01.01 Will we have to lose everything before we lose our blindness?
→ The Spiritual Scientist

Attachment makes us blind – blind to everything other than the object of our attachment.

The Bhagavad-gita (01.01) indicates this blinding power of attachment through its starting question, its only verse spoken by the blind Dhritarashtra. His biased enquiry about the fate of his forces reveals that his blindness went far deeper than the physical. He couldn’t see the obvious reality: the inevitable futility of defying the will of the Supreme. Hoping to avoid the unavoidable and attain the unattainable, he led his whole dynasty to an unnecessary fratricidal war that left millions dead and many more wounded or bereaved.

Dhritarashtra heard from his assistant Sanjay the same message of the Gita that Arjuna heard from Krishna. However, due to his attachment, he couldn’t be illumined. It was only after the war when he lost all his hundred sons and after many years of aging when he lost his dignity that he became receptive to hearing a similar message from his younger brother, the wise Vidura. He had to lose everything before he lost his blindness.

Might we be choosing a similar fate for ourselves? Obviously, we won’t condone anything as vicious, as did Dhritarashtra. But if we let ourselves become attached to worldly things, especially anti-devotional things that defy the will of Krishna, then we may have to lose everything. Not just once but maybe over many lifetimes. Till we agree to give up our blindness.

Gita wisdom offers us a far better alternative. If we give its profound message an open-minded hearing, we will discover therein a world of love centered on an all-loving Supreme. When we direct our love towards Krishna, then the resulting devotional attachment far from blinding us illuminates us. And it liberates us into a life of eternal fulfillment.

**

Dhrtarastra said: O Sañjaya, after my sons and the sons of Pandu assembled in the place of pilgrimage at Kuruksetra, desiring to fight, what did they do?

 

Jewel of Stillness
→ Seed of Devotion

For the past two weeks, my life has been scheduled chaos. Yeah, I guess I'm just catching the New York vibe, right?

Sigh.

Amidst such storms of activity, something stands out to me right now as I write this. Last night, Radhanath Swami gave a talk, and because I was MCing the program, I sat right up front. I'm talking front row, there was literally no one sitting in front of me.

Even though I had so many duties to conduct this program and I could have been dashing all over the Bhakti Center to arrange stuff, somehow I was forced to just sit. Sit still, Bhakti lata, and listen.

Listen I did.

There's just something about the way that Radhanath Swami speaks that pulls me into another world. Radhanath Swami has this grace to cut through to the essence with such beauty.

Last night, time stood still. I could've listened to him for hours speaking about compassion, integrity, humility, self-worth.

Not to get too gurukuli on you, but I'm just not much of a scripture class kind of girl. I remember, though, how when I was about fifteen and just getting to know Radhanath Swami, his classes would have this same effect of me: time would stand still. The world would fall quiet and my mind would be washed in light, my heart washed in realization.

I once heard that a symptom that someone is our spiritual master is when we listen to him or her speak spiritual philosophy and all of our doubts vanish. For as long as I can remember, back even to when I was a child, when I have heard Radhanath Swami speak, my doubts would vanish, my heart would awaken.

In this sense, as the years go on I realize that I did not choose Radhanath Swami as my guru. My soul has only needed to recognize him as my guide and beloved master.

So amidst such chaos here in New York - and while I am praying praying praying for things to settle down - to sit in front of Radhanath Swami speak was a jewel of stillness. 
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This Maha Mantra Cleanses
→ Japa Group


"I am in due receipt of your letter dated July 20, 1975 and have noted your problems. My suggestion is that you please chant Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare; Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. This maha mantra cleanses the dust from the mirror of the mind and awakens us to a pure life of devotional service to the Lord, free from all anxieties."

Letter to Wanda Bonner - 24 August, 1975

First harinam
→ KKS Blog

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 23 July 2013, Durban, South Africa, Evening lecture: A Journey of faith)

harinamaI thought that I had escaped the Hare Krsna movement effectively until I met a girlfriend who had a dog named Krsna! That created further complications in my life because the dog was not very obedient to begin with and at night, when I was walking with this dog, he wouldn’t come back. So, I would call out very loud, ‘Krsnaaaaa!’ every night, many times and in that way, I started harinam around the corner!

