Planet ISKCON

BY GOLOKA CANDRA DASA

ORIGINAL ARTICLE: MALAYSIAN INDIAN BUSINESS MAGAZINE (AUGUST 2013 ISSUE)

KUALA LUMPUR - In the last issue of this magazine, we responded to a reader's query by narrating a historic pastime of God playing chess and gave evidence of an ancient temple in South India which still stands as testimony to God's chess-playing pastime. Today we follow up with supporting evidence from one of the most famous temples in the world. 

Up in the Tirumala hills in the state of Telugu Desam, nearby the ancient temple of Lord Balaji which is thronged by millions of pilgrims annually, there is a shrine dedicated in memory of a great devotee of the Lord called Hathi Rama Babaji. 

Although the main temple of Lord Balaji (an Incarnation of the Supreme Lord Krishna), is well-known as the richest temple in the world (why millions of people come from all over the world to pay their respects and their dues here annually is related to another pastime of the Lord, to be narrated on another occasion), not many people today know about Hathi Rama Babaji or the shrine built in his memory.

The local priests say that the Babaji was a pilgrim who came from the north, a Sri Rama bhakta who was initially called Bhavaji. This story explains how he became to be venerated as Hathi Rama Babaji, literally meaning the transcendental worshipper of the Lord Who took the form of an elephant.

When the Babaji saw Lord Balaji for the first time, he was immediately awe-struck and decided to stay put in that place and worship the Lord till the end of his life. He built himself a hut nearby the main temple and lived there. Daily he would frequently visit the temple, take darshana of Lord Balaji, bathe in the Pushkarini lake and sing in praise of the Lord. Engrossed in worship and remembrance of the Lord, he did not eat or sleep much. For subsistene, he would simply chew the leaves of a tree called Ramapatra.

His frequent visits to the temple, and gazing fixedly at Lord Balaji for long hours, sometimes breaking into ecstatic singing and dancing (kirtana) in a temple where the devotees traditonally worship the Lord with respectful awe and reverence, irked the temple management and staff. They became upset with his eccentric behaviour and eventually the chief priest banned him from entering the temple. 

Barred from seeing Lord Balaji directly, the Babaji pined in separation within the confines of his hut. His mind however remained fixed in remembrance of the Lord and His variegated pastimes. Chess is one of the many pastimes of the Lord Krishna, as described in the Srimad Bhagavatam and other Vedic scriptures. The Babaji imagined himself playing chess with Lord Balaji. The Babaji would actually make his moves on a chessboard, and would also move on behalf of Lord Balaji. Sometimes he would win the game, and exclaim: "My game!". Sometimes the Lord would win, and he would exclaim: "All right, You win this time!" and proceed to reset the chessboard and start another game. Like this, the Babaji carried on playing chess while always meditating on the Lord and His transcendental pastimes. 

One night when he fell asleep after another long chess session, he heard a voice calling out: "Bhavaji, wake up!" He opened his eyes and was astonished to see Lord Balaji standing before him. Overjoyed, he cried out in praise of the Lord: "O Govinda! O Venkatesha! O Srinivasa! O Jagatdrakshaka!" and prostrated at the Lord's lotus feet. The Lord smiled at him and said: "Come on, let's play chess."  

The Babaji quickly seated the Lord on a mat made of deerskin, brought out his chessboard and started the game. And surprise of surprises, he even won the first match. The Lord conceded: "All right, Bhavaji, you win. Now ask Me for any boon and I will be pleased to grant it." The Babaji replied: "My Lord, I am satisfied with Your darshana. I do not need any material pleasure or wealth. Kindly just allow me to be always situated at Your lotus feet and render devotional service to You." 

Pleased with his request, the Lord blessed him and vanished, after promising to return the next day to play another match with him. The next day, the Babaji excitedly waited for the Lord. True to His promise, after the temple altar was closed at night, the Lord appeared at the door of the Babaji's hut to enjoy another session of chess.

This way the Lord and the Babaji played chess for many days. Lord Balaji would regularly sneak out of His magnificent temple in the dark of the night to visit the Babaji in his hut and play chess with him, and then rush back to His altar in the pre-dawn hours before the temple services resumed.

