her lotus feet.”
Yadunandana Swami:
The Srimad-Bhagavatam is the most glorious scripture because of its focus on describing the birth and activities of the Lord. Of its 335 chapters, the 90 chapters comprising the Tenth Canto deal with the pastimes of Krishna and the Eleventh Canto of over 30 chapters deals the legacy and final instructions of Krishna.
A teacher of nonviolent communications teaches we must know our own needs, and the needs of the others and then figure out how to connect with others, knowing this. The pleasure comes from connecting with others. Our first business in spiritual realization is sambandha, understanding our connection with and connecting with Krishna.
Now there is talk of a God particle. This means that the scientists directly or indirectly conscious of God. The function of the particle is to sustain matter, and that is one of God’s attributes.
One of Ramanujacarya’s gurus had the power to ask the Deity a question and have the Deity reply with an answer. Someone asked him to ask the Deity, “What happens if your devotee cannot remember you at the time of death?” The Deity replied, “If the devotee does not remember Me at the time of death, I will remember my devotee.”
comment by Ananta Nitai Prabhu: My mother had Alzheimer’s disease, and at a certain point, she would just repeat what anyone said. I just chanted the Hare Krishna mantra, two words at a time, and she would repeat them, until she would say, “O stop!” Then I would try one more mantra, and when she would not complain, I would continue. After I while she would say, “O stop!” again. Then I would try one more mantra, and she would again not complain, so I would continue. This went on until she was too tired to say anything. Later my sister said she would sometimes hear my mother chanting the entire Hare Krishna mantra. This was amazing to me as usually someone with that condition cannot remember anything, so I think this is evidence of Krishna giving her some special mercy.
comment by Mayesvara Prabhu: One devotee in Dublin had Alzheimer’s disease. Once he was in a large store, and he got separated from his wife, and he could not remember his own name nor who he had come with to have the store authorities make an announcement. He got the idea to say the Hare Krishna into microphone so his caretaker would understand what happened. Later when his wife could not longer take care of him, he lived in a home with others who required assistance. Many people in that situation in the same home were angry and bitter but he was peaceful and appeared effulgent. His wife would bring him prasadam and garlands from the Deities, and she wiped his face with Ganges water.
comment by me: Malati Prabhu told in a morning class of a devotee seamstress in New Vrindavana, who after a long absence due to Alzheimer’s disease, again took darsana of the Lord, for whom she had made outfits for years. Malati said, “I was surprised to see her absorption in the Deities. She saw me looking at her, and turned to me, saying, ‘You may try to forget Krishna, but Krishna will not forget you.’”
Most of us have both divine and demoniac qualities.
Divine means to follow the instructions of God given in the scriptures.
The life of the soul in the material world is a dilemma. And spiritual life is also a dilemma.
When we are preaching, we should consider where we are at, and preach what we have realized. It is important to be balanced and consistence. We must communicate Krishna’s message without hypocrisy.
Today is a birthday party. Devotees are special souls, and it is good to take advantage of such opportunities to glorify them. We wish the devotee a long life in Krishna consciousness.
Praghosa Prabhu (GBC UK):
In the spiritual world the bliss is every increasing yet we decided to come to the place of misery, the material world.
There was nothing in Prabhupada’s life that was separated from his mission.
Past the age of retirement, Prabhupada left India to share this knowledge with the world. He had no doubts about his mission. He knew people were suffering, and he wanted to help them.
If we do not have faith that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, we cannot convince others. Therefore, Prabhupada challenged his leaders, “Are you convinced?”
There are so many words for suffering because it is a constant for everyone in this material world.
None of us are really comfortable in our bodies.
Nature programs are very popular yet if you think about it, all you see the different animals doing is four things, eating, sleeping, mating, and defending.
Radhanatha Swami’s father has 200 channels on his TV, but he is not satisfied as it is difficult to remember which had the best program.
Tell all your friends about Krishna in a way that makes them more attracted to Krishna.
The only reciprocation Prabhupada wanted is that we pass what he gave us.
Ananta Nitai Prabhu:
I always liked harinama, the congregational chanting in public, but it was not until I read what Aindra Prabhu wrote that I understood its great importance.
We cannot judge devotees externally. Externals do not represent the internal mood of the devotee, but it is the internal mood that Krishna reciprocates with.
Krishna’s statements in the Gita are enacted in His pastimes.
Tribhuvanatha Prabhu said, for the spiritually ignorant, a husband and wife love each other’s false ego at best.
Conditioned souls identify either with their bodies or their minds. Fearfulness arises from either identifying ourselves with our body or our mind. When we come in contact with the Lord, this fearfulness is annihilated.
The essence of life is to transcend death and that is the knowledge this Hare Krishna movement is giving.
The more pious we are, the less fearful of death we become, and the more sinful we are the more afraid of death we become.
The more selfless you become, the less you worry about the source of miseries which are in relationship the body.
There was a Christian Bible-Belt family who had a kid at an early age who remembered details of a previous life as a fighter pilot. He listed names and details of different aircraft. The family researched it to disprove the idea of reincarnation, but they became convinced of it.
Scientists describe the body functioning in terms of chemical reactions only, but can you show me a chemical reaction that is aware of itself?
One reason people like dogs because the dogs will not reject them.
comment by Annete: I see that when I am distributing books that some people are so glad to talk to me just because they are so lonely. Sometimes they take a book just because they are happy I talked to them.
comment by Guru Das from the Manor in another Srimad-Bhagavatam class: One’s mind wanders in proportion to one’s lack of desire to surrender to Krishna.
Nrsimha Tirtha Prabhu:
At the ceremony when the child is first offered grains, Narottama Thakura Dasa, as baby, refused to eat the grains because they were not offered to Krishna.
Lord Nityananda Prabhu, the original guru, took Narottama Thakura Dasa, as a youth, to the Padma River, to receive the love of God that Lord Caitanya had deposited there for him.
Narottama Thakura installed the deities in Khettari so the devotees there would make steady advancement by regularly serving the Lord.
Bhugarbha Goswami would chant within the earth, in a cave or underground, to make sure no one would disturb him, and that is why he is called Bhugarbha.
The pure devotees think they are fallen, but that motivates them to do more devotional service.
The acaryas, the great spiritual teachers, are looking for their faults in order to correct themselves, and that is expressed in their songs.
Sri Gadadhara Prabhu:
When we do our work for Krishna, it becomes an art.
Krishna consciousness is simple. Do your work for the gratification of Krishna’s senses not your own.
One householder devotee said, “Do not talk about love until you have been married for 15 years,” the purport being that without staying together and serving each other for a long time, through happiness and distress, there is no question of love.
Srila Prabhupada explained nonviolence as working for the spiritual benefit of everyone, but unless we engage in devotional service, we cannot do this. So not to engage in devotional service is actually violence.
Aindra Prabhu said simplicity is to follow whatever the Lord tells us from within.
—–
prthivite ache yata nagaradi grama
sarvatra pracara haibe mora nama
[Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu said:] “In every town and village, the chanting of My name will be heard.” (Caitanya-bhagavata, Antya 4.126)
Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 8, No. 13
By Krishna-kripa das
(July 2012, part one)
The North of England, Dublin, and Belfast
(Sent from New Shantipur Farm, Czarnów, Poland, on August 20, 2012)
Where I Went and What I Did
The first week of July I spent in Newcastle doing harinama with Sri Gadadhara Prabhu, and sometimes joined by Prema Sankirtana Prabhu, and once also with photographer, Bhakta Lauris. As usual, sometimes we chanted in Newcastle itself and sometimes in neighboring regions. Next we went to the monthly Manchester harinama, the second Sunday of the month. GBC of the UK Praghosa Prabhu was there, and I got to tell him about my new program of working in his region in the summers under the direction of Janananda Goswami. Brahmacaris from the Bhaktivedanta Manor were visiting and did harinamas with us in Manchester on Monday and Leeds on Tuesday. Wednesday was a wild day traveling from Leeds to Manchester to help with a program for elementary students, and then going to Sheffield for the afternoon harinama and evening program, and then taking a train to Birmingham to catch a bus to Dublin. I spent a few days in Dublin and Belfast chanting three hours almost every day with my new harinama partner, a disciple of Maha-Vishnu Swami, Ananta Nitai Prabhu.
I share a couple quotes from Krishnadasa Kaviraja Goswami about the most sacred place in the world, and Srila Prabhupada’s explanation for why certain activities are considered sinful. I include insights from Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami from a variety of his books. Yadunandana Swami came to Dublin and shared some insights which I include. The question of remembering Krishna at the time of death and the potential problem of Alzheimer’s disease generated an interesting discussion and devotees share some real life stories about that. GBC Praghosa Prabhu at the Manchester Sunday Feast glorified Srila Prabhupada and encouraged us to follow his example. My harinama partners also share some interesting realizations in their classes.
I apologize for the lack of photos to illustrate this issue. My camera died, and I was not enthusiastic enough to ask the devotee photographers for the pictures they took at the time. I tried writing some of them by email later, asking for pictures, but no one responded.
More Harinamas in The North of England
We chanted in Sunderland and three boys, perhaps ten or twelve or so, amazed us by trying to chant and for dancing with us for fifteen minutes. One was especially fired up. Later Sri Gadadhara Prabhu sold a Bhagavad-gita to a couple girls who reminded us of the hippie era by their dress and behavior. They maintained themselves by face painting and Tarot card reading. They joined our harinama and chanted and danced so in such a lively way as we passed through the streets and malls of Sunderland, it was as though they were brahmacarinis from one of our ashrams.
In Manchester we had such a fired up harinama that two or three young Muslim ladies danced right in the middle of one of two facing lines of dancing devotees who were repeatedly coming together, jumping, and moving apart. Although Muslim ladies are often attracted, usually they just smile, take pictures, or dance with their friends a little distant from our party, but this time they were right in the thick of it. At the same time, a couple of visiting Italian girls, also danced in one of the lines of dancing devotees at one end. One man from Kuwait was watching when the Muslim ladies danced and spoke disapprovingly about them to me, saying they were from Pakistan and were setting a bad example for Muslim ladies. His comment seemed a little humorous to me, perhaps because I had not encountered such internal disagreements among the Muslims before.
Sutapa Prabhu and a van load of devotees from Bhaktivedanta Manor were visiting the Manchester area, and we did an amazing four hours of harinama in downtown Manchester on Monday and then harinama for a couple of hours in Leeds on Tuesday before the evening program there. Having all the extra devotees made the kirtana at the Leeds program very lively. As a result of a good experience, Sutapa Prabhu is considering coming to The North of England with some of his party more often to assist the outreach up there.
Manchester Program for School Students
Tribhangananda Prabhu does programs for school children who come to the temple to learn about Hinduism. He makes it really interactive for them by having them dress up as avatars, demigods and demigoddess, and having them hold dolls of different Hindu deities, and pass them around the room. Then he talks about the qualities and activities of each deity. I was surprised that some of the students remembered details of the Ramayana from their Hinduism class at school and were able to identify some of the personalities from it. Sri Gadadhara Prabhu and I played a brief role by leading kirtana for the kids and demonstrating the musical instruments. The kids and their teachers all get prasadam afterward. You could see that both the students and the teachers liked the program. It was impressive to me that the teachers expressed appreciation that my friend and I had taken time out of our lives just to sing for them. As it was, by running and taking two buses, I made it to the train station just two minutes before my train to Sheffield, but my friend, who was less determined, missed his flight to Czech.
Sheffield Harinama and Program
I like Sheffield because you can always count on some of the local devotees to come on harinama. Kay, the leader, and her daughter Radha, are almost always there. Another young man is very steady as well. Radha was scheduled to work but asked for the rest of the afternoon off because it was a slow day, and her boss gave it to her. Mark, who had not been coming around for awhile, saw me when I was chanting alone in the beginning, and he passed out flyers for me. When the others came, he continued with the harinama, and later came to the program. Four girls danced as they walked by the harinama, and then again when they passed by in the other direction. While Radha was singing, she encouraged three girls who were friends to participate. First the girls danced, and then they chanted, and they had a great time. At the program a new lady from India who heard about our ISKCON program from a student at the university, and who knew the devotees from Bangalore, came, stayed the whole time, bought some beads and made a vow to chant one round a day. Steven from Ghana, a regular at that program, and a taxi driver, gave me a complimentary ride to the train. As I reached the train to Sheffield, just two minutes before its departure, which caused me too much anxiety, this time we got there seven minutes early.
Dublin Harinamas
Premarnava and Ananta Nitai Prabhu have a regular program of going out every day on harinama for an hour or an hour and a half, sometimes joined by Mayesvara Prabhu, and so it was great to have their association. Ananta Nitai, in particular, did not mind increasing to three hours almost every day. We chanted in Dublin a couple of days, once assisted by Yadunandana Swami who was visiting and Mayesvara Prabhu, a regular.
Belfast Harinamas
Ananta Nitai Prabhu and I went to the usual Belfast harinama stop after arriving from Dublin by bus, as we had invited the temple devotees to join us there. Soon Bhaktin Annete, who loves distributing books on harinama, appeared and later Satya Rupa Devi, a disciple of Srila Prabhupada who had moved to Ireland from Australia since I visited last year.
The next day we decided to do harinama before the Sunday feast for two and a half hours. This time, Shyama Mayi Devi, a regular on last year’s harinamas who had chanted with our Mayapur harinama party this spring, came out along with Annete. The advantage to pre-Sunday feast harinamas is that the interested people you meet can come back to the temple for the program, and this time it actually happened. A man, perhaps in his forties or fifties, who seemed to be on a spiritual search, came back with us by bus to the temple for the Sunday lecture, kirtana, and feast. I decided to sit with him during the feast, as no one else seemed very interested in talking to him. I asked what he thought of the philosophy, and he said he liked it. Because of his interest, I suggested that Ananta Nitai Prabhu might try to sell him a book. And so he did, not one, but four, and the man gave a 60 pound donation, almost $100. I saw it as Krishna encouraging us in our humble attempts to do outreach.
Monday, another enthusiastic devotee lady, Rukmamati Devi, who is a full-time pujari, joined the harinama, along with one of the other ladies, and Shyama Mayi joined us on Tuesday. I suggested to the four ladies who had come out on harinama over the four days we were there that they arrange their service schedules so they could go out on harinama two or three times a week, as they all were very happy to be chanting in the streets again, and I hope they do.
Next we went to Govindadvipa to chant with Bhagavata Dasi, a very enthusiastic devotee lady who is somewhere around sixty years in age, but still loves to go chanting in the towns near our temple there.
