5 Takeaways From NOAA’s New Study On Climate Change And Extreme Events
→ The Yoga of Ecology


Click here to read the full article from Kelly Levin at WRI Insights

Many people are understandably perplexed at the U.S.’s recent extreme weather events like record heat waves, torrential downpours, droughts, and wildfires. A new report published by scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and other institutions may finally offer some insight into climate change’s connection to the damaging and costly extreme events that are on the rise.

Numerous studies have shown that the Earth is warming rapidly, due in large part to human activities. While existing research focuses on climate change’s implications for the intensity and frequency of extreme events like storms and heat waves, due to scientific complexities, most scientists to date have tip-toed around attributing any single event to climate change.

Until now, that is. Last week, scientists from NOAA, the UK’s Met Office, and other institutions published a special report in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (BAMS) that attributed a number of recent extreme events to human-induced climate change.


5 Takeaways From NOAA’s New Study On Climate Change And Extreme Events
→ The Yoga of Ecology


Click here to read the full article from Kelly Levin at WRI Insights

Many people are understandably perplexed at the U.S.’s recent extreme weather events like record heat waves, torrential downpours, droughts, and wildfires. A new report published by scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and other institutions may finally offer some insight into climate change’s connection to the damaging and costly extreme events that are on the rise.

Numerous studies have shown that the Earth is warming rapidly, due in large part to human activities. While existing research focuses on climate change’s implications for the intensity and frequency of extreme events like storms and heat waves, due to scientific complexities, most scientists to date have tip-toed around attributing any single event to climate change.

Until now, that is. Last week, scientists from NOAA, the UK’s Met Office, and other institutions published a special report in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (BAMS) that attributed a number of recent extreme events to human-induced climate change.


Travel Journal#8:22: Alachua and Gainesville, Florida
→ Travel Adventures of a Krishna Monk

Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 8, No. 22
By Krishna-kripa das
(November 2012, part two)
Alachua and Gainesville, Florida
(Sent from Radha Govinda Temple, Brooklyn, New York, on December 21, 2012)

Where I Went and What I Did

I had greatly hoped to make it to Alachua in time to hear the wonderful remembrances on Srila Prabhupada’s disappearance day, but I just caught the end of the kirtana and the feast, and a few remembrances in the evening, which I include below. The next day, we chanted for two hours before the football game in Gainesville, and Dravida Prabhu, who loves to chant, joined us, making it even better than usual. That night we went to a nice festival Madhava Prabhu from the Alachua community had at his place with beautiful kirtanas, enlightening talks, and tasty prasadam in celebration of the anniversary of the appearance of Krishna as Govardhan-sila in his life. Sunday was the Govardhan Puja festival in Alachua. For several days leading up to The Festival of the Holy Name in Alachua, Madhava Prabhu, the kirtana leader from Switzerland, sang kirtana for two or three hours every night and by the grace of Krishna and my friends with cars, I was able to attend all of them. Wednesday we had an amazing harinama at the Farmers Market with thirteen people taking part. Thursday I got to speak about gratitude for Thanksgiving, and people said they liked the lecture. I sent it to the ISKCON Desire Tree website, and you will be able to find it there in a few days. This year’s Festival of the Holy Name was the best so far, and I will mention a few high points for me. Dravida Prabhu, who visits this time of year specifically for the Festival of the Holy Name impressed me by taking eight hours out of the festival to drive with us to Tallahassee to lead the harinama before the football game for a couple of hours. For the final week of November, I stayed in Gainesville’s Krishna House, helping to maintain the harinamas and evening programs, and inspired to see and work with some very enthusiastic new devotees.

Among the insights, there are many wonderful quotes from the letters of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saravati Thakura, soon to be published as Patramrita, by Touchstone Publishing. Also particularly inspiring are realizations from Dravida and Kalakantha Prabhus. And there are other gems as well.

Prabhupada Disappearance Remembrances

Rasa Lila dd:

Srila Prabhupada patiently teaches me every day something new about Krishna, just as he did when he was present.

He taught you can do something amazing for Krishna at any age, and now that we are approaching his age, we might consider that if we are thinking we are too old to do anything, we should think again.

Mukunda Prabhu:

The Bhaktivedanta Archives is building a concrete room with a door like a bank vault to preserve Prabhupada’s materials and just today on his disappearance day someone came through with a donation.

Vegavati dd:

In Hawaii there were two camps of devotees that disagreed, but when Srila Prabhupada was there and the kirtana was going on, there was so much spiritual love no differences existed.

Puskara Prabhu:

I was in Vrindavan in 1977 the whole time from April to November, when Srila Prabhupada left this world.

Toward the end, rickshaws were delivering salt for the samadhi [holy tomb] but we were in some kind of illusion thinking that Srila Prabhupada would stay.

I was given the job of calling Ramesvara in LA to tell him that Prabhupada had left.

When there was a debate about whether Srila Prabhupada would go to Govardhan or not [just a few days before he left this world]. I asked Bhagatji [a friend of Srila Prabhupada’s] whether Prabhupada would go, and he said with conviction, “He will not go,” as if I were a fool for asking.

There was a devotee Sac-cid-ananda who would sing every day for Srila Prabhupada in his last days. One day he did not sing and Prabhupada asked for him to.

Several times Krishnadasa Babaji Maharaja came. Prabhupada very much liked his association. At different times Srila Prabhupada said he was paramahamsa [topmost devotee].

Once I was painting trees in Vrindavan, thinking all the trees in Vrindavan were desire trees and so it was OK. Then I felt bad because Krishna wasn’t there, so I added Krishna and some cowherd boys. I showed it to Srila Prabhupada. Prabhupada looked for a long time and didn’t say anything. Then he said, “What is the idea? Where is it in the books?”
I said, “The Nectar of Devotion.”
“What verse?” Srila Prabhupada replied.
I said, “Krishna is unlimited.”
Srila Prabhupada replied, “Krishna is unlimited, but you are limited. Stick to the book.”

Gauranga Prasada Prabhu’s Going Away Party

Gauranga Prasada Prabhu was a new devotee in Gainesville who was very eager to apply himself to different aspects of Krishna consciousness such as cooking for the Lord and playing the harmonium and singing. He left Krishna House after not even two years to become the bhakta leader in the Tucson temple, and the Krishna House devotees had a nice going away party for him.

Kalakantha Prabhu: Gauranga Prasada was seeking the truth. He was immediately attracted by Krishna consciousness. He was supported by his family. He has many talents. It is clear he is continuing his practice from a previous life.

Hanan Prabhu asked devotees to say three things each about him:

Clayton: Sincerity, simplicity, wailing on the harmonium with total absorption. Ananda Loka Prabhu: His bright smile. Srutisagara Prabhu: Hard-working, humble. Ghee, butter, hing. Tulasi Priya dd: A good example for me. Dr. Dina Bandhu Prabhu: Always said “welcome home” each weekend when I returned from Jacksonville. New lady: Made me feel at home. Girl with glasses: Eye-opening, laughter. Tall Indian male: Positive. Jai Nitai Gauranga Prabhu: Reliable. Father: An old soul. He had a wisdom about him. He has given so much. Mother: He is well loved. Thank you all here for showing him compassion and giving him safety. Haribol. Amrita Keli dd: Completely lovable, without fault, potent. Just today he came into my dream to remind me to help in the kitchen five minutes after I said I would be there. Andy: A mine of valuable gems like potency, kindness. I feel very enriched. Syamala Kishori dd: Enthusiasm. I love your kirtana.

I mentioned his enthusiasm, his happiness, and his kindness. He kindly sent some Krishna sweets to my relatives for me when I was overseas. I wish him well.

Gauranga Prasada Prabhu:

My plan for life was originally very clear, go to school, get a job, raise a family, but now I feel my life is much more uncertain, but in the best possible way. I just want to serve Krishna and be with the devotees. The rest is just details.

I am grateful for the service opportunities here at Krishna House, which I think are more extensive than any other temple.

comment by Kalakantha Prabhu: I appreciate you were always willing to do the needful.

Harinama at the Farmers Market

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving there were no classes at University of Florida, and so both students and Krishna Lunch workers had more free time. Thus we were able to have a harinama with thirteen people at the Farmers Market! Four of us came together, driven by Michele, a new devotee who loves kirtana. Then a couple more devotees joined us. Then two Krishna Lunch workers along with the sister of one of them. Michele gave the new girl a mantra card, and she chanted Hare Krishna for the first time. Jaya Sri Krishna Prabhu joined us and played the drum. One lady on a nearby bench seemed to be enjoying the kirtana, so we gave her a mantra card, and she chanted along. Later Damodar Prasada gave her a book. Thus Krishna really reciprocated with my desire to have a well-attended harinama in the Farmers Market upon my return to Gainesville. It was great that two new people chanted the mantra.

The Festival of the Holy Name

Festival of the Holy Name is an annual kirtana festival during Thanksgiving weekend featuring two days of 12 hours of kirtana at ISKCON New Raman Reti in Alachua, Florida. This year’s was the third festival.

It was a treat having Niranjana Swami fly in just to be part of the Festival of the Holy Name this year. Agnidev Prabhu, a legendary Hare Krishna kirtana leader, also was a special guest. And of course, there were Madhava and Amala, as usual, as well as Mitra Prabhu, who came from North Carolina, and locals like Visvambhara and Jagannatha Kirtana Prabhus, to name a few.

One friend from Tallahassee, Sara Black, a young Mormon music major, who just completed her Ph.D. dissertation on kirtana at Hare Krishna festivals came to the Festival of the Holy Name for at least the second year. Inspired by her research, she is now writing a book on the recent explosion of interest in kirtana. I encouraged her to stay and hear Niranjana Swami, and she stayed and appreciated the kirtanas of both Niranjana Swami and Agnidev Prabhu. In fact, she and her husband stayed to hear Visvambhara Prabhu whose singing they had previously developed an attachment for and who did the last segment on Friday evening. It was wonderful to see them both intently singing Hare Krishna and clapping along with the music. She developed an interest in Hare Krishna festivals when she grew up in Utah and attended the Holi festival that Caru Prabhu organized his temple in Spanish Fork.

The group of local second generation American Vaishnavas including Gaura Shakti, Krishna Dhama, Govinda, and Ramachandra, and many more, who organized the festival did a great job, and it gets better every year. All thanks and blessings to them.

Insights

Srila Prabhupada:

from a lecture on Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.5.1, given in Bombay, on December 25, 1976:

“This is the difficulty at the present moment that we take leadership of the society although we remain in the bodily conception of life.”

There is a not a problem of overpopulation. We are all sons of Krishna, and He is providing for us. The problem is that we are mismanaging and then claiming God is not providing.

The more you become godless, the more miseries will be inflicted by material nature.

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura (from Patravali, a collection of his letters soon to be published by Touchstone Publishing in an abridged work called Patramrita):

If the mind does not become disturbed at the time of chanting mantras then it should be understood that the chanting is being done perfectly.

In order to test us and benefit us, the Supreme Lord has placed different types of inconveniences in this world. We have to realize those things as being beneficial for us and thus accept them gracefully. Glorious are those who serve the Supreme Lord. In the midst of all difficulties, keep hearing about, chanting, and remembering the Supreme Lord. Other than this I have no better advice. You should always chant a fixed number of rounds of the holy names of Lord Hari. If there is any problem for openly decorating your body with tilaka then you can do it mentally while chanting the appropriate mantras. Know for certain that the holy name of Hari and Lord Hari Himself are one and the same. Know for certain that chanting the holy names of Hari and meeting the Supreme Lord directly are one and the same. Sri Harinama Prabhu is the worshipable Lord of liberated persons.

There is no comparison to Sri Gaurasundara’s compassion, and there is no limit to Sri Krishnacandra’s sweetness.

Simply by reading about glorification of the Supreme Lord and the devotees, all our needs will be fulfilled. Do not be impatient for the result, but rather always chant the holy names of Krishna with patience and tolerance. The Supreme Lord will certainly not sit quietly. According to the degree of one’s sadhana, Sri Gaurahari certainly awards one auspicious results. Service to Hari is called bhakti. You will realize that chanting of the names of Krishna is in itself bhakti.

The forefathers of that family in which a devotee takes birth attain special benefit so that their lives become successful. There is no need to pray for them separately.

Dreams are false. They are manifestations of the enjoyment of one’s thoughts, and they are the results of one’s previous bad association. Therefore just throw away those things from the heart.

Sri Gaurasundara tests us in various ways by putting us into difficulties and different kinds of association. It depends on the good fortune of the living entities for them to pass those tests. As the indwelling Supersoul, Sri Gaurahari has revealed the eternal truth in the hearts of the living entities out of His causeless mercy. Those who have taken shelter at the lotus feet of Lord Hari and the spiritual master never trust the illusory words of misguided people. Only unfortunate people become bewildered by hearing deceitful words. One need not worry about that.

It is the duty of householders to worship the deity of the Supreme Lord with faith and devotion. A householder who has taken complete shelter of the holy names, having realized his relationship with the Supreme Lord, respects deity worshipers. Those who avoid worshiping the deity just to save money incur the sin known as vittasa?hya, or miserliness. Householders with abominable characters and restless minds must engage in deity worship.

