A Lament
→ travelingmonk.com

“The fortunate town of Navadwipa remains on the earth. The seashore remains. The city of Jagannatha Puri remains. The holy names of Lord Krsna remain. Alas! Alas! I do not see anywhere the same kind of festival of pure love for Lord Hari as before. O Lord Caitanya, O ocean of mercy, will I ever [...]

The Secret of Happiness
→ The Enquirer

Happiness

Happiness (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Anyone can be happy in their life. It is the inalienable right of every living entity to be surrounded by unmitigated happiness. But practically no one realizes this right, because practically everyone looks for happiness in external objects and situations, or even if they look inward, they retain a selfish subjective viewpoint.

Happiness is actually part of the constitutional nature of what you really are.

To achieve happiness, the key is to come into harmony with what you really are.

So we have to make efforts to de-condition ourselves from the misconceptions of identity that are currently so deeply ingrained in us. It can start by trying to deprogram yourself from seeing yourself as some specific, temporary bodily, corporeal thing – a body of a particular age, gender, nationality, race, size, etc. Then, as these misconceptions start to dissolve you can begin to look inward more clearly and discern your true self more carefully, from amidst all your inner thoughts and feelings.

You will, if your introspection is clear, experience directly that you are a being with undeniable reality, and undeniable awareness. Then you will also notice that you are aware of conditions that exist outside yourself. When you actually taste the reality of perceiving this essence of who or what you are, you will intuitively realize that your undeniable awareness of reality reveals beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are an integral part of some great whole.

You will directly percieve that within yourself there is not only reality and cognition, there is also a latent pool of happiness. But you will immediately note that the happiness there is a dynamic energy that seeks to flow in a circuit from within the being out to the whole and back again.

This circuit is the experience of deep, exhilarating happiness that every one of us hankers after all the time. You will need to carefully contemplate upon the nature of this circuit if you will hope to realize deep contact with it, and thus become truly, deeply, profoundly happy.

If you give a good effort to this task, you’ll note that the nature of the circuit is loving. The energy of happiness that wants to flow out towards the whole to nourish the whole is the essence of pure love. This pure love is the soul of happiness. Then you will begin to realize that you are not just an abstract energy, you are a distinct personal entity and the supreme whole as well is also a personal entity. At this point you will begin to tangibly realize more specific details about the nature of your specific relationship with the whole, and the exact delightful manners in which your inherent pool of loving happiness will flow out to the whole.

The more you dedicate yourself to this effort to enter within your true self, the more you will find yourself peaceful, satisfied, even delighted and really happy – regardless of the ups and downs and ins and outs of the impossible to control victories and defeats constantly transpiring on the external stage of the projected world of time and matter.

There are practical paths laid out to help persons like us on our inward odyssey. The Hare Krishna mahamantra is an extremely direct and powerful tool for linking the true self with the whole through the circuit of pure love. The word “hare” establish the energy of bliss-giving love within the soul, and the words “krishna” and “rama” direct that energy towards the Whole Person. Thus the mantra itself is a meditation upon establishing the blissful divine connection between the soul and the whole.

The complete mantra is:

Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare.
Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.

There are no rules set in stone regarding how to meditate using this mantra, but it is quite effective to set aside a certain block of time every day to softly but audibly pronounce the mantra, concentrating upon its significance and meaning. One can use beads or other means to count off a certain amount of mantras – if you want to introduce a more serious, more disciplined approach to your endeavor.

The mantra can also be utilized with large groups of people by singing it with musical accompaniment.

Sincere use of this mantra results in profound joy and happiness, for anyone.


Try strenuously to control desire
→ The Spiritual Scientist

Material desires, when unsatiated, generate anger, and thus the mind, eyes and chest become agitated. Therefore, one must practice to control them before one gives up this material body. One who can do this is understood to be self-realized and is thus happy in the state of self-realization. It is the duty of the transcendentalist to try strenuously to control desire and anger.

Bhagavad Gita As It Is 5.23 purport

Monday, August 26th, 2013
→ The Walking Monk

Switching Trails

Weyburn, Saskatchewan

It was not a snap decision but one that was well thought out. Daruka and I decided we had to switch roads. Highway 18, although cutting through nice landscape, was becoming a challenge. In spots, it turns into gravel and where paved, it becomes uneven, quite hazardous to the wheels of our support car, a’93 Mercury Grand Marquis. Okay for my feet though. The area was becoming quite barren with population sparse. We decided to leap north to the highway parallel to us, Highway 13. Locals tell us it was a wise decision.

