Winter has finally arrived in Mayapur. (Album with photos)
Along with the change of seasons the month of Kartika has begun, bringing the blessings and mercy of Lord Damodar. Work on the TOVP steadily continues, bringing newer and newer developments an...

Prabhupada once remarked, years later, that now that he had thousands of disciples he had many headaches, whereas in the beginning when he was alone with Krishna he was happy depending only on the Lord. 

Nothing has changed. Everything is still the same as it was when Krsna was here 5000 years ago performing his pastimes in Vrindavan.

Krsna was stealing butter and yoghurt from the houses of all the residents of Vrindavan and all of them complained to Mother Yashoda. Mother Yashoda could not believe such things when she saw the innocent face of her son. But one day, she caught him red-handed when Krsna was there with a broken pot of yoghurt, surrounded by monkeys.

“Now I have caught you, you rascal!”

“Oh Mother, I came in here and the monkeys had just thrown this pot down – I came to chase them away!”

It was not convincing. Mother Yashoda was not at all convinced, so she wanted to punish him and chased him with a stick. Of course, she never wanted to beat him, just scare him. But then, she scared him too much and he became very afraid. At one point she said, “You are such a friend of the monkeys, giving them all this butter and yoghurt. I will treat you like a monkey!”

Krsna said, “If you treat me like this, then I’ll go and live with the monkeys.” Then she became very afraid that he would really do it and she decided to tie him up, which also did not work. The rope was always too short by two fingers! It came to a point where she was taking a ribbon from her hair to extend the cord. The neighbours were looking at the fun and they brought more silken ropes from their houses. Mother Yashoda sent everyone to bring all the rope in Vrindavan but still it remained two fingers short until she captured Krsna in the end, with her endeavour and by his mercy.

So nothing has changed. The very same condition as 5000 years ago exists now – the same two fingers are still there today. The finger for our personal endeavour and the finger for Krsna’s mercy. These can capture Krsna.

Probably one of the best Govardhan Hill replicas ever made!
With the much hard work of Mother Krishna Mangala and Nityananda Chandra Prabhus and all their helpers at Kalachandji’s Hare Krishna Temple in Dallas! Happy Govardhan Puja!

Harikripa in Arequipa, Peru (Album with photos)
After more than 10 years the mercy of Lord Jagannatha, Baladeva and Subhadra once again descends to the streets of Arequipa. Find them here: https://goo.gl/zyOJ9l

Prabhupada Katha by Hari Sauri Prabhu (1 hr video)
In November of 1975 Hari Sauri Prabhu joined A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada’s personal entourage, remaining as His Divine Grace’s servant for 16 months.
In 1986, he began the work of transforming the diary he kept while traveling with Srila Prabhupada into a book, or rather a series of books.
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/MgWk76

Similarly, previously the Vedic knowledge was coming by hearing. There was no need of books. But when this age, Kali-yuga, began five thousand years ago, the Vedic scriptures were recorded. First there was only one Veda, known as Atharva Veda. Then Vyasadeva, just to make it clear, divided it into four and entrusted his various disciples to each take charge of one school of Veda. Then he wrote the Mahabharata and the Puranas to make the Vedic knowledge understandable by the common man in different ways, but the principle is the same.

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was always absorbed in thoughts of Sri Vrindavan, often enquiring in a deep devotional mood, "Where is Vrindavan?" On several occasions, His devotees, fearing separation from Him, diverted, discouraged, or dissuaded Him from visiting Vrindavan. The Lord's first attempt to go to Vrindavan occurred shortly after He accepted sannyasa, the renounced order, at age twenty-four. Nityananda Prabhu, His chief associate, tricked Him into thinking that the Ganga, which flows through Navadvip, West Bengal, where the Lord lived, was Vrindavan's river Yamuna. Mahaprabhu was so intensely absorbed in thoughts of Vrindavan that He jumped into the Ganga. Continue reading "Lord Chaitanya Visits Vrindavan
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The wisdom traditions of the world teach that God is the all powerful source of existence. The teachings of bhakti or Krishna consciousness give us greater insight into the personality of that all powerful Lord. One aspect we explore this Sunday is that Krishna is unconquerable yet he agrees to be conquered by the love of his devotee.

TOVP fund-raising program in Delhi (Album with photos)
Gopal Krishna Swami, Ambarisha and Yasomatinanda Prabhus and many other devotees from Iskcon Delhi arranged for a very well attended event by local respected members of the congregation in order to advance Srila Prabhupada’s desire for a Vedic Planetarium in Mayapur.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/TQ6bmz

The post Saci-suta asks about how Krsna leaves Vrndavana for Mathura, but simultaneously never leaves Vrndavana appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.

Busy week at Mayapur Academy (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: Kirtanad eva krsnasya mukta-sangah param vrajet [SB 12.3.51] Simply by chanting the Hare Krishna mantra, one becomes free from the bondage of material existence and thus becomes eligib...

Mellacheruvu Opens New Vistas of Preaching.
9th Day of Sri Govind Gau Gram PracharYatra Vrndavanlila Devidasi: Sri GovindGau Gram PracharYatra entered into its 9th successive day of out-reach preaching into the villages on November 2, 2015. On the da...

The post Daily Darshan – November 9th, 2015 appeared first on Mayapur.com.