You are a learned person and so you must know the scriptural evidence the smarta Bhattacarya Raghunandan has quoted in the ekadasi-tattva.

devata pratimam drstva. yatinacaiva tridandinam
namaskaram na kuryaccet upavasena suddhati
“You are the father, but still you should offer obeisance to your sannyasi son, otherwise you will have to purify yourself of that fault by observing a fast for one full day.”

You were inspiring him to enter a miserable family life, which is a more severe form of vow than the severe vow one takes to worship Hari, because it instills a great fear in one’s mind. Your attempt was not proper.

Those who are faithful and devoted never face obstacles or inauspiciousness. Only those who desire material enjoyment and liberation face inauspiciousness in life.

I have been wandering about since my birth for the attainment of the goal of life about which you have been deceived for the last twelve years. I did not feel any need to hanker after sense gratification, which is the aim of your life and wealth. I never felt any need to accumulate wealth to mitigate my hunger, to maintain my wife and children, or to supply fuel for my illicit desires. I have never made any endeavor for material wealth like you.
Lord Krishna has never put me into any sort of difficulty or anxiety regarding filling my belly, like He has you. I only try to earn that much wealth with which I can engage in the service of Lord Vishnu, and with which I can keep my sinful body healthy just to serve Lord Hari. Apart from that, I never tried to earn any wealth whatsoever. Even today, I am not greedy for anyone’s wealth. I am not greedy for perishable material wealth like you.
Please bless me so that I can remain greedy for eternal wealth, birth after birth. I wish that even my greatest enemy would not have greed for enjoyable wealth. May I not have any desire other than to pray for the benefit of my greatest enemy. Bless me that I may not see in the last days of my life the face of atheists who are greedy for wealth for the purpose of enjoying profit, adoration, distinction, gold, and women.

We, surrounded by enemies, are determined to engage in the service of Lord Hari and His devotees. All of us are more or less forgetful of Lord Krishna while serving the six enemies. All of you together should serve Lord Hari with unity. This is my request. Ekaki amara nahi paya bala. “I have no strength to do it alone.” Remembering this line, all of you should continue to execute kirtana-yajña, which is the goal of life. The responsibility of the leaders in charge of the execution of kirtana-yajña is to make friendship with all, and especially satisfy all the Vai??avas, while engaging in the service of Hari.

This material world is temporary—nobody has come here to live forever. When the Supreme Lord keeps one in a particular place, he should gladly stay there and accept His rewards and punishments. All types of rewards and punishments awarded by the Supreme Lord are meant for our benefit. We welcome the rewards of the Lord’s external energy, maya, whereas we consider her punishments as troublesome. Since the punishments of maya are awarded so that one can obtain the Lord’s mercy, the devotees do not disregard them; rather they gladly accept them as the Lord’s mercy and simply tolerate them. Those who cannot understand worldly inconveniences to be the Lord’s mercy ultimately fall into a state of disappointment while searching for material happiness and advancement.

Our material miseries and scarcities will go away by participating in festivals in the association of those who serve the Supreme Lord. To always remain engaged in hearing and chanting the glories of Lord Hari is the instruction of saintly persons, scriptures, and the Supreme Lord.

According to proper etiquette, in day-to-day business, one should normally start a letter by saying, “all glories to,” or by offering obeisances at the top of the letter.

By calling out the holy names of the Supreme Lord while fixing our mind upon Him, all auspiciousness is achieved. The Supreme Lord alone is the one who awards worldly prosperity, happiness, and distress. We are maintained by Him and are surrendered unto Him. Whatever arrangements He makes for us, we should humbly accept.

Every disturbance is a fault of my mind; nobody can actually harm me in this world.

Try to avoid quarreling. There is no possibility of disharmony if the purpose is one. In the spiritual world, apparent conflict of interests helps to increase the glories of loving service to the Supreme Lord.

Even by riding on the motorcar of the Madras Gaudiya Matha, the principle and guise of a sincere beggar can be maintained. There is no need to externally display artificial renunciation, or luxury by imitating the sahajiyas. Renunciation is a state of the heart. There is a gulf of difference between the considerations of those who misuse renunciation and that of the followers of King Janaka and Raya Ramananda. By taking advantage of, and by imitating, King Janaka or Raya Ramananda, and thus acting like Ravana, is not internal renunciation, or yukta-vairagya. When duplicity is externally displayed, having entered the heart, nobody can achieve his true welfare.

People are extremely averse to us and so their behavior will surely be exhibited according to this mentality. If we can patiently tolerate their insults then one day they will definitely repent their misdeeds.

None of you should be afraid of natural calamities, such as heavy rain or disease. Embrace them and then bid them farewell in due course of time. Srila Jagannatha Dasa Babaji Maharaja used to say that when painful diseases come to our body, if they are not pampered, or do not get excellent food, they will automatically leave. Diseases stay longer in the bodies of aristocratic people because of their luxurious living.

As soon as bodily pleasures are increased, the propensity for serving the Supreme Lord decreases. That is why the Supreme Lord spreads thorns on the path of all kinds of comfort for those upon whom He shows mercy.

I have received your humble letter dated the 29th March and have understood your present physical and mental condition. Always remember the lotus feet of Lord Hari, the spiritual master, and other Vaishnavas without interruption while accepting that all physical and mental miseries are a result of one’s previous karma. In this mood, always pray for the mercy of the Supreme Lord. Gradually, by Krishna’s will, all types of miseries will be destroyed and you will become empowered for the service of the Supreme Lord so that the inclination for constantly worshiping Lord Hari will be awakened. All impediments in the form of bad association will be removed and the propensity to always serve Lord Hari, the spiritual master, and the Vaishnavas will predominate.
I hope that you will soon be cured of your physical and mental illness by the Lord’s mercy so that you will increase our happiness by being engaged in the worship of Hari. It is quite warm here. If you feel extreme pain then invite a devotee known to you from Gaudiya Matha and hear from him Hari-katha and Hari-nama.
There is no happiness in the material world. The material world creates many disturbances by manifesting various kinds of disasters. Although there is good and bad, and partial purity in it, material life often produces varieties of disturbances. That is why the tat te nu’kampam verse has been presented.
There are no such disturbances in the abode of Goloka. Anyway, there is no alternative but to tolerate all inconveniences that come to us at various times and at various places.

Let them harass you as much as possible; you simply must quietly tolerate these disturbances. We firmly believe that the people of the world will not allow injustices to predominate. The Supreme Lord arranges everything for our benefit—this is our firm faith. The atheists cannot flourish in this world for long, for eventually they are pulled down by the punishment of providence. Everything takes place by the will of the Supreme Lord.

The duty of relatives is that they should first offer some foodstuffs to the Supreme Lord on the day of sraddha and then offer some portion of the Lord’s prasada to the departed soul and thus help him achieve his ultimate welfare. Offering the departed souls prasada will satisfy the devotees of the Supreme Lord. There should also be performance of harinama.

When maya conditions us, we remain busy calculating who is big and who is small.

We should unconditionally accept whatever condition Krishna puts us in at any time. The desire to gain physical health with the sole intention of worshiping Krishna is also favorable for devotional service. A non-devotee’s endeavor to demand service from the Supreme Lord, such as becoming cured so that he can attain the platform of anarthas is not acceptable. But to pray for good health to the destroyer of obstacles, Ganesa, and at the lotus feet of the destroyer of obstacles, Lord Nrsimha, for the sake of Krishna bhajana is certainly acceptable.

If our photograph is worshiped when we are alive; this will make us fall down.

If you constantly engage your mind in the Lord’s service then no one can harm you. If you are restless or dissatisfied with others then an inclination for the Lord’s service will not be present within your mind. Your words, body, and mind will form a mental displeasure that will not allow you to serve Hari. Therefore become tolerant like a tree, and by the Lord’s will stay at Samanta-pañcaka. This will be beneficial for you. Wait for the day when Lord Gaura Hari will send you elsewhere.

The dear devotees of Sri Gaurasundara have no other business than to take the treasure of His distribution of Krishna-prema [love of God] and distribute it door to door. This business is their only means of livelihood as they execute their loving devotional service to Krishna.

As Srila Rupa Gosvami elaborately explains in his Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu, there are five principal rasas—neutrality, servitude, friendship, parental love, and conjugal love—and seven secondary rasas—amazement, humor, chivalry, compassion, fury, fear, and dread. Altogether there are twelve rasas, the supreme object of them all is Sri Krishna. In other words, our love and affection are actually meant for Sri Krishna. Unfortunately, out of ignorance, we stubbornly try to squeeze happiness and love out of material relationships, which are not directly connected to Krishna, and thus life is experienced as a constant frustration. The solution is simple: surrender to Krishna, love Krishna, love Krishna’s devotees, and be happy forever.

Pray to the holy name with your heart and soul so that the holy name may bestow mercy upon you. Remembering astakaliya-lila is not to be performed when one is full of anarthas. Only by kirtana can smarana be practiced. At that time, realization of astakaliya-lila-seva is possible. One should not artificially practice astakaliya-lila-smara?a.

We are insignificant beggars. If a rich person or a particular community harasses us then Lord Nrisimha will protect us. No community can hurt our feelings for our religious beliefs.

When the futility of false ego is understood, then we give up bad association and come to know that worldly happiness, worldly knowledge, and worldly settlement, etc., are all useless in comparison to realization of the Supreme Lord, who is eternal, and full of knowledge and bliss. Only when one is initiated into Krishna consciousness like this can he obtain supreme auspiciousness.

By installing deities of Lord Jagannatha and Lord Mahaprabhu in the villages of England and offering Indian foodstuffs to the Lord and then distributing them as maha-prasada, gradually the people of England will support the service of the Supreme Lord by showing sympathy and being faithful. In the future, qualified persons will go there and benefit the people by propagating pure sanatana-dharma.
Oh!When will the time come when all the people of that country honor the transcendental maha-prasada in the Lord’s temple while chanting the holy names of Lord Gauranga with a purified heart and thus understand the value of spiritual life?

Because we will forget the Supreme Lord if we are are satisfied with material happiness, the merciful Lord has created various dangers to test us. Happiness in this material world guarantees forgetfulness of Krishna. Hence, miseries are examples of His compassion.

There are differences of opinion between the resident devotees of the matha and the “big” householder devotees. According to the considerations put forth by Maharaja in Delhi, the Supreme Lord and His devotees are the only objects of service. Just by serving the Supreme Lord and the devotees, the weight of our attached household activities will decrease. But if the residents of the dhama think of themselves as “big devotees,” just like the sahajiyas of Kuliya, and transform the servants of the matha into their servants, then rather than serving the dhama, they will imagine themselves as being objects of service in Vaiku??ha. Living in the dhama is only to serve the devotees, but if instead of serving the Supreme Lord and the devotees, service is demanded from them and displeasure is shown at their activities, then rather than dhama-seva, an offense called dhama-bhoga will be committed.
It is better to live in a place of material enjoyment and serve the devotees of the dhama from a distance than to be an enjoyer of the dhama.

Simply by worshiping Hari, the body, mind, and soul will remain healthy, but if one is averse to bhajana, these three will act unfavorably.

The tendency for material enjoyment is one hundred percent present in the Western countries. Therefore their faith in God is very weak.

Sastra says, “One should take shelter of saintly persons while giving up bad association.” Those who mistake nondevotees to be devotees make a mistake like trying to cheat a blacksmith out of steel. We need not talk about others, but while serving Lord Hari, the spiritual master, and other Vaishnavas, discussions of Agha, Baka, Ravana, and so on automatically arise. Anyway, everything is the Lord’s test. I did not expect such unfavorable behavior from my so-called disciples. Anyhow, this is Kali-yuga and so everything is possible.

To ascertain the varna of a person is the essence of varnasrama. To merge familial identity with one’s personal nature is not its purpose.

The followers of Sri Rupa, without putting faith in their own power, attribute all their successes to the original source. We too do everything for the pleasure of Sri Krishna Caitanya, Sri Rupa, Sri Bhaktivinoda, and our spiritual master.

Bhakti Tirtha Swami (from a YouTube video lecture):

The Vedic scriptures are the oldest scriptures on the planet, and if you follow them, they will make you a better Christian or a better Moslem. And the end result of that is that you will understand that we are servants of God, beyond all sectarian designations.

In our movement we have people of different nations and races all working together to benefit society. Where else is there such an example?

Niranjana Swami:

When a diplomat visited Prabhupada in Geneva, Srila Prabhupada started out by asking if he had any questions. The man said, “No.” Then Srila Prabhupada asked for the harmonium, and played a beautiful Hare Krishna tune for twenty minutes or so. Then he said to the man, “This is what we do.” Then he asked Guru Gauranga Prabhu to give the man prasadam. So I tell this story as a simple introduction to this 12-hour kirtana program. This is what we do.

Badahari Prabhu (from Krishna House):

Using mechanical substitutes for essential body parts or functions cannot extend life without the sanction of the Lord.

Our hearing apparatus works 24/7 and thus can protect us from calamity at all times.