The move brought us to the city of Weyburn, population 11,000. This is where Tommy Douglas started his career. For those readers who are not Canadian, I’ll mention that he was voted as being the most popular Canadian being the father of medicare in Canada. Having your medical needs met is precious for residents of this big country.

Before Daruka had a chance to get into 103.5’s radio station with our walking story, the station was already informed by a motorist who saw me trekking, “You can’t believe what I just saw…” phoned in the person. The description of a monk on foot ambling his way through town excited the crew and as they were just making their way out the door, Daruka popped in with Billy perched on his shoulder. The radio hosts came out to search and caught up with me and Daruka. After the interview, our message with photo was put on line entitled, “On a Wing and a Prayer”.

For my 2nd instalment of walking today, motorists seem to respond to that message. Again, people are so nice. The route here is primarily agribusiness and less of the oil industry. By nature’s way the road here is lined with the potent fragrance and presence of chamomile. Hawks continue to be in flight above on this new route.

Sometimes the heat hits you hard. If someone stops and they want to talk, the heat appears to dissipate. There is nothing like communicating about the virtues of reflective walking and of the simple lifestyle. One fellow who stopped while on his way to the oil pipes said, “Hey, I’ve just finished reading Sharma’s book, ‘The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari’.” This true story tells of a man’s successful business ventures and how he came close to a life threatening illness. That turned him to the life of simplicity and taught him that less is more.

31 KM

04.09 – The goal of spiritual life is to make spiritual life our goal
→ The Spiritual Scientist

Many people see spiritual life as a pious recreation, as an elective break from the stresses of daily living.

Whatever be our initial impetus for spiritual exploration, bringing our spiritual side out of hibernation is good, because it activates our unique human potential for spirituality. It raises us above the sub-human beings that busy themselves lifelong in eating, sleeping, mating and defending.

However, if we let spirituality remain just as one of the many options on life’s menu-card, then our life’s main course stays filled with little more than the bodily demands that drive the animals. As this course can offer us only fleeting enjoyment, it can never cater to our appetite for unending fulfillment.

To satisfy that appetite, we need to upgrade our understanding of spiritual life. Instead of seeing material life as real life and spiritual life as an optional addendum, we need to see spiritual life – our life as souls in loving service to Krishna – as real life and material life as an intrusion into that real life.

Krishna descends to the world to end this intrusion. When he appears in this world, he restores order, as the oft-quoted Bhagavad-gita (04.08) verse declares. What is not often quoted is his goal in restoring that order mentioned in the next verse (04.09): to help us understand his divine and delightful pastimes, fall in love with him and return to him for a life of everlasting ecstasy.

When we enshrine this goal in the center of our consciousness, we restore order in our inner world. Our eyes and hearts become open to see Krishna’s love in how he tirelessly facilitates our journey through this world and expertly directs it towards him. That vision is life’s best security, existence’s greatest hope, heart’s highest joy.

**

04.09 - One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna.

Reflections on Srila Prabhupada
→ KKS Blog

srila-prabhupada-jaladuta-1We can appreciate how unique Prabhupada really is in the entire sampradaya. Lord Caitanya appears only once in a day of Brahma and after Lord Caitanya, who introduced Krsna Consciousness basically in the Indian subcontinent, the mission that remained was to take Krsna Consciousness all over the world. Prabhupada did that. He brought it from East to West! Prabhupada himself stated, ‘Now this Krsna consciousness cannot be stopped anymore.’ Just like a disease, once it has contaminated then it is too late, it cannot be undone, cannot be stopped anymore.
Prabhupada fulfilled that mission of taking Krsna consciousness from East to West which is done only once in an entire day of Lord Brahma. So we can understand that Prabhupada is a special intimate associate of Caitanya Mahaprabhu who was particularly chosen for this mission. Therefore, we can understand that the way Prabhupada introduced Krsna consciousness in the world is particularly the way that Lord Caitanya desired it.

