Indradyumna Swami. 12 hour kirtan. Saint-Petersburg 07.05.13

A friend recently asked me,

“How come Rupa Goswami said to worship Ganesh? I saw on FB you have a Ganesh altar and since you studied Bhakti Rasamrta Sindhu, I’m asking you for the tika behind that instruction of worshipping Ganesh.”

(A) I don’t exactly have a Gaṇeśa altar. Once upon a time my wife and I bought a wooden statue of Gaṇeśa from a “Pier One” type store. We took it with us when we moved to Japan. My mother in law, whom we live with, created an altar around it. So, it’s not my altar, really.

(B) Rūpa Goswāmī didn’t say to worship Gaṇeśa.  Nectar of Devotion (a summary presentation of Śrī Rūpa’s Bhakti-Rasāmṛta-Sindhu) does say, in Chapter Eight,

“One should begin the worship of the demigod Gaṇapati, who drives away all impediments in the execution of devotional service. In the Brahma-saḿhitā it is stated that Gaṇapati worships the lotus feet of Lord Nṛsiḿhadeva and in that way has become auspicious for the devotees in clearing out all impediments. Therefore, all devotees should worship Gaṇapati.”

This, however, is Śrīla Prabhupāda’s inclusion of material from Śrī Jīva’s commentary on Śrī Rūpa’s Bhakti-Rasāmṛta-Sindhu. The commentary is on BRS 1.2.118, which lists as the 19th item of sādhana “seva-nāmāparādhānāṁ varjanaṁ” (“Casting off the anti-affections in deity worship and chanting of Krishna’s name.”) In his commentary on this verse, Śrī Jīva goes to the extent of enumerating 64 anti-affections (aparādhā, “offenses”) to serve as examples of what to avoid and cast off. One idea that emerges from this list is to avoid jumping into worship unprepared. When you do service to Krishna, you should do it nicely, calmly, and fully from start to finish – not abbreviating it. Abbreviation is likely to be a symptom of anti-affection. Therefore Jīva Goswāmī advises us to be on guard against abbreviation of our services.

One specific way in which abbreviation can take place involves neglect of Gaṇeśa. All auspicious deeds should begin be worshipping Gaṇeśa. This puts the performer in a fortunate, blessed position therefore more likely to carry out the deed / service nicely. If we skip the worship of Gaṇeśa at the beginning of our seva, we are abbreviating our service – and that is likely to be an anti-affection that will ruin the point of the service: to practice affection (bhakti).

Now, the devotee may question:

But Gaṇeśa is a material demigod, and we are not supposed to worship other gods besides Krishna.

This attitude is not exactly, necessarily “wrong” but in most cases today it carries the strong scent of the Judeo-Christian approach to divinity, “Thou shalt have no other Gods before me… For I am a jealous God.” This is not an accurate conception for Krishna. Krishna is generous, not jealous.  There are many other gods, and they are all invested with power by Hari (Krishna), therefore we certainly respect them all – though certainly our heart naturally reserves its true affections for adorable Krishna alone.

This, in fact, is the injunction given by Śrī Rūpa in the verse two verses before the one under discussion here. BRS. 1.2.116 lists the 16th practice of sādhana as anya devajñā (“Following the orders of other gods”) – and Śrī Rūpa quotes Padma Purāṇa to substatiate it: “Always worship Hari – who is the master of all the Gods; but also do not disrespect Brahmā, Rudra, and others.”

There is nothing wrong with worshipping a demigod for the purpose of serving Krishna. What is wrong is to worship a demigod to gain personal rewards. In fact this is the general principle applying to all things: “anukūlyeṇa saṁkalpa, pratikūlyeṇa varjita” - we will do anything for the purpose of serving Krishna, and not do anything for any other purpose.

Gaṇeśa, like all gods, worships the Supreme Person, Hari – to obtain the power to carry out his responsibility as a god. Specifically Śrīla Prabhupāda says that he worships Hari in the form of Nṛsiṁhadeva. Seeing the gods as a class of Vaiṣṇava, we who aspire to be Vaiṣṇava will always respect them as such.

