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[February 12th was my 45th anniversary of moving into the temple as a single monastic (brahmacari) and officially taking up the process of bhakti, or pure devotional service. To honor my spiritual journey on the way to Krishna, I thought I would repost this 5 part series about my life before taking up Krishna consciousness and how it led to my existential crisis and spiritual search. Since these are blogs, I have greatly condensed the material.] Pattrica Ann Bailey stared mindlessly at the passing scenery as she sat in the moving train. She felt relaxed and glad to be away from Chicago and what seemed like a fixed future. In fact, the more miles away from the “Windy City,” the better she felt. While a fiercely independent and critically intelligent young woman, she couldn’t stand up to her mother Peg—still, after all these years! Patt (with two t’s please) had joined the Navy during the Second World War to escape her mom’s watchful eye, and even married, but then, after only a year she had to get a divorce. Her—now X—husband shocked her by revealing that he liked men better than girls and had no feelings for her. Thus, she was forced to return home in shame.

Although she had a very high IQ, Patt could be impulsive and over emotional at times. Thus her mom had never quite trusted her decisions, and was worried about her future. To “help” her daughter make a better choice in picking men, she invited a good looking, wealthy, navy captain over for dinner. He was nice enough Patt had thought at first and so they began dating. Before she knew it she was engaged, which she had agreed to do at the insistence of her mom. And the major problem was not only that she didn’t love him, but as she shared years later, “He was boooor-iiiiiing,” and Patt had a weakness for exciting men and doing fun things her mother didn’t approve of.

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“The life of contemplation in action and purity of heart is, then, a life of great
simplicity and inner liberty. One is not seeking anything special or demanding any
particular satisfaction. One is content with what is.”

Thomas Merton. The Inner Experience: Notes on Contemplation. William H. Shannon,
editor (San Francisco: Harper San Francisco, 2003): 66.

” Materially, everyone wants to satisfy his senses, and he wants God to be the order supplier for such satisfaction. The Lord will satisfy the senses of the living entities as much as they deserve, but not to the extent that they may covet. But when one takes the opposite way — namely, when one tries to satisfy the senses of Govinda without desiring to satisfy one’s own senses — then by the grace of Govinda all desires of the living entity are satisfied.”

Bhagavad Gita 1 32-35

If Vrindavana, whose great splendor eclipses the shining of millions of suns, moons, fires and lighting flashes, once shines in the heart, then the desire for wealth and a host of material benefits will not enter.

[Source : Nectarean Glories of Sri Vrindavana-dhama by Srila Prabodhananda Sarasvati Thakura, 1-37 Translation ]

Please click here for more photos

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 2011, Prague, Czech Republic, Lecture)

When we are going through some very difficult situation in the material world, then we can really remember that this is not very nice place and we become fixed to going back to Godhead, “Yes, I am ready, I really want that now.”

However, one can only sustain the desire for going back to Godhead by being attracted to serving Krsna. Attraction to Krsna must manifest in attraction to serving Krsna.

If we are simply inactive and we appreciate Krsna’s glories then we are in santa rasa (neutrality). Prabhupada said the santa rasa is almost impersonalism therefore one must at least become dasyam (servitor), and engaged in service. We must take up some service for Krsna.

Whatever that service may be, one must take that very serious, “This service, I am doing for Krsna.” If we have service then we have spiritual life, then our attraction to Krsna will also develop. As a consequence of that service, we will also start to appreciate the name, fame and qualities of Krsna.

Our connection is the service.  When we forget to take on some practical service and we try to go into deep meditation of Krsna, it will not work.

It is service that is our saving grace. It is through that service that Krsna is saving us, by his mercy. 

Written and posted by Dhirabhakta Das on behalf of Vicaru Prabhu using a small outline sent:

Vicaru Das
Bhaktivadanta Manor
UK

It is always amazing to be given the opportunity to be a part of a traveling sankirtan book distribution marathon team.

Myself, Sutapa Das and Gurudas Das travelled the length and breath of the UK: Sheffield, Manchester, Durham, Sunderland, Ipswich, Norwich, Bury St Adman and Lincoln.

Distributing Srila Prabhupada’s books in the severe cold, freezing rain and wind was at time’s very difficult especially as few wanted to stop and talk, but despite this Sri Caitanya’s sankirtan movement pushed on in their mission to distribute these books; we went to Sunderland for several day’s and due to the severe weather no books were taken.

Rather than being despondent and fried we simply continued on our mission moving to Durham town centre there we met many intellectuals in this university and historical town; now you can see I stopped several university students who all took a Bhagavat Gita expressing great gratitude and thanks: “thank you very much to stop us and give us these books”

They were so inspired and pleased to receive these books that they sent me these picture’s that they later sent to me via e-mail.