New Vrindaban - 24 Hour Kirtan (Kartik 2015) (Album with 135 photos)
New Vrindaban - 24 Hour Kirtan, Palace of Gold & also a few pictures of unseen Old Vrindaban.
Photography Courtesy: Arjun Bhattacharyya
Find them here: https://goo.gl/iZuV0c

November 9. ISKCON 50 – S.Prabhupada Daily Meditations.
While Prabhupada sat alone in his fifth floor room in Dr. Mishra’s yoga studio, the lights suddenly went out. This was his experience of the first moments of the New York City blackout of 1965. In India, power failure occurred commonly, so Prabhupada, while surprised to find the same thing happening in America, remained undisturbed. He began chanting the Hare Krishna mantra on his beads; meanwhile, outside his room, the entire New York metropolitan area had been plunged into darkness. The massive power failure had suddenly left the entire City without electricity, trapping 800,000 people in the subways and affecting more than 30,000,000 people in nine states and three Canadian provinces.
Read the entire article here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=20490

While Prabhupada sat alone in his fifth floor room in Dr. Mishra’s yoga studio, the lights suddenly went out.  This was his experience of the first moments of the New York City blackout of 1965.

In Kapila’s discussion with his mother, he explains that the primary inspiration for bhakti comes from realizing one’s true self as a luminous consciousness, and realizing that, like all luminous things, the true self extends from a light-source, a Super-self – “paramātmā.”

Recently I was sharing this with a fairly large audience, and someone asked me for a practical suggestion on how to realize our true self as pure consciousness.

Kapila himself answers the same question by suggesting that we trace all our perceptions to their root, thereby  separating the obersever from the observed and from the instruments of observation, and thus isolating the true self as the essence of observation – pure consciousness. For example, whenever we see anything there is an object being seen, there is the eye which sees it, there is the power of vision, and there is the intellect recognizing the visual information – but beyond them all, at the root of them all, is the actual observer – the luminosity casting light on all experiences. That luminous consciousness is the root of who we are. And when we realize this, we realize that our true self-interest lies not in external manifestations of our self, but in the ultimate root source of our luminosity, the Supreme Entity – whom we begin to realize in three stages – as brahman, paramātmā, and ultimately as Bhagavān. 

Such concepts shouldn’t be too difficult for us to grasp… unless of course we are not really chanting, but are routely checking off “rounds” muttered as we drive to work, cook supper or daydream with our legs crossed.

While explaining this I expressed that such concepts shouldn’t be too difficult for us to grasp, since after all most of us chant some significant number of Hare Krishna mantra every single day and should therefore have strong “yogic muscles” in our powers of perception – unless of course we are not really chanting, but are routely checking off “rounds” muttered as we drive to work, cook supper or daydream with our legs crossed.

Now I would like to try to share a few more thoughts about how chanting the Hare Krishna mantra as a daily meditation naturally and automatically invokes direct realization of the self as pure consciousness.

Chanting

Concentration is the essence of chanting (mantra japa / nāma-japa). As the founder of the modern Hare Krishna movement famously advised in regard to chanting, “just hear.” To hear, to concentrate, first we have to agree not to “hear” or concentrate on 10,001 other things. This is why, in the classical eight-step approach to meditation, “giving up” (pratyāhāra) immediately proceeds “grasping” (dharana) . First we must clear a space in the room, then we can bring some new furniture in. Even to read this article, first you must decide not to read, watch, hear, or do something else with your time. Concentration on one thing necessitates letting go of other things.

So, mantra-yoga is a simple-yet-difficult thing. All you have to do is hear some words, that’s simple. But it turns out to be difficult because it’s not at all easy to stop concentrating on all the things that preoccupy or hearts and mind throughout the other 20 ~ 23 hours of the day.

In fact, the effort to let go of distractions and concentrate on the nāma-mantra is the very thing that will cause us to realize ourselves as pure consciousness!

Letting go of these other thoughts in favor of clearly hearing the words of the Hare Krishna mantra is like trying to let go of bubblegum in our hair, or tar-and-feathers. It’s practically impossible to do it consistently unless we realize that we are not really related to the things that distract us. In other words, to concentrate we have to realize that we are pure consciousness.

In fact, the effort to let go of distractions and concentrate on the nāma-mantra is the very thing that will cause us to realize ourselves as pure consciousness!

Physical Distractions

The first category of distractions comes from physical realities, like being sick, or hungry. Or, as is far more common, we may be riddled with countless anxieties related to our physical necessities – like the extremely stressful reality of needing sufficient food, clothing, shelter and so on for ourselves or for our dependents. No yoga (bhakti or otherwise) asks us to ignore these responsibilities or abruptly set them aside forever. But we do have to set them aside for a few minutes or perhaps hours while we do our nāma-japa. Yet even this proves to be so difficult!

Some people give up and cover their tracks by inventing new outlooks on chanting, as if it was supposed to be for addressing these concerns – like it is a time to “pray” to God about our worries and wants. Yes, prayer is certainly an important spiritual practice, and expressing ones worries and wants is one valid type of prayer – but nonetheless prayer is a different practice than chanting. Prayer is vandana. Chanting is śravaṇa-kīrtana-smarana.

When we sit for nāma-japa we have to set aside our physical anxieties. Yes, it is a completely exhausting effort, but this effort is the main thing that causes us to truly realize, “I am not this body.”

