Why Chant Japa?
→ Karnamrita.das's blog

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My wife, Archana-siddhi, a veteran facilitator of the wildly successful japa retreats of some years ago, presented a class on japa at our small temple. After our signature arotik and kirtan with guitar, mandolin, and vocal harmony, she began her talk in her favorite facilitator style by asking the class to write down why they chant japa. Fortunately, as she discovered by asking, everyone present chanted japa on their beads at least some days if not regularly. Then, as she had hoped, we all found the shared answers inspiring, hearing some perspectives we hadn’t considered in the exercise, but thoroughly appreciated.

While we generally cite certain verses in Vedic scripture proclaiming that Shri Chaitanya, the avatar for this age, came to propagate the congregational chanting of the holy name, chanting japa is a very important aspect of the life of a sadhaka, or spiritual practitioner in Gaudiya Vaishnavism. Lord Chaitanya and his followers all took a vow to chant a certain amount of japa. The general principle is to always remember Krishna and never forget him, and it could be argued that the holy name is the same whether in kirtan or in japa—and for many devotees, kirtan is easier to do than japa—which brings us to today’s topic, of why should we chant japa.

Those who chant 16 rounds of japa on their beads find it takes from 2-3 hours, so why can’t we just do kirtan for that time? Certainly we can do that if we have a taste, and yet, we find that new initiates take a vow to chant a certain amount of rounds of japa, rather than to do a certain amount of kirtan. From this we can conclude that chanting japa is not less important than kirtan. Many of the leading kirtaneers consider that their focused japa helps the purity and taste of their kirtan.

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Tuesday, November 19th, 2013
→ The Walking Monk

I Love It When Students…

Toronto, Ontario

I love it when students come to our ashram.

Today we had a small number of them, a dozen, including David Paris, the teacher.  They came uniformed and with bright open minds from York School, Secondary School level.  With some assistance on music, namely a mrdanga drum and kartal cymbals, I led the students in a chant and dance.  They even happily recited word by word the two mantras in honour of our guru, Srila Prabhupada, followed by the offering of flower petals at the base of his murti (icon).  After engaging them in this simple ritual, we sat for a chat, and I answered questions.  I had also taken them around the room, showed the group the excellent paintings and the stories behind them.  Mr. Paris was drawn to the picture of demoness Putana.  Initially he looked startled; when he read the adjoining caption he seemed to be relieved.  “Do you take your scripture literally?” was a question of his.  Answer, “Our main book, the Bhagavad Gita, is taken as historical, but, in a more relevant way the follower of Krishna looks at the evil forces within and tries to ‘kill the demon within’.”

“What’s the goal?”  asked one of the girls.

“To ultimately love God.  We are practitioners of bhakti yoga,  the yoga of love.”

Mr. Paris also asked, “What’s your opinion of other faiths?”

“We are glad that so many people have found diverse approaches to the Absolute because there are so many diverse types of people that need to be accommodated.  There just needs to be a maturity of attitude towards each other.  Acceptance, tolerance, and not ignorance, are traits of respect and saintliness.”

The students also got treated to a great meal, a vegan prasadam fare, and it looked like that got swallowed real well.  We hope to see the students again.

Tuesday nights are called Tuesday Sanga, when reflections of the Gita are shared.  I was given the freedom to do whatever I chose, so the group that came, took to a memorization session on 7.6:

“All created beings have their source in these two natures.  Of all that is material and all that is spiritual in this world, know for certain that I am both the origin and the dissolution.”

The only thing is that I had the group concentrate more on the Sanskrit, which was really fun.  For part 2 of the sanga¸ I got to talk about pilgrimage, walking the country, and all the amazing people I meet along the way.  The day was really fulfilling.

May the Source be with you!

7 KM

A Universal Penis
→ The Enquirer

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.10.26

निरभिद्यत शिश्नोवै प्रजानन्दामृतार्थिनः।
उपस्थ आसीत् कामानां प्रियंतदुभयाश्रयम्।।

nirabhidyata śiśno vai prajānandāmṛtārthinaḥ;
upastha āsīt kāmānāṁ priyaṁ tad-ubhayāśrayam.

A penis certainly differentiated itself on the Universal Body, as a result of the desire to experience the bliss of procreation and the endeavor for immortality. The deity of procreation generated the counterpart genital, the vulva, and the two things required to enjoy sexual pleasure: desire and affection.

In the Bhaktivedanta Purport on this verse, Śrīla Prabhupāda comments: “The impersonalist must know from this verse that the Lord is not impersonal, for He has His genitals.”