One night, when the Babaji was thus engaged playing chess with the Lord, there was a sound outside the hut and the Lord asked him to check it out. The Babaji went out to investigate but found nobody in the vicinity. When he returned to his hut, he discovered that the Lord had already left the place, but His diamond-studded necklace was on the chessboard. The Babaji thought the Lord had inadvertently left behind His necklace and would soon return to pick it up. The Babaji anxiously waited through the night for the Lord to return, but to no avail.

Knowing that the Lord would need to be adorned with His beautiful necklace when temple services resume before dawn,  the Babaji took the necklace in his hand and ran towards the very temple that he had been barred from entering.

In the meantime, the pradhana archaka and other priests in charge of the temple services had already noticed the necklace missing from the Lord's neck and had raised the alarm. The guards started searching for the "thief". Just then the Babaji ran in, holding the necklace in his hand. He was immediately arrested for theft. His protests, that he was merely returning the ornament that the Lord had left behind in his hut, seemed far-fetched to everybody. Nobody believed his explanation either that Lord Balaji used to regularly visit his hut at night to play chess. 

The guards and temple staff beat him up and hauled him before the king for further punishment. The king, named Sri Krishna Devaraja, heard the charges against the Babaji and his explanation as well, and carefully considered his course of action. 

On one hand, theft of the Deity's ornament is sacrilege and anybody found guilty of it had to be severely dealt with. On the other hand, the intelligent king sensed that the Babaji was somehow innocent, despite his far-fetched story. The king decided to put him to the test.

The king devised a test whereby the Babaji would have a chance to prove his claims of innocence. He ordered that the Babaji be put into jail together with a huge pile of sugarcane. "If you really have such power as to attract the Lord to visit you regularly, then you should have no problem finishing off this pile of sugarcane before sunrise tomorrow."

The king knew that it would take either a miracle, or literally, a gigantic being, to finish off the pile of sugarcane. And if any gigantic being entered the jailhouse, his guards would surely notice and would alert him.

The Babaji was disinterested in proving anything to anybody, even if his life depended on it. He simply prayed to the Lord as always, and then fell asleep in his cell. While sleeping, he dreamt of a huge, white elephant entering his cell and eating up all the sugarcane. Then he felt the elephant waking him up with its trunk and loud trumpeting, which also brought the guards running. They were all astonished to see a huge, white elephant breaking through the grills and lumbering out, and the mountain-pile of sugarcane gone.

The Babaji realised that his personal deity Lord Rama had come in the form of the white elephant just to bail him out. He cried "Hathi Rama, Hathi Rama, Hathi Rama" and ran like a mad man after the white elephant who moved towards the direction of the temple and then simply vanished into thin air. 

The prison guards rushed to report the incident to the king who immediately understood it to be confirmation of the Babaji's transcendental position. The king rushed to the jailhouse and fell at the feet of the Babaji and begged forgiveness for all the harsh treatment meted out to him. The temple priests, workers and guards too begged forgiveness from the Babaji, especially those who had abused him, assaulted him and barred him from the temple.

The king then appointed the Babaji to be the chief priest of the Lord Balaji's temple. The Babaji finally got his spiritual desire fulfilled, to render direct devotional service to Lord Balaji (including of course, playing chess!). He spent the rest of his life personally serving Lord Balaji until he attained samaddhi.  

Today the Hathi Rama Babaji shrine is located near the main entrance to Lord Balaji's temple in Tirumala. The samaddhi of this Vaishnava saint is located near the Sri Venugopala temple on the way to Papavinasam in Tirumala. The Ramapatra tree can still be found growing here. 

By the mercy of my spiritual master His Holiness Jayapataka Swami, I got the good fortune to visit this place when I followed him on a spiritual tour of South India back in 1999, and personally heard him narrate on the spot this history of Lord Balaji playing chess with His great devotee.

