Tuesday, July 22nd, 2014
→ The Walking Monk

Calgary, Alberta

Learning On The Trail


On the Rotary Mattamy Greenway, at the eastern reaches of Calgary, I took my early trek.  From two locations on the trail, I learned of wilderness struggle.  Firstly, on a slight divergence of the trail, by a batch of trees (where frankly, I released some water) I saw the remains of an ordeal.  It had more to do with a ruffling of feathers.  There, on this tiny forest floor, was a pile of actual feathers, likely what was left of some aerial battle between two birds.  It was not the down of a duck that I was looking at, or a crow; hard to tell really, but it was a scatter of life, nevertheless.  I could only imagine the pain of the feathery victim. 

Further on the trail, in fact very close to the Trans Canada Highway/Highway 1, there lies the relics of a fur animal, at least to me, it was evidence of another scuffle. 

I terminated the trail walk and ended at a newspaper box.   I pulled out a Metro newspaper, sat myself at a park bench, and read the feature article of a local Calgarian pit bull that was euthanized by officials.  He had attacked and killed a poodle.  Chaos was the name of the three year old Staffordshire Bull Terrier.  The article was an account of two dog owners walking their pets, their toothy encounter, and then the subsequent reactions from the owners.  All in all, the theme here was about the struggle within life, and the harshness that pervades in our world. 

Mmm… this gives me a topic to speak on at tonight’s sangha at the home where I’m staying, “Suffering!  Can it be overcome?”

May the Source be with you!

9 KM

Monday, July 21st, 2014
→ The Walking Monk

Vancouver, British Columbia

Decisions


A fairly spontaneous decision was made for me to fly to Vancouver, which I did yesterday.  The purpose?  It was not to participate in a walkathon.  Rather, it was decided that I meet with two monks, Gopal Krishna Goswami, and Hari Vilas (by virtue of service, he is practically a monk).  The three of us, not shunning administrator obligations, but sitting to discuss issues over our devotional community, was our topic of discussion. 

It would be nice to have the easy life of a roaming hermit, and not bother with ‘people’, however, our whole mission involves humans and offering them the more stress free material relieving lifestyle.  ‘People’ will always be on our agenda.  We serve and receive service from them.  Our role is to teach, mentor, coach, encourage.  The three of us had two sessions of meetings, one last evening and one this morning.  Prior to meeting, I naturally had to put in my kilometres, and also, in the planning of the day, work around our morning sadhana which begins at 4:30 AM.  After all, strength lies in sessions that are heart touching, and sadhana, when approached feelingly, opens up the chakra of the heart and prepares for dealing with people issues.

The three of us came out of our meeting room, satisfied with decisions made, knowing well that not all parties will be cent percent satisfied.  Compromise we must live with, otherwise, expect no hope. 

May the Source be with you!

7 KM

Sunday, July 20th, 2014
→ The Walking Monk

Calgary/Vancouver

Moving Up


Usually the prairie is dry, yet this morning it was moist.  Some drizzle sprayed the sky during a portion of a 9 KM hike at Calgary’s east end.  It was my time to chant until I came to the home of Gaura Chandra when it was time to chat. 

Chat I did, and also at the Radha Madhava Cultural Centre, when reuniting with our bus tour group.  I spoke about the advantages of commitment, especially in regard to vows made by young Shyama Priya.  She is only 12, but made a firm conviction for the basic tenets of Vaishnava culture.  She put her values out for the ears of our community – no intoxication, no gambling, no meat eating and no casual sex.  These are tall orders to fulfill, but she has a good trying chance given her upbringing.  It is admirable that she takes this firm stance.  She also commits to mantra meditation for approximately 2 hours every day. 

Vows, when taken seriously, give power.  Vows that are taken casually, weaken.  No vows or no commitment means ‘no life’. 

I applaud Shyama Priya.  Her new name Shyamesvari. 

May the Source always be with her!

9 KM

One size does not fit all!
→ KKSBlog

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 08 April 2009, Durban, South Africa, Lecture)

White_T_ShirtWhenever we discuss kanistha, madhyama and uttama, it starts to feel like we are beginning to measure vaisnavas with a measuring tape! As soon as you start measuring vaisnavas with a measuring tape, there is a great risk to minimize the vaisnavas because a vaisnava is so difficult to measure. No one fits into a box; everyone has done something extraordinary for Krsna! Therefore who fits into any box – kanistha, madhyama, uttama – difficult! It gets too complicated; too much measurement!

Let us just rather appreciate the service vaisnavas have done and are doing, and let us just overlook the faults even if there is some tendency, we just look at the service and we glorify the vaisnavas.

