Okay. Hare Krishna. Will continue our discussion, on the characteristics of pure devotional service. But within this, we’ll be focusing more on the principle of karma. And in that sense, this will be, you could say almost like a stand alone class.

So those of you not attended the previous class can also understand this. Although we’ll draw some points from the previous classes. So, I’ll talk about 3 broad things today. First is, what is karma? Then second is, the relationship between karma and suffering and distress, the problems that we face in our life.

And the third will be the relationship of bhakti with karma and suffering. So this is, subject, this topic is, in one sense, both abstract. Abstract in the sense it’s a conceptual subject. Karma, it’s a concept. Krishna says it’s It’s not so easy to understand.

At the same time, it is a very immediate subject for us. In the sense that it is something which affects us. We all face different challenges in our life, and we all need resources for dealing with those challenges. And how much will our bhakti help us in that? How much should we even expect our bhakti to help us in this?

These are questions that naturally come up within us. So, let’s start with first, understanding the principle of karma. Now, at a basic level, karma means that whenever there is an action, there will be a result of that action. That’s the basic principle of karma, and this does not require any complex philosophy to understand. It is both natural occurrence in the sense that this is how we see things happen.

That if I put my hand close to fire, I feel heat. If I eat cold food, then I get some cold. So the idea that actions produce results, this is just a constant natural occurrence. If, say, a child comes back from school and the child has got a black eye and a broken nose. You say, what happened?

The child says nothing happened. No. Not nothing happened. You just if the effect is there, some cause must be there. So it’s a natural occurrence.

Not only is it a natural occurrence, it is also the basis of science. There will be no science possible if there would not be some connection. Now, science does not use the word and result, it uses the word cause and effect. So the idea is that when Newton saw an apple falling, what made this apple fall? So there would be no science possible if there would not be any correlation between cause and effect.

And it is also an aspect of human training. As parents, when we train our children or in a office when there’s a new employee, if you do something proper, you get more results. Say, if a player is selected for a sports team. If they perform well, then their place becomes more secure. They are maybe promoted to a higher round, maybe higher level team.

So we train people also that way. That if you do the right thing, you will get better results. If you do wrong things, then even the present resources that you have may be taken away from you. So in this sense, this this basic aspect of karma does not require any philosophy to understand. It is just universal.

However, the problem comes because of exceptions or seeming exceptions. Exceptions means there are times when there are actions, but there are no results. Or there are times when there are certain situations that come in our lives when we don’t seem to deserve them. And we don’t seem to have done anything to get those kind of situations. So this is where things become complicated.

So to so so if we are thinking of karma simply as action leads to reaction, then there is no need for Krishna to say The way karma works is very complicated. It is It’s not so easy to understand. The problem comes because it is not just a one to 1 correlation all the time. What do you mean by that? See, we all may remember times when we worked a lot, but we did not get a commensurate result.

Proportionate result. You know, maybe we we studied a lot for an exam, and the marks that we got were very poor. Or maybe we worked very hard for a project, and somebody else gets the recognition. Somebody else gets the reward. And our role is downplayed.

So it happens that, say, we may put in an input of 100 and we may get an output of 10. And this feels extremely unfair. There are some people, now we do so much for them. We do one thing, second thing, third thing, we try to please them. And at the end of it, they don’t they barely acknowledge what we have done for them.

Sometimes, it may not even be 10. It may be minus 10. Like, we do a 100 things for them and they only criticize us for the 101st thing that we did not do. So, such things can seem very unfair for us. And yes, at one level, it is unfair.

However, if we are honest with ourselves, we can also think of times when we did something worth 10, but we got result worth 100. Maybe sometimes we prepare very little for an exam, but what we studied comes in the exam and we do well. Or sometimes we just join a team and we do a little work in the team, but the team does some very impressive project and we also get the credit for that. Like, say, I think in the 2011 World Cup, which we had, there were India won the World Cup. There was one player, he didn’t play a single match.

All the time, he was in the reserve, but still his picture comes in the World Cup winning team. So what happens is, sometimes we may not do anything, but still we may get the credit. So you could say, life is unfair, but you could almost say it is fairly unfair. That means that sometimes it is unfair in a negative sense, but sometimes it is disproportionate where we get more than what we deserve. Like even our relationships, you know, some people, they are just so kind and helpful to us.

Although we don’t pay much attention to them, we all can think of people who, at least some people in our lives, who went out of their way to be kind and helpful to us. So, in that sense, life works both ways. So why does this happen? Because when we talk about action and result, it is not necessary that the result will come only from the present action. Sometimes it may happen that there may be a minus 90 coming from the past.

Something negative comes from the past because of which, we have put in a lot of effort but the result that we get is very less. In contrast, sometimes it may happen that we may have a plus 90 from the past. And that’s why the result we get may be much more than what we deserve based on what we have done immediately. Now this idea of past actions contributing to present results is not, very unfamiliar or unreasonable idea. So if 2 players or 2 people pick up a instrument, maybe a drum or a buddanga, and they start playing, One of them is playing for the first time.

Another has put a 100 hours of practice in it. Now both of them start playing, and when the so the present action is same. Both of them may be trying to put in the same effort, same concentration. They’re putting in effort attentively. But for the first person, for the second person, when they play mardanga, will say more.

Or the first person will say no more. The first person may say, you know, yeah, it is difficult. And, people may say, yeah, it is difficult to hear. So what has happened is why the present action is the same, but the result is different because there have been past actions. So the idea of past actions contributing to the present results that we get, it is not so unfamiliar.

Even in relationships. If I am polite and friendly with someone, I would expect that person to be polite and friendly with me. But if I am polite right now, but if I have been rude a 100 times in the past, then although I am polite right now, that person may still be cold with me. So it is that our past actions that also contribute to the present results. So if I have been, say, cold 10 times in the past with that person, then I may have to work that much more.

So there is a negative of 90 coming from the past, and I will have to clear the negative. Only then I will start getting something positive here. So the idea of past actions determining present results is not something entirely unfamiliar. So the the only key philosophical point that comes over here is how much past the actions can go. So this is where the concept of soul and reincarnation helps us understand that there are actions that may come from the past also.

And they may contribute to what we get in our present situations. So, if we consider the start if we consider this is our life lifetime, Then, add the starting point in our life, we get, so we can say that we carry some past karma reservoir, which is there for us over this life. And we get a big installment of that at our birth? Say, the kind of family we are born in, the country we are born in, maybe the kind of economic situation that is there in the family or the country where we are born in, The kind of genetics we have, which may determine our IQ and our at least a significant level of our abilities, even our complexion. So that is something which we get at the time of our birth.

Or somewhere around that. So, again, this initial installment of karma can also be both a combination of positive and negative. And often, we may focus on the negative. Oh, you know, I did not get this, or this happened to me, or things went around like this. I was born in a place which was poor or I was born in a place where there are not so many opportunities for this or that.

Somehow, our mind tends to remember the way life has treated us worse than what we deserve. But there are times when life has treated us better than what we deserve also. And we don’t tend to remember that unless we make a conscious effort to do that. So you may notice that I need crutches for walking. So when I was 1, I had polio.

Basically, my parents, my mother, my father is in a traveling job. My mother took me to the local doctor to give some polio vaccine. So we were living in a small town in Maharashtra, and she was told that we should get this vaccine. And polio has more or less been eliminated now. The polio vaccine is fairly, fairly effective.

But somehow, because it was a fairly small town, so there, the clinic was not very competent. And the fridge in which they had kept the vaccine, the power supply from that had got somehow cut off. So the germs reproduced much more. And in the vaccine sorry. So the vaccine, when it was given to me, instead of preventing polio, the dosage was so high that it ended up causing polio.

So I was just walking normally, and one day I fell down, and I could no longer walk after that. So now, of course, I don’t remember all this. Later my my parents told me about it. But my one of my first memories of this is when I was probably around 2a half, 3 or something like that. So some distant relative had come to our home and, she was consoling my mother saying that it’s so sad that your son got polio.

And I remember my mother speaking in a very clear, confident voice. He says, whatever he lacks physically, God will provide him intellectually. Now I don’t know at the age of 2a half, 3 what my mother saw in me and why she spoke that. And she passed away soon, so I didn’t get to ask her about it. But the thing was that somehow it stayed in me.

And then as I grew up, I couldn’t play outdoor sport like other kids could play. But when we started studying, I started noticing that, you know, I could understand things much faster. I could remember things better. I could speak things more clearly. And then somehow it struck me, okay, that, you know, I didn’t, I don’t know whether it’s now I’m speaking it consciously.

And I don’t know when that became, like, crystallized as a thought in my consciousness. But somehow it came in the background that, oh, yeah. I I didn’t do anything by which I deserve to need support for walking. But at the same time, I haven’t done anything to have a better memory and a better intelligence than others. So from the starting point, yes, life may treat us negatively in some way, but life also treats us positively in some ways.

So the point here is that karma can work in both ways. And the the key principle in understanding karma is it is a very positive emphasis. The emphasis in understanding karma, like when Krishna tells Arjuna that you should do your karma. Many places he talks about this. His emphasis is Arjuna has to face a terrible situation.

He trained so that he could fight against enemies. He trained in archery, but now he has to fight against Bhishma and Drona. Say, what did I do to deserve this? No. I don’t want to fight against them.

It’s like, say, somebody trains in the Indian army and then there is some conflict and you have to fight against your own commander or your own boss. It’s a terrible thing. So basically, the emphasis in karma is that our actions always matter. At what we do, it always matters. Even when they don’t seem to matter.

Sometimes, you know, we may be very being very kind and polite with someone and still that person continues to be rude and unreasonable with us. See, then what is the views of being kind and polite with this person? And let me also become rude. Now how exactly to deal with the unreasonable or rude people, that’s a different issue. But the point is our kindness is not going waste.

What we do matters. But sometimes if we are going through some phase of negative karma, then the results may not manifest immediately. So I am doing something positive but because of the negative phase of that karma, from the past negative karma, I may not get the results. But we should not become discouraged and think, what is the use of doing anything? Our actions always matter.

And the whole purpose of the Bhagavad Gita is, therefore, choose your actions wisely. That if my actions matter, then let me choose the actions that will matter the most. Somebody may say, I study and I still don’t get good marks in my exams. So better let me not study. I just spend all my time watching TV.

Well, maybe that is the way in which we are wasting our time now. So okay. I may decide, okay, if I can’t study in this particular area, maybe I should study in that area. That we can choose and decide. So our actions always matter.

Now to take this forward, many times when we get some let’s focus on that positive and we’ll talk about the negative also. Negative means see when we positive means when we get some success in our life. So that success is not just the result of our present income. So we may say, you know, I got this job. And so now all of you are here where, you know, you probably have more financial security than people who work in India.

And you come here in that if you say, okay. I worked hard. I was I’m competent in my job. I’m hardworking. That may all be true.

But There were many other people who are just as competent and hardworking. But you see, I got a lucky break. Or I got this thing, this thing clicked, or that thing clicked. So what is that? That what we call as a lucky break is actually some past karma working positively for us.

So basically, whenever there is success, most often, success is a result of present karma plus past karma. Now the exact role, that may vary. For some people, say somebody is extraordinarily talented in particular field. Now some students may just have, like, an extraordinary memory. Sometimes some, you know, on YouTube, we have this India’s Got Talent or Britain has Got Talent.

There are kids, 3, 4, 5 year old. They’re just so phenomenal at music. Or they’re so phenomenal at some field. For some people, the past karma may contribute 90%, and the present karma may only contribute 10%. For some people, it may be the present maybe 90% and the past maybe 10%.

But the point is, past and present both contribute to the results. So now, what applies to the positive also applies to the negative. When we face problems in life. So sometimes the problems may be because of our present actions. And sometimes the problems may be because of past actions.

Say suppose somebody doesn’t very carefully think before investing money somewhere, and there it’s a it’s a bad investment, they lose money. Then you could say that is another bad decision by me right now. So that’s largely because of present actions. But I know one devoted friend in America. You know, he was working in a software company, and he decided to become entrepreneur.

He started his own small business, and he started it just before COVID. And because of the COVID lockdown, he lost all the money. He had invested in buying property. He had to pay taxes. He had got commodities.

So now, you could say, was that a bad decision? Well, how much can you say it’s a bad decision? Who could have foreseen a pandemic which would cause a global lockdown? So here, in this case, that particular financial difficulty that he faced it was largely a result of past karma. So basically, the situations that we face at present, they are in general due to an unpredictable combination of present and past karma.

So how much the present karma might be contributing? How much the past karma might be contributing? It’s difficult for us to understand. So let’s consider four possibilities. You know, that there is present karma and there is past karma.

Now, the present karma can be positive in the sense of being good. And it can be negative in the sense of being bad. And similarly, the past karma can be positive or the past karma can be negative. Now what does this mean? Say, for example, suppose there is a particular bank in a city, and a huge amount of cash has come in that bank.

And say somehow that news doesn’t remain secret but goes out. And now 10 thieves decide to rob that bank. Now 10 of them may plan to rob the bank, but only one of them is successful. So why is one of them successful and others are not successful? So their success, that one person’s success is because of some past good karma.

So, you know, you need good karma to even do bad karma successfully. So now Hitler is considered to be one of the best orators of the last century. He’s a terrible person. By his past karma, he had, by his past good karma, he had great oratory capacity. He had some past positive karma by which he was meant to become a leader.

But then, by his present negative karma, he ended up becoming a terrible misleader. There have been many, many, terrible people in the world, and there have been many people who slaughtered people. Genghis Khan, when he conquered Europe, and he’s supposed to have annihilated almost 1 fourth of the population of Europe. So there but he was traveling across many countries, and he killed people. But Hitler and the Holocaust, which happened, at the first time in the history of the world, that industrial efficiency was brought to mass slaughter.

Killing people, you know, if you kill people, you have to bury people or you have to burn people. You have to do something. At here, just put them in gas chambers. It’s a very efficient way of killing people. It’s brutal.

But the point is that even for somebody to get success in doing bad karma, they may need some positive karma from the past. So if you consider among these 4 situations or 4 quadrants, now the best is where a person’s past karma is positive and the present karma is positive. That means they work they work for some good cause. And when they work for some good cause, they get not just some good result, but some great results by that. So somebody may be a researcher, and they develop some medicine which cures some terrible disease.