Our aim was to inspire mostly educated student’s to take and read Srila Prabhupada’s books; due to our diligence and perseverance two pallets of books were distributed.

The greatest service we can all take part in.

Hare Krishna
Your Humble Servant
Vicaru Das

“How is it that someone could be so much in love with so many people yet at the same time so detached? In the same sentence she expressed how much she loved her children and her grandchildren, and yet she was so completely detached. That is possible when one is completely dependent on Krishna. Pallika devi mataji entrusted her own soul to Krishna, and she entrusted the souls of all those she loved to Krishna. In that state she was happy and fearless.” —Radhanath Swami
Giriraj Swami
Radhanath Swami

One thing that comes from doing a lot of community preaching is that you get recognized and approached; sometimes it’s a little difficult if say I’m with a client. Recently I’ve been asked to come to several new groups to myself and also asking if I plan to put on a Diwali Celebration again this year.

At times it’s because the individual is struggling in life and want some advice of a spiritual nature so I try to take the time out no matter how busy; on occasions I’ve had to make arrangements to meet over a drink.

On occasions due to my presence on the internet via my blog many have e-mailed me with questions and their struggles in devotional life, on occasions I’ve been able to meet the person, other times I’ve been able to hook them up with a local devotee, on occasion’s their has been an opportunity to distribute books.

Last year just before being admitted to hospital I had been stopped by numerous individual’s who felt that they could no longer continue in the society feeling they didn’t have a place or felt forced to conform ; indeed I had several e-mails waiting for an answer one was substantially long it took me nearly an hour to read through.

So I used the analogy of a round peg in a square hole, some disagree with this analogy but when I summed up the conversations it came down to this; they had a desire or expectation and felt that the society didn’t allow that con-straining them forcing them into a mould. Many were put off by the emphasis on courses and exams, there is nothing wrong with this many enjoy but if your not very academic this is a sure fire way to make them run to the door.

What I noticed was that they were missing out on one vitally important ingredient to have a health devotional life and that is up-building association and a service that engages them on both a emotional and physical level.

As we talk there is one question, why do I travel so far every month; what do I gain out of it?

Fantastic association, the opportunity to do a varied amount of service and most important encouragement for me personally without encouragement things are difficult. Indeed several have asked me to write about my nursing and how it’s given me many varied opportunities to share love of Krishna.

Several of them had heard of the mentor-ship system and sadly had dismissed it feeling it was a way to force them to conform, spend money on courses rather than seeing it as a positive thing to do in order to make a greater progress in devotional life.

Perception and Perspective

And so after spending much time listening, answering questions and finding out more about the person I spoke to it occurred to me that we need more mentors, from varied backgrounds and that it allows us to get to know the person as an individual then tailor a spiritual plan based on their strengths.

As I tell those who speak to me, there is many opportunities, many services, many different and diverse people; it’s not always going to be perfect yes there is going to be struggles but sticking with it brings the greatest of rewards.

After all ask yourself if their wasn’t the greatest pleasure and benefit then what would be the point of my traveling so far?
And so when stopped, e-mailed or asked for me personally it’s an opportunity to engage and encourage even if at time’s I may not agree with their point of view but knowing what they are feeling and thinking gives the greatest chance of helping.

Great mentor-ship allows this to happen.

Great mentor’s mean’s giving our most valuable asset our time.
And this is one valuable lesson I’ve learned that either with the community group’s, client’s, individual’s I’ve met or have contacted me giving them my time, being non-judgmental and on occasions agreeing to disagree brings the greatest rewards when you see them individual remaining in the greatest society found here in the material earth.

It has been over three years since the first of the big earthquakes struck Christchurch and the city is still pulling down damaged buildings and constructing thousands of new ones. I have been told that it will take at least 10 years for the city to get completely back on its feet.

Extended Version

The post Questions from Visakha dd, aged 6. appeared first on SivaramaSwami.com.

The Appalachian hills provide the setting for an ornate palace dedicated to the great spiritual master who brought love of Krishna to the West.

Prabhupada’s Palace of Gold – Back To Godhead Article – July 1981.

by Yogesvara Dasa

In the Hills of West Virginia

The Appalachian hills provide the setting for an ornate palace dedicated to the great spiritual master who brought love of Krishna to the West.