This verse comes in a section where Śukadeva answers Parīkṣit’s request to more clearly explain the relationship between the objects in the universe and the Universal Form of the Puruṣa (Original Person). Śuka explains how each sense became manifest on the Universal Form as a result of specific desires, and thereafter how a divinity of perception empowered that sense and generated the corresponding sense objects, thus creating the template or blueprint from which all of the senses, sense perceptions, and sense objects in the universe could later become manifest.

The whole context of answering this question is as a way to demonstrate that God is the Ultimate Refuge of everything, and everything is dependent on him – because this is the 10th and most important theme of the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, which Śuka is about to begin reciting to Parīkṣit.

The genitalia is one of the 10 sense organs, so at a certain point in the discussion Śuka explains how it manifest. All the organs are described as appearing by way of nirabhidya or ruruha, which means “differentiating” or “sprouting” respectively. This is a very fascinating image, which is similar to how an embryo develops into a fetus. Śrīla Prabhupāda noted this in an earlier commentary, and I appreciated that this can also be one reason why the Universal Form is said to exist within the “Womb-Ocean” (garbhodaka).

The penis (śiśno) differentiated itself (nirabhidyata) on the Universal Form… certainly (eva). Why “certainly” has to be said? Maybe to make it emphatic so listeners are not like, “What? Are you serious?” Or maybe to show that the genitals are an especially important organ.

What desire caused the penis to appear/differentiate itself on the Universal Form? A two-fold desire: (1) the bliss of procreating (praja-ananda); and (2) the quest for immortality (amṛta-artha). Each desire has two meanings. “The bliss of procreating” means (i) the happiness that arises from children, and (ii) the pleasure inherent in the act of procreation itself. The two meanings of “the quest for immortality” are: (i) the inherent instinct to create new life to avoid extinction – a type of immortality (here amṛta literally means immortality); (ii) the desire to enjoy nectar, heavenly pleasure (Here amṛta figuratively means “nectar” – the elixir of immortality).

Essentially, two simultaneous desires in the universal blueprint cause genitals to exist in the universe: the desire to enjoy and the desire to procreate.

Śrīla Prabhupāda’s comment indicates that these two are interwoven, a singular two-fold desire, and cannot be separated. “No one would have taken the trouble to maintain children if there were no taste of heavenly nectar by means of sexual intercourse.”

Genitals are empowered to fulfill their two-fold purpose by means of two divine powers: (1) lusty desire (kāmānāṁ) and (2) affection (priyaṁ). The word lust need not be read with a negative connotation here. It should be read as “desire” with the sense of sexual desire. The genital will not function without these two empowerments. There has to be sufficient desire (kāma) for children and pleasure, or else the genital will not prepare itself for activity. And there has to be sufficient affection (priya) for the sexual partner, otherwise the pleasure involved will be quite deficient and disturbing. Another meaning here is that desire (kāma) empowers the genital to fulfill it’s purpose of enjoying nectar and procreative bliss, while affection (priya) empowers it to fulfill its other purpose: creating new life and raising children correctly.

The word “genital” appears twice in this śloka; in the first half of the verse as śiśnaḥ, and in the second half as upastha. The first, śiśnaḥ primarily refers to the male genital, a penis – because the root of that word indicates penetration. The second, upastha, primarily refers to the female genital, a vulva – because the root of this word connotes a receptive area. Ācāryas analyzing this śloka, Śrīla Prabhupāda and Śrīla Viśvanātha for example, indicate that the vulva is produced in the universe as a result of the Universal Form generating a penis.

Feminists may sometimes take exception to the vulva being denoted as the sense object and the penis being denoted as the sense organ. An explanation could be offered that this relationship is relative to the Universal Form. However I don’t imagine that this explanation alone would fully satisfy most objectors. It would therefore take a bit of patient, well-educated, and careful explanation to help them understand why the Absolute Truth possess both male and female characteristics – primarily adopting the male character as his own subjective point of view and investing the female character into all the divinity that eternally emanates from him. Some elaboration on this seems required to fully answer such an objection, since this masculinity of the Universal Form,and femininity of the Universe is a reflection of that intrinsic dynamic in the Absolute Entity.