So, if we are very elaborate and “full-format” in our pūjā, we begin with “maṅgalācaraṇa” (auspicious beginning), which traditionally means respecting Gaṇeśa. If we abbreviate this, it is a lack of affection for Krishna – and we should avoid that. Perhaps it is not necessary to include Gaṇeśa in the maṅgalācarana of our pūjā. All gods are respected by respecting the guru. Therefore by remembering and respecting our guru in the beginning of our worship of Krishna – we perform a full maṇgalācarana. And, as Prabhupāda indirectly indicates in the 8th chapter of Nectar of Devotion – a full maṅgalācarana can be effected simply by chanting the all-powerful Hare Krishna mantra in the right state of mind.

One might ask:

Why is Gaṇeśa traditionally associated with auspicious beginnings?

The answer is that Gaṇeśa is the god of thresholds. You can investigate the story of Gaṇeśa getting an elephant’s head to see that his mother Pārvatī put him in charge of guarding the door, the threshold. A doorway is the entrance to, thus the beginning of, a place. So, by being the guardian of thresholds, Gaṇeśa Jī is the guardian of beginnings. If you want a new endeavor to “get off to the right start” you should remember Gaṇeśa while starting, and ask him humbly for his blessing of your crossing the threshold.

I hope this helps satisfy your curiosity.

1. Water
2. Aasana
3. Cloth
4. Lamp
5. Food grains
6. Betel nuts

1. Water
2. Aasana
3. Cloth
4. Lamp
5. Food grains
6. Betel nuts

A Simple Gita

The Bhagavad-Gita – with all its depth and detail – in simple, succinct, straightforward terms.

Available in paperback, kindle and pdf here: http://www.vicdicara.com/gita

The Australian National Council met at Govinda Valley in May for their annual general meeting. There were about 20 participants who came from the temples to discuss various issues pertaining to development of the Australian yatra.

Govinda Valley, a property of about 20 acres, was purchased about 10 years ago and is set in a beautiful valley at Otford, just one hour south of Sydney. It is also only 5 minutes from the beach and visitors like to swim there during the summer months.

Throughout the year devotees have retreats there and at other times yoga groups book the facility for their functions as well.

2013-04-25 Srimad Bhagavatam 10.18.23-24 – Sweet and Wonderful Pastimes of Lord and his Devotees

(this blog is recorded on the full page: quick time player needed; works best with Firefox or Explorer)

[reposted from 05-20-2013]
Saturday, May 20th was the death anniversary of my mom. I usually post the blog I wrote a few days after she “left her body” (as devotees call death of the physical body, since the soul moves on) seven years ago. Although, I’ll give some links for a whole series of blogs I wrote around that time, I would like to express some thoughts for your consideration, and perhaps, for thinking of your own mom, or your relationship to your parents in general. One of the questions I am thinking about is: “How has your relationship with your parents affected your life in terms of your relationships with your spouse and children (if you are married), or to friends, people in general, or yourself?”

There are many events in life which are like initiations into stages of growth, the first being birth and the last death—the number and type of “initiations” in between those two periods are as individual as people are. For me, some of my significant growth opportunities were: moving from Los Angeles to San Francisco at four years old, the shock of going to Junior High School from a tightknit grammar school, when my parents divorced and I had to live with my father, when my High School met Haight-Ashbury (so to speak), or how I let hippiedom appear to torpedo my education but also lay the ground work for my spiritual quest, my second girlfriend, spiritual initiation at 20, my guru Shrila Prabhupada’s leaving his body, marriage, the struggle to find an occupation, and to the point of this blog, the “death” of my parents.

I haven’t spoken about my father’s death, though I should, as he died by his own hand with a 38 Special revolver. He was obviously miserable, felt his life unmanageable, and had no spiritual knowledge to help him. Although I later went to the place where he committed suicide in an attempt to release his soul, in case he had a ghost body, his death was not as fortunate as my moms. I was able to surround her with prayers and a spiritual environment as she passed on.

read more

(this blog is recorded on the full page: quick time player needed; works best with Firefox or Explorer)

Monday, May 20th is the death anniversary of my mom. I usually post the blog I wrote a few days after she “left her body” (as devotees call death of the physical body, since the soul moves on) three years ago. Although, I’ll give some links for a whole series of blogs I wrote around that time, I would like to express some thoughts for your consideration, and perhaps, for thinking of your own mom, or your relationship to your parents in general. One of the questions I am thinking about is: “How has your relationship with your parents affected your life in terms of your relationships with your spouse and children (if you are married), or to friends, people in general, or yourself?”