Kadamba Kanana Swami, Vrindavan, India, 2003

 

When Srila Prabhupada first came to America, he didn’t have anything and somehow or other, this movement took off. Prabhupada said, ‘It’s a miracle!! How could this have happened? I’m coming to America with a message the Americans weren’t waiting for – no illicit sex, no gambling, no meat, no intoxication. It’s a miracle!’ He said, ‘Sometimes I wonder why this miracle happened to me? Why not to others? I have so many godbrothers who are very qualified, learned vaishnavas. So why did this thing happened to me? And the only thing I can think of is that I cent percent followed the order of my spiritual master.’

SRILA PRABHPADAPrabhupada was real, Prabhupada was genuine, Prabhupada loved Krsna, Prabhupada saw Krsna and because Prabhupada said God is blue, He is blue! It is as simple as that! Therefore Prabhupada is the living proof of Krsna Consciousness, that it all works. Prabhupada is not only our inspiration, not only the source of our faith but Prabhupada is also our anchor. Whenever we have a doubt, Prabhupada is the anchor, our saving grace as we are riding on the waves of our individual nature. He is the safe ground to which we always return. We trust him for the person he was, for his teachings and we know that there we will find our answers – we find the basis of our Krsna Consciousness. That is where we return, to the safe connection with Krsna.

We meet him in everything he left – we meet him in his devotees, we meet him in his books, we meet him in his instructions and so on. We can meet Prabhupada today but the essence of that meeting is that we understand that Prabhupada made Krsna Consciousness possible because Prabhupada was a human being! He was a human being! We are only just beginning to understand that! We never thought of that before! In the past, we thought, ‘You have to be Krsna conscious and you have to prove it by chanting your rounds, chanting extra rounds, by distributing a lot of books or by opening many temples, by sleeping less, by eating less, by performing austerity, by doing dry fasting…’ and in this way, you can show your Krsna consciousness! We never thought that being a human being had anything to do with it! But Prabhupada knew it all along. He was such a human being because his love for Krsna extended to all of us. Prabhupada was so kind, he was strict – not changing the standard – but yet ready to adjust for an individual, to sort of accommodate him, to sort of come along and fit in…

Kadamba Kanana Swami, Goloka Dhama, Abentheur, 2006

 

Book-2When we become a devotee of Krsna, we become the instrument of Krsna and we see that Krsna begins to work through us and through that we become empowered. One day Srila Prabhupada said, ‘My spiritual master made me into a diamond!’ A diamond is completely transparent; light goes through unobstructed in all directions. Thus a devotee becomes empowered to be an instrument of the Lord and then see what they can do. People say, ‘How can you do it?’ But Krsna gives the power, makes it possible; so one who dedicates his life to Krsna becomes empowered by Krsna.

Kadamba Kanana Swami, Durban, South Africa, 2010

 

 

 

Reflections on Srila Prabhupada
→ KKS Blog

srila-prabhupada-jaladuta-1We can appreciate how unique Prabhupada really is in the entire sampradaya. Lord Caitanya appears only once in a day of Brahma and after Lord Caitanya, who introduced Krsna Consciousness basically in the Indian subcontinent, the mission that remained was to take Krsna Consciousness all over the world. Prabhupada did that. He brought it from East to West! Prabhupada himself stated, ‘Now this Krsna consciousness cannot be stopped anymore.’ Just like a disease, once it has contaminated then it is too late, it cannot be undone, cannot be stopped anymore.
Prabhupada fulfilled that mission of taking Krsna consciousness from East to West which is done only once in an entire day of Lord Brahma. So we can understand that Prabhupada is a special intimate associate of Caitanya Mahaprabhu who was particularly chosen for this mission. Therefore, we can understand that the way Prabhupada introduced Krsna consciousness in the world is particularly the way that Lord Caitanya desired it.

Kadamba Kanana Swami, Vrindavan, India, 2003

 

When Srila Prabhupada first came to America, he didn’t have anything and somehow or other, this movement took off. Prabhupada said, ‘It’s a miracle!! How could this have happened? I’m coming to America with a message the Americans weren’t waiting for – no illicit sex, no gambling, no meat, no intoxication. It’s a miracle!’ He said, ‘Sometimes I wonder why this miracle happened to me? Why not to others? I have so many godbrothers who are very qualified, learned vaishnavas. So why did this thing happened to me? And the only thing I can think of is that I cent percent followed the order of my spiritual master.’