Morning is best for the spiritual cultivation because the ether is not polluted by materialistic sound vibrations.

Srila Prabhupada and Krishna are ready to take you with them, if you are willing to give up the desire to control.

It is hard to be detached from the material world, but because someday you will need to be, it is good to practice.

Beg borrow or steal, somehow get devotional service. The more devotional service we do, we build up our spiritual body.

Comment by Gauranga Prasada Prabhu: Laksmimani dd says that pride, such as that in Vedic scholarship, is one thing that remains as indicated by the word prayesu [almost to nil] in Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.2.18.

Caturatma Prabhu:

In Vrindavan, I was noticing three Govardhan silas on Indradyumna Swami’s altar at the MVT. I asked the origin of them. He said he had to confiscate them from his disciples, and he did not know what he was going to do with them. I said, well I have been wanting to worship Govardhan for some time, I would like to worship them. He said, “Well you’re not shy about asking.” He also had a very large sila, one that was completely impractical to travel with and, he did not have a clue what he would do with Him. I said, “I know just the person, a hefty devotee, who has a desire to worship Govardhan. That was Madhava [from the Alachua community].”

Dravida Prabhu:

The prayers of Brahma are very conclusive and many acaryas have written explanations of them.

Brahma had just experienced that his intellect had failed to appreciate the divinity of Krishna, and so he spoke this verse (SB 10.14.3): “Those who, even while remaining situated in their established social positions, throw away the process of speculative knowledge and with their body, words and mind offer all respects to descriptions of Your personality and activities, dedicating their lives to these narrations, which are vibrated by You personally and by Your pure devotees, certainly conquer Your Lordship, although You are otherwise unconquerable by anyone within the three worlds.”

“What is the ultimate goal of life and how to attain it?” is the main question of a seeker.

There is a logical order to the four imperfections of a conditioned soul. First we have imperfect senses, then we make mistakes, and when we make enough mistakes, we become illusioned, and when we present our illusions as factual knowledge we cheat others.

Adhoksaja is a combination of three words, ja meaning janma or birth, aksa meaning the eyes, or the senses in general, adha which means pushing down. Aksaja thus means knowledge born of sense perception, and adhoksaja therefore means that which pushes down this knowledge born of sense perceptions.

Krishna wants only one thing: love.

One may be a multi-millionaire but if he has no one to exchange love with he is unhappy.

How to serve the topics of the Lord? With our body, by following His instructions, with our minds, by thinking of the topics, and with our words, by repeating them to others.

Two of Jarasandha’s daughters were wives of Kamsa, so he was upset with Krishna for killing Kamsa and leaving them unprotected.

Everything begins with hearing. If we had not heard about Krishna, how could we have become attracted to Him?

Kathamritam means that hearing about Krishna is like nectar, but you cannot drink too much of such nectar, nor does it have any bad side effects.

Our constitutional position is not to be a university student nor to work a certain job, nor to be a man or woman, nor even a human being.

On Halloween people dress in costumes but if they forget it is just a costume and continue to act as a ghost or Napolean, then they really have a problem. That is our situation in this world.

The topics glorifying Krishna are the purifying force.

The most valuable thing you have is your desire to be Krishna consciousness, and that we must increase by our practice.

The main reason we stay in the material world is because of our desire to hear about things other than Krishna.

Srila Prabhupada said if you take one step toward Krishna, Krishna takes ten steps toward you. These steps are the taste He gives you.

Everything depends on the intensity of one’s attention.

The secret is to keep everything fresh and new. For me it is verses. There are always more verses, and the verses have great depth. The verses are like old friends. And the books . . .

The sastra [with a long ‘a’ (the scripture)] cuts off our attachments, but the sastra [with a short ‘a’ (the weapon)] cuts off our head.

The Siksastakam is throughout the Padyavali (a collection of verses) of Rupa Goswami and was gathered together by Krishnadas Kaviraja Goswami.

Step to memorize verses:

  1. read translation
  2. figure out meter
  3. look at word meanings for the first line
  4. practice saying the first line while remembering its meaning
  5. repeat steps 3 and 4 with all the lines of the verse
  6. practice your verses periodically


The “Madhurastkam,” which describes the sweetness of Krishna, only works because it is about Him. It would become trite to describe any other person as being sweet in so many ways.

Similarly if anyone were dressed as opulently as the Deity one would consider the person to be overdressed but for Krishna such opulence is appropriate and pleasing.

Some people look for the bliss at this festival and that festival, but hooking up with Lord Caitanya and His movement and all the previous spiritual masters by making a contribution to the mission, we taste the real bliss. We forget that this is something bestowed upon us.

Constant prayer and willingness to do austerity for Krishna makes us advanced.

Prabhodananda Sarasvati said, “Lord Caitanya is more magnanimous than ten million mothers.”

The real friend is the friend who will introduce you to your eternal friend Krishna.

The real guru inspires you to chant the holy name.

The holy name is like a touchstone. When our consciousness touches the holy name it becomes transformed.

The chanting is attractive because Krishna is present there.

Three things come from devotional service, the pleasure of serving Krishna, direct experience of Krishna, and detachment from other things. This is compared to the pleasure of eating, nourishment, and freedom from hunger.

Ajamila was so grateful that the holy name saved him from the Yamadutas that he very seriously took to devotional service and attained perfection.

The holy name is supremely pure and made of spiritual bliss.

If we want to associate with Krishna, He is willing to associate with us, primarily through His avatar as the holy name.

There is no downside or bad effect to the pleasure of the holy name. It is all up. Stay high forever.

Talks of materialistic people steal the most valuable gem, our desire for Krishna.

By associating with the faithful, we become faithful.

Progressing in devotional service means refining our activities so they are supportive of chanting.

By chanting japa during class we can commit two offenses at once, inattention to chanting and insulting the Bhagavatam speaker.

Srila Prabhupada was always completely focused on what he was doing for Krishna, and thus he was able to do so much in just eleven years.

In the Eleventh Canto, one verse states that the greatest pure devotee does not want to forget Krishna even for a moment, even in exchange for all the wealth in the world.

Comment by Lilananda Prabhu: Bringing a television into your home is like bring in billions of people who are against Krishna.

Comment: If one chants the names of Nitai Gauranga, Bhakti devi comes chasing after you.

Comment by Kaliyaphani Prabhu: Regarding the Gauranga campaign you mentioned where devotees in Scotland put up posters saying “Chant Gauranga” everywhere, I have a couple stories:

“A devotee doing street sankirtana [book distribution] in Scotland stopped a young mother with a small son. He was a scruffy, cheeky-looking kid. After the exchange, the devotee said to the kid, ‘Can you say Gauranga?’ The reply was, ‘Aye, I can. But it’s nae Gauranga, it’s Gauruunga!’

“Two devotees going door-to-door in central Edinburgh entered a very posh-looking restaurant with the idea of going round the tables to collect. There were big pillars, chandeliers, etc. They hesitated at the doorway thinking it was too posh. Then a customer at a table must have recognized them and at the top of his voiced yelled out, ‘Gaaaaauuuuraaaangaaaa!’ the sound reverberating round the hall and shattering the devotee’s doubts!”

If you make a habit of glorifying devotees you will derive such pleasure from that activity that you will not feel the tendency to criticize devotees. Radhanath Swami is a good example of that.

When we are doing japa and kirtana, we should think, “Now is my time to associate directly with Krishna and to forget everything else.”

We have to come to the platform of always following Srila Prabhupada’s instructions to attain purity in chanting.

Dhanesvara Prabhu was the manager of the production team of me (Dravida Prabhu), Gopiparanadhana Prabhu, and Hridayananda dasa Goswami to complete Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavatam translation. At one point, things were difficult and Gopiparanadhana Prabhu suggested that we worship the Bhagavatam. So we set up an altar and put the Bhagavatam on it, and worshiped it, and ultimately we were successful in completing the translation and publishing it.
We should think, “By chanting the holy name purely all my aspirations will be fulfilled.”

Because we are chanting Hare Krishna, Krishna is reducing our taste for meat eating, illicit sex, intoxication, and gambling.

All of us have the capacity to appreciate the holy name as Rupa Goswami did: “I do not know how much nectar the two syllables ‘Krish-na’ have produced. When the holy name of Krishna is chanted, it appears to dance within the mouth. We then desire many, many mouths. When that name enters the holes of the ears, we desire many millions of ears. And when the holy name dances in the courtyard of the heart, it conquers the activities of the mind, and therefore all the senses become inert.”

We can pray to the holy name for the strength to avoid sinful activities.

Kalakantha Prabhu:

One devotee walked from Africa to Mayapur chanting Hare Krishna. The devotees in general were very impressed with him, but Srila Prabhupada was not impressed. That devotee eventually stopped talking with other devotees and lived alone, saying he wanted to focus on his chanting. Ultimately, however, he went away because people stopped paying attention to him.

Bhaktivinoda Thakura was opposed to the idea of seminal succession of spiritual masters, and so rather than initiating his son, he advised his son to approach Gaurakisora Dasa Babaji Maharaja for initiation.

We cannot become advanced by imitating the symptoms of advanced devotees, but rather absorbing ourselves in Krishna and naturally becoming advanced.

Whatever taste we have for hearing about Krishna is our greatest gift.

The great acaryas [spiritual teachers who teach by example] are not appointed but emerge.

After a day of searching by the order of Dronacarya, their teacher, Duryodhana could not find anyone superior to himself and Yudhisthira could not find anyone inferior to himself. Dronacarya then proclaimed, “Yudhisthira is fit to rule the world and Duryodhana is fit to have his body eaten by jackals.”

Anuttama Prabhu tells a story of an experience on sankirtana:
One man said, “I don’t want your book. I have my own religion. You are going to hell.” Anuttama replied, “What religion are you?”
The man said, “Christian.”
Anuttama inquired, “Are all Christians going to heaven?”
The man said, “No, not all Christians.”
Anuttama asked, “So only people in your church?”
The man replied, “No, not all people in my church are going to heaven.”

The madhyama devotee’s relationship with the innocent person is this: “I want to help this person as much as he wants my help.”

As soon as you take to spiritual life seriously, some people will love you and other people will hate you.

The neophyte devotee cannot abandon the society, friendship, and love of the material world to pursue Krishna.

In no religious scripture will you see a statement like “I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from Me.” Only Krishna is so bold as to say this, but He says it not because He is arrogant, but to establish the truth. He does this in half a verse. And in rest of the four main verses He talks about His devotees and how He reciprocates with them.

There is a long standing discussion in theology about whether God is attained by works or grace. The relationship between the two is cleared up in Bhagavad-gita: “To those who are constantly devoted to serving Me with love, I give the understanding by which they can come to Me.” (Bg. 10.10)

If the most important thing to a person is God, then that person is a devotee or a Vaishnava.

Nondevotees consider the activities of the Lord are too amazing to be true. But what do you expect God to do? Actually the more amazing the activities of Krishna are, the more they are worthy of God, and the more they give us faith in Krishna.

Often in the rest of the Bhagavatam, Sukadeva Goswami quotes other sages, but in the Tenth Canto he speaks himself.

We are frustrated with relationships, we have been hurt in relationships, and so the last thing we want is a relationship with God.

It is pleasing to associate with people who think God is the most important.

Who do we talk to? Who do we reveal our mind to? That is how we associate.

As for seeing someone reputed to be a sadhu: See him once. Take notes. Point out where he differs from Bhagavad-gita. If invited again, point out the differences between his philosophy and Bhagavad-gita, and say you would rather read Bhagavad-gita than hear him.

We cannot gain a taste for Krishna consciousness by pretending we have it.

In fund raising, there is happy money and unhappy money. Unhappy money is that is received by making people feel guilty or which they regret giving and never give again. Happy money is money people feel good giving because they are shown the practical benefits.

Statistics show that a man who retires without a good positive engagement generally dies within two years after retirement.

The highest principle is relationship among the devotees, so if to proceed with our agenda damages our relationship with others, we might consider making an adjustment.

If I ask someone to do something and they say no, I take it that Krishna is telling me to find someone else.

Our standard for wearing saffron at Krishna House is that the devotee as been chanting Hare Krishna for year, and he has a commitment to work full time on the mission for at least two years.

Sesa Prabhu:

Bhakti is compared to an ocean, as there are levels of depth of understanding.

I like to use the indexes in Srila Prabhupada’s books because they are prepared by the devotees with the devotees’ point of view in mind [rather than using the different search engines].

One feature of sin is that it causes us to do more sin.

Sin does not just mean you go and rob a store. You could go to a store and purchase something and also be engaging in sin, if that object you purchase does not help you remember Krishna.

Sinful activities take away knowledge of our constitutional position as loving servants of God.

If you do not want to have a relationship with God, you get the reactions as you deserve.

The results of chanting:

The good results of nama-aparadha (offensive chanting):
it will fulfill one’s desires, but not give love of Krishna
it will allow one to occasionally chant without offense, and that inoffensive chanting will purify the chanter, and thus he gets the association of devotees who instruct him how to chant properly.

