Change 4,528
→ Jayadvaita Swami

According to what I hear, the second edition of Bhagavad-gita As It Is has five thousand changes. Here’s one that came up in a Gita class a few nights ago:

17.28 (first edition)

asraddhaya hutam dattam
tapas taptam krtam ca yat
asad ity ucyate partha
na ca tat pretya no iha

asraddhaya — without faith; hutam — performed; dattam — given; tapah — penance; taptam — executed; krtam — performed; ca — also; yat — that which; asat — falls; iti — thus; ucyate — is said to be; partha — O son of Prtha; na — never; ca — also; tat — that; pretya — after death; no — nor; iha — in this life.

But sacrifices, austerities and charities performed without faith in the Supreme are nonpermanent, O son of Partha, regardless of whatever rites are performed. They are called asat and are useless both in this life and the next.

Asat, of course, means “impermanent,” “temporary,” or false. The second edition has it right.

The post Change 4,528 appeared first on Jayadvaita Swami.

Change 4,528
→ Jayadvaita Swami

According to what I hear, the second edition of Bhagavad-gita As It Is has five thousand changes. Here’s one that came up in a Gita class a few nights ago:


17.28 (first edition)

asraddhaya hutam dattam
tapas taptam krtam ca yat
asad ity ucyate partha
na ca tat pretya no iha

asraddhaya — without faith; hutam — performed; dattam — given; tapah — penance; taptam — executed; krtam — performed; ca — also; yat — that which; asat — falls; iti — thus; ucyate — is said to be; partha — O son of Prtha; na — never; ca — also; tat — that; pretya — after death; no — nor; iha — in this life.

But sacrifices, austerities and charities performed without faith in the Supreme are nonpermanent, O son of Partha, regardless of whatever rites are performed. They are called asat and are useless both in this life and the next.

 Asat, of course, means “impermanent,” “temporary,” or false. The second edition has it right.

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Visions
→ Seed of Devotion

I had a chronic illness when I was 13 that lasted for five years. I went to many doctors but none could figure it out. I faced many possibilities - invasive surgery, death, but nothing was certain.

So for five years I saw through the vision of death. Not every day, but many days. Even when my illness went away, this vision persisted. I often had this sense that my life would be over in mere seconds, everyone and everything around me would be devoured by time. It was a terrible vision; a gift and a burden.

I remember many years ago how I left my house in Alachua carrying my suitcase at night. I was on my way to join the Winter Bus Tour to Mexico, which would last for 3 adventurous weeks.

I walked down the faded blue front steps and the vision fell over me - all too soon I would be returning to these blue front steps with my bags in hand, the Winter Bus Tour but a memory. Gone. Like sand through my fingers. Just gone.

This happened countless times - carrying my suitcase down those blue front steps, off to my next destination, and then returning. From being gone a couple days to being gone an entire year - it didn't matter.

Time passed.

During that time, I would see my friends and parents through the lens of death - soon they would all be gone. And who knows - tomorrow God may take me. God takes thousands of people every day - every moment - without any warning.

When I was about 14, I read a verse in the Bhagavad Gita where Krishna says, "I am Time, the great destroyer of the worlds." Krishna gave divine eyes to Arjuna so that His friend could witness Krishna's universal form. Arjuna witnessed armies and worlds being devoured, the cosmos spinning, everything whirling and whirling and whirling... at last Arjuna cried out, "Stop, please, stop."

He continued, "Please... show me Your form as Krishna, my friend, the one who plays the flute. The one whom I can offer my love to."

So Krishna showed His form as Krishna. Just Krishna.

Timeless Krishna.

That is the vision I want. I just want Krishna. I want Krishna when He plays His flute, someone I can cook for, put to bed and read to Him at night, someone I can bathe and dress and murmur to, "How are you today?"

I hope one day that I can feel Krishna put His arms around me and hold me. That is all I want.