When we sit for nāma-japa (the most powerful and pure of all spiritual practices) we have to set aside our physical anxieties. There is no way around it. Yes, it is a completely exhausting effort to do so mantra after mantra, “round” after “round,” day after day, year after year, but this effort in itself is the main thing that causes us to truly realize, “I am not this body.”

We will not get anywhere in spiritual progress if we give up on this front-line.

Emotional Distractions

The second category of distractions come from emotional states. Feeling happy or distressed about various goings on prevents us from being able to “just hear” the divine names. In my experience, the biggest monster among these distractions is the angry and sad feelings associated with being insulted. I think this is why Mahāprabhu made a big point to say amāneṇa mānadena kīrtaniya sadā hariḥ (“we will chant ‘Hari’ constantly when don’t expect respect and always try to respect others).

When we let go of feelings associated with external goings on, we can then hope to invest our feelings into our chanting effort. Only then will we be able to more truly interact with Krishna in the form of his name. This effort itself is the main thing that grants the realization, “I am not this mind.”

Intellectual Distractions

The third category of distractions comes from our intellect. We like to figure things out and explain them to others. This includes the problems of life that we are trying to unravel, but also extends insidiously into trying to figure out and explain spiritual philosophy and practice. It is important to figure out and explain such things – but that is for our study time, not our chanting time.

For me this is a big problem, to be honest. Even while chanting, as soon as I get some rare, small realization I slip down to the intellectual level and start figuring out how to conceptualize it in words so I can explain it to others.

Our effort here must be to set aside (or at least postpone) the intellectual busy-work of trying to solve life’s mysteries, as well as our attempts to intellectualize our own interaction with the mantra. This is a difficult, subtle job, but the effort  is the primary thing that will allow us to realize, “I am not this intellect.”

Ego (Ambition) Distractions

“Ego” is a translation for the Sanskrit ahaṁkāra. Literally that word means “I do.” It is the ambition of wanting to do things. “I will understand and explain this and that” is an intellectual byproduct of ego. “I will experience and enjoy this or that feeling” is an emotional application of ego. “I will secure this or that resource” is a physical application.

All of the distractions are rooted here. And this is good news, really, because it means that despite becoming subtler and more slippery, the distractions by and large become easier to set aside as we progress up the categories. By setting aside physical distractions we have made progress towards setting aside our emotional relationship with those things, which also means we’ve made progress setting aside the distractin needs to understand and solve various problematic situations. So, by the time we get around to directly concentrating on the distraction of ego, its already lost most of its power to distract.

Without Distraction :: Pure Consciousness

When we are free from these four distractions, we can really chant. Freedom from these distractions requires freedom from physical, emotional, intellectual, and ambition-based self-concepts. The effort to chant attentively,  therefore, makes us experience ourselves as what we really are: pure consciousness. No separate endeavor is really necessary.

If I am not this body, not these feelings, not those thoughts, and not these ambitions… then what am I? The very act of chanting without distraction reveals the answer – I am concentration. I am attention. I am consciousness, pure consciousness.

If I am not this body, not these feelings, not those thoughts, and not these ambitions… then what am I? The very act of chanting without distraction reveals the answer – I am concentration. I am attention. I am consciousness, pure consciousness. 

In the Gītā (18.54), Krishna calls this realization of self, brahma-bhūta. And says that it is the foundation on which bhakti for him can truly exist. Chanting attentively, accordingly, swiftly gives rise to ruci (genuine taste for things related to Krishna), which blossoms into asakti (fervent interest in Krishna), which makes the heart capable to attract and contain the divine mercy of true, living, experiential bhakti – bhāva-bhakti.

 Vraja Kishor das

Books and more available at www.vrajakishor.com

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, October 2010, Melbourne, Australia, Lecture)

Question: How can we check if we are going in the wrong way in our spiritual lives?

By not being independent and by being in the association of devotees because devotees will protect us. Therefore we have to stay closely in the association of devotees. Devotees will tell us if we are going in the wrong way, oh yes they will! Don’t you worry! They will do that. They are very merciful. Devotees are always ready to tell us, “You’re going in the wrong way, Prabhu!” Especially the senior vaisnavas, their instructions carry more weight, so we take shelter of them as much as possible!

Srila Prabhupada reading his own book

A talk by Giriraj Swami on October 24, 2011, in Vrindavan.

In Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Srila Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami says that the pastimes of Lord Caitanya are like a lake with many beautiful lotus flowers, which are love for Krsna—Radha and Krsna. As our acaryas tell us, the Caitanya-caritamrta is perhaps the most important of all the books of the followers of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and on this date thirty-seven years ago, Srila Prabhupada completed his translation of the Caitanya-caritamrta. I will begin by describing what happened on that morning.