My early encounters with Krsna were in the ajnata sukriti category, unknown spiritual benefit. This dog got the name Krsna just by some external arrangement – someone had read a book of Krsna murti just when my girlfriend had got the dog and said, ‘Why don’t you call it Krsna murti?’ She said, ‘No, that’s too long, just Krsna!’ I use to think that movies were more outrageous than real life but now I know that it’s the other way around. I know that real life by far exceeds what happens in any movie; you can’t imagine it! But a dog really had brought Krsna consciousness in my life and then from there it continued…

 

Monday, August 12th, 2013
→ The Walking Monk

A Button Popped

San Diego, California

Intuition told me that the day might have some bumps in it. Some signs seemed to indicate this. It began with having a button pop off my upper cloth, the kurta. Where it rolled off to, heaven knows!
Then, my plane arrived late. It first launched from San Francisco, where it was delayed due to thick fog in the sky. That then led to missing the plane to San Diego. Then, confusion with luggage; long lineups; praying and pleading for an earlier, new flight to substitute for the proposed one. I got a bit panicky for a bit. I was supposed to arrive in San Diego to award diksa (initiation) for a young monk by the name of Bhakta David.

Eventually, United Airlines found one seat available. Someone cancelled out! This meant I could fulfill an obligation. But, only my walking would suffer. For me, a day without trekking is not exactly a tragedy, but it’s a mild curse.

The landing at San Diego terminated the airport experience. David was at Arrivals with a big smile. We drove to the ISKCON ashram on Grand Avenue. Here, you’ve got a real live monastery with 15-20 saffron clad monks, mostly college grad young men. They kept me quite occupied. A fire ceremony was held, and Bhakta David received his new Sanskrit name Dhanajaya, a name that Krishna’s friend Arjuna is known by. A congratulations, Dhanajaya! My first personal assignment for him was to sew a button on my kurta.

0 KM

Sunday, August 11th, 2013
→ The Walking Monk

Insert Devotion

 
Vancouver, BC

There’s always something rustling in the bushes. There’s always something stirring in the swamp. You can hear the sudden swish, amidst the reeds, or an abrupt bloop – the sound of a mini-creature going for the dive in algaed water. These are nature’s responses to my loud prowl, lurking in their territory as I made three repeated treks down the same route in riverside.

The instinctive fear in the land and amphibious creatures astounds me. They are so quick to move and then they become so still. Humans are so far behind the rest of the species in such sharp detectiveness. In an attempt to excel in this, we use whatever brain substance to steer ourselves to inventions of devastating devices.

I could report on today’s glorious fest at Stanley Park, but that could detour us from the trails that I am determined to report. In reflection of the last twenty-four hours, my three treks in this delta strip left me in amazement over the concept of fear.  I first trekked alone. For my second, I was with an American devotee (the name escapes me) who walked the whole of India; and the third trek was with Sing Lung (dancer/actor from Toronto). Fear is so pervasive. It’s in all of us, so much entrenched. For the animal kingdom, fear translates into “will I be eaten?” For a human it’s, “Will I be ridiculed, criticized, character assassinated?”

How to address this reality of possibly losing your hide? What’s the optimum protection?
Bless the humble creatures, the lower brethren, who must live out their tenuous destiny. As humans, we have an obligation to protect their domain in order that they may be permitted to follow their natural course. Secondly, we have the opportunity to protect our spirit from moving in the direction of the world of Maya - this nagging world that sucks out our very life.
Let’s live life the best we can. Insert devotion.

11 KM

Birmingham Ratha Yatra
→ simple thoughts

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Dear Maharaj / Prabhus,
Please accept my humble obeisances,
All glories to Srila Prabhupada,

Birmingham Rathayatra took place last Sunday 11 August.
This is one of the biggest Rathayatras in England, thousands of devotees from around England came together to glorify the Lord as he rode in His chariot.
HH Jayapataka Swami gave class, as did HH Bhakticaru Swami and our HH Mahavisnu Swami who happens to be from Birmingham.
Enjoy the movie

your servant
Parasuram Das

what do you really want?
→ everyday gita

Verse 4.12: Men in this world desire success in fruitive activities, and therefore they worship the demigods. Quickly, of course, men get results from fruitive work in this world.

One of the good (bad?!) things about bhakti yoga is that it forces you to really face your intentions and desires. Not just the superficial ones, but the deep one's that we try to hide and forget about.

It's open, non-sectarian and there's something in it for everyone. It's an ideal process because it teaches us how to be successful as persons living in this material world, and for those who are interested, the process by which we can successfully reconnect with our true selves and find eternal happiness.

But...for those who are interested in the latter, bhakti yoga is about work. The best analogy that comes to mind is that of cleaning a really messy room. At the outset there needs to be some faith that cleaning the room will actually help you. Mustering up some enthusiasm (and determination!), you get started and in the beginning may start to experience a sense of accomplishment. But as time progresses (and if you're anything like me), you realize that you had no clue what you were getting yourself into!

That's because as you stand surrounded by clothes and other objects lay strewn about you, shaking your head in disbelief at the amount of things you've accumulated, it becomes clear. There's a lot of junk that just needs to be thrown out.

