I am in the US for the last decade and still baffled by the hypocrisy around animal welfare. Why do Americans spend $52 billion on dogs and cats as pets and kill 9 billion farm animals for food? This is such a stark contrast which can only be witnessed in developed countries such as America.
It is a shame that people cannot see the duplicity surrounding animals. How is a cow or chicken or duck or any farm animal any better than an animal such as dog or cat? In my opinion, this is ridiculous - as simple as that.
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 13 January 2014, Mayapur, India, Lecture: Kirtan Academy 2)
Transcendental knowledge is not some academic process. Sometimes, people say to me, “Oh, you know, I read the Bhagavatam! Oh, I read for one hour! Oh, and I cannot remember anything. Oh, I am so bad…”
Relax, relax, relax… this is not our process where you have to beat yourself! That is not required because the holy name or Srimad Bhagavatam awakens something within the heart automatically. It takes away a covering that is there. A covering which just temporarily allows no access! So it reawakens something within the heart and all the transcendental knowledge is already there.
It’s not like, “Gosh, I heard that in the spiritual world, in Vaikunta, they speak Sanskrit and in Vraja, it is vraja bhas…” so then you buy a “how and what” in vraja bhas and start studying the language. “No really, later on when I go there and don’t speak the lingo that may be a big problem, hey!” You arrive there in the spiritual world and you don’t speak a word so you start studying now while you have the chance so when you get there, you can pick up the language quick and easy.
No, it’s not like that. It is not required because all these things are automatically there in our identity. It is there and it is covered and it becomes uncovered by chanting and devotional service. The natural remembrance of Krsna awakens!
We would like to recognize His Grace Srinivasa Prabhu and Her Grace Radhika Krpa Mataji for all their service to the TKG Academy Gurukula this past school year.
Both became attracted to Krishna consciousness upon their visit to New Vrindavan in 2003. They heard His Holiness Radhanath Maharaj’s eloquent talks about Lord Caitanya, and met many loving devotees. They began to take shelter of their Siksa Guru, His Grace Yugal Kishore Prabhu and under his direction, they took initiation from His Holiness Radhanath Maharaj in 2011.
They moved to Dallas in the past year from Boston, with both of their sons, Madhava (age 3) and Gaurang (age 7) attending the TKG Academy. Immediately upon coming, they became actively involved in Community Outreach and preaching programs, holding a weekly Bhakti Vriksha program in their home. Their enthusiasm and support has been very encouraging and infectious.
They are dedicated to the Krishna conscious success of their two active boys. Daily bed time story telling, engaging the boys in Deity Worship, kirtan, and japa are some of the ways they instill Vedic culture into their children’s hearts.
Srinivasa Prabhu is expert at videography and has already produced the Govardhan Puja Festivities by TKG Academy video. Radhika Krpa Mataji has accepted the responsibility of Media Coordinator. We welcome both to our TKG Academy Family.
Boyton in Cornwall. It was a small village with two places of worship – one at either end of the main street. One was a church and the other a chapel, a situation which posed an existential question.
“Are you Church or Chapel?” was the question posed to my mother one day after we moved into a house in a small Cornish village. We’d moved there from our previous home – also in a small Cornish village.
Church or Chapel? It was an important question, for it defined the social circle we would be joining, our emotional support team, and ultimately our chances of salvation. The Church of England and the Methodist Chapel were the two places of worship in the village, one the establishment religion and the other dissident. The chapel stood at one end of the one street in the village, and the church was firmly at the other end. The blacksmith’s shop, with its fiery orange furnace, the heavy clink of hammer on anvil and the burning smell of sizzling horses’ hooves, stood right in the centre.
Half a century later, I still live in a small village, this time just four miles from the edge of the north London suburbs. You can’t get horseshoes made in this village, but there are still variant theologies poised at either end of the high street, not only Christian but Jewish, too. Quite literally at opposite ends of the parade of shops lies the United Synagogue and the Reform Synagogue. Which reminds me of an old Jewish joke. When rescuers finally discover the lone Jewish survivor of a shipwreck on a desert island, they find that he’s used bamboos and coconut leaves to build himself two synagogues, one at either end of the island. “Why two?” they ask, “There’s only you here.” “Oh, this one is where I pray,” he replies, “and that other one is the synagogue I wouldn’t be seen dead in!” I think you have to be Jewish (or married to one) to fully grasp the sad irony of that joke, but the meaning is clear: human beings tend to pull any religion in two, and for as much as they love one they tend to spite the other. The reality is not far from the joke. Some years ago, the Jewish population of the island of Bermuda was a mere 110 – and there were, indeed, two synagogues.
Just last week I was in Liverpool where there are two grand cathedrals, both built over many years and at enormous expense. They are connected by one short street that runs between them – Hope Street. Although named after a local merchant, the theological implications of the name have not been lost on the local clergy. Both the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England live in hope of a full reconciliation between their respective denominations. Sadly, they have been trying for centuries without success. Religion, you see, would be so easy if it weren’t for human beings. We are influenced predominantly by raja and tama guna, the two forces of nature that ceaselessly pull us apart and then set us against each other. In this condition we are almost bound to project our own selfish concerns onto the pure messages of God. In doing so we appropriate the Divine and fashion Him in our own image then, because we are all individuals who, mostly, can’t agree with anyone else completely, we enter into conflict. Whatever the reason may be, we become heated in our opinions, find friends to support us, and then pull apart into distinct groupings.
What divides religious people? Often, it can be the very small things: bells, smells, decorations and robes, priests and songs, or whether being baptised with water is for babies or adults. Or the bigger things of which these are parts: Theology, liturgy, governance, gender issues, and whether God has a living representative on Earth and so on. But it doesn’t end there. History has shown, in every religion, that each division becomes rent by fresh divisions and the two become three, four and more. New theologies are developed to support human preferences, and the clear water of pure revelation becomes muddied by tribal thinking. In this way, the one great man who spoke the Sermon on the Mount is now represented by 41,000 different Christian denominations. The one Catholic Church, presumably in a bid to stave off the debilitating effects of multiple splintering, has given permission for no less than 23 different ‘Rites,’ 38 separate ‘Orders,’ and 272 distinct ‘Congregations,’ all with different costumes, customs, prayers and organisational structures.
The ‘Great Schism’
The tendency to divide is, of course, seen everywhere. We have become so accustomed to it that we may hardly even notice it at all. If we do, it may not even alarm us. Take sport, for instance. It wasn’t long after I joined my school rugby team that I learned that there were, in fact, two games of rugby: Rugby Union and Rugby League. The game originated in 1823 but only 72 years later, in 1895, the ‘Great Schism’ had taken place, never to be repealed. The ‘working class’ northerners had felt it necessary to separate from the ‘upper-class’ southerners, and the League and the Union were created accordingly. The game of rugby was itself an ‘upper class’ separation from the original game of football, played by all boys. In that game, the pulling apart continued to be a long-standing tradition of the game. Footballers were often pulled into two rival teams. A fan had to make his mind up who to support. There was, for instance, Liverpool and Everton in the same city; Rangers and Celtic in the same city of Glasgow, the two teams split along religious and social lines; and Manchester United and Manchester City, all rival teams for one town.
1895: Even the great game of Rugby football divides into two factions
But it is when the divisions occur in religions that the potential for rivalry can escalate into something far more serious. Religion is no game, and the issues involved are all of the ultimate importance. The issues are so serious to the adherents of denominations that strongly opinionated members of opposing religious tribes can often go to war with each other, each convinced that they have the blessings of the Divine. In my own lifetime I have personally experienced street battles between Catholic and Protestant in the towns of Northern Ireland and have witnessed tensions between denominations of Jews. I have read of open conflict between factions of Tibetan Buddhists, and I am all too aware of the immense chasm that exists between Sunni and Shi’a strands of Islam, with periodic warfare between them in different parts of the world. Vaishnavism has not always been immune from these schisms. The followers of the teachings of the great Ramanujacarya (1017-1137) were united for seven centuries, but then succumbed to conflict over cardinal philosophical points, eventually becoming the Tengalai (Southern School) and the Vadagalai (Northern School) sometime in the 17th or 18th century.
