Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 20, No. 22
By Krishna Kripa Das
(November 2024, part two)
New York City
(Sent from Brooklyn, New York, on December 7, 2024)

Where I Went and What I Did

The second half of November, I was happy to return to the ashram of ISKCON NYC and serve NYC Harinam.

On Sundays I would do a walking harinama with ISKCON NYC devotees around Brooklyn or over the Brooklyn Bridge for an hour or so and then chant with the Bhakti Center Soul Spot group in Washington Square Park for two hours in the afternoon.

I share many quotes from the books, lectures, conversations, and letters of Srila Prabhupada, most of which I read in Bhakti Vikasa Swami’s soon-to-be-published book on the mood and mission of Srila Prabhupada. I also share quotes from two books by Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami and a soon-to-be-published book by Devaki Devi Dasi on the vanaprastha asrama. I also share notes on classes in New York City by Prahladananda Swami and Hansarupa, Rama Raya, Hari Vilasa, Aditya, Matanga, Natabara Gauranga, Divyangi, Prabhavishnu, and Hadai Prana Prabhus.

Many, many thanks to Atmanivedana Prabhu for his kind donations to me for giving the Saturday lecture at 26 Second Avenue, both in October and November. Many thanks to Baladeva Vidyabhusana Prabhu for the use of Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami’s car to go to Hudson to catch the train to return to NYC Harinam.

Itinerary

October 5–January 3, 2025: NYC Harinam
– December 28: lecture on Bhagavad-gita at 26 Second Avenue

Chanting Hare Krishna in New York

Divyangi Devi Dasi chants Hare Krishna at Times Square subway station above the 7 train (https://youtu.be/YfjBIJdGn-Q):

Sometimes passersby would play the shakers.

Here Arjunananda Prabhu chants Hare Krishna on the Brooklyn Bridge (https://youtu.be/jr2O3XbOlYY):

Here Natabara Gauranga Prabhu chants Hare Krishna in Atlantic Avenue / Barclays Center subway station in Brooklyn, the subway station that is closest to the temple of all that we do (https://youtu.be/7LSaAO8rCUo):

Here I chant Hare Krishna at Times Square subway station (https://youtube.com/shorts/jhPf7iWSxuw?feature=share):

Experiences

I couldn't find any offered milk to put on my granola so I just put caranamrita on it. It was pretty good.

Attendance at mangala-arati was down 70% on Black Friday. Apparently there was a retreat I was unaware of. I worried that people ate too much at the Thanksgiving feast or were waiting in line at the shops for a good deal!

Insights

Srila Prabhupada:

From Message of Godhead, Chapter One:

“Everyone who is devoid of transcendental knowledge is just like a blind man; such a blind man must first eradicate his blindness before he can attempt to lead others to light.”

From Message of Godhead, Chapter Two:

“We are as if roaming in the street like street beggars, although we are all the transcendental sons of the richest personality, the Personality of Godhead. With a cool head, we could very well understand this fact. But unmindful of our supremely rich father and our relationship with Him, we go on endeavouring in many ways to solve our street-beggar problems of poverty and hunger, but with practically no appreciable results.”

From a letter to Madhudvisa on November 7, 1975:

“Even if somebody does not go in one line with the rest of the godbrothers, he can remain separately, but it does not mean that he may disobey the principles that I have laid down. So long as one follows the principles, he continues to be my disciple.”

From a morning walk in Los Angeles on December 12, 1973:

“Churches are being closed. Similarly, if you do not keep yourself fit to preach, then your temples will all be closed in due course of time. Without preaching, you’ll not feel enthused to continue the temple worship. And without temple worship, you cannot keep yourself pure and clean. The two things must go on, parallel. Then there is success. In modern times, Hindus, Muslims, Christians, there is no teaching of philosophy, therefore they are closing, either mosques or temples or churches. They will close. Unless we take care of the books and preach and read ourselves, understand the philosophy, this Hare Krishna will be finished within a few years. Because there will be no life. How long one can artificially go on, ‘Hare Krishna! Haribol!’ That will be artificial. No life. Without preaching, without understanding philosophy, you cannot keep your strength. Everyone should be thoroughly well conversed with the philosophy we are presenting. That means you must read thoroughly every day.”

From Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, Adi 7.171, purport:

“The members of this Society must always remember that if they stick to the regulative principles and preach sincerely according to the instructions of the acaryas surely they will have the profound blessings of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and their preaching work will be successful everywhere throughout the world.”

From a pandal lecture on the Srimad-Bhagavatam preface in Bombay on January 14, 1973:

“I have traveled all over the world. They have got enough money, enough material facilities, but still this Vedic culture is different. It is so high. And it is taken still in estimation, in adoration, all over the world. So my request, especially to the Indians, is to not neglect your culture, the Vedic culture.”

From an interview with Mr. Koshi, assistant editor of The Current Weekly, in Bombay on April 5, 1977:

“The whole world is in darkness of ignorance. So India was expected after independence to give real knowledge. But instead of giving that real knowledge, they became victimized by the glimmer of material civilization. So I wanted that such a magnificent gift from the side of India, it shall [not] remain uncontributed to the world, let me try.”

From a class on The Nectar of Devotion in Vrindavan on October 17, 1972:

“Especially those who are born in India as human beings should take advantage of this knowledge. They should not manufacture knowledge. The knowledge is already there. Simply one has to take it. Just like Bhagavad-gita. Everything is there already. We have to take it, accept it, apply it practically in life, and distribute the knowledge throughout the whole world. This is the mission of India.”

From an arrival lecture in Delhi on November 10, 1971:

“India is meant for doing welfare activities to the world, but we have forgotten that. We are trying to imitate the Western countries and technology, and we have thrown out our Vedic treasure house, our transcendental knowledge treasure house.”

From a room conversation with Ratansinh Rajda, a member of parliament, in Bombay on March 27, 1977:

“It is the duty of the Indians. But instead of Indians, I have to collect these young men from foreign countries.”

From Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.5.11, purport:

“It is the duty of every responsible Indian to broadcast the transcendental message of Srimad-Bhagavatam throughout the world to do all the supermost good as well as to bring about the desired peace in the world. Because India has failed in her duty by neglecting this responsible work, there is so much quarrel and trouble all over the world.”

From Back to Godhead, Volume 3, Part 3, April 5, 1956:

“People misunderstand Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu because He did not open any hospital, because He did not canvass for the undertakers, or because he did not labor for any so-called social welfare work. But in fact what He did includes all varieties of social, political, humanitarian, altruistic, moral, and spiritual work.”

From a letter to Ramesvara on January 9, 1973:

“All decent men want to give service to humanity; the only thing is they do not have information really what is that service. Hospitals, feeding the poor, Red Cross – these are service to the bodies only, not to the man. Service to humanity means jñana. Giving people knowledge, jñana, is the highest service to humanity. We are performing the actual welfare work of society by informing everyone through our literatures who is God, who they are, and what is the relationship. In this way everyone who hears our message gets the opportunity to fulfill his actual position as human entity and become delivered from the clutches of maya. So you may understand that by disseminating our Krishna conscious propaganda anywhere and everywhere – by selling books, by making publicity, newspapers, television, there are so many ways to spread Krishna conscious information – by utilizing our energy in this way to give everyone access to the Absolute Truth, that is the real understanding of the desire to serve humanity.”

From a letter to Rupanuga on November 30, 1971:

“I am currently in Vrindavan with a party of forty devotees, and we are having daily parikrama of the holy places. The officials and residents of Vrindavan have greeted us very nicely, and they are simply astounded to see our sankirtana party chanting with great jubilation through the city streets. The mayor has publicly proclaimed that I have done something wonderful, and practically speaking, they realize that before I went to the Western countries no one there knew about Vrindavan. Now hundreds of visitors and hippies from your country come here to see Krishna’s place. The Vrindavan devotees have understood that Vrindavan is now world-famous due to my preaching work, so they are all very much appreciating their hometown Swamiji.”

From a letter to Karandhara on November 4, 1970:

“Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu has forecast that this Hare Krishna mantra will be heard in every nook and cranny of the globe. He is God, so it will happen, that is a fact. So if we take advantage then we may take the credit, but if we do not someone else will.”

From a letter to Yasodanandana and Gurukrpa on December 1, 1973:

“Pray to Krishna that our humble attempts to spread Krishna consciousness may be successful and that we may always please the acaryas and Vaishnavas by our service.”