SRILA PRABHPADAPrabhupada was real, Prabhupada was genuine, Prabhupada loved Krsna, Prabhupada saw Krsna and because Prabhupada said God is blue, He is blue! It is as simple as that! Therefore Prabhupada is the living proof of Krsna Consciousness, that it all works. Prabhupada is not only our inspiration, not only the source of our faith but Prabhupada is also our anchor. Whenever we have a doubt, Prabhupada is the anchor, our saving grace as we are riding on the waves of our individual nature. He is the safe ground to which we always return. We trust him for the person he was, for his teachings and we know that there we will find our answers – we find the basis of our Krsna Consciousness. That is where we return, to the safe connection with Krsna.

We meet him in everything he left – we meet him in his devotees, we meet him in his books, we meet him in his instructions and so on. We can meet Prabhupada today but the essence of that meeting is that we understand that Prabhupada made Krsna Consciousness possible because Prabhupada was a human being! He was a human being! We are only just beginning to understand that! We never thought of that before! In the past, we thought, ‘You have to be Krsna conscious and you have to prove it by chanting your rounds, chanting extra rounds, by distributing a lot of books or by opening many temples, by sleeping less, by eating less, by performing austerity, by doing dry fasting…’ and in this way, you can show your Krsna consciousness! We never thought that being a human being had anything to do with it! But Prabhupada knew it all along. He was such a human being because his love for Krsna extended to all of us. Prabhupada was so kind, he was strict – not changing the standard – but yet ready to adjust for an individual, to sort of accommodate him, to sort of come along and fit in…

Kadamba Kanana Swami, Goloka Dhama, Abentheur, 2006

 

Book-2When we become a devotee of Krsna, we become the instrument of Krsna and we see that Krsna begins to work through us and through that we become empowered. One day Srila Prabhupada said, ‘My spiritual master made me into a diamond!’ A diamond is completely transparent; light goes through unobstructed in all directions. Thus a devotee becomes empowered to be an instrument of the Lord and then see what they can do. People say, ‘How can you do it?’ But Krsna gives the power, makes it possible; so one who dedicates his life to Krsna becomes empowered by Krsna.

Kadamba Kanana Swami, Durban, South Africa, 2010

 

 

 

Your Guide to Janmastami Celebrations TOMORROW!
→ The Toronto Hare Krishna Blog!

Tomorrow, Wednesday, August 28, 2013, marks the biggest spiritual birthday bash in Toronto - Janmastami! Here is a quick guide to help you tomorrow.

Parking:


FREE parking has been arranged for Janmastami festival attendees. The parking lot is located on Pears Avenue, a 2-3 minute walk from the temple. Free parking is available from 5:00pm - 2:00am.

Shoes:
As you can imagine, we have over 1,000 people join us every year for this celebration and we are looking forward to a packed house! To ensure there is less traffic in the building and to keep all shoes in one place, we are trying a new initiative by having all shoes stored outside in our parking lot. Everyone's shoes will be bagged and stored and you will receive a ticket to retrieve your shoes at the end of your stay. As always, we ask for your cooperation as we try to maintain the shoes in an organized fashion.

Schedule **subject to change**:

6:00pm - 6:30pm: Arati
6:30pm - 7:00pm: Kirtan
7:00pm - 7:15pm: Welcome and Announcements
7:15pm - 8:00pm: Class
8:00pm - 8:30pm: Arati
8:30pm - 8:50pm: Dance Performance
8:50pm - 9:30pm: Krishna Consciousness Around the World - a Special Multimedia Presentation
9:30pm - 10:15pm: Maha Shanka Abhisheka
10:15pm - 11:00pm: Special Shadow Puppet Drama
11:00pm - 12:00am: Maha Abhisheka
12:00am - 12:30am: Midnight Arati!
12:30am - 1:30am: Vegetarian Feast

We hope you can join us for these auspicious celebrations!

Balarama Purnima, August 20, New Dvaraka, Los Angeles
Giriraj Swami

lord_balarama_by_yogeshvarGiriraj Swami read and spoke from Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.7.26 during the Sunday evening program in New Dvaraka.