There are many events in life which are like initiations into stages of growth, the first being birth and the last death—the number and type of “initiations” in between those two periods are as individual as people are. For me, some of my significant growth opportunities were: moving from Los Angeles to San Francisco at four years old, the shock of going to Junior High School from a tightknit grammar school, when my parents divorced and I had to live with my father, when my High School met Haight-Ashbury (so to speak), or how I let hippiedom appear to torpedo my education but also lay the ground work for my spiritual quest, my second girlfriend, spiritual initiation at 20, my guru Shrila Prabhupada’s leaving his body, marriage, the struggle to find an occupation, and to the point of this blog, the “death” of my parents.

I haven’t spoken about my father’s death, though I should, as he died by his own hand with a 38 Special revolver. He was obviously miserable, felt his life unmanageable, and had no spiritual knowledge to help him. Although I later went to the place where he committed suicide in an attempt to release his soul, in case he had a ghost body, his death was not as fortunate as my moms. I was able to surround her with prayers and a spiritual environment as she passed on.

read more

The Perfection of Horror This Sunday 26th May, at the Loft will be the ultimate mid year festival. From the international speaker, spiritual teacher and author, Devamrita swami, we will hear about real wisdom and the origin to our pleasure propensities, including the pleasure of horror or being scared. This will all be sandwiched with [...]

The post Fierce Festival appeared first on The Loft Yoga Lounge Auckland.

SB Class – Ramnavami – HG Navin Nirada dasa

In this episode His Holiness Bir Krishna Goswami discusses using our psychophysical nature so that we can engage ourselves properly in Krishna consciousness.      This is the basis of the varnasrama system and follows on from our discussion last week with His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami about how to find your varna.      […]

The post 09 Bir Krishna Goswami-Psychophysical Nature appeared first on Successful Vaisnavas - Personal Development for Hare Krishnas.

In this episode His Holiness Bir Krishna Goswami discusses using our psychophysical nature so that we can engage ourselves properly in Krishna consciousness.

This is the basis of the varnasrama system and follows on from our discussion last week with His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami about how to find your varna.

To contact His Holiness Bir Krishna Goswami or to hear more from him visit

http://bkgoswami.com

There is also an update on the “tidy up the house” and “put shelves in the cupboard” project (that we have been discussing for the last few weeks. )You will get some tips for communicating with employees and tradespeople to make sure that the job gets done the way that you really want. 

Final preparations are being put in place for the launch of the Successful Vaisnavas Online Course.

 More information will be given on the upcoming live online event.

Go to http://successfulvaisnavas.com/hangout to register.

This can be what “Hare Krishna, Hare Rama” LOOKS like when you hear it.

Krishna’s name is a noun, a transcendent noun.

Nouns are words, sounds that carry meaning. When you hear a word in a language you don’t understand – it is only sound. But as you repeatedly listen with curiosity and intelligence the meaning becomes clear. When you understand a language, hearing the sound of a word immediately invokes your awareness of the meanings and implications of the word.

There is no real meaning to “hearing the sound” of Krishna’s name without the sound of that name causing you to become aware of Krishna.

When we are “newborn” we don’t understand much in the sound of words (Krishna’s names). So it behooves us to listen carefully to the sound, with curiousity and intelligence (i.e. do our best to learn as much as we can about the person being named,  mainly by reading Śrīmad Bhāgavatam). When we are “a few years old” we begin to understand words. When we hear the names of Krishna, the sound will invoke in us awareness of the person being named – naturally, that is simply what nouns do.

However, the names of Krishna are transcendental nouns. Therefore as we become “full grown” in hearing and chanting these nouns – hearing the name of Krishna will invoke in our awareness direct cognition of the named (Krishna). At this stage we begin to experience in the name more than what we read about Krishna – more directly, more personally. The name is becoming pure and showing its inherent nature of non-duality from the named.

The effort to “simply hear” the name, without “remembering Krishna” as a result of hearing it is rather like an infant trying to remain an infant and never learn how to use words.

2013-05-04 Prerna Festival – Bound to be Free – Akincana Krishna Prabhu, ISKCON Chowpatty

Chandan Yatra 2013 – Radha Shyamasundar Darshan

The Wellington Temple Higher Taste Restaurant is in Willis Street in the Lampton Quay area. This is a very busy area of downtown, especially during lunchtime. It has been operating for over ten years and before that we had another restaurant just a few streets away.

Both these restaurants were started under the auspices of Jagjivan Prabhu, the Wellington temple president. There is a staff of 10 to 12 devotees working there in shifts between 11am and 9pm 6 days a week.