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09.22 – When worry accelerates the imagination, let faith become the brake
→ The Spiritual Scientist

Worry accelerates our imagination. When we face problems, worry paints dreadful pictures of the many further things that may go wrong, thereby sucking our mental energy into those gloomy possibilities.

Saying that worry accelerates our imagination doesn’t mean that the problems we worry about aren’t real. They may well be real. But we can live only one moment at a time and we need to take things one at a time. Worry paralyzes our capacity to utilize the present, the only resource that we have to deal with issues.

Moreover, many of the scenarios that worry makes us agonize over are in fact imaginary – they are possibilities that may never become realities.

If while driving the accelerator gets pressed accidentally, we regain control is by pressing the brakes. The brake that slows down our hyperactive imagination is faith – faith in Krishna’s omnipotence and omni-benevolence. He is always in control and is always our well-wisher. He assures in the Bhagavad-gita (09.22) that he personally protects those who constantly meditate on him.

The stipulation that we constantly meditate on him is not a stiff demand meant to disqualify us, but a necessary condition meant to help us access his protection. When we redirect our thoughts from things that worry us to things that pacify us, worry loses its power to accelerate our imagination.

To facilitate this redirection, Krishna offers himself as a pacifying object of thought. He is the best object of thought, for he is all-attractive, embodying within himself everything attractive about everything. The more we choose to put our faith in him and habituate ourselves to meditating on him, the more we relish that attractiveness and develop a taste for it. Then faith no longer remains a brake for worrying thoughts; it becomes an accelerator for fulfilling thoughts.

***

09.22 - But those who always worship Me with exclusive devotion, meditating on My transcendental form — to them I carry what they lack, and I preserve what they have.

 

 

 

Samudra das
→ Ramai Swami

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Samudra das and Nagara devi dasi run a surf, dive and clothing shop in the Sanur area of Denpasar, Bali. Actually the shop is in the front of the family house that Samudra and his brother Padma grew up in.

Samudra is the current general manager of the Jagannatha Gauranga temple and his brother, Padma, was the previous general manager. Both find time to regularly go out on book distribution and they always take part in the two month book distribution marathon in November and December.
Before becoming devotees the brothers were themselves surfers and divers and took foreigners on tours of the best spots in Bali.  Now they do harinama and book distribution on the beach and the people they meet are invited back to the temple for prasadam and kirtan.
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The Importance of Devotee Association, Sunday Festival, October 6, Dallas
Giriraj Swami

HHGunagrahiSwamiatHomeprograminISKCONdido20100002“The scriptures explain that if one begins acting according to one’s constitutional position, one develops all the qualities that help one act according to that position. Our eternal position is that we are naturally devotees of God and we naturally love God. And, naturally loving God means that you love everyone. So, the natural state of the soul is to give love and receive the love of others. As one begins practicing to do that, then all those natural qualities gradually become manifest. They are beautiful qualities. They’re the qualities that we are all attracted to. To love God means to love all of His parts and parcels—all of His children. And so many of these qualities have to do with how we relate to each other. It is very interesting.” —Gunagrahi das Goswami

Sunday Talk Dallas

Kirtan In the Muslim Quarter
→ travelingmonk.com

Yesterday we took our harinam party into the Muslim quarter of Skopje, Macedonia. A little concerned I asked the samkirtan leader if there was any risk involved. “In our country,” he replied, “the problems are between Muslims and Christians. So far the Muslim community has not shown any hostility towards us.” Whatever apprehension I had [...]