Chanting is namabhasa (the clearing or intermediate stage) when done in ignorance, but nama-aparadha (offensive chanting) when done for liberation or sense enjoyment, or by a Mayavadi (one who denies the form of the Lord). Namabhasa has these benefits:
elimination of sinful reactions
liberation from Kali and material consciousness
freedom from fear and worries
contentment
freedom from fear of demons
boundless spiritual bliss

benefits of pure chanting, suddha-nama:
chanting once clears sins from millions of births.
chanting twice gives Krishna prema, love of Krishna.

Krishna is so kind he steals away our sins, even though we may not desire it.

Madhava Prabhu (from Alachua County):

Underneath the Govardhan Hill that Krishna was lifting, each resident of Vrindavan experienced that Krishna was looking at him or her. All of them were free from all material tribulations.

Madhumangala offered to hold the hill for Krishna with his stick, thinking that Krishna must be tired.

Yasoda prayed to Giriraj (Govardhan, the king of hills) to become soft so Krishna would not feel distress in the course of holding it with His soft hand.

Viewing Krishna as he was lifting the Govardhan Hill, the residents of Vrindavan said, “Until now we have not appreciated how Krishna is the very ornament of the earth. He glances lovingly at us. He is delighting our minds with his gentle smile. He is more dazzling than anything.”

Krishna’s ankle bells worshiped Krishna in silent meditation. When he lifted the hill, they jingled slightly, charming the demigods, who worshiped them.

Madhava Prabhu (from Switzerland):

It is said that Krishna will only appear in purified heart, but the holy name is so merciful He will appear even before our heart is pure.

Kirtana is Krishna’s time, or rather, our time with Krishna. You can always talk later.

Srila Prabhupada would say to cry for Krishna, and Aindra Prabhu would say, “If you cannot cry for Krishna, then cry that you cannot cry for Krishna.”

Sacinandana Swami advises to make a resolution at the beginning of kirtana-melas to chant for eight of the twelve hours each day.

Pray to the mind, “I have served you so nicely, just lay off for the next few hours.”

Jai Nitai Gauranga Prabhu:

When asked for evidence that Krishna consciousness is a science, Srila Prabhupada would often quote Bhagavad-gita 2.13, “As the embodied soul continuously passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. A sober person is not bewildered by such a change.”

If people come from all over the city to honor someone, that is amazing, but it is more amazing if people come from all over the nation. In the case of Maharaja Pariksit, people came from all over the entire universe to witness the end of his life.

It is not enough to have theoretical knowledge of God and His protection to become free from fear.

a Vaishnava youth:

Because we are eternal spiritual souls, death is unnatural for us, and it creates fear within us.

Once I was in a new city and was involved in a relationship with someone who was my best friend at that time and who cheated on me, abruptly ending the relationship. In my distressed condition I chanted japa, and as I chanted, I came to realize that all the things I usually take shelter of, like my family and friends, were temporary, and that Krishna is the real shelter. I understood that Krishna had created the situation so I would realize that truth. Since then I have found Krishna to be my true shelter in other situations as well.

Hanan Prabhu:

Anger will make you miserable and make your life shorter.

Anger is like holding something burning in your hand.

Researchers had angry people blow on a glass and analyzed that it produced poison. In an hour an angry person can produce enough poison to kill a guinea pig.

There is a story that Alexander the Great came to Vrindavan. He sent his servant to tell a sage that Alexander the Great was here. The sage, who was worshiping Krishna, the greatest of the great, was not impressed with Alexander, and said, he had no interest in coming out to meet Alexander, but that if Alexander liked he could come in. Alexander, who was used to getting a more royal welcome, was upset. The sage, hearing that Alexander was upset, referred to Alexander as the servant of my servant, which angered Alexander even more, and so he came with drawn sword, demanding to know why. The sage explained that because he had conquered anger while Alexander was still controlled by it, that Alexander was the servant of his servant.

People deal with anger in three ways: by not expressing it, by expressing it violently, and by managing anger and expressing it in a positive way.

-----

‘sadhu-sanga’ ‘sadhu-sanga’ — sarva-sastre kaya
lava-matra sadhu-sange sarva-siddhi haya

“The verdict of all revealed scriptures is that by even a moment’s association with a pure devotee, one can attain all success.” (Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, Madhya 22.54)


Travel Journal#8:22: Alachua and Gainesville, Florida
→ Travel Adventures of a Krishna Monk

Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 8, No. 22
By Krishna-kripa das
(November 2012, part two)
Alachua and Gainesville, Florida
(Sent from Radha Govinda Temple, Brooklyn, New York, on December 21, 2012)

Where I Went and What I Did

I had greatly hoped to make it to Alachua in time to hear the wonderful remembrances on Srila Prabhupada’s disappearance day, but I just caught the end of the kirtana and the feast, and a few remembrances in the evening, which I include below. The next day, we chanted for two hours before the football game in Gainesville, and Dravida Prabhu, who loves to chant, joined us, making it even better than usual. That night we went to a nice festival Madhava Prabhu from the Alachua community had at his place with beautiful kirtanas, enlightening talks, and tasty prasadam in celebration of the anniversary of the appearance of Krishna as Govardhan-sila in his life. Sunday was the Govardhan Puja festival in Alachua. For several days leading up to The Festival of the Holy Name in Alachua, Madhava Prabhu, the kirtana leader from Switzerland, sang kirtana for two or three hours every night and by the grace of Krishna and my friends with cars, I was able to attend all of them. Wednesday we had an amazing harinama at the Farmers Market with thirteen people taking part. Thursday I got to speak about gratitude for Thanksgiving, and people said they liked the lecture. I sent it to the ISKCON Desire Tree website, and you will be able to find it there in a few days. This year’s Festival of the Holy Name was the best so far, and I will mention a few high points for me. Dravida Prabhu, who visits this time of year specifically for the Festival of the Holy Name impressed me by taking eight hours out of the festival to drive with us to Tallahassee to lead the harinama before the football game for a couple of hours. For the final week of November, I stayed in Gainesville’s Krishna House, helping to maintain the harinamas and evening programs, and inspired to see and work with some very enthusiastic new devotees.

Among the insights, there are many wonderful quotes from the letters of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saravati Thakura, soon to be published as Patramrita, by Touchstone Publishing. Also particularly inspiring are realizations from Dravida and Kalakantha Prabhus. And there are other gems as well.

Prabhupada Disappearance Remembrances

Rasa Lila dd:

Srila Prabhupada patiently teaches me every day something new about Krishna, just as he did when he was present.

He taught you can do something amazing for Krishna at any age, and now that we are approaching his age, we might consider that if we are thinking we are too old to do anything, we should think again.

Mukunda Prabhu:

The Bhaktivedanta Archives is building a concrete room with a door like a bank vault to preserve Prabhupada’s materials and just today on his disappearance day someone came through with a donation.

Vegavati dd:

In Hawaii there were two camps of devotees that disagreed, but when Srila Prabhupada was there and the kirtana was going on, there was so much spiritual love no differences existed.

Puskara Prabhu:

I was in Vrindavan in 1977 the whole time from April to November, when Srila Prabhupada left this world.

Toward the end, rickshaws were delivering salt for the samadhi [holy tomb] but we were in some kind of illusion thinking that Srila Prabhupada would stay.

I was given the job of calling Ramesvara in LA to tell him that Prabhupada had left.

When there was a debate about whether Srila Prabhupada would go to Govardhan or not [just a few days before he left this world]. I asked Bhagatji [a friend of Srila Prabhupada’s] whether Prabhupada would go, and he said with conviction, “He will not go,” as if I were a fool for asking.

There was a devotee Sac-cid-ananda who would sing every day for Srila Prabhupada in his last days. One day he did not sing and Prabhupada asked for him to.

Several times Krishnadasa Babaji Maharaja came. Prabhupada very much liked his association. At different times Srila Prabhupada said he was paramahamsa [topmost devotee].

Once I was painting trees in Vrindavan, thinking all the trees in Vrindavan were desire trees and so it was OK. Then I felt bad because Krishna wasn’t there, so I added Krishna and some cowherd boys. I showed it to Srila Prabhupada. Prabhupada looked for a long time and didn’t say anything. Then he said, “What is the idea? Where is it in the books?”
I said, “The Nectar of Devotion.”
“What verse?” Srila Prabhupada replied.
I said, “Krishna is unlimited.”
Srila Prabhupada replied, “Krishna is unlimited, but you are limited. Stick to the book.”

Gauranga Prasada Prabhu’s Going Away Party

Gauranga Prasada Prabhu was a new devotee in Gainesville who was very eager to apply himself to different aspects of Krishna consciousness such as cooking for the Lord and playing the harmonium and singing. He left Krishna House after not even two years to become the bhakta leader in the Tucson temple, and the Krishna House devotees had a nice going away party for him.

Kalakantha Prabhu: Gauranga Prasada was seeking the truth. He was immediately attracted by Krishna consciousness. He was supported by his family. He has many talents. It is clear he is continuing his practice from a previous life.

Hanan Prabhu asked devotees to say three things each about him:

Clayton: Sincerity, simplicity, wailing on the harmonium with total absorption. Ananda Loka Prabhu: His bright smile. Srutisagara Prabhu: Hard-working, humble. Ghee, butter, hing. Tulasi Priya dd: A good example for me. Dr. Dina Bandhu Prabhu: Always said “welcome home” each weekend when I returned from Jacksonville. New lady: Made me feel at home. Girl with glasses: Eye-opening, laughter. Tall Indian male: Positive. Jai Nitai Gauranga Prabhu: Reliable. Father: An old soul. He had a wisdom about him. He has given so much. Mother: He is well loved. Thank you all here for showing him compassion and giving him safety. Haribol. Amrita Keli dd: Completely lovable, without fault, potent. Just today he came into my dream to remind me to help in the kitchen five minutes after I said I would be there. Andy: A mine of valuable gems like potency, kindness. I feel very enriched. Syamala Kishori dd: Enthusiasm. I love your kirtana.

I mentioned his enthusiasm, his happiness, and his kindness. He kindly sent some Krishna sweets to my relatives for me when I was overseas. I wish him well.

Gauranga Prasada Prabhu:

My plan for life was originally very clear, go to school, get a job, raise a family, but now I feel my life is much more uncertain, but in the best possible way. I just want to serve Krishna and be with the devotees. The rest is just details.

I am grateful for the service opportunities here at Krishna House, which I think are more extensive than any other temple.

comment by Kalakantha Prabhu: I appreciate you were always willing to do the needful.

Harinama at the Farmers Market

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving there were no classes at University of Florida, and so both students and Krishna Lunch workers had more free time. Thus we were able to have a harinama with thirteen people at the Farmers Market! Four of us came together, driven by Michele, a new devotee who loves kirtana. Then a couple more devotees joined us. Then two Krishna Lunch workers along with the sister of one of them. Michele gave the new girl a mantra card, and she chanted Hare Krishna for the first time. Jaya Sri Krishna Prabhu joined us and played the drum. One lady on a nearby bench seemed to be enjoying the kirtana, so we gave her a mantra card, and she chanted along. Later Damodar Prasada gave her a book. Thus Krishna really reciprocated with my desire to have a well-attended harinama in the Farmers Market upon my return to Gainesville. It was great that two new people chanted the mantra.

The Festival of the Holy Name

Festival of the Holy Name is an annual kirtana festival during Thanksgiving weekend featuring two days of 12 hours of kirtana at ISKCON New Raman Reti in Alachua, Florida. This year’s was the third festival.

It was a treat having Niranjana Swami fly in just to be part of the Festival of the Holy Name this year. Agnidev Prabhu, a legendary Hare Krishna kirtana leader, also was a special guest. And of course, there were Madhava and Amala, as usual, as well as Mitra Prabhu, who came from North Carolina, and locals like Visvambhara and Jagannatha Kirtana Prabhus, to name a few.

One friend from Tallahassee, Sara Black, a young Mormon music major, who just completed her Ph.D. dissertation on kirtana at Hare Krishna festivals came to the Festival of the Holy Name for at least the second year. Inspired by her research, she is now writing a book on the recent explosion of interest in kirtana. I encouraged her to stay and hear Niranjana Swami, and she stayed and appreciated the kirtanas of both Niranjana Swami and Agnidev Prabhu. In fact, she and her husband stayed to hear Visvambhara Prabhu whose singing they had previously developed an attachment for and who did the last segment on Friday evening. It was wonderful to see them both intently singing Hare Krishna and clapping along with the music. She developed an interest in Hare Krishna festivals when she grew up in Utah and attended the Holi festival that Caru Prabhu organized his temple in Spanish Fork.

The group of local second generation American Vaishnavas including Gaura Shakti, Krishna Dhama, Govinda, and Ramachandra, and many more, who organized the festival did a great job, and it gets better every year. All thanks and blessings to them.

Insights

Srila Prabhupada:

from a lecture on Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.5.1, given in Bombay, on December 25, 1976:

“This is the difficulty at the present moment that we take leadership of the society although we remain in the bodily conception of life.”

There is a not a problem of overpopulation. We are all sons of Krishna, and He is providing for us. The problem is that we are mismanaging and then claiming God is not providing.