Whenever Srila Prabhupada was in Juhu, he would stay on the top floor of one of the tenement buildings. And every morning just before six o’clock I would walk up the stairs to his room to accompany him on his morning walk. But when another devotee and I went on the day after the Rama-ekadasi, we were surprised to find that the doors were locked. On one side were Srila Prabhupada’s quarters, and on the other side were his staff’s quarters, and both doors were locked. I wasn’t sure what to do, but I gently knocked on both doors. After a minute or two, Prabhupada’s secretary at the time, Harikesa Prabhu, opened the assistants’ door just a bit and said that Srila Prabhupada had completed his translation of Sri Caitanya-caritamrta the previous night and had written the most beautiful glorification of his guru maharaja at the end. Srila Prabhupada was in a very ecstatic mood and had said that we should celebrate by having a feast. So, here is Srila Prabhupada’s glorification of his spiritual master:

CONCLUDING WORDS

Today, Sunday, November 10, 1974—corresponding to the 10th of Karttika, Caitanya Era 488, the eleventh day of the dark fortnight, the Rama-ekadasi—we have now finished the English translation of Sri Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami’s Sri Caitanya-caritamrta in accordance with the authorized order of His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura Gosvami Maharaja, my beloved eternal spiritual master, guide, and friend. Although according to material vision His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura Prabhupada passed away from this material world on the last day of December, 1936, I still consider His Divine Grace to be always present with me by his vani, his words. There are two ways of association—by vani and by vapuh. Vani means words, and vapuh means physical presence. Physical presence is sometimes appreciable and sometimes not, but vani continues to exist eternally. Therefore we must take advantage of the vani, not the physical presence. The Bhagavad-gita, for example, is the vani of Lord Krsna. Although Krsna was personally present five thousand years ago and is no longer physically present from the materialistic point of view, the Bhagavad-gita continues.

COMMENT by Giriraj Swami

In the very first sentence Srila Prabhupada explains that he took up the translation of Sri Caitanya-caritamrta under the authorized order of His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, and the theme of his Concluding Words is the service of the order of the spiritual master. Prabhupada describes how he read in a commentary on the Bhagavad-gita Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura’s statement that the disciple should take up the order of the spiritual master as his life and soul. Srila Prabhupada did that with the orders he received from his spiritual master, and he showed us all by example how we can associate with the spiritual master eternally through the service of the spiritual master’s instructions. This is a very important point, because as Srila Prabhupada says, physical presence is sometimes appreciable and sometimes not, but the vani exists eternally.

CONCLUDING WORDS (continued)

In this connection we may call to memory the time when I was fortunate enough to meet His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada [Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura], sometime in the year 1922. Srila Prabhupada had come to Calcutta from Sridhama Mayapur to start the missionary activities of the Gaudiya Matha. He was sitting in a house at Ulta Danga when through the inducement of an intimate friend, the late Sriman Narendranath Mullik, I had the opportunity to meet His Divine Grace for the first time. I do not remember the actual date of the meeting, but at that time I was one of the managers of Dr. Bose’s laboratory in Calcutta. I was a newly married young man, addicted to Gandhi’s movement and dressed in khadi. Fortunately, even at our first meeting His Divine Grace advised me to preach the cult of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu in English in the Western countries. Because at that time I was a complete nationalist, a follower of Mahatma Gandhi’s, I submitted to His Divine Grace that unless our country were freed from foreign subjugation, no one would hear the message of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu seriously. Of course, we had some argument on this subject, but at last I was defeated and convinced that Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s message is the only panacea for suffering humanity. I was also convinced that the message of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu was then in the hands of a very expert devotee and that surely the message of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu would spread all over the world. I could not, however, immediately take up his instructions to preach, but I took his words very seriously and was always thinking of how to execute his order, although I was quite unfit to do so.

COMMENT

In his youth, Srila Prabhupada was the leader of his friends. So when Narendranath Mullik met Srila Sarasvati Thakura, he also wanted Abhay to meet him and give his verdict. But Prabhupada had not been very impressed with the sadhus he had seen, many of whom had visited his family’s home. So when Narendranath mentioned that he wanted Abhay to meet a sadhu, Abhay thought that this sadhu might be like the others, and he did not really want to meet him. There was a building near where Abhay lived, and in the building a lot of men, single men, would go out in the morning, earn some money, come back in the evening, cook some food and eat, and go to sleep, and then go out again the next morning. Among them was a man who in the morning would put on the saffron dress of a sadhu, go out, collect alms, and then come back, change out of his saffron clothes, and join the others for their evening meal.

So Abhay was skeptical. Later, Srila Prabhupada said that in Kali-yuga intelligent people will be skeptical because there are so many cheaters. So Abhay resisted going, but in the end Narendranath prevailed and Abhay agreed to go with him to meet Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati. When they arrived, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta instructed Abhay to preach the message of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu in the English language to the Western world, and Abhay argued that first India should gain political independence. As Srila Prabhupada said, at the time there was one Bengali poet who lamented that “even uncivilized nations like China and Japan were independent, whereas India was dependent on the British.” So first India should gain independence, he said, and then people would listen to the message of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu seriously. But Srila Bhaktisiddhanta convinced him that political independence and dependence are temporary conditions and that because we are concerned with the eternal benefit of humanity, he should take up this challenge of spreading Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s message. Srila Prabhupada later remarked that in his whole life he had never been defeated in any argument but that he was defeated by his guru maharaja and that he was “very much pleased to be defeated, that ‘This so-called nationalism or any ism is all temporary; the real need is self-realization.’ ”

So, Srila Prabhupada mentions here that he received the instructions and took them to heart and that even though the circumstances were such that he could not immediately execute them, he was always thinking of them and considering how he could. This is another lesson for us—that we may receive an instruction from the spiritual master and due to circumstances not be able to execute it immediately, but we should always keep it in our heart and think how to execute it, wait for an opportune moment to take it up, and pray for that opportunity.