Mahavishnu Swami giving a lecture at our festival last Thursday at the Green Par…
→ Mahavishnu Swami

Mahavishnu Swami giving a lecture at our festival last Thursday at the Green Park Function Room in Bath, Somerset. It went very well, and the hall which has a capacity of 150 seats was overflowing with people so much that many people had to stand up at the back as there weren't any seats left.

youtube.com/watch?v=SUXVP3yTnFk


Mahavishnu Swami Lecture | Function Room, Bath, 10 Oct 2013
www.youtube.com
Mahavishnu Swami giving a lecture at the festival at the Bath Function Room on the 10th October 2013. Continue reading →

Lokamata Adilakshmi Mataji passes away
→ ISKCON Malaysia

BY SHANTHI RUPA DEVI DASI
KUALA LUMPUR - Lokamata Adilakshmi Devi Dasi, disciple of HH Jayapataka Swami, mother of Serojamukhi Kausalya Devi Dasi and grandmother of Prakash Prabhu from Batu caves passed away at 5.25am on Friday, 11th October 2013 at the Kuala Lumpur, General Hospital. She was 85 years old, leaving behind her children and grandchildren who are all active members of Sri Jagannath Mandir, Kuala Lumpur.
During her last hours in this world she was surrounded by her family members chanting the holyname and reading from Srila Prabhupada's books. Srila Prabhupada's Hare Krsna mahamantra was also being continuously played during her last few days in the hospital.
Funeral rites will be performed on Saturday 12th October 2013 at No. 2, Jalan 15, Taman Batu caves, between 09.00 hours and 12.00 hours.
Thereafter she will be cremated at the crematorium in Jalan  Loke Yew.
For further info please contact Prakash at 016 2655536

Yadubara prabhu’s new super production about Srila Prabhupada’s life, worth US $395,000 (trailer video)
→ Dandavats.com

It has been nearly 30 years since the release of “Your Ever Well-Wisher,” the familiar documentary on the life of Srila Prabhupada produced by Yadubara das and Visakha dasi. Most know of the "Hare Krishna Movement" but few know of its founder. There is urgent need for an updated and revised version, with language and imagery appropriate for twenty-first-century viewers. To produce ACHARYA, the original team will join forces with media professionals in the Washington DC area. Read more ›

06.28 – The purpose of discipline is not to torture ourselves, but to transcend ourselves
→ The Spiritual Scientist

The idea of discipline often evokes in us an inaudible sigh, if not an audible groan – it appears to be a deprivation, as a form of self-torture.

However, the purpose of discipline is not to torture ourselves, but to transcend ourselves. That is, transcend our lower self – our impulsive mind that is seduced by the promises of quick pleasures.

This mind impels us towards choices that lead to the underutilization of our potential. When we are in material consciousness, that pleasure-seeking nature is misdirected by our mind towards worldly pleasures. And when those pleasures are restricted, the mind makes us feel that it is a torture for ourselves.

However, even the best material pleasure is insubstantial, in fact insignificant, when compared to the steady fulfillment available at the spiritual level in loving and serving Krishna.

Trying to control the mind merely by negating its impulses is neither pleasurable nor sustainable. That’s because we are pleasure-seeking beings, for as souls, ananda is a part of our intrinsic nature.

But as long as the mind misdirects us towards worldly pleasures, we stay caught in those fleeting and unfulfilling shadow pleasures. These pleasures become the limiters that we need to transcend if we are to regain our right to spiritual happiness.

Discipline, specifically the discipline of regulated devotional service, is meant to help us transcend the mind and its infatuation with material pleasures and its consequent incarceration of our mental activity with the material realm, as the Bhagavad-gita (06.28) indicates. The more we fix the mind on Krishna by steady practice, the more we access material happiness. Thereby we realize that we have transcended ourselves – our past conceptions of enjoyment – and have attained a far greater, richer, sweeter fulfillment – the joy of pure eternal love for Krishna.

***

06.28 - Thus the self-controlled yogi, constantly engaged in yoga practice, becomes free from all material contamination and achieves the highest stage of perfect happiness in transcendental loving service to the Lord.