The more you become godless, the more miseries will be inflicted by material nature.

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura (from Patravali, a collection of his letters soon to be published by Touchstone Publishing in an abridged work called Patramrita):

If the mind does not become disturbed at the time of chanting mantras then it should be understood that the chanting is being done perfectly.

In order to test us and benefit us, the Supreme Lord has placed different types of inconveniences in this world. We have to realize those things as being beneficial for us and thus accept them gracefully. Glorious are those who serve the Supreme Lord. In the midst of all difficulties, keep hearing about, chanting, and remembering the Supreme Lord. Other than this I have no better advice. You should always chant a fixed number of rounds of the holy names of Lord Hari. If there is any problem for openly decorating your body with tilaka then you can do it mentally while chanting the appropriate mantras. Know for certain that the holy name of Hari and Lord Hari Himself are one and the same. Know for certain that chanting the holy names of Hari and meeting the Supreme Lord directly are one and the same. Sri Harinama Prabhu is the worshipable Lord of liberated persons.

There is no comparison to Sri Gaurasundara’s compassion, and there is no limit to Sri Krishnacandra’s sweetness.

Simply by reading about glorification of the Supreme Lord and the devotees, all our needs will be fulfilled. Do not be impatient for the result, but rather always chant the holy names of Krishna with patience and tolerance. The Supreme Lord will certainly not sit quietly. According to the degree of one’s sadhana, Sri Gaurahari certainly awards one auspicious results. Service to Hari is called bhakti. You will realize that chanting of the names of Krishna is in itself bhakti.

The forefathers of that family in which a devotee takes birth attain special benefit so that their lives become successful. There is no need to pray for them separately.

Dreams are false. They are manifestations of the enjoyment of one’s thoughts, and they are the results of one’s previous bad association. Therefore just throw away those things from the heart.

Sri Gaurasundara tests us in various ways by putting us into difficulties and different kinds of association. It depends on the good fortune of the living entities for them to pass those tests. As the indwelling Supersoul, Sri Gaurahari has revealed the eternal truth in the hearts of the living entities out of His causeless mercy. Those who have taken shelter at the lotus feet of Lord Hari and the spiritual master never trust the illusory words of misguided people. Only unfortunate people become bewildered by hearing deceitful words. One need not worry about that.

It is the duty of householders to worship the deity of the Supreme Lord with faith and devotion. A householder who has taken complete shelter of the holy names, having realized his relationship with the Supreme Lord, respects deity worshipers. Those who avoid worshiping the deity just to save money incur the sin known as vittasa?hya, or miserliness. Householders with abominable characters and restless minds must engage in deity worship.

You are a learned person and so you must know the scriptural evidence the smarta Bhattacarya Raghunandan has quoted in the ekadasi-tattva.

devata pratimam drstva. yatinacaiva tridandinam
namaskaram na kuryaccet upavasena suddhati
“You are the father, but still you should offer obeisance to your sannyasi son, otherwise you will have to purify yourself of that fault by observing a fast for one full day.”

You were inspiring him to enter a miserable family life, which is a more severe form of vow than the severe vow one takes to worship Hari, because it instills a great fear in one’s mind. Your attempt was not proper.

Those who are faithful and devoted never face obstacles or inauspiciousness. Only those who desire material enjoyment and liberation face inauspiciousness in life.

I have been wandering about since my birth for the attainment of the goal of life about which you have been deceived for the last twelve years. I did not feel any need to hanker after sense gratification, which is the aim of your life and wealth. I never felt any need to accumulate wealth to mitigate my hunger, to maintain my wife and children, or to supply fuel for my illicit desires. I have never made any endeavor for material wealth like you.
Lord Krishna has never put me into any sort of difficulty or anxiety regarding filling my belly, like He has you. I only try to earn that much wealth with which I can engage in the service of Lord Vishnu, and with which I can keep my sinful body healthy just to serve Lord Hari. Apart from that, I never tried to earn any wealth whatsoever. Even today, I am not greedy for anyone’s wealth. I am not greedy for perishable material wealth like you.
Please bless me so that I can remain greedy for eternal wealth, birth after birth. I wish that even my greatest enemy would not have greed for enjoyable wealth. May I not have any desire other than to pray for the benefit of my greatest enemy. Bless me that I may not see in the last days of my life the face of atheists who are greedy for wealth for the purpose of enjoying profit, adoration, distinction, gold, and women.

We, surrounded by enemies, are determined to engage in the service of Lord Hari and His devotees. All of us are more or less forgetful of Lord Krishna while serving the six enemies. All of you together should serve Lord Hari with unity. This is my request. Ekaki amara nahi paya bala. “I have no strength to do it alone.” Remembering this line, all of you should continue to execute kirtana-yajña, which is the goal of life. The responsibility of the leaders in charge of the execution of kirtana-yajña is to make friendship with all, and especially satisfy all the Vai??avas, while engaging in the service of Hari.

This material world is temporary—nobody has come here to live forever. When the Supreme Lord keeps one in a particular place, he should gladly stay there and accept His rewards and punishments. All types of rewards and punishments awarded by the Supreme Lord are meant for our benefit. We welcome the rewards of the Lord’s external energy, maya, whereas we consider her punishments as troublesome. Since the punishments of maya are awarded so that one can obtain the Lord’s mercy, the devotees do not disregard them; rather they gladly accept them as the Lord’s mercy and simply tolerate them. Those who cannot understand worldly inconveniences to be the Lord’s mercy ultimately fall into a state of disappointment while searching for material happiness and advancement.

Our material miseries and scarcities will go away by participating in festivals in the association of those who serve the Supreme Lord. To always remain engaged in hearing and chanting the glories of Lord Hari is the instruction of saintly persons, scriptures, and the Supreme Lord.

According to proper etiquette, in day-to-day business, one should normally start a letter by saying, “all glories to,” or by offering obeisances at the top of the letter.

By calling out the holy names of the Supreme Lord while fixing our mind upon Him, all auspiciousness is achieved. The Supreme Lord alone is the one who awards worldly prosperity, happiness, and distress. We are maintained by Him and are surrendered unto Him. Whatever arrangements He makes for us, we should humbly accept.

Every disturbance is a fault of my mind; nobody can actually harm me in this world.

Try to avoid quarreling. There is no possibility of disharmony if the purpose is one. In the spiritual world, apparent conflict of interests helps to increase the glories of loving service to the Supreme Lord.

Even by riding on the motorcar of the Madras Gaudiya Matha, the principle and guise of a sincere beggar can be maintained. There is no need to externally display artificial renunciation, or luxury by imitating the sahajiyas. Renunciation is a state of the heart. There is a gulf of difference between the considerations of those who misuse renunciation and that of the followers of King Janaka and Raya Ramananda. By taking advantage of, and by imitating, King Janaka or Raya Ramananda, and thus acting like Ravana, is not internal renunciation, or yukta-vairagya. When duplicity is externally displayed, having entered the heart, nobody can achieve his true welfare.

People are extremely averse to us and so their behavior will surely be exhibited according to this mentality. If we can patiently tolerate their insults then one day they will definitely repent their misdeeds.

None of you should be afraid of natural calamities, such as heavy rain or disease. Embrace them and then bid them farewell in due course of time. Srila Jagannatha Dasa Babaji Maharaja used to say that when painful diseases come to our body, if they are not pampered, or do not get excellent food, they will automatically leave. Diseases stay longer in the bodies of aristocratic people because of their luxurious living.

As soon as bodily pleasures are increased, the propensity for serving the Supreme Lord decreases. That is why the Supreme Lord spreads thorns on the path of all kinds of comfort for those upon whom He shows mercy.

I have received your humble letter dated the 29th March and have understood your present physical and mental condition. Always remember the lotus feet of Lord Hari, the spiritual master, and other Vaishnavas without interruption while accepting that all physical and mental miseries are a result of one’s previous karma. In this mood, always pray for the mercy of the Supreme Lord. Gradually, by Krishna’s will, all types of miseries will be destroyed and you will become empowered for the service of the Supreme Lord so that the inclination for constantly worshiping Lord Hari will be awakened. All impediments in the form of bad association will be removed and the propensity to always serve Lord Hari, the spiritual master, and the Vaishnavas will predominate.
I hope that you will soon be cured of your physical and mental illness by the Lord’s mercy so that you will increase our happiness by being engaged in the worship of Hari. It is quite warm here. If you feel extreme pain then invite a devotee known to you from Gaudiya Matha and hear from him Hari-katha and Hari-nama.
There is no happiness in the material world. The material world creates many disturbances by manifesting various kinds of disasters. Although there is good and bad, and partial purity in it, material life often produces varieties of disturbances. That is why the tat te nu’kampam verse has been presented.
There are no such disturbances in the abode of Goloka. Anyway, there is no alternative but to tolerate all inconveniences that come to us at various times and at various places.

Let them harass you as much as possible; you simply must quietly tolerate these disturbances. We firmly believe that the people of the world will not allow injustices to predominate. The Supreme Lord arranges everything for our benefit—this is our firm faith. The atheists cannot flourish in this world for long, for eventually they are pulled down by the punishment of providence. Everything takes place by the will of the Supreme Lord.

The duty of relatives is that they should first offer some foodstuffs to the Supreme Lord on the day of sraddha and then offer some portion of the Lord’s prasada to the departed soul and thus help him achieve his ultimate welfare. Offering the departed souls prasada will satisfy the devotees of the Supreme Lord. There should also be performance of harinama.

When maya conditions us, we remain busy calculating who is big and who is small.

We should unconditionally accept whatever condition Krishna puts us in at any time. The desire to gain physical health with the sole intention of worshiping Krishna is also favorable for devotional service. A non-devotee’s endeavor to demand service from the Supreme Lord, such as becoming cured so that he can attain the platform of anarthas is not acceptable. But to pray for good health to the destroyer of obstacles, Ganesa, and at the lotus feet of the destroyer of obstacles, Lord Nrsimha, for the sake of Krishna bhajana is certainly acceptable.

If our photograph is worshiped when we are alive; this will make us fall down.

If you constantly engage your mind in the Lord’s service then no one can harm you. If you are restless or dissatisfied with others then an inclination for the Lord’s service will not be present within your mind. Your words, body, and mind will form a mental displeasure that will not allow you to serve Hari. Therefore become tolerant like a tree, and by the Lord’s will stay at Samanta-pañcaka. This will be beneficial for you. Wait for the day when Lord Gaura Hari will send you elsewhere.

The dear devotees of Sri Gaurasundara have no other business than to take the treasure of His distribution of Krishna-prema [love of God] and distribute it door to door. This business is their only means of livelihood as they execute their loving devotional service to Krishna.

As Srila Rupa Gosvami elaborately explains in his Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu, there are five principal rasas—neutrality, servitude, friendship, parental love, and conjugal love—and seven secondary rasas—amazement, humor, chivalry, compassion, fury, fear, and dread. Altogether there are twelve rasas, the supreme object of them all is Sri Krishna. In other words, our love and affection are actually meant for Sri Krishna. Unfortunately, out of ignorance, we stubbornly try to squeeze happiness and love out of material relationships, which are not directly connected to Krishna, and thus life is experienced as a constant frustration. The solution is simple: surrender to Krishna, love Krishna, love Krishna’s devotees, and be happy forever.

Pray to the holy name with your heart and soul so that the holy name may bestow mercy upon you. Remembering astakaliya-lila is not to be performed when one is full of anarthas. Only by kirtana can smarana be practiced. At that time, realization of astakaliya-lila-seva is possible. One should not artificially practice astakaliya-lila-smara?a.

We are insignificant beggars. If a rich person or a particular community harasses us then Lord Nrisimha will protect us. No community can hurt our feelings for our religious beliefs.

When the futility of false ego is understood, then we give up bad association and come to know that worldly happiness, worldly knowledge, and worldly settlement, etc., are all useless in comparison to realization of the Supreme Lord, who is eternal, and full of knowledge and bliss. Only when one is initiated into Krishna consciousness like this can he obtain supreme auspiciousness.

By installing deities of Lord Jagannatha and Lord Mahaprabhu in the villages of England and offering Indian foodstuffs to the Lord and then distributing them as maha-prasada, gradually the people of England will support the service of the Supreme Lord by showing sympathy and being faithful. In the future, qualified persons will go there and benefit the people by propagating pure sanatana-dharma.
Oh!When will the time come when all the people of that country honor the transcendental maha-prasada in the Lord’s temple while chanting the holy names of Lord Gauranga with a purified heart and thus understand the value of spiritual life?

Because we will forget the Supreme Lord if we are are satisfied with material happiness, the merciful Lord has created various dangers to test us. Happiness in this material world guarantees forgetfulness of Krishna. Hence, miseries are examples of His compassion.