I can remember tasting, on the insistence of my spiritual master, the leaves of the Ramapatra tree on which the Babaji used to subsist. I recall that it had a somewhat astringent flavour. We ate a lot of Ramapatra leaves that day, especially after our guru maharaja light-heartedly said that it would hopefully give us a bit of the great devotional love for the Lord that Hathi Rama Babaji had.

So this in short is the story of how this great devotee who played chess with Lord Balaji came to be known as Hathi Rama Babaji and why his humble abode,  which served as Lord Balaji's chess retreat, is venerated to this day.

112 photos: Harinama during Independence Day in the city of Kyiv, Ukraine Read more ›

Balaram Jayanti – Drama ISKCON London

“This meditation stuff doesn’t work.” We may think like this when we don’t feel happy while chanting the holy names of Krishna.

The problem, however, is not bhakti’s impotence; it is the mind’s petulance. Let's understand how.

The Bhagavad-gita (15.09) explains that the mind is the receiving center for inputs from all the knowledge-acquiring senses. These senses constantly bring in from the outer world alluring images of sense objects. Exposure to such images makes the mind crave for them.  But its cravings stay largely unfulfilled not only because many of them are immoral or anti-devotional but also because our physical capacity to enjoy the sense objects is unchangeably limited. Due to such unfulfilled desires, the mind tends to become petulant just as children become sulky when refused a toy that has caught their fancy. So many are the desires that the mind craves for and sulks over that we may not even be consciously aware of any specific desire. Nonetheless, a generic sense dissatisfaction and irritability lurks in the background of our consciousness

With such negative feelings, what happens when we practice meditation? The mind just doesn't let us focus on Krishna. Consequently, we are unable to relish the illumination, satisfaction and rejuvenation latent in the remembrance of Krishna. If we mistakenly conclude that bhakti is impotent, then we deprive ourselves of the only process that can ever free us from the mind’s arbitrary and autocratic moods. Thus we sentence ourselves to perpetual dissonance, slaving to fulfill the mind’s unending desires and sulking over their unfulfillment.

If instead we intelligently persevere with meditation irrespective of our feelings, then gradually our persistent remembrance of Krishna breaks down the wall of the mind’s petulance and grants us the ultimate fulfillment.

 

**

The living entity, thus taking another gross body, obtains a certain type of ear, eye, tongue, nose and sense of touch, which are grouped about the mind. He thus enjoys a particular set of sense objects.

On The Hour

Estevan, Saskatchewan

On the hour, local radio stations were announcing the trek across Canada. I was interviewed at their studios, so my voice came on briefly, but hourly. Facebook also went wild on the story. Responses on the road were tremendous.

One slim fellow pulled over. He caught the news. He showed me the photo of someone with a very prosperous frame at 350 pounds, “That’s me,” he said, “I had to get determined to lose all the weight.”

“That’s great. Now let’s try to decrease karma,” I said. He was right on board with my suggestion. Another motorist who had heard the news also pulled over at that point, and then another. We all got into deep down discussion. It was a huddle of sorts. One of the fellows was native. He had no trouble in accepting the concept of Creator, a higher power, a superior intelligence.

My response was, “Look at all this out here,” implying the beauty of the prairie as we stood at the edge of Estevan, known as the energy city, “when you walk through it all, all the 3D, all the smells, the colours and textures, it really enhances your appreciation for the artist behind it all.” Everyone there seemed to be on the same page.

“Do you guys accept Jesus?” asked the natives, “Is he the son of God?”

I began to respond, “If God’s the father for everyone… “ to which he completed the statement, “then we are also His son.” He got it. Even though the group of us were in the middle of going somewhere, in the middle of work you could say, we all seemed to be ready for a drum and mantra session. There was all this enthusiasm.

Being Friday afternoon, it has something to do with the good cheer in the air. The sun’s out, everyone’s making money (remember, it’s oil country here), and now there’s a novelty, a monk to excite a few folks. Roxie, was kind to let journalists from the local papers, The Estevan Mercury and Lifestyles, interview me in her new age store called “Soul Hideout”. An amiable gal she is. Journalists were super. As usual writers want to know about motivation behind the walk, and behind being a monk. So, I give my brief bio, which includes the inspiration of Beatles music, a fascination for anything East Indian, and a strong attraction for the mysticism within monasticism. Bhakti, devotion, is the goal – devotion to the great artist.