Or somebody makes some song which is, you know, maybe their musical ability, which inspires a lot of people with some patriotic sentiments or devotional sentiments or whatever. So there are great poets who have composed some great compositions. So the best is where we have positive karma from the past and negative karma. A positive past karma and positive present karma. Now the worst situation Is this the worst?

Not really. See if the person has negative karma from the present, then they’re going to do bad things. But if they have negative karma from the past, their bad things will not lead to much bad results. Because, say, like, somebody may want to become a terrorist and blow up, blow up a big building. But something goes wrong and the bomb blows up before they reach the building, and they only blow up.

Nothing else happens. So what happens is it is less harmful. They may try to do some bad actions, but the bad actions may not have much results. So many people many bad people try to do bad things. It’s not that every bad thing that they do succeeds.

So actually, where the past karma is positive and the present karma is negative, this is the most dangerous thing. That means the person is doing bad things now, but that person has a stockpile of past positive karma. So they may be able to do bad things. Now their actions will lead to results, but they may not lead to results right now. So somebody might be, like, a terrible ruler or dictator.

And they have 1,000 units of positive past karma. So then they will use all that to hold on to their power and to keep doing bad things. They will get the results, but they may not get much results in this lifetime at all. So, actually, this is the deadliest combination. Now if the present karma is positive and the past karma is negative.

Now this is difficult, but it is not necessarily bad. That I’m doing some good things right now, but I don’t get the results. I don’t get the recognition. I don’t get the rewards. So this is this is where actually we need to understand what is happening and to pass through this phase.

Okay. So if you consider the Pandavas, the Pandavas were virtues for a long time. And yet, one after another, their father passed away. And then they were they were persecuted by the Kauravas in so many different ways. Now, of course, we can say they are pure devotees and karma doesn’t apply to them.

But we can use this as an ethical framework for understanding. So we understand that they had to go through a lot of negative phases. And then finally, when the negative phase ended, then they got the positive phase. So here, when we are going through a phase of difficulties. So is the child crying because of present karma or past karma?

So it is the child’s present karma, the speaker’s past karma. But but suppose, you know, say suppose some child is crying, and then at that time, the speaker starts yelling or screaming at that person. Now what is going to happen now is the child crying is a disturbance. But if the speaker yells and screams, then at the end of the class, the audience is going to remember how the speaker behaved. Isn’t it?

The child cry will be forgotten. So what happens is our present karma can sometimes make the problem far worse. Isn’t it? So the idea is that even when certain situations come in our life, our present karma does make a difference even when it doesn’t seem to make a difference. So now this what I mentioned the past karma stockpile that we have, If we consider our lifetime, then we all said we said destiny is fixed.

So this is we all have a certain stockpile of karma from the past that is going to come to us. And because that stockpile is fixed. But while that stockpile may be fixed, how it is going to come in our life is not necessarily fixed. Say, what do I mean by that? Say, to some extent, at the start of our life, we get some major installment of that karma.

And then, say maybe during the course of a lifetime, somebody lose 60, 70, 80 years, maybe they are meant to face 4 big problems. Maybe they get at one they get some terrible disease. Maybe some loud one passes away. Maybe in their business, somebody betrays them. Somebody cheats them.

And maybe they meet with some accident. So, of course, each of these can be a very difficult situation to pass through. But imagine if all 4 of these happen simultaneously. You know? That would be almost unbearable, isn’t it?

So our past karma might be fixed, and that may come upon us. But that does not mean that our present karma does not matter. So I’ll explain in 2 different ways how our present karma matters. Say, suppose somebody is going to be cheated in the business, and because of that cheating, they’re going to lose a lot of money. It’s a terrible thing to happen.

But suppose that person during the course of their life, you could be cheated in the business, you could be cheated in the family relationship, cheated whatever way. But before that, during the course of that life, if that person has been polite, kind, helpful, now maybe the cheater will will use that to exploit them even more. But if they have been polite, kind, helpful with people in general, then when they are cheated, others will be ready to help them. No. You’re a good person.

This bad thing happened to you. But on the other hand, if, say by karma, by past karma, they are meant to be cheated. But if in this life, they are rude, they are cunning, you know, they are they just use and throw people, then when one person cheats them, the way they have acted in this life will mean that nobody else will come to help them. So we may not be able to change the fact that we might get cheated. But how we are able to deal with that cheating?

Now that will be determined by our present actions. So sometimes when you say that destiny is fixed. No. Yes. What happens sometimes when we take from shastra one statement and we absolutize that statement without considering other statements.

So for example, it is said that in our destiny, our happiness and distress are fixed. Yeah. So I just said in the scripture, So a statement like that in 7th canto, the first canto. Now what does this mean practically? Does it mean that, say, we if by destiny, when we say by destiny is fixed, and by that, by destiny, our happiness and our distress are fixed.

So if we say this is one statement, and there is truth to the statement. But along with that, scripture itself tells us So when we indulge in sensual pleasures indiscriminately, excessively, we suffer. So can if say by our destiny, our happiness and distress are fixed. Can we increase our distress in this life? What do you think?

Can we increase our distress? No. Of course, we can. Isn’t it? See, if somebody starts taking alcohol and they become alcoholic.

Then that is in in the morning, I talk about suffering that is avoidable and suffering that is unavoidable. So that if somebody is drinking, and then they get some disease. No. That is not due to the past karma, isn’t it? So, say, if on a cold night, somebody takes a dozen ice creams, and they enjoy the taste at that time.

But the next morning, their throat is terrible. In the previous night, they were saying, I scream. And now they say, I scream. Now they scream in pain. Now if they have a terrible throat, is it because of past karma?

Yes. But it is past night’s karma, not past life’s karma. So the thing is that our present actions do matter. So our present actions, they do matter in the sense that just as we can increase the distress that will come because of our present actions, similarly, from our present actions, we can also increase to some degree the happiness. So our present actions also matter.

Gita says for them, if you live in we’ll experience greater happiness. So let’s consider an example of let’s suppose because of the past karma, somebody is meant to get some terrible disease. Now they’re they’re meant to get some cancer. Cancer is probably an example of a disease for which we don’t know the cause practically. Like, iatrogenic diseases.

We don’t know what exactly is the cause. So suppose somebody is meant to get cancer. Now, if in this life, they have generally tried to live healthy, eat good food, do some regular exercise, have regulated habits, then one way of looking at it is, what is the use of living healthy? Still got cancer. Life is so unfair.

But another way of looking at it could be that because this person lived healthy, their chances of recovering are greater because of that. On the other hand, if somebody has always been eating a lot of unhealthy food, somebody has always been very unregulated in their whole life, and they get cancer, then their chances of recovering might be very less. So the point I’m making is our present actions do matter. So in general, when we are going through difficulties, can we know whether that difficulty has come because of present karma or past karma? What do you think?

Well, I mean, I’m I’m amazed by your confidence. So we can say we can know to some extent, isn’t it? See. Yeah. Exactly.

So we can analyze. We can observe that, okay, if this person is very upset with me, you know, have I done something to upset that person? Maybe I am not aware of it. I was in UK. I was staying at 1 devotee’s home.

And he told me that tomorrow is my wife’s wedding anniversary. I said, what do you mean your wife’s? They’re not your wedding anniversary. So he said, I don’t believe in all these things. I said, that was like a red signal for me.

And then after that, now so now he had been a devotee who started practicing bhakti. And his wife had been introduced to bhakti through him. So then he was telling me that, actually, you know, my wife doesn’t support me in my bhakti. She doesn’t understand what I’m doing. And he said, you know, I think, it is because of some past bad karma that I’ve got such a disagreeable wife.

I said wait a minute. Wait a minute. Then I was staying at their home so I was taking lunch and I started talking with Mataji also. She is very intelligent and very reasonable. And she started telling that many things which, you know, it is it is natural to for a husband to take certain responsibility to do certain things.

And this devotee, he was being a bit too transcendental. And his wife was upset because of that. So now I told him, Prabhu, it’s best when we face problems never to jump to past karma right in the beginning. So if we are having problems, first look at, is there something I might be doing because of which this is happening? Now, it’s very rare, it’s possible, but it’s very rare that a problem comes because of 100% past karma only.

That I have done absolutely nothing and still this person is against me. It is possible. You know, there is sometimes racial prejudice, religious prejudice, regional biases. So, you know, you just belong to this community. This community is a community of cheaters or selfish people or that people.

And just because we belong to that community, we are labeled in that way. So that can happen. But generally speaking, it is best when some we are having facing some problems to think how I may have contributed to this problem. And is there something I can do to deal with it? To fix it?

To improve the situations? So so basically, when we face difficulties, it is best to start with, like, minimal assumptions. Minimal assumption means that, say, whenever we face problems, start with the most logical explanation first. Say if I’m speaking right now, and suddenly you’re not able to hear what I speak. The first explanation could be that, okay, that maybe this mic is not working.

Yeah. Other explanation could be maybe the sound system itself has collapsed. Other explanation could be that that, you know, the whole audience, at one moment, everybody has become deaf. Oh, so some mysterious virus has come here and made everybody deaf. Another explanation could be that I have got some attack of some disease by which I’m moving my mouth, but my nose, the sound is coming.

Now if somebody starts now are these possible? Maybe, you know, hey, this the mic work not working. The sound system collapsing. They’re possible. But generally, what happens is a sign of intelligence.

Intelligence means in in sankhya, sorry in in Nyaya, Nyaya is Vedic logic. So in Nyaya it is said, whenever we are looking for an explanation, when we are looking for explanations, it is best to start with what is drushta, and then go towards what is drushta. Drushta means what? Visible. So start with more visible or immediate causes.

So an action can have a range when particular situation comes in our life, it can have a range of causes. But best to start with the immediate cause. And when the immediate cause doesn’t work, then move towards a more remote cause. So my most immediate cause could be, did I accidentally turn off the power switch of this? Our next immediate cause could be, has the battery got become discharged on this?

A third could be, maybe this mic has become spoiled. If right in the beginning I say, oh, it’s not able to speak to you? Some terrorists have attacked and the power supply has been destroyed because of that. They say, why are you panicking? Why are you going towards such such explanations?

So karma, the philosophy of karma is not meant to reject the immediate explanation. It is meant to explain situations when the immediate explanations don’t work. So immediate explanations are also valid, but they may not always be valid. So that’s why I start from the and move towards the. Sorry.

Start from the and move toward the. So till now I have spoken about karma. Now let’s move towards bhakti. So so the basic point here is that our actions do matter. There is past karma, but how much the past karma matters in a particular situation?

It’s difficult to know. It is possible that a particular problem has come because of past karma. But let’s not assume that right in the beginning. So now, when we practice bhakti, so there is our, when we talk about karma, how is karma affected by bhakti? So that is the question that we’ll discuss.

And this is a big question, but again, as I it’s not that we have, an answer that is because these concepts themselves are complex and subtle, the answers are also subtle. But we can try to understand broad principles. Now as I said, karma itself can be past and present. So quite often, we tend to focus on the past karma. And how much of my past karma will Krishna remove?

But, you know, first of all the problem with this is, the past karma is itself unknown to us. So we may have a 1000 units of past karma, and Krishna may remove 900 and only a 100 may remain. But 100 will still remain. Now for us, a hundred still may seem very bad. And we say, why this happening?

This shouldn’t have happened to me. It may be that just before we came to bhakti, we were going through a phase of good karma. And then when we start practicing bhakti, we start going through a phase of bad karma. And they said, okay. I started chanting.

Hare Krishna, my problem my life started increasing. So is Krishna causing these problems to me? No. Not at all. So it’s like, when we go to the whole dimension of past karma, first of all, we don’t know how much is the past karma.

And we don’t know or we can’t know how much that is going to be removed. Mhmm. So Krishna does say, I’ll remove. But it is said, He says, but the is This is the second sarva. There is the first sarva also.

So in one sense, Krishna is reciprocal. To the extent we become pure devotees, to that extent, the karma influence may go away. But this, because the past karma is unknown, it’s best to tolerate it. Whatever it comes, So it’s not that Krishna is not helping us, But it’s just that, how Krishna is helping us, we don’t know. Suppose, you know, we inherited some debt because suddenly, say, our parents or somebody in their family passed away.

Now that if we don’t know how much debt is there, and because that person is a relative or somebody, they even they say, okay, you know, you don’t have to pay all the debt. There’s a 25 lakhs, you just give 5 lakhs. If 5 lakhs is also such a big amount, but is it 25 lakhs or is it a far bigger amount? In this case, what happens is because we don’t know how much is the past negative karma, so for us, it’s difficult to know what Krishna has done. And if we start expecting that, okay, in my life, because I’m practicing bhakti, there’ll be no problems.

Then that is an unrealistic expectation. There’s some karma which is not very likely to change. Now if somebody is, say, 4 and a half feet, and that is because of past karma. It’s not that they chant chant chant chant chant chant chant chant chant chant chant chant chant chant chant chant chant chant chant chant chant chant chant chant chant chant chant chant chant chant chant chant chant chant chant chant chant chant chant chant chant chant chant chant chant chant. Chant Is it?

That is not going to happen. So certain kind of karma is not going to change. But when it comes to our present karma, now our present karma is affected by 2 things. It is affected by our knowledge. The kind of knowledge or I can say more specifically, it’s not just knowledge.

It’s not it’s so much. It’s. It’s intelligence. And not just our intelligence. It is affected by our, and it is affected by our vrutti.

Our tendencies. So by our past karma, we all have certain tendencies. Say, for example, somebody may be short-tempered. Now, all babies, when they’re small, they cry. But some babies cry as if they will bring the whole house down.

They say that their crying is screaming at the top of their lungs. It’s like, you know, we can say it’s good karma. They have powerful lungs, but they cry so much is not so, so good karma. Isn’t it? So, now sometimes some babies may also have more anger than others.

And as they grow up, their anger comes up a little bit more. So we all have certain karmic tendencies. So some people may see, we all sometimes know that something is good for us. Our intelligence tells us this is good and this is bad. But still, something from inside prevents us from doing that thing.

We’re just not able to do it. So what Bhakti will do for us is Krishna will handle the past karma. But how exactly he’ll handle and how much is our surrender because of which he’s reciprocating, all these are very difficult to know. So rather than worrying so much about the past karma, we focus on the present karma. And the more we start practicing bhakti, our buddhi becomes strengthened.

Bhakti strengthens our intelligence. We start getting a clearer and clearer understanding. Now this action will be beneficial. This action will be harmful. And that clarity itself is helpful.