There are differences of opinion between the resident devotees of the matha and the “big” householder devotees. According to the considerations put forth by Maharaja in Delhi, the Supreme Lord and His devotees are the only objects of service. Just by serving the Supreme Lord and the devotees, the weight of our attached household activities will decrease. But if the residents of the dhama think of themselves as “big devotees,” just like the sahajiyas of Kuliya, and transform the servants of the matha into their servants, then rather than serving the dhama, they will imagine themselves as being objects of service in Vaiku??ha. Living in the dhama is only to serve the devotees, but if instead of serving the Supreme Lord and the devotees, service is demanded from them and displeasure is shown at their activities, then rather than dhama-seva, an offense called dhama-bhoga will be committed.
It is better to live in a place of material enjoyment and serve the devotees of the dhama from a distance than to be an enjoyer of the dhama.

Simply by worshiping Hari, the body, mind, and soul will remain healthy, but if one is averse to bhajana, these three will act unfavorably.

The tendency for material enjoyment is one hundred percent present in the Western countries. Therefore their faith in God is very weak.

Sastra says, “One should take shelter of saintly persons while giving up bad association.” Those who mistake nondevotees to be devotees make a mistake like trying to cheat a blacksmith out of steel. We need not talk about others, but while serving Lord Hari, the spiritual master, and other Vaishnavas, discussions of Agha, Baka, Ravana, and so on automatically arise. Anyway, everything is the Lord’s test. I did not expect such unfavorable behavior from my so-called disciples. Anyhow, this is Kali-yuga and so everything is possible.

To ascertain the varna of a person is the essence of varnasrama. To merge familial identity with one’s personal nature is not its purpose.

The followers of Sri Rupa, without putting faith in their own power, attribute all their successes to the original source. We too do everything for the pleasure of Sri Krishna Caitanya, Sri Rupa, Sri Bhaktivinoda, and our spiritual master.

Bhakti Tirtha Swami (from a YouTube video lecture):

The Vedic scriptures are the oldest scriptures on the planet, and if you follow them, they will make you a better Christian or a better Moslem. And the end result of that is that you will understand that we are servants of God, beyond all sectarian designations.

In our movement we have people of different nations and races all working together to benefit society. Where else is there such an example?

Niranjana Swami:

When a diplomat visited Prabhupada in Geneva, Srila Prabhupada started out by asking if he had any questions. The man said, “No.” Then Srila Prabhupada asked for the harmonium, and played a beautiful Hare Krishna tune for twenty minutes or so. Then he said to the man, “This is what we do.” Then he asked Guru Gauranga Prabhu to give the man prasadam. So I tell this story as a simple introduction to this 12-hour kirtana program. This is what we do.

Badahari Prabhu (from Krishna House):

Using mechanical substitutes for essential body parts or functions cannot extend life without the sanction of the Lord.

Our hearing apparatus works 24/7 and thus can protect us from calamity at all times.

Morning is best for the spiritual cultivation because the ether is not polluted by materialistic sound vibrations.

Srila Prabhupada and Krishna are ready to take you with them, if you are willing to give up the desire to control.

It is hard to be detached from the material world, but because someday you will need to be, it is good to practice.

Beg borrow or steal, somehow get devotional service. The more devotional service we do, we build up our spiritual body.

Comment by Gauranga Prasada Prabhu: Laksmimani dd says that pride, such as that in Vedic scholarship, is one thing that remains as indicated by the word prayesu [almost to nil] in Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.2.18.

Caturatma Prabhu:

In Vrindavan, I was noticing three Govardhan silas on Indradyumna Swami’s altar at the MVT. I asked the origin of them. He said he had to confiscate them from his disciples, and he did not know what he was going to do with them. I said, well I have been wanting to worship Govardhan for some time, I would like to worship them. He said, “Well you’re not shy about asking.” He also had a very large sila, one that was completely impractical to travel with and, he did not have a clue what he would do with Him. I said, “I know just the person, a hefty devotee, who has a desire to worship Govardhan. That was Madhava [from the Alachua community].”

Dravida Prabhu:

The prayers of Brahma are very conclusive and many acaryas have written explanations of them.

Brahma had just experienced that his intellect had failed to appreciate the divinity of Krishna, and so he spoke this verse (SB 10.14.3): “Those who, even while remaining situated in their established social positions, throw away the process of speculative knowledge and with their body, words and mind offer all respects to descriptions of Your personality and activities, dedicating their lives to these narrations, which are vibrated by You personally and by Your pure devotees, certainly conquer Your Lordship, although You are otherwise unconquerable by anyone within the three worlds.”

“What is the ultimate goal of life and how to attain it?” is the main question of a seeker.

There is a logical order to the four imperfections of a conditioned soul. First we have imperfect senses, then we make mistakes, and when we make enough mistakes, we become illusioned, and when we present our illusions as factual knowledge we cheat others.

Adhoksaja is a combination of three words, ja meaning janma or birth, aksa meaning the eyes, or the senses in general, adha which means pushing down. Aksaja thus means knowledge born of sense perception, and adhoksaja therefore means that which pushes down this knowledge born of sense perceptions.

Krishna wants only one thing: love.

One may be a multi-millionaire but if he has no one to exchange love with he is unhappy.

How to serve the topics of the Lord? With our body, by following His instructions, with our minds, by thinking of the topics, and with our words, by repeating them to others.

Two of Jarasandha’s daughters were wives of Kamsa, so he was upset with Krishna for killing Kamsa and leaving them unprotected.

Everything begins with hearing. If we had not heard about Krishna, how could we have become attracted to Him?

Kathamritam means that hearing about Krishna is like nectar, but you cannot drink too much of such nectar, nor does it have any bad side effects.

Our constitutional position is not to be a university student nor to work a certain job, nor to be a man or woman, nor even a human being.

On Halloween people dress in costumes but if they forget it is just a costume and continue to act as a ghost or Napolean, then they really have a problem. That is our situation in this world.

The topics glorifying Krishna are the purifying force.

The most valuable thing you have is your desire to be Krishna consciousness, and that we must increase by our practice.

The main reason we stay in the material world is because of our desire to hear about things other than Krishna.

Srila Prabhupada said if you take one step toward Krishna, Krishna takes ten steps toward you. These steps are the taste He gives you.

Everything depends on the intensity of one’s attention.

The secret is to keep everything fresh and new. For me it is verses. There are always more verses, and the verses have great depth. The verses are like old friends. And the books . . .

The sastra [with a long ‘a’ (the scripture)] cuts off our attachments, but the sastra [with a short ‘a’ (the weapon)] cuts off our head.

The Siksastakam is throughout the Padyavali (a collection of verses) of Rupa Goswami and was gathered together by Krishnadas Kaviraja Goswami.

Step to memorize verses:

  1. read translation
  2. figure out meter
  3. look at word meanings for the first line
  4. practice saying the first line while remembering its meaning
  5. repeat steps 3 and 4 with all the lines of the verse
  6. practice your verses periodically


The “Madhurastkam,” which describes the sweetness of Krishna, only works because it is about Him. It would become trite to describe any other person as being sweet in so many ways.

Similarly if anyone were dressed as opulently as the Deity one would consider the person to be overdressed but for Krishna such opulence is appropriate and pleasing.

Some people look for the bliss at this festival and that festival, but hooking up with Lord Caitanya and His movement and all the previous spiritual masters by making a contribution to the mission, we taste the real bliss. We forget that this is something bestowed upon us.

Constant prayer and willingness to do austerity for Krishna makes us advanced.

Prabhodananda Sarasvati said, “Lord Caitanya is more magnanimous than ten million mothers.”

The real friend is the friend who will introduce you to your eternal friend Krishna.

The real guru inspires you to chant the holy name.

The holy name is like a touchstone. When our consciousness touches the holy name it becomes transformed.

The chanting is attractive because Krishna is present there.

Three things come from devotional service, the pleasure of serving Krishna, direct experience of Krishna, and detachment from other things. This is compared to the pleasure of eating, nourishment, and freedom from hunger.

Ajamila was so grateful that the holy name saved him from the Yamadutas that he very seriously took to devotional service and attained perfection.

The holy name is supremely pure and made of spiritual bliss.

If we want to associate with Krishna, He is willing to associate with us, primarily through His avatar as the holy name.

There is no downside or bad effect to the pleasure of the holy name. It is all up. Stay high forever.

Talks of materialistic people steal the most valuable gem, our desire for Krishna.

By associating with the faithful, we become faithful.

Progressing in devotional service means refining our activities so they are supportive of chanting.

By chanting japa during class we can commit two offenses at once, inattention to chanting and insulting the Bhagavatam speaker.

Srila Prabhupada was always completely focused on what he was doing for Krishna, and thus he was able to do so much in just eleven years.

In the Eleventh Canto, one verse states that the greatest pure devotee does not want to forget Krishna even for a moment, even in exchange for all the wealth in the world.

Comment by Lilananda Prabhu: Bringing a television into your home is like bring in billions of people who are against Krishna.

Comment: If one chants the names of Nitai Gauranga, Bhakti devi comes chasing after you.

Comment by Kaliyaphani Prabhu: Regarding the Gauranga campaign you mentioned where devotees in Scotland put up posters saying “Chant Gauranga” everywhere, I have a couple stories:

“A devotee doing street sankirtana [book distribution] in Scotland stopped a young mother with a small son. He was a scruffy, cheeky-looking kid. After the exchange, the devotee said to the kid, ‘Can you say Gauranga?’ The reply was, ‘Aye, I can. But it’s nae Gauranga, it’s Gauruunga!’

“Two devotees going door-to-door in central Edinburgh entered a very posh-looking restaurant with the idea of going round the tables to collect. There were big pillars, chandeliers, etc. They hesitated at the doorway thinking it was too posh. Then a customer at a table must have recognized them and at the top of his voiced yelled out, ‘Gaaaaauuuuraaaangaaaa!’ the sound reverberating round the hall and shattering the devotee’s doubts!”

If you make a habit of glorifying devotees you will derive such pleasure from that activity that you will not feel the tendency to criticize devotees. Radhanath Swami is a good example of that.

When we are doing japa and kirtana, we should think, “Now is my time to associate directly with Krishna and to forget everything else.”

We have to come to the platform of always following Srila Prabhupada’s instructions to attain purity in chanting.

Dhanesvara Prabhu was the manager of the production team of me (Dravida Prabhu), Gopiparanadhana Prabhu, and Hridayananda dasa Goswami to complete Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavatam translation. At one point, things were difficult and Gopiparanadhana Prabhu suggested that we worship the Bhagavatam. So we set up an altar and put the Bhagavatam on it, and worshiped it, and ultimately we were successful in completing the translation and publishing it.
We should think, “By chanting the holy name purely all my aspirations will be fulfilled.”

Because we are chanting Hare Krishna, Krishna is reducing our taste for meat eating, illicit sex, intoxication, and gambling.

All of us have the capacity to appreciate the holy name as Rupa Goswami did: “I do not know how much nectar the two syllables ‘Krish-na’ have produced. When the holy name of Krishna is chanted, it appears to dance within the mouth. We then desire many, many mouths. When that name enters the holes of the ears, we desire many millions of ears. And when the holy name dances in the courtyard of the heart, it conquers the activities of the mind, and therefore all the senses become inert.”

We can pray to the holy name for the strength to avoid sinful activities.

Kalakantha Prabhu:

One devotee walked from Africa to Mayapur chanting Hare Krishna. The devotees in general were very impressed with him, but Srila Prabhupada was not impressed. That devotee eventually stopped talking with other devotees and lived alone, saying he wanted to focus on his chanting. Ultimately, however, he went away because people stopped paying attention to him.

Bhaktivinoda Thakura was opposed to the idea of seminal succession of spiritual masters, and so rather than initiating his son, he advised his son to approach Gaurakisora Dasa Babaji Maharaja for initiation.

We cannot become advanced by imitating the symptoms of advanced devotees, but rather absorbing ourselves in Krishna and naturally becoming advanced.

Whatever taste we have for hearing about Krishna is our greatest gift.

The great acaryas [spiritual teachers who teach by example] are not appointed but emerge.

After a day of searching by the order of Dronacarya, their teacher, Duryodhana could not find anyone superior to himself and Yudhisthira could not find anyone inferior to himself. Dronacarya then proclaimed, “Yudhisthira is fit to rule the world and Duryodhana is fit to have his body eaten by jackals.”

Anuttama Prabhu tells a story of an experience on sankirtana:
One man said, “I don’t want your book. I have my own religion. You are going to hell.” Anuttama replied, “What religion are you?”
The man said, “Christian.”
Anuttama inquired, “Are all Christians going to heaven?”
The man said, “No, not all Christians.”
Anuttama asked, “So only people in your church?”
The man replied, “No, not all people in my church are going to heaven.”

The madhyama devotee’s relationship with the innocent person is this: “I want to help this person as much as he wants my help.”

As soon as you take to spiritual life seriously, some people will love you and other people will hate you.

The neophyte devotee cannot abandon the society, friendship, and love of the material world to pursue Krishna.

In no religious scripture will you see a statement like “I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from Me.” Only Krishna is so bold as to say this, but He says it not because He is arrogant, but to establish the truth. He does this in half a verse. And in rest of the four main verses He talks about His devotees and how He reciprocates with them.

There is a long standing discussion in theology about whether God is attained by works or grace. The relationship between the two is cleared up in Bhagavad-gita: “To those who are constantly devoted to serving Me with love, I give the understanding by which they can come to Me.” (Bg. 10.10)

If the most important thing to a person is God, then that person is a devotee or a Vaishnava.