Two Vaishnava forehead markings for two schools of thought
In the Hare Krishna movement, the splintering tendency was regularly subjugated by the single, commanding voice of its founder-acarya who confessed “I am always afraid of this crack.” His urgent and repeated pleas for peace and unity amongst his followers didn’t stop some from splintering away during his life, and certainly hasn’t prevented them from doing it since. And, just as in Christianity, Islam and Judaism, where all fractures are done in the name of God, his son, prophet or blessed and inspired rabbi, in the Hare Krishna movement it was, and continues to be done, in the name of ‘what Srila Prabhupada really wanted.’ So it was that the ‘true’ followers of Srila Prabhupada began a campaign against all his other followers when they failed to support their views on how initiations would be conducted after his physical demise.
It was also how the similarly ‘true followers’ of Srila Prabhupada justified their transformation of a hitherto unknown Indian sannyasi into an international figurehead of messianic proportions. For them, who needed him to be so, the sannyasi became ‘the real inheritor of Srila Prabhupada’s legacy.’ The little-known sannyasi was preened, styled and re-branded by those who had left ISKCON as ‘Srila Prabhupada’s very dear friend who has come to give us the knowledge that he did not.’ The fame of the sannyasi followed a predictable arc. After some time, as his original supporters left him, he became convinced that he’d been used, and fell victim to fits of anger against ISKCON. It presumably didn’t occur to the ‘very dear friend’ that, when he told his excited and impressionable followers that ‘ISKCON must be smashed,’ that he might be stretching the limits of his much-vaunted friendship with A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami. Now deceased, the rifts that he managed to create, pulling apart communities, marriages and families, are all but impossible to heal. ISKCON has thus lost hundreds of members to this and several other breakaway movements – movements of varying degrees of integrity and endurance – all of which claimed to have adopted their stance because of a more refined understanding of the founder-acarya’s instructions. Such is theology, and such is life.
ISKCON members could help themselves by learning a bit more of religious history. They should know that all of this has happened before. They need to learn sufficient Vaishnava theology to identify and understand the veracity of ideas that arise from time to time within their own community. They should be aware when someone seeks the imposition of Judaeo-Christian notions upon Vaishnavism, such as the ‘ritvik’ idea of a truncated parampara, or the deification of an ordinary sannyasi as a moshiach (messiah). Splintering of a religious grouping is also exacerbated by poor spiritual leadership, sexual and financial scandals, poor governance and managerial ineptitude. ISKCON would be helped greatly by putting measures in place to prevent all of these. In addition, and because members of any group will periodically enter into conflict, the ISKCON machinery must allow room for overheated members to find their place, always using the oil of reason to reduce friction, and the water of understanding to cool things down.
Like the Vatican and its shepherding of a disparate flock of many-hued sheep, we may end up with several dozen ‘orders’ within the Hare Krishna movement, but at least they will be working under the same name and style. Theologies have a tendency of variation according to the very genuine physical needs and faith-levels of their proponents. As such, they won’t always mesh together, and practices may not always conform to strict orthopraxis, but splintering might be prevented, and we may all be spared the debilitation of any further reduction in size and influence. Splintering diminishes the strength of collegiate effort and repeated division is a scourge that ultimately ends in a loss of power and increased apathy. If people can be united to do good in the world it is helpful for everyone concerned.
So, was it church or chapel? It was chapel. Actually, to be more precise, it was both. I went to the Methodist chapel on Sunday where I enthusiastically sang Wesleyan hymns and learned the elements of faith free from unnecessary rituals, bell-ringing or stained glass, and then I went bell-ringing every Monday evening in the Church of the Holy Name, where I pulled thick, well-worn ropes beneath the bell tower to my heart’s content, sending loud, thunderous peals throughout the village.
All glories to Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu! All glories to Lord Nityānanda! All glories to Advaita Ācārya! And all glories to all the devotees of Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu! (CC Ādi 6.2) Read more ›
“Wherever we wander in the material universe under the influence of karma by the will of the Lord, may our auspicious activities cause our attraction to Lord Kṛṣṇa to increase.” (CC Ādi 6.61) Read more ›
All forms of incompleteness are experienced due to incomplete knowledge of the Complete Whole. The human form of life is a complete manifestation of the consciousness of the living being, and it is obtained after evolving through 8,400,000 species of life in the cycle of birth and death. If in this human life of full consciousness the living entity does not realize his completeness in relation to the Complete Whole, he loses the chance to realize his completeness and is again put into the evolutionary cycle by the law of material nature.
by Dhayalan Raj ISKCON Ipoh, Sri Gaura Purnima 2014, 6.30 pm onwards.
All are invited to celebrate the Appearance Day of Sri Chaitanya!
Bring along your family and friends.
Sumptuous pure vegetarian food(prasadam) provided♥
Please view the full gallery here: Sri Pancha-Tattva Maha-Abhishek 10th Installation anniversary of large size murtis of Sri Panca tattva in Mayapur was celebrated with great jubilation by offering a Maha Abhisheka to the Panca tattva deities. Around 10,000 devotees congregated in the holy dham Mayapur to take darshan of Maha abhisheka and in everyone’s […]
The Pancatattva Maha Abhishek was so sublime and wonderful - I was privileged to be one of the cameramen by the kind mercy of Prananatha Das prabhu to witness this once in a lifetime event! Please watch this video again and again so you may be encouraged to buy the original DVD and thus contribute to the completion of the Temple of Vedic Planetarium. Read more ›
Please view the fully gallery here: Siva Ratri Lord Siva is the topmost Vaisnava. In Navadvipa Mandala, Lord Siva is worshipped as shetrapala or guardian of the holy dhama. In Madhyadvipa, he performs the pastime of riding on the carrier of Brahma (Hamsa) to very quickly arrives to hear pastimes of Lord Caitanya. He is […]
1969 March 10:"Guru Krishna. Only by the mercy of the Spiritual Master and Krishna can one get Krishna Consciousness. Narada Muni is our Spiritual Master. He has dragged so many fallen souls to Krishna. We are also hoping to be dragged by Him through the disciplic succession." Prabhupada Letters :: 1969
1969 March 10: "Regarding Back To Godhead circulation, I shall be glad to know what is the decision of the National Distributer. If we can print 25,000 of BTG, and 5,000 copies each of my books, I think that will be sufficient engagement for the newly started press." Prabhupada Letters :: 1969
1969 March 10: "Submit us every month a list of 1,000 libraries. We shall dispatch free copies. And there are so many public libraries and university libraries who should receive them. So this business has to be organized and I hope you will do the needful." Prabhupada Letters :: 1969
Please view the full gallery here: Pada Yatra Returns Gallery The historical padayatra traveling san-kirtan party, which travels around India on only a simple bullock cart return to Mayapur last week. Once they neared the campus HH Lokanath Swami sat at the helm of the cart and ushered it into the campus. The party was […]
1970 March 10: "We accept both as incarnations of God; Lord Buddha appeared at Gaya in Behar, Lord Caitanya appeared at Navadvipa in Bengal. Now it is a great opportunity that one of my students has gone to your country to spread the gospel of Krishna Consciousness under superior order." Prabhupada Letters :: 1970
1970 March 10: "The richest nation in the world is producing a class of men completely confused and frustrated in life. I have dealt with them very intimately, and the cause of their unhappiness is not material want, but an insufficiency of spiritual comforts." Prabhupada Letters :: 1970
1971 March 10: "Dear Sri Birlaji, We have come from America with forty disciples and wish to stay at the Birla Guest House during Gaura Purnima. Unfortunately, Sri Bhakti Vilas Tirtha did not allow us. May you kindly ask him to do the needful." Prabhupada Letters :: 1971
1973 March 10: "He was engaged in working on our books. Such a talent is not so easily replaced, so we must try to bring him back to the standard for his own benefit." Prabhupada Letters :: 1973
1973 March 10: "I have no objection to your establishing a center but these matters I am leaving up to my GBC. The representative for your area is presently traveling with me as my secretary for one month. He will be returning soon and he can see you personally in the matter." Prabhupada Letters :: 1973
Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 10, No. 4 By Krishna-kripa das (February 2014, part two)
Gainesville, Alachua, Orlando, Dublin, Istanbul, Mumbai, Mayapur (Sent from Rishikesh, India, on March 10, 2014)
Where I Went and What I Did
I continued chanting at Krishna Lunch, chanting at the Farmers Market, teaching my weekly class on mantra meditation, and giving lectures at Gainesville’s Krishna House until February 20, when I took the Megabus to Orlando, where I chanted with Kishor Krishna Prabhu. I flew later that day from Orlando to Dublin by way of Philadelphia. There I chanted each day on the streets of that city, always with at least one friend, and one day we did a special nine-hour harinama. I flew to Mumbai on Turkish Airlines by way of Istanbul, where I had a nice conversation with a devotee in the airport. I spent the day in Mumbai at Chowpatty, hearing a couple kirtanas and lectures, and having three meals. At the end of the day, I took a 33-hour train to Mayapur, on which I had two kirtanas, the second attended by nine devotees. At Mayapur, the Kirtan Mela, which I will describe in the next issue, was just beginning, and my world harinama friends did harinama there.