I feel that for people to sometimes take you seriously, you may have to do something to the extreme. That’s why it’s a cross country walk and a 4th one. It’s a matter of walking the talk, isn’t it?

30 KM

God. The word evokes various images in people’s minds. Some think of God as a cosmic judge seated on a celestial throne. Others envision him as an ageless sage with a long white beard. Still others conceive of him as an all-pervading spirit.

Whatever people may conceive God to be, they wouldn’t conceive him to be a fun-loving bluish-black cowherd. Or would they? One-sixth of humanity does indeed conceive of God thus. A billion Hindus believe that God is a flute-playing, peacock-feather-wearing, sixteen-year-old youth named Krishna who plays in a pastoral paradise with his cows, his boyfriends and his girlfriends.

Such a vision of God might seem too fanciful to merit serious attention. But surprisingly it has been elucidated by some of the greatest minds in the Vedic wisdom-tradition that originated in the world’s most ancient sacred literature, the Vedas. The Vedic wisdom-tradition has survived, even flourished, over millennia and continues to do so even today. Among the many books in this tradition that describe Krishna’s godhood, the most well-known is the philosophical masterpiece, the Bhagavad-gita. Therein, Krishna’s godhood is not only explained philosophically and theologically. It is also demonstrated dramatically in the vision of the Universal Form, one of the most mystical visions in world-literature. In that vision, the entire universe in all its complexity, variety and activity is seen to be present within the form of Krishna, hence its name: the Universal Form.

Visions like these, though demonstrating Krishna’s godhood, are not what have captured the hearts of millions of worshipers for millennia. Devotees have been in love with a far more intimate and sweet manifestation of Krishna as he is at his home in a pastoral paradise known as Vrindavan. This manifestation reveals a refreshing new dimension of God’s perfection.

God is universally understood as the perfect being. His perfection has been conventionally conceived as a frozen perfection like, say, that of a perfect painting. When a painting is being made, it becomes perfect at a particular point in its making. One stroke less and it is not that good. One stroke more and again it is not that good.

Similarly, the idea went, for God to be perfect, he has to be frozen. If he has any desire or if he does any action, both indicate that his present state is lacking in something because of which he desires and acts.

Such an intellectualized notion of God might be analytically perfect, but it is emotionally impotent. After all, how long can one love someone who never desires or does anything?

The Vedic wisdom-tradition reveals that God’s perfection is not the static perfection of a dead painting, but the dynamic perfection of a loving person. Love by its very nature induces reciprocations among the lovers. Love becomes perfect not when these reciprocations freeze but when everything else freezes so that these reciprocations can go on undistracted – or, even better, when everything else contributes to intensifying these loving reciprocations.

The arena where this happens is the kingdom of God. To enable love to attain the zenith of perfection, God removes conceals his godhood. Among the community of his most intimate devotees, he acts like just another member – the sweetest and most lovable member, no doubt, but still just another member. To remove any residual inhibitions, he avoids a royal setting for these reciprocations but instead chooses a pastoral setting: an idyllic village surrounded by a beautiful forest. This pastoral paradise is known as Vrindavan. And for himself he chooses the undistinguished vocation of a cowherd. Not even the king of cowherds, but the prince of cowherds.

The God who thus conceals his supremacy so that love can reign supreme is Krishna. Janamshtami is the day when Krishna descends to this world to invite all of us back to the world where love reigns supreme.

 

The SAKKHI, or International Society for Krsna Consciousness in Indonesia, recently had a meeting at the headquarters of the Hindu Parisadh in Denpasar. Devotees and devotee leaders were invited to hear reports and give input into the activities of Krsna Consciousness in Indonesia. There were more than two hundred devotees who attended this function, which went from 9am until 5pm.

The Gita is not, therefore, a speculative treatise for the insignificant mundane scholar but is a standard book of knowledge coming down from time immemorial.