 

16.12 – Our bonds are not prisoner’s shackles, but puppeteer’s strings
→ The Spiritual Scientist

We treasure freedom as an inalienable right and resist anything that threatens it.
However, we think of freedom largely in terms of the freedom to pursue various forms of material pleasures.
Gita wisdom expands our conception of freedom by extending it to the spiritual level. As everything material is temporary, so is the pleasure from even the best material enjoyments. To get lasting happiness, we need to attain spiritual reality, wherein we as souls can rejoice in eternal love for Krishna. Our own misdirected desires for enjoying material things drag us away from spiritual reality and chain us to material reality, as the Bhagavad-gita (16.12: asha-pasha) indicates.
Unfortunately, we rarely see material desires as bonds because they are not like prisoner’s shackles – they do not immobilize us. To the contrary, they are like puppeteer’s strings – they activate us, making us dance to their tunes. Just as the casual eye doesn’t see how the strings are making the puppets dance, so we don’t see how material desires make us dance. In fact, we imagine those tunes to be our own tunes: “I want to enjoy that.” Only later when the infatuation passes do we wonder: “Why did I do that? What made me act like this, against my values?”
Gita wisdom answers: “The puppeteer’s strings.”
The way to break free from the puppeteer’s strings is by discrimination and devotion. When we use our intelligence to carefully observe ourselves, then we can catch material desires as soon as they start tugging us. And by praying to Krishna for inner strength and using the fulfillment coming from his remembrance as an inner sword, we can cut off those strings. By consistent cultivation of devotion, we eventually reclaim our right to spiritual freedom – the freedom to rejoice forever with Krishna.

**
16.12 - Bound by a network of hundreds of thousands of desires and absorbed in lust and anger, they secure money by illegal means for sense gratification.

Unlimited purity
→ KKS Blog

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 13 September 2013, Durban, South Africa, Radhastami)

035-Sri_Radha_Close_upHere in this world, we are all limited by karma. Some of us have a nose that is too big. Some of us have ears that stick out too much. Some have eyes that are too sunken. Some have bags under the eyes. Some have puffy cheeks and so on. There is no limit to the imperfection that we face as a result of our previous sinful activities.

These are the reactions due to our impurity and therefore we have the bodies that we have but Srimati Radharani’s appearance is perfectly reflecting her unlimited purity and her pure love for Krsna. 

 

 

 

Wednesday, October 9th, 2013
→ The Walking Monk

Cremo and Sam

Toronto/Vancouver

Michael Cremo is the author along with Dr. Richard Thompson on writings that challenge the status quo including the self-admitted speculations of Darwin.  “Forbidden Archaeology” and “The Hidden History of the Human Race” are books inspired by our guru that are premised by conspiracy theory justified.  When you read these revealing texts, you’ll know what I mean.  Why do people blindly follow anything that’s presented to them?  Why the gullibility?  Challenge or at least question before acceptance, be thoughtful.

That’s what’s nice about Cremo’s work, it stimulates independent thinking.  He travels the world with his message and shakes up a paradigm that needs shaking.  And he presents the facts with coolness and sobriety.

It’s unfortunate that I won’t be around for his talks.  I’m off to Vancouver today and he’ll be moving about in the Toronto/Hamilton area enlightening people, ‘shaking a few trees’.

Cremo, whom I know devotionally as Drutakarma, came out with me for that chill out trek that I take in the morning.  Conversation was light, we were just getting to know each other.  In exchange, we asked, ‘Where were you born?  Where did you grow up?  What’s your ethnicity?’ and so on.

And so long… On the plane I go.

By providence I was moved from a middle seat to the isle and the young fellow two seats from mine was also moved from the middle row to the window.  We hit it on.  As he put it, it was meant to be.  Sam Hing is a Toronto born guy of parents from Hong Kong.  He was raised Catholic, and during mass he served as an “Well, you can’t say it anymore, an altar boy, because of the gender thing,” he said in a whisper.  He is a strong spiritualist advocate and less so a backer or religion.

People do sometimes ask, “Is yours a religion?”  This was a similar assumption made by Raymond, an early seeker to the movement in New York, when he asked, “In your religion…”  Our guru, Srila Prabhupada, cut him off sharply.

“This is not religion, this is knowledge.”