From a letter to Babhru on December 9, 1973:

“The test of our actual dedication and sincerity to serve the spiritual master will be in this mutual cooperative spirit to push on this movement and not make factions and deviate.”

From a lecture on Srimad-Bhagavatam 7.6.1 in Vrindavan on December 2, 1975:

“We don’t do any business, but we are spending at least twenty-five lakhs of rupees every month, but Krishna is supplying. If you remain Krishna consciousness, fully dependent on Krishna, then there will be no scarcity. I started this Krishna business with forty rupees. Now we have got forty crores of rupees. Is there any businessman in the whole world within ten years with forty rupees he can increase to forty crores? There is no example. And ten thousand men are eating prasada daily.”

From a letter to Karandhara on November 30, 1970:

“My guru maharaja used to say, ‘Don’t worry about money. Do something nice for Krishna and money will come.’ So we should always be thinking how to distribute the message of Krishna and surely He will give us facility. Even an ordinary man if he wants publicity then he gives so much money for propaganda work. Similarly Krishna is not poor. He can supply any amount for the devotees who are engaged in broadcasting His glories.”

From “The Center of Attention” in Back to Godhead, Vol. 33, No. 6 (June 1999):

“Once in Mayapur a devotee asked, ‘Srila Prabhupada, we’re sitting in these rice fields, and you’ve asked us to build a city. Where is all the money going to come from?’

“Srila Prabhupada laughed. ‘You are always worried about where the money will come from. Here we have Radha-Madhava. “Madhava” means the husband of the goddess of fortune. You just worship Radha-Madhava nicely, and everything will come by Their mercy. You don’t have to worry about money.’”

The humble servants of Srila Prabhupada:

From Srimad-Bhagavatam 11.11.6, purport:

“Lord Krishna is so kind that He patiently sits in the heart, trying to guide the conditioned soul back home, back to Godhead. Certainly no material friend would remain with his foolish companion for millions of years, especially if his companion were to ignore him or even curse him. But Lord Krishna is such a faithful, loving friend that He accompanies even the most demoniac living entity and is also in the heart of the insect, pig and dog. That is because Lord Krishna is supremely Krishna conscious and sees every living entity as part and parcel of Himself. Every living being should give up the bitter fruits of the tree of material existence. One should turn one’s face to the Lord within the heart and revive one’s eternal loving relationship with one’s real friend, Lord Krishna.”

Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami:

From The Delaware Diaries, Volume 1, Tachycardia, Part 1:

“The evil monster Ravaṇa, who kidnapped Sita when she stepped outside the protective circle Rama had drawn around her. In the questions and comments period, Lila-avatara said that Prabhupada has drawn a protective circle around us, and Maya cannot reach us as long as we stay within the circle—the four regulative principles. Yes, how true. Maya can rip us away if we step outside the circle.”

“When I said to Prabhupada in 1966 that I was disturbed and couldn’t understand how Lord Krishna, the respected mystical speaker of Bhagavad-gita, married sixteen thousand wives, Śrila Prabhupada shot back, ‘You cannot understand! Even the greatest scholars cannot understand!’”

“You are scattered all over the place. You should be focused on Krishna’s name and delivering Krishna’s name.”

From ISKCON in the 1970s:

“He [Srila Prabhupada] did tell Bhavananda Maharaja that we should not become another Gaudiya Matha and split up and fight.”

Prahladananda Swami:

Faith is essential to develop Krishna consciousness. That faith must not be blind but based on experience. Based on our different experiences we have different amounts of faith.

Krishna does not say we should not have affection for our families. He just wants us to sit down with our family members and chant Hare Krishna together morning and evening. We should also read Srimad-Bhagavatam and Bhagavad-gita, worship the deities, serve the devotees and spiritualize our homes.

It is nice to go to the temple on Sunday, but it is actually more important to have a daily spiritual program at your home.

Someone asked Srila Prabhupada what he was doing for the world. Prabhupada asked the man if he had practiced Krishna consciousness. The man said yes. Prabhupada asked the man if he felt it benefited him. The man said yes. Srila Prabhupada made the point to the man that just as Krishna consciousness has benefited him, it will benefit others.