Insights
Krishnadasa Kaviraja Goswami [from Govinda-lilamrita]:
Describing the arena of Lord Krishna’s rasa dance:
Beneath a kalpa-druma tree [desire tree] is a palace wherein Lord Krishna’s jeweled throne is situated in a sacred place, and where the Agama-sastra explains the Lord has multitudes of pastimes with the gopis. It is also said that in this monarch of all places that by seeing Lord Govinda one would attain the qualities of Radharani and Her gopi friends with great joy.”
[Glorifying the names of Krishna is performed by the gopis, Krishna’s greatest devotees:]
By playing on His flute Lord Krishna announced His desire to enjoy the rasa dance. The gopis responded by singing various songs glorifying Lord Krishna’s names. These songs greatly pleased the Lord.”
Srila Prabhupada:
from a lecture in Bombay, February 24, 1974:
Why are meat-eating, illicit sex, intoxication, and gambling considered sinful? Because they force the soul to accept another body, which is the source of misery.
Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami:
from Prabhupada Meditations IV:
?It has been almost fourteen years since Prabhupada left us. We are getting older physically, but we are still spiritual infants. We have so much to learn. We pray to Prabhupada for better vision. Arjuna prayed for the eyes to see the Universal Form; we need the eyes to see what is in Prabhupada’s books. We need to understand the deeper meanings of Krishna consciousness. This doesn’t mean that Prabhupada didn’t give us everything. It only means that we have failed to recognize it.”
from his journal, Viraha Bhavan, for July 16, 2012:
It’s
nice when sadhus
dance so beautifully, like
Lord Caitanya did.
It enhances the performance
of sankirtana and induces
onlookers to appreciate and
even participate.
from Karttika Papers:
This is Mayapura where
you can commit offenses.
Everything you do is blessed
The Two Brothers Reign.
They bring you to gopi-bhava.
Prabhupada said, “Death is not
wonderful. Life is wonderful. And
this is life, Krsna consciousness.”
We need to take a break from the arduous duties and just hear the pastimes of Krsna.
from Journal and Poems, Volume One:
?In 1977 when Prabhupada was quite ill, he attended a big pandal in Bombay. He had to be carried onto the stage and the audience could see that he was physically diminished. Yet Prabhupada never preached more powerfully. At one of those programs, a man asked, ‘What about health?’ Prabhupada replied, ‘What is health? You’re going to die, so how can you be considered healthy?’ So one of the things I seem to be gaining during this recuperation period is the deepening realization that I’m going to die. I’m trying to recoup a little strength so that I can go on for many more years, but there’s no question of reversing the incurable process of aging unto death. Although this truth should be commonly understood, many have not realized it.
from Vrindavana Writing:
I want to taste the nectar so I can become like a maddened bee and remain always in the lotus of Your confidential pastimes. O Lord, I do not know anything but the spiritual masters who guide me are enticing me toward the goal. I’m not happy to be chanting and hearing without feeling the ecstasy of attraction for You. I am ashamed that this is my condition. I beg You to please relieve me of that shame.
Dear Lord, if there are obstacles to be removed before You grant me this request, then I further request that You show me those obstacles and teach me to surmount them. Give me the courage and intelligence to overcome a weak heart.
If You think I require more time to ripen before You will find me an enjoyable and attractive servant in Your pastimes, then I only ask to be allowed to associate in this world with devotees who have a deep affection for Srimati Radharani. Please allow me to serve those devotees life after life and to learn from them how to return to Her lotus feet.”
Yadunandana Swami:
The Srimad-Bhagavatam is the most glorious scripture because of its focus on describing the birth and activities of the Lord. Of its 335 chapters, the 90 chapters comprising the Tenth Canto deal with the pastimes of Krishna and the Eleventh Canto of over 30 chapters deals the legacy and final instructions of Krishna.
A teacher of nonviolent communications teaches we must know our own needs, and the needs of the others and then figure out how to connect with others, knowing this. The pleasure comes from connecting with others. Our first business in spiritual realization is sambandha, understanding our connection with and connecting with Krishna.
Now there is talk of a God particle. This means that the scientists directly or indirectly conscious of God. The function of the particle is to sustain matter, and that is one of God’s attributes.
One of Ramanujacarya’s gurus had the power to ask the Deity a question and have the Deity reply with an answer. Someone asked him to ask the Deity, “What happens if your devotee cannot remember you at the time of death?” The Deity replied, “If the devotee does not remember Me at the time of death, I will remember my devotee.”
comment by Ananta Nitai Prabhu: My mother had Alzheimer’s disease, and at a certain point, she would just repeat what anyone said. I just chanted the Hare Krishna mantra, two words at a time, and she would repeat them, until she would say, “O stop!” Then I would try one more mantra, and when she would not complain, I would continue. After I while she would say, “O stop!” again. Then I would try one more mantra, and she would again not complain, so I would continue. This went on until she was too tired to say anything. Later my sister said she would sometimes hear my mother chanting the entire Hare Krishna mantra. This was amazing to me as usually someone with that condition cannot remember anything, so I think this is evidence of Krishna giving her some special mercy.
comment by Mayesvara Prabhu: One devotee in Dublin had Alzheimer’s disease. Once he was in a large store, and he got separated from his wife, and he could not remember his own name nor who he had come with to have the store authorities make an announcement. He got the idea to say the Hare Krishna into microphone so his caretaker would understand what happened. Later when his wife could not longer take care of him, he lived in a home with others who required assistance. Many people in that situation in the same home were angry and bitter but he was peaceful and appeared effulgent. His wife would bring him prasadam and garlands from the Deities, and she wiped his face with Ganges water.
comment by me: Malati Prabhu told in a morning class of a devotee seamstress in New Vrindavana, who after a long absence due to Alzheimer’s disease, again took darsana of the Lord, for whom she had made outfits for years. Malati said, “I was surprised to see her absorption in the Deities. She saw me looking at her, and turned to me, saying, ‘You may try to forget Krishna, but Krishna will not forget you.’”
Most of us have both divine and demoniac qualities.
Divine means to follow the instructions of God given in the scriptures.
The life of the soul in the material world is a dilemma. And spiritual life is also a dilemma.
When we are preaching, we should consider where we are at, and preach what we have realized. It is important to be balanced and consistence. We must communicate Krishna’s message without hypocrisy.
Today is a birthday party. Devotees are special souls, and it is good to take advantage of such opportunities to glorify them. We wish the devotee a long life in Krishna consciousness.
Praghosa Prabhu (GBC UK):
In the spiritual world the bliss is every increasing yet we decided to come to the place of misery, the material world.
There was nothing in Prabhupada’s life that was separated from his mission.
Past the age of retirement, Prabhupada left India to share this knowledge with the world. He had no doubts about his mission. He knew people were suffering, and he wanted to help them.
If we do not have faith that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, we cannot convince others. Therefore, Prabhupada challenged his leaders, “Are you convinced?”
There are so many words for suffering because it is a constant for everyone in this material world.
None of us are really comfortable in our bodies.
Nature programs are very popular yet if you think about it, all you see the different animals doing is four things, eating, sleeping, mating, and defending.
Radhanatha Swami’s father has 200 channels on his TV, but he is not satisfied as it is difficult to remember which had the best program.
Tell all your friends about Krishna in a way that makes them more attracted to Krishna.
The only reciprocation Prabhupada wanted is that we pass what he gave us.
Ananta Nitai Prabhu:
I always liked harinama, the congregational chanting in public, but it was not until I read what Aindra Prabhu wrote that I understood its great importance.
We cannot judge devotees externally. Externals do not represent the internal mood of the devotee, but it is the internal mood that Krishna reciprocates with.
Krishna’s statements in the Gita are enacted in His pastimes.
Tribhuvanatha Prabhu said, for the spiritually ignorant, a husband and wife love each other’s false ego at best.
Conditioned souls identify either with their bodies or their minds. Fearfulness arises from either identifying ourselves with our body or our mind. When we come in contact with the Lord, this fearfulness is annihilated.
The essence of life is to transcend death and that is the knowledge this Hare Krishna movement is giving.
The more pious we are, the less fearful of death we become, and the more sinful we are the more afraid of death we become.
The more selfless you become, the less you worry about the source of miseries which are in relationship the body.
There was a Christian Bible-Belt family who had a kid at an early age who remembered details of a previous life as a fighter pilot. He listed names and details of different aircraft. The family researched it to disprove the idea of reincarnation, but they became convinced of it.
Scientists describe the body functioning in terms of chemical reactions only, but can you show me a chemical reaction that is aware of itself?
One reason people like dogs because the dogs will not reject them.
comment by Annete: I see that when I am distributing books that some people are so glad to talk to me just because they are so lonely. Sometimes they take a book just because they are happy I talked to them.
comment by Guru Das from the Manor in another Srimad-Bhagavatam class: One’s mind wanders in proportion to one’s lack of desire to surrender to Krishna.
Nrsimha Tirtha Prabhu:
At the ceremony when the child is first offered grains, Narottama Thakura Dasa, as baby, refused to eat the grains because they were not offered to Krishna.
Lord Nityananda Prabhu, the original guru, took Narottama Thakura Dasa, as a youth, to the Padma River, to receive the love of God that Lord Caitanya had deposited there for him.
Narottama Thakura installed the deities in Khettari so the devotees there would make steady advancement by regularly serving the Lord.
Bhugarbha Goswami would chant within the earth, in a cave or underground, to make sure no one would disturb him, and that is why he is called Bhugarbha.
The pure devotees think they are fallen, but that motivates them to do more devotional service.
The acaryas, the great spiritual teachers, are looking for their faults in order to correct themselves, and that is expressed in their songs.
Sri Gadadhara Prabhu:
When we do our work for Krishna, it becomes an art.
Krishna consciousness is simple. Do your work for the gratification of Krishna’s senses not your own.
One householder devotee said, “Do not talk about love until you have been married for 15 years,” the purport being that without staying together and serving each other for a long time, through happiness and distress, there is no question of love.
Srila Prabhupada explained nonviolence as working for the spiritual benefit of everyone, but unless we engage in devotional service, we cannot do this. So not to engage in devotional service is actually violence.
Aindra Prabhu said simplicity is to follow whatever the Lord tells us from within.
—–
prthivite ache yata nagaradi grama
sarvatra pracara haibe mora nama
[Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu said:] “In every town and village, the chanting of My name will be heard.” (Caitanya-bhagavata, Antya 4.126)
Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 8, No. 12
By Krishna-kripa das
(June 2012, part two)
London Ratha-yatra, Stonehenge, and More
(Sent from Málaga, Spain, on Janmastami, August 10, 2012)
Where I Where and What I Did
London Ratha-yatra was wonderful as usual with a great parade, super prasadam, and various booths and a stage show that attracted people from all over the world. The next couple days, I did harinama in London, along with Sri Gadadhara and Trevor Prabhus, a couple new devotees I had been serving with in Newcastle. Next these friends and I joined with Parasurama Prabhu and his crew to go to Stonehenge for the annual solstice festival, joined by one attendee from the London Ratha-yatra I invited to come. Many people heard the holy name and took prasadam there on that cold, windy, and wet night. Then my little sankirtana party returned to London for a few more days of harinama. Trevor flew to Czech Republic, and on the way back to Newcastle, Sri Gadadhara, my remaining sankirtana partner, and I stopped in Leeds for their monthly Sunday feast. There the congregation pleasantly surprised me by joining us for an hour of harinama after the program. While waiting for the bus back to Newcastle the next morning, I took a break and chanted for a few minutes on the crowded sidewalks where the Olympic torch bearer was passing through Leeds. The final few days of the month we did harinama in Newcastle and nearby localities.
In the “Insights” section I include a great quote about spiritual pleasure from The Nectar of Devotion, and notes on a beautiful class given by Srila Prabhupada on Bhaktivinoda Thakura. It seems Candramauli Swami is making even better points in his lectures as the years go by. Hrdayananda Goswami makes wonderful observations about Srila Prabhupada and his intense desire that we all share the knowledge he gave us. Niranjana Swami shares observations about the simplicity of brahmacari life. Prahladananda Swami challenges materialistic science. Isana Gaura Prabhu speaks valuable words about bhakti, the holy name, and the Lord Krishna’s conversation with Uddhava, known as “Uddhava Gita.”
London Ratha-yatra was held on a beautiful day, such a relief from last year’s which was drenched with continuous rain. I talked to many people from a variety of countries. One young lady said she spent time with the devotees in Berlin recently and had attended Govinda’s restaurant in Soho when she previously lived in London. I told her about our program of chanting and food distribution on the Stonehenge solstice festival in a few days, and amazingly enough, she decided to come.
I loved the prasadam, especially the srikand. I had seconds or thirds, I cannot remember! Parasurama Prabhu who is in charge of the feast is determined to make a good impression on the public with great prasadam. The last kirtana on the stage was lively, and the audience was appreciating, including a couple of Scottish girls who were really charmed by it. Mahavishnu Swami did a harinama back to the Soho temple after the festival at Trafalgar Square.
Many people took great photos of London Ratha-yatra. I do not have time to look through them and choose the best, but I can share links to their galleries with you so you may look at them. Click on the picture or links below, to see the galleries:
On YouTube there are many videos of London Ratha-yatra, if you want to get an idea of what it is like:
Stonehenge Solstice Festival
Parasurama Prabhu, who does transcendental food distribution in London on a daily basis, brings food and a chanting party to the Stonehenge solstice festival each year. These activities go on usually from midnight to six or seven in the morning on the day of the summer solstice, June 21. If the weather is good, which it wasn’t this year, he even has a Ratha-yatra for two hours, from one to three. This year was the worst weather in the three years I have gone. It started raining not long after we started our walking harinama to the stone, and it did not let for some time. We all got soaked. I did not bring any socks, fearing they would get soaked, but in retrospect I think wet socks would have been better than no socks, as my feet would have been warmer. There was a little shelter from the rain where we were serving the spiritual food, but I was so wet that the cold wind made me suffer so much I took shelter of the van and Giridhari Prabhu’s sleeping bag from four to six just to stay warm, out of fear of getting sick, and I missed the height of the event. Sri Gadadhara and Trevor Prabhus, the two newer devotees who were traveling with me, were able, along with three others, somehow or other, to continue chanting the whole time up to the stones and then back, and they said many people were happy to see them and to sing and dance with them as usual. Someone took the following video of them and posted it on YouTube:
One blogger, Ross Merritt, commented on the devotees, “The hardcore, Hare Krishna types were there as usual, who for some reason were singing their mantra in the tune of ‘When the Saints Go Marching In’! They must be trying to reach out to a new fan base!”