That's exactly what the practice of bhakti yoga reveals: we have a lot of junk that surrounds our heart and prevents us from experiencing true happiness.

Because we invest our time and energy in that junk, we get side-tracked and forget that happiness actually lies within.

Distilling this verse down, it's stating that if we really want to accumulate more junk, then there's a certain place to go to ask for such blessings. Again, the Gita is not stating that it is bad, per say, but is giving the process (Remember! It's a handbook for both material and spiritual success) to achieve material success.

However, staying true to it's purpose, the Gita does not recommend this path. For the sake of completeness, it is presented and for those who choose that path it gives the formula.

But, if we are truly interested in cleaning our room, it will remain in our consciousness that going out and buying more things will be counter-productive. Similarly, for those who are genuinely interested in attaining permanent happiness and peace, this path isn't the one for them.

The only question you have to ask is - what do you want? Do you really want to clean the room of your heart or are you interested in just accumulating more?

Messiah Complex
→ Tattva - See inside out

Russell Brand popped into our countryside temple last week. We strolled around the gardens, had a bite to eat and finished off with half-an-hour of chanting in the main shrine. According to sources, Russell had at one point seriously considered the idea of monasticism! We didn’t discuss that, but he did liberally share his latest spiritual and philosophical insights. Always pushing the boundaries of political correctness, his newest comedy sketch entitled “the messiah complex” examines the influence and teachings of iconic personalities in history. The material, which discusses Malcolm X, Mahatma Gandhi, Che Guevara and Jesus, has attracted opposition from certain corners, to the point where shows have had to be cancelled due to security risk.

I'm not sure what the message is, but a messiah complex occurs when an individual holds a strong belief that they are, or are destined to become, an influential savior of the world. Often times, the same people display another side; a human side which is subject to the same weaknesses and frailties as everyone else. Followers are discouraged, creating a hesitation to again invest their faith in human beings. It begs the question: do transcendental saintly souls really exist? Is it simply human nature to constantly search for embodiments of perfection? Wouldn’t it be more progressive to focus on ourselves instead of looking to others?

The Bhagavad-gita explains that saints do indeed exist, but that such persons cannot be stereotypically identified. Saints may be followed by many people and famed in spiritual circles, or maybe not. They may be erudite, scholarly and philosophically astute, or maybe not. Saints may be renounced, austere and free from worldly responsibility, or maybe not. The one essential quality of the truly saintly person is their enthusiastic, dedicated and unwavering conviction to selflessly serve. They exist to give happiness to others. It is the association of these great souls that we should seek, for their spiritual prowess can overflow onto us, and their good wishes can attract divine attention. Just as many lenses within a telescope bring an object within sight, similarly, the more saintly people we can please the closer our cherished goal will be.

Festival Season Continues: Lord Balarama’s Appearance Day!
→ The Toronto Hare Krishna Blog!

Next week, Tuesday, August 20, 2013 marks the auspicious appearance day (birthday) of Lord Balarama, Lord Krishna's older brother! Lord Balarama symbolizes strength and compassion and we invite you to take part in the celebrations at the Hare Krishna Temple. 

The  festival will kick off at 6pm with kirtan and will feature a special spiritual discourse on Lord Balarama by our visiting guest, HH Gopal Krsna Goswami. After the class, Toronto's Hare Krishna Temple will present the Fourth Annual Balarama's Bake-Off! Five members of our community have been selected and will be been assigned secret ingredients and have been challenged to come up creative sweet items related to Lord Balarama. After the class, the contestants will present their offerings in a fun and creative way. You won't want to miss it! Festivities will conclude with more kirtan and a huge vegetarian feast!

After Lord Balarama's Appearance day, the countdown to Sri Krishna Janmastami, the appearance of Lord Krishna, begins! This year, Janmastami falls on Wednesday, August 28, 2013. As always, this festival will be brimming with excitement as we celebrate the biggest birthday bashes of the year! More information will be posted shortly.

We hope you and your family can join us next Tuesday for Lord Balarama's Appearance day! Please come dressed in blue to honour Lord Balarama!

Kirtan Mela in Germany, 13-18 August 2013
→ KKS Blog

After many requests from devotees, Sacinandana Swami and his team have organized a Kirtan Mela in Germany once again. This year, it takes place at a devotee-owned retreat center in Walthersdorf, which is about 50 km from the old location. Kadamba Kanana Swami and many other kirtaniyas will be participating.