How will we be able to fix our minds on Krishna if we do not practice it every day?

We are always spiritual beings, and thus we have to always connect with the spiritual energy.

We may become an award winning Olympic swimmer, but in the next life we may become a fish. Then we will not have our medal to show off to our friends.

We can improve our japa by doing the five most important items of devotional service, because by doing so, we will gain faith in Krishna, and thus we will take japa more seriously.

Hansarupa Prabhu:

Observing Srila Prabhupada’s every act, I could see his expertise in everything he did. That made me feel confident I had found the right shelter.

In the corporate world, losing your reputation is the greatest loss.

Daksa offended Lord Shiva because of being in the mode of ignorance. Sati was innocent but by Daksa’s association, she also became contaminated by ignorance.

Although disciples left when Srila Prabhupada said that we did not go to the moon, now the majority of people believe that we did not go to the moon.

We have the secret of how to obtain love of God.

We are only here in the temple to engage in service, and the remuneration is priceless.

Senior devotees may be very friendly in their dealings with us, but we should not take it that now we have come to their level and can treat them familiarly.

In the pastime of the appearance of Lord Nrsimha, the fact that only Prahlada Maharaja was able to come forth to garland the Lord shows that sincerity and not seniority is important in pleasing the Lord.

From within the devotee feels satisfaction so he does not need confirmation from outside that he is doing OK.

We may imagine that so many additional things will enhance our devotional service, but the secret is vyavasatmika-buddhih, one pointed intelligence, focused toward the essence, hearing and chanting about Krishna. This is sufficient.

From a practical point of view, Srila Prabhupada was ready to do anything to push on Krishna consciousness.

The Lord in His incarnation as a devotee taught that, “My spiritual master considered me to be a fool.” He showed the humility required for one in the presence of one’s spiritual master.

The words of the guru and the words of Krishna do not require any commentary by my mind.

Srila Prabhupada knew that he was the pet of his spiritual master, but he did not exploit it.

Akincana Krishna Babaji wouldn’t say very much. If someone would ask him a question, he would tell the person to chant Hare Krishna.

How did we Westerners know that Srila Prabhupada was different from all these bogus gurus? By hearing and service.

Listen to Srila Prabhupada’s morning walk conversations. He speaks more intimately with his disciples there than in his books. When you hear them, you feel that you are right there on the walk.

In January 1978, Gaura Govinda Maharaja, Bhagavata Prabhu, and I, were visiting Jagannatha Puri, and we came to the birthplace of Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura. We were not paying attention to the Vaishnava calendar very strictly, and we didn’t know that the day was the appearance day of Bhaktisiddhanta. We arrived after the ceremonies and while they were preparing the temple room for serving prasadam. As we entered the foyer of the temple, we saw it filled with all these sannyasis who were disciples of Bhaktisiddhanta. Only Akincana Krishnadasa Babaji Maharaja spoke to us. He asked if we were disciples of Swamiji.
We replied, “Yes, we are disciples of Bhaktivedanta Swami.”
Then he pointed to the sannyasis, and said, “Do you know what they used to call your guru?” We did not know what to say.
He said, “They used to call him a ‘useless grihastha.’”
Then he pointed back to the sannyasis and said, “See who is useless now!”
Then it came time to serve the feast. In the Gaudiya Math, the sannyasis serve the feasts, and so they served us prasadam.

Rama Raya Prabhu:

The devotee, like the expert geologist who can extract gold from ore, sees the sincerity in the souls despite their external appearance.

By desire we come into this material world, and by desire we go back to the spiritual world.

The ultimate paradox is that although Krishna is atmarama, completely self-satisfied, He is attracted by His devotees’ love.

We can give people a few ideas about what to say, but ultimately Krishna as the Supersoul gives the book distributors what to say to convince the conditioned souls.

Because people are envious, they have no ability to distinguish spirit and matter.

When we chant Hare Krishna in public, we are offering respect to everyone’s soul without discrimination.

Karttika is known as Radha’s month. The following month is Krishna’s month, Margasirsa, as mentioned in Bhagavad-gita.