You know, remember that morning I talked about, if somebody is sick. 2 people may be sick, but one is undiagnosed and is not is being untreated. Is untreated. The other is diagnosed and being treated. So when our intelligence becomes strong, that basically makes us like a patient who is being diagnosed.

And as the patient is being diagnosed, that means we at least understand. Okay. This is the disease, and this is going to worsen my situation. This is going to improve my situation. Now we may not know a 100%, but we do know to a significant extent.

And that itself gives a significant amount of help. Now without, like we say, See, without that without that our situation is like, you know, somebody has put a cloth on our body and we can’t see at the end, we are being punched. No. One punch comes from the front, one comes from the back. We can’t even see, so we can’t even deal with can’t even protect ourselves.

We can’t fight back. We can’t do anything. So that state of suffering is far greater. So when we get the gyana, that itself leads to a lot of decrease in suffering. But bhakti doesn’t just provide us the jnana.

Bhakti, the the vrtti, it becomes purified. So we all have desires. If we’re not practicing bhakti, our desires tend to be very self centered, very selfish. But the more we start practicing bhakti, our desires start becoming more selfless, more service oriented. So what happens by this?

The lust, anger, greed, they start decreasing. First of all, we understand more clearly that anger is bad. Say, lust is bad. See, the propaganda in today’s world is such that many people think that discover your passion. And they’re not talking about some finding your job.

They think, you know, okay. Get People think that increasing their sensual desires, that’ll lead to more happiness. People watch so many things which titillate them, stimulate them, agitate them. But then that causes more suffering. That causes so much more craving.

Because they just don’t know. Like say, suppose somebody has never drunk and has no interest in drinking. They pass by a bar, they don’t feel any agitation. But somebody who has drunk repeatedly, each time they pass by a bar, they have to fight against me. I will go and drink.

No. I’ll not go and drink. I’ll go and drink. I’ll not go and drink. That causes so much trouble, so much distress.

So just knowing what is the right thing to do and being freed from the unhealthy desires, that itself decreases suffering substantially. So when Krishna says, so that is a very important thing. And this if if we focus just on this blessing I’ll conclude with one last incident to illustrate this point. That if we just focus on this point, that right now by Krishna’s mercy, I know what is the healthy choice and what is unhealthy choice. That does not necessarily mean that in every situation we know exactly what is the right thing to do.

But we have a broad compass. We may not have an exact path. Okay. In this situation, what should I do? But we have a broad compass.

And that itself is a big relief. So after Krishna spoke the Bhagavad Gita, after Krishna assured Arjuna, after Arjuna said, yes, I surrender to you. After that, when the Kurukshetra war happened, Arjuna faced a devastating loss on the 13th day. What happened? Abhimanyu was killed.

Now Abhimanyu dying itself is terrible for Arjuna. But what made that even more terrible was his own personal sense of failure. See, what the Kauravas did was on 13th day, they did not form the Chakravyu right in the beginning. They had some other military formation. And then they arranged that.

There was a king Susharaman. He challenged Arjuna. And in that challenge, he diverted Arjuna away. So they went to a different part of the battlefield and they started fighting over there. And then once Arjuna was diverted, and quickly the Karkar was reorganized and they revealed the chakravi formation.

And then there was no way for the pandavas to penetrate it. So then Yudhishthir asked Abhimanyu to go inside. Abhimanyu went inside and unfortunately, he was trapped. And he fought heroically. But then the Kauras unfairly ganged up on him.

And 6 of them together attacked him and eventually killed him. That evening, when Arjuna came back, normally, when the warriors would come back, there would be celebratory music welcoming them back. That day when Arjuna was coming back, he had fought heroically against the, army of Sucharman. He destroyed many, many soldiers. And it was a long day.

He was tired. He was very successful. Still, you know, he felt an uneasy sensation within him. And as he came close to their tents, their camp, he noticed there was absolutely no music. There’s a somber silence over there.

And normally when we meet people, people greet, nod nod their head, smile. On this day, no one was ready to even meet Arjuna’s eye. And then a pit started forming in Arjuna’s stomach. And then Arjuna started wondering what has happened? What has gone wrong?

And then he remembered that in the heat of the battle, he had heard someone scream far away. The Kauravas have formed a chakravyu. He had been so busy fighting against the army of Susharaman, he had it had not registered him in at that time. He had not paid much attention. If something had been an emergency, he would have been called.

He thought like that. He started thinking, was a Chakravyu formed? If Chakravyu has been formed, then what happened? And has Yudhishthir been abducted? If Yudhishthir had been abducted, surely I would have known.

I would have been informed. So, what happened? So, the only person who knew that the chakra view can be broken, that is a woman knew. But he doesn’t know how to come out. Has something happened to him?

So, he just charged with his horse racing towards the central bandhal. And as soon as he entered, in the bandhal, there was an arrangement and each warrior had their particular throne. As soon as he entered, first his eyes went to Yudhishthir. So Yudhishthir was there. Then his eyes went to Abhimanyu’s throne and that was empty.

His eyes just didn’t want to believe his what they were seeing. Just desperate, hoping against hope that what he was seeing was not the reality. He again looked back more carefully at Yudhisthira and he saw that there were tears streaming down Yudhishthir’s eyes. Arjuna just collapsed and he started crying. Abhimanyu.

Abhimanyu. Abhimanyu. And he started thinking, you know, fire on me. He said, I went in the pursuit of glory and because of that I was not there to protect my son. Surely, when Abhivani was in the last moments, he must have called out to me.

He must have called out to his father. Why was I not there at that time? Yudhish still got up from his throne. Heavy steps, slowly he walked up to Arjuna. And he slowly told Arjuna what had happened.

So as Arjuna heard his grief started changing to anger. And then he lashed out at Yudhishthira. And Dima said, are all your weapons just ornaments? Could not one of you protect my son? Shame on you.

So when he spoke this sorry. So this is some past karma. Coming in the middle of some present karma. No? So anyway.

So at that time, Krishna for Yudhishthir. He was already in distress, and Arjuna’s words were like whiplashes. Both Arjuna Ayudhishthir and Bhima. So Krishna came up to Arjuna and pulled him into a sidewalk. He said, oh, Arjuna Partha, in this world, adversities come upon everyone, the wise and the unwise.

The difference between them is that when the adversities come, the unwise act in ways that make things worse. Whereas the wise act in ways that make things better. Oh Arjuna, look at the faces of your brothers. Due to the death of Abhimanyu, they are in agony. They are in pain just as you are.

Please don’t speak words that increase their pain. This jolted Arjuna out of his stupor. He was just in so much pain, just lashing out. Trying to do something about it. And that’s when as Arjuna heard the story again he recollected it.

He started thinking that actually his brothers had made a reasonable plan. That Abhimanyu would go inside and they would follow him. But Jayedra had come in the way. Therefore, Arjuna decided that Jayadr needs to be punished. And then, the next day, while the Pandavas Kauravas celebrated on 13th day, the 14th day was their worst defeat.

It was not just a jayrat who was killed, but the fact that the entire army of the Kauravas could not protect 1 warrior from 1 opposing warrior. That was morale shattering. It’s like, there’s 1 football player. The whole team is designed to stop that football player from getting to the goal. And if that football player effortlessly gets to the goal.

See, if our whole team can’t stop, then what is the use of even playing? So it became like that. So the point is that even Arjuna faced distress. And Krishna did not go into any particular past life philosophy explaining why this happened, past life karma, what this happened, that happened. Okay.

This has happened now. Let us see what we can do about it. So basically, when we talk about if we are practicing bhakti. Now bhakti, yes, it means remembering Krishna. It means loving Krishna.

But bhakti essentially means service attitude. And bhakti means seva vow. Now what does the service attitude mean? That we understand that Krishna is our well wisher, that Krishna wants the best for us. Krishna wants things to be better for us.

So if we are servants of Krishna, then that means we also act in a mood of service to Krishna to make things better. So what this means is that Krishna is our well wisher. So Krishna wants the best for us. So then our service attitude mean would mean, okay, now the situation has come, what is the best I can do in this situation? Now we may say, I don’t know what is the best.

Okay. We may not know what is the best, but can we know what is the worst? Like, say if there is some relationship, and we had tried everything and still that relationship is not improving. I don’t know what I can do about this. But maybe we can know what I can should not do, isn’t it?

If we just, for 10 minutes, remove our word, word, restrict, and just speak whatever is there in our mind and heart, Relationship cultivated over 10 years can be destroyed in 10 minutes. Isn’t it? That doesn’t mean we suppress our emotions. But we all know that certain things will make the situation worse. So with whatever buddhi we have, you say, okay.

Now the situation is there. Krishna, what can I do that will make things better? If we have that service attitude, Krishna will guide us. And the conviction that comes from practicing bhakti is that see that there are many many aspects of bhakti and shraddha and all those things But the most important aspect of practicing bhakti is that basically Krishna is on my side. This is the faith that we need to get.

See, basically, when we are functioning in the world, there is, I am here and there is some force beyond me. We may believe in God, we may not believe in God. We may believe in nature, whatever we believe in. Now with respect to this, there are only three factors. That this is for me, this is against me, or this is apathetic to me.

Doesn’t care for me. So ultimately, this is all we whatever exists beyond us, either it doesn’t care for us so to a large extent, the scientific world view is largely materialistic. Everything happens just according to physical laws. There is no God, you see. So it is we call it atheistic but the idea is there is no God that cares for us.

It’s apathetic. Now, some people may think that God is my enemy. That’s a very dark way to live in. But basically, if we are practicing bhakti, we will see so many stories of so many devotees who face such difficulties. Prahlad did nothing wrong and yet he suffered so much at least at an external level.

But what happened is, through it all, by remembering Krishna, he did not suffer so much. And eventually, Krishna protected him. So basically, what happens is if we can get this faith that Krishna is on my side, Therefore, I will be on Krishna’s side. So Krishna is on my side. Therefore, I will choose to be on Krishna’s side.

I don’t know exactly what is Krishna’s plan. But Krishna, I want to serve you. When Prabhupada asked what is the best prayer we can offer? He said, pray to Krishna, please give me the strength to serve you. Whatever be the situation I face, please give me the strength to serve you.

So if we have that attitude, then we will get the buddhi. And with small steps we take, by which gradually we will be able to improve things. Now some amount of improvement may happen in this life for us. Some amount of improvement may not be seen in this life. We’ll be purified and we’ll go beyond this world to Krishna.

But when we function in this way, basically, the past karma reservoir may not change. But the present karma, we can change. And we can ensure that no matter how dark our present may be, by trying to serve Krishna, we can make our future brighter. And that that is a power that every one of us has. So that is the faith.

Krishna says, if you become conscious of me, you will pass over all obstacles by my grace. Going back to that medicine metaphor, the world can hurt us in many ways. But when we practice bhakti, I mentioned what happens is for us, Krishna becomes bigger than the world. So what this means is that the world has much power to hurt us. World people can hurt us.

The environment, the weather can hurt us. Our own body can hurt us. But what happens is we understand that greater than the world’s power to hurt is Krishna’s power to heal. And it is this faith that the practice of bhakti increases more more and more for us. And that’s how the problems of our life, even if they come, they do not disturb us so much.

Greater than the world’s power to hurt is Krishna’s power to heal. That is how bhakti decreases our klesha agni and it helps us. It helps us create a brighter future for us. So the klesha agni happens because yeah, although these problems are there, Krishna is with me. I am not alone in this big bad world trying to struggle against it.

Krishna is with me, and I will choose to be with Krishna. So understanding this Krishna is on my side, this will lead to the klesha Agni. The suffering. Suffering doesn’t just come because, there is problems. When we feel I’m in these problems and I’m alone and nobody cares for me, nobody won’t nobody even bought this bothered whether I exist, whether I live or die.

That’s when the suffering becomes far more. And when you understand Krishna is on our side, that glacier decreases. And, once we choose to be on Krishna’s side, then yes, the present may be dark. But by Krishna’s mercy, the future will be brighter. So I’ll summarize what I discussed.

I discussed 4 main points. 1st, we talked about the principle of karma. How karma is not just a philosophical concept, it is like a universal observation. It is the basis of science. It is also the basis of human training.

The only difficulty that happens is, that it is not always just action and result. It is often, there is the present action and there is the present result, but there is also the past action that is playing a role. And sometimes the past action might be negative, and that’s why the present result might not be positive. Enough as much as we expect. So basically, karma works in a complex way.

But still, the important thing is our actions matter. That is the key take home from the principle of karma. That what I am doing right now, it matters. If I’m doing good, the good will result in the future. If somebody is doing bad, that will lead to bad, even if that is not manifested now.

Then we discuss the concept of destiny. Is karma fixed? Yes. Destiny is fixed. But how destiny unfolds, how it manifests in our life, that is not fixed.

I discussed how somebody may be betrayed and cheated in this life. But how they live in this life may decide how much support they get when they are cheated. So that’s why we discussed this pendulum, that present karma and past karma. So, it is best if the present and past are both good, then we have bright decision. The most dangerous is, when the past karma is positive and present karma is negative.

Because they will they will create suffering for themselves. This is bad when the person is not so harmful. Now this is something which we learn to we need to learn to tolerate. So I’m going through some difficult situations, but they will end. And for that purpose, then we discuss about how does bhakti affect our karma?

Bhakti and karma, we discuss that. So basically, there is past karma, and this is unknown. So it is best not to worry too much about this. So accept that Krishna is doing something for my benefit with that karma. But the present karma, that is the most important thing.

So our present action is shaped by our intelligence and by our tendencies. And Krishna strengthens our intelligence through bhakti, and then he purifies our tendencies. And by this, what happens is we can start creating a brighter future. And that means, I took the story of Arjuna and Abhimanyu to illustrate that essentially, when we talk about bhakti, bhakti means And means that if Krishna is my well wisher, then let me see how I can If Krishna wants the best for me, how can I do my best? How can I play my part in Krishna’s plan?

So, basically, Krishna is with me. And therefore, I will be with Krishna. So to the extent we understand Krishna is with me, our klesha will decrease. And to the extent we choose to be with Krishna, the shubha in our life will increase. The world can hurt us in many ways, but rather than worrying about how and why the world is hurting us, we turn toward Krishna.

And Krishna’s power to heal is always greater. Whatever karma may get us to, whatever karma may get us to, Krishna will get us through. Thank you very much. Hooray. So do we have time for questions?

Should we take tomorrow? Yeah. So so what we can do is this was because there are multiple concepts to discuss over here. So the class went a little over time. But if you have questions, you can note down the questions.