One young lady named Paola, originally from Italy, who I met at the London Ratha-yatra, came with us to Stonehenge. She did not get as wet as we did because she did not go on the initial chanting party, helping to distribute food instead. Despite the bad weather, she had a positive experience, meeting the devotees, distributing prasadam, and helping the Indian ladies cook at the Manor before we left for Stonehenge. She told Parasurama Prabhu she would help him distribute prasadam in London sometimes.
Other Harinamas in England
Croydon:
I heard there was going to be a weekend warrior program in Croydon the Saturday after the London Ratha-yatra to advertise the Croydon Ratha-yatra the following day. Those programs usually involve chanting, book distribution, and talking to people about spiritual topics, so I generally like to go to them. Jai Nitai Prabhu, temple president of our Soho temple encouraged me to go to the one in Croydon, although I would have preferred to help my friend Giridhari Prabhu do a similar program in Ilford to advertise their spiritual cultural program to be held the following Thursday. It turns out neither of the two new devotees traveling with me wanted to go, no one else from the temple wanted to go. And when I got there, I found that no one else was there. I had gotten the number of the local contact person, so I explained that I was there and was determined to play my harmonium for three hours and chant, and if they supplied invitations for the next day’s Ratha-yatra I would gladly distribute them, and so they did. While I was chanting, waiting for the invitations, one jovial, black man came up to me, saying he wanted to give a donation. Noticing I had no receptacle for donations, he suggested if I get a bowl to put donations in, I would collect more money. I just wanted to chant and did not want to go shopping for a bowl. So, noticing there was a 99 pence store across the way, I suggested he might purchase a bowl for me as a donation. And so he did, placing the bowl before me with his penny in change being my first donation. By the end of the three hours, I collected over 27 pounds ($42) , more than covering the 8 pounds it cost me to get there and back. Some people, both Indians and Englishmen, simply seeing me chanting came up and asked about the Ratha-yatra, and others were happy to learn of the event for the first time. An Indian man from the Croydon congregation stopped by and helped by distributing the invitations as I sang for half an hour or so. As Janananda Goswami paid for my trip to London and the London temple paid for my trip to Croydon, I did not need to collect for my expenses, and so I gave all the money to the temple, and they used it to sponsor books for distribution. I learned from this experience that if you are determined to do your service despite all impediments, that Krishna definitely reciprocates.
Leeds:
After the monthly Sunday feast in Leeds, England, seven members of the congregation greatly inspired me by joining me and my friend Sri Gadadhara in chanting all around the center of the city for an hour. It was wonderful to see the devotees’ spiritual enthusiasm generated from the Sunday program utilized in sharing Krishna with others. We passed out many invitations to their weekly Tuesday evening program during the harinama. The post-feast program harinama reminded me of Kharkov, Ukraine, where devotees do two hours of chanting through the streets of their city after their weekly Sunday feast. When you think about it, for many devotees, especially those in the congregation, their greatest participation in devotional service to the Lord for the whole week comes from the weekly programs and so they are most appreciative of the value of Krishna consciousness in their life at this time. Therefore, it is actually the best time for them to engage in an activity like harinama, which involves sharing one’s enthusiasm for Krishna consciousness with others.
The next morning I took a break from waiting for my bus to Newcastle to play harmonium and chant Hare Krishna for a few minutes for a crowd watching the Olympic torch bearer run through the streets of Leeds. I followed the torch bearer for a block, along with several others. As I passed, one uniformed man smiled and shouted with confidence, “Gouranga!” I smiled back. I had heard that devotees from Scotland put up posters for years in Scotland, and perhaps The North of England as well, which said “Chant Gouranga!” Apparently this man took it seriously, and he was one of few who knew that the Hare Krishna’s were behind this “Chant Gouranga” campaign.
Newcastle area:
Soon after we returned to Newcastle, one day a boy named David joined us, chanting with us for a few minutes near the monument. Sri Gadadhara told me that while I was traveling to Manchester, David had met the harinama in Newcastle and come to the Sunday program. He was happy to meet the devotees again, and said he would again come by the temple.
On Thursday we did a one and a half hour harinama in Chester Le Street, near Newcastle. The sky grew dark, and it started to rain, so we left quickly. Later Prema Sankirtana Prabhu saw this video of the town posted on the internet.
Seeing the video reminded me of this verse, yajñat bhavati parjanyo, rains are produced by performance of yajña [sacrifice] (Bg. 3.14).
After narrowly escaping the inundation at Chester Le Street, we went to Sunderland, and chanted for another half hour without disturbance by the rain. It was only in the evening when we returned to Newcastle and saw many abandoned cars stuck on the roads and lakes of water covering the pavement that we realized the magnitude of the storm Krishna had protected us from, while at the same time facilitating our
sankirtana.
Insights
Srila Prabhupada:
from The Nectar of Devotion:
“Without relishing some sort of mellow or loving mood in one’s activities, no one can continue to perform such activities. Similarly, in the transcendental life of Krishna consciousness in devotional service there must be some mellow or specific taste from the service. Generally this mellow is experienced by chanting, hearing, worshiping in the temple and being engaged in the service of the Lord. So when a person feels transcendental bliss, this is called ‘relishing the mellow.’ (The Nectar of Devotion, p. 152)
from a lecture on Bhaktivinoda Thakura:
Just as there is a material genealogical succession, there is a spiritual succession.
The Vedic injunction is not to acquire knowledge by speculation. That is useless. It is simply a waste of time. For thousands of years you can speculate, and you will never know God. You must approach a guru.
Although Bhaktivinoda Thakura was a grihastha (married man], he was guru. It does not matter about one’s material position. It does not matter. Anyone who knows the science can become guru.
Spiritual life means reducing eating, sleeping, mating, and defending. One should not sleep more than five to six hours. Sleeping is not a very important thing. Even some politicians sleep no more than two hours. Bhaktivinoda Thakura would rise at midnight.
Bhaktivinoda wrote a hundred books, sent books to foreign countries, gave instruction about developing Mayapur, and discovered Lord Caitanya’s birthplace.
Everyone should be educated in spiritual knowledge. There is a need for acaryas, spiritual teachers.
Prasadam is less available at the Jagannatha temple than formerly as the present administrators do not appreciate the value of it. Previously there were no restaurants since people could always get prasadam at the temples.
The rascal Bisika Sena said to Bhaktivinoda, “Jagannath is made of wood. I am directly the Supreme Lord Vishnu.” Thus Bhaktivinoda Thakura became angry, and understanding he was a cheater, had him arrested.
As you approach an important man through his secretary, you must approach God through a guru.
You cannot just study scriptures. There are different scriptures. The Bible was spoken in a desert region to people who were not very advanced. There was so much killing. They even tried to kill Lord Jesus Christ.
Just as a medical book is available in the market, but you have to study in the medical college. You cannot say. “I have read all the medical books you should recognize me as a doctor.” In the same way, you cannot just read the scriptures and understand God. You need a guru.
Bhaktivinoda Thakura wrote many important books such as Caitanya Siksamrita and Jaiva Dharma.
We are honoring Bhaktivinoda Thakura today so that we may get his blessings. Simply by the blessings of the acaryas, the great spiritual teachers, we get the mercy of the Lord.
We should try to become servant of the servant. We should not approach the Lord directly.
If one says he is God. He is a false guru.
Our Krishna consciousness is very bona fide because we say what Krishna says.
Anyone who is inquisitive to understand the highest knowledge requires a guru.
First-class knowledge is to know I am the eternal servant of Krishna and to engage in Krishna’s service. Second-class knowledge aspires for liberation and third-class knowledge is knowledge of how to be comfortable in this world, like the animals have.
We are to educate people of this opportunity to attain spiritual perfection in this human form of life. Unfortunately in the schools and universities people do not have the opportunity to study this science.
a Prabhupada memory:
Janananda Goswami drove Srila Prabhupada to Bhaktivedanta Manor. During the trip Srila Prabhupada merely asked one question, “How are the cows?” This indicates how important cows are to a pure devotee of Krishna.
Candramauli Swami:
A person born in a family of doctors cannot claim to be a doctor on the strength of that birth without going to medical school, becoming certified, and actually practicing medicine. In the same way, one cannot be considered a brahmana simply by being born in a family of brahmanas.
After Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura spoke so expertly about the qualities of the brahmana and the qualities of a Vaishnava and the relationship between them that the caste brahmanas realized there was nothing they could say to establish their erroneous viewpoint, they left the assembly.
It is not enough to eat pradasam, but one should also avoid eating food that is not prasadam.
Simply defeating someone is not preaching. Changing someone’s heart is preaching.
A devotee may avoid hostile people, but he does not consider them to be enemies.
Success can be more dangerous than reverses because one can become proud of success and commit offenses and make other mistakes.
A devotee is steady. He does not take a break from devotional service for variety’s sake, thinking, “When I return to devotional service, it will be fresh again.”
In 1976 because people with second initiation were leaving, Srila Prabhupada said that one must take the Bhakti-sastri course before accepting second initiation (brahmana initiation). We are just beginning to implement that now.
To tell a half-truth to protect a person from being hurt is not considered lying.
Suffering is a state of consciousness. It is a question of how one perceives a situation that makes it a cause of suffering.
According to Manu-samhita, a businessman is not supposed to make more than 25% profit.
The some of twelve qualities of a brahmana:
jnanam satyam ca damah srutam ca
hy amatsaryam hris titiksanasuya
yajnas ca danam ca dhrtih samas ca
maha-vrata dvadasa brahmanasya
-
knowledgable
-
truthful
-
sense controlled
-
has heard from authority
-
without enemies
-
modest
-
tolerant
-
performs yajnas (sacrifices)
-
charitable
-
steadiness
-
peaceful
-
celibate
Hridayananda Dasa Goswami [from a lecture given at the LA Prabhupada Festival]:
Srila Prabhupada would introduce himself as the founder-acarya of ISKCON.
In every venue and in every forum in which Prabhupada spoke, he quoted Lord Caitanya’s verse ordering everyone to become a guru. In discussing it he would regularly explain that become a guru was simple—one simply had to repeat what Krishna has said. He did not make a distinction between diksa [initiating] and siksa [instructing] gurus.
The greatest guru of all was Lord Caitanya, and he was a siksa guru and not a diksa guru.
Only to businessmen did Prabhupada suggest that they did not have to become diksa gurus immediately.
Prabhupada’s fear was not that we would become gurus but that we would not become gurus.
The good news is: In Srila Prabhupada’s most important role, as founder-acarya of ISKCON, Gaura-Nitai’s emissary, we all have equal access to him.
Krishna explains in Bhagavad-gita 18.68–69: “Those who explain this secret among the devoted, having rendered the highest service, will attain Me. No one is more dear to me, nor will there ever be one more dear.”
Everyone has to find what he can do in his life to spread this knowedge. That is Prabhupada’s desire.
I never saw Srila Prabhupada when he was doing anything other than trying to spread Krishna consciousness. Ever since he met his guru that was his focus.
“There cannot be a movement made up of people who are not individually moving.” We have to be advancing. We must do japa or kirtana each day in such a way that we are advancing. When have group of advancing people with increasing enthusiasm, you get unstoppable irresistible force which is Prabhupada’s Hare Krishna movement.
When we are inviting people to our temple, we are in effect telling them their life is not complete without taking up this practice.
If we are moving ourselves, and not stagnating, then we have the right to ask other people to move.
You can drive yourself crazy worrying about your own desires, or you can stop the nonsense and put Srila Prabhupada’s desires in the center of you life, and if you do that,
Prabhupada will empower you to convince others to do that.
from a letter to his disciple Ali Krishna Devi Dasi: “The quality of our lives cannot exceed the quality of our japa.”
Niranjana Swami:
from a lecture to Chowpatty brahmacaris:
If we are satisfied with the simplicity of Krishna consciousness, then we are very fortunate.
If we are satisfied with just what Srila Prabhupada gave us that is very good.
Real renunciation means attachment to these simple activities of Krishna consciousness.
Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura said in the age of Kali, brahmacaris will remain brahmacaris because household life is too difficult. But that is not a reason to be a brahmacari. If you are meditating on the potential difficulties of household life, you will not be able to relish the simple activities of devotional service as a brahmacari and you will not be satisfied.
Prahladananda Swami:
The purport of all this literature is to convince us that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and then to understand that we are His eternal servants.
For Krishna to hold up Govardhan Hill for a week is not difficult. In Bhagavad-gita 15.13, Krishna says He enters each planet and keeps them in orbit.
Brahma-samhita describes how the sun moves in its orbit by the grace of Govinda.
In my college someone got a grant for $80,000 back in the 1960s to research why spiders build webs. They came to the conclusion that the purpose was to catch flies.
Any wild speculation can be considered in academia except the idea that behind everything is a supreme person.
No one has been able to create a machine that produces its own parts. Imagine a lawn mower that could take grass and produce blades!
Imagine if scientists could produce male Rolls Royces and female Rolls Royces that could get together and produce little Rolls Royces that grow up to become big ones?
If people are really trying to be scientific they should at least consider the possibility the there could be a supreme person beyond everything.
If you tell a big enough lie, long enough, people will accept it. This has happened in the case of materialistic science.
Srila Prabhupada would challenge people who say the universe came by chance, “What do you spend so much time studying? What not sit at home and by chance you might get a Ph.D.? Why work so many hours? What not sit at home and by chance you might get your paycheck?”
Krishna’s plan is to take everyone back to the spiritual kingdom, and our plan is to stay material world as long as possible.
Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami:
from Shack Notes:
“Srila Prabhupada sometimes spoke of his disciples as experiencing advanced states of Krishna consciousness by chanting and dancing and serving without fatigue or remuneration. ‘It is not material, it is not ordinary.’ He especially liked to inform audiences in India about ‘these American and European boys and girls’ who were fully absorbed in Krishna consciousness. We should not reject this estimation but live up to it.”
Govardhan Dasi [commenting on a lecture]:
In the class I was teaching at public school where I work, I asked students to do a poster for or against vegetarianism. Although the students were all meat eaters, all but two did pro-vegetarian posters.
Dayananda Swami:
Because Nrsimha Tirtha Prabhu [who is getting brahmana initiation] has the quality of humility, he has been able to take instruction and therefore progress quickly. I see he has taken a lot of responsibility in last couple of years.
Isana Gaura Prabhu:
If you are attracted to devotees, that means you are a devotee.
The four syllables Gauranga are exactly the same as “Hare Krishna.”
Lord Caitanya, having tasted the ecstasy of love of Krishna and seeing the people in general bereft of such ecstasy, felt the desire to share it with them.