I share quotes from the books and lectures of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, excerpts from the journal of Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami, and lectures from Rtadhvaja Swami in Gainesville and Alachua, Bhakti Purushottama Swami in Mayapur, senior devotees like Kalakantha Prabhu and Nanda Devi in Gainesville and a couple senior brahmacaris in Chowpatty.
Many thanks to Srikar Prabhu (Gainesville), Premarnava Prabhu (Dublin), Sundari Gopi dd (Gainesville), Uma dd (Tampa), and Bhakta Mike (West Virginia) for their kind donations, and to the devotees from Juhu for paying my way from Howrah to Mayapur.
Itinerary
March 6–13 - Rishikesh with Navina Nirada and Ekalavya Prabhus
March 14–20 - Delhi and Vrindavan March 23–24 - Kolkata with Hari Sauri Prabhu
March 25 - Mayapur
March 26–April 1 – Indian Padayatra
April 2–13 - Mayapur
April 15–16 - Mumbai
April 17–24 - Ireland April 25 - London
April 26 - King's Day, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
April 27–30 - The Netherlands
May–July (first two-thirds) – The North of England, Birmingham 24-hour kirtana, London Ratha-yatra, Stonehenge Solstice Festival
August (last third)–September (first half) – The North of England
September (rest) – New York
Mantra Meditation Class
I taught my mantra meditation class for five weeks. Twice no one showed up. One person came who had come to our Thursday introductory program at Krishna House, and one person who came to mantra meditation later came to our Wednesday introductory program on campus. Although no one came to the mantra meditation class twice, I saw two students the week after they came, and they said they were chanting 108 mantras every day or almost every day, and they both liked it. I hope they are able to continue with their interest in chanting Hare Krishna. It is the assurance of the Vedic scriptures and the saints in our tradition that simply by chanting names of the Lord, especially the Hare Krishna mantra, anyone can awaken one’s dormant love of God in this very life. Jaya Sri Vrinda dd, who came to my classes and is serious about perfecting her own chanting, will continue the class in my absence. She once taught four of her fellow law school students mantra meditation, feeling sorry seeing them so stressed out.
Chanting at Krishna Lunch
At the beginning of Krishna Lunch each day, before it got busy, many devotees would be able to chant with us.
Here Ambika leads, playing the harmonium, Tony plays the drum, and Damodar Prasad plays the karatalas. They all are the children of devotee parents, and they love kirtana. Ambika used to sing in a band and has a powerful voice. Prabhupada disciple, Satyahit Prabhu, plays djembe in back, and Mother Saci Kripa, visiting from Michigan plays tambourine.
Chanting at the Farmers Market
The last day before leaving Gainesville, eleven devotees came with me to chant at the Gainesville Farmers Market. A couple more devotees joined us there.
Sometimes we only get three or four devotees to come.
A girl about five years old played a maraca that Hladini gave her, initially playing nicely but later, smashing it into a rock wall in time with the music, thus breaking it.
An Afro-American guy asked to play the clay mridanga, but doubtful that he would handle it gently I gave him some shakers which he played smilingly.
A University of Florida girl was moving her hands in time with the music, so I gave her some shakers which she enjoyed playing.
A young man named Gopala from Alachua whose parents were devotees and who I knew years ago came by and chanted for some time. It is a nice feature of that harinama that devotees who visit the Farmers Market end up being drawn into the chanting.
At the end, we moved to the corner of the market when a band played on the stage, and we continued chanting. Some devotees talked of increasing their commitment to the Farmers Market harinama, which has resulted in at least one person becoming attracted to take up Krishna consciousness to the extent of attending programs and chanting Hare Krishna on beads.
Chanting in Orlando
Kishor Krishna Prabhu, who has assisted in college outreach over the years by chanting at campuses and doing vegetarian cooking classes for students, agreed to pick me up at the Megabus, drop me at the Orlando airport, and chant for a couple of hours in between. Originally we planned to chant at Valenica College, but Kishor had some paperwork to do for his car business as long as he was downtown, so we chanted for twenty minutes while Kishor was waiting for the paperwork to be complete. As we had little time, we decided to try other places downtown and on the way to the airport. Lake Eola seemed like a pleasant place, but there were too few people. Downtown was also pretty dead, We settled on chanting in front of the entrance to The Florida Mall Food Court, where there was an increasing number of people as lunch time was approaching and which is near the airport. We chanted there practically a whole hour, and no security personnel stopped us. One girl with her boyfriend took a video of us, and I gave her my Krishna.com business card so she could send it to us. Another young lady stood at the opened door of her shop watching us for ten minutes, and I also gave her a card. All together we distributed about ten cards which have the Krishna.com web site, the maha mantra, and my email, along with pictures of Lord Caitanya, Lord Nityananda, and Lord Krishna. We felt victorious as many people heard the holy name, we encountered no negativity, and we found a new venue to do harinama at.
Harinamas in Dublin
I chanted on harinama each day I was in Dublin, but could not do three hours the first day as my flight from Philadelphia was delayed by three hours, thus throwing off my schedule.
Premarnava Prabhu, wearing an orange dhoti in the pictures, really supported me in our nine-hour harinama on Saturday, also staying out about 8½ hours. Krishna blessed us in that it did not rain very much, and for that time of year, it was not too cold, with a high of 50º F (10º C). The wind was a little annoying sometimes, blowing at 24 mph (39 kph) continuously, with gusts much higher, but fortunately it was from the south. A bunch of young people danced with us, and many people took pictures and videos, and there were the usual smiles of approval and thumbs up gestures. The devotees had rented a hall for a nine-hour kirtana for the following Saturday, and thus we able to use our marathon harinama to pass out invitations to the next week’s marathon kirtana!
During the nine hours, seven men and four ladies participated for part of the time.