And maybe tomorrow, instead of going to the future characters of the, first we will tackle we’ll address the questions, and then we’ll move forward. There can be many different questions, and I I’ll try to address them as much as I can. But, it’s, it’s a very important and practical topic. So I would like to devote some time. So if you have questions, please note them down, and, we’ll continue tomorrow.

Thank you very much.

The post 3 Six characteristics of bhakti – How bhakti removes distress & brings auspiciousness appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

In the video, HG Hansarupa Prabhu recounts a poignant anecdote about a man who appeared to be a homeless individual (“a bum”) and his encounter with Śrīla Prabhupāda. This story unfolded during the time when the devotees were at the 55th Street Temple in New York City. One evening after the Sunday feast, as the
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HH Krishna Kshetra Swami delivers an engaging discourse at ISKCON Radhadesh, blending song, humor, and deep spiritual insights. He reflects on Lord Chaitanya’s love, the significance of chanting Krishna’s names, and the boundless devotion of Radha and Krishna. Interweaving scripture, stories, and affirmations, he inspires gratitude, unity, and a heartfelt longing for spiritual growth and
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Please find below photos from last Saturday night’s Harinama Sankirtan in London. Slideshow (sound on supported systems): https://davidc.zenfolio.com/saturday_night_harinama_sankirtan_25012025/slideshow Gallery: https://davidc.zenfolio.com/saturday_night_harinama_sankirtan_25012025 The slideshow soundtrack is from Melbourne, but the same melody was use for the middle part of the evening here. Original is at: https://youtu.be/Db0HpevRRXg?t=495 Your servant, David
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Translation Here the use of the verb “bhavet,” which is in the imperative mood, tells us that this certainly must be done. Noncompliance would be abandonment of duty. Purport This imperative is applicable to pure devotees. Neophytes will be able to understand these affairs only after being elevated by regulated devotional service under the expert
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“I hate you people and all you stand for!” shouted the school’s headmaster. “There’s no way I will ever, and I repeat, EVER, rent this school to you during Woodstock.” With that he slammed the door, leaving Nandini dasi standing dumbstruck with no alternate accommodations for most of the 700 devotees coming for the event.

Fifteen minutes later her 4 year-old son, Alex, who was playing with his friends nearby wandered over and casually walked into the headmaster’s office. “I want to tell you something….” he began. The headmaster, startled by the youngster’s bravery, decided to listen to what he had to say.

Years later the headmaster told Nandini, “I never heard a 4 year-old speak so articulately in my life, what to speak of his convincing arguments why you people should have the school!” Back then he had granted permission for us to use the school after Alex convinced him it was the right thing to do.

That was in 2013. Since then the headmaster has welcomed us back every year during Woodstock and has become a great admirer of our movement. As always, he was even there to greet us last week when two of our buses from Ukraine and Moldova arrived at his school two days before for the twenty-third Woodstock festival.

“Trouble’s brewing,” he said warily, as he greeted Nandini.

He didn’t have to explain. Most everyone in the country was aware that the conservative government was not happy with the Woodstock festival and was doing everything it could to try and stop it from taking place.

“Yes, I know,” said Nandini. “Their latest attempt to shut the festival down is to impose so many security restrictions that it will be too expensive to proceed. I heard that the organizers made a desperate public appeal for financial help today.”

“Even if they get the funds,” said the headmaster, “the restrictions are so imposing that it will be impossible for the event to function properly. They plan to do an extensive search of each and every vehicle coming to the event. They say they’re afraid of terrorists. Rumor has it that snipers will cover the event from the nearby hills.”

The next morning I told my driver Guru Kripa das to get our van ready to go down to the Woodstock field where a number of our men had been busy setting up our Krishna’s Village of Peace for two weeks.

“Give me half an hour,” he said. “I have to run to get the special pass and ID papers that the government issued for our van.”

“Wow” it’s really true,” I thought. “This year’s Woodstock festival might be pretty intense.”

One hour later we approached an ominous looking checkpoint on the only road leading into the festival sight. Suddenly six policemen in riot gear appeared from behind a barricade and approached our van—their hands on their guns.

“Driver, stop the van!” shouted one through a megaphone. “Take the keys out of the ignition and step out of the car slowly, with your hands above your head. Everyone else in the van do the same. Now!”

As we stood in the road they patted us down and searched the van.

“Now get back in,” the same officer said.

A little confused by what was going on, we moved slowly back toward the van.

“Move it!” the officer barked. As we drove away, I made eye contact with him and tried to smile. He just glared back. I noted that his badge was number 44. I would warn other devotees who would be coming through to be cautious.

As we drove into the festival site I said to the other men in the car, “They’re definitely going to have to change the motto of this festival from ‘Peace, Love and Rock and Roll.’”

Once we arrived at our village, set upon one-half hector of land, all tension diminished. The men had done a great job in setting up all the colorful tents, including the big one of over 50 meters long.

“We’ve been lucky,” said a new devotee who was helping. “The weatherman has been predicting rain every day, but it hasn’t rained once!”

“It’s not luck” I corrected him, “It’s Krishna’s mercy. In Krsna Book, Queen Kunti says to the Lord, ‘So, my dear Krishna, there is no question of bad luck; we are always in an auspicious position because of Your grace.’ What was true then is also true now if we’re serving Krishna’s mission. Our lives are always auspicious.”

As I walked around the large area set aside for our village I marveled at the fact that we’d set up our village thirteen times on the same field. “It’s become sacred ground,” I mused. “One can feel the atmosphere has changed because of the many hours and days we’ve chanted the holy names at this exact location. Not only us, but the thousands of people who come to Woodstock and chant Hare Krishna with us.”

“Sacred Ground!” I called out enthusiastically, “It’s true!” causing all the devotees working at the site to look up at me curiously.

“Incessantly they discuss the narrations of Sri Krishna’s pastimes with one another and chant the names of Krsna which bestow pure devotion. Overwhelmed with ecstasy they preach the Hare Krishna Mantra throughout the earth to destroy the sins of the age of Kali.”

[ Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya, Susloka-Satakam, text 76 ]

The next morning we held a meeting with all 700 devotees present. I stressed the historic nature of our presence at Woodstock and how we had to take advantage of the opportunity to reach these young people with the holy names.

“Carpe diem” I began. “That’s a Latin aphorism which means ‘seize the moment.’ Seventy-five years ago this very place where we are sitting was a war zone with mass killings committed by both the allied and axis armies. No one was safe—no man, woman or child. But now Russian, German, and American devotees can come together as brothers and sisters, in a time of peace—free to spread our message. We must do so with a sense of urgency because we all know that history often repeats itself. Let’s chant and dance with a common purpose—giving the one million young people coming to Woodstock a simple and joyful solution to all the upheaval in this world!”

As I closed, the devotees let out a huge roar. Then and there I knew that somehow Krishna would arrange for Woodstock to go on.

The day before the actual Woodstock festival begins, is traditionally “Hare Krishna Day.” Most of the people have arrived at Woodstock by that time and we open our village at 11:00 a.m. Much to the delight of the people, we started early with full prasadam distribution at our Food for Peace tent—despite the complications of getting our prasadam vans through the congested traffic caused by the police security checks. I was amazed to see people literally running toward the massive tent as the news spread that we were selling prasadam for a nominal fee. Moments later we rolled our massive Ratha Yatra cart onto the one and only street running through the grounds, accompanied by a rousing kirtan with 100 devotees. The sacred grounds were becoming even more sanctified!

As the rumbling chariot made it’s way through the throngs of people, I gave a flower garland I was wearing to a girl who was pulling on one of the ropes. She had a can of beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other. She looked at the garland, and quickly threw away both the beer and the cigarette.

“Doesn’t match,” she said. “Two different worlds.”

“One down, 999,000 to go” I chuckled to myself.

Many of the youth came forward to either pull the chariot, or sing and dance with us. I was initially surprised that so many seemed to know the Hare Krishna Mantra. So I pulled one disheveled boy with a wild mohawk haircut aside and asked him, “How do you know the song?”

“It’s Kali Yuga, man,” he shouted above the roar of the kirtan, “there’s no other way!” With that he jumped back into the kirtan chanting with abandon.

We had printed a special invitation beckoning people to come to our village and everyone seemed to be accepting them. Within two hours all 10,000 we brought with us for that day were distributed. As I was expressing my displeasure to the kirtan leader that we hadn’t brought enough invitations, a young woman overheard us.

“Don’t worry, everyone here knows about Krishna’s Village of Peace” she said. “There was an online survey done last week on the official Woodstock website. One question was: ‘where do you spend most of your money at Woodstock?’

Ninety percent of the people replied, ‘At the Hare Krishna’s, Food for Peace tent!’”

That evening our Mantra Yoga tent swelled with people as Mahatma dasa, Sivarama Swami, BB Govinda Maharaja, Bada Haridas and Madhava prabhu led kirtan, one after another. As we ended the kirtan at 1:00 a.m. and I went outside, I was surprised to see the Questions and Answers tent still full of around 100 people. I expressed my surprise to one of our security men who said, “Yep, I stand here and watch ’em go from the kirtan tent to the Question and Answers tent, and then on to the book tent where most of the time they walk out with either a Bhagavad-Gita, a cookbook, or the Srila Prabhupada Lilamrita.

Before going back to our base, I walked over to our Food for Peace tent.

“How’s it going?” I asked Rasikendra dasa.

“30,000 plates of prasadam today,” he said with a big smile. “And we’ve started cooking for the morning now.”

“What about getting some rest?” I said astonished.

“Too much nectar flowing,” he said as he walked off. Then he turned and added, “Oh yeah, we’re giving maha prasadam to the police at the roadblocks and they’re starting to ease up on us. Now we’re getting all the prasadam vans through pretty quickly. From the four school kitchens to the festival site it takes only thirty minutes. ”

The next day Woodstock’s organizer, Jurek Owsiak, called and asked us to come for the grand opening on the main stage. “Could you bring some of your theater performers in their colorful outfits?” he asked. At 3:00 p.m. we went to the back of the main stage and were met by security men who immediately took us up the stairs to the stage. The main security man said, “After Jurek and a few musicians come on, you’ll be next in line. You can go straight to the front. You’ll be in full view of the crowd of 300,000 people.”

Within moments Jurek went onstage and thanked all the people present for assisting in his charity work to help children’s hospitals. He told them the Woodstock festival was his reciprocation for all their hard work. Then he said loudly that no politics could stop the event and that they were all victorious in face of huge opposition that year. Relaxing his tone, he turned to the devotees and myself and said, “Let us thank Krishna’s Village of Peace for being with us again with their good food and all their entertainment!” As 300,000 people applauded I waved and said softly, “Srila Prabhupada I pray you are watching and that you are pleased.”

With that little mention from Jurek, our village was soon filled to capacity. At any one time there were between 5,000 – 10,000 people in our main tent, in line for prasadam, henna drawings, taking yoga classes, attending seminars, or just walking around our spotlessly clean area.

That night Acyuta Gopi dasi arrived from New York and brought the house down with her late night kirtan in the Mantra Yoga tent.

The next morning, Nandini came running toward me waving a newspaper in the air as I was getting in the van to go down to the festival site.

“Gurudeva! Gurudeva! Look! Gazeta Wyborcza, one of the biggest newspapers in the country has a positive front page article on Woodstock and the cover photo is our Ratha Yatra parade.”

We both stared at awe at the newspaper. “I never imagined we’d get such recognition, especially in the present political climate,” I said.

“It’s due to the service of so many wonderful devotees this year,” she said. “And maybe a little luck.”

“Not luck,” I said with a smile, repeating my words from the day before. “Our lives are auspicious because of Krishna’s grace.”

As our van approached the security check at the Woodstock field thirty minutes later, I could see policemen were checking cars with less scrutiny. When we approached, a policeman just glanced at us and waved us on.

“They must have retired the snipers by now.” I joked to the devotees in the car.

By the time we arrived, prasadam distribution was in full swing.

“I’m going to distribute prasadam for a few minutes before the Ratha Yatra parade begins,” I told the devotees in the van.

As I stepped into the Food for Peace tent and looked out at the eight lines stretching back 80 yards each, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Joining one of the serving teams, I chose to serve the last preparation in line, halavah. It has always been one of the festival-goers favorites. With a serving spoon, I dipped into the pot and took a generous dose, carefully placing it on a young man’s empty plate in from of me.

“You’re not taking rice or vegetables?” I asked curiously.

“No” he said, standing there staring at the plate.

“Please move along!” urged one of the servers as the boy continued staring at the halavah. “There are people waiting.”

“Just one second.” he said with a smile. Then he dipped his finger into the halvah and then into his mouth.

“Ahhhh!” he said pausing for a few more moments. “I’ve been waiting twelve months to relish that taste!”

“A worthy veteran of our festival” I said to him as I eased him forward.

After twenty minutes, I relinquished my spot in the server’s line, thinking, “I should get a picture of the long line.”

Taking out my camera I took a few shots of people nearby and then with a long lens focused further down the line. To my surprise I saw 3 policemen in line.

Pushing my lens as far as it would go, I saw their insignias, ranks and, then to my surprise, badge number 44! It was the policeman who had been so rough with us the first day we entered Woodstock.

I said softly, “Just see how people’s hearts are changed by the association of devotees of the Lord!”

Ten minutes later I was in front of the Ratha Yatra cart as it once again slowly made it’s way down the crowded avenue, pulled by more festival-goers than devotees. After forty-five minutes, the kirtan was again roaring when suddenly a young man, dressed only in dirty jeans and literally covered from head to toe in all kinds of strange tattoos, came running forward, falling right in front of me in prone position, as if offering dandavats. As the Ratha Cart quickly moved forward I asked a few of the men to remove him.

“Gently” I said.

As soon as he was raised off the ground, he came forward and tightly embraced me. From the combination of dirt, grime, and the odor of his body, it was obvious he had not bathed in weeks.

“Take him off!” commanded one of the men to a devotee close to us.

“No,” I said. “It’s OK.”

I continued to lead the kirtan for a minute or two more with him hanging on me until he finally broke free and started walking alongside me, swerving from side to side, obviously under the influence of alcohol, or some drug.

Then twenty minutes later when I stopped to sing in one place he fell prone on the ground again in front of me. This time I could hear him say something. I thought I even heard the words, “Krishna prestaya butale.”

“No, that couldn’t be,” I concluded.