Bhagavad Gita As It Is 4.1 purport

THE BEST BOOKS FOR YOUR SUCCESS | Gita Coaching

VICARU DAS
BHAKTIVEDANTA MANOR
ISKCON UK

SB 11.7 Summary:

After hearing Uddhava’s prayerful request to be taken back with Him to the spiritual world, Lord Krsna informed him that He was indeed desirous of returning to His own personal abode because the purpose of His descent had been successfully fulfilled and the misfortunes of Kali-yuga would soon beset the earth. He thus advised Uddhava to take up sannyasa by fixing his mind upon Him and establishing himself in theoretical and realized transcendental knowledge. The Lord further instructed Uddhava that while remaining untouched by contamination and compassionately disposed to all beings, he should begin wandering throughout this temporary world, which is simply the combined manifestation of the Lord’s illusory energy and the imagination of the living entities.

LORD KRISHNA SPEAKS.

Oh greatly fortunate uddhava, you have accurately revealed My desire to withdraw the Yadu dynasty from the earth and return to my own abode in Vaikuntha, Thus lord Brahma, Lord siva and all other planetary rulers are now praying My residence in Vaikuntha. answering the prayer of Brahma, I descended in this world along with my planery portion, Lord Baladeva and performed various activities on behalf of the demigods. I have now completed My mission here.Now due to the Brahmana’s curse the Yadu dynasty will certainly perish by fighting among themselves; and on the seventh day from today the ocean will rise up and inundate this city of Dvaraka.In the near future I will abandon this earth, Then being overwhelmed by the age of kali the earth will be bereft of all piety. Dear uddava you should not remain here on the earth once I have abandon this world.people will be edicted to all kinds of sinful activities; therefore do not stay here.

Hare Krishna Dear Devotees,

Please accept my humble obesiances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada

Please find below further video links recorded during my visit to Villa Vrindavana, Italy during this year’s Pandava Sena trip.

No matter what your talent, all skills given by Sri Krishna can be used for the lord….

your servant,
dipak

 

 

 

 

 

Many Bhagavad-gita readers are puzzled by its repeated declarations that knowledge about Krishna grants liberation: “So many people know Krishna, but they aren't liberated. Are such glorifications for real?”

Yes, they are. However, the knowledge about Krishna that they refer to is not theoretical but transformational.

To understand, let’s look at a specific eulogy. The Gita (04.14) asserts that those who understand Krishna’s transcendental position – how he is neither affected by worldly work (karma) nor attracted to its result – become free from karmic bondage. Normally, all our actions have these two motivations – an inner desire to feel better and outer desire to make things better. If Krishna doesn’t act due to either of these motivations, then what motivates him?

Love – pure, perfect, perennial love.

Krishna’s love is not selfish, but selfless; not flickering, but forever; not material, but spiritual. It is entirely outside the ambit of karma. Only when we understand his all-loving nature do we actually understand him. And that understanding is so dramatically, profoundly, completely transformational that it invites, inspires, impels us to redirect our love from worldly things to him. When we thus choose to love him and become accomplished in that love, all our actions become selflessly motivated, as are Krishna’s. They rise above the arena of karma and propel us towards supreme liberation. This doesn’t happen for those who know Krishna theoretically as a historical or mythological person.

Significantly, when we know Krishna as the ultimate transcendental person, our love-inspired actions help us feel better – we become enriched by his remembrance, grace and love. And our actions also help us make things better – we become channels of his omnibenevolent wisdom, empowering others through our example and words for making good choices.

Thus is knowledge about Krishna transformational – sweetly, sublimely, supremely transformational.

 

**

There is no work that affects Me; nor do I aspire for the fruits of action. One who understands this truth about Me also does not become entangled in the fruitive reactions of work.

 

 

"The best thing is that you just pray to the holy name and hear the sound. The stage of thinking of Radha and Krsna and Their forms will come automatically. It cannot be so much forced. When the mind wanders, bring it back in a mood of prayer and supplication, thinking, “O Holy name, I want to chant, I want to hear, I want to be engaged in Your service by chanting and hearing.” Then simply practice the mantra-yoga of vibrating with the tongue and hearing with the ear."