A new Indian girl, Puspa, also came out on harinama before the Sunday feast and stayed into the extra kirtana we had after the feast. On that harinama, a lady, perhaps in her 30s, tried singing along with us. I gave her a mantra card, and she happily sang for five minutes or so. She had been smoking a cigarette when she met us, and to facilitate her singing she threw it away. Then she mentioned to me that she always smokes them down till the end, but in this case, she threw it away when there was still a quarter of it left just to sing with us! She said she was homeless and that she once had eaten with us and the food was really good. We invited her to come for the Sunday feast which was just twenty minutes away, and she said she would, but unfortunately she got distracted. While she was singing with us, one atheistic man demanded to see God, and we tried to explain, as Srila Prabhupada often would, that one must be qualified to see God. The homeless lady joined the conversation, and continued our side of the argument with the man, as we moved over and kept on singing! Meeting that lady was one of those special encounters that makes harinamaalways an adventure.
Encounter in Istanbul
As I was having a dinner break in the Istanbul airport, I prayed to Krishna that if He wanted me to talk to anyone about His philosophy that He would have to send someone because I was inverted by nature and it was not likely to happen. Once when I was flying from Kiev to Delhi, I offered a similar prayer, and I had some good conversations, so I decided to do it again. As I was looking for my gate, a guy with gray hair smiled and said to me, “I remember you from Rishikesh last year.” I said, “Actually it was two years ago, and the devotees I was with are planning to go again this year, from March 4 to March 14.” He was from Coventry, England, and praised our temple there. He said his name was Gaura Hari, and he was in Vrindavana when Srila Prabhupada was there in the 1970s. He pointed to his luggage and said he had his younger brother’s ashes to places in the Ganges River, and how that was a very emotional experience for him. He told how his younger brother drank 3 or 4 bottles of wine a day, was a womanizer, and was into heavy metal music. Although only 49 years old, he felt some pain, went to the hospital for a check up, and never came out. He was yellow in color, his liver was beyond repair, and had only three days to live. Gaura Hari decided to make his younger brother’s passing as devotional as possible with a tape playing Prabhupada singing underneath his bed, and another one of Aindra Prabhu singing near his ear. He placed on his body an old garland from Shyamasundara in Vrindavan. Those were just some of the many arrangements that also included Ganges water from Gomukh, the very beginning of the river. After two days, his brother’s yellow color temporarily went away, and his brother sat up and embraced him, saying, “Hare Krishna, brother!” Those were his last words. Gaura Hari Prabhu had the Vaishnava song book and sang all the devotional songs from it that he knew. When his brother left his body on the third day, the room glowed a purple and orange color. At the funeral, all kinds of people we there, his heavy metal friends, the Salvation Army people, his drinking buddies, and some devotees. People played all kinds of music. Gaura Hari included George Harrison’s “My Sweet Lord” from the Bangladesh concert when he sings Hare Krishna at the end, and concluded the funeral with the Govinda prayers. Reflecting on the auspicious devotional elements present during his brother’s passing away and funeral, I told Gaura Hari Prabhu that such fortune was there because he had a devotee brother. It reminds me that Srila Prabhupada once said that the parents of the devotees will realize at the time of their deaths what great fortune it is to have a devotee child. We went on our separate ways, he to a flight to Delhi and me to a flight to Mumbai, but we may meet up again in Rishikesh when he arrives there on March 10, to put his brother’s ashes in the sacred Ganges. I got a sense that Gaura Hari Prabhu needed someone to share his struggle with and so Krishna arranged that I meet him at the Istanbul airport during our two-hour layover there.
Chanting on the Train
I had a couple nice experiences chanting on the Mumbai to Howrah mail train, while going to Mayapur for the Kirtan Mela, As it was Ekadasi and the entire day would be spent on the train, I decided to take advantage of my freedom from other engagements and chant sixty-four rounds. As I was recovering from several days of little sleep, two being overnight flights, I decided I would chant sixteen rounds and then take a nap, and continue in that way until I reached sixty-four. When I awoke after thirty-two rounds and two naps, it was 11:10 a.m., and the train was stopped. The noise of the vendors hawking, the people talking, and the kids crying was overwhelming. Although not half my trip was over, the cacaphony of mundane sound was intolerable, and so pulled out my harmonium, and started chanting Hare Krishna, still sitting in the upper berth where I had taken rest. Several people stared at me, but I did not care. I had tolerated hearing their sound for over half a day, now they would have to tolerate hearing mine. I was thinking of only chanting for ten minutes, but I felt refreshed hearing the transcendental sound, and it appeared that the objectionable noise around me had significantly diminished, so I had not the least inclination to stop chanting. I chanted until the train began moving, decreasing the number of vendors, and drowning out the other noise with its own. In the midst of my kirtana, an Indian man wearing neck beads and also going to Mayapur for the Kirtan Mela and Maha Abhiseka (the great bathing ceremony for Pancatattva deities installed 10 years ago) gave me a bag with four tangerines. Later a woman in his party offered me chapatis and a potato preparation, but I declined as it was Ekadasi, the day when we fast from grains. Had I not chanted, I would never have met these two people of a similar spiritual inclination.
During the long afternoon when I was working on chanting the remaining mantras on my beads, I spent much time near the open doors at the end of the carriage as fewer people were talking, it was cooler, and seeing the grassy landscape with sparse trees and the sky pacified my mind. A couple devotees from another carriage came through and invited me to visit them where they sat. I decided to come by just after the sun set, bring my harmonium, and propose that we sing our evening song called “Gaura Arati” together. When we were at one of the longer stops, at the city of Bilaspur, I decided to take a break from chanting on beads, and get my computer (so it did not get stolen) and harmonium, and sing outside my carriage until the train began to move. As evening was approaching I sang the evening tune. I met one of the devotees who invited me to visit them. He was chanting on his beads alongside the train, and said I would come by later and we could sing the “Gaura Arati.” Near my carriage, the vendors made such a racket I decided to stand outside the carriage of the other devotees and sing until the train moved. Then when I went inside to sing with the other devotees, I found that devotees sitting in three different parts of the train had gathered, and there were nine of us altogether! They said to sing Hare Krishna for ten minutes, and then sing the “Gaura Arati” song. I complied, although we usually do them in the opposite order. I was just happy that we were singing together somehow.
After I sang, four of the other eight devotees also sang, three of them also playing my idiosyncratic harmonium, and I sang once more at the end.
The kirtana lasted for an hour and twenty minutes with times of great intensity and spiritual emotion. I danced to the next-to-last song.
The uniformed Maharashtrian policeman sitting next to me began to sing along with the chanting, and he exchanged phone numbers with one of the devotees afterward.
One devotee sang a song about Lord Caitanya with the refrain “Pranami saci suta gaura varam.” I tried to follow it in their song book, but there were too few copies, and I could not read the Devanagari script upside down in the book across from me fast enough to sing along, so I just sang the words I could recognize.
It was powerful to be singing about Lord Caitanya with eight other devotees who were performing the austerity of taking a 33-hour train ride from Mumbai to Howrah, enroute to His glorious birthplace. I was happy that the Lord had brought us all together to sing for Him, and also to benefit everyone else in the carriage with the transcendental sound.
When we continued our journey on the local train to Nabadwip Dham, the Juhu brahmacari, Radhika Kanai Prabhu, sang along with me.
It is striking to me that even the Indian Railways acknowledges in their naming of the station Nabdwip Dham that it is a sacred place associated with the descent of the Lord in this world, by including the word dhama, or as pronounced in Bengali, dham, in its name. .
Harinama in Mayapur
Vishnujana Prabhu from Slovakia, Gaura Karuna Prabhu and Nrsimha Caitanya Prabhu from Czech Republic, Syama Ras Prabhu from Croatia, and Harinamananda Prabhu from Australia travel all over the world doing harinama. I had see them in London in June 2013 and Czech Republic in August 2013, and the end of February 2014 they came to Mayapur to do harinama in the holy dhama. Every day, usually about 4:30 p.m. they would gather near the end of Chakra Bhavan (the long building) where three paths interact and do harinama around our Mayapur campus for a couple of hours.