Back on his feet, he once again embraced me tightly, and to the horror of all the devotees, kissed me on the cheek.

Again, security rushed forward.

“It’s OK.” I said. “He’s not dangerous.”

An hour later he was still by my side as I was finishing up and ready to hand the microphone over to another chanter. Suddenly he grabbed the microphone from my hand and started singing the maha mantra intensely with his eyes closed.

“How’s this possible?” I said to myself.

After a few stanzas I took the microphone back. It just looked so strange, even at Woodstock, a man like this with every inch of his visible body covered in ghostly-looking tattoos.

As I passed the microphone over to another devotee I walked a little distance away to catch my breath. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the drunken boy follow me.

“Sorry” he said in English as he embraced me one more time again.

For a moment I was speechless.

“Sorry?” I said almost a question.

“Yes,” he replied with his head down. “I’m your fallen disciple, Bhakta Rafal. Many years ago I lived at the New Santipur Farm in southern Poland. I used to serve you when you visited. In my heart, I chose you as my spiritual master. You don’t recognize me now with all my tattoos,” he said. “Please save me Guru Maharaja!”

“It’s alright Rafal,” I said. “Don’t worry. Join us in all the kirtans today and tomorrow and take lots of prasadam. Try to get your taste back for Krishna consciousness. We’ll speak more later in the day. But right now, let’s get back to the parade.”
,As we walked back he clung tightly to me. In my mind I prayed, “Srila Prabhupada, please save this man.”

Everything went smoothly throughout the day at our village. As evening approached, Rasikendra dasa approached me.

“Srila Gurudeva,” he said, “We’ve cooked almost twenty-six tons of food. I think we’ll do more than 150,000 plates of prasadam before Woodstock is over. We ran out of rice this morning. I went store to store and bought every grain of rice in the town! The store owners are very happy with us!”

“Yes, everything is auspicious by Krishna’s grace, “ I said.

As I hurriedly walked towards the Mantra Yoga tent eager to join in BB Govinda Maharaja’s kirtan, a young man approached me.

“Please sir, can I have five minutes of your time?” he pleaded.

“Well, I’m trying to get to the kirtan tent …” I said impatiently.

“Please,” he said, grabbing my arm.

Sensing his sincerity, I stopped and said calmly, “Sure, what is it?”

“Last year at Woodstock my friend approached you with several questions. You spoke together in English. Not speaking English, I couldn’t understand. But after the Woodstock festival I saw many wonderful changes in my friend, which he attributed to his conversation with you.

“Personally, I went through a very challenging year. At wits end, I turned toward spirituality to deal with the crisis in my life. One day I remembered how you had helped my friend. So you know what I did?”

“No what did you do?” I asked.

I enrolled in a course to learn English so I could talk freely with you at this year’s Woodstock festival. I went to 3 classes a week for most of the year. I even went to London for two weeks to practice my English.”

“Well then,” I said taking his hand, “let’s sit down over there on the grass have a long conversation…”

By the last day of Woodstock all the devotees were exhausted. But that didn’t stop them from doing their services. Each one of them was enlivened to see how much people loved Krishna’s Village of Peace.

As the kirtans started for the final evening in the Mantra Yoga tent, one devotee from Croatia approached me.

“Maharaja can I ask you a question?” he said.

“Sure” I replied.

“This is my first time at Krishna’s Village of Peace at Woodstock,” he began. “I’ve noticed some things here that I haven’t seen in other devotee festivals.”

“Like what?” I asked.

“Well, for one thing, in your big tent you have non-devotee bands playing in the evening. Thousands of people come. But I’m wondering how Krishna conscious it is having karmi music playing in the village?”

“It’s not for devotees of course, “ I said. “And we don’t allow any immoral songs or the use of bad words.”

“But …” the boy interjected.

“Let me ask you a question.” I continued. “Where do all the thousands of kids go after the concerts?”

He thought for a moment and replied, “Most of them walk over to the Food for Peace tent to eat prasadam.”

“And then?” I said.

“Well after that a lot end up in the Mantra Yoga tent.”

“And what do they do there?” I asked.

“They chant Hare Krishna and dance wildly for hours.” he said with a smile.

“Yes,” I said. “This is all in line with a verse by Rupa Goswami that Srila Prabhupada used to quote a lot:

yena tena prakarena manah krsna nivesayet
sarve vidhi-nisedha syur etayor eva kinkarah

“A spiritual master should devise means by which people may somehow or other come to Krishna consciousness. All rules and regulations are subordinate to this principle.”

( Bhakti Rasamrta Sindhu 1.2.4 )

“A preacher has to be innovative in spreading the message of Krishna consciousness according to time, place and circumstance without compromising the tradition.” I concluded.

“Well, what about the devotee ladies leading the dance steps down in front of the stage?” he asked. “The whole crowd follows them. I haven’t seen that anywhere.”

“Again, it is something we only do at Woodstock and our festivals along the coast,” I replied. “It helps people to focus, the result being they chant and dance with us for hours on end.

“Srila Prabhupada wanted us to come up with novel ways to spread Krishna consciousness. He once famously said, ‘Tax your brains how to spread this movement.

“His spiritual master, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati went to great extremes and was very innovative in getting people involved in Krsna consciousness.”

Pulling out my phone, I searched my notes and read to him one of my favorite passages from a book by Bhakti Vikas Swami on the life and teachings of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati:

“His [Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saravati’s] exposition was divided into two sections, spiritual and secular, with items collected from every part of India, and the whole extravaganza covering more than one square mile. The secular division demonstrated miscellaneous departments of human endeavour, medical, educational, agricultural, arts and crafts, cattle and livestock, child welfare, athletics, and amusements. Several provincial governments sent materials to be displayed. Other attractions were performances of athletic feats such as gymnastics, wrestling, boxing, sword and stick play, and jujitsu. There were musical competitions, dramas, film shows, a circus, and in the words of the Harmonist, ‘other varieties of innocent amusements.’ Prizes, medals, and certificates were awarded to deserving exhibitors and performers.

“The spiritual section was even more elaborate. A museum contained figures of Visnu and Krsna, and other religious objects such as memorabilia formerly used by reputed sadhus. A book display featured volumes produced by different religious sects in diverse languages and manuscripts of rare unpublished religious works. There were photos and paintings of eminent sadhus and sundry sacred places. A major draw was a huge relief map of India-occupying over a third of an acre-constructed on the ground with stone, cement, and brick and showing prominent holy places, the locations of all Gaudiya Matha branches, and the routes of Sri Caitanya and Lord Nityananda’s tours. Dioramas in over fifty stalls depicted manifold religious praxes of India, with emphasis on Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s teachings. The practices of pure Vaisnavas, pseudo-Vaisnavas, and other religious sects were illustrated by life-size dolls set against backgrounds of appropriate painted scenes, many representing incidents in the pastimes of Lord Caitanya. Another novelty for numerous visitors was the brilliant illumination of the entire grounds by recently installed electricity.”

[Sri Bhaktisiddhanta Vaibhava, ‘Theistic Exhibitions’ pgs. 355 – 356 ]

Madhava prabhu’s kirtan that night ushered in the next morning’s sunrise. It was the cherry on top of the cake of the best Woodstock festival in twenty-three years.

I awoke bleary-eyed and exhausted.

“I have to get up!” I coaxed myself. “We have to clean up and break down our whole village today and get back on the Baltic Sea coast in two days for three more weeks of our usual festivals.”

When I arrived around 9:00 a.m. there were already thirty devotees busy taking our village apart. Outside our village, people were streaming out of the festival to catch buses and trains home.

“How do these devotees do it!” I said to myself. “It can only be Gaura shakti, the internal energy of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.”

As I walked by the Food for Peace tent, which had mostly been disassembled, a few devotees came up to me.

“Srila Gurudeva,” one of them said, “we found a pot of rice and a pot of halavah that somehow didn’t get distributed. What shall we do with it?”

I thought for a moment and said, “Lets set up a small table on the sidewalk out there and distribute to people who are leaving. Find a nice tablecloth, clean yourselves up, find some plates and spoons, put up a little sign….”

The exhausted devotees looked at me incredulously, bags under their dreary eyes.

“There’s only enough for thirty or forty plates, Srila Gurudeva,” one devotee said. “We distributed 150,000 plates over the last five days. What difference will it make if just a few more people get prasadam?”

“Come a little closer and sit down.” I said, “I’ll tell you a short story.”

“Once there were two men walking on a beach after a huge storm. Thousands upon thousands of small fish had been washed up onto the beach and were flapping helplessly on the sand. As the men walked along one of them reached down and picked up three fish. With a swift motion of his arm he threw them back into the water.

Surprised, his friend stopped and asked, “Why did you do that? There are thousands of fish on the beach. What difference does it make if you throw three of them back into the sea?”

The first man smiled and replied, “It makes a difference to them!”

Hearing the story the devotees jumped up and with renewed enthusiasm gathered the materials to distribute the last drops of mercy to the people of Woodstock.

**********************

“ I bow down to Gaura, the beautiful son of Mother Saci, who is worshipped by the chanting of the holy names in the age of Kali, who is the son of Nanda Maharaja come again, who is the extraordinary brilliant ornament of the earth, whose various preaching methods are suitable for people in this world of birth and death, whose consciousness is fixed in meditation on His form of Vrajendra-nandana Krishna and who is worshipped together with His abode of Sri Navadvipa Dhama.”

[Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya, Sri Saci-sutastakam – 8 Prayers Glorifying the Son of Sri Saci devi, text 7]

By Dandavats Staff Writer

Live to Give 2024 Celebration. Free Write Journal. Srila Prabhupada's Murti Installed at ISKCON Valsad. Iskcon Connection Newsletter. Appreciating Devotees: Path to Divine Connection. The Lord can perfectly play the part of any living entity. The beauty of Krishna consciousness. Sacrifice, Service, and Surrender in Krishna Consciousness. Mayapur Mellows - 2025. Recharge Festival. ISKCON Parsippany - Walkthrough Video Continue reading "Iskcon Spiritual Milestones and Events Across the World, January 26
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This video explores Krishna’s transcendental nature, his pastimes, and the essence of Bhakti (devotion). It emphasizes deepening attraction to Krishna through chanting and understanding his opulences, beyond ritualistic practice. The lecture discusses Krishna’s manifestations, eternal love for devotees, and how his pastimes inspire connection, mercy, and devotion in all circumstances.
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In this lecture on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 8.22.3, HG Narayani Mataji discusses Bali Mahārāja’s surrender, highlighting his fearless sacrifice of possessions and self to the Lord, except for his concern about defamation. The importance of gratitude, devotion, and sacrifice in Krishna consciousness is emphasized, along with chanting and service as pathways to spiritual growth and universal harmony.
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Translation Lord Kṛṣṇa bowed down to His aunt and the wives of His elders, O King, and then Draupadī and the Lord’s sister bowed down to Him. Purport Śrīla Prabhupāda writes: “Lord Kṛṣṇa delightfully offered His respects and obeisances to Kuntī and other elderly ladies of the palace. His younger sister, Subhadrā, was also standing
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Translation He was personally the Supreme Lord Viṣṇu and was therefore transcendental, yet because He had the body of a hog, He searched after the earth by smell. His tusks were fearful, and He glanced over the devotee-brāhmaṇas engaged in offering prayers. Thus He entered the water. Purport We should always remember that although the
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The video features a Bhagavatam class by H.G. Vraja Bihari Prabhu at ISKCON Chowpatty, discussing SB 3.3.22. Key themes include understanding Krishna through devotional service, the importance of appreciating devotees, and humility in spiritual relationships. Anecdotes and teachings emphasize cooperation, mercy, and spiritual progress in community dynamics, enriched with kirtan and storytelling.
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The post If I have lost taste in bhakti is it because of offences committed due to getting involved in a managerial conflict? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

By Dandavats Staff Writer

Surveying the Arcana Field From All Angles of Vision. Why Jovanotti Loves Hare Krishna Chants. Unhappy to see the distress of other living beings. SIDC Meeting hosted by ISKCON Visakhapatnam. When the Lord Cheats: Bali's Divine Test. Travel Journal of Krishna Kripa. Gautam Adani's Seva At Kumbh Mela. "Autocracy vs. Democracy". Bhaktivedanta Players Celebrate 40 Years of Dramatic Devotion, Sat-tila Ekadasi. Being a Fool. Arjuna set out to follow Asvatthama. Bond of Love Interview Series. Principles of Freedom Continue reading "Faith in Action: Chronicles of Vaishnava Life, January 25
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HG Sukhada Dasi, Sandra Elsey, attended Oakland University (a branch of Michigan State) receiving her Bachelor’s degree with honors in education. She taught in Michigan for three years, but always felt much was missing in the educational system. In 1974 HG Sukhada Dasi joined ISKCON Detroit, eventually accepting first and second initiation from His Divine
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In this lecture, HH Bhakti Marg Swami discusses themes from Srimad Bhagavatam (SB 1.10.1-6), contrasting autocracy with democracy through Maharaj Yudhishthira’s reign. He highlights Yudhishthira’s dharmic leadership, Krishna’s divine guidance, and the societal harmony achieved under a trained, righteous king. Swami emphasizes gratitude, simple living, moral leadership, and Krishna consciousness.
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HG Aniruddha Prabhu discusses Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 8.22.1-2, focusing on Bali Mahārāja’s unwavering devotion despite being “cheated” by Lord Vāmanadeva. Bali’s humility, surrender, and trust in the Lord’s divine plan are highlighted. The talk explores themes of pretense, divine reciprocation, and the devotee’s ability to see Krishna’s hand even in challenges, emphasizing truthfulness and introspection.
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Translation If one is unhappy to see the distress of other living beings and happy to see their happiness, his religious principles are appreciated as imperishable by exalted persons who are considered pious and benevolent. Purport One generally follows different types of religious principles or performs various occupational duties according to the body given to
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In the video, famous Italian singer, songwriter, rapper, record producer and DJ, Jovanotti reveals that his most-listened-to song of 2024, according to his music wrap, is a Hare Krishna chant. He explains that he used the chant in the mornings for balance and regularly returned to it, unlike most other music he listens to only
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Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 21, No. 3
By Krishna Kripa Das
(Week 3: January 15–21, 2025)
Tallahassee, Gainesville, Alachua
(Sent from Gainesville, Florida, on January 25, 2025)

Where I Went and What I Did

I spent the first two days of the third week of 2025 in Tallahassee, chanting Hare Krishna and promoting Krishna Lunch at Florida State University. The next four days I was in Gainesville attending a Bhaktivedanta Institute for Higher Studies conference called Evolution 2025: Philosophy, Facts, and Fiction. The first and fourth days in Gainesville I was also able to do some harinama there.