From Japa Reform Notebook
by Satsvarupa dasa Goswami

Yesterday on harinam we came across a group of mentally and physically challenged people.Despite their handicaps they joined in and relished the kirtan like everyone. It was so inspiring.Then last night they came to the festival and melted the hearts of all with their newfound enthusiasm to chant, dance and take prasadam. Lord Caitanya is [...]

A nice bathing ceremony was held at the temple, for the pleasure of Sri Balarama ji shilas, accompanied by ecstatic kirtan and distribution of maha prasada. Srila Prabhupada explained that normally Lord Krsna appears for the pleasure of His devotees, but when He appears with His brother Balarama, He simply appears for His own pleasure, to enjoy different pastimes together Read more ›

Conference with Russain devotees. (English/Russian)

The post Balaram Jayanti Gallery appeared first on Mayapur.com.

Preparing for the upcoming festivals.

The post August 24th, 2013 – Darshan appeared first on Mayapur.com.

It is these devotees that make ISKCON the place it is; who inspire and encourage other to take up and do devotional service, who have picked me up when I am down who enthusiastically encourage my preaching work back home and charge up my spiritual batteries. Read more ›

Gauranga Travels, ISKCON Mayapur temple owned Travel Services added a new AC Scorpio car to its fleet of vehicles. In addition to the AC Scorpio, Gauranga Travels has an AC Innova, AC Tata Sumo gold, AC ambassador, 13 seat & 20 seat AC coaches to provide assistance to the guests. Most of our cars have [...]

The post Gauranga Travels Welcomes You. appeared first on Mayapur.com.

Yesterday on harinam we came across a group of mentally and physically challenged people.Despite their handicaps they joined in and relished the kirtan like everyone. It was so inspiring.Then last night they came to the festival and melted the hearts of all with their newfound enthusiasm to chant, dance and take prasadam. Lord Caitanya is so kind! Read more ›

5 photos: Balaram Jayanti!!! Radhadesh 2013 Read more ›

Spanish Fork • The Sri Sri Radha Krishna Temple stands atop a hill in rural southern Utah County, its domes more fitting for India than the predominantly Mormon communities that surround it. Read more ›

2013 08 21 Festival Abhisekh of Krishna Balaram ISKCON Chowpatty

We Love You

Hirsch, Saskatchewan

I left the campsite and found myself moving under the blue moon. At 4:30 AM all was calm and in some way, all was bright. The coyotes really sang out in response to the moon god, that then stirred up the local dogs. The howls outdid the barking though. The coyotes won out for making noise.

All around there were massive gas torches at the summit of stacks. The road started picking up with traffic – mostly trucks en route to oil rigs. Southern Saskatchewan is in an oil boom period. Fortunately many of the oil workers are kind enough to honk or wave or stop and encourage in some way. It seems that maybe that this is their first step at self realization.

On that note, here’s an excerpt which I read to Daruka as he was fixing sandwiches in preparation for our break time:

“The very first step in self realization is realizing one’s identity as separate from the body, ‘I am not this body, but am spirit soul’ is an essential realization for anyone who wants to transcend death and enter into the spiritual world beyond. It is not simply a matter of saying, ‘I am not this body,’ but of actually realizing it. This is not as simple as it may seem at first.

Although we are not these bodies, but are pure consciousness, somehow or other we become encased within the bodily dress. If we actually want the happiness and independence that transcend death we have to establish ourselves and remain in our constitutional position as pure consciousness.”

-From Beyond Birth and Death by Srila Prabhupada.

With death, well, it came to a close call. It was about 8:45 PM when a motorist was speeding. An officer came chasing madly after him. The driving offender registered at 149 km per hour. While the officer ticketed the driver he kept his flashing lights on which caused other traffic to slow down and to move on the highway’s shoulder where I happened to be. It was dark. The oncoming driver didn’t expect to see a pedestrian, let alone a monk. He got shocked out of his wits and reported to the police, “Who is that guy?” This was in earshot.