Vishnujana Prabhu appealed to the crowd to participate.
Then when the devotees would dance in a circle, Indian pilgrims would join in.
The ladies also got into dancing.
Gopinath Prabhu from Finland would play his bass guitar along with the party.
Other people came by and played their own percussion instruments.
Once two elephants passed our party, something that does not happen every day.
Lots of the Indian visitors would be happy to see and hear our party, and even to dance with us.
Odd Sights from the Train
In India, you see things you do not see other places. The spiritual world in the Vedic literature is called Vaikuntha in Sanskrit, which means a place of no anxieties, unlike any place in this world. In modern Indian languages this is transformed to Baikunth, and so it was humorous for me to see this sign from the train. It does not look like the spiritual world to me!!!
In the West you see people with different colors of hair, but I never saw anyone with a beard dyed orange before.
from a lecture given in Los Angeles on February 7, 1969 on Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura’s Appearance Day:
People are becoming Krishna conscious by the grace of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Anyone can take to this movement. It is not as hopeless as I originally thought.
If we struggle hard to spread this movement, even if we do not get any followers, Krishna will be satisfied, and our aim is to satisfy Krishna.
Nothing is stopped, it is just purified.
from a lecture given in Gorakhpur, India, on February 15, 1971, on Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura’s Appearance Day:
Except the devotee of Krishna, everyone is simply giving trouble to Krishna.
For the purpose of inducing people to become Krishna conscious, you can make your plan, for that is Krishna’s plan.
It is the appearance day of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, and we should honor the tithi [lunar day] very respectfully. We can pray to him, “We are engaged in your service, give us strength, give us intelligence, we are being guided by your servant.”
It is my duty to honor his appearance, but I am doing it with my entire spiritual family.
The feast should have at least four items, puri, halava, vegetable, and chutney.
[Srila Prabhupada approved the feast being in the evening, but the puspajali (offering of flower petals)should be at noon.]
from a class on Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.3.1–3 on March 28, 1968, given San Francisco:
“Suppose a foolish boy is trying to touch fire. Father says, ‘Don’t do it.’ In spite of that, if the foolish boy does it, his hand is burned. So father is not responsible. He says, ‘Don’t do it.’ But the child does it out of ignorance and suffers. Similarly the sanction of God is there as we persist on it. ‘I want this. I want this.’ As a child sometimes cries and the mother is obliged to sanction, similarly, God is very kind. If we persist on doing something, He gives us sanction. But the result you have to suffer or enjoy.”
“So they have no sufficient reason [to say] that there is no creator. In everything, we find there is a creator. Anything you take. Take for example this table. There is a creator. Somebody has manufactured it. Or this microphone, somebody has created it. Anything you take, you have to find out some creator. And such a vast, gigantic thing [as this universe], going on so nicely and punctually... The sun is rising punctually, the moon is rising punctually, the fortnight is going on, the season is coming punctually – everything. Why there should be no creator or no superintendent?”
“Just like in the Bible it is said ‘God said, “Let there be creation.”’ That means before the creation, before this material creation, God was there. . . . There was nothing material. Therefore, God’s body cannot be material, because He existed before the creation of matter. So before creation of matter, there was nothing like matter, though God was there. Therefore conclusion is that God has no material body. He spoke, ‘Let there be creation.’ ‘He spoke’ means He’s a person; otherwise how He can speak? But His personality is not material, because when He spoke there was no material creation.”
from Srimad-Bhagavatam 7.6.19, purport:
“The Supreme Lord, Narayana, is the seed-giving father of all living entities because the living entities are parts and parcels of the Supreme Lord. . . . As there is no difficulty in establishing the intimate relationship between a father and son, there is no difficulty in reestablishing the natural, intimate relationship between Narayana and the living entities.”
“ . . . if one performs even very slight devotional service, Narayana is always ready to save one from the greatest danger. The definite example is Ajamila. Ajamila separated himself from the Supreme Personality of Godhead by performing many sinful activities and was condemned by Yamaraja to be very severely punished, but because at the time of death he chanted the name of Narayana, although he was calling not for the Supreme Lord Narayana but for his son named Narayana, he was saved from the hands of Yamaraja. Therefore, pleasing Narayana does not require as much endeavor as pleasing one’s family, community and nation. We have seen important political leaders killed for a slight discrepancy in their behavior. Therefore pleasing one’s society, family, community and nation is extremely difficult. Pleasing Narayana, however, is not at all difficult; it is very easy.”
“If one wants to derive the actual benefit from this human form, he must take to the chanting of the holy name of the Lord.”
from Srimad-Bhagavatam 7.6.24, purport:
“If one sincerely tries his best to spread Krishna consciousness by preaching the glories of the Lord and His supremacy, even if he is imperfectly educated, he becomes the dearmost servant of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is bhakti. As one performs this service for humanity, without discrimination between friends and enemies, the Lord becomes satisfied, and the mission of one’s life is fulfilled. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu therefore advised everyone to become a guru-devotee and preach Krishna consciousness (yare dekha, tare kaha ‘krishna’-upadesa [Sri Caitanya-caitamrita, Madhya 7.128]). That is the easiest way to realize the Supreme Personality of Godhead. By such preaching, the preacher becomes satisfied, and those to whom he preaches are also satisfied. This is the process of bringing peace and tranquility to the entire world.”
from The Nectar of Devotion, Chapter 11:
“A similar statement is there in the Eleventh Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam, Second Chapter, verse 53, where Havi, the son of King Rsabha, addresses Maharaja Nimi: ‘My dear King, a person who never deviates even for a moment from engagement in service at the lotus feet of the Supreme Person (engagement which is sought even by great demigods like Indra), with firm conviction that there is nothing more worshipable or desirable than this, is called the first-class devotee.’”
“In the Hari-bhakti-vilasa there is the following statement about self-surrender: ‘My dear Lord, a person who has surrendered himself unto You, who is in firm conviction that he is Yours, and who actually acts in that way by his body, mind and words, can actually relish transcendental bliss.’”
from a lecture on Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.2.22 given in Los Angeles on August 25, 1972:
We must have no doubts about Krishna, and that state can be achieved by bhakti, devotional service.
Krishna is always ready to help us, and if Krishna is helping us, it is very easy to understand Him.
from The Nectar of Devotion, Chapter 12:
“A similar statement is in the Third Canto, Seventh Chapter, verse 19, of Srimad-Bhagavatam: ‘Let me become a sincere servant of the devotees, because by serving them one can achieve unalloyed devotional service unto the lotus feet of the Lord. The service of devotees diminishes all miserable material conditions and develops within one a deep devotional love for the Supreme Personality of Godhead.’”
“It is said in the Adi Purana,‘A person who is constantly engaged in chanting the holy name and who feels transcendental pleasure, being engaged in devotional service, is certainly awarded the facilities of devotional service and is never given just mukti[liberation].’’”
“In the beginning at 26 Second Avenue no one danced during the kirtanas. Then one night a young man named Bob Lefkowitz stood up to dance. His pants were low on his hips, and I thought he danced in an egotistical and erotic way. I didn’t like it, but Swamiji looked at him approvingly and smiled.
Soon after that, Swamiji taught us the “swami step,” a sedate movement where you held your arms in the air and took small steps. We all began doing it in the temple. Over the years, the dancing grew more vigorous and even rowdy. Almost without exception, Prabhupada approved. He just wanted to see the devotees’ enthusiasm.”
Rtadhvaja Swami:
When I was dealing with the AT&T customer service representative, after answering my initial question my phone, she asked if I had any more questions. I said, “I do have a question that is troubling me. Now I have a 61 year old body, but I remember when I had a 6 year old body. I guess that means I am the consciousness that has experienced different bodies. There must be a supreme consciousness beyond this, and I am wondering how to connect with that.” She replied that is the most amazing thing that she had ever heard, but she agreed about the point of changing bodies, saying that it was also her experience.