I had an experience with Srila Prabhupada that illustrates this principle. We were with His Divine Grace in Gorakhpur as guests of Sri Hanuman Prasadji Poddar of the Gita Press and were staying in the estate that had been his personal residence, Sri Krishna Niketan. Srila Prabhupada had received a new issue of Back to Godhead magazine, which happened to contain an article I had written. He called for me and said, “I read your article in Back to Godhead. It was very nice. You should write. This is your first business. . . . So you travel with me, and I will guide you.”

We didn’t have computers in those days; in fact, very few people in India even had typewriters. If we needed something typed, we would go to a courthouse and find someone out front with a typewriter and pay him to type whatever we needed. So, I went out and I bought some lined paper and some pens and pencils to begin my writing.

A few days later, my senior godbrother Hamsadutta Prabhu told Srila Prabhupada that he wanted to begin his world traveling sankirtana party and wanted me to be on his party. Srila Prabhupada agreed. At first I was a little disappointed, because I was looking forward to traveling with Srila Prabhupada and receiving his writing instruction. But I had faith that whatever Srila Prabhupada said and did was for the ultimate good of all concerned. If he wanted me to go with Hamsadutta, wanted to fulfill Hamsadutta’s request that I go with him, then that must be what was best. So, we went to Agra and Aligarh, and then Hamsadutta got a telegram from Srila Prabhupada: “ORGANIZING BIG PANDAL PROGRAM BOMBAY. COME WITH PARTY IMMEDIATELY.”

In Bombay, Srila Prabhupada’s very senior disciple Syamasundara Prabhu was the temple president and was in charge of the pandal program. He held a meeting with all the devotees to divide up the services. He wanted me to collect, to raise funds for the pandal program. I said, “Srila Prabhupada instructed me to write. He said I should take up writing as my main business.” “You can write anytime,” Syamasundara Prabhu replied, “but this is the one time we can walk into any big man’s office in Bombay and ask for an ad for our souvenir. So you should do this now, and then after the pandal you can write.” I thought about what Syamasundara Prabhu had said, and it made sense. And I thought about Srila Prabhupada’s instruction that we should cooperate with our authorities. So I agreed.

After a few weeks, Srila Prabhupada joined us in Bombay. It was a great occasion of jubilation, and as would usually happen when he arrived, he went into his room, and all the devotees crowded in, and he looked around and glanced affectionately at them and exchanged some words with them. It was a blissful family feeling. When he came to me, he said, “So, Giriraj, how is your writing going?” I was so flustered I didn’t know what to say. Then he said, “Okay, we’ll speak later.”

Shortly thereafter, alone with me in the room, Srila Prabhupada again asked about my writing, and I explained what Syamasundara Prabhu had said and how I had thought that it made sense and how I knew that Prabhupada wanted us to cooperate with our authorities, but I was apprehensive, because I wasn’t sure whether or not I had understood and acted correctly. I asked Srila Prabhupada, “Did I do the right thing?” And Prabhupada replied, “One may temporarily suspend the order of the spiritual master, but one should never neglect it.” And he gave his own example: “My guru maharaja also ordered me to write, but I am so busy traveling and preaching all over India, I hardly have time to write. So you can suspend the order of the spiritual master, but you can never neglect it.”

I was elated with Srila Prabhupada’s answer; it was so practical. It didn’t compromise the principle, but it accommodated the fact that circumstances may be such that one is unable to take up a particular instruction at a particular time.

CONCLUDING WORDS (continued)

I could not, however, immediately take up his instructions to preach, but I took his words very seriously and was always thinking of how to execute his order, although I was quite unfit to do so.

In this way I passed my life as a householder until 1950, when I retired from family life as a vanaprastha. With no companion, I loitered here and there until 1958, when I took sannyasa. Then I was completely ready to discharge the order of my spiritual master. Previously, in 1936, just before His Divine Grace passed away at Jagannatha Puri, I wrote him a letter asking what I could do to serve him. In reply, he wrote me a letter, dated 13 December 1936, ordering me, in the same way, to preach in English the cult of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu as I had heard it from him.

COMMENT

Srila Prabhupada said that he was having recurring dreams that his spiritual master was calling him to follow him and preach, and that he would wake up horrified—“How can I take sannyasa and become a mendicant? I cannot accept so much trouble.” He was horrified, but “by his grace I gave up my family life, my so-called business life. And he brought me some way or other in preaching.” Srila Prabhupada said that one of his godbrothers, Sri Srimad Bhakti Prajnana Kesava Gosvami Maharaja, had insisted that he take sannyasa. And when Srila Kesava Maharaja left this world in 1968 and Srila Prabhupada got the news in Seattle, Prabhupada gave a beautiful talk in appreciation of his godbrother and composed a Sanskrit verse in his honor. He said that Srila Bhakti Prajnana Kesava Gosvami Maharaja had forced him to take sannyasa, although he was unwilling, and then added, “Not that my godbrother forced me, but practically my guru maharaja forced me through my godbrother.”

So this is another instruction for us—that we should recognize when our spiritual master is speaking to us through our godbrothers, or in other ways, through many mouths, and if we are humble and in the mood to get instruction from our spiritual master even in his physical absence, we may find that our guru maharaja is speaking to us through others. Srila Prabhupada often took suggestions from friends very seriously, as if his guru maharaja were sending him instructions.