Just chanting the Hare Krishna will give us liberation, and chanting with affection will give us love of God.
from a seminar on “Uddhava Gita”:
To absorb ourselves in Krishna we have to renounce material nature.
One has potency if he practices what he preaches.
Bharata, the son of Rsabha, was considered advanced because he rejected the material world.
The nine yogendras, masters of yoga, worked vigorously although already perfect. King Nimi asked each of the nine a different question.
The top of the universe is light and warm and the bottom is dark, cold, and wet.
The yaksas do not like to give out money so they are engaged in treasury work.
Sacrifices should be performed according to the direction of a brahmana. In the Hare Krishna movement that brahmana is Srila Prabhupada.
The fear is inside you. You do not realize it, but if someone entered this room with a gun, it would arise, just like that. Only by worshiping the Supreme Lord can you become free from this fear.
The heavenly beings can tone down their effulgence so it is not blinding.
So many instructions are there in Gita and in the Bhagavatam, and we have the personal examples of Lord Caitanya and His pure devotee, Srila Prabhupada. Our behavior is perfect if we follow these.
It is stated if one commits offenses he has no taste to chant and dance in kirtana.
Rama Nrsimha Prabhu [from a conversation]:
Like Parasurama says, “You can do your time [in prison] or you can do community service.” In the same way, instead of doing your karma, you can do devotional service.
Srinivasa Dasa:
Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityananda Prabhu came to destroy five kinds of ignorance:
1. identification with body
2. thinking sense pleasure is the standard of happiness
3. lamentation
4. identification with the material
5. to consider there is something beyond the Absolute Truth
—–
ataeva ami ajna dilun sabakare
yahan tahan prema-phala deha’ yare tare
[Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu said:] “Therefore I order every man within this universe to accept this Krishna consciousness movement and distribute it everywhere.” (Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, Adi-lila 9.36)
Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 8, No. 12
By Krishna-kripa das
(June 2012, part two)
London Ratha-yatra, Stonehenge, and More
(Sent from Málaga, Spain, on Janmastami, August 10, 2012)
Where I Where and What I Did
London Ratha-yatra was wonderful as usual with a great parade, super prasadam, and various booths and a stage show that attracted people from all over the world. The next couple days, I did harinama in London, along with Sri Gadadhara and Trevor Prabhus, a couple new devotees I had been serving with in Newcastle. Next these friends and I joined with Parasurama Prabhu and his crew to go to Stonehenge for the annual solstice festival, joined by one attendee from the London Ratha-yatra I invited to come. Many people heard the holy name and took prasadam there on that cold, windy, and wet night. Then my little sankirtana party returned to London for a few more days of harinama. Trevor flew to Czech Republic, and on the way back to Newcastle, Sri Gadadhara, my remaining sankirtana partner, and I stopped in Leeds for their monthly Sunday feast. There the congregation pleasantly surprised me by joining us for an hour of harinama after the program. While waiting for the bus back to Newcastle the next morning, I took a break and chanted for a few minutes on the crowded sidewalks where the Olympic torch bearer was passing through Leeds. The final few days of the month we did harinama in Newcastle and nearby localities.
In the “Insights” section I include a great quote about spiritual pleasure from The Nectar of Devotion, and notes on a beautiful class given by Srila Prabhupada on Bhaktivinoda Thakura. It seems Candramauli Swami is making even better points in his lectures as the years go by. Hrdayananda Goswami makes wonderful observations about Srila Prabhupada and his intense desire that we all share the knowledge he gave us. Niranjana Swami shares observations about the simplicity of brahmacari life. Prahladananda Swami challenges materialistic science. Isana Gaura Prabhu speaks valuable words about bhakti, the holy name, and the Lord Krishna’s conversation with Uddhava, known as “Uddhava Gita.”
London Ratha-yatra was held on a beautiful day, such a relief from last year’s which was drenched with continuous rain. I talked to many people from a variety of countries. One young lady said she spent time with the devotees in Berlin recently and had attended Govinda’s restaurant in Soho when she previously lived in London. I told her about our program of chanting and food distribution on the Stonehenge solstice festival in a few days, and amazingly enough, she decided to come.
I loved the prasadam, especially the srikand. I had seconds or thirds, I cannot remember! Parasurama Prabhu who is in charge of the feast is determined to make a good impression on the public with great prasadam. The last kirtana on the stage was lively, and the audience was appreciating, including a couple of Scottish girls who were really charmed by it. Mahavishnu Swami did a harinama back to the Soho temple after the festival at Trafalgar Square.
Many people took great photos of London Ratha-yatra. I do not have time to look through them and choose the best, but I can share links to their galleries with you so you may look at them. Click on the picture or links below, to see the galleries:
On YouTube there are many videos of London Ratha-yatra, if you want to get an idea of what it is like:
Stonehenge Solstice Festival
Parasurama Prabhu, who does transcendental food distribution in London on a daily basis, brings food and a chanting party to the Stonehenge solstice festival each year. These activities go on usually from midnight to six or seven in the morning on the day of the summer solstice, June 21. If the weather is good, which it wasn’t this year, he even has a Ratha-yatra for two hours, from one to three. This year was the worst weather in the three years I have gone. It started raining not long after we started our walking harinama to the stone, and it did not let for some time. We all got soaked. I did not bring any socks, fearing they would get soaked, but in retrospect I think wet socks would have been better than no socks, as my feet would have been warmer. There was a little shelter from the rain where we were serving the spiritual food, but I was so wet that the cold wind made me suffer so much I took shelter of the van and Giridhari Prabhu’s sleeping bag from four to six just to stay warm, out of fear of getting sick, and I missed the height of the event. Sri Gadadhara and Trevor Prabhus, the two newer devotees who were traveling with me, were able, along with three others, somehow or other, to continue chanting the whole time up to the stones and then back, and they said many people were happy to see them and to sing and dance with them as usual. Someone took the following video of them and posted it on YouTube:
One blogger, Ross Merritt, commented on the devotees, “The hardcore, Hare Krishna types were there as usual, who for some reason were singing their mantra in the tune of ‘When the Saints Go Marching In’! They must be trying to reach out to a new fan base!”
One young lady named Paola, originally from Italy, who I met at the London Ratha-yatra, came with us to Stonehenge. She did not get as wet as we did because she did not go on the initial chanting party, helping to distribute food instead. Despite the bad weather, she had a positive experience, meeting the devotees, distributing prasadam, and helping the Indian ladies cook at the Manor before we left for Stonehenge. She told Parasurama Prabhu she would help him distribute prasadam in London sometimes.
Other Harinamas in England
Croydon:
I heard there was going to be a weekend warrior program in Croydon the Saturday after the London Ratha-yatra to advertise the Croydon Ratha-yatra the following day. Those programs usually involve chanting, book distribution, and talking to people about spiritual topics, so I generally like to go to them. Jai Nitai Prabhu, temple president of our Soho temple encouraged me to go to the one in Croydon, although I would have preferred to help my friend Giridhari Prabhu do a similar program in Ilford to advertise their spiritual cultural program to be held the following Thursday. It turns out neither of the two new devotees traveling with me wanted to go, no one else from the temple wanted to go. And when I got there, I found that no one else was there. I had gotten the number of the local contact person, so I explained that I was there and was determined to play my harmonium for three hours and chant, and if they supplied invitations for the next day’s Ratha-yatra I would gladly distribute them, and so they did. While I was chanting, waiting for the invitations, one jovial, black man came up to me, saying he wanted to give a donation. Noticing I had no receptacle for donations, he suggested if I get a bowl to put donations in, I would collect more money. I just wanted to chant and did not want to go shopping for a bowl. So, noticing there was a 99 pence store across the way, I suggested he might purchase a bowl for me as a donation. And so he did, placing the bowl before me with his penny in change being my first donation. By the end of the three hours, I collected over 27 pounds ($42) , more than covering the 8 pounds it cost me to get there and back. Some people, both Indians and Englishmen, simply seeing me chanting came up and asked about the Ratha-yatra, and others were happy to learn of the event for the first time. An Indian man from the Croydon congregation stopped by and helped by distributing the invitations as I sang for half an hour or so. As Janananda Goswami paid for my trip to London and the London temple paid for my trip to Croydon, I did not need to collect for my expenses, and so I gave all the money to the temple, and they used it to sponsor books for distribution. I learned from this experience that if you are determined to do your service despite all impediments, that Krishna definitely reciprocates.
Leeds:
After the monthly Sunday feast in Leeds, England, seven members of the congregation greatly inspired me by joining me and my friend Sri Gadadhara in chanting all around the center of the city for an hour. It was wonderful to see the devotees’ spiritual enthusiasm generated from the Sunday program utilized in sharing Krishna with others. We passed out many invitations to their weekly Tuesday evening program during the harinama. The post-feast program harinama reminded me of Kharkov, Ukraine, where devotees do two hours of chanting through the streets of their city after their weekly Sunday feast. When you think about it, for many devotees, especially those in the congregation, their greatest participation in devotional service to the Lord for the whole week comes from the weekly programs and so they are most appreciative of the value of Krishna consciousness in their life at this time. Therefore, it is actually the best time for them to engage in an activity like harinama, which involves sharing one’s enthusiasm for Krishna consciousness with others.
The next morning I took a break from waiting for my bus to Newcastle to play harmonium and chant Hare Krishna for a few minutes for a crowd watching the Olympic torch bearer run through the streets of Leeds. I followed the torch bearer for a block, along with several others. As I passed, one uniformed man smiled and shouted with confidence, “Gouranga!” I smiled back. I had heard that devotees from Scotland put up posters for years in Scotland, and perhaps The North of England as well, which said “Chant Gouranga!” Apparently this man took it seriously, and he was one of few who knew that the Hare Krishna’s were behind this “Chant Gouranga” campaign.
Newcastle area:
Soon after we returned to Newcastle, one day a boy named David joined us, chanting with us for a few minutes near the monument. Sri Gadadhara told me that while I was traveling to Manchester, David had met the harinama in Newcastle and come to the Sunday program. He was happy to meet the devotees again, and said he would again come by the temple.
On Thursday we did a one and a half hour harinama in Chester Le Street, near Newcastle. The sky grew dark, and it started to rain, so we left quickly. Later Prema Sankirtana Prabhu saw this video of the town posted on the internet.
Seeing the video reminded me of this verse, yajñat bhavati parjanyo, rains are produced by performance of yajña [sacrifice] (Bg. 3.14).
After narrowly escaping the inundation at Chester Le Street, we went to Sunderland, and chanted for another half hour without disturbance by the rain. It was only in the evening when we returned to Newcastle and saw many abandoned cars stuck on the roads and lakes of water covering the pavement that we realized the magnitude of the storm Krishna had protected us from, while at the same time facilitating our
sankirtana.
Insights
Srila Prabhupada:
from The Nectar of Devotion:
“Without relishing some sort of mellow or loving mood in one’s activities, no one can continue to perform such activities. Similarly, in the transcendental life of Krishna consciousness in devotional service there must be some mellow or specific taste from the service. Generally this mellow is experienced by chanting, hearing, worshiping in the temple and being engaged in the service of the Lord. So when a person feels transcendental bliss, this is called ‘relishing the mellow.’ (The Nectar of Devotion, p. 152)
from a lecture on Bhaktivinoda Thakura:
Just as there is a material genealogical succession, there is a spiritual succession.
The Vedic injunction is not to acquire knowledge by speculation. That is useless. It is simply a waste of time. For thousands of years you can speculate, and you will never know God. You must approach a guru.
Although Bhaktivinoda Thakura was a grihastha (married man], he was guru. It does not matter about one’s material position. It does not matter. Anyone who knows the science can become guru.
Spiritual life means reducing eating, sleeping, mating, and defending. One should not sleep more than five to six hours. Sleeping is not a very important thing. Even some politicians sleep no more than two hours. Bhaktivinoda Thakura would rise at midnight.
Bhaktivinoda wrote a hundred books, sent books to foreign countries, gave instruction about developing Mayapur, and discovered Lord Caitanya’s birthplace.
Everyone should be educated in spiritual knowledge. There is a need for acaryas, spiritual teachers.
Prasadam is less available at the Jagannatha temple than formerly as the present administrators do not appreciate the value of it. Previously there were no restaurants since people could always get prasadam at the temples.
The rascal Bisika Sena said to Bhaktivinoda, “Jagannath is made of wood. I am directly the Supreme Lord Vishnu.” Thus Bhaktivinoda Thakura became angry, and understanding he was a cheater, had him arrested.
As you approach an important man through his secretary, you must approach God through a guru.
You cannot just study scriptures. There are different scriptures. The Bible was spoken in a desert region to people who were not very advanced. There was so much killing. They even tried to kill Lord Jesus Christ.
Just as a medical book is available in the market, but you have to study in the medical college. You cannot say. “I have read all the medical books you should recognize me as a doctor.” In the same way, you cannot just read the scriptures and understand God. You need a guru.
Bhaktivinoda Thakura wrote many important books such as Caitanya Siksamrita and Jaiva Dharma.
We are honoring Bhaktivinoda Thakura today so that we may get his blessings. Simply by the blessings of the acaryas, the great spiritual teachers, we get the mercy of the Lord.
We should try to become servant of the servant. We should not approach the Lord directly.
If one says he is God. He is a false guru.
Our Krishna consciousness is very bona fide because we say what Krishna says.
Anyone who is inquisitive to understand the highest knowledge requires a guru.
First-class knowledge is to know I am the eternal servant of Krishna and to engage in Krishna’s service. Second-class knowledge aspires for liberation and third-class knowledge is knowledge of how to be comfortable in this world, like the animals have.
We are to educate people of this opportunity to attain spiritual perfection in this human form of life. Unfortunately in the schools and universities people do not have the opportunity to study this science.
a Prabhupada memory:
Janananda Goswami drove Srila Prabhupada to Bhaktivedanta Manor. During the trip Srila Prabhupada merely asked one question, “How are the cows?” This indicates how important cows are to a pure devotee of Krishna.
Candramauli Swami:
A person born in a family of doctors cannot claim to be a doctor on the strength of that birth without going to medical school, becoming certified, and actually practicing medicine. In the same way, one cannot be considered a brahmana simply by being born in a family of brahmanas.
After Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura spoke so expertly about the qualities of the brahmana and the qualities of a Vaishnava and the relationship between them that the caste brahmanas realized there was nothing they could say to establish their erroneous viewpoint, they left the assembly.
It is not enough to eat pradasam, but one should also avoid eating food that is not prasadam.