The name of the divinity of the genital is curiously lacking from, or hidden in, this śloka, unlike most other ślokas in this section. Viśvanātha Ṭhākur takes praja in prajānanda to indirectly indicate Prajapati as the divinity of genital perception. Prabhupāda follows this in his translation. Prajapati literally means “master of procreation.” In keeping with this, and in deference to the fact that the literal demigods who bear the names of these divine powers have not yet been created when this “fetal development” of the Universal Form is happening, I identify praja as the divinity of genital perception and translate the term as, “the divinity of procreation.”

In closing, it is amazing how many people are shocked to hear that God has a penis. For sure its not an ugly, exploitive, misappropriated penis such as we have sole experience of among the various temporary forms of pretenders to masculinity amongst the expansive species in this world. Nonetheless, God has a penis. Call it a “divine penis” if it helps. Realization of divine beauty of this fact will help us lose obsession with our own genitalia and gain the liberating fascination with his. Surely this is beyond the level of many readers to comprehend – but it’s nice to throw some ideas out there over people’s heads every once in a while. It tends to make them try to reach up a little higher.

Hare Krishna.


Fear not that life may end; fear that life may never begin
→ The Spiritual Scientist

We all fear death. Among all our possessions, life is most precious, because without it, we can’t enjoy any other possession. Naturally, we treasure life.

Paradoxically though, we don’t treasure life consistently. Though we are terrified about losing our life in one stroke to death, we don’t even notice losing our life gradually, moment-by-moment. We willingly, even eagerly, let so many of our moments be dissipated on trivialities and trinkets: trivialities such as gossip and trinkets such as a new gadget.

If we look back at our life, do we treasure the time we spend on such trivialities and trinkets? Rarely, if ever.

The times we cherish are usually the times when we were absorbed in something much bigger than ourselves – striving to actualize a noble aspiration or selflessly help someone. Those are the moments when we actually lived life. During the remaining time, we mostly just existed, watching as life happened to us.

Gita wisdom introduces us to the best cause to live for: love. Love becomes perennially joyful when directed towards an eternal object of love – God, Krishna. He is, as the Bhagavad-gita (14.04) indicates, the parent of all living beings, so by loving him, we also love everyone as members of the one universal family. All of us as souls have an original spiritual love for Krishna, a love that is now covered and misdirected by our worldly infatuations. We can revive that love by practicing bhakti-yoga.

Once we taste the fulfillment coming from bhakti-yoga, we realize that it marks is the beginning of our real life, life based on the reality of who we are – souls, beloved parts of Krishna. We realize, as the Bhagavad-gita (03.16) indicates, that life without any spiritual connection is a futile life, a life lost on forgettable petty pursuits.

Practicing bhakti-yoga doesn’t require us to renounce everything material, but to harmonize the material with the spiritual – to use our material resources in the service of Krishna and for the holistic welfare of everyone including ourselves.

Bhakti insights revise our understanding of what is worth fearing – not the ending of life because life will inevitably end at the material level. What is worth fearing is that life may never begin, that we may imprudently delay offering our love to Krishna and thereby block the beginning of our real life. The more we cultivate the healthy fear of missing real spiritual life, the faster that life will commence and continue. And it will continue eternally, because love for Krishna being spiritual continues beyond bodily destruction in the indestructible arena of divine love.

 

This Is It For Me
→ Japa Group

"I like chanting the maha-mantra. I’m familiar enough with the words ‘Hare,’ ‘Krishna,’ and ‘Rama.’ They please me as they pass through my mind and lips. I’ve been doing it so long it’s become a love and a deep attachment. I could never switch to another kind of prayer of another religion, or even another mantra in the Vedic religion. This is it for me."

From Japa Transformations
by Satsvarupa dasa Goswami

Bonafide Authority
→ Servant of the Servant



The Vedic scripture presents an evolution of spiritual thought towards God. It evolves from the lower stages of fear to duty conscious to love towards a Transcendent Being. Depending on our nature, there are different religious principles available to follow. If, however, we want to know and love God in all His glory then we have to follow in the footsteps of bonafide authority.

A bonafide spiritual authority is one who has submissively heard from his own spiritual master and is submissively following what his spiritual master has instructed. This lineage of teacher-student should start directly from God. Anything not this, in the strict sense cannot be considered bonafide.

Today, however, there are so many believers who do not follow any bonafide authority and hence dogmatic and sentimental. The atheistic class emerge against these dogmatism and sentimentalism. Unfortunately people see both dogmatism and fervent/genuine spiritual theology as one. But if we choose to submit to a proper authority as indicated above and submissively follow the authority, rest assured we will understand the mysteries of universal spiritual values.