CONCLUDING WORDS (continued)

After he passed away, I started the fortnightly magazine Back to Godhead sometime in 1944 and tried to spread the cult of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu through this magazine. After I took sannyasa, a well-wishing friend suggested that I write books instead of magazines. Magazines, he said, might be thrown away, but books remain perpetually. Then I attempted to write Srimad-Bhagavatam. Before that, when I was a householder, I had written on Srimad Bhagavad-gita and had completed about eleven hundred pages, but somehow or other the manuscript was stolen. In any case, when I had published Srimad-Bhagavatam, First Canto, in three volumes in India, I thought of going to the USA. By the mercy of His Divine Grace, I was able to come to New York on September 17, 1965. Since then, I have translated many books, including Srimad-Bhagavatam, Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu, Teachings of Lord Caitanya (a summary), and many others.

COMMENT

So, Srila Prabhupada took the advice of his well-wishing friend to write books. Prabhupada had another well-wishing friend, in Bombay, Mr. Brijratan Mohatta, and Mr. Mohatta suggested to him that he include a section of the Bhagavad-gita in each issue of Back to Godhead magazine, and Srila Prabhupada took that, too, as a good instruction. Instead of serializing the Bhagavad-gita, he decided to serialize Srimad-Bhagavatam, but that idea came from Mr. Mohatta.

CONCLUDING WORDS (continued)

In the meantime, I was induced to translate Sri Caitanya-caritamrta and publish it in an elaborate version. In his leisure time in later life, His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura would simply read Sri Caitanya-caritamrta. It was his favorite book. He used to say that there would be a time when foreigners would learn the Bengali language to read the Caitanya-caritamrta. The work on this translation began about eighteen months ago. Now, by the grace of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, it is finished. In this connection I have to thank my American disciples, especially Sriman Pradyumna dasa Adhikari, Sriman Nitai dasa Adhikari, Sriman Jayadvaita dasa Brahmacari, and many other boys and girls who are sincerely helping me in writing, editing, and publishing all these literatures.

COMMENT

Srila Prabhupada would usually take rest around ten o’clock and get up around midnight and translate (while we young boys and girls were fast asleep), working until his morning walk. And if possible, he would translate again later in the day. He did it for us. So, to reciprocate his effort for us, his compassion for us, we should all read his books. He made the superhuman effort to translate the books for us, and it is our duty to read them.

CONCLUDING WORDS (continued)

I think that His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura is always seeing my activities and guiding me within my heart by his words. As it is said in Srimad-Bhagavatam, tene brahma hrdaya adi-kavaye [SB 1.1.1]. Spiritual inspiration comes from within the heart, wherein the Supreme Personality of Godhead, in His Paramatma feature, is always sitting with all His devotees and associates.

COMMENT

We often hear that Krsna is in the heart—sarvasya caham hrdi sannivisto—but this is a confidential explanation of what that means. Krsna is in the heart, but He is not alone; He is sitting in the heart along with His devotees and associates. Here Srila Prabhupada is saying that his guru maharaja is always seeing his activities and guiding him by his words within his heart. We’ve discussed that Srila Prabhupada kept the orders of the spiritual master in his heart, and one can say that he was guided by his spiritual master, who was in his heart, through the instructions he had received during his spiritual master’s manifest presence. But here Prabhupada hints that his spiritual master is also present in the heart along with Krsna and that he too can speak from there.

But it is not so easy to hear the spiritual master within the heart. In the fourth canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam there is a story about a king and his wife who went to the forest as vanaprasthas. Eventually the king passed away, and his grieving wife wanted to enter the funeral pyre with her husband’s body, to give up hers as well. Srila Prabhupada explains that figuratively the king is the spiritual master and the wife is the disciple and that just as the wife was ready to give up her life in the absence of her husband, the disciple should be prepared to lay down his or her life to execute the will of the spiritual master, and abandon all personal considerations. In other words, a devoted disciple would rather die than fail to execute the spiritual master’s mission. When the queen was ready to give up her life and enter the funeral pyre, a brahmana appeared and pacified her. He said, “I am your old friend” and gave her spiritual instruction. Srila Prabhupada explains that the brahmana appeared in the absence of the king, of the spiritual master, to give instructions to the disciple. The brahmana is actually a manifestation of the Supersoul. Srila Prabhupada asks, “The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Paramatma, appeared before the queen as a brahmana, but why didn’t He appear in His original form as Sri Krsna?” And he quotes Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura that unless one is very highly elevated in loving the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one cannot see Him as He is. “Nonetheless, if one sticks to the principles enunciated by the spiritual master, somehow or other he is in association with the Supreme Personality of Godhead.” The Paramatma manifested Himself in the form of a brahmana, or a siksa-guru.

So, we have our spiritual master’s instructions and we have our spiritual master’s personal presence, but when we don’t have the spiritual master’s physical presence, we still want to feel his presence, we still want to be connected with him, and we are still connected with him by following his instructions. Sometimes we don’t know exactly how to follow, or how to apply, his instructions; it can be a puzzle. But if we are in that mood of being ready to die, preferring to die rather than not execute the order of the spiritual master, not prosecute the mission of the spiritual master, without ulterior motives or any other desire, then the spiritual master will make sure that we get the guidance we need to serve him. He will do that for us; Krsna will do that for us.