Simply defeating someone is not preaching. Changing someone’s heart is preaching.
A devotee may avoid hostile people, but he does not consider them to be enemies.
Success can be more dangerous than reverses because one can become proud of success and commit offenses and make other mistakes.
A devotee is steady. He does not take a break from devotional service for variety’s sake, thinking, “When I return to devotional service, it will be fresh again.”
In 1976 because people with second initiation were leaving, Srila Prabhupada said that one must take the Bhakti-sastri course before accepting second initiation (brahmana initiation). We are just beginning to implement that now.
To tell a half-truth to protect a person from being hurt is not considered lying.
Suffering is a state of consciousness. It is a question of how one perceives a situation that makes it a cause of suffering.
According to Manu-samhita, a businessman is not supposed to make more than 25% profit.
The some of twelve qualities of a brahmana:
jnanam satyam ca damah srutam ca
hy amatsaryam hris titiksanasuya
yajnas ca danam ca dhrtih samas ca
maha-vrata dvadasa brahmanasya
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knowledgable
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truthful
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sense controlled
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has heard from authority
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without enemies
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modest
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tolerant
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performs yajnas (sacrifices)
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charitable
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steadiness
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peaceful
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celibate
Hridayananda Dasa Goswami [from a lecture given at the LA Prabhupada Festival]:
Srila Prabhupada would introduce himself as the founder-acarya of ISKCON.
In every venue and in every forum in which Prabhupada spoke, he quoted Lord Caitanya’s verse ordering everyone to become a guru. In discussing it he would regularly explain that become a guru was simple—one simply had to repeat what Krishna has said. He did not make a distinction between diksa [initiating] and siksa [instructing] gurus.
The greatest guru of all was Lord Caitanya, and he was a siksa guru and not a diksa guru.
Only to businessmen did Prabhupada suggest that they did not have to become diksa gurus immediately.
Prabhupada’s fear was not that we would become gurus but that we would not become gurus.
The good news is: In Srila Prabhupada’s most important role, as founder-acarya of ISKCON, Gaura-Nitai’s emissary, we all have equal access to him.
Krishna explains in Bhagavad-gita 18.68–69: “Those who explain this secret among the devoted, having rendered the highest service, will attain Me. No one is more dear to me, nor will there ever be one more dear.”
Everyone has to find what he can do in his life to spread this knowedge. That is Prabhupada’s desire.
I never saw Srila Prabhupada when he was doing anything other than trying to spread Krishna consciousness. Ever since he met his guru that was his focus.
“There cannot be a movement made up of people who are not individually moving.” We have to be advancing. We must do japa or kirtana each day in such a way that we are advancing. When have group of advancing people with increasing enthusiasm, you get unstoppable irresistible force which is Prabhupada’s Hare Krishna movement.
When we are inviting people to our temple, we are in effect telling them their life is not complete without taking up this practice.
If we are moving ourselves, and not stagnating, then we have the right to ask other people to move.
You can drive yourself crazy worrying about your own desires, or you can stop the nonsense and put Srila Prabhupada’s desires in the center of you life, and if you do that,
Prabhupada will empower you to convince others to do that.
from a letter to his disciple Ali Krishna Devi Dasi: “The quality of our lives cannot exceed the quality of our japa.”
Niranjana Swami:
from a lecture to Chowpatty brahmacaris:
If we are satisfied with the simplicity of Krishna consciousness, then we are very fortunate.
If we are satisfied with just what Srila Prabhupada gave us that is very good.
Real renunciation means attachment to these simple activities of Krishna consciousness.
Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura said in the age of Kali, brahmacaris will remain brahmacaris because household life is too difficult. But that is not a reason to be a brahmacari. If you are meditating on the potential difficulties of household life, you will not be able to relish the simple activities of devotional service as a brahmacari and you will not be satisfied.
Prahladananda Swami:
The purport of all this literature is to convince us that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and then to understand that we are His eternal servants.
For Krishna to hold up Govardhan Hill for a week is not difficult. In Bhagavad-gita 15.13, Krishna says He enters each planet and keeps them in orbit.
Brahma-samhita describes how the sun moves in its orbit by the grace of Govinda.
In my college someone got a grant for $80,000 back in the 1960s to research why spiders build webs. They came to the conclusion that the purpose was to catch flies.
Any wild speculation can be considered in academia except the idea that behind everything is a supreme person.
No one has been able to create a machine that produces its own parts. Imagine a lawn mower that could take grass and produce blades!
Imagine if scientists could produce male Rolls Royces and female Rolls Royces that could get together and produce little Rolls Royces that grow up to become big ones?
If people are really trying to be scientific they should at least consider the possibility the there could be a supreme person beyond everything.
If you tell a big enough lie, long enough, people will accept it. This has happened in the case of materialistic science.
Srila Prabhupada would challenge people who say the universe came by chance, “What do you spend so much time studying? What not sit at home and by chance you might get a Ph.D.? Why work so many hours? What not sit at home and by chance you might get your paycheck?”
Krishna’s plan is to take everyone back to the spiritual kingdom, and our plan is to stay material world as long as possible.
Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami:
from Shack Notes:
“Srila Prabhupada sometimes spoke of his disciples as experiencing advanced states of Krishna consciousness by chanting and dancing and serving without fatigue or remuneration. ‘It is not material, it is not ordinary.’ He especially liked to inform audiences in India about ‘these American and European boys and girls’ who were fully absorbed in Krishna consciousness. We should not reject this estimation but live up to it.”
Govardhan Dasi [commenting on a lecture]:
In the class I was teaching at public school where I work, I asked students to do a poster for or against vegetarianism. Although the students were all meat eaters, all but two did pro-vegetarian posters.
Dayananda Swami:
Because Nrsimha Tirtha Prabhu [who is getting brahmana initiation] has the quality of humility, he has been able to take instruction and therefore progress quickly. I see he has taken a lot of responsibility in last couple of years.
Isana Gaura Prabhu:
If you are attracted to devotees, that means you are a devotee.
The four syllables Gauranga are exactly the same as “Hare Krishna.”
Lord Caitanya, having tasted the ecstasy of love of Krishna and seeing the people in general bereft of such ecstasy, felt the desire to share it with them.
Just chanting the Hare Krishna will give us liberation, and chanting with affection will give us love of God.
from a seminar on “Uddhava Gita”:
To absorb ourselves in Krishna we have to renounce material nature.
One has potency if he practices what he preaches.
Bharata, the son of Rsabha, was considered advanced because he rejected the material world.
The nine yogendras, masters of yoga, worked vigorously although already perfect. King Nimi asked each of the nine a different question.
The top of the universe is light and warm and the bottom is dark, cold, and wet.
The yaksas do not like to give out money so they are engaged in treasury work.
Sacrifices should be performed according to the direction of a brahmana. In the Hare Krishna movement that brahmana is Srila Prabhupada.
The fear is inside you. You do not realize it, but if someone entered this room with a gun, it would arise, just like that. Only by worshiping the Supreme Lord can you become free from this fear.
The heavenly beings can tone down their effulgence so it is not blinding.
So many instructions are there in Gita and in the Bhagavatam, and we have the personal examples of Lord Caitanya and His pure devotee, Srila Prabhupada. Our behavior is perfect if we follow these.
It is stated if one commits offenses he has no taste to chant and dance in kirtana.
Rama Nrsimha Prabhu [from a conversation]:
Like Parasurama says, “You can do your time [in prison] or you can do community service.” In the same way, instead of doing your karma, you can do devotional service.
Srinivasa Dasa:
Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityananda Prabhu came to destroy five kinds of ignorance:
1. identification with body
2. thinking sense pleasure is the standard of happiness
3. lamentation
4. identification with the material
5. to consider there is something beyond the Absolute Truth
—–
ataeva ami ajna dilun sabakare
yahan tahan prema-phala deha’ yare tare
[Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu said:] “Therefore I order every man within this universe to accept this Krishna consciousness movement and distribute it everywhere.” (Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, Adi-lila 9.36)
Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 8, No. 11
By Krishna-kripa das
(June 2012, part one)
England
(Sent from Sarcelles, France, on July 27, 2012)
What I Went and What I Did
The first weekend in June I attended the Birmingham Tweny-Four Hour Kirtana for the third straight year where Sacinandana Swami shared wonderful insights about kirtana. Afterward we continued doing harinama in Newcastle and other cities in The North of England, and we continued to see people taking an interest in the chanting. I went to Manchester for their monthly harinama and to give the lecture for the Sunday Feast. I also chanted in there in Piccadilly Gardens the next day. Fortunately two other devotees joined me. Then Sri Gadadhara Prabhu and I went to Leeds and Sheffield for the weekly nama-hatta programs, and we helped advertise them by doing harinama. Next we went with Dayananda Swami to Bhaktivedanta Manor for the UK Brahmacari Conference, with lectures by visiting swamis, many of which I have notes on. About thirty brahmacaris participated in the Borehamwood Ratha-yatra, the Manor’s entry in a local municipality’s parade where we won second place. Then some of my friends from Bhaktivedanta Manor went to Central London for the lively Saturday night harinama before the next day’s Ratha-yatra.
The insights are really great this issue. I especially like some from Srila Prabhupada himself, others by Prahladananda Swami on health, Candramauli Swami on cooperation in ashram life, and Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami on the glories of Srila Prabhupada.
Thanks to Lauris of BRR Films for all of the great pictures.
Birmingham Twenty-Four Hour Kirtana
Before the Birmingham Twenty-Four Hour Kirtana I attended the weekly Saturday harinama in Birmingham which was on New Street at a place so busy it reminded me of London. The devotees usually chant from 12:30 to 3:00 p.m., but were a little late setting it up. Many young people took pleasure in dancing with us. Several people stood and watched for awhile, and two or three devotees distributed many books to those in the crowd who were interested.
I foolishly left my harmonium on the city bus while traveling from the temple to the harinama. Bhakta Bob, a devotee who worked as a city bus driver tracked it down in the depot, and we went to pick it up after the Twenty-four Hour Kirtana. The men at the office joked that they would give it back to me, but only if I played a tune for them. So I got to play a Hare Krishna tune for the men in the bus company office!
At the Twenty-Four Hour Kirtana it was wonderful, as usual, to associate with so many devotees who have faith in the congregational chanting of the holy name of the Lord and to chant for twenty-four hours. It was very large crowd, and I could only find a little space near the wall to dance in. I usually take a nap for three hours in the middle and maybe another half an hour after a meal. When morning comes around, I chant my japa during the singing of the leader and then I chant the response, counting that as a mantra toward my japa quota, thus it takes me two and a half or three hours to chant my sixteen rounds instead of an hour and three-quarters, but I do not really miss too much of the kirtana that way. For next year, I hope they put a speaker near the prasadam queue and the room where the devotees take prasadam so we do not feel like we are missing out.
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| During the kirtana, there was an abhiseka (bathing ceremony) for the Birmingham deities of Lord Jagannatha, Lord Baladeva, and Lady Subhadra.
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| Later, Jagannatha and Baladeva wore an elephant dress.
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Madhava Prabhu led many joyful meditative kirtanas.
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| Janananda Goswami would encourage others by his example to dance with upraised arms. |
Here are some notes from speakers at the Birmingham Twenty-four Hour Kirtana:
Sacinandana Swami:
Use the body as a springboard to absorb yourself in Krishna consciousness with your mind.
The glorification of the Lord is first done externally and then within our heart. In this way it can be done twenty-four hours a day.
In the German language there are songs called “ear worms—songs that become so dear to you that they become embedded in your ears. The Hare Krishna mantra should become like that for us.
We should internalize the holy name so it becomes like our heartbeat or our breath.
On the platform of practice there is a struggle between our weaknesses and what we hope to attain.
Before Aindra Prabhu established the 24-hour kirtana in Vrindavan, I would participate in the night shift, from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. The karatala player fell asleep, the mrdanga player fell asleep. Even the guard fell asleep. I decided to stick with it, although I had four more hours to go.
Stay with the holy name until you realize there is someone listening and that someone is Krishna.
Sing for the ears of God and see how you are supplied with transcendental strength.
The names of God are not just names of God but God Himself.
One beggar would regularly insult the king. The king found out about it and disguised himself as another beggar. He came to the beggar, and said, “I heard you dislike the king.” “Yes,” said the beggar, “Not only do I dislike the king, but I want to kill the king.” The king disguised as a beggar said, “Oh, I happen to know a secret passage in the palace that goes right to the king’s throne.” The beggar was overjoyed. The king disguised as beggar showed the beggar a route so he passed so many saintly persons discussing the ultimate truth. The beggar decided, “No, evening is not a good time to kill the king, let us try morning.” In the morning, he saw arrangements by the king for giving charity and for the happiness of citizens. Thus he concluded that the king was not so bad after all. The king dressed as a beggar, showed him the secret path to the throne, and then excused himself while he put on his kingly robes and sat on the throne. When the beggar then saw the king was his friend, he apologized. The holy name is like that king. The holy name is always giving although we do not always appreciate.
The holy name is the bud of the flower of divine love. He is full of devotional tastes.
The mind is like this naughty child that will protest and run away.
You have ignored, neglected, and rejected, and the holy name still is desiring to benefit you.
Do not be absent-minded, be present-minded. Do not space out. Space in.
Remember I am not my body. I am not my mind. I am the soul within.
Chanting means to connect the heart with the deity who we praising.
By chanting, we are asking the Lord to accept us. So long we have turned away from Him, and now we want to turn back, and ask the Lord to accept us.
There is only so far you can go on your own strength. Krishna stands on the border and bring us further. He can capture you and pull you on.
O King of the country of love, I appeal to you for your affection. Somehow or other I am in adverse circumstances. Although I would like to I cannot find the ability to chant your holy name attentively. My soul will never be satisfied without Your companionship. Without your mercy, I cannot get beyond my imprisoned, restricted condition.
Sometimes with this prayer, Krishna will take us seriously and break down the wall.
I say this for two reasons. 1. As a reminder that Krishna wants us to give His mercy. 2. And to give us hope.
The formula to have a live-saving experience of kirtana:
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saintly association
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a peaceful place free from material influence
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a determined attitude
The chanting establishes the only relationship that is free from disappointment.
Some programs have more strength and others less strength, and this program of devotees chanting has great strength, and one of the strengths is the power to attract others, and thus this program [the Birmingham Twenty-four Hour Kirtana] has grown continuously since I have been coming to it. We outgrew this place, and some people had to stand outside in the rain last night while others returned to their hotel rooms and switched on their laptops to view it on the Internet. I suggest that we all make a commitment to each invite a new person, and then Krishna will see we are serious and will make an arrangement for a new place.