Time is unique because although always goes the same speed, sometimes it seems to be going faster and sometimes it seems to be going slower.
On a recorded lecture Srila Prabhupada says preliminary old age occurs at forty, and old age sets in at fifty.
The materialist thinks, “how can I take the fruits of my activities and enjoy sense gratification?” while a devotee thinks, “how can I engage the fruits of my work in Krishna’s service?”
The knower of the Absolute Truth is convinced about his awkward position in this world. By awkward I mean unstable. Thus he does everything as an offering to Krishna to become disentangled.
By positively engaging in devotional service, we become detached. Slowly but surely the higher taste comes, but it takes effort, it takes practice.
The devotee is not disturbed by the actions and reaction of material nature as they are under the control of Krishna.
When asked the vision of the pure devotee, Srila Prabhupada explained, “The devotee sees everything and controlled by Krishna.”
Once on our trip, one of the boys stole a candy bar. The next time we stopped at Sam’s Club, we got three cartloads of food for the boys, and I told them to bypass the cash register, and go straight to the car. They said, “Maharaja, you cannot go out with three cartloads of food and not pay.” I replied, “Well, that is your philosophy.” They responded, “Maharaja, there is a difference between a candy bar and three cartloads of food!”
If you go to the movies it is maya[illusion], and if you like it, it is more maya.
Krishna says of fish I am the shark, but that does meant Jaws is a bona fide movie.
Answer to a question: If you want to make a movie about Bhakti Tirtha Swami, that is a good thing, but better you exhaust other methods of learning movie skills before watching materialistic movies.
To be not disturbed in any circumstances is a very elevated position. This means the mind is never deviated from Krishna even in midst of the greatest difficulties.
If a devotees cuts his finger in the kitchen while chopping vegetables, he thinks that he should have cut his head but instead he just cut his finger.
To overendeavor is not recommended by Rupa Goswami, and someone once asked me, “How I know if I am overendeavoring?”
I replied, “If you are not getting your sixteen rounds done, then you are overendeavoring.”
Envy means you have something I don’t have, and I think I should have it.
At the end of my involvement with the hippie movement, I realized we were attached to our hippie attire and our hippie lifestyle as much as the businessmen were attached to their formal dress and their businessman lifestyle.
We fast till dusk on Nrsimha Caturdasi, but actually Nrsimhadeva appeared at noon.
I was teaching verses to my thirteen boys in Mayapur. One [Bg. 2.14] was about the need to tolerate happiness and distress. I asked the boys to give an example when they tolerated happiness or distress. They all gave examples of tolerating distress. I said, “Something is wrong here. Can anyone understand what it is?” After ten minutes of guessing, one boy realized no one gave an example of tolerating happiness.
Srila Prabhupada advised the devotees, “No matter how intolerable it becomes, just tolerate it.”
Our senses may be attracted to something, but we do not make any endeavor to go for it.
A devotee may take a risk for Krishna, but he is not attached to the result.
Srila Prabhupada said that each day in Vrindavan there was a demon killing ceremony by Krishna.
We make a plan, but we are not dependent on our plan. We roll with the punches.
One must be an honest practitioner of Krishna consciousness, both materially and spiritually.
Prahladananda Swami:
from a conversation in Mayapur:
Me: I am still ecstatic that you came out to join our harinama [public chanting] party in New York City.
Prahladananda Swami: I am ecstatic that I came out to join your harinama party in New York City!
Bhakti Purusottama Swami:
The Srimad-Bhagavatam stresses the nine items of devotional service to the Supreme Lord. The best of these is the congregational chanting of the holy name of the Lord.
Although the Bhagavatam comes from the Vedas, it gives what the Vedas cannot give.
Greater even than this bhagavata-dharma is the yuga dharma preached by Lord Caitanya which is the congregational chanting of the holy name and which results in Krishna-prema.
96% of the Vedas is karma kanda, 4% is jnana kanda. Bhakti is rarely mentioned.
Krishna could have said, “Abandon all varieties of irreligion (adharma) and surrender to Me,” but He did not. He said, “Abandon all varieties of religion (dharma) and surrender to Me,” What dharma did Krishna speak of abandoning? Dharma [mundane religiosity], artha[economic development], kama [sense gratification], and moksa[liberation]. [These are the four traditional goals of life.] This is also what the Bhagavatam speaks of rejecting.
Bhagavatam teaches prema-bhakti which enables one to understand God as God. Lord Caitanya taught a prema-bhakti in which one does not understand God as God but rather as one’s intimate friend, lover, etc.
The name of the Lord gives liberation but the Hare Krishna maha-mantra as taught Lord Caitanya gives this supreme prema-bhakti. The holy name is not just meant to eliminate sinful reactions.
When we chant Hare Krishna, we are not just giving up our sinful reactions but giving up our pious reactions as well. We cannot attain Krishna-prema until we are free from all reactions.
Kali-yuga is so bad that Lord thinks the people are too fallen for Him to deliver. Who is more merciful than the Lord Himself? His holy name. Thus it is said that the Lord appears in Kali-yuga in the form of His holy name.
Businessman means busy – too busy to have time for spiritual activities. Narada asked one businessman to engage in spiritual activities, but he said he had no time. Narada advised him, “When you are going to the toilet, chant “Rama, Rama, Rama.” The businessman was happy he could do something spiritual and not take time out of his life, so everyday he happily chanted “Rama” in the toilet room. Hanuman heard the chanting of “Rama, Rama, Rama” coming from the house and became attracted. He looked all over, and found the man was chanting in the toilet. He became angry that this man was chanting of his glorious Lord in the toilet of all places, and when the man came out, he criticized him and slapped him. When Hanuman next saw Lord Rama, His face was swollen, and Hanuman was outraged to see that. “I will kill the offender,” he told Lord Rama. “You are the offender!” Rama replied. “How is that?” Hanuman asked in surprised. Rama replied, “You slapped the face of the man who was chanting My name, and Me and My name are not different!”
We are always saying that chanting the holy name is so glorious, but alas, we are often absorbed in so many other activities we do not chant the holy name.
Lord Caitanya is running after us saying, “Take this Krishna-prema.”
We say that we do not need anything but the holy name, and these Kirtan Melas are an opportunity for us to realize this.
Kalakantha Prabhu:
Once the devotee scientists in Bhaktivedanta Institute engaged a scholar in studying the cosmology given in the Srimad-Bhagavatam and Sri Caitanya-caritamrita. The scholar seriously studied it and found that he was not able to disprove it, but because he could not prove it, he did not personally accept it.
There is one question which the scientists’ explanation of the universe and the Biblical creation story do not answer, but which the Vedic cosmology can answer, and that question is “Why?”
There are departments of knowledge that deal with the different elements:
Earth – geology
Water – hydrology
Fire – chemistry
Air – meteorology
Ether – physics
Mind – psychology
Intelligence – philosophy
False ego – the spiritual science
comment by Damodar Prasad: Srila Prabhupada would say that we accept the scientific knowledge that we cannot personally verify so why can we not accept spiritual truth that we cannot yet verify.
When you think about it, the theory that monkeys morphed into human beings is also a fantastic theory which cannot be demonstrated.
Both in Vedic knowledge and modern science we accept fantastic ideas as facts because there are many truths in both systems of knowledge that we can verify by experience or experiment.
My friends were asking themselves the question, “What would you like to change in your life over the next ten years?” I considered it and thought that I hope that nothing in my life changes in the next ten years. This is because of your association [the enthusiastic devotees at Gainesville’s Krishna House].
comment by Clayton: As time goes on, being engaged devotional service you come to realize that serving the devotees that you are with everyday is the way you are going to serve Srila Prabhupada.
comment by Damodar: It is said that in the churning of the milk ocean pastime the demigods and the demons were all in the same place and endeavoring for the same end, but because the demigods took shelter of the Supreme Lord they came out successful.