“Bal Yogeshwar, Guru Maharaji, fell in love with his American secretary and married her, which very much upset his mother in India. Thereafter there was a full color picture on the cover of The Illustrated Weekly of India — a very famous magazine. The article described that Bal Yogeshwar’s mother had appointed him as Bhagavan, God, but that since he went ahead and married secretary without her permission, she removed him as God and placed her other son, Bal Bhagwan, as God. This sounds ludicrous, but sometimes fact is stranger than fiction — because people are so ignorant. We don’t know how fortunate we are to have this knowledge from Srila Prabhupada. We can understand very clearly visnu-tattva, jiva-tattva, who is God, who is a direct expansion of God, and who is a living entity. But ordinary people are bewildered. There are so many people who think. “I am God, you are God, everyone is God, we just have to realize it.”

Lord Balarama’s Appearance

Launching Gitadaily.com on Janamshtami
→ The Spiritual Scientist

We are happy to announce the launch of a new website www.gitadaily.com on the occasion of Janmashtami 2013.gitadaily.com

This site has over 650 articles that you can browse date-wise and verse-wise.

As the Gita-daily feature of a daily article is the only feature of its kind in the whole world, we felt that it merited a separate site of its own so as to enhance accessibility and outreach, hence the new site.

Along with this site, we are also planning to have a Gitadaily app for iphones and android phones. If any devotee has the expertise for making an app and would like to help, please contact us through the volunteer icon on the home page

 

The Spiritual Scientist coordinators

Sri Mayapur in the Airport
→ Mayapur.com

Next time you land  at Kolkata at the  Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Domestic Terminal, you will be greeted by a big banner of Sri Mayapur in the baggage section. An initiative of Mayapur Tourism, after a long  term of over three years discussions, repeated meetings, approaching different authorities and sending several designs for approval Airport [...]

The post Sri Mayapur in the Airport appeared first on Mayapur.com.

Meditations on Krsna
→ KKS Blog

227070_10150570004290375_215886190374_18217425_6516748_n“Janmastami is not just an ordinary day! We must celebrate Janmastami – it is our spiritual duty! It is actually a day when we can permanently deepen our relationship with Krsna!”

“One detail that is given is that at the time when Krsna appeared, Nanda Maharaj was giving charity. He opened up his  treasury and allowed everyone to go inside and take whatever they wanted. Now you can imagine if they would do that to us, right? ‘Bring the truck! Bring the train! Bring another truck! You said we could take everything we desired!‘ With a magnifying glass, we would pick up the last lost pearl left in the dust in the corner. But somehow or other, everyone went into the treasury of Nanda Maharaj, took whatever they desired and was fully satisfied yet still there was something left for Nanda Maharaj. Everyone was satisfied like this. So, we see that the residents there were all wonderful personalities, all wonderful devotees. In the whole environment where Krsna appeared, everything became so favourable, so wonderful. In this way, we need not be foolishly attached to the little bit of  pleasure that is here in this material world. The pleasure of the spiritual abode of Krsna is unlimitedly greater! There is no need to hesitate for a moment! Let’s run! Let’s run  towards the spiritual world, not drag our feet!”

“If we want to go fast, if we really want to go quickly to Krsna then we must fill the maximum amount of time, we must use the maximum amount of our energy simply for glorifying Krsna. That can be done in many ways – it can be done by energy, can be done by possessions, can be done by intelligence, can be done by wit – but  somehow or other, we must always glorify Krsna”

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, Goloka Dhama, Abentheuer, Germany, August 2006)

eyes“Krsna is the all-attractive, all-good, all-kind Supreme Personality of Godhead; the friend of all living beings. He is the reservoir of  pleasure. There is no limit to Krsna’s kindness, no limit to Krsna’s mercy. Although he is atmaram, he is totally satisfied within himself and has no need for anything, still Krsna feels something lacking when a living being goes to the material world. Why is Krsna getting impatient? He is not getting impatient for himself. He is not getting impatient just because he can’t wait for us to return. He is getting impatient because he knows that we are unfulfilled even if we are not terribly suffering! There is no other destiny than to be unfulfilled, outside of the spiritual  world, outside of a relationship with Krsna. Therefore, when Krsna is applying a little bit of force to bring us back, that is for our own good because here there is no way, no way that we can be fulfilled.”

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, Durban, South Africa, 2009)