Kadamba Kanana Swami:
The Vaishnavas manifest the mercy of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. So much energy is released when they get together, and the hope is that Krishna will manifest Himself in that situation. Krishna manifests Himself according to the advancement of the devotee. And it is that experience that keeps us coming back for more. And that is the reason I came to this Birmingham 24-hour kirtana.
a Brijbasi guest to Birmingham 24-hour kirtana:
I was gone from Vrindavana three or four weeks, and the first hours of your kirtana here was the first time I wasn’t missing Vrndavana.
The sadhus are crying for Krishna for centuries, yet Krishna does not come. While the gopis are reprimanding Krishna for His rascaldom, saying they wish He would go away, yet He is away present with them. Why? Because the gopis chant the holy name of Krishna, the Hare Krishna maha-mantra.
Harinamas in the North of England
We would chant in Newcastle several days a week, and in small towns around Newcastle on other days. One day we went to Heaton, a small town where many students live.
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| Sri Gadadhara Prabhu tried to interest locals in the books of Srila Prabhupada.
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| I led kirtana for some time, playing the harmonium, with Prema Sankirtan on the drum, and Vamana Prabhu on the cymbals.
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| We had some friendly interactions with a few people.
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In Newcastle one college student from Kyrgyzstan loved hearing our chanting on harinama. One devotee said there were tears in her eyes. I suggested that the lady devotee on the party invite her to our special evening program with the visiting swamis that night, and thus the two of them left for the temple for the program which was soon starting. Although a Muslim, the college student felt at home with the chanting and the devotees and came to four evening programs in a row, as well as for lunch prasadam a couple times. Hopefully we shall she her again when she returns from her summer vacation in her native land.
Crazy Ken, who had met us on harinama about ten days before, joined us for another Wednesday program sporting a custom T-shirt he had made with the Hare Krishna maha-mantra on the front, and the phrase “Can you dig it?” underneath. I had not encountered such sixties slang in a while, and I think some younger people were unfamiliar with it. He was happy to get the maha-mantra hit single CD and few George Harrison songs that a devotee gave to him.
The harinama in Sheffield was especially memorable for several reasons. We encountered some street musicians who played along with us for some time and even began chanting Hare Krishna with us. Later a woman looking for directions came up to us, and it turned out she was looking for directions to our own evening program, not realizing it was we who were putting on. She was half an hour early, and so we invited her to join the harinama and she did. Usually we stop the harinama fifteen minutes before the program, but because I had not done my three hours of harinama that I day, I wanted to keep going for ten more minutes. An Indian man and his daughter heard the karatalas and found our kirtana party. They knew ISKCON from the Montreal Ratha-yatra. The girl was a student at Sheffield University and was happy to learn of the weekly program in that town. They came to that night to the program. While talking with them I learned they would be in London that weekend, and so I gave them an invitation to the London Ratha-yatra on Sunday, so they would have the chance to go.
Borehamwood Ratha-yatra
Midday on Saturday, June 16, Parasurama Prabhu, devotees from Bhaktivedanta Manor and Soho Street, as well as thirty brahmacaris from all over the United Kingdom, sang and danced for the pleasure of Lord Jagannath, Lord Baladeva, and Lady Subhadra in the Borehamwood Carnival, an annual parade in a community just five miles from the Manor. So many people were happy to see the kirtana of the devotees. Some smiled, some danced, some waved, and many took pictures and videos, including this one [the devotees participation starts around 1:44 minutes into the video]:
(If the embedded video above does not work, click this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vDbQ-DNRwQ&feature=player_detailpage#t=104s)
Devotees distributed books and invitations to the London Ratha-yatra. The brahmacaris by their enthusiasm and their numbers added a lot to the party. We did a harinama to the beginning of the parade, chanted in the parade for 45 minutes, and then did harinama back to the car, so lots of people got to connect with Krishna.
Insights
Srila Prabhupada:
from a lecture:
When people worship God with a motive, when they get what they want they may stop the worship and if they do not get what they want, they may become atheistic. Thus unmotivated devotion is superior.
Vedic culture is to train boys as brahmacaris to learn the purpose of life.
In the West I was surprised to see children 10 or 12 years old smoking. In India, I think that if they are less than 16 they are punished for smoking.
A computer is a wonderful machine, but still there must be some operator. Nature is a wonderful machine. Who is its operator? Scientists have no commonsense to see this.
Anyone who accepts the body as the self, has imperfect knowledge yet such people are posing as big, big professors. Therefore we are protesting because they are cheating the people.
The scientists are trying to create life but they have no knowledge that life is not created. Life is ever existing.
Comment: So the scientists are minutely analyzing the mirage and thus wasting their time.
They are wiping out Krishna, and your business is to establish Krishna. Prove that the background is Krishna. That will be the perfection of your education.
Candramauli Swami:
Love means to serve and to cooperate in order to serve. Without cooperation, it is just about me.
Srila Prabhupada would point out that the United Nations could not work as long as the individual nations were attached to their own self-interest.
I was with one yatra that was divided into two groups, each with a different way to serve Krishna. Prabhupada would say they are both right.
Material desires cause disunity.
Materialists when they try to unite on the material plane actually ending up creating more diversity.
Srila Prabhupada stressed that his followers could stay together by keeping his instructions in the center.
Living in an ashram is one of the greatest austerities in this age of Kali.
The basis of our spiritual life is good strong sadhana, and we should help each other to practice nicely.
The strength of a group can be seen by its weakest point not its strongest point. Therefore we all benefit by helping to bring up the weakest people to a higher level.
Devotees disagree but never fight.
My idea may be slightly better than your idea, but it is better for me to accept your idea than to fight for mine, unless your idea is completely off.
There is an analogy of two sons massaging father but quarreling among themselves and causing pain to the father.
Prabhupada asked a devotee he asked to find prasadam for guests, but the pujari who was in the middle of offering the food. The devotee took the food anyway, and the pujari became angry, not knowing Srila Prabhupada’s mind.
When maya sees someone is seriously practicing, she tests to see how serious he is. If he is very serious, he is not disturbed. If he is disturbed, soon he rectifies himself, and he goes on.
[Devotees often cite part of the letter Srila Prabhupada wrote to Atreya Rsi saying his criticism of devotees for quarreling was a manifestation of impersonalism but Candramauli Swami read the entire letter which was full of wisdom and valuable to hear.]
Q: It seems like we could get entangled in offending devotee who has a valid program for serving Krishna that differs from ours. How do we avoid this?
A: It is natural that disagreement is there. We do not criticize the people we disagree with but deal with the issue itself. In this way we can avoid Vaishnava aparadha.
To sacrifice for others is a feature of making advancement. You have to do that in a ashram.
Q: How to avoid conflicts?
A: Communicate with others.
If you are absorbed in Krishna by hearing and chanting, you can tolerate the small problems within the ashram.
Being proud of having philosophical knowledge, but not having proper behavior is a kind of false ego.
A leader has to be a visionary and create a team spirit.
One study showed leaders fail most often for not creating a team spirit among peers and subordinates, secondly, for not knowing what is expected of them, and thirdly, for not having the required skills.
The leader has to recognize unexpressed talents in others and figure out how to inspire them to engage those talents in Krishna’s service.
One article analyzed why Japanese businesses excelled American ones although having less facility. It was found the Japanese business people had better relationships and team spirit, and that made the difference. So it is also in Krishna consciousness.
Our advancement comes from serving others.
The Lord is never a debtor although he may appear to be.
The forest fire that Krishna swallowed was a demon who manifested in that way.
The reason that Krishna told the cowherd boys to close their eyes before He swallowed the forest fire was because previously Balarama had told Mother Yasoda that he had eaten dirt and
He was worried Balarama would now tell her that he had eaten fire.
At the 2004 World Parliament of Religions in the evenings there was a different program every night. One night was Hindu night. The Mayavadis spoke so much philosophy, telling stories, and captivating everyone’s mind.” Finally one of them said, “You can become the supreme enjoyer!” They and their followers were enlivened by this, but the devotees were disgusted. Bhakti Svarupa Damodara peacefully tolerated it all, and then spoke on the verse, “vasudeva para veda vasudeva para makha . . . ” Then we had kirtana and all the Mayavadi yogis left. They could not relate to the kirtana. Their followers, however, stayed. loved the kirtana and began to dance. Then we served prasadam.
We are simply meant for exchanging love with Krishna, and Krishna is simply meant for exchanging love with us.
Bhaktisiddhanta Saravati Thakura once said that Krishna is not your gardener, your stock broker, or your marriage counselor, He is the enjoyer of loving relationships with His devotees.
Lord Caitanya explains that through the congregational chanting of the holy name we can attain an ever increasing ocean of happiness.
Srila Prabhupada says that to think one is an incarnation of God is the last snare of maya.
Through service we can experience the presence of Krishna.
There are nine stages of prema.
To worship the Lord to get something material or to become the Lord are two illusions that have affected spiritualists since time immemorial.
Janananda Goswami:
Prabhupada says that if we keep ourselves in the consciousness of “I am the servant of the servant of the master of the gopis,” we will be always on the spiritual platform.
Prabhupada says that if we always chant Hare Krishna we will be in our svarupa, or constitutional position as servant of the Lord.
You can chant Hare Krishna anywhere, even in the toilet. The toilet is the perhaps the most important place to chant Krishna because it is so impure.
Before 1974 or so, book distribution would accompany the congregational chanting we would do in public. We would usually have two people distributing books and four people chanting, and we would take turns. There were no people who just did book distribution or just did chanting. The first day I went out, I was still a long-haired hippie, but I chanted and distributed books like the others. I distributed three Back to Godhead magazines, and I was the top distributor that day.
We are out there as representatives of Lord Caitanya and His associates to connect people with them. As jiva souls, living entities, we are meant to give pleasure to Krishna. That is the sankirtana movement. Sankirtana is really what pleases Krishna—complete glorification of Krishna, and so it really does include a variety of activities.
When I started the Newcastle Hare Krishna temple, I hitchhiked up here and stayed in a derelict’s house with a bum, not knowing where my next penny or next meal would come from.
Srila Prabhupada writes, “If there is one sincere soul, he can start a center.”
Srila Prabhupada writes, “If there is chanting going on, that will increase the book distribution.”
Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura explained, “There is no other dharma than uttering the name of Krishna. . . . One who obstructs kirtana is the greatest atheist. There is no time to do mundane welfare work since the only dharma is Krishna kirtana.”
If we cannot directly do the sankirtana, we must assist it.
The prime symptom of love of God is that one wants the Lord’s name spread all over the world.
“Bless you” came from the time of bubonic plague because when the plague was happening, if you sneezed, that meant you had the plague and you would die.
In the early days of the Hare Krishna movement, we would have a bhajana class between 8:30 to 9:00 every night and always sing one or two bhajanas every day. The Vaishnavas gave us these songs to instruct us how to chant the holy name of Krishna properly.
There has to be some satisfaction in devotional service for us to proceed.
Usually chanting, dancing, and prasadam are attractive enough to everyone to stick with the process of devotional service.
When Vakresvara Pandit would dance, both the devotees and the demons were attracted.
Lord Caitanya said that Vakresvara Pandita was an embodiment of Krishna’s transcendental potency. When Krishna dances, so Vakresvara also dances.
The key which opens the door to chanting of the pure holy name and Krishna prema is the service of the Vaishnavas.
Lord Caitanya told Devananda Pandit, “You must use the same mouth that you used for blaspheme, to glorify the devotees and the Lord to become free from all offenses.”
It is not enough just to get the mercy of the Vaishnava you offended, but you have to admit your fault in public and to rectify it.
Prahladananda Swami:
Health is ephemeral. At the time of death practically no one has good health.
Our diet and medicine: Eat Krishna prasadam and chant Hare Krishna.
When through the holy name we experience happiness, we will not lament or hanker.
When we do not have a spirit of submission and surrender to the holy name, we will not
experience happiness in chanting.
We should listen and try to improve the chanting.
Krishna decides how much He will reveal to us.
We have faith that Krishna is present in the sound of his name
One time Srila Prabhupada was in car, and everyone in car began to fall asleep, even the person who was supposed to keep the driver awake, and the driver himself. Prabhupada started playing the karatalas and chanting Hare Krishna.
Just try to chant as nicely as possible and be receptive.
When we speak, we should hear ourselves and make sure we are speaking words that truthful, pleasing, beneficial, not agitating to others, and following the Vedic conclusions [Bg. 7.15].
Good mental health leads to good physical health.
Good health is valuable because then health is one less distraction to our Krishna consciousness.
A little bad health is not bad because we have to practice tolerance so we can be completely absorbed.
Krishna knows how fallen we are, but we do not know how fallen we are.
Brahmacari life means being satisfied with having nothing. If we are not satisfied with nothing, then we will end up having more.
If get married, we may be satisfied, but our wife may not be satisfied or our children may not be satisfied.
If we are not satisfied with chanting Hare Krishna, then we may engage in self-destructive habits that give us bad health. We may overendeavor, underendeavor, or make the wrong endeavor.
Q: How much should we drink?
A: Drink when you are thirsty. The problem is we do not realize when we are thirsty or hungry. If it looks good and it is not moving, we eat it, regardless of time of day or night.
Q: Sometimes the scream of the thoughts in our mind is so intense. What to do?
A: Still our business is to try to hear the chanting. Chant louder. If we are really sincere, maya will keep quiet. If we pay attention to maya, she will get louder and louder.
Q: How to surrender?
A: Follow the six items of saranagati. Absorb yourself in Krishna’s service and cultivate the feeling that because you are engaged in Krishna’s service, He will supply whatever you actually need.
We are not fasting from water or food. We are fasting from maya. Less attention on the body means more attention to Krishna.
Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami:
from Calling Out to Srila Prabhupada:“O Srila Prabhupada, whom we think of day and night;
“O Prabhupada, who came to America with Srimad-Bhagavatams as his only means, who sold volumes to bookstores in order to pay for groceries, and who thought in the beginning, ‘They will never accept this Hare Krishna mantra, but let me try;’
“O Prabhupada, who happily endured the austerities of New York winters on behalf of Lord Krishna; O master, who years later made thousands of disciples and had many houses to reside in but who said, ‘I was happier in the beginning in New York because I had no one to depend on but Krishna;’
“O Prabhupada, who favored New York City by opening his first ISKCON center there and by singing in Tompkins Square Park, who beat the one-headed drum hours at a time and sang strongly, who braved all the rudeness and strangeness just to deliver us from birth and death by giving us the holy names of Krishna;
“O Prabhupada, whose preaching was guided by Lord Krishna, whose preaching was to ‘go in like a needle and come out like a plow,’ whose preaching was pure and who stayed to do it, who fulfilled all the qualities of a saint, being tolerant, merciful, friendly to all and fixed in the Absolute Truth;
“O Prabhupada, who loved his disciples and nurtured them like a mother cares for her children, and who, like a father, imparted to his sons and daughters the gift of the courage to stand and fight;
“O Prabhupada, please live vibrantly in our thoughts and actions.