Nanda Devi:
Srila Prabhupada is both logical and faithful. Sukadeva, as a learned scholar, would not insert mythology into his presentation of spiritual knowledge.
There is such variety in the Vedas so whoever you are, there is something to elevate you to a higher level.
The essence of the Vedic knowledge is to understand the body is a temporary vehicle and the soul must contact the Supersoul.
The Lord is always protecting us, and the more we see this, the more we can appreciate ourselves as being tiny dependent parts of the Lord.
Everything was originally unclear in the darkness, but after Brahma’s penance, although his environment remained the same, by Krishna’s grace he could then actually see how things were situated.
In other religions and other philosophies we do not find such a vast description of the Lord’s glories.
Tara Prabhu:
from a conversation at Mayapur Kirtan Mela:
Ramanujacarya has said that even if one cannot do any other good deeds, if one can simply sit in the association of the devotees of the Lord, he will become eligible for all auspiciousness.
Syamananda Prabhu (Chowpatty):
Krishna and Balarama reveal their forms as the Lord of Vaikuntha and Ananta Sesa to show that it is possible for people to see God.
Srila Prabhupada would make the point, “Why are you so concerned about seeing God? You can taste God.”
Srila Prabhupada’s morning program has something to capture all the senses. One devotee said when he first heard the conch shell it effected his mind. Another said it was being sprinkled by the water offered to the Deity.
The mind is like a parachute. It works only when it is open.
One senior devotee was asked how should we respond when the deity curtain opens, and we see the Lord. He replied that ideally we should faint.
Upavasa, or fasting, is so called because it is meant to bring us closer to God.
Upanishadic texts are meant to bring us closer to God.
I am happy that Krishna left Gokula Vrindavan because without His leaving there would be no Bhagavad-gita.
Krishna likes to be called Gopinatha because it reminds Him of the gopis’ devotion. Calling him the master of the modes of material, although certainly true, does not give Him so much pleasure.
Liberation means giving up all other designations.
Syamananda Prabhu (Dublin):
from a conversation in Dublin temple:
Our philosophy is that our relationships in this world are temporary, but our culture is to love as though they were not.
Gauranga Priya Prabhu (Chowpatty):
In the mode of ignorance, one is so absorbed in his work, he cannot see the reality.
If after working, we suffer, we were working in the mode of passion. If after working we are peaceful and happy, we were working in the mode of goodness.
Srila Prabhupada’s instructions disinfect us from material infection.
We may be very enthusiastic to serve the guru, but if the results of our endeavor are full of suffering then our action was contaminated by the mode of passion.
To not be agitated either by not achieving happiness or by achieving unhappiness, is a great idea, and it is possible by linking our actions with Krishna.
Hladini dd:
from a comment during my class:
Tulasirani dd always tries to engage the people in service. Once time at the University of North Florida she talked to a girl for sometime, but the girl showed no interest in attending our Krishna Club there. The girl then helped Tulasirani by holding the door open while she carried supplies into the building for our club meeting. Later Tulasirani and I were distributing books door-to-door, and we met that same girl again. This time she showed surprising interest in both the books and our club, purchasing a book and then coming to our Krishna Club meetings. We both felt it was because the girl voluntarily helped Tulasirani that Krishna inspired her with greater interest in spiritual life.
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Seeing the Panca-tattva in both Dublin and Mayapur, I was remembering the verses below and related verses in that section of Sri Caitanya-caritamrita which describe their merciful mood and mission:
sei panca-tattva mili’ prithivi asiya
purva-premabhandarera mudra ughadiya
pance mili’ lute prema, kare asvadana
yata yata piye, trishna badhe anukshana
punah punah piyaiya haya mahamatta nace,
kande, hase, gaya, yaiche mada-matta
patrapatra-vicara nahi, nahi sthanasthana
yei yanha paya, tanha kare prema-dana
“The characteristics of Krishna are understood to be a storehouse of transcendental love. Although that storehouse of love certainly came with Krishna when He was present, it was sealed. But when Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu came with His associates of the Panca-tattva, they broke the seal and plundered the storehouse to taste transcendental love of Krishna. The more they tasted it, the more their thirst for it grew. Sri Panca-tattva themselves danced again and again and thus made it easier to drink nectarean love of Godhead. They danced, cried, laughed and chanted like madmen, and in this way they distributed love of Godhead. In distributing love of Godhead, Caitanya Mahaprabhu and His associates did not consider who was a fit candidate and who was not, nor where such distribution should or should not take place. They made no conditions. Wherever they got the opportunity, the members of the Panca-tattva distributed love of Godhead.” (Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, Adi 7.21–23)
Indradyumna Swami: The Laddu Mar festival takes place a day before the famous Holi festival at Varsana. The residents of Varsana have great fun throwing laddu sweets at each other from balconies, rooftops and inside the temples. Unknown to us, they also begin throwing coloured dyes and liquids in preparation for Holi. Thus while attending the Laddu Mar festival we unexpectedly met face to face with a variety of blue, green, yellow and red powders! Read more ›
I took my first trek since returning from India. So I went down Yonge Street near Dundas Street, a black chap held a stack of publications in one arm. It is entitled, “Black Heroes”. I justified not taking one as he extended one issue with his free hand.
“No thanks,” I said. No racism intended. In my mind I had three justifications. In the first place, I carried no money to pay for the publication. Number two, I was really needing to concentrate on japa meditation without major breaks. Lastly, I already have the black hero in my life – Krishna. I did not voice my simple concerns to him even though he demandingly responded with a, “Why not?”
The next person I took particular note of on the street was talking, but to no particular individual. Paradoxically, he was speaking to everyone who passed by him. His message was about Jesus. I could see he was attracting no audience, and that should have no bearing on the personality Jesus himself. It just appeared to be a gospel that’s been spoken many times over, so people had heard it before.
The third person to speak to me directly was a woman appealing for change. She was nice about it when I smiled and nodded, “No.” I could actually hear her smile as I passed by and she remarked, “Well, maybe next time.” She was most self-reassuring.
It was nighttime and moving into the morning when I took this much needed trek. I was addressing the jet lag syndrome chanting my japa. Being awake to the non-worldly matters, I realized I was on another continent again, with different people, who have the same kinds of needs as on other continents and in other spheres.
Maha Mantra and I were moving with the speed of wind between airports. First of all, the road from Mayapur to Kolkata is always a rough one, full of potholes and crazy traffic. I will always love India for its people and its spirituality, but not its systems or lack of.
Delhi’s airport is world class, but not its air, it’s hot and stuffy. You wonder why you call it an airport. Our flights are on Jet Airways. Maha Mantra and I managed to maintain a relative spiritual program on and off board. It consists of a look at verses from the Gita. We discuss. We chant the song, Guruvastakam, in appreciation of the guru, right there in the airport in Brussels. Of course, I also get a chance to contribute to this blog. Some much needed dozing also happens to take place. Then, Maha Mantra, being the disciplinarian and monk that he has been, asked me if there was anything I thought would be appropriate for him to watch on the televised screen in front of his seat. Surely, I did my homework and gave my honest assessment. I thought that the only good learning, near enlightening, or historic subject matter, would be a choice of films, “Lincoln”, or “The Butler”.
From Brussels to Toronto we experienced so little turbulence in the air. The main turbulence would likely be that of mind. As you may be aware, the Gita states that the wind is easier to harness than the mind.
A word about that – the mind – is that it is the role played by my associate, Maha Mantra, in our Gita production. He did splendid playing that sporadic character. I am grateful to him for being with me in the travels and in the productions.
