New Vrindaban’s Transcendental Throwback Thursday – 05/15/14
→ New Vrindaban Brijabasi Spirit

New Vrindaban Festival of Inspiration Nitai

New Vrindaban’s Transcendental Throwback Thursday – 05/15/14.

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

This week’s challenge: Can you identify all six devotees in the photo?

Extra credit: What’s the occasion & when was the 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.

How we are different from God
→ The Spiritual Scientist

An imperfect living being does not even know what is happening within his own personal body. He eats his food but does not know how this food is transformed into energy or how it sustains his body. When a living being is perfect, he is aware of everything that happens, and since the Supreme Person is all-perfect, it is quite natural that He knows everything in all detail.

Srimad Bhagavatam Introduction

 

Interview With Award-Winning Author Sankirtana Das
→ NY Times & Bhagavad Gita Sanga/ Sankirtana Das



Sankirtana Das (ACBSP), a 38 year resident of New Vrindaban Community,  is a sacred storyteller, workshop leader and author of Mahabharata: The Eternal Quest. The book was recently awarded Finalist in 2014 Next Generation Indie Book Awards. He is interviewed by Lilasuka Devi Dasi, Communications Director at New Vrindaban.


Question From Lilasuka. Congratulations.  So how does it feel that your book is a Finalist in the 2014 Next Generation Indie Book Awards?

Sankirtana. I’m delighted. It’s a confirmation that the book has an appeal greater than just a devotional audience.  On the other hand, I also feel that I didn’t write the book, that somehow, Krishna, kindly, just let it all fall into place.  I’m amazed that all the major elements and personalities of  Mahabharata are all there in just 280 pages.

Q.  That’s certainly a major feat. Mahabharata is 100,000 slokas. How did you manage to fit it into 280 pages?

A.  I worked on it on and off for over ten years, strategizing on how to piece it all together to make it work.  The writing was at times both a joyous and a nerve wracking experience. It’s like a huge puzzle, and every piece had to fit into place.  Sometimes I had serious doubts about  if it would actually work.  I wanted the book to be for college courses, so the text couldn’t be too long.  The book is fast-paced. I applied the art of oral storytelling – which is to focus on the action and the characters with only minimal description. The idea is to just give enough description to activate the imagination of the reader or listener so that they themselves can fill in the scenes. Now that it’s out, the response from scholars and readers has been tremendous.

Q. How did you go about writing the book?

A. I knew pieces and segments of Mahabharata from Prabhupada’s first and tenth canto of Srimad Bhagavatam and from performing scenes from it over the years.  But I didn’t know the details of how the entire story unfolded.   I wrote the book, primarily, to get a better understanding of it for myself. So I looked at those chapters from Bhagavatam and also used the first complete English translation of Mahabharata, written by Mohan Ganguli in 1896.

Q. There have been a number of Mahabharatas in the last few decades. What is the need for another Mahabharata?

A.  A few devotees have asked me that. Different renditions of a story serve different purposes. When Lokamangala prabhu and I toured with our two-man drama of Mahabharata years ago, people would sometimes say we should do a movie.  That never happened. So the question I posed to myself in writing this book was: what would the Mahabharata look like if I had the chance to make it into a movie?  In my rendition of Mahabharata I bring to bear my  background in theater, cinema and literature. I wanted to get to the essence of the Mahabharata and offer a very dramatic and cinematic reading experience. A book that is character driven.

Q. I think you’ve accomplished that. Who was your target audience?

A. Mahabharata: The Eternal Quest is meant as a resource to help devotees introduce Mahabharata to the public in general, and especially to their college audiences and contacts. I structured Mahabharata so it could easily be studied and enjoyed in college courses Right now many courses are using William Buck’s version. 

Q.  And what’s the difference between the two?

A. There are many discrepancies and omissions in his book. For instance, Yudhuisthira’s Rajasuya sacrifice is not there. It’s an important scene which motivates  Duryodhan to sink into his profound depression and envy.  Buck often departs from the meaning and intention of the original text. He’s popular because he intentionally leaves things nebulous.

Q. So, what’s the message of your book?  You spoke about getting “to the essence.” What do you consider the essence?

A. The essence is Krishna’s intimate relationship with the Pandavas. Drama is all about relationships and emotions.  Also, I wanted to give people a proper understanding of dharma, and to show succinctly  that this ancient text is still relevant today. In making Krishna Consciousness available to the public, devotees need to demonstrate its relevancy to today’s issues and concerns. And Srila Prabhupada explains that our philosophy is very relevant on many levels.  Mahabharata does all this while telling a fantastic story.  It’s for story lovers.  So, all around,  I think my book can be a vital tool for devotees.

Q. What advice do you have for writers?

A. Be focused. Be very organized. It will save you a lot of headaches. I’m speaking from personal experience. And if you let others read your work, don’t accept their advice unless you intuitively feel it’s right for what your doing. Have a good editor and proof reader go over it.

B. When did you begin to think of yourself as a writer?

A. When I was a kid – twelve or thirteen – I was struck by the impact books and movies made on me. I wanted to give that experience to others.

Q. And finally, what projects are you working on?

A. One thing – just promoting your book takes up a lot of time. I eventually want Mahabharata: The Eternal Quest to be the basis of a theater production, performed by a college drama department or regional theater company. And although I have two uncompleted book projects, I want to start on a third book which I feel is more important. Also, I plan to do several  storytelling CD’s. I’m just about ready with  Brahma’s Song. It’s thematic, all about Brahma. The subtitle is: A Concert of Storytelling, Music and Chants.