Hare Krishna

The bottom line
→ KKS Blog

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, September 2013, Cape Town, South Africa, Srimad Bhagavatam 8.20.13)

BACK TO GODHEAD-31Bali Maharaja had that mood, “Whatever may come, I will accept it as the mercy of the Lord and I will remain faithful in service to him.” So that is our saving grace. That is the bottom line and that bottom line is really our bottom line. Whatever may come, whatever it is – things that can happen in the material world can be really intense – but whatever may come, it will not shake my faith in the Lord and it will not shake my dedication.

These two things – when something heavy happens, dedication may remain but faith can be shaken.

“Is the Lord really merciful? Is he kind? Is he cruel? Then is it all true, is there really a God above? But how can the God above act in such a way that he is the cause of so much suffering? It cannot be. Is there ever a God at all? Then is this whole thing true actually?”

No, the Lord is all-good!

 

 

Fremantle Parade
→ Ramai Swami

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Fremantle, Western Australia, is a port suburb 30 minutes south of the city of Perth. It was settled in 1829 and was named after Captain Fremantle who was the commander of the HMS Challenger. It has a lively shopping area, as well as golden beaches that lead out to the Indian Ocean.

For the last 10 years, the local community has organised the Fremantle Parade, which takes place every November. There are about 60 floats that participate in the parade and we have been involved for the last 6 or 7 years.
It was certainly enlivening to see Lord Jagannatha, Baladeva and Subhadra Devi riding majestically on Their Rathayatra cart. The throngs of devotees were dancing and chanting Their glories as the parade wound through the streets of the city.
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Sri Jagannatha Mandir, Kuala Lumpur Organizes A Palanquin Procession And Harinama Sankirtan
→ Dandavats.com

The procession started at 5:00pm and ended at 9:00pm at the nearby Taman Medan centre. The Brahmacaris led the kirtan throughout the procession which climaxed at the end with ecstatic kirtan and dancing within the centre. It was evident that the devotees and congregation members were all tired after 4 hours of walking and performing different sevas; however the effect of chanting,devotee association in the cause of serving-out the call superseded the pain, discomfort and tiredness. Read more ›

Revealing 3 min video of how human life is spent (with the help of some JellyBeans)
→ Dandavats.com

One cannot calculate the amount of loss there is in wasting valuable time. Whether materially or spiritually, one should be very alert in utilizing the time which he has at his disposal. A conditioned soul lives in a particular body for a fixed measurement of time, and it is recommended in the scriptures that within that small measurement of time one has to finish Krsna consciousness and thus gain release from the influence of the time factor. Read more ›

The Three Most Beautiful Poems You’ll Ever Read
→ The Enquirer

Cc Adi 1.15

जयतां सुरतौपंगोर्मममन्दमतेर्गति।
मत्सर्वस्वपदाम्भोजौ राधामदनमोहनौ।।

jayataṁ suratau-paṁgor mama-manda-mater gati
mat-sarvasva-padāmbhojau rādhā-madanamohanau

I am crippled, and my mind has become slow,
But they are my best friends, and their lotus-like feet
Are everything to me.
May the sweetly romantic couple,
Rādhā-Madanmohan,
conquer all!

The word Suratau means a dearly beloved. In the sense that it applies to the author, it means “best friend.” In the sense that it applies to the divine couple it means “sweetly romantic.”

The author Krishnadās Kavirāja was extremely old when he wrote this. He is not being flowery, he really feels that he has become crippled and his mind has become slow – but is so greatful that Śrī Śrī Rādhā Krishna still dance within his heart, and that he has not lost the sense of absolute dedication to and adoration for their smallest qualities and needs (“lotus-like feet”)

16
दीव्यद्वृन्दारण्यकल्पद्रुमाधःश्रीमद्रत्नागारसिंहासनस्थौ।
श्रीमद्राधा श्रीलगोविन्ददेवौ प्रेषठालीभः सेव्यमानौ स्मरामि।।

dīvyad-vṛndāraṇya-kalpa-drumādhaḥ śrīmad ratnāgāra-siṁhāsana-stau
śrīmad-rādhā-śrīla-govinda-devau preṣṭhālībhiḥ sevyamānau smarāmi

My thoughts dwell on
Śrīmad Rādhā-Govindadeva
Seated on a couch
In a cottage of beautifully opulent jewels,
Beneath a wishing-tree
In the effulgent forest of Vṛnda,
Lovingly attended by their dear friends.