I’m also happy about the pilgrimage to India. I already expressed my likes and dislikes. In it all, we are supposed to have the vision that God should be seen in all circumstances. When there is a little bit less favourable circumstance, then it should always turn into an opportunity.
In landing at Toronto Airport, with a zero Celsius degrees, both Maha Mantra and I took a breath of that air, once the doors opened for us at the parking lot. Personally, I see God in the form of fresh air, one of multiple manifestations.
A cow patty fell off the side of the village wall as we trekked by. It got my attention. The balance of the wall is perfectly populated with this stuff – round finger printed patties stuck to the brick. They were getting dried by the sun, and just one lost its sticking power.
Cow patties are an excellent source of fuel. They are there for the taking, free of charge. The generous cow or bull leaves her or his earthy feces on the ground for people to do something smart with. You have to be a little daring though. It’s a hands on situation, and some patience is required to allow for drying time. Somebody is doing a good job at gathering the stuff around here. I can’t find fresh plops even if I were to take up the mission to secure even one.
After the morning walk our small crew went to Radha Bhavan, the actual home of a gracious family from Poland. Mahasringa, the man of the house, is the epitome of kindness. He took us up to the roof of his home for a small ceremony, and for a talk that I was to give to a small group. In the center of the flat roof, and under the sunshine, was a havan kund, a small fire arena. There in its center was about six cow dung patties with a sprinkled amount of camphor on top of that, it made for a modest flame. Mantras were to commence after I spoke a few words from the Gita, 2.57. It’s a great verse:
“In the material world, one who is unaffected by whatever good or evil he may obtain, neither praising it nor despising it, is firmly fixed in perfect knowledge.”
The message was liked by all because it was geared toward the young man from Switzerland taking his second diksa (initiation). Receiving this honour means that you endeavour to increase your application of wisdom. To a large extent it also means to be level headed and to maintain one’s equilibrium as much as possible. You enhance your consciousness.
As a small fire was burning with its foundational fuel, the cow dung, mantras were recited by the presiding Brahman (priest). Grains were tossed into the flame. He had just about all the ingredients there to perform a perfect spiritual ceremony.
It also made for a perfect last event before leaving the great retreat in Mayapur. It all ended with some cow dung.
“I cannot walk with you today,” said Praveen. He is a local person and I’ve known him for a good 15 years or so. I was with a Russian devotee, and we were just turning a corner onto Tarumpura Road, toward the Jalangi River, when Praveen expressed that he can’t join us as he did the other day. He felt unworthy, as he put it, “I didn’t take bath yet today.” He made further remarks that emerged from the low self esteem platform, “I’m no good.”
Praveen looked disheveled. His dentures are deteriorated, stained yellow and brown. In the past when I would meet him on the Tarumpura Road, I would give him an embrace, but I could see he was not in the mood to receive. He looked intoxicated. Being pious, believing in God, and what is generally dharmic(moral), he felt rather guilty being in our presence. He knows what it means to greet or be greeted by a monk. It is a deeply engrained element in the psyche of people who hail from the land of dharma, India. That’s why he spoke with an outburst, “Maharaja,” he said out of reverence.
He stood there, humbled, and the only thing I could do for the moment was to cheer him up and let him know he’s not a bad person.
“Do put your faith in Krishna, He’s always there to help. By the way, please come to see our play, ‘Little Big Ramayan’. It will be held at the Samadhi Auditorium.”
There’s always the obligation when meeting someone to give them hope. I saw him get a little excited. So we went on our way. I did not see Praveen at our show, but I trust that he will be there in the future. I pray for him.
“My dear, Krishna, please watch over Praveen who is struggling and having a dark hour. Please help him to overcome habits he’s not pleased with. May his devotional sentiments overshadow his weaknesses.”
I was dozing during a meeting. It’s not that the topic was boring, in fact, it was a discussion group that went up to the front of our conference room to address the milk controversy – ahimsa milk, which is milk from a non violent source, versus store bought milk. The topic should be interesting.
Physically, psychologically, I struggle with long sit down sessions. I need to move. I get antsy. One of my monastic brothers came to save me from the embarrassment of being noticed in my drowsiness.
Lokanath Swami needed someone to join him in a ceremony honouring an anniversary of 25 years of padayatrapilgrimage throughout India involving bullock cart, deities, and people on foot. He got the permission, green light, for me to have an hour leave of absence granted by the conveners of the meeting. It’s nice to know that the cause of kirtan (chanting) in procession with pilgrims is so much supported by the powers that be. Once I descended down the stairs, I got my feet to the ground and to the starting point of a chanting session. Traffic was halted, some of which were buses, cars, scooters, and even tractors. Finally, our procession moved on and traffic was freed up. It was a one kilometre long procession, and it was given priority. I took the lead on singing while eager young men danced and pranced to the sound of mantra. It was a resounding sound. Sound speakers were plenty. Drums, mridangasand djembes, were in full force. Karatalas (hand cymbals) were clanging in full volume.
I was awake, very much so. I took a dose of the ultimate panacea, chanting and walking, and it did the trick once again. The dose got me out of the doze.
One of my female students came up to me and said, “Guru Maharaja, I had a strange dream last night. It was about you and I was in it.”
“What did you dream?”
“Well, in the dream, you asked me to be a sacrifice for a dragon, so I was offered to the fiery mouth of the beast.”
I was humoured by this ethereal scenario, and I guess, touched by the fact that she, the dreamer, would be so candid to tell me about this. She did not ask for an interpretation of the dream or an inner meaning, yet I decided I would offer some comment.
We both agreed it was rather a silly conjuration. First of all, I had expressed that we are of the passive kind. I would in real life never suggest the gesture of human sacrifice. And entering into the flames of a dragon’s mouth? That would be out of the question. As devotional people, we offer ourselves into the fire of devotional service.
In general, you can’t take dreams too seriously as they are merely a conglomerate of impressions that may not normally be related to one another. Life is but a dream, and I would say most emphatically, “The only reality is service.” I can say what isn’t reality, and that is the world in which we live. This world is dream like, but we mistake it for truth.
When I became a monk back in the spring of ’73, I cut myself off from gross sense gratification. I made a commitment, I’ll not go back to that illusion. I will confess to some day dreaming at times, and those dreams can be outrageously nonsensical. So I reiterate, “Reality lies in service to others.” And this is when our hearts are the softest, when our brain is sharpest, and mind is cleanest.
The big reality for me today was service to Krishna in the form of uttering his name on that quiet trail running along the Jalungi River. It was absolutely relishable.
The Laddu Mar festival takes place a day before the famous Holi festival at Varsana. The residents of Varsana have great fun throwing laddu sweets at each other from balconies, rooftops and inside the temples. Unknown to us, they also begin throwing coloured dyes and liquids in preparation for Holi. Thus while attending the Laddu [...]
All glories to Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu! All glories to Lord Nityānanda! All glories to Advaita Ācārya! And all glories to all the devotees of Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu! (CC Ādi 6.2) 
“Wherever we wander in the material universe under the influence of karma by the will of the Lord, may our auspicious activities cause our attraction to Lord Kṛṣṇa to increase.” (CC Ādi 6.61) 
The Pancatattva Maha Abhishek was so sublime and wonderful - I was privileged to be one of the cameramen by the kind mercy of Prananatha Das prabhu to witness this once in a lifetime event! Please watch this video again and again so you may be encouraged to buy the original DVD and thus contribute to the completion of the Temple of Vedic Planetarium. 
Indradyumna Swami: The Laddu Mar festival takes place a day before the famous Holi festival at Varsana. The residents of Varsana have great fun throwing laddu sweets at each other from balconies, rooftops and inside the temples. Unknown to us, they also begin throwing coloured dyes and liquids in preparation for Holi. Thus while attending the Laddu Mar festival we unexpectedly met face to face with a variety of blue, green, yellow and red powders!