Devaki Devi Dasi:

From her soon-to-be-published book on the vanaprastha-asrama:

“Once when taking chemotherapy in Melbourne in 2007 and visiting my oncologist for a check-up, we encountered a humorous situation. In the waiting room, there were a Muslim lady, a Christian nun and me. All of us were dressed in our uniforms – I was in a sari and tilak. Later, the doctor said, ‘All of you three ladies were in the same situation, suffering the same disease. It gave me a good opportunity to compare your religious practice; and I must say, you are doing the best! Factually, never have I ever had such a happy cancer patient before.’ And laughingly, he added, ‘It seems like being a Hare Krishna offers a good disposition for doing chemotherapy!’ I couldn’t restrain myself and cheekily responded, ‘Maybe you want to recommend it?’ We had a good laugh, and he said, ‘Well, I’m not quite sure about that!’ In this way, even a non-devotee doctor could perceive that a devotee approaches such a situation with a different outlook; that a devotee can cross over these kinds of challenges without being confused, unlike others who may struggle in bewilderment.”

“Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura advises us in his Chaitanya-sikshamrita: ‘Make your chanting heart-deep, not just lip-deep.’”

“Srila Gour Govinda Maharaja describes an ISKCON temple as a crying school, where we learn how to cry out to Krishna.”

“To be accepted by Krishna is not a cheap thing. Who do we think we are to be accepted by Him? Our heart must be flooded with an intense longing and begging for the position of being accepted and welcomed by the Lord.”

“It all begins with a mindfulness of the Personality of Krishna being actually present. Thus, our chanting becomes my time with Krishna. Adding this aspect of longing for Krishna to our chanting has the power to transport our meditation to a different level. It can transform our chanting from an impersonal, mechanical and dry ordeal into our time of personally associating with the Lord. We can meet Him face to face.”

“We may view the entire Srimad-Bhagavatam as a catalogue advertising Krishna’s divine abode.”

“An effective way of starting the process [of becoming free of inattentive chanting] is chanting daily a certain amount of rounds – preferably the same number of rounds each day like four, six, or eight – with full care and attention. . . . The remainder of our rounds, we may continue chanting as we have been for so many years. This practice will give us a direct experience of the difference: We will feel how the attentive rounds offer so much more satisfaction to our heart. And in proportion to the number of rounds chanted in the recommended fashion, we will become increasingly disgusted with our inattentive rounds, which are indeed like empty medicine capsules.”

Hari Vilasa Prabhu:

It is important to understand that the holy name is authorized by the scriptures.

The reason the chanting of the holy name is recommended in this age is that it is very simple.

Dharma, although eternal, adapts to the circumstances of the age. The religious practice, the duties of the ashrams, etc.

There are qualifications for chanting Hare Krishna, but they are not material qualifications like wealth, intelligence, and strength.

Beneficial qualifications include consistency, ability to relish the holy name, etc.

Just because something is not easy does not mean it is impossible. Unfortunately we are so attached to things being easy, that if it is not easy, it becomes impossible for us.

The instructions of Srila Prabhupada to live simply are like the lifestyle of the Amish, completely detached from the surrounding modern civilization.

Whatever you see, you also have to digest, just as whatever you eat, you have to digest.

Challenges:

Sinful activities have become normalized.

Sinful activities flood our consciousness with impediments to chanting the holy name.

We do not feel we have time to focus on the chanting.

Distraction is prevalent and hard to surpass.

Unless you can absorb your mind in transcendence, there is no peace.

Getting people’s attention is the most valuable thing.

If we are self-absorbed, we will sometimes feel very bad about ourselves and at other times feel very proud of ourselves.

It is better not to endeavor for self-esteem but for detachment.

People who are detached are consistently happy.

Comments by me:

The Srimad-Bhagavatam 6.3.22 also mentions that devotional service begins with the chanting of the holy name:

etavan eva loke ’smin
pumsam dharmah parah smrtah
bhakti-yogo bhagavati
tan-nama-grahanadibhih

“Devotional service, beginning with the chanting of the holy name of the Lord, is the ultimate religious principle for the living entity in human society.”

In the translation of the iti sodasakam verse in the purport, “kali-kamasa-nasanam” is not mentioned specifically. This phrase means that the holy name destroys the impurities of this Age of Kali.