A live-steam from the festival will be available on mayapur.tv. The schedule is given below.

kirtan mela schedule 2013

Kirtan Mela Germany, 13-18 August 2013
→ KKS Blog

After many requests from devotees, Sacinandana Swami and his team have organized a Kirtan Mela in Germany once again. This year, it takes place at a devotee-owned retreat center in Walthersdorf, which is about 50 km from the old location. Kadamba Kanana Swami and many other kirtaniyas will be participating.

A live-steam from the festival will be available on mayapur.tv. The schedule is given below.

kirtan mela schedule 2013

06.26 – Let’s not renew what we need to remove
→ The Spiritual Scientist

The nature of the mind is to wander unsteadily and unstoppably. During its wandering it frequently goes to memories that are emotionally potent. These may be positive, that is, pleasure-giving or negative, that is misery-causing.

However, if the mind is left to itself, it usually revisits memories that are disempowering, not empowering. For example, it may go to our past immoral anti-devotional indulgences, thereby fuelling our desires for them. Reliving past immoral indulgences doesn’t free us from them; it sends us deeper into their grip. This creates an inner struggle that leaves us feeling mentally exhausted. Or the mind may revisit past hurts. Reliving old wounds doesn’t cure them; it simply aggravates them, thereby subjecting us to with draining self-pity. Either way such mind wandering tends to be at best unproductive and at worst counterproductive.

That’s why when the mind starts such revisits down memory lane, we need to stop it as quickly as possible. Such memories need to be removed, not renewed.

Pertinently, the Bhagavad-gita (06.26) urges us to anticipate what’s likely to happen due to the flickering nature of the mind and prepare for it using our intelligence to rein in the wild mind.

The best way to implement this is by providing the mind fresh memories. The richest among such positive memories are those centered around Krishna, for he is the most attractive and the most loving of all. The process of devotional service to Krishna brings us in contact with many spiritually stimulating objects. When we receptively receive these stimuli and cherish them, especially those that provide us the greatest spiritual enrichment and empowerment, then we equip ourselves with an arena for the mind to wander, where we can choose renew instead of remove.

**

From wherever the mind wanders due to its flickering and unsteady nature, one must certainly withdraw it and bring it back under the control of the Self.

Let’s get the mercy!
→ KKS Blog

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 10 July 2013, Fruska Gouranga, Serbia, Seminar 2)

No place in the world can attract me, I must honestly say, after Vrndavan. What’s the point of any hill when it’s not Govardhan Hill? What’s the point of swimming in some lake when it’s not Kusum Sarova, when it’s not transcendental – even if it’s beautiful – if you don’t get the mercy while swimming!? I can’t get excited about it.

But these transcendental waters in Vrndavan – yes! Oh yes! I’d swim there again and again, even if it’s full of green plants and you come back up with plants on your head! Let’s go! Let’s get the mercy!

 

 

 

TEXAS FAITH 108: What relevance does Pope Francis have beyond the Catholic Church?
→ Nityananda Chandra Das' Blog, ISKCON Dallas

Dallas Morning News,

Each week we will post a question to a panel of about two dozen clergy, laity and theologians, all of whom are based in Texas or are from Texas. They will chime in with their responses to the question of the week. And you, readers, will be able to respond to their answers through the comment box.

Pope Francis made quite a splash when he said last week in response to a question about a priest being gay: “If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?”

As you may expect, there has been plenty of discussion about what the pope meant. Was he speaking personally? Was he speaking as head of the Catholic Church? Or was he speaking as both?

Beyond those remarks, the pope has received ample attention for the simplicity of his lifestyle, his attitude toward the poor and his humility in washing the feet of criminal offenders. In fact, those are just some of the areas in which the pope has gained attention, as this Washington Post editorial indicates.

Of course, his remarks, attitude and approach have a special audience among Catholics. But what relevance do they have to non-Catholics? The Catholic Church may be the world’s largest body of Christians, but what about other Christians and the many other faith traditions? What difference do comments from the pope make to them — as well as to non-believers?

NITYANANDA CHANDRA DAS, minister of ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness), Dallas 

In the Bhagavad Gītā, Lord Kṛṣṇa states, “Whatever action a great man performs, common men follow. And whatever standards he sets by exemplary acts, all the world pursues.”

Having a leader for the social body is like having a head on the physical body. It is of utmost importance. A leader cannot teach principles that he/she does not imbibe and exhibit. Such a leader is called an Ācārya. A spiritual leader must not only be a living example but he/she must also not manufacture rules and ideas against the principles of the words of God. Thus a leader’s instructions reveal God’s instructions, rather than their own inventions.

Any leader who can impart the message of Bhakti, purely loving God without motivation by their own example, is relevant to all people of this world.

To see all responses of the TEXAS Faith panel click here.