Once ticketing was done, the officer drove up to me, who has been accosted by a cloud of mosquitoes by the way. The guy was nice and went out of his way to drive me to our encampment, a good 20 kms away. He admired the walking project and expressed his appreciation as we were driving.

Such was the response from people in general today, “We love you,” is becoming a regular mantra.

So now where was Daruka all this time, my support person? It was a small slip up. His watch stopped, and that caused a deception of time.

35 KM

Answer Podcast

From Shalini M

Answer Podcast

Answer Podcast

Answer Podcast

On Lord Balarama’s appearance day, Giriraj Swami initiated Bhakta Shawn into Srila Prabhupada’s spiritual family, giving him the name Shyama Chandra Dasa. This sweet, intimate ceremony took place at the home of Bhrigupati Prabhu and Mother Chandravali. Giriraj Swami, Rtadhvaja Swami, and Bhrigupati Prabhu spoke at the ceremony.

“Now we have come to this stage, which has taken a number of years. There have been many trials and tribulations along the way, and many lessons have been learned. Sometimes lessons learned with great difficulty are more permanent. And the realization, or conviction, that there is no real happiness in the material world and that the only shelter is Krishna and His holy name is the prerequisite for really progressing in spiritual life. As long as we are thinking that this material thing or that material situation will make me happy — it’s like the tenth offense: not having complete faith in the chanting of the holy name and maintaining material attachments. But when you come to the conclusion that ‘nothing in the material world can make me happy,’ that ‘even if something makes me a little happy for a little while, it will not last and it will not fully satisfy me,’ you can actually progess. So, you have come to that conclusion. And that conviction will create the proper consciousness for further advancement.” — Giriraj Swami
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Brighupati Dasa
Rtadhvaja Swami
Giriraj Swami

Doing other things while chanting is not good. Still, sometimes out of expediency you do it. But you should try to put off so-called expedient actions until after chanting. Chant at a designated time and chant loudly. Let other things wait.

From the Japa Reform Notebook
by Satsvarupa dasa Goswami

"There exists a deep ecological tradition in Vedic culture by which human settlement, forests and water resources are carefully balanced. To achieve that balance, nature's welfare and human welfare cannot be separated each other. For this reason Vedic ecology teaches that the earth and the cow are to be loved and cared for as mothers. As such, culture -- including the cultivating of land for crops -- is an outward expression of spirituality. As a painting expresses the spirit of the artist, culture expresses the spirit of society. Vedic culture has lasted for many thousands of years and is still visible even today. It's a way of life that's lasts forever, is self perpetuating and regenerating."

"Whether you're reading the sagacious words of Wendell Berry, or the biting commentary of Vandana Shiva, their conclusions are the same: The skills, aptitudes and attitudes that were necessary to industrialize the Earth are not the same as those that are needed now to heal the Earth, or to build durable economies and good communities.

We agree wholeheartedly... but our analysis goes one layer deeper to include the spiritual dimension. Without recognizing the role spirituality has traditionally played in preserving our planet's delicate web of life, we're easily tricked into believing that secular science will come-up with a green techno-fix to save the day. It's those brainy scientist types, not the sages of yore who deserve our veneration, so goes conventional thought.

If Western education has driven the planet to a point of crises, what is wrong with that education? And secondly, can any current Western educational institution -- whether it's orientation is secular or Judeo-Christian -- identify what's gone wrong and offer courageous or inspired leadership?

What's needed is not more education but education tempered with wisdom--education the teaches the value of local, the interconnectedness of everything, cooperation over competition and conscience over efficiency. Let's do an about-face. Is there a model that can dismantle the scaffolding of ideas, philosophies and ideologies that constitutes the modern world view? Let's look to the East."

"No-Harm Mini-Farms will focus on food varieties that stress plant-based diets and plant-based protein sources, including milk from a resurgent family-owned dairy industry. Domesticated farm animals-especially cows-will reappear as welcomed additions to the rural and urban landscape. Animals will be protected and valued as co-authors in the revival of cereal grain production and soil fertility renewal."