Mathuresa Prabhu once said a Srimad-Bhagavatam class decades ago that this practice of Krishna consciousness is guaranteed to remove anarthas, and therefore, if we are attached to our anarthas, we will get removed along with them. It was such a striking statement, it stuck with me for perhaps forty years.

I know what you mean by saying gambling is the worst of the four sinful activities. I tried distributing Origins magazines in Reno, Nevada, airport, and the people at the slot machines had no ability to even hear my presentation, they were so absorbed in their gambling.

You stress absorption in Krishna in your class. I am so absorbed when I edit harinama videos on the trains that I completely tune out all the craziness of the New York City subway, and my twenty-minute ride seems to take just a few minutes.

Aditya Devi Dasi:

Bhaktivinoda Thakura in Jaiva Dharma says that the svarupa-dharma of the living is to serve Krishna in Krishna prema.

It is described that we are still in the spiritual world. We just turn away from the pastimes for a moment and have this material dream.

Kumbha-mela is named after the Kumbha, or pot, of immortal nectar, from which drops of nectar landed at Nashik, Haridvara, and Prayaga.

Vasanta-pancami, the first day of spring, is also the marriage day of Shiva and Parvati.

Shiva, because he is not a jiva, never becomes conditioned by the material world.

Matanga Prabhu:

“I was at a temple in South India and I did not have much service, so I was on my phone a lot. One brahmacari noticed, and pointing to the phone, he said, ‘That is your wife.’”

Natabara Gauranga Prabhu:

In this purport we learn that Daksa’s envious words directed toward Lord Shiva were the result of an envy that had been building up for a while. We can understand from this that if we notice an envious attitude toward a devotee building up within ourselves we should do something to counteract it by serving or glorifying the person before it results in an offense.

We should always try to increase the quality and quantity of our sadhana.

Divyangi Devi Dasi:

There are other talks between Lord Shiva and Sati in the Vedic literature in which they reveal important truths. In particular one conversation reveals the thousand names of Radha.

You see a lot of psychology in the Bhagavatam. Here Sati tells Shiva, “We can go to the sacrifice if you would like,” instead of directly saying “I want to go to the sacrifice.”

The Bhagavatam is always reminding us that this world is untruth.

Daksa was very absorbed in his service, but he ended up with the head of a goat.

My guru [Vaisesika Prabhu] says, “We have to be humble because we are only moving in the world according to the mercy of others.”

It takes at least two people to have a fight. If the other person does not interact then there is no fight.

In distributing books you learn to react nicely when dealing with all kinds of people.

In distributing books, you meet philosophical people who have no interest in stories and people who like stories and have no interest in philosophy.

When we are in the association of advanced devotees, we can by their mercy, experience higher levels of consciousness than we usually experience.

Find the ideal distance where you can properly respect a person, and do not go closer or further than that.

Comment by Indian Prabhu: Thanks for reminding us that it is good to understand the Bhagavatam philosophy so if we lose the taste for chanting we will continue to do it out of duty.

Prabhavishnu Prabhu:

All the stories in the Bhagavatam, even those that cause us to wonder why they are there, are for our ultimate purification.

The pastimes in the Bhagavatam assist us in resisting material allurements and developing an attraction for Krishna’s pastimes.

Hadai Prana Prabhu:

Lord Shiva did not stand up to honor Daksa, and Daksa’s inability to tolerate this resulted in several chapters of drama in the Srimad-Bhagavatam.

Radhanath Swami reminds us that everyone in the temple should receive guests in such a way the guests will appreciate Srila Prabhupada’s love for Krishna and Srila Prabhupada’s love for them.

A mature Vaishnava sees one who finds fault with him as benefactor revealing anarthas that he was unaware of so he can correct them, and he offers obeisances to such a person.

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Mahavishnu Goswami from Gujarat inspired me to once memorize the prayers of Queen Kunti. This month I dedicated to memorize again all those I had forgotten.

Kunti Devi prays to Lord Krishna for one-pointed devotion to Him:

tvayi me ’nanya-viṣaya
matir madhu-pate 'sakṛt
ratim udvahatad addha
gangevaugham udanvati

“O Lord of Madhu, as the Ganges forever flows to the sea without hindrance, let my attraction be constantly drawn unto You without being diverted to anyone else.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.8.42)