Just around a bend in the road, crowning a lush green hill surrounded by valleys and forests in the West Virginia panhandle, stands Prabhupada’s Palace of Gold, a handcrafted seven-years-in-the-making miracle of inlaid marble walls and floors, stained-glass windows, crystal chandeliers, and a three-hundred-ton gold-leafed dome that glitters like a second sun. In the words of one commentator for The Today Show, “You won’t believe your eyes.”

How did it get there? Who built it? And why? Such questions never fail to cross the minds of the half million visitors who come from all over the world each year to see ‘The Taj Mahal of the West.” The Palace was built by the devotees of New Vrindaban. the West Virginia farm community of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). as a memorial to ISKCON’s founder and spiritual guide. His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

A front view of the Palace reveals some of the 8,000 square feet of 22-karat gold leaf that highlights the building’s surface. Six hundred gilded balusters encircle the Palace at its base.

Apart from its architectural and artistic appeal, the Palace is also a place of worship where devotees of Lord Krsna honor their spiritual master, a lifelong devotee of God, for his work of establishing Krsna consciousness love of God around the world.

How much is the Palace worth? Some experts have guessed 10 to 15 million dollars, but they’re quick to add that such work just isn’t done any more, so an accurate estimate is difficult. So far, the devotees have actually invested only $600,000 for construction materials and equipment. And they did the work themselves.

Detail from wrought-iron gates at the Palace shows the skill of devotee craftspeople.

Where did the money come from? During the seven years of construction more than 200 community members and supporters raised it through private donations and from the Palace’s thriving tourism. Also helpful were contributions from the Hindu community (who see Krsna temples as their “home away from home”) and income from commissioned work by devotee artists, such as the mural in Wheeling’s Civic Center, painted by New Vrindaban resident Muralidhara dasa.

The New Vrindaban community was started in 1968, under the direct guidance of Srila Prabhupada. His disciples came to West Virginia to set up a farm that would demonstrate the principles of Krsna conscious life: simple living, based on nature and the cows, balanced by ”high thinking” in short, a life dedicated to the service of God, free from the dependencies of consumer civilization. Such a palace, he hoped, would also be a pilgrimage site, a Western version of Vrndavana, the village in India where Lord Krsna appeared five thousand years ago.

The Taj Mahal of the West gleams with the light of 42 handmade chandeliers.

But how does an elaborate royal palace fit in with such nonmaterialistic aspirations? Devotees explain that simplicity in their own lives does not rule out opulence in the worship of God or His representatives. They also view the Palace as a mark of Krsna culture, where interested people can learn the basic principle spiritual life. And the Palace also serves a place of celebration. Annual festivals draw tens of thousands of pilgrims to attend ceremonies, plays, and feasts cooked in huge kitchens behind the Palace.

In its design the Palace is unique. While most churches and cathedrals reflect orthodox motifs of their culture, the ace is a blending of Eastern and Western styles, as if to say that service to God is the universal principle of all religions. While the Eastern roots of the Krsna consciousness movement can be seen in the intricate latticework, peacock windows, and traditional marble patterns, the movement’s presence in the West is reflected castlelike railings, cathedral-inspired arches, and bright color combinations.

101 mirrors (like those on the ceiling), and more than 12,000 pieces of sculpted. stained, and etched glass fitted into 80 windows. Marble for the floors and walls was imported from various parts or the world.

The Palace actually started out in 1973 to be a simple home for Srila Prabhupada who had come to America eight years earlier, at age sixty-nine, to spread teachings of Lord Krsna. When Prabhupada passed away in 1977, the devotees building it decided to make it into a memorial, and the residents of New Vrindaban set out to transform a home into a palace.

Without any prior training in construction, masonry, or the other skills for such a task, the devotees set to work. Acquiring advice and help along the way, they learned architecture, bricklaying, carpentry, plumbing, electrical work, casting, marble cutting and polishing, stained-glass making, and landscaping. Mothers with their children, men young and old friends and neighbors each person worked in the spirit of Bhagavad-gita, the main text of Krsna devotees:

All that you do, all that you eat, all that you offer and give away, as well as any sacrifice that you may perform, should be done as an offering to Me.

The winters were often bitter cold. Earth turned to mud ankle-deep, and some of the less hardy left the farm in defeat. The work went on, however, fired by Srila Prabhupada’s vision of a holy place in the hills of West Virginia, and the dream slowly became a reality.

A Tour of the Palace

Stained glass peacock windows.

What makes the Palace shine so brightly is its outer covering of 22-karat gold leaf 8,000 square feet of sheets one thousandth of an inch thick, protected by four layers of shellac. Entering the Palace through one of two main doors, we find ourselves beneath an arched ceiling painted as a Himalayan landscape. Devotee artists airbrushed the large areas and then added details by hand. They assembled 11,000 pieces of Austrian crystal to make the forty-two chandeliers that illuminate the main hallway. Each chandelier is color-coordinated to match the stained-glass windows.