"The real future of this whole thing is village life, where we develop ways to communicate and entertain and grow our own food, raise our children, educate, that is so location specific that it works. You develop loving, interdependent relationships with people, mutually interdependent relationships. That's our background actually. That's where were all actually coming from. That's what we're all looking for.

Defining relationships in this universe that are not competitive. They're cooperative. They're interdependent.The fact is that we're divine in origin. We are spirit souls. We are not bodies. We need a farming system and a philosophy that drives that farming system that recognizes the position of the soul and revers it as sacred. You're not completely non-violent, but it means how and when that violence is enacted. Its done very carefully.

Beyond being vegetarian is making a sacrament of your food, and in the Hare Krishna Movement this is called taking, or honoring prasadam. You re still karmically accountable for vegetables that are killed Its not as severe, but its there. You're taking life to maintain your life. How do you get out of that? I need to eat, but it always involves taking life. The way out is to make sacrament of the food. To take it from a source that's acceptable to be offered and the mentality, the consciousness of how you grow it, harvest it, store it, how you cook it, serve it, is done in spiritual consciousness. This is called honoring prasadam.

It is honoring the arrangement of nature by which all these things are given to us graciously for our sustenance so we can get on with our real business, which is self-realization."

A plethora of fresh green peppers.An oceanic bed of deliciously provocative jalapeños.Young tomatoes struggle through a wet and wily season of Appalachian weather to bloom and grow.The classic American weed-whacker we endlessly wrestle with so that we may endlessly wrestle with the endless weeds.Our flower patch, which is used to sumptuously decorate the altar at the Radha-Krishna temple at the New Vrindaban community.Fresh raspberries showing their colors.Terry temporarily dominates the mutant-weeds.Crossing the rubicon...

The Small Farm Training Center (SFTC) is a land based educational center and a hands-on working organic farm. Our purpose is to create community -- a web of supportive relationships -- by making locally grown organic foods readily available and affordable with the use of simple technology.

Although I've spent 30 plus years farming and gardening in Appalachia, I don't consider myself a "local." You might say I'm spoiled. My grandfather's farm in Northern Michigan, where I was raised, is both flat and fertile. West Virginia hillside farming is daunting. The soils here -- like the air, the streams and the people themselves -- have been used and abused for 150 years.

The "real" locals, those who can trace their heritage back for two or three generations, love Appalachia. That spark of original mountain culture permeates their very being, Unfortunately, their bodies tell a different story. Morbid obesity and diabetes are the norm. That's the price you pay when you no longer grow what you eat and eat what you grow. Like most Americans, their industrially grown food is starving them nutritionally while fattening them for the "big round-up" by the pharmaceutical and health insurance industries.

Something is out of balance. The Small Farm Training Center is one of many local organizations challenging this dying paradigm. We farm, we garden, we teach, we encourage, we improvise and most importantly we listen to input. We also call a spade a spade when it comes to identifying the political, economic, cultural and spiritual stumbling blocks to restoring the environment and securing a safe, stable food supply... We nourish both person and place.

All privately held corporations are living a lie. They believe we live in a world where capital has the right to grow and that right is higher than the rights of people, If you're one of those people who passively accept corporate domination of America's food supply and political life, be forewarned, we don't. Corporations are no more a part of the natural order than the English monarchy was 200 years ago. They want us to believe that industrial agriculture is the only way to feed the world. That's a lie. They want us to believe that it is cheaper to destroy the earth than to take care if it in real time. That's another lie. At the heart of their economic system and theory is the proposal that life is too expensive. We disagree. We choose life and we're going to tell our own story. We're looking for paradigm warriors who can expand the conversation and are fluent in the language of inclusion, kinship and possibility.

Learning by doing, and then teaching it to others -- that's how you earn your degree in bio-citizenship. Yoga, vegetarian cooking, and the care of farm animals -- especially milk cows -- are additional features of our curriculum. We also regularly distribute surplus organic veggies to soup kitchens and local charities. Turn off the boob-tube, shut down your laptop and pick up your hoe.