Still on the other side, we do care because we are not naively accepting just anyone as pure devotee. To accept someone as a pure devotee, on the topmost platform, is a very serious matter and cannot be done on the basis of sentiment. Therefore it is good to understand these categories (of advancement of devotees) but we are not going to hand out T-shirts: kanistha, madhyama and uttama T-shirts! That will be a little too extreme rather we are appreciating all the vaisnavas for their exalted qualities. By counting the glories of the vaisnavas, we will see many exalted vaisnavas…

 

Graffiti
→ Seed of Devotion


    (photo by thingsnobodycaresabout.com)

I walk past the gutters
littered with trash
and the walls scrawled
with shapeless letters.
Music with no melody,
only beats and mutters,
blares from speakers.
Lined, unsmiling faces
and crossed arms
greet me on the platform.
The train arrives with
a blast and the rhythmic
ga-gumph,
ga-guuumph,
ga-guuuuuuumph...
The doors open with a hiss.
The floor rumbles beneath me,
we pass building
after building
scarified with
more
and more graffiti
that all looks the
same same same.
Graffiti scratches surround me
on the window and seat,
on the walls.
A man across the aisle
misses his stop, curses loudly.

I arrive at the Bhakti Center for a festival
drained
by the City.
Drained by the way
We
and I
graffiti our lives
with chitter and chatter
and curses.

I'm on the schedule to
sing kirtan in 15 minutes.
I heave a sigh and
head to the templeroom.
I am washed with the scent
of incense and
the holy name.
I thought that I had needed
to sleep
but after a half an hour
of singing
I just want to stay here
right here
in front of God
for the next seven days
and graffiti my heart
with the holy name.


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Devotees on Weekly star, newspaper front page in Nigeria
→ Dandavats.com

His Holiness Kavicandra Swami has appeared on a front page newspaper in Nigeria, advising Nigerians to be God conscious. He gave the advice recently in the temple when Journalists visited him to speak on the current crisis facing Nigeria. His Holiness said, unless society turned to Krishna by giving everything to Krishna, society will never be in peace. Swami noted that nothing happens independently but by proper arrangement of Krishna. Read more ›

The Real Secret
→ NY Times & Bhagavad Gita Sanga/ Sankirtana Das


In Conjunction with Sutapa prabhu's post - http://sutapamonk.blogspot.com/2014/07/spirit-secret.html  - about The Secret, just want to share an article I wrote back in 2007. entitled Listen, Do You Wanna Know A Secret


Several months back the Times ran an ad for a DVD of the book The Secret. The Secret is the newest sensation and darling of the New Agers. It's beyond the New Age. I'm sure the Neocons are reading it behind closed doors. It's a hot seller with the Walmart crowd. Oprah, on her show, made a big deal about it.

I had an occasion to see The Secret video last year. I can only describe it as a testimonial to materialism. The height of Me-ism. At one point on the video there’s a women standing in front of a jewelry store longingly looking at a necklace displayed in the window. The next minute she’s wearing the necklace. There’s another scene where a kid wants a bike and then you see him happily riding the bicycle. This goes on to a woman being attracted to a man and later she’s walking with him hand in hand.

The Secret views the earth as just one big Kamadhenu cow ready and eager to supply everyone’s desire, as opposed to the paradigm of The Sri Isopanishad which tells us that everything in the world is controlled and owned by the Supreme Lord and that we should only accept what we really need for ourselves and not take anything unnecessarily, knowing well to whom it belongs. There is a delicate balance in nature and we should fulfill our needs and wants with the utmost care. Native American wisdom tells us that we must take into consideration the impact of our actions on the next seven generations.

But The Secret, endorsed by the "good guys," would have us believe that the earth can completely satisfy our every desire and that we can have a fairy tale life wherein all wishes are fulfilled (that may have been the case in the Satya-yuga). The ad in the paper reads that The Secret can give you "...unlimited joy, health, money, relationships, love, youth, everything you ever wanted." Yes. It's all yours!!!You have just hit the jackpot, won the lottery, beat out everyone on The Idol, been invited on Oprah, postponed death indefinitely, moved into a new mansion and made a million new close friends. (This sounds better than all the snake oil remedies the quack doctors used to sell in the wild west.)

In these times, however, is it responsible to have a mindset and live a lifestyle advocated by the Secret? This type of unrestricted consumerism is the very mentality that has put us in the precarious situation we’re in today. Is the The Secret going to stop the ice caps from melting or bring back the ozone layer? Is it going to stop people from getting blown up? Is it going to stop disease and death? The Secret doesn’t mention that ultimately we cannot control what happens to us. We can only control our attitude and our intentions. As the ancients, to live peacefully, we must learn self control, to conquer our greed and anger, to respect all life and the environment we live in, and to offer ourselves in service to the Creator of all things.