The menu is a fusion of western and Indian styles of food, which of course is offered to Their Lordships Gaura Nitai. I usually pop in for lunch when I’m in town and it’s always gratifying to see so many people enjoying the Lord’s tasty prasadam.

Our party sang . . .

. . . and distributed books.

 In particular, Tulasirani Devi Dasi was very enthusiastic about book distribution.

Holi (Festival of Colors) in North Florida

In ISKCON, Caru Prabhu who has a temple in Utah, has a holi festival which attracts thousands of people to his temple there, many of the them local Mormons. In fact, one Mormon music major became so enchanted by Hare Krishna kirtana from that festival, she went on do her Ph.D. dissertation on Kirtana at Hare Krishna Festivals, and is planning to write a book on kirtana using the extra material she collected.

I wore a dhoti and kurta with holes that I was planning to throw out in case the dye did not come out.

Krishna House Farewell

With all the harinamas, the chanting in the temple, the outreach programs, and the classes, I felt I got to know and love the devotees at Krishna House more than usual during the three or four months I spent there. It was awesome for me to see a lot of young people with wonderful devotional qualities like such as appreciation of kirtana, appreciation of spiritually advanced personalities, enthusiasm to serve others, delight in cooking for Krishna and his devotees, and enthusiasm to share Krishna with others. I hope they are able to maintain and expand these assets throughout their glorious lives of service to Krishna and humanity. The leaders of the project were also exemplary in steadiness and concern for others, and truly inspirational. I felt happy to be involved with the project, and I look forward to returning in October for another three months. We are indebted to Kalakantha Prabhu for heading up the project, and devotees, like Hanan and Ballaba and Caitanya, who are very dedicated, spending years with it. Tulasirani devi dasi did a good job arranging classes and special events this year. Especially memorable was Gasparilla harinama,the 12-hour kirtana, and the First Fridays harinama in Tallahassee, and also the Ocala Rainbow Gathering harinama, which Caitanya organized.

1. My mother is not barren.
2. The king is most pious and compassionate.
3. The queen is most chaste.

Our party sang . . .

. . . and distributed books.

 In particular, Tulasirani Devi Dasi was very enthusiastic about book distribution.

Holi (Festival of Colors) in North Florida

In ISKCON, Caru Prabhu who has a temple in Utah, has a holi festival which attracts thousands of people to his temple there, many of the them local Mormons. In fact, one Mormon music major became so enchanted by Hare Krishna kirtana from that festival, she went on do her Ph.D. dissertation on Kirtana at Hare Krishna Festivals, and is planning to write a book on kirtana using the extra material she collected.

I wore a dhoti and kurta with holes that I was planning to throw out in case the dye did not come out.

Krishna House Farewell

With all the harinamas, the chanting in the temple, the outreach programs, and the classes, I felt I got to know and love the devotees at Krishna House more than usual during the three or four months I spent there. It was awesome for me to see a lot of young people with wonderful devotional qualities like such as appreciation of kirtana, appreciation of spiritually advanced personalities, enthusiasm to serve others, delight in cooking for Krishna and his devotees, and enthusiasm to share Krishna with others. I hope they are able to maintain and expand these assets throughout their glorious lives of service to Krishna and humanity. The leaders of the project were also exemplary in steadiness and concern for others, and truly inspirational. I felt happy to be involved with the project, and I look forward to returning in October for another three months. We are indebted to Kalakantha Prabhu for heading up the project, and devotees, like Hanan and Ballaba and Caitanya, who are very dedicated, spending years with it. Tulasirani devi dasi did a good job arranging classes and special events this year. Especially memorable was Gasparilla harinama,the 12-hour kirtana, and the First Fridays harinama in Tallahassee, and also the Ocala Rainbow Gathering harinama, which Caitanya organized.

1. My mother is not barren.
2. The king is most pious and compassionate.
3. The queen is most chaste.

On May 15th, 2013, His Holiness Rtadhvaja Swami visited the school!  It was a wonderful end to the school year.

He immediately engaged all 23 students with questions and jokes.  You could tell he had been a teacher for many years!   “How many of you can spell my name?”  He ever-so-patiently guided the kids in the correct spelling, allowing almost every student to try.

Allowing the students to establishing sweet relationships with such generous and advanced devotees is something we truly aspire for at TKG Academy.  We’re so thankful to Rtadhvaja Maharaj for visiting us and sharing his guidance and wisdom.