The last day of the week, I was based in Alachua because I learned that Florida State University was closed for two days because of bad weather, and I chanted Hare Krishna during Krishna Lunch in Gainesville.

I share lots of quotes from the books, lectures, conversations, and letters of Srila Prabhupada, many I read in Bhakti Vikasa Swami’s soon-to-be-published book on the mood and mission of Srila Prabhupada. I also share quotes from the Caitanya-bhagavata by Vrindavana Dasa Thakura and its commentary by Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura. I share notes on the latest journal of Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami called The Mystical Firehouse. I also share notes on classes in Alachua by Bhaktimarga Swami and Nagaraja Prabhu and in Gainesville by Sukhavaha Devi Dasi. I share some notes on a conversation with Janaki Rama Prabhu, who attended the BIHS conference.

Thanks to Prishni Devi Dasi for getting me at the bus in Gainesville. Thanks to Madhvacarya Prabhu for driving me to Alachua. Thanks to Mrkanda Prabhu for driving me to Gainesville. Thanks to Lila Devi Dasi for driving me to Krishna House. Thanks to Nate for driving me to the home program with Bhaktimarga Swami. Thanks to Alain for driving me back to the Alachua temple ashram. Thanks to Saksi Gopal for driving me to Krishna House. Thanks to Alain for driving me back to the Alachua temple ashram again.

Itinerary

January 6–April 10: Tallahassee harinama and FSU college outreach
– January 25: Gasparilla harinama and Ratha-yatra in Tampa
– January 26–29: Tampa harinama and USF college outreach 
– March 9–16: Krishna House Gainesville harinama and UF college outreach
April 11: Gainesville harinamas
April 12: St. Augustine Ratha-yatra

Chanting Hare Krishna in Tallahassee

During the two days I was in Tallahassee I chanted an average of 3½ hours of Hare Krishna to make up for some of the previous days when I wasn’t able to do the full 3 hours that I like to do. I got one name for our temple WhatsApp group each day and averaged 9 promotional samples of halava.

Chanting Hare Krishna in Gainesville

I took an early bus to Gainesville so I could chant Hare Krishna at Krishna Lunch before the BIHS Evolution 2025 conference.

Here Purusartha Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at Krishna Lunch at UF, and I dance (https://youtu.be/T79guQE6HEI):

Then Sruti Sagara Prabhu chanted Hare Krishna (https://youtu.be/oaOa_5s1XTM):

I also chanted with the Alachua devotees in the afternoon for an hour or so by the northeast corner of the University of Florida.

Here Nagaraja Prabhu chants Hare Krishna with Alachua devotees across from the University of Florida (https://youtu.be/Kaa9CGnk5H0):

Toward the end the youthful Kayadhu chanted Hare Krishna there (https://youtu.be/sy8GCijt5hE):

During the weekend I had hoped to do some public chanting of Hare Krishna in the evenings after the BIHS Evolution Conference lectures and meals were over, but it was rainy Saturday night and I got back late from the temple on Sunday night. Monday I had hoped to chant in the Martin Luther King Day March, but no one at Krishna House was enthusiastic enough to make it happen.

I decided to chant in Gainesville by myself after the conference was over on Monday, but when I went to Krishna House to pick up my harmonium, I found to my great surprise that Nate was eager to join me for harinama for about 45 minutes before going to Alachua for a home program with Bhaktimarga Swami. While we were chanting we met Santanu, a devotee student, who often visits Krishna House and was happy to join us for the rest of the time. I was surprised by the number of students walking around and by the high percentage who smiled, cheered, and moved with the music. When I had barely finished the pranama mantras, a black youth coming out of a fast food place danced and played the shakers that I had brought. He even accepted an “On Chanting Hare Krishna” pamphlet. One girl said appreciatively, “sounds great,” as her party passed us. Another played the shakers and danced. It seemed like the students were out with their friends to have a good time, and they appreciated we were out with our friends to have a good time too, just in a different way!

Because I learned Florida State University was closed for two days due to bad weather, I stayed in the Gainesville/Alachua area so I could chant at Krishna Lunch.

Here Presence chants Hare Krishna at UF Krishna Lunch in Gainesville (https://youtube.com/shorts/9IovM-TmF6s?feature=share):

Karenna chants Hare Krishna at UF Krishna Lunch in Gainesville (https://youtube.com/shorts/YBDPtkoKU3M?feature=share):

Amazingly both Karenna and Vasily, the drummer in the video above, are regulars on NYC Harinam, and it was a surprise to be chanting with them in Gainesville.

Nate chants Hare Krishna at the Krishna House Tuesday evening program (https://youtu.be/tZ9ZaEuijP0):

Chanting Hare Krishna in Alachua

After the third day of activities at the evolution conference, I went to the Alachua temple for the Sunday feast program.

Here Mitra Prabhu and his wife chant Hare Krishna in Alachua before Gaura Arati on Sunday (https://youtu.be/2tM4KJtEcyg):

Later Amala Harinam and Thakura Prabhus chanted Hare Krishna after Gaura Arati on Sunday (https://youtu.be/17PEm9w2AN4):

Thakura Prabhu chants Hare Krishna (https://youtu.be/DF4SnRDOFCM):

Tuesday morning Bhaktimarga Swami chanted Hare Krishna at ISKCON Alachua in the Guru Puja kirtan (https://youtube.com/shorts/meVpqPeJcZE):

Photos

A rāsa is a dance, and a rasa is a relishable relationship. Thus, the gopīs’ rāsa with Kṛṣṇa is part of the gopīs’ rasa with Kṛṣṇa.

Insights

Srila Prabhupada:

From Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.9.36, purport:

“There is no need to seek properly qualified candidates for discharging devotional service to the Lord. Let them be either well behaved or ill trained, let them be either learned or fools, let them be either grossly attached or in the renounced order of life, let them be liberated souls or desirous of salvation, let them be inexpert in the discharge of devotional service or expert in the same—all of them can be elevated to the supreme position by discharging devotional service under the proper guidance.”

From Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.13.42, purport:

“Conditioned souls are devoted to the motherland in which they take their birth, but they do not know their father. The mother is not independent in producing children. Similarly, material nature cannot produce living creatures unless in contact with the supreme father, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Srimad-Bhagavatam teaches us to offer obeisances unto the father, the Supreme Lord, along with the mother, because it is the supreme father only who impregnates the mother with all energies for the sustenance and maintenance of all living beings, both moving and nonmoving.”

From Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.18.9, purport:

“The material world is full of envious persons, but if one frees himself of envy, he becomes liberal in his social dealings and can think of others’ welfare. Anyone who takes up Krishna consciousness and engages himself completely in the service of the Lord cleanses his mind of all envy.”

“Even pure (niskama) devotees pray for some benediction, as instructed by Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu in His Siksastaka:

ayi nanda-tanuja kinkaram patitam
mam visame bhavambudhau
kripaya tava pada-pankaja-
sthita-dhuli-sadrsam vicintaya

‘O son of Maharaja Nanda [Krishna], I am Your eternal servitor, yet somehow or other I have fallen into the ocean of birth and death. Please pick Me up from the ocean of death and place Me as one of the atoms at Your lotus feet.’”

From Srimad-Bhagavatam 9.10.51, purport:

“If people take to this sankirtana movement of chanting Hare Krishna, Hare Rama, they will certainly be freed from the contamination of Kali-yuga, and the people of this age will be happy, as people were in Satya-yuga, the golden age. Anyone, anywhere, can easily take to this Hare Krishna movement; one need only chant the Hare Krishna maha-mantra, observe the rules and regulations, and stay free from the contamination of sinful life. Even if one is sinful and cannot give up sinful life immediately, if he chants the Hare Krishna maha-mantra with devotion and faith he will certainly be freed from all sinful activities, and his life will be successful. Param vijayate sri-krishna-sankirtanam.”

From Science of Self-Realization, Chapter 2:

“It is not necessary to become a great philosopher, scientist, or whatever. We need only chant the holy name of the Lord, understanding that His personality, His name, and His qualities are all absolute.”

From a room conversation in Hamburg on September 8, 1969:

“Then next question is, ‘Then what is the price? What shall I have to pay for it?’ And Rupa Gosvami says, ‘Oh, the price is simply eagerness.’ Tatra laulyam. ‘Yes, I must have Krishna consciousness.’ That is the price, that’s all.

“But that laulyam, that eagerness, is not achieved even after many, many births. That is the price. Therefore it requires a little intelligence. ‘Oh, such a valuable thing? I can purchase only by eagerness? Why not become eager immediately?’ That is intelligence.”

From a room conversation with Dr. Sharma from Russia on April 17, 1977:

“You don’t require to read book. We simply say that ‘You come here, chant Hare Krishna and take prasadam.’ This is the treatment. These boys, foreigners, they have come to me not by reading my book. First of all I invited him, ‘Sit down, chant Hare Krishna and take prasadam.’ And then gradually. This is the general treatment.”

From a letter to Gargamuni on November 28, 1970:

“It requires a little intelligence how to keep pace with Krishna and the world simultaneously.”

From a letter to Trai on May 27, 1974:

“You must be very careful before you award the brahminical thread by recommending a man to me. Now that we are dividing our society into the four orders as much as possible, it is not that every man has to be made a brahmana after a year. Especially if one cannot even get up early and go to mangala-arati he cannot become a brahmana.”

From a letter to Dhananjaya on December 31, 1972:

“If new students are coming and they want to live with us in the temple, they must agree before living with us to follow these principles without any exception. Otherwise, it is better for them to live outside and attend the class, aratrika, prasadam, like that, and gradually as they become convinced by their intelligence, they will voluntarily agree to perform the austerity or tapasya of living in the temple. But anyone who lives in the temple must follow all these principles without exception, otherwise they may be asked to live outside.”

From a morning walk in Rome on May 27, 1974:

“We live like this. You see. If you like, you live like us. . . . We are not going to force anyone. ‘Our mode of living is like this. If you like you can adopt.’”

From a letter to Kirtanananda on December 12, 1971:

“You mention that you will open centers, many centers. I don’t think there is a need to open many more centers in your country. . . . To manage centers requires many men, so unless we have got many men this idea will not be very fruitful. Better if there are a few important centers and traveling parties for the smaller towns and villages, going and coming back, going and coming back, like this.”

From a letter to Prabhavishnu on January 3, 1973:

“I can understand that it is not an easy matter to travel extensively over long periods of time without proper food, rest, and sometimes it must be very cold there also, and still, because you are getting so much enjoyment, spiritual enjoyment, from it, it seems like play to you. That is advanced stage of spiritual life, never attained by even the greatest yogis and so-called jyanis. But let any man see our devotees working so hard for Krishna, then let anyone say that they are not better than any millions of so-called yogis and transcendentalists, that is my challenge! Because you are rightly understanding through your personal realization this philosophy of Krishna Consciousness, therefore in such a short time you have surpassed all the stages of yoga processes to come to the highest point of surrendering to Krishna. That I can very much appreciate, thank you very much for helping me in this way.”

From a letter to Mahamsa on December 17, 1975:

“Naturally the sankirtana men traveling with the bullock carts are blissful. It is Lord Caitanya’s engagement. Lord Caitanya personally traveled all over India for 6 years. His program was simply kirtana and prasadam distribution. Lord Caitanya never spoke philosophy in public. When he met big scholars like Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya he spoke philosophy, otherwise for the mass of people, kirtana and prasadam distribution. So continue this program, it is very pleasing to Lord Caitanya.”

From a Ratha-yatra address on July, 5, 1970:

“This Ratha-yatra Festival is a mass movement for enlightening people to this Krishna consciousness movement. We have got many other festivities in Krishna consciousness movement. We have got Janmastami, Sri Rama-navami, Dola-yatra, Jhulana-yatra. So there are twelve months, but we have got twenty-four festivals big as..., as big as this Ratha-yatra Festival. So if you kindly take to them, then as advised by Lord Caitanya, kirtaniyah sada harih. You will always be in Krishna consciousness, and there will be no scope of your frustration and confusion.”

From a letter to Aniruddha on July 7, 1968:

“To implement this transcendental bliss to the people of your country there is immense work to be done ahead and this Ratha-yatra festival is only a sample. If we get opportunity we shall be able to overflood your country with waves of transcendental bliss, by the grace of Krishna. We can introduce various other ceremonials in connection with Krishna and His different expansions or incarnations in such a nice way that people are sure to be attracted and become immersed in Krishna consciousness.”

From a letter to Sri Galim on November 20, 1971:

“Public festivals have proven very effective in spreading knowledge about Krishna consciousness to all the citizens. In fact, I have directed the GBC to organize such festivals and traveling sankirtana throughout their zones. The festival we are holding at present in Delhi has been extremely successful, and by Krishna’s grace everyone is appreciating this movement by seeing the beautiful deity worship, by hearing the melodious kirtana, and by seeing the bright faces of my students.”

From a letter to Ram Prashad on January 29, 1973:

“Our Bombay Hare Krishna Festival has been a grand success. More than 15,000 people attended each night and joined in the kirtana and arati, and listened very attentively to my discourses. At the end of the last day seven young men, two from Europe and 5 from India, shaved their heads as brahmacaris and have joined us full time. People are eager for Krishna consciousness, when it is given in its pure form.”

Vrindavan Dasa Thakura:

From Caitanya-bhagavata, Madhya 10.236:

“On the strength of devotional service Narada became the greatest among sages.”

From Caitanya-bhagavata, Madhya 10.237–239:

“After compiling many scriptures dealing with Vedic religious principles and yoga, Vyasadeva did not feel any satisfaction at heart. The cause of his dissatisfaction was due to the fault of describing devotional service too briefly in the course of his elaborate presentation of the most confidential knowledge. On the instructions of Narada, he elaborately described devotional service. Then his distress was vanquished and he delivered the entire world.”

From Caitanya-bhagavata, Madhya 10.245:

[Lord Visvambhara continued speaking to Mukunda:] “Whatever you have said is indeed true, for one cannot achieve perfection without devotional service, even if he sees Me face to face.”

Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura:

From Caitanya-bhagavata, Madhya 10.245, commentary:

“As stated in the Padma Purana, Uttara-khanda, Chapter Fifty: . . . ‘As a blind person cannot see anything, even with the help of a lamp or a mirror, persons who are averse to Lord Vishnu cannot see Him even if He stands before them.’”

Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami:

From The Mystical Firehouse:

“Now I’ll try to talk some more about Srila Prabhupada. I hear him singing on a recording, and I enjoy it very much. He’s singing bhajanas and songs. He has an exquisite voice and plays melodies that are wonderful. We should share these and hear these as much as possible. They contain beautiful melodies of Prabhupada’s original voice.

“It’s a joy to hear him singing. He has a unique, original voice, which is a great pleasure to hear, unique melodies, Sanskrit joy. Prabhupada is spreading the chanting, although it is not comprehensible to me in my one language confinement of English. But I enjoy it very much. Prabhupada is our mentor in melodies. I cannot understand what he is singing because he sings Sanskrit, and I know only English. His melodies are joyful for me, however. Thank you, Srila Prabhupada, for singing those joyful melodies in your unique language of Sanskrit or Bengali.”

“I pray to Krishna to relieve me from small pains and to allow me to give all pleasures for Krishna and guru. I want the best things, the surrender to Krishna.”

“We’ll never feel unhappy again. We’ve got Krishna to protect us, even up to our death. Krishna, the all-kind, almighty, will see us to the end of our lives. It is up to us to love Him. Loving Krishna is the highest duty. Loving Krishna is the greatest happiness, loving Krishna is the summum bonum.”

“When the devotees go on harinama, it is like they are firefighters taking a fire hose and spraying the water of the holy name on the people burning in the blazing fire of material existence.”

Bhaktimarga Swami:

If you hesitate to do what needs to be done, you will receive a reaction that is no fun.

Do your dharma, avoid your karma.

When you are in lust, you are lost, at least for a while.

Ultimately we are to get close to Krishna. But in our conditioned state we seek other kinds of closeness, and we are very eager to connect our senses with their objects.

We are all like Arjuna in that he was a little bit lost. He was having a nervous breakdown.

The romance period has a short shelf life.

Srila Prabhupada drew lines between lust and love.

Bhakti is a bridge.

Krishna is not against sense gratification. Krishna is not against lasagna.

What is the enemy of everyone? And it is bad news for many people . . . lust.

Krishna tells where the enemy lies. In the senses, mind, and intelligence. We are at an advantage if we know where the enemy is.

Anyone like to be a fighter? We have to be ready – 24/7. At least internally, we have to have to be ready to fight.

Arjuna forgot that people were expecting things from him.

Even if you are in an awake condition, you can still be asleep.

If you think life is a party, you have part with that idea.

Q: We are exposed to internet and are encountering things that stimulate lust. What to do?
A: Remain a fighter. Do not succumb. Spend more time with people and not your phone.

Q: What if our minds are disturbed by bad association.
A: Contact devotees. Contact nature.

Q: What if you are agitated by lust?
A: Take a deep breath. Chant. Go outside. Look at the sky. Go for walk. Hug a tree. Pick up a drum and chant Hare Krishna.

Q (By Ananga Mohan Prabhu): If I see a beautiful woman is that lust?
A: Do not worry about it unless you look again and you look longer the second time or you start whistling.

Q: How to control eating sweets?
A: White sugar is more additive than cocaine. It is the worst thing for you. Read about how bad sugar is.

If people push me to eat more sweets too many times I say, “My mother was a diabetic. She ate too many sweets and she died from it, and diabetes is heredity.”

Be with smart people, those who are devotionally inclined.

We take things too seriously that we should just ignore.

We have to learn how to flow through this world without being a menace.

Q: What about admiration?
A: If we are doing wholesome things, do not worry too much about it. If we present something, it should be for the upliftment of humankind.

Try to do something to please the Supreme Lord, and because we are part and parcel of the Supreme Lord, we will be happy.

If someone says, “You are nothing!” as they sometimes do, we have to say, “You are right.” And we may add, “So are you!” As souls we are all one ten-thousandth the tip of a hair in size.

Krishna says, “I am the father and the mother.”

There is a devotee in Canada whose father tried to kill him 34 times. His mother did not do anything about it. His name is Tota Gopinatha, and an uncle taught him English by reading The Nectar of Devotion. He ultimately became an outstanding citizen. He helps people who come from neglected backgrounds.

People swing politically from the left to the right, and vice versa, but actually the best place is in the middle.

In Canada, before you do a program, you have to honor the native people of the area, who previously maintained the place, by mentioning them by name.

The divine incarnation Varaha became a hero for the planet earth.

Of all the battles in the Vedic literature the description of the battle between Varaha and Hiranyaksa is most compelling.

All over the world people are attracted to “the game” and seeing the moves of the participants. They play them back in slow motion so you can get a good view. The Lord knows this and performs pastimes to attract the attention of the people in general.

Praying for the Lord’s appearance is always good, but we do not have to wait for the Lord to appear because he is already here in the form of His holy name.

There are people who jump into devotional service, and then jump out of devotional service. It is better to advance steadily by baby steps.

To help an atheistic lawyer appreciate, I explained that theists try to have reverence for that which is greater and beyond us.

Although there are many Vaishnavas around us, we have to be picky and choosy. It is best to spend time with those who are encouraging.

Vanaprasthas are encouraged to go out.

Nagaraja Prabhu:

When I was in my first year in college, I got a Back to Godhead magazine. I wasn’t ready. I couldn’t make sense of it.

Later I got a Reservoir of Pleasure, and I read the whole thing. I decided to go from my residence in Sacramento two hours to the San Francisco Sunday feast. I arrived at noon and learned the program started at 5 p.m. Devotees took me to Keshava Bharati Prabhu’s apartment, and I stayed with him until the feast.

It was Srila Prabhupada’s charisma and teachings that sustained all the devotees in the beginning.

Unless you have a model of the theory, it is hard to accept it. Thus Srila Prabhupada’s example was so inspirational.

We should not think it will not work for me, although our goal is very high.

I just read Srila Prabhupada-lila and Srila Prabhupada Lila with my wife over the last few months, and it was amazing to see he was always glorifying Krishna, and that was very powerful.

We have so many saints in our tradition. Not one week goes by without the appearance or disappearance days of amazing saints.

Lord Caitanya and His associates show the ecstasies of Krishna consciousness.

Sometimes it is described that Mother Saci laughed in ecstasy for six hours.

I like to read, and I read a lot. And I am always discovering new things. You see in the Vaishnava commentaries so many new lights, new revelations.

At Kumbha-mela, Srila Prabhupada took a bath early in the morning, although he was sick, to set an example for his disciples who were sleeping in.

Once Srila Prabhupada said, “You know Krishna is God because when you chant Hare Krishna and when you serve, you feel the ecstasy.”

Srila Prabhupada gave us this society to give us what we need to make advancement.

There is first appreciation and then gratitude.

You have to cry for the mercy.

Vamsidasa Babaji was asked questions, and he often didn’t answer them very much or give long answers. Once when many people were asking him how to advance, he simply answered, “Cry!”

Sukhavaha Devi Dasi:

From a class in Krishna House on vulnerability:

If we were vulnerable in the past and our vulnerability was taken advantage of, we are not inclined to be vulnerable again.

Integrity for me means honoring our words, honoring others, and honoring their space.

Richard Rohr, a Christian mystic, said the opposite of faith is certainty.

Understanding more about ourselves helps us to be more understanding with others and helps us to better interact with them.

Vulnerability is a foundation of curiosity and creativity.

Boundaries allow us to love others and ourselves simultaneously.

Q (by Advaita): What is the best way to recover from shame?
A: The Lord gave us the ability to heal ourselves from the past now. We can give ourselves positive care now and that will help to heal the past hurts.

[She asked attendees to give examples of the pros and cons of vulnerability, and at the end of the class she thanked attendees, “Thank you for giving such a good class. I had no idea of what I was going to say.”]

The high point of my interaction with Sukhavaha came after the class. I had never met her before, but when I heard her name I felt positive about it. I figured I must have liked one of her Vyasa-puja offerings, and so I searched the documents on my computer for her name, and I found this wonderful poem she wrote in 2020 in glorification of Srila Prabhupada. I read it to her, and she appreciated the ecstatic way I read it. I told her I was transparent. It was an ecstatic poem, and so when I read it, the ecstasy came through:

“Dearest father, master, and guide,
Bowing to you, in prayer I confide,
Though I, most certainly, unqualified,
Even still, your mercy was not denied.

“How gracious are you!

“Though outwardly you were tested and tried.
Your guru’s order in your heart fortified.
With faith, you accepted Krishna’s free ride,
Though in the belly of that ship, you almost died.

“How committed are you!

“With no viable, visible support from outside,
Your compassionate love spread far and wide
Whatever you needed, Krishna supplied.
Showing the power of prayer from inside.

“How devotional are you!

“Though I, a fool, so full of pride.
You open my eyes, exposing I have lied,
To myself mostly, though I cannot hide
Your clear words at my closed heart pried.

“How transparent are you!

“Never giving up, though you openly cried,
You persevered, your faith did abide.
Spreading the holy name world wide
With Guru and Krishna ever by your side.

“How resolute are you!

“Your life epitomized what your words implied.
Pure and simple, by your message I was tied.
You showed us how Krishna would always provide.
By your inspiration, we gratefully complied.

“How supportive are you! 

“You asked us to cooperate instead of collide;
To curb our tongue, our senses subside;
To diligently chant, devotion applied;
Bringing back the mind whenever it would slide.

“How attentive are you!

“Smiling and nodding as we meagerly tried
Encouraging us when we got fried
Without you, dear father, to hell I would glide
Your life is a tribute, love exemplified.

“How caring are you!

“You showed us that maya never gratified
Instead ever binds us, our soul defied.
Through service we learn to be satisfied
As our connection to you becomes solidified.

“How available are you!

“Not looking for quick fixes from the outside,
I pray that I find my soul buried inside;
That my tiny love becomes intensified
As you actively continue to be my guide.

“How grateful am I!”

Janaki Rama Prabhu:

According to Sankaracarya, brahman does not have knowledge because to have knowledge you need three things, the knower, the object of knowledge, and the knowledge, and that is not possible in absolute oneness.

Jiva Goswami makes the point in the Paramatma-sandarbha that the only way we can have a false ego is if we have a real ego.

-----

King Yudhisthira, the elder brother of Arjuna, was so pious, so in tune with the will of God, that there was good fortune through his kingdom. That is described in this verse revealing the standard of good government according to the Vedic knowledge.

nadhayo vyadhayah klesa

daiva-bhutatma-hetavah
ajata-satrav abhavan
jantunam rajñi karhicit

“Because of the King’s having no enemy, the living beings were not at any time disturbed by mental agonies, diseases, or excessive heat or cold.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.10.6)

When I was reminded of this verse, we were in the middle of the worst cold snap I remember since moving to the State of Florida in 1994. For three days FSU in Tallahassee was closed, and it snowed there as well. Those three days happened to be the days immediately following the inauguration of President Trump, who therefore appears not to be a leader on the level of King Yudhisthira, but rather, just the opposite.

Shri Lochana Dasa Thakura was a disciple of Shri Narahari Sarakara Thakura, a dearest associate of Lord Gaura Raya. He appeared in this world in 1520 A.D., thirty-four years after the appearance of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

Lochana Dasa Thakura wrote Chaitanya Mangala which tells many pastimes of Lord Chaitanya not revealed by Vrindavana Dasa Thakura or Krishna Dasa Kaviraja. He mentions an especially touching conversation Shri Gaurasundara had with Vishnupriya Devi the night before He took sannyasa. Being a talented musician, Lochana Dasa told Mahaprabhu’s pastimes in beautiful poetry filled with fire and rhythm. 

Lochana Dasa Thakura also wrote many songs praising Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Shri Nityananda Prabhu, and Gauridasa Pandit. Lochana Dasa stresses that raganuga bhaktas must take shelter of Gadadhara Vrindavanishvari to attain Radha-Govinda prema bhakti.

Shrila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura used to print and distribute Lochana Dasa Thakura’s Shri Chaitanya Mangala. Shrila Prabhupada was very fond of his bhajans.

Locana Das ended his pastimes in this world in 1589 AD. His samadhi is in 64 Samadhis Area. 

By Dandavats Staff Writer

Servant Of Your Words. Bridging Faiths in Minnesota. The Issue of the Proto-Indo-European Language. Vaisnava Compassion in Global Crisis. Exploring Your Word of Honor. The Big Bang theory! Pure Devotion: Lessons from Kurukshetra's Sages. Krishna Consciousness Ends Material Bondage. ISKCON devotees gather at Maha Kumbh 2025. Vaishnava Etiquette Begins With Respect. Mega Gita-Based Value Education Contest. The sanctuary of Your lotus feet. Continue reading "Uniting Faiths, Spreading Love: ISKCON’s Global Impact, January 24
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Dear Devotees, Please accept our obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. After nearly a year of careful deliberation, the GBC has approved the Enhanced Child Protection Approach (the “Enhanced Approach”) and is confident that its implementation will best serve ISKCON’s children. This institutional redesign focuses on establishing an Oversight Committee, independent external investigations and expansion
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The Gita-Based Value Education Contest was successfully organized as part of the International Gita Festival during Gita Jayanti 2024, under the joint auspices of the Government of Madhya Pradesh and ISKCON Ujjain. This initiative aimed to inculcate Gita-based values among students across the state. The contest was conceptualized following a proposal presented to Honorable Chief
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At Maha Kumbh 2025 in Prayagraj, ISKCON devotees, including many from abroad, chant the Mahamantra “Hare Krishna Hare Rama,” celebrating unity and spirituality. Highlighting the event’s significance, they immerse in the holy atmosphere, emphasizing peace and urging others to join in chanting for a powerful and uplifting experience.
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The video discusses Kṛṣṇa consciousness, highlighting devotional practices, historical context, and teachings of prominent figures like Śrī Narahari Sarkar and Locan Dās Ṭhākur. It emphasizes surrender to Kṛṣṇa, the path of bhakti, and the importance of chanting, service, and spiritual association to transcend material bondage and realize one’s spiritual identity.
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H.H. Bhakti Ratnakar Ambrish Swami Maharaj discusses Srimad Bhagavatam 10.84.1, emphasizing devotees’ pure love for Krishna and the importance of hearing his pastimes for spiritual growth. He highlights Srila Prabhupada’s efforts in distributing spiritual knowledge through books and urges devotees to continue spreading Krishna consciousness worldwide.
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The video features Bhakti Vasudev Swami discussing Srimad Bhagavatam (SB) 3.8.30-33. It explores Lord Brahma’s perception of Lord Vishnu during creation, highlighting meditation, austerity, and dependence on the Lord for innovation. The speaker contrasts scriptural accounts of creation with scientific theories, emphasizing devotion, guidance, and the role of Krishna as the ultimate support in life.
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In the video, Francois Gautier, a journalist and writer living in India married to an Indian and a lover of Indian culture and the defender of Hindus today, shares his perspective on the 2025 Kumbh Mela in Allahabad. As a Westerner, he marvels at the enduring ancient Indian traditions, the astounding number of sages attending,
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By HH Badrinarayan Swami