One of the appeals of a secret is that people like to be in on something that’s exclusive. The Secret is special, and they are special and their knowing the Secret gives them a special advantage over everybody else. Of course, everybody else is thinking the same thing. Basically, the secret of The Secret is the law of attraction, when you think positive thoughts you get positive results. And when you know this “secret” you can have it all. And to prove that The Secret is bona fide, the narrator in the video (DVD) summons up some of the big movers in history like Jesus, Buddha, Lao-tzu, Confucius, Socrates, Shakespeare, Newton. They all knew The Secret, and that’s what made them so famous, successful and spiritual. I wonder why they didn’t mention Gengis Khan or Rocky Balboa.

Because of its popularity, I think devotees have a great opportunity to offer people an insight into the real Secret (In marketing this is called positioning - that you position your product with, or against, a product that is popular). Real knowledge is not on how to acquire material things and get a beautiful body, but how to distinguish between matter and spirit.

“This knowledge is the king of education, the most secret of all secrets. It is the purest knowledge, and because it gives direct perception of the self by realization, it is the perfection of religion. It is everlasting and it is joyfully performed.” Bhagavad Gita 9:2

Award winning book by Sankirtana das -  www.Mahabharata-Project.com


Devotees perform Friday Harinama in Tel Aviv, Israel, to stop the war (Album 51 photos)
→ Dandavats.com

O Supreme Personality of Godhead, when someone desires to chant Your holy name, sins tremble in fear, the glory of material illusion faints unconscious, Yamaraja's scribe Citragupta becomes happy and gazes at the chanter's toenails with awe and reverence, and Lord Brahma prepares madhu-parka with which to worship him. O Lord, what more can we say than this?—author unknown (Padyavali 4) Read more ›

Ratha Yatra in Kherson, southern Ukraine (Album 30 photos)
→ Dandavats.com

“Chanting is the greatest act of piety and the supreme refuge. Even the words of the Vedas do not possess sufficient power to its magnitude. Chanting is the highest path to liberation, peace and eternal life. It is the pinnacle of devotion, the heart's joyous proclivity and attraction and the best form of remembrance of the Supreme Lord. The holy name has appeared solely for the benefit of the living entities as their Lord and master, their supreme worshipable object and their spiritual guide and mentor. Read more ›

Spirit Secret
→ Tattva - See inside out

Seven years after its first release and people are still talking about it. ‘The Secret’ that Rhonda Byrne felt she had discovered was the ‘law of attraction’; whatever you think about and focus on, eventually becomes reality in your life. The universe, she says, is essentially energy, and all energy vibrates at different frequencies. Since each person also vibrates at a certain frequency, they attract the same within the larger energy field. Thus, we attract objects, fortunes, people and situations that are of a similar ‘vibration’ to ourselves.

It’s a mouthwatering concept – the possibility of attracting anything you desire. While Eastern teachers would agree with the general notion of designing our destiny, there is more to the story. Philosophical exploration and practical observation clearly shows that forces beyond our control are also influencing our fortunes. It’s called karma. We may desire different things, but without the karmic credit, those things will remain elusive. Unfortunately, the secret is not as simple as it sounds.

The Bhagavad-gita, however, reveals a more profound secret to life. While Rhonda’s book is about attracting, the classic Sanskrit text encourages one to first establish what is worthy of being attracted. Most people hastily draw up their shopping lists of life without significantly considering this point. Our basic problem is that we are attracted by the wrong things; things that won’t bring us what we are ultimately looking for. When we reconfigure our desires, turn our attention towards the right things, spiritual things, those things which allow us to connect with our very essence, then everything falls into place perfectly. This is the secret behind the secret.

Krisna-völgy/ New Vraja-dhama, Hungary: A truly self-sustaining community (Album 28 photos)
→ Dandavats.com

Vaishnavas do not accept anything until it has first been offered to the Deity. Before foodstuffs are offered to the Lord, they are referred to as bhoga (enjoyment). Once they have been offered with heartfelt prayer to the Lord, then they are understood to have been tasted by Him and are then known as prasadam or "mercy." The food has become blessed or sanctified, and we can make spiritual progress by partaking of Lord Krishna's remnants. Read more ›

How do we develop taste for studying scripture?
→ The Spiritual Scientist

Question by Madana Sundari devi dasi (mihaela ispasoiu) -
where does someone find the strength to study? Or how do you develop the pleasure of studying? Why do we lack the pleasure of studying? How do I get over the need to relax my mind after a day of work and just stay and do nothing or watch a movie? I should do everything as my duty, but is it possible to do everything without expecting some pleasure?