Q. Thanks for a great interview.  If readers want to know  more  about the book and  your professional programs they can go to www.Mahabharata-Project.com and www.sacredvoices.com

A. And thank you.  








Clear Everything In Due Course
→ Japa Group

"Also inform Jayananda that I have received his letter and the difficulties of life may come as seasonal changes but we should not be disturbed by all those difficulties. Our process is to chant and that process will gradually clear everything in due course."


Letter to Mukunda
6th June, 1967

Brahmā’s “Straight Talk”
→ The Enquirer

SB 3.9.3:

There is nothing superior to your supreme beauty, which is the intrinsic form of uninterrupted, undivided bliss itself. I see you as the singular individual who creates everything, and yet is not a part of anything created. I am intoxicated by identifying with my own body and senses, but I take shelter of you.

“uninterrupted, undivided bliss itself” = brahman, spiritual reality. It is an indivisible, uninterruptible substance of joy.

This brahman is “intrinsically” expressed as the beautiful form of Bhagavān. Joy is beauty and sweetness, so joy cannot be without form and attribute. Therefore the idea of Brahman which does not include the idea of Bhagavān is flawed, incomplete. The most complete understanding of Brahman is Bhagavān.

Nothing is superior to the form of Bhagavān, the Brahman is simply the elemental constituent of that form.

4-5:

You reveal this beauty in the meditations of those who come close to you with love. All your forms, including the one I see now, grant auspiciousness to even the most auspicious things in the world. Therefore what am I in comparison to the All-Attractive? Let me carry out your orders and serve you! Those who do not do so become drawn to unreality and populate the hells, but those who adoringly embrace your feet above all else are never separated from your joyous beauty. The scent of your lotus-like feet, carried on the breeze of your name’s sound, enters their ears and resides eternally as the husband of the lotus of their hearts.

Those who are not inclined to adore Bhagavān are drawn to unreality, which generates suffering. But those who are inclined to adore Bhagavān are never separated from him.

This is an ideal contemplation for kīrtan and japa: The sound of his name (or also of his glories, any sound related to him) is like a breeze, carrying his fragrance that we smell with our ears. Bringing that fragrance into our ears, it enters our hearts and embraces us.

6:

Until the world lovingly embraces your fearless feet, they will instead think only of themselves. Flocking to illusion to enhance their self-concept, they nourish the very root of suffering. Out of constant fear for their property, their body, and their loved ones, they become greedy for anything that might better protect these assets, and thus drown in worry and envy.

Nothing needs to be added or subtracted from Śrīmad Bhāgavatam. No new thing needs to be discovered or invented. No new “preaching strategy” or “technique” needs to be mastered. Simply learn Śrīmad Bhāgavatam deeply and really, and teach it to others. All the power to make the universe Krishna consciousness is already present in Śrīmad Bhāgavatam.

If we do not have love for others, we are left only with our love for ourselves. As long as our love does not center on the root of reality, we must substitute ourselves into that place as the root. This substitution is the illusion that we flock to embrace, and it is the very root of all sorrow.

Since it is an illusion it takes great effort to maintain the existence of. Therefore we constantly worry that the components of our illusion — our property, body, loved ones, etc. — will be ruined by reality, so we become greedy to invent and obtain technological devices that protect us and ours. Thus our lives become a mess of technological stress, and stress about how to obtain the money to buy better health insurance and better food, clothes, and shelter, or if these basic needs are met, to buy better property, bodily parts, and “loved ones” to enhance our illusory concept of “I.”

And this is what we hang on to, in preference of forgetting about all our soup for just a few minutes a day to meditate on Krishna’s names? Why not just forget everything, everything, for at least the amount of time it takes to chant the Hare Krishna nāma-mantra at least for 1 māla, or at least for 1 mantra, or at least for 1 name!?

At the same time as we are such fools, we have the gall to claim that we are Vaishnavas and warrant some attention and respect?


Don’t be a hard-head!
→ KKSBlog

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 30 March 2014, Cape Town, South Africa, Srimad Bhagavatam 10.39.39)

JAS_KKSSpiritual life is like that – there is always a higher standard and there is always another level of realization. That is why we always remain a fool before the spiritual master. Tamal Krsna Maharaj said in front of Srila Prabhupada, “Yes, I am just a fool.” Prabhupada said, “It is very good as long as you think like that because then I can instruct you. But as soon as you think that you are intelligent then I can’t instruct you.”

The relationship with the spiritual master is the most difficult one because here is a person who has a level of authority in our life that even our parents never had! I mean, when you are a small child your parents have all authority, up to a point. You can cry and protest but then when you can speak, you can say, “NO!” You can go into your ‘no-face’ which is a well-known face that each child goes through and many of us never get out of that. What to do, that’s very strong…

Then suddenly, you get involved with the Hare Krsna Movement and there is a spiritual master and now you have to stop saying, “NO!” There are more sophisticated ways of saying, “NO!” One is, “I don’t agree!” Or better still, “His arguments don’t make sense!”

But Bhaktisiddhanta was speaking about this; he says that mundane logic does not apply. When the spiritual master speaks, in the beginning we think that it doesn’t make sense what he is saying. But if ones hears submissively; then with time it begins to make more sense and ultimately, it begins to make full sense!

 

A visit to ISKCON Temple in Melbourne
→ Dandavats.com

Clad in a green sari, bespectacled and petite, Keerthi pushes aside the papers she is holding and warmly welcomes me by folding her hands in a Namaste. Her beatific smile is striking. She instantly recognizes me as Arti, the lady with whom she had been conversing via e-mail for the past few days, someone whom she had been eagerly looking forward to host. Read more ›