This is the official GBC policy paper: "Gaudiya Vaisnava Siddhanta for ISKCON-according to the teachings of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada". After several years in development and multiple review cycles, it was approved in December of 2025 by a unanimous vote of the international GBC. You will find the history of the development of this paper and the case for its importance, in the beginning of the paper. The author is His Holiness Bhakti-Vijnana Maharaja, with input from many senior devotees. Continue reading "A Concise Statement of Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava Siddhānta for the International Society for Kṛṣṇa Consciousness
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By Dandavats Staff Writer

Pastoral Counseling. Thinking of Krishna at Death. New Goloka Community Report for 2024. Partnership to Feed Firefighters. The Universe Chandelier at TOVP. Kardama Muni's Spiritual Triumph. The Lord is the object of the Vedic prayers. The nectar Kirtan at ISKCON London! ISKCON's state of the art mega kitchen in Kumbh. Srila Prabhupada's Example. Hare Krishna in popular culture .Prahlada Maharaja. Moving Forward in 2025 Continue reading "Spiritual Horizons: Wisdom, Service, and Transcendence Unveiled Today, January 23
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The video, led by Mahatma Das, explores lessons from Srila Prabhupada’s example, focusing on his purposeful use of anger in devotion. Prabhupada’s anger was seen as a manifestation of his devotion, directed against misconceptions like Mayavada philosophy, atheism, offenses to Krishna, and failures in deity worship. His approach emphasized using emotions constructively in service and
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Imagine a universe captured within a magnificent temple, its celestial mechanics brought to life not on a dusty textbook page, but as a breathtaking, moving 3D model. This is the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium (TOVP), a visionary project by ISKCON Founder-Acharya His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Rising in West Bengal, India, the
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New Goloka Community Report for 2024 – Presented by HH Bir Krishna Goswami Today, we have a special presentation by various devotees who are contributing to the New Goloka community. I’ll begin with some philosophy before introducing the presentations. The International Society for Krishna Consciousness was founded by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
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This video features HG Akandadhi Prabhu discussing Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (SB 1.9.40) and Bhīṣmadeva’s final moments, focusing on meditation on Krishna at death. It highlights Bhīṣma’s detachment, devotion, and the importance of remembering Krishna. Akandadhi explains devotional practices, the eternal nature of consciousness, and falling in love with Krishna through sincere devotion and persistent practice.
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So, the question is that due to various experiences in life where the mind has become become somewhat averse to everything mundane, I feel attracted more to the impersonal and there are also statements from scripture which seem to point toward it. Like there’s that absolute has not a sampati maasti or naithi naithi. There’s something more beyond this. This is not the ultimate. So, see first is that we need to always look at ourselves positively.

Ultimately, we are our only asset. In the sense that, just as we need to have a healthy relationship with others, similarly, we need to have a healthy relationship with ourselves. And that means, we need to understand that this is where I am at and appreciate that this far we have come. So, for example, if we have had bad experiences in relationships and interactions with people, it is, we could react to that in 3 broad ways. In sattva, rajas, and tamas.

In tamas, one can become hateful of the whole world, or one can just start feeling sorry for oneself. And just it becomes some people just burning with resentment and anger and hatred. They can’t don’t do anything about it, but just as soon as they start talking, there’s so much poison in their heart that comes out. So in general, everyone gets a raw deal in life. And of course, some people may suffer much more than others, no doubt about it.

But everyone gets feels that I have not been treated properly by others. That feeling is there, but more importantly is how we respond. In rajaogona, the person becomes very power hungry, where I will become so strong that no one will be able to mess with me in the future. And then, they just that becomes their single-minded quest. And unfortunately, power doesn’t really fulfill that promise or address that need, but that becomes one reaction.

In Sathva, one starts realizing that actually what I’m looking for is not only to be found in this world and in the relationship with the people in this world. There has to be something more in life. So, in one sense, detachment and resentment are very opposite. Resentment is, I don’t want things to be like this, but I don’t have the power to do anything about it. So I’m burning inside.

I can’t do anything to change these things. But detached so resentment is more like, I am not good enough for the world. That is resentment. Detachment is the world is not good enough for me. There has to be something more to life.

So broadly, even if one is attracted to the impersonal, it is, if it is not filled with too much negativity toward the world and toward the people in it, then that is a sattvic reaction. If it is filled with too much negativity toward the world, then that could be tamasik. And then the key to that is try to cultivate more sattva kona. I read more about how everybody in life goes through difficulties, and that we need to work to go beyond those difficulties. So by that we learn and grow.

That’s one aspect to it. Okay? So to have a positive relationship toward yourself means see that whatever we have come to is a good place. We come to sattvic level of realisation. And now, beyond that, what is the nature of the ultimate reality?

That there is something beyond this world. And what is it? So, if anyone gets any understanding, there has to be something more beyond this. That is auspicious thing. Krishna in 6/14, the Bhagavita says that such people are kalyana krut kashit.

That you know, there are such few people, not many who can do this. They are kalyana krut. They are engaged in auspicious work. And this includes all kinds of seekers, not just bhakti yogis, but even gyan yogis, dhyana yogis. Anybody who is seeking something beyond this world is well situated.

And Krishna says such people will never meet within auspiciousness. That neither in this world nor in the next world will they ever meet with destruction and nor will they meet with any inauspiciousness. So, appreciate that the experiences of your life have brought you to a positive place where you have become detached from the things of this world and you are focused on something higher. Now, regarding the nature of the higher, at this point, it is possible that our understanding may be more reactionary than revelatory. Revelatory means we have got some higher experience.

Revelation Not revolution, revelation. Revelation means it is some realization, some higher experience. So revelation. And reactionary means based on the reaction to what has happened to us in this world. These 2 are very different things.

So when it is reactionary, at that time, it is not very healthy. Because it’s often some people have had bad experience with dogs. Suppose some dog has bitten them. They hate all dogs. I’ll never have a dog as a pet.

Okay. That’s good. There’s no need for a pet research in life. But that doesn’t mean all animals are bad. Doesn’t mean all dogs are bad.

So reactionary is little short sighted. It may be based on what we have experienced in life, but reactionary conceptions. You did this to me, so I’ll do that to you. So, reactionary conceptions are not very evolved. That is how, hatred and biases and prejudice happen.

You know, you did this to me like this, your family did this to me, therefore I will destroy your entire kul. And hate wars start like that. So at this stage, it is possible that our conception of the spiritual may be based a little bit more on reaction. So, rather than worrying too much, is it that right now I don’t feel attracted towards the personal and the spiritual and the personal activities over there? So don’t worry too much about that lack of attraction.

Right now, we’re just moving from the material towards the spiritual. So don’t see that you are following this path or that path. The difference between personal and impersonal, it is important, but when we are caught in the material world, that may not be the most important thing. See, we can understand that there is some higher reality that is guiding our life. Isn’t it?

So that is not very difficult to understand. So now whether that higher reality is personal, impersonal, let’s put it aside. There is some higher reality guiding our life and by that higher reality we have come to some spiritual path. So rather than thinking I am following this path, think that it is that higher divinity that has opened this path for me. Let me explore this path right now, diligently.

And if this path is right for me, well and good. If this path is not right for me, I’ll get that understanding. So, the desire to be alone or the desire to not want to engage in activities, that could be possibly an indication of our deep inner inclination itself, or it could be just a result of the kind of people we have met and the kind of experiences we have had with people. We don’t know which one it is right now. So let’s be open and focus more on just moving ahead in life.

So continue the path you are following and just be open to what experiences come, what realizations come, how we move forward. So, over a period of time, that same ultimate reality, same God who has brought us here will take us ahead from here also. To this point where we have been brought, from this point we will be taken ahead. That’s one side of it. Now the other side of it will be that as far as scriptural statements are concerned.

We can discuss them more in detail, but I’ll just give some broad ideas. See the Naithi, Naithi is generally to move from the material toward higher reality that the forms of this world are not the ultimate thing. The taste of this world are not the ultimate thing. There has to be something more in life. So now, does that pen and the forms of the spiritual world also fall in that category?

Maybe, maybe not. The key difference is that when we have no experience of a spiritual form right now. We have no experience of spiritual activities. We may come to a temple and we may feel a little peaceful, we may feel a little nice, but what is actually spiritual love? That is a very different experience.

Because right now, almost all the relationship that we have experienced have some level of selfishness within them. And to have experienced relationship beyond, this is not easy. So that’s why rather than making a categorical decision about what we want to do, just continue on in your practice right now. And if you continue on that practice, then it will be revealed to you. So with respect to, naithi means that what we have in this world, there is something more than that.

Now, in the scriptures only, where there are descriptions, for example, of this world being false, forms being false, in those same scriptures there is also description of some higher reality. There are great saints who are worshipping a form. There are of course, impersonalists, but there are also saints worshipping a form. Isn’t it? So there are both conceptions of reality that are described.

And natasya pratimaasti. Now what does that mean? Pratima is a representation. So with respect to the spiritual and the material, there are 2 different connections or with respect to God and forms in the world. There is a representation and there is a manifestation.

They are 2 different things. So in the Chetan sartham there is verse pratimanahitumi sakshatvajendraannam. That is prayers being made to the deity, you are not a pratima. You are actually the Lord Himself. So, what is the meaning of a Pratima?

This is a built conceptual. I’ll try to explain it. See, there are two kinds of representations. There is bottom up and top down. Bottom up means what?

See the concept of nationhood. Say India love for India patriotism. Now feel patriotic. You tell them, someone. How do you feel patriotic?

There has to be some symbol. So we have the flag. We see the flag, we salute. Right? Saluting is a way, saluting the flag is a way of expressing the emotion.

So now, emotion is inside us and the concept of nation or it’s it’s a little abstract. We have a physical map. But you know, we don’t look at the map and salute the map. We need some representation. For the flag is Indian flag is for example having 3 colors.

Now if tomorrow India becomes very industrially progressed, or we become more of a service economy, we may decide that, no, we don’t want the green colour in our flag. Because the we are not so much of a economic we are not so much of a farming economy. Now we may decide we want to have some other colour, say, a white colour which indicates or a black colour which indicates technology. I assume. So now can we change the colour of the flag?

We can, you know. Does the Indian government have to pass a resolution? The color of the flag will be changed. So the connection between the flag and the country, that is a result of the human imagination. There is no intrinsic connection between the America has a particular flag.

They can change the flag by a by a resolution of their parliament. So there are some symbols which can be changed. So your our school might have a particular sim symbol. Like, there are people who are in branding companies. A company is a particular logo.

When you see the logo, we remember that company. But some of the company want to rebrand themselves. They’ll change their logo. So between the logo and the company, there is no intrinsic connection. The logo can be changed.

The company will still remain the same. This is one kind of symbolism. And this is referred to as pratima. Pratima means, there is some abstract reality which we can’t really connect with, and so we have a symbol. We have some representation, some image which connects the 2.

But there is another kind of representation. Let’s say the photo of a person. Now the photo of the person is not exactly the person. You cannot talk with the photo and the photo will talk back to you. But now if if, husband is working on a traveling job, and he comes back home and his wife is taking cleaning his clothes, she sees in his wallet, there is a picture of some other woman other than him.

What is this? Hey, you know, actually I am thinking of you only, but I skipped a picture of someone else. Now, that won’t work. Isn’t it? There is a intrinsic connection between the picture of the person and the person.

So, this is not a connection of imagination. So, when we talk about the deity of the Lord, the deity of the Lord is directly connected with the form of the Lord. So, it is not a pratima and the word used for this is vigraha. So, pratima and vigraha, they are like the difference between representation and manifestation. So, pratima is representation and one thing can have some pratima and pratima can be changed, but the manifestation is not the pratima.

Manifestation is directly that person appearing in a particular way over here. So, when the scripture says that, no, natya satyapati maasti. What it means is don’t represent that higher reality in your own way over here. That don’t concoct the images of it. So that is a universal prohibition.

Don’t imagine how it is like. But when it is described in scripture, we can certainly build on that. So that way, it is a scriptural statement. There can be a lot of analysis that can be done. If you want, I have written a book on this topic called Idle Worship or Ideal Worship.

So, the idea of the form of God, the idea of can the ultimate reality have a form at all? All these things I have elaborately discussed over there. So, if you want you can have a look at that book also. But broadly speaking, it is that say somebody who is in, you are right now in junior college, assume. No, no, assume you are in junior college.

Then if there is 2 Nobel laureates who have 2 different theories of physics, you know somebody has quantum physics, one interpretation, somebody has another interpretation. The student in a junior college doesn’t really have to worry who is right right now. See, there is one famous physicist who said that, there is this kind of debate. He said, the opposite of a normal truth is a falsehood. It is true and it is false.

But the opposite of one great truth is another great truth. The other great truth is not a false. This is also true, this is also true, they are from different perspectives. So that the ultimate reality is personal is the truth. The ultimate reality is impersonal.

That is also truth. It is not that the absolute truth is only this or only that. It is both. So, right now you may not be attracted towards the impersonal more than the personal. But is this something on which you want to build your lifelong commitment?

Maybe, maybe not. Just focus on your spiritual growth right now. Like you are in junior college, in Physics, just continue on college, complete your junior college, complete your senior college. By that your understanding of Physics will improve and then you can decide whether this scientist theory is right or that scientist theory is right and you can commit at that time. Right now, don’t let it discourage you in your spiritual journey.

And in the spiritual group that we have, we can keep growing. Try to understand, it’s not accident that you have come to a particular path right now. It is by some divine arrangement and just explore this path and see how it helps you to grow as a person. How it evolves helps you evolve your understanding of the ultimate reality and then take whatever decision you want. Okay?

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