Nondevotees consider the activities of the Lord are too amazing to be true. But what do you expect God to do? Actually the more amazing the activities of Krishna are, the more they are worthy of God, and the more they give us faith in Krishna.

Often in the rest of the Bhagavatam, Sukadeva Goswami quotes other sages, but in the Tenth Canto he speaks himself.

We are frustrated with relationships, we have been hurt in relationships, and so the last thing we want is a relationship with God.

It is pleasing to associate with people who think God is the most important.

Who do we talk to? Who do we reveal our mind to? That is how we associate.

As for seeing someone reputed to be a sadhu: See him once. Take notes. Point out where he differs from Bhagavad-gita. If invited again, point out the differences between his philosophy and Bhagavad-gita, and say you would rather read Bhagavad-gita than hear him.

We cannot gain a taste for Krishna consciousness by pretending we have it.

In fund raising, there is happy money and unhappy money. Unhappy money is that is received by making people feel guilty or which they regret giving and never give again. Happy money is money people feel good giving because they are shown the practical benefits.

Statistics show that a man who retires without a good positive engagement generally dies within two years after retirement.

The highest principle is relationship among the devotees, so if to proceed with our agenda damages our relationship with others, we might consider making an adjustment.

If I ask someone to do something and they say no, I take it that Krishna is telling me to find someone else.

Our standard for wearing saffron at Krishna House is that the devotee as been chanting Hare Krishna for year, and he has a commitment to work full time on the mission for at least two years.

Sesa Prabhu:

Bhakti is compared to an ocean, as there are levels of depth of understanding.

I like to use the indexes in Srila Prabhupada’s books because they are prepared by the devotees with the devotees’ point of view in mind [rather than using the different search engines].

One feature of sin is that it causes us to do more sin.

Sin does not just mean you go and rob a store. You could go to a store and purchase something and also be engaging in sin, if that object you purchase does not help you remember Krishna.

Sinful activities take away knowledge of our constitutional position as loving servants of God.

If you do not want to have a relationship with God, you get the reactions as you deserve.

The results of chanting:

The good results of nama-aparadha (offensive chanting):
it will fulfill one’s desires, but not give love of Krishna
it will allow one to occasionally chant without offense, and that inoffensive chanting will purify the chanter, and thus he gets the association of devotees who instruct him how to chant properly.

Chanting is namabhasa (the clearing or intermediate stage) when done in ignorance, but nama-aparadha (offensive chanting) when done for liberation or sense enjoyment, or by a Mayavadi (one who denies the form of the Lord). Namabhasa has these benefits:
elimination of sinful reactions
liberation from Kali and material consciousness
freedom from fear and worries
contentment
freedom from fear of demons
boundless spiritual bliss

benefits of pure chanting, suddha-nama:
chanting once clears sins from millions of births.
chanting twice gives Krishna prema, love of Krishna.

Krishna is so kind he steals away our sins, even though we may not desire it.

Madhava Prabhu (from Alachua County):

Underneath the Govardhan Hill that Krishna was lifting, each resident of Vrindavan experienced that Krishna was looking at him or her. All of them were free from all material tribulations.

Madhumangala offered to hold the hill for Krishna with his stick, thinking that Krishna must be tired.

Yasoda prayed to Giriraj (Govardhan, the king of hills) to become soft so Krishna would not feel distress in the course of holding it with His soft hand.

Viewing Krishna as he was lifting the Govardhan Hill, the residents of Vrindavan said, “Until now we have not appreciated how Krishna is the very ornament of the earth. He glances lovingly at us. He is delighting our minds with his gentle smile. He is more dazzling than anything.”

Krishna’s ankle bells worshiped Krishna in silent meditation. When he lifted the hill, they jingled slightly, charming the demigods, who worshiped them.

Madhava Prabhu (from Switzerland):

It is said that Krishna will only appear in purified heart, but the holy name is so merciful He will appear even before our heart is pure.

Kirtana is Krishna’s time, or rather, our time with Krishna. You can always talk later.

Srila Prabhupada would say to cry for Krishna, and Aindra Prabhu would say, “If you cannot cry for Krishna, then cry that you cannot cry for Krishna.”

Sacinandana Swami advises to make a resolution at the beginning of kirtana-melas to chant for eight of the twelve hours each day.

Pray to the mind, “I have served you so nicely, just lay off for the next few hours.”

Jai Nitai Gauranga Prabhu:

When asked for evidence that Krishna consciousness is a science, Srila Prabhupada would often quote Bhagavad-gita 2.13, “As the embodied soul continuously passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. A sober person is not bewildered by such a change.”

If people come from all over the city to honor someone, that is amazing, but it is more amazing if people come from all over the nation. In the case of Maharaja Pariksit, people came from all over the entire universe to witness the end of his life.

It is not enough to have theoretical knowledge of God and His protection to become free from fear.

a Vaishnava youth:

Because we are eternal spiritual souls, death is unnatural for us, and it creates fear within us.

Once I was in a new city and was involved in a relationship with someone who was my best friend at that time and who cheated on me, abruptly ending the relationship. In my distressed condition I chanted japa, and as I chanted, I came to realize that all the things I usually take shelter of, like my family and friends, were temporary, and that Krishna is the real shelter. I understood that Krishna had created the situation so I would realize that truth. Since then I have found Krishna to be my true shelter in other situations as well.

Hanan Prabhu:

Anger will make you miserable and make your life shorter.

Anger is like holding something burning in your hand.

Researchers had angry people blow on a glass and analyzed that it produced poison. In an hour an angry person can produce enough poison to kill a guinea pig.

There is a story that Alexander the Great came to Vrindavan. He sent his servant to tell a sage that Alexander the Great was here. The sage, who was worshiping Krishna, the greatest of the great, was not impressed with Alexander, and said, he had no interest in coming out to meet Alexander, but that if Alexander liked he could come in. Alexander, who was used to getting a more royal welcome, was upset. The sage, hearing that Alexander was upset, referred to Alexander as the servant of my servant, which angered Alexander even more, and so he came with drawn sword, demanding to know why. The sage explained that because he had conquered anger while Alexander was still controlled by it, that Alexander was the servant of his servant.

People deal with anger in three ways: by not expressing it, by expressing it violently, and by managing anger and expressing it in a positive way.

-----

‘sadhu-sanga’ ‘sadhu-sanga’ — sarva-sastre kaya
lava-matra sadhu-sange sarva-siddhi haya

“The verdict of all revealed scriptures is that by even a moment’s association with a pure devotee, one can attain all success.” (Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, Madhya 22.54)


Guru and Disciple: New questions are the same as the old ones
→ The Vaishnava Voice

I often get asked questions by people who are looking for a guru: “What sort of teacher should I be looking for?” is shortly followed by: “And where do I begin looking for someone like that?”

After they’ve thought a few moments the next question is: “What sort of things do I have to do before I can become someone’s student?” “What happens if I don’t quite measure up?”

Some time later the questions are more about what will happen after they become initiated: “What is he supposed to teach me?” “How do I know if he’s teaching me the right things?”

Lots of questions but, strangely enough, the same questions that people have been asking for a long time. Proof of this is that way back in the 14th century a great spiritual teacher named Vedanta Deshika gave answers to these questions in a short book  - Nyasa Vimsati. The answers proved so popular and correct that Gopala Bhatta Goswami included them in his handbook of devotional practise, standard for Gaudiya Vaishnavas for the last 500 years.

This is one post for those who like lists! (But worth the effort of reading it)

Fourteen Qualities of the Guru

Taken from the Nyasa Vimsati by Vedanta Deshika (1268-1370)

As included in the Hari Bhakti Vilasa by Gopala Bhatta Goswami (1503-1578)

  1. Sat-sampradaya siddham – He is firmly established in the sampradaya
  2. Sthira dhiyam – His mind remains firmly fixed, even in debates based on deceitful reasoning
  3. Anagam – Free from sin, and never swerves from shastra
  4. Srotriyam – Fully conversant with the Vedas and Vedanta
  5. Brahma nistham – He has resolute devotion to God, free from blemishes
  6. Sattvastham – Dominated by sattva guna
  7. Satya vacam – Free from deceitful speech, he always tells the truth
  8. Samaya niyataya sadu vritya sametam – Adept at anushtanams (prayers and religious practices).
  9. Dambha asuyadhi muktam – No inauspicious characteristics such as egoism or jealousy
  10. Jita visayi ganam – Does not engage in conduct prohibited by the Bhagavat shastras. Has controlled senses
  11. Dirgha bandhum – He is a friend and guide for all those who have sought his  refuge, always seeking their welfare, and lifting them up  to the ultimate destination
  12. Dayalum – Has spontaneous compassion and kindness for his disciples
  13. Skhalite sasitaram – Corrects his disciples and recommends improving actions for  them
  14. Svapara hitaparam – Determines what is mutually good for him and his sisya (disciple) and acts accordingly

Fifteen Qualities of the Good Disciple

  1. Sadh buddhi – Good intelligence
  2. Sadhu sevi – He has the disposition to mingle with, and serve, the sadhus
  3. Samucita carita – He is marked for his righteous conduct, both personal and social
  4. Tattva bodha abhilasi – Has an eagerness to learn spiritual teaching
  5. Susrusu – He excels in helping the guru in his seva
  6. Tyakta mana – He has become humble or at least free from the gross manifestations of pride
  7. Pranipatena para – He has implicit obedience to the guru and bows down in his presence
  8. Prasna kala pratiksa – He waits for the right time to clear his doubts about what he has learned from the acarya
  9. Santa – He is peaceful and self-controlled
  10. Danta – Controls both his mind and speech
  11. Anasuya – Free from jealousy
  12. Saranam upagata – Always eager to hear ‘instructions of divine grace’ from his guru
  13. Sastra visvas Sali – Has total faith in shastra
  14. Paristam prapta – Ready to undergo any tests set by the guru for assessing his state of preparedness to be accepted as a deserving disciple
  15. Krita-vid sisya – He will be a grateful disciple for all that is to be received from the acarya.

Vedanta Deshika concludes: “Tattvata – abhimatam sikshaniya.” (Truly, such a person with these qualities is fit for instruction by the acarya).

Four Key Instructions the Guru must teach the Disciple

  1. The creation, sustenance and dissolution of everything that is animate and inanimate are under the total control of the Lord and His consort. We have to comprehend the Lord as:

(a)    Jagat Karanan – The Creator of all

(b)   Jagat Rakshakan – The Protector of all

(c)    Sarva Samharakan – The Destroyer of all Creations

(d)   Karma Pravrtti Niyamakan – The Commander of all acts initiated by the soul

(e)   Sarva Karma Phala Dhayakan – The Granter of the fruits of all karmas

2. Understanding this unique role of the Lord, please do not consider anyone else as your goal.

3. Do not seek anyone other than Him as a means to reach Him.

4. Knowing that both fear and fearlessness about samsara arises from Him, please do not break His commands in shastra.


New Zealand’s Kuli Mela Aims for Unity, Love and Devotion
→ Seeking The Essence

New Zealand’s Kuli Mela Aims for Unity, Love and Devotion

An article written by Madhava Smullen for ISKCON News and originally posted on December 7th, 2012.

Kuli Mela New Zealand organizers Saraswati Howie and Vrinda Taylor

Kuli Mela has already hit the US, Europe, Russia and Australia. And now, the festival that aims to unite and inspire those who have grown up in the Hare Krishna movement is coming to New Zealand.

 

 

Around 120 “Kulis” are expected to attend the nearly two-week-long event, which will continue to revise the mood and activities of the Kuli Mela template.

The “Kiwi Mela,” running from December 27th to January 6th, is being organized by two childhood friends, Vrinda Taylor and Saraswati Howie. Both attended the local gurukula on the ninety-acre New Varshana farm near Auckland, where the event will be held. To them, all the generations in the community, not just their own, are important.

“This Kuli Mela is not just a youth festival,” says Saraswati. “ Because we don’t live in a youth bubble. We’re trying to create a bond between the generations. To create real and genuine relationships between the younger kids and the older gurukulis; between us and the senior devotees.”

True to this goal, preparations for the Kuli Mela have brought New Zealand devotees of all ages together—all the way from twelve-year-old current gurukula students to 82-year-old Madri mataji. The togetherness has been healing for the devotees, who have been recovering since February of last year from the loss of their Christchurch temple and Deities in an earthquake.

As well as all generations, Kiwi Mela is also attempting to create a space where people from all spiritual affiliations will feel welcome. Organizers hope this will go some way towards healing old rifts and wounds in the New Zealand Hare Krishna community, which has been split for many years between ISKCON and followers of Narayan Maharaja.

 The New Varshana Farm and temple, the location for Kiwi Mela

“It’s about coming together, putting our differences aside, and focusing on the commonality that we have,” says Saraswati.

She also wants Kulis from all levels of spiritual practice to feel welcome and free from judgement.

“I hope to create an atmosphere where youth don’t feel that they have to ostracize themselves from Krishna when they go through whatever they’re gonna go through, as my generation did,” she says.