“Smarāmi” – this means I remember, I contemplate. We should contemplate Śrīmad Rādhā-Govindadevau in this way… they are on an opulent couch (siṁhāsana – or you can see it as a throne). The couch is in a cottage / bower (āgāra) made of beautifully opulent (śrīmat) jewels (ratna). Where does all this costly material come from? It is at the base of a wish-fulfilling tree! (kalpa-druma-adhaḥ) in divine/effulgent (dīvyat) Vṛndāvana.

They are being lovingly attended (sevyamānau) by their dear friends / sweethearts (preṣṭhālībhiḥ). That can be our “point-of-entry” in this meditation.

17
श्रीमान्रासरसारम्भी वंशीवटतटस्थितः।
करषन्वेणुस्वनैर्गोपीर्गोपीनाथः श्रिये’स्तुनः।।

śrīmān rāsa-rasārambhī vaṁśī-vaṭa-taṭa-sthitaḥ
karṣan veṇu-svanair gopīr gopīnāthaḥ śriye 'stu naḥ

May we be blessed
By Gopīnātha
As the sounds of his flute
Collect all the Gopīs
And bring them to him,
Standing beneath the Flute-tree on the riverbank
Thus declaring the commencement of the Rāsa Dance

We should adopt the authors point of view. Thus we should want to be blessed by Gopīnātha. What sort of blessing is that? It is none less than the bblessing to participate in the Rāsa Dance!

We want to be blessed with the opportunity to be a Gopī whose heart is forcibly dragged by the flute song out to the riverbank, to meet Krishna beneath the tree where he plays his enchanting song and is about the begin the Rāsa dance. The rāsa dance is "Rāsa-rasa" - In other words, Gopīnatha is above to begin enjoying the ecstatic mellows (rasa) of the Rāsa-līlā (rāsa).

We want to be blessed by this Krishna: Gopīnātha, the enjoyer of Gopīs, who is about to call us to his festival.

Considering the three poems together, you'll find that the first to Madana Mohan expresses the beginning of a relationship with Krishna - the establishment of a friendship with the Divine Couple, even from the limited and crippling state of material existence. Then you will notice that the second poem calls us to engage in the loving service of the Divine Couple. And the third poem defines the blessing of doing so: to participate in Gopīnātha-Krishna's Rāsa Līlā.

Therefore the three deities are addressed by Śrīla Krishnadās Kaviraja as representing each of the three phases of philosophy: Madanmohan, in the first verse, represents sambandha-tattva - wherein we establish our relationship with the Divine Couple. Govindadeva, in the second poem, represents abhideya-tattva - wherein we practice loving service to the Divine Couple. Gopīnātha, in the third verse, represents prayojana-tattva - the desired objective of our loving service: to love Krishna in the height of his pleasure. To participate in the highest expression of loving service - which occurs at Rāsa-līlā.

These topics are infinitely more profound than either the speaker or the listener realizes. It is our greatest fortune to even be able to touch the external letters of these three poems. We have recieved this fortune by the mercy of Śrī Guru. Hare Krishna.


Monday, November 18th, 2013
→ The Walking Monk

Don’t See But Know

Toronto, Ontario

Flight 1485 American Airlines was somewhat rough in its landing at Toronto Airport.  Coming underneath the clouds gave passengers a surprise with the strong air current.  The wind, you can’t see, but you could feel it.  Ask the survivors in the Philippines.

The same can be said of the soul’s presence.  It can’t be seen, but felt through various symptoms.

I did, after landing, take advantage of a walk downtown.  I have forgotten that Christmas fever starts early in recent times.  It means the city is lit up more than usual in the night.  On occasion I had looked up at the glorious moon when a high-rise would allow it.  It made me wonder once again about the powerful presence of the elements and of matter, of energy, and where it all comes from.

Before resting, I took a few moments to relax my mind with some reading material before my eyes.  In the publication “Easy Journey to Other Planets” by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, I revisited the following passage:

“Matter itself has no creative power.  When it is manipulated by the living energy, material things are produced.  Matter in its crude form, is therefore, the latent energy of the Supreme Being.  Whenever we think of energy, it is natural that we think of the source of energy.  For example when we think of electrical energy, we simultaneously think of the powerhouse where it is generated.  Energy is not self sufficient, it is under the control of a superior living being.  For example, fire is a source of two other energies, namely light and heat.  Light and heat have no independent existence outside of fire.  Similarly, the inferior and superior energies are derived from a source which one may call by any name.  That source of energy must be a living being with a full sense of everything. “

May the Source be with you!

7 KM