“O Srila Prabhupada, of whom I often think, ‘Where are you?’ O Prabhupada, who doesn’t belong as the exclusive property of any one disciple;
“O Prabhupada who is simultaneously giving thousands of instructions and yet is silent in Krishna meditation, please become more clear in my mind;
“O Prabhupada, of whom we say, ‘I wish you were present now to tell us what is right and wrong and what to do,’ and yet whom we fear to think of in that way because surely he would be angry with us and expose our cherished notions as foolish and disobedient;
“O Prabhupada, whom we sometimes prefer to worship at a distance, as is recommended in the
scriptures, but whose lotus feet we want to touch, whose hand we want to feel on our heads and backs;
“O Prabhupada, who is with us but also in another dimension, and of whom we think, ‘How can I reach you? When and where will we meet again?
“O Prabhupada, who is not just another link in the disciplic succession of gurus, but who is the founder-acarya of the Krishna consciousness movement, and who said, ‘None of these men could fulfill the desires of Bhaktivinoda Thakura in the matter of preaching in the foreign countries’;
“O Prabhupada, the remembrance of whom is like satori, whose moments are hundreds of haikus if we could only know them and see them rightly;
“O Prabhupada, who said, ‘Everything is all right,’ indicating that there was no need for anxiety because Krishna is the controller of everything, yet who also used to say, ‘What can be done?’ indicating that he wanted even more success for spreading Krishna consciousness, but obstacles remained in the way—this was also the will of providence.
“O Prabhupada, who didn’t speak of hidden, obscure meanings in the Vedas, who said it was very clear, and yet whose instructions may be looked at in new light, and whose sincere followers sometimes discover that they haven’t really understood what he meant even on basic issues;
“O Prabhupada, who is the source of all writings and teachings in the ISKCON sampradaya;
“O Prabhupada, who will always have true followers, and whose followers will keep up his standards in many places in the world;
“O Prabhupada, please keep us at your lotus feet; please keep us alive in your service.”
Bhagavat Asraya Prabhu:
Early in the Gita Krishna advises balance in eating, sleeping, work, and recreation. The proper amount of each is an individual thing. Margaret Thachter, former prime minister of Great Britain, would sleep at most five hours and felt fully refreshed.
If the world is too much with you, you will be too much with the world.
Once on a morning walk, Srila Prabhupada asked the devotees what was the most important thing in their lives. They offered suggestions like spiritual practice and spiritual service, but he said health was most important because without health you cannot do anything.
To help good health avoid exertion and suppressive medicines.
Srila Prabhupada explained to Govinda dasi that if you chant the mangalacarana prayers before anything, then that activity will be a success.
Comment by Radha, a Vaishnava youth: I always chant Mangalacarana before I take an exam.
We seek a teacher because we do not know. The qualification of a student is that he must know that he does not know.
Reading books to acquire knowledge has limitations. You cannot advertise yourself as a doctor because you read a few books on medicine.
Another qualification of the student is that he wants to know.
Wisdom is beyond mere knowledge and knowledge is beyond mere data. Wisdom could be considered a distillation of knowledge.
If you are unsuccessful and unhappy, you are going die. If you are successful and happy, you are still going to die. What then does it matter if you are successful and happy? It does no good to say to someone, “there is a terrible leak in your side of the boat,” because we are all going to sink.
Arjuna is experiencing anticipatory grief in the beginning of the Gita.
Verses 11 through 30 of chapter two of Bhagavad-gita, the analytical study of the soul, is like a chapter within a chapter.
Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 8, No. 11
By Krishna-kripa das
(June 2012, part one)
England
(Sent from Sarcelles, France, on July 27, 2012)
What I Went and What I Did
The first weekend in June I attended the Birmingham Tweny-Four Hour Kirtana for the third straight year where Sacinandana Swami shared wonderful insights about kirtana. Afterward we continued doing harinama in Newcastle and other cities in The North of England, and we continued to see people taking an interest in the chanting. I went to Manchester for their monthly harinama and to give the lecture for the Sunday Feast. I also chanted in there in Piccadilly Gardens the next day. Fortunately two other devotees joined me. Then Sri Gadadhara Prabhu and I went to Leeds and Sheffield for the weekly nama-hatta programs, and we helped advertise them by doing harinama. Next we went with Dayananda Swami to Bhaktivedanta Manor for the UK Brahmacari Conference, with lectures by visiting swamis, many of which I have notes on. About thirty brahmacaris participated in the Borehamwood Ratha-yatra, the Manor’s entry in a local municipality’s parade where we won second place. Then some of my friends from Bhaktivedanta Manor went to Central London for the lively Saturday night harinama before the next day’s Ratha-yatra.
The insights are really great this issue. I especially like some from Srila Prabhupada himself, others by Prahladananda Swami on health, Candramauli Swami on cooperation in ashram life, and Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami on the glories of Srila Prabhupada.
Thanks to Lauris of BRR Films for all of the great pictures.
Birmingham Twenty-Four Hour Kirtana
Before the Birmingham Twenty-Four Hour Kirtana I attended the weekly Saturday harinama in Birmingham which was on New Street at a place so busy it reminded me of London. The devotees usually chant from 12:30 to 3:00 p.m., but were a little late setting it up. Many young people took pleasure in dancing with us. Several people stood and watched for awhile, and two or three devotees distributed many books to those in the crowd who were interested.
I foolishly left my harmonium on the city bus while traveling from the temple to the harinama. Bhakta Bob, a devotee who worked as a city bus driver tracked it down in the depot, and we went to pick it up after the Twenty-four Hour Kirtana. The men at the office joked that they would give it back to me, but only if I played a tune for them. So I got to play a Hare Krishna tune for the men in the bus company office!
At the Twenty-Four Hour Kirtana it was wonderful, as usual, to associate with so many devotees who have faith in the congregational chanting of the holy name of the Lord and to chant for twenty-four hours. It was very large crowd, and I could only find a little space near the wall to dance in. I usually take a nap for three hours in the middle and maybe another half an hour after a meal. When morning comes around, I chant my japa during the singing of the leader and then I chant the response, counting that as a mantra toward my japa quota, thus it takes me two and a half or three hours to chant my sixteen rounds instead of an hour and three-quarters, but I do not really miss too much of the kirtana that way. For next year, I hope they put a speaker near the prasadam queue and the room where the devotees take prasadam so we do not feel like we are missing out.
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| During the kirtana, there was an abhiseka (bathing ceremony) for the Birmingham deities of Lord Jagannatha, Lord Baladeva, and Lady Subhadra.
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| Later, Jagannatha and Baladeva wore an elephant dress.
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Madhava Prabhu led many joyful meditative kirtanas.
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| Janananda Goswami would encourage others by his example to dance with upraised arms. |
Here are some notes from speakers at the Birmingham Twenty-four Hour Kirtana:
Sacinandana Swami:
Use the body as a springboard to absorb yourself in Krishna consciousness with your mind.
The glorification of the Lord is first done externally and then within our heart. In this way it can be done twenty-four hours a day.
In the German language there are songs called “ear worms—songs that become so dear to you that they become embedded in your ears. The Hare Krishna mantra should become like that for us.
We should internalize the holy name so it becomes like our heartbeat or our breath.
On the platform of practice there is a struggle between our weaknesses and what we hope to attain.
Before Aindra Prabhu established the 24-hour kirtana in Vrindavan, I would participate in the night shift, from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. The karatala player fell asleep, the mrdanga player fell asleep. Even the guard fell asleep. I decided to stick with it, although I had four more hours to go.
Stay with the holy name until you realize there is someone listening and that someone is Krishna.
Sing for the ears of God and see how you are supplied with transcendental strength.
The names of God are not just names of God but God Himself.
One beggar would regularly insult the king. The king found out about it and disguised himself as another beggar. He came to the beggar, and said, “I heard you dislike the king.” “Yes,” said the beggar, “Not only do I dislike the king, but I want to kill the king.” The king disguised as a beggar said, “Oh, I happen to know a secret passage in the palace that goes right to the king’s throne.” The beggar was overjoyed. The king disguised as beggar showed the beggar a route so he passed so many saintly persons discussing the ultimate truth. The beggar decided, “No, evening is not a good time to kill the king, let us try morning.” In the morning, he saw arrangements by the king for giving charity and for the happiness of citizens. Thus he concluded that the king was not so bad after all. The king dressed as a beggar, showed him the secret path to the throne, and then excused himself while he put on his kingly robes and sat on the throne. When the beggar then saw the king was his friend, he apologized. The holy name is like that king. The holy name is always giving although we do not always appreciate.
The holy name is the bud of the flower of divine love. He is full of devotional tastes.
The mind is like this naughty child that will protest and run away.
You have ignored, neglected, and rejected, and the holy name still is desiring to benefit you.
Do not be absent-minded, be present-minded. Do not space out. Space in.
Remember I am not my body. I am not my mind. I am the soul within.
Chanting means to connect the heart with the deity who we praising.
By chanting, we are asking the Lord to accept us. So long we have turned away from Him, and now we want to turn back, and ask the Lord to accept us.
There is only so far you can go on your own strength. Krishna stands on the border and bring us further. He can capture you and pull you on.
O King of the country of love, I appeal to you for your affection. Somehow or other I am in adverse circumstances. Although I would like to I cannot find the ability to chant your holy name attentively. My soul will never be satisfied without Your companionship. Without your mercy, I cannot get beyond my imprisoned, restricted condition.
Sometimes with this prayer, Krishna will take us seriously and break down the wall.
I say this for two reasons. 1. As a reminder that Krishna wants us to give His mercy. 2. And to give us hope.
The formula to have a live-saving experience of kirtana:
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saintly association
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a peaceful place free from material influence
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a determined attitude
The chanting establishes the only relationship that is free from disappointment.
Some programs have more strength and others less strength, and this program of devotees chanting has great strength, and one of the strengths is the power to attract others, and thus this program [the Birmingham Twenty-four Hour Kirtana] has grown continuously since I have been coming to it. We outgrew this place, and some people had to stand outside in the rain last night while others returned to their hotel rooms and switched on their laptops to view it on the Internet. I suggest that we all make a commitment to each invite a new person, and then Krishna will see we are serious and will make an arrangement for a new place.
Kadamba Kanana Swami:
The Vaishnavas manifest the mercy of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. So much energy is released when they get together, and the hope is that Krishna will manifest Himself in that situation. Krishna manifests Himself according to the advancement of the devotee. And it is that experience that keeps us coming back for more. And that is the reason I came to this Birmingham 24-hour kirtana.
a Brijbasi guest to Birmingham 24-hour kirtana:
I was gone from Vrindavana three or four weeks, and the first hours of your kirtana here was the first time I wasn’t missing Vrndavana.
The sadhus are crying for Krishna for centuries, yet Krishna does not come. While the gopis are reprimanding Krishna for His rascaldom, saying they wish He would go away, yet He is away present with them. Why? Because the gopis chant the holy name of Krishna, the Hare Krishna maha-mantra.
Harinamas in the North of England
We would chant in Newcastle several days a week, and in small towns around Newcastle on other days. One day we went to Heaton, a small town where many students live.
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| Sri Gadadhara Prabhu tried to interest locals in the books of Srila Prabhupada.
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| I led kirtana for some time, playing the harmonium, with Prema Sankirtan on the drum, and Vamana Prabhu on the cymbals.
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| We had some friendly interactions with a few people.
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In Newcastle one college student from Kyrgyzstan loved hearing our chanting on harinama. One devotee said there were tears in her eyes. I suggested that the lady devotee on the party invite her to our special evening program with the visiting swamis that night, and thus the two of them left for the temple for the program which was soon starting. Although a Muslim, the college student felt at home with the chanting and the devotees and came to four evening programs in a row, as well as for lunch prasadam a couple times. Hopefully we shall she her again when she returns from her summer vacation in her native land.
Crazy Ken, who had met us on harinama about ten days before, joined us for another Wednesday program sporting a custom T-shirt he had made with the Hare Krishna maha-mantra on the front, and the phrase “Can you dig it?” underneath. I had not encountered such sixties slang in a while, and I think some younger people were unfamiliar with it. He was happy to get the maha-mantra hit single CD and few George Harrison songs that a devotee gave to him.
The harinama in Sheffield was especially memorable for several reasons. We encountered some street musicians who played along with us for some time and even began chanting Hare Krishna with us. Later a woman looking for directions came up to us, and it turned out she was looking for directions to our own evening program, not realizing it was we who were putting on. She was half an hour early, and so we invited her to join the harinama and she did. Usually we stop the harinama fifteen minutes before the program, but because I had not done my three hours of harinama that I day, I wanted to keep going for ten more minutes. An Indian man and his daughter heard the karatalas and found our kirtana party. They knew ISKCON from the Montreal Ratha-yatra. The girl was a student at Sheffield University and was happy to learn of the weekly program in that town. They came to that night to the program. While talking with them I learned they would be in London that weekend, and so I gave them an invitation to the London Ratha-yatra on Sunday, so they would have the chance to go.
Borehamwood Ratha-yatra
Midday on Saturday, June 16, Parasurama Prabhu, devotees from Bhaktivedanta Manor and Soho Street, as well as thirty brahmacaris from all over the United Kingdom, sang and danced for the pleasure of Lord Jagannath, Lord Baladeva, and Lady Subhadra in the Borehamwood Carnival, an annual parade in a community just five miles from the Manor. So many people were happy to see the kirtana of the devotees. Some smiled, some danced, some waved, and many took pictures and videos, including this one [the devotees participation starts around 1:44 minutes into the video]:
(If the embedded video above does not work, click this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vDbQ-DNRwQ&feature=player_detailpage#t=104s)
Devotees distributed books and invitations to the London Ratha-yatra. The brahmacaris by their enthusiasm and their numbers added a lot to the party. We did a harinama to the beginning of the parade, chanted in the parade for 45 minutes, and then did harinama back to the car, so lots of people got to connect with Krishna.