CONCLUDING WORDS (continued)

It is to be admitted that whatever translation work I have done is through the inspiration of my spiritual master, because personally I am most insignificant and incompetent to do this materially impossible work. I do not think myself a very learned scholar, but I have full faith in the service of my spiritual master, His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura.

COMMENT

Just imagine: Srila Prabhupada translated seventeen volumes in eighteen months—almost one a month. From a material point of view, it was practically impossible, but he did it with full faith in the order of his spiritual master. Srila Prabhupada instructed us in the same spirit in parampara, because he was writing the books but the disciples were lagging behind in their publication. He confronted his leaders in Los Angeles at the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust: “I want the remaining volumes . . .” Two volumes had been printed, maybe three, and he wanted the remaining fourteen to be published within four months—a seemingly impossible task. When Srila Prabhupada said that, Ramesvara Prabhu, who was head of the BBT, said that it was impossible. But Srila Prabhupada replied, “Impossible is a word in a fool’s dictionary.” Still, Ramesvara Prabhu was not convinced. So he asked Srila Prabhupada, “What if we’re not able to do it?” And Srila Prabhupada replied, “Disqualified.” In other words, “If you don’t do it, you are disqualified from your service; we’ll look for someone else.”

So, by Srila Prabhupada’s mercy and potency, the devotees accepted the instruction, took it to heart, and did what they had thought was impossible. They practically stopped eating and sleeping. They would sleep maybe two hours a night, like Prabhupada. And the artists, for example, gave up their false egos and made an assembly line—for the sake of serving Srila Prabhupada. They realized that the fastest way to bring out the paintings was for each artist to do what he or she did best: if one devotee was most expert in conceptualizing, he or she would do the design, and the one who was most expert in drawing people would draw the human forms, and the one who was most expert in painting backgrounds and trees and rivers and flowers would paint those. Each volume had to have many paintings. So the devotees in every department—the Sanskrit department, the editorial department, the typing department—worked cooperatively, without false ego, hardly eating or sleeping, and they did it. And in that process they became very attached to each other—with Srila Prabhupada in the center, Caitanya Mahaprabhu in the center, Krsna in the center. They gave up everything, all thoughts of personal comfort and self-interest, and just served for the pleasure of Srila Prabhupada. And they accomplished the impossible.

CONCLUDING WORDS (continued)

If there is any credit to my activities of translating, it is all due to His Divine Grace.

COMMENT

His Holiness Radhanath Swami has made the point that it was not exactly that Prabhupada wrote the books himself but that it was Krsna—Krsna and His associates, including the spiritual master and in a way the whole parampara—dictating them to him. Once, in New York, Srila Prabhupada was speaking to a newspaper reporter, and the reporter asked whether Prabhupada received direct communication from Krsna. Ramesvara tried to explain that Krsna gave Prabhupada the intelligence, but Prabhupada countered, “Not necessarily; Krsna tells directly. Not figuratively.”

So we are definitely getting Krsna and the entire parampara through these books. Srila Prabhupada himself would read his books. What mundane author reads his or her own books? He or she will write it, finish it, and then maybe begin another. But Srila Prabhupada would read his own books, and he would relish them, because they were transcendental.

Prabhupada’s servant Sruta-kirti Prabhu said that on a number of occasions when he went into Srila Prabhupada’s room, Prabhupada would be reading one of his books—the Bhagavad-gita As It Is or the Krsna book. “This literature is so wonderful,” he said, “that if you just read this one book, Krsna, you can become completely Krsna conscious.” Then he said, “You don’t even have to read the whole book; if you just read one chapter, you can become completely Krsna conscious.” And then he said, “You don’t even have to read a whole chapter; if you just read one page, you can become completely Krsna conscious.” And then he said, “You don’t even have to read one page; if you just read one line, you can become completely Krsna conscious.” And finally he said, “You don’t even have to read one line; if you just read one word, you can become completely Krsna conscious”—because these books are Krsna. In these books you get Krsna, you get Caitanya Mahaprabhu, you get the whole parampara.

The same could be said of Srila Prabhupada’s spoken words. In India, he was giving so many programs, was so enthusiastic, that the devotees couldn’t physically keep up. During one day in Amritsar, he gave seven programs. At the final one, he spoke in Hindi. I didn’t understand everything, but I knew many of the verses he was quoting and somehow by his mercy I could follow what he was saying. And I could see that he was relishing the association of the people in the audience and that he was relishing the association of Krsna.

After the program, Srila Prabhupada returned to his quarters. When, a bit later, the rest of us got back, I saw that the light was on in his room and I was curious to know what he was doing. Even though it was late and he had given so many programs, he was still awake. So I crawled up to the window and peeked through, and there was Srila Prabhupada sitting behind his low table on his asana, listening to the recording of the talk he had just given. “Okay,” I thought, “that wasn’t Prabhupada speaking; that was Krsna.” Of course, Prabhupada is included, but that was Krsna. Prabhupada was relishing Krsna; he was relishing associating with Krsna through the words that Krsna had inspired him to speak.

So these books are not ordinary. They are Krsna and the whole parampara, and they have great potency.