For the walls and floors of the Palace, devotees imported forty different kinds of marble and onyx from Italy, France, Turkey, and Brazil. They cut the large raw slabs into more than 20,000 smaller pieces, polished them all, and shaped them into delicate inlaid designs. Then each ensemble was polished and fitted into place. In all, the 35,000 square feet of the Palace display 254 tons of marble.

Fine marble inlays show expertise the devotees acquired during the seven years they spent working to build the Palace.

The first room we see down the left hallway is the reception room, with furnishings handcrafted at New Vrindaban’s marble shop. Here we see photo displays of Srila Prabhupada’s worldwide missionary activities. The door is fitted with sand-blasted glass, designed and shaped pieces of glass. Stones from Czechoslovakia further decorate each window. In India, peacocks are regarded as creatures of good fortune, and Lord Krsna is easily recognized by the peacock feather in His hair.

Continuing down the left hallway, we see the kitchen, where devotees cook vegetarian foods according to ancient recipes. The food is prepared six times daily and offered to Srila Prabhupada in the main temple as an act of devotion.

Devotees and guests mingle by a fountain in the Palace gardens. New Vrindaban has begun to reveal itself as a place of pilgrimage in the Western world, a place where people can come and see spiritual life in action.

Once we reach the back hallway, we look out onto twenty acres of sculpted gardens and a terrace that serves as a stage for devotional plays and concerts. The terrace is the roof of an underground mall that houses a restaurant, a museum, a library, and a display area where devotees demonstrate their crafts. Beyond the gardens is a guest pavilion, with a large meeting hall and sixty rooms.

This gold-leafed teakwood door leads to the main hall from Srila Prabhupada’s study.

As we continue around the hallway, we come to the study, where devotees have installed a lifelike form of Srila Prabhupada posed at his work of translating the Sanskrit scriptures of Krsna consciousness into English. In his lifetime Srila Prabhupada published seventy volumes of devotional literature, which universities across the country have acquired as standard reference works. (Srila Prabhupada’s disciples have translated his writings into sixteen languages.) It took devotees more than two years to complete the walls of the study. The teakwood furniture was carved by a devotee family in Bombay. The vases, of ancient Chinese origin, were donated by one of Srila Prabhupada’s disciples, Alfred Ford, the great-grandson of Henry Ford.

In the study itself guests see a molded form of Srila Prabhupada posed at his work of translating the Sanskrit Vedic scriptures into English.

In the next room, Srila Prabhupada’s bedroom, we see walls made of Italian Botticino marble inlaid with onyx. The ceiling was painted by devotees lying on their backs, Michelangelo-style. The nine hundred flowers decorating the walls took a devotee artist four months to paint.

An antique French chandelier lights the ceiling of the main hall of worship. The large mural partially obscured by the chandelier depicts Lord Krsna dancing with the cowherd damsels of Vrndavana. The other large mural shows Lord Caitanya, an incarnation of Krsna, chanting the Hare Krsna mantra and dancing with His close associates.

In the center of the Palace is the main temple. Here daily classes and ceremonies take place, lit by a 150-year-old French chandelier gold-plated by New Vrindaban craftspeople. Paintings on the ceiling depict scenes from the pastimes Lord Krsna performed when He was present on this planet five thousand years ago. The two central paintings show Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu chanting God’s holy names in India five hundred years ago and Lord Krsna dancing with His most intimate devotees, the cowherd damsels of Vrndavana.

Srila Prabhupada presides over lhe main lemple from a throne of gold and marble. The Palace is to Srila Prabhupada what a beautiful selling is to a diamond.

Adorning the walls of the temple are paintings of the saintly teachers who in recent generations have transmitted the ancient science of Krsna consciousness for the benefit of mankind. Srila Prabhupada, thirty-second in the disciplic line of teachers from Lord Krsna, presides over the temple from a gilded throne beneath a dome of cast gypsum and 4,200 pieces of cut glass.

Fireworks fill the night sky during dedication ceremonies for the Palace, in 1980.

Sri Sri Radha Giridhari Darshan on 13th January 2014

Three Modes of Material Nature

In the Bhagavad-gita is a description of the modes of material nature, which are described in detail and divided into three categories of ignorance, passion, and goodness. The modes of material nature can be empirically observed and they can influence every part of our lives from what we think, to how we feel, to how we act. When one is learned, conscious, and conscientious of how material nature is working in one’s life, one can choose how to live life from a more informed, realistic perspective.