In any event, Sam is a great guy who seemed to understand my lifestyle as a traveller, a sannyasi,  a monk who likes to be out and about.  We conversed about a troubled world and the lack of RESPECT (Aretha) and what that word means.  ‘Re’ means ‘again’, ‘Spect’ means ‘look’.  When it comes to spirituality it means to look again, to look harder and deeper and finally see your real self.

Our plane landed.  Sam deplaned at Calgary, I flew on to Vancouver.  I got accommodations at New Gokula Dham off of Marine Drive.  Before sleep I read from a recent book by Achyutananda Das, “Blazing Sadhus”, with subtitle, “Or Never Trust A Holy Man Who Can’t Dance”.  Here’s an excerpt form that book that put me happily to sleep:

“Someone asked, ‘Don’t we all become one with God?’

Prabhupada answered, ‘Nothing is separate from God; that’s alright.  We are one in quality with God, but we do not ‘become’ God.’

The swami pretended to lick his hand and said, ‘It is like saying I am salty, so I am the ocean.  This version is inadequate and ineffective.  The potency is non different from the potent.  The energy is non different from the energetic.  The effective, immediate and ingredient causes cannot be less than the result.  Yes?’”

May the Source be with you!

4 KM

Prime Time
→ travelingmonk.com

Yesterday I was invited to speak on national television. The popular talk show aired at prime time throughout Macedonia. The host was very gracious and we discussed the basics of Krsna conscious philosophy. Most important, I went into great deal about the importance of chanting Hare Krsna. As the program ended I repeated the mantra [...]

Sangam at Prabhupada’s Palace at New Vrindaban
→ New Vrindaban Brijabasi Spirit

srila prabhupada

“I have got ambition to construct there seven temples as follows 1. Radha Madan Mohan  2. Radha Govinda  3. Radha Gopinatha  4. Radha Damodar  5. Radha Raman  6. Radha Gokulananda  7. Radha Syamasundar”

Letter from Srila Prabhupada to Hayagriva, 1968

This will be the sixth Sangam at Prabhupada’s Palace of Gold, each with a different theme.  Over the past few months, we have had several sangams, including a very fun Prabhupada Rasagulla Fest, commemorating when Srila Prabhupada came to New Vrindaban in 1974 and taught the devotees how to make rasagullas.

Goswami Remembrance Day

 On this disappearance day of Raghunatha Das Goswami, Raghunatha Bhatta Goswami, and Srila Krishna das Kaviraja Goswami, the Brijabasis will pray for the mercy of the six Goswamis of Vrindaban so they can fulfill Srila Prabhupada’s desire of building New Vrindaban as a holy place of pilgrimage in the west.

When-     Tuesday October 15 2013

Where-     Srila Prabhupada’s Palace of Gold

Special Guest Speaker-     His Holiness Varshana Maharaja

5:45 PM     Bhajan

6:00 PM    Excerpt from a lecture by Srila Prabhupada

6:10 PM     Stories & realizations shared by His Holiness Varshana Maharaja

6:45 PM     Sharing from assembled devotees

7:00 PM     Arotika for Srila Prabhupada

7:30 PM     Prasadam

Fall Issue of Mayapur Sanga Released
→ Mayapur.com

It is a great pleasure to announce that the Mayapur.com team has released our Seventh edition of our newsletter entitled “Mayapur Sanga”. It is our desire to regularly update our guests and well wishers, pilgrims and devotees of the many ongoing projects and devotional festivals that take place in this magical land called Mayapur. We maintain […]

The post Fall Issue of Mayapur Sanga Released appeared first on Mayapur.com.

Presenting Krishna consciousness to thousands of people in Macedonia through national television (113 photos)
→ Dandavats.com

Indradyumna Swami: Yesterday I was invited to speak on national television. The popular talk show aired at prime time throughout Macedonia. The host was very gracious and we discussed the basics of Krsna conscious philosophy. Most important, I went into great deal about the importance of chanting Hare Krsna. As the program ended I repeated the mantra several times, realising that hundreds of thousands of people may be watching Read more ›