Insights
Srila Prabhupada:
from a lecture:
When people worship God with a motive, when they get what they want they may stop the worship and if they do not get what they want, they may become atheistic. Thus unmotivated devotion is superior.
Vedic culture is to train boys as brahmacaris to learn the purpose of life.
In the West I was surprised to see children 10 or 12 years old smoking. In India, I think that if they are less than 16 they are punished for smoking.
A computer is a wonderful machine, but still there must be some operator. Nature is a wonderful machine. Who is its operator? Scientists have no commonsense to see this.
Anyone who accepts the body as the self, has imperfect knowledge yet such people are posing as big, big professors. Therefore we are protesting because they are cheating the people.
The scientists are trying to create life but they have no knowledge that life is not created. Life is ever existing.
Comment: So the scientists are minutely analyzing the mirage and thus wasting their time.
They are wiping out Krishna, and your business is to establish Krishna. Prove that the background is Krishna. That will be the perfection of your education.
Candramauli Swami:
Love means to serve and to cooperate in order to serve. Without cooperation, it is just about me.
Srila Prabhupada would point out that the United Nations could not work as long as the individual nations were attached to their own self-interest.
I was with one yatra that was divided into two groups, each with a different way to serve Krishna. Prabhupada would say they are both right.
Material desires cause disunity.
Materialists when they try to unite on the material plane actually ending up creating more diversity.
Srila Prabhupada stressed that his followers could stay together by keeping his instructions in the center.
Living in an ashram is one of the greatest austerities in this age of Kali.
The basis of our spiritual life is good strong sadhana, and we should help each other to practice nicely.
The strength of a group can be seen by its weakest point not its strongest point. Therefore we all benefit by helping to bring up the weakest people to a higher level.
Devotees disagree but never fight.
My idea may be slightly better than your idea, but it is better for me to accept your idea than to fight for mine, unless your idea is completely off.
There is an analogy of two sons massaging father but quarreling among themselves and causing pain to the father.
Prabhupada asked a devotee he asked to find prasadam for guests, but the pujari who was in the middle of offering the food. The devotee took the food anyway, and the pujari became angry, not knowing Srila Prabhupada’s mind.
When maya sees someone is seriously practicing, she tests to see how serious he is. If he is very serious, he is not disturbed. If he is disturbed, soon he rectifies himself, and he goes on.
[Devotees often cite part of the letter Srila Prabhupada wrote to Atreya Rsi saying his criticism of devotees for quarreling was a manifestation of impersonalism but Candramauli Swami read the entire letter which was full of wisdom and valuable to hear.]
Q: It seems like we could get entangled in offending devotee who has a valid program for serving Krishna that differs from ours. How do we avoid this?
A: It is natural that disagreement is there. We do not criticize the people we disagree with but deal with the issue itself. In this way we can avoid Vaishnava aparadha.
To sacrifice for others is a feature of making advancement. You have to do that in a ashram.
Q: How to avoid conflicts?
A: Communicate with others.
If you are absorbed in Krishna by hearing and chanting, you can tolerate the small problems within the ashram.
Being proud of having philosophical knowledge, but not having proper behavior is a kind of false ego.
A leader has to be a visionary and create a team spirit.
One study showed leaders fail most often for not creating a team spirit among peers and subordinates, secondly, for not knowing what is expected of them, and thirdly, for not having the required skills.
The leader has to recognize unexpressed talents in others and figure out how to inspire them to engage those talents in Krishna’s service.
One article analyzed why Japanese businesses excelled American ones although having less facility. It was found the Japanese business people had better relationships and team spirit, and that made the difference. So it is also in Krishna consciousness.
Our advancement comes from serving others.
The Lord is never a debtor although he may appear to be.
The forest fire that Krishna swallowed was a demon who manifested in that way.
The reason that Krishna told the cowherd boys to close their eyes before He swallowed the forest fire was because previously Balarama had told Mother Yasoda that he had eaten dirt and
He was worried Balarama would now tell her that he had eaten fire.
At the 2004 World Parliament of Religions in the evenings there was a different program every night. One night was Hindu night. The Mayavadis spoke so much philosophy, telling stories, and captivating everyone’s mind.” Finally one of them said, “You can become the supreme enjoyer!” They and their followers were enlivened by this, but the devotees were disgusted. Bhakti Svarupa Damodara peacefully tolerated it all, and then spoke on the verse, “vasudeva para veda vasudeva para makha . . . ” Then we had kirtana and all the Mayavadi yogis left. They could not relate to the kirtana. Their followers, however, stayed. loved the kirtana and began to dance. Then we served prasadam.
We are simply meant for exchanging love with Krishna, and Krishna is simply meant for exchanging love with us.
Bhaktisiddhanta Saravati Thakura once said that Krishna is not your gardener, your stock broker, or your marriage counselor, He is the enjoyer of loving relationships with His devotees.
Lord Caitanya explains that through the congregational chanting of the holy name we can attain an ever increasing ocean of happiness.
Srila Prabhupada says that to think one is an incarnation of God is the last snare of maya.
Through service we can experience the presence of Krishna.
There are nine stages of prema.
To worship the Lord to get something material or to become the Lord are two illusions that have affected spiritualists since time immemorial.
Janananda Goswami:
Prabhupada says that if we keep ourselves in the consciousness of “I am the servant of the servant of the master of the gopis,” we will be always on the spiritual platform.
Prabhupada says that if we always chant Hare Krishna we will be in our svarupa, or constitutional position as servant of the Lord.
You can chant Hare Krishna anywhere, even in the toilet. The toilet is the perhaps the most important place to chant Krishna because it is so impure.
Before 1974 or so, book distribution would accompany the congregational chanting we would do in public. We would usually have two people distributing books and four people chanting, and we would take turns. There were no people who just did book distribution or just did chanting. The first day I went out, I was still a long-haired hippie, but I chanted and distributed books like the others. I distributed three Back to Godhead magazines, and I was the top distributor that day.
We are out there as representatives of Lord Caitanya and His associates to connect people with them. As jiva souls, living entities, we are meant to give pleasure to Krishna. That is the sankirtana movement. Sankirtana is really what pleases Krishna—complete glorification of Krishna, and so it really does include a variety of activities.
When I started the Newcastle Hare Krishna temple, I hitchhiked up here and stayed in a derelict’s house with a bum, not knowing where my next penny or next meal would come from.
Srila Prabhupada writes, “If there is one sincere soul, he can start a center.”
Srila Prabhupada writes, “If there is chanting going on, that will increase the book distribution.”
Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura explained, “There is no other dharma than uttering the name of Krishna. . . . One who obstructs kirtana is the greatest atheist. There is no time to do mundane welfare work since the only dharma is Krishna kirtana.”
If we cannot directly do the sankirtana, we must assist it.
The prime symptom of love of God is that one wants the Lord’s name spread all over the world.
“Bless you” came from the time of bubonic plague because when the plague was happening, if you sneezed, that meant you had the plague and you would die.
In the early days of the Hare Krishna movement, we would have a bhajana class between 8:30 to 9:00 every night and always sing one or two bhajanas every day. The Vaishnavas gave us these songs to instruct us how to chant the holy name of Krishna properly.
There has to be some satisfaction in devotional service for us to proceed.
Usually chanting, dancing, and prasadam are attractive enough to everyone to stick with the process of devotional service.
When Vakresvara Pandit would dance, both the devotees and the demons were attracted.
Lord Caitanya said that Vakresvara Pandita was an embodiment of Krishna’s transcendental potency. When Krishna dances, so Vakresvara also dances.
The key which opens the door to chanting of the pure holy name and Krishna prema is the service of the Vaishnavas.
Lord Caitanya told Devananda Pandit, “You must use the same mouth that you used for blaspheme, to glorify the devotees and the Lord to become free from all offenses.”
It is not enough just to get the mercy of the Vaishnava you offended, but you have to admit your fault in public and to rectify it.
Prahladananda Swami:
Health is ephemeral. At the time of death practically no one has good health.
Our diet and medicine: Eat Krishna prasadam and chant Hare Krishna.
When through the holy name we experience happiness, we will not lament or hanker.
When we do not have a spirit of submission and surrender to the holy name, we will not
experience happiness in chanting.
We should listen and try to improve the chanting.
Krishna decides how much He will reveal to us.
We have faith that Krishna is present in the sound of his name
One time Srila Prabhupada was in car, and everyone in car began to fall asleep, even the person who was supposed to keep the driver awake, and the driver himself. Prabhupada started playing the karatalas and chanting Hare Krishna.
Just try to chant as nicely as possible and be receptive.
When we speak, we should hear ourselves and make sure we are speaking words that truthful, pleasing, beneficial, not agitating to others, and following the Vedic conclusions [Bg. 7.15].
Good mental health leads to good physical health.
Good health is valuable because then health is one less distraction to our Krishna consciousness.
A little bad health is not bad because we have to practice tolerance so we can be completely absorbed.
Krishna knows how fallen we are, but we do not know how fallen we are.
Brahmacari life means being satisfied with having nothing. If we are not satisfied with nothing, then we will end up having more.
If get married, we may be satisfied, but our wife may not be satisfied or our children may not be satisfied.
If we are not satisfied with chanting Hare Krishna, then we may engage in self-destructive habits that give us bad health. We may overendeavor, underendeavor, or make the wrong endeavor.
Q: How much should we drink?
A: Drink when you are thirsty. The problem is we do not realize when we are thirsty or hungry. If it looks good and it is not moving, we eat it, regardless of time of day or night.
Q: Sometimes the scream of the thoughts in our mind is so intense. What to do?
A: Still our business is to try to hear the chanting. Chant louder. If we are really sincere, maya will keep quiet. If we pay attention to maya, she will get louder and louder.
Q: How to surrender?
A: Follow the six items of saranagati. Absorb yourself in Krishna’s service and cultivate the feeling that because you are engaged in Krishna’s service, He will supply whatever you actually need.
We are not fasting from water or food. We are fasting from maya. Less attention on the body means more attention to Krishna.
Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami:
from Calling Out to Srila Prabhupada:“O Srila Prabhupada, whom we think of day and night;
“O Prabhupada, who came to America with Srimad-Bhagavatams as his only means, who sold volumes to bookstores in order to pay for groceries, and who thought in the beginning, ‘They will never accept this Hare Krishna mantra, but let me try;’
“O Prabhupada, who happily endured the austerities of New York winters on behalf of Lord Krishna; O master, who years later made thousands of disciples and had many houses to reside in but who said, ‘I was happier in the beginning in New York because I had no one to depend on but Krishna;’
“O Prabhupada, who favored New York City by opening his first ISKCON center there and by singing in Tompkins Square Park, who beat the one-headed drum hours at a time and sang strongly, who braved all the rudeness and strangeness just to deliver us from birth and death by giving us the holy names of Krishna;
“O Prabhupada, whose preaching was guided by Lord Krishna, whose preaching was to ‘go in like a needle and come out like a plow,’ whose preaching was pure and who stayed to do it, who fulfilled all the qualities of a saint, being tolerant, merciful, friendly to all and fixed in the Absolute Truth;
“O Prabhupada, who loved his disciples and nurtured them like a mother cares for her children, and who, like a father, imparted to his sons and daughters the gift of the courage to stand and fight;
“O Prabhupada, please live vibrantly in our thoughts and actions.
“O Srila Prabhupada, of whom I often think, ‘Where are you?’ O Prabhupada, who doesn’t belong as the exclusive property of any one disciple;
“O Prabhupada who is simultaneously giving thousands of instructions and yet is silent in Krishna meditation, please become more clear in my mind;
“O Prabhupada, of whom we say, ‘I wish you were present now to tell us what is right and wrong and what to do,’ and yet whom we fear to think of in that way because surely he would be angry with us and expose our cherished notions as foolish and disobedient;
“O Prabhupada, whom we sometimes prefer to worship at a distance, as is recommended in the
scriptures, but whose lotus feet we want to touch, whose hand we want to feel on our heads and backs;
“O Prabhupada, who is with us but also in another dimension, and of whom we think, ‘How can I reach you? When and where will we meet again?
“O Prabhupada, who is not just another link in the disciplic succession of gurus, but who is the founder-acarya of the Krishna consciousness movement, and who said, ‘None of these men could fulfill the desires of Bhaktivinoda Thakura in the matter of preaching in the foreign countries’;
“O Prabhupada, the remembrance of whom is like satori, whose moments are hundreds of haikus if we could only know them and see them rightly;
“O Prabhupada, who said, ‘Everything is all right,’ indicating that there was no need for anxiety because Krishna is the controller of everything, yet who also used to say, ‘What can be done?’ indicating that he wanted even more success for spreading Krishna consciousness, but obstacles remained in the way—this was also the will of providence.
“O Prabhupada, who didn’t speak of hidden, obscure meanings in the Vedas, who said it was very clear, and yet whose instructions may be looked at in new light, and whose sincere followers sometimes discover that they haven’t really understood what he meant even on basic issues;
“O Prabhupada, who is the source of all writings and teachings in the ISKCON sampradaya;
“O Prabhupada, who will always have true followers, and whose followers will keep up his standards in many places in the world;
“O Prabhupada, please keep us at your lotus feet; please keep us alive in your service.”
Bhagavat Asraya Prabhu:
Early in the Gita Krishna advises balance in eating, sleeping, work, and recreation. The proper amount of each is an individual thing. Margaret Thachter, former prime minister of Great Britain, would sleep at most five hours and felt fully refreshed.
If the world is too much with you, you will be too much with the world.
Once on a morning walk, Srila Prabhupada asked the devotees what was the most important thing in their lives. They offered suggestions like spiritual practice and spiritual service, but he said health was most important because without health you cannot do anything.
To help good health avoid exertion and suppressive medicines.
Srila Prabhupada explained to Govinda dasi that if you chant the mangalacarana prayers before anything, then that activity will be a success.
Comment by Radha, a Vaishnava youth: I always chant Mangalacarana before I take an exam.
We seek a teacher because we do not know. The qualification of a student is that he must know that he does not know.
Reading books to acquire knowledge has limitations. You cannot advertise yourself as a doctor because you read a few books on medicine.
Another qualification of the student is that he wants to know.
Wisdom is beyond mere knowledge and knowledge is beyond mere data. Wisdom could be considered a distillation of knowledge.
If you are unsuccessful and unhappy, you are going die. If you are successful and happy, you are still going to die. What then does it matter if you are successful and happy? It does no good to say to someone, “there is a terrible leak in your side of the boat,” because we are all going to sink.
Arjuna is experiencing anticipatory grief in the beginning of the Gita.
Verses 11 through 30 of chapter two of Bhagavad-gita,