As a doctor can determine a disease by analyzing the symptoms of the patient; so, material nature can be studied in a similar way by observing its unique characteristics. For instance in the Bhagavad-gita, the mode of goodness is described to be that which is illuminating in knowledge and free of bad reactions or karma. When one acts in goodness they become conditioned to knowledge and a sense of happiness. Passion is described as associated with great attachment, great endeavor, activity for the purpose of enjoying the results, and uncontrollable desire and hankering. Acting in passion brings one misery. Finally, ignorance is associated with madness, inertia, illusion, and darkness, which bring foolishness.

Just as the three primary colors, when combined in different ways, can be used to produce a colorful, multidimensional piece of art; similarly, these modes of nature are dynamic and can combine in a seemingly unlimited number of ways to generate what we perceive to be reality. That is what we are most oftentimes observing in our environments – a matrix of various, seamless combinations of goodness, passion, and ignorance.

Contemporary scientific studies have indirectly confirmed the pervasive influence that the modes of material nature have on us. One such field of science that gives credence to the phenomenon is the breakthrough research on studies of the human brain and its reactions to external stimuli. By studying the brain, neurologists have identified structural and neurochemical differences in patients that were conditioned to environments of goodness, passion, and/or ignorance.

According to researchers in conjunction with the United States Department of Human and Health Services, neurochemical changes are experienced by infants who are exposed to various traumatic events and such changes can affect the outcome of one’s entire life. There is a chronic stimulation in the brain’s fear response which simultaneously stultifies the brain’s region for complex thought and abstract cognition when it is overly activated. This may permanently affect the brain’s development and alter its ability to use serotonin, a chemical responsible for “producing” happiness. Martin Teicher, a researcher at Harvard University, reported that child abuse can reduce brain volume in the hippocampus, making the child susceptible for drug abuse and depression later in life. Furthermore, MRI studies on the brain have revealed that brain waves are altered when the patient is shown anxiety-producing images.

On the reverse spectrum, when one cultivates peace and stability, the brain also reflects these stimuli. University of Madison psychologists have shown through fMRI scans, after studying monks who were engaged in daily meditation for years, that the insula region of the brain was higher in activity than a normal person’s. The insula region is special for its ability to detect emotions and identify bodily responses to emotions, i.e. heart rate, blood pressure, etc. These monks, both through the brain study and by observing their lives of mediation, show a greater tendency for compassion, on average, than those who live a more hectic and competitive lifestyle.

Even though one may be born with brain deficiencies that steer one towards acting in impious or inappropriate ways, through proper cultivation by one’s surroundings and behavior, one has the possibility to change these tendencies. Scientists have proven that although one may be born with abnormal levels of serotonin, which is believed to put one at risk for psychopathy; if one is brought up in a positive environment during childhood, the ventromedial prefrontal cortex can open up to more readily take in the environment, possibly redirecting the course of that person’s future behavior.

From the research, it can be surmised that behavior and environment play a large role in the formation of the quality of one’s life. Those who were in abusive situations and possible harbingers of future abuse based on these brain studies were in contact with qualities distinctive of passion and ignorance. Conversely, those who cultivated a sense of deeper peace and well-being were observed to have a greater sense of happiness and satisfaction in their lives according to their brain activity, and were living in goodness.

Therefore it can be concluded that everything one does, from what they eat, to how they interact with others, etc. influences us in profound and unseen ways as evinced by studies on the human brain. Whatever mode we cultivate – goodness, passion, and ignorance – will surely inure us to a condition that is symptomatic of that quality of material nature and the longer one stays in that condition, the more these qualities become pronounced in the person on a subtle and gross level.

Hence, it is a reciprocal relationship between one’s mind and one’s environment and activities. However, a self-reflective person may ask: how is it possible to cultivate the mind when we are subject to a constant struggle for predominance among the modes of nature? Most spiritual disciplines, which integrate the process of yoga, give the yoga practitioner the singular opportunity to elevate their reality from the lower modes of nature to a higher level of existence by doing just that- cultivating the mind. How? By dealing directly with this reciprocal relationship of focusing the mind on that which is in goodness or even spiritual goodness, and molding one’s life and activities in such a way that one’s mind can focus more attentively on this reality without distraction (i.e. living a disciplined lifestyle); culminating to the point when one is living every moment in pure goodness. In this way one can cultivate one’s life without so much precariousness from the vexing material nature.

So, here’s a new perspective on the dynamics of life. The choice is in many ways ours.