Answer Podcast

New Vrindaban’s Transcendental Throwback Thursday – 07/24/14
→ New Vrindaban Brijabasi Spirit

New Vrindaban Prabhupada 1969

New Vrindaban’s Transcendental Throwback Thursday – 07/24/14.

Each week we highlight an earlier era of ISKCON New Vrindaban.

This week’s challenge: In addition to Srila Prabhupada, there are ten recognizable faces in this photo. How many can you identify?

Extra credit: When and where was this photo taken?

What to do: Post your guesses on the “who, what, when, where & why” in the comment section at the New Vrindaban Facebook Page.

Technical stuff: We share a photo Thursday and confirm known details Sunday. Let’s keep it light and have a bit of fun!

Special request: If you have a photo showing New Vrindaban devotees in action, share it with us and we’ll use it in a future posting.

Bhaktivedanta Academy School
→ Ramai Swami

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The Bhaktivedanta Academy is the second school in Bali and opened in July of this year. The first was the Bhaktivedanta Dharma School and now that has over 180 students.

There was a need for a secondary school because our first school only catered to primary and kindergarden. While the new school does have classes for primary and kindergarden, the main focus will be on secondary education.
It’s only been open a short time but there are already 22 students and about 8 staff.
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Stay on the bus!
→ KKSBlog

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 09 July 2014, Serbia, Summer Camp, Lecture after kirtan)

queensday bus 2013In Mayapur, there is a bus that stops everyday in front of the gate of our Sri Caitanya Candrodaya Mandir. When one gets on the bus in Bengal, it is not uncommon that people are involved in a heated discussion because Bengali people are fiery people and they like politics. So often times, great discussions would be held on the bus and even when the original people who started the argument got off the bus, the argument stayed on the bus the entire day.

So in the same way, even when the people who started the kirtan have left, the kirtan just ‘stays on the bus’. So like that, may the kirtan stay with us even when we are no longer here together. The kirtan carries on – akhanda kirtan, endless kirtan. Kirtaniya sada harih, that ongoing chanting is our desire. In order to come to that point, one must become thoroughly honest. A sadhu is one who is sadhava, thoroughly honest, and when we become thoroughly honest, then automatically we must become humble – because everybody knows how many mistakes we make all the time. Everybody knows how limited we are really.

When there is a success, mostly it is good luck and has nothing to do with us! When there is a failure, it is normal because that is basically where we are at. Considering all that, when we are honest, then humility can finally develop in our heart and maybe then, maybe that day we will be able to always chant the holy name of the Lord.

I am praying for that and I thank you for your kind association upon me, for your enthusiasm. Thank you very much because it is together that we will go back to Godhead, and it is together that we are continuing our spiritual life: sometimes meeting and sometimes not meeting – being apart but we remain together. It is nothing between us, because our only interest is to together make spiritual advancement. So for that, I am grateful because I have been nourished in your association and I am leaving here carrying that with me, taking some energy of Serbia to Italy and will try to drown the devotees in some Serbian ecstasy. In that way, we wait for the Italians to become all ecstatic, and then from there we will drown again another part until the whole world is submerged in the chanting of the holy name!

 

Halfway!
→ travelingmonk.com

We are halfway through our summer festival tour here in Poland. Last night we presented our new theater production, ‘Usa and Aniruddha.’ People loved it. Today we are packing up and moving our base 400 kilometers west to Kostrzyn Nad Odra to begin preparations for the great Woodstock Festival. This will be our 20th year [...]

Welcome Lecture USA Retreat 2014 – Gītā-Nāgarī
Bhakti Charu Swami

INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR KRISHNA CONSCIOUSNESS  Founder-Ācārya: His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda  Welcome Lecture Given By His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami USA Retreat 2014, Gītā-Nāgarī, 23 July 2014. [Guru Mahārāja leads kīrtana singing Hare Kṛṣṇa maha-mantra] nama om visnu-pādāya Kṛṣṇa-presthāya bhū-tale śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāmin iti nāmine namas te sārasvate deve gaura-vānī-pracārine nirviśesa-śūnyavādi-pāścātya-deśa-tārine Śrīla Prabhupāda Ki Jaya!(...)

Fourth Annual Pushpa Abhishek in New Vrindaban
→ New Vrindaban

Quickly becoming a favorite New Vrindaban festival, the Fourth Annual Pushpa Abhishek will be celebrated Sat. July 26, 2014.

Their Lordships, Sri Sri Radha Vrindaban Chandra will be showered with thousands of fragrant flower petals of all colors and descriptions in the evening, accompanied by ecstatic Hare Krsna kirtan.

If you'd like to come early, at 10 AM we will begin preparing the flower petals for the evening flower showers.  Bring your own home-grown flowers to offer too, if you'd like, and join us.