Of course, no one can replace one’s personal spiritual master, and the personal presence of the spiritual master is also important; otherwise one might think, “Why do we even need a spiritual master? We could just read Srila Prabhupada’s books.” But after reading the verse in the second chapter of the first canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam—nasta-prayesv abhadresu nityam bhagavata-sevaya, that by serving the book Bhagavata or the person Bhagavata one gets the same result—a disciple asked Srila Prabhupada, “Yes, one gets the same result, but still, is there some difference? Is one better than the other?” And Srila Prabhupada replied, “The person Bhagavata is better because he can catch you by the ear.” So we need that personal guidance, someone who can catch our ear and set us right. Still, we should recognize and value how substantial vani is and how real the relationship based on vani can be.

CONCLUDING WORDS (continued)

If there is any credit to my activities of translating, it is all due to His Divine Grace. Certainly, if His Divine Grace were physically present at this time, it would have been a great occasion for jubilation, but even though he is not physically present, I am confident that he is very much pleased by this work of translation. He was very fond of seeing many books published to spread the Krsna consciousness movement. Therefore our society, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, has been formed to execute the order of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura.

COMMENT

Srila Prabhupada again returns to the order of his spiritual master and how Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura had wanted many books on Krsna consciousness to be published and distributed. But he also points out that even though his own service of writing and publishing books was in pursuance of his guru maharaja’s order, ISKCON as a whole is also meant to fulfill the order of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta and Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. And in particular here Srila Prabhupada emphasizes the writing and publishing and distributing of transcendental literature.

CONCLUDING WORDS (continued)

It is my wish that devotees of Lord Caitanya all over the world enjoy this translation . . .

COMMENT

How will we enjoy this translation? By reading it. If we don’t read it, we won’t relish it. Srila Prabhupada said, “It is not enough to distribute my books; you should also read them.” Referring to the devotees, he said, “Sankirtana will keep them happy, and reading my books will keep them.”

CONCLUDING WORDS (continued)

It is my wish that devotees of Lord Caitanya all over the world enjoy this translation, and I am glad to express my gratitude to the learned men in the Western countries who are so pleased with my work that they are ordering in advance all my books that will be published in the future. On this occasion, therefore, I request my disciples who are determined to help me in this work to continue their cooperation fully, so that philosophers, scholars, religionists, and people in general all over the world will benefit by reading our transcendental literatures, such as Srimad-Bhagavatam and Sri Caitanya-caritamrta.

COMMENT

The same order is passed on to us through parampara. Srila Prabhupada gave the example of a locomotive—that his guru maharaja was pushing him like a train and similarly he was pushing us and in the future we would push our followers.

CONCLUDING WORDS (concluded)

Thus end the Bhaktivedanta purports to Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, dated November 10, 1974, at the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, Hare Krishna Land, Juhu, Bombay.

COMMENT

Hare Krsna.

Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!

Mayapura conversation.

The post Being faithful to Srila Prabhupada appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.

Writing “Chasing Rhinos With The Swami” was a labor of intense love. Not that it started out that way. I thought I could knock out seven years of memories in about six weeks, ten at the most. But then Srila Prabhupad came into my life again, called me to his room, made me laugh, began those fun, intense conversations—and soon he accompanied my every waking moment. Even in dreams he came, and I put pad and pen by my bed to scratch in the half-light a memory he had sparked in the ten-minute span between sleep and awake, hoping I could decipher it later. I would rush to the computer, and the day would fly by; often I’d look out the window—What? It’s already dark outside! Continue reading "“Chasing Rhinos With The Swami”
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The post Conversation with devotees in Mayapura about what being merciful means and why we should be so appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.

Bhumi puja at ISKCON’s Puri Project.
Basu Ghosh Das: ISKCON is about to begin a grand construction project at holy Jagannath Puri, on 18 acres of land at Sipasirubuli, located near the Sea Beach on the Southwest side of the town. Project Director and Temple President Vanamali Prabhu wishes to invite all ISKCON devotees to attend the function, that will take place on the morning of Sunday, November 29, 2015, starting at 7:00 AM, corresponding to Margashira Krishna Chaturti. Sriman Krishna Chaitanya Das of the Bhaktivedanta Academy (Mayapur Gurukula), and a group of students will perform the bhumi puja – worship of the earth – rituals and installation of Ananta Shesh on the site of the proposed temple on the ISKCON Puri property. ISKCON sannyasis Jayapataka Swami, Lokanath Swami, Bhakti Purushottam Swami, Bhakti Gaurav Narayan Swami, Bhakti Ashray Vaishnav Swami, and Gauranga Prem Swami are expected to attend. Senior ISKCON devotees, members of the Puri Project Committee, Bhaktarupa Das, Project Chairman Devakinandan Das, Vice Chairman Braja Hari Das, Gaur Nitai Das, and Secretary Basu Ghosh Das are all expected to be present at the function. The function will be held towards the conclusion of the annual Sri Kshetra Parikrama organized by Bhakti Purushottam Swami. More than eight thousand devotees gather annually at Puri for the Parikrama. It has been organized for several years now and is usually a grand success. Mahaprasad will be distributed to all after the function. The Puri project on this large plot of land will consist of a traditional stone temple of Radha Krishna, three guest houses, auditoriums, library, ayurvedic hospital, theistic exhibition, and a five hundred unit “bhakta nivas” (residential accommodation for devotees), that will be made available to ISKCON devotees from all over the world. For more information on the project, contact Vanamali Prabhu via e-mail: or All are welcome to attend the function. Jaya Jagannath! Jaya Baladev! Jaya Subhadra!