At the same time, Saraswati sees the Kiwi Mela as a chance to create a deeply Krishna conscious event that helps remove Kulis from any remaining perception by older devotees that they’re just “partiers.”

“As we mature, our events will mature accordingly,” she says.

Combining good healthy fun with Krishna consciousness, the Kiwi Mela will be split into two parts.

The first, “Golden Moon,” will run from December 27th until January 1st in Rotarua, one of New Zealand’s top tourist attractions. A beautiful geothermal hotspot, it’s filled with volcanos, geysers, hot waterfalls and thermal lakes.

 Kulis will bathe in the thermal lakes at Rotarua

Kulis will travel there from Auckland’s New Varshana farm on a specially donated bus at 9:30am on the 27th, launching into a “raging kirtan” as they depart. During the three-and-a-half-hour drive, they’ll also stop for a “Harinama picnic” at one of New Zealand’s most beautiful picnic spots.

At Rotarua, they’ll stay in forest cabins on land owned by the Maori—the native New Zealand tribal people— and will be welcomed by the local Maori tribe.

The first day at Golden Moon will be a relaxed get-to-know-each-other affair, with fun games and a feast in the evening.

The next four days will feature a packed schedule of hikes, bike rides, swimming and other nature activities.

On New Year’s Eve during the afternoon, Kulis will head out for a huge Harinama, chanting Hare Krishna on the streets of Rotarua town.

“Then we’ll return to our camp, where we’ll hold a Holi celebration, followed by what Vrinda has referred to as a gulab shindig,” laughs Saraswati. “We’ll be cooking about 500 gulabjamuns [syrupy sweets] and having gulab eating, throwing and catching, and juggling contests. Sounds rather dangerous!”

Kulis will then settle into a night of kirtan in the forest with a whole host of singers including Nitai and Vijay from US group the Kirtaniyas, who will be fusing traditional mantras with electronic dubstep beats.

 Pohutu geyser, Rotarua. (Courtesy of Destination Rotorua Marketing)

On January 1st, the group will have a spiritual program in honor of Vaishnava saint Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati’s Disappearance Day, and then return to the New Varshana farm.

The official Kuli Mela will run from the 2nd to the 6th of January on the waterfront property, where a 20 x 15 meter marquee will be set up with a full stage and Jagannath Deities from Whangarei preaching center to bless the event. A large yurt will also be set up for bhajans.

An elaborate opening ceremony on the 2nd will feature dances and other performances, as well as a welcome by VIP guests including a local Maori representative. It will be followed by get-to-know-each-other group activities, and in the evening a vegetarian barbecue and Hangi.

“Hangi is a traditional Maori way of cooking,” Saraswati explains. “You heat up rocks in the fire, wrap your food in leaves, and put it in a basket. Then you bury it with the hot rocks underground for three or four hours. When it comes out, it’s infused with the taste of the earth and is just like nothing you can even explain.”

January 3rd and 4th will be packed with activities. After the morning program at the temple and breakfast, Kulis will attend workshops and seminars from 10am to 1pm, break for lunch, and attend more workshops from 3pm to 6pm.

Offered by a host of senior devotees and Kulis, these will include everything from study of Krishna’s pastimes, to relationship skills and nurturing Krishna’s children, to yoga, Ayurvedic cooking, and martial arts, to creative arts like drama, jewelry-making, graffiti, wood-carving, and t-shirt-making.

 Thermal pool, Rotarua. (Courtesy of Destination Rotorua Marketing)

There will also be a major forum, led by Krishnendu Das and Damodara Das, which will explore what kind of vision Kulis would like to shape for the future, and what kind of responsibility they would like to take in the Hare Krishna movement.

At the end of each day, after evening arati at the temple and a buffet dinner, there will be an entertaining variety show from 7:30pm until 11:00pm. It will include dramas, puppet shows, Bharat Natyam dance, and acrobatics and martial arts from multi-talented artist Hari Narayan Das.

There will also be a packed roster of kirtan artists, including Sri Prahlad, Hari Bhakti Dey, and Sudevi and Kishori Mohan.

Finally, audiences will laugh and be thrilled at Kuli’s Got Talent, a humorous Kuli spin on the hit international TV show.

Judges including New Varshana temple president Kalasamvara Das and gurukula drama teacher Bhakti Marga Dasi will cast their verdicts on a variety of extremely talented mridanga players, acrobats, salsa dancers, jugglers and much much more.

Audiences will even get to enjoy the kind of hilariously bad performances featured at the beginning of the TV show, with senior devotees and Kulis delivering purposefully lame talents.

On the evening of January 4th, meanwhile, Kulis will head out onto Auckland’s Queen Street for an epic Harinama, after which they will invite members of the public back for an open event.

The Kuli Mela will end with a closing ceremony on Sunday the 6th, followed by a Kuli-led Sunday Feast at the temple.

“Kulis will be leading the kirtan, giving the class, cooking the prasadam, and serving and looking after everybody,” says Saraswati.

She hopes that attendees will come to Kuli Mela with an open mind and heart, and leave with deepened relationships, feeling inspired and empowered for the future.

“I want to show people that regardless of all our differences, we can work together, and we can create greatness—for Srila Prabhupada,” she says. “I just want to make him happy, and proud of us.”

To book your tickets and for more information, please visit http://kulimelanz.com.


Golden Age – Global Kirtan & Kulimela Association Featured In Bhakti Beat Magazine!
→ Seeking The Essence

Golden Age - Global Kirtan

End of the World? Chant Louder.  Where’s the Bhav on 12.21.12?

An article written by Brenda Patoine for Bhakti Beat and originally posted on December 20th, 2012.

It’s been the subject of scholarly study, doomsday prophesizing and New Age philosophizing alike for…well, pretty much forever.  It’s inspired countless books,  millions of articles, a major motion picture, and more than a few good cartoons.  Whatever your beliefs are about 12.21.12 — the end of the world, the beginning of a new world, or none of the above – one thing is clear:  the occasion is being marked worldwide with consciousness-raising events focused on prayer, meditation, and yes, kirtan.  Along with more than a few end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it blow-out bashes.

 

 

It’s no wonder: 12.21.12 is not only the much-ballyhooed date on which the Mayan calendar supposedly ends (but not really); it is also the winter solstice — the longest night of the year and the turning point for the “return of light” by way of gradually lengthening days.  Some theorists suggest the date coincides with Earth’s crossing a central nexxus in the Milky Way galaxy, signifying the end (or beginning) of an epoch in the orbit of our sun around the galaxy’s spiraling vortex.

There are as many theories out there about what 12.21.12 means as you care to dig for (30.5 million Google results in .24 seconds).  One recurring theme is the idea of a kind of global metanoia, a spiritual transformation or rise in consciousness like the world hasn’t seen in say, 5,125 years (the length of this last period in the Mayan timekeeping system).  Within the “conscious community,” 12.21.12 has become, it would seem, a lightning rod for stepping up the call for global unity and action to recognize our interconnectedness and avert ecological disaster on our home planet, a fate that seems to be racing toward us with accelerating speed.

With that in mind, we set out to find out what was happening in the bhakti community.  We didn’t have to look far…

Worldwide Events

Golden Age Global Kirtan

Quite simply, kirtan will be everywhere on 12.21.12.  From every corner of the globe, chanters will be beating their drums and raising their voices in mantra throughout the day, all day, all night.   Championed by NoCal bhakta K.d. Devi Dasi and the non-profit Kuli Mela Association, whose mission is to promote and preserve bhakti yoga philosophy, Golden Age Global Kirtan links chanters and Krishna communities worldwide for a common gathering celebrating “a shared experience of Loving Service, Bhakti Yoga.”

It has been a volunteer, person-to-person effort, Devi Dasi said, using social networking for spiritual activism. “On a deeper level we are activating a network of real people, real hearts to be connected, not on-line this time, but in our hearts, body, mind and spirit…in COMMUNITY!” she said.  As of Wednesday, some 25 countries had signed on to participate in Global Kirtan — with groups of ’2 or 200′ people — and the list was growing fast as the news went viral in the bhakti world.

“This is not simply each of us in our own corner praying,” Devi Dasi said. “This is a grass-roots call out to one another, as brothers and sisters, activating our communities with unified intentions, beyond borders, countries, or organization.”   For more info and to add your kirtan to the list, visit the Kulimela Assocation’s page on facebook.

UNIFY Global Moment of Peace

This worldwide effort links events around the globe in an umbrella event being called simply, UNIFY.  Highlights are a globally synchronized “Solstice Moment of Peace” at 11:11 GMT (6:11 a.m. EST) and a “Global Unification Moment” at 20:00 GMT (3 p.m. EDT), where people will gather the world over for a silent prayer, meditation or ceremony with the intention of uniting for world peace.  From a Unify.org press release:

The hope behind the ‘Unify’ idea is that joining in with these events will demonstrate that people have more desire to participate in something positive, than to dwell on the doom and gloom of apocalyptic predictions. Unify.org is serving as a hub for these events, including helping organize meditation flash mobs in city centers to live-streaming ceremonies at Mexican archaeological sites with hundreds of thousands in attendance to coordinating an interfaith moment in Jerusalem between major world religions.

Unify.org will live-stream footage of key events on the day including festivals, ceremonies and events from Jerusalem, The Pyramids at Giza, Stonehenge and Glastonbury, Chichen Itza, Palenque, Teotihuacan, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Austin, Texas, Lake Titicaca, Cape Town, Byron Bay, Australia and even Antarctica.  For details on the movement and individual events, see www.unify.org.

Global Convergence at Great Pyramids of Giza, Egypt

Global Convergence is a 3-day adventure retreat to Giza, Egypt (and a continuing Nile River cruise afterward) that culminates with a dawn-breaking ceremony at the Great Pyramid on 12.21.12, which will be live-streamed via www.unify.org.  Details of the ceremony are sketchy on the Global Convergence website, but as far as we can tell, it will feature “a selection of the top electronic music producers and DJ’s from the west coast’s music scene” as well as world-music pioneers Arjun Baba and Fallah Fi Allah, who never fail to rock the stage at Bhakti Fest with their high-voltage brand of Sufi Qawwali music.  Presented by L.A. electronic-music producers The Do Lab; for more details, see www.globalconvergence2012.com.

Best Bhakti Bets

(If we had a teleporter and could go anywhere, we’d beam in on these first — right after Arjun Baba’s set at the Great Pyramid, that is.)

Kirtaniyas at New Braj:  At the top of the list is the first-ever New Braj 24-Hour Kirtan at the community of Krishna devotees in New Braj Village in central California, near Sequoia National Park.  Spearheaded by The Kirtaniyas, the internationally beloved foursome of “Krishna kids” Vijay Krsna, Sarasvati, Rasika Dasi and Nitai Prem, this kirtan immersion will span 12 hours each day Friday and Saturday.  Rumor has it there may be a live-stream of the chanting (the next best thing to beaming there); stay tuned to The Bhakti Beat’s facebook page for up-to-the-minute updates.  Starts at 10 a.m., New Braj Village, CA.  Details here.

SRI Kirtan & World Peace in the Catskills: It will be mantras and meditation in the mountains at this weekend retreat featuring Sruti Ram and Ishwari, the Woodstock, NY duo behind SRI Kirtan, who will lead ecstatic chant as part of Friday evening’s program.  Go for the night or the whole weekend by joining the World Peace Meditation Retreat at the Ashokan Center in Olivebridge, N.Y.  Learn more.

Larisa Stow & Shakti Tribe in Phoenix: Can you say transformance? Any show with this band will transform you; Larisa Stow is passion personified, love without limits, delivering a wake-up call to anyone who will listen. Can you hear it? The Tribe takes their mantra rock to Phoenix this weekend, kicking it off with a celebration of ceremony and community with drum, flute, song and dance that they are headlining Friday night. On Saturday, Stow will lead a Mantra Playshop session, all part of the 12.21.12 festivities of the non-profit Fusion Foundation. Find out more.

Bhakti Blessings Coast-to-Coast

IN THE WEST

Venice, CA:  Rebirth of the Light Winter Solstice Movement Meditation with Shiva Rea, Dave Stringer, Global Sonic DJ Fabian Alsultany , Donna De Lory, Spring Groove, Yehoshua Brill and more. 2-10 p.m., Exhale Center for Sacred Movement, Venice, CA.  More info.

Los Angeles, CA:  Celebrating the New Age, an evening of “live yoga, live music, live food and live people” featuring multi-instrumentalist Sheela Bringi and Clinton Patterson (producer of Bringi’s debut CD in-the-works), with Leonice Shinneman, playing blues/raga/kirtan.  6:30 p.m. at Peace Yoga Gallery, Los Angeles.  Details.

Richmond, CA:  Blessings for the New Millennium,a multicultural evening of mantra, music and sacred ceremony, featuring Daniel Paul and Gina Salá, who are just finishing up their West Coast storm tour to launch their collaborative CD, Tabla Mantra. Includes Sound Healing with  Jan Cercone, Taiko drumming with Eden Aoba Taiko, and of course, tabla mantra with Paul & Salá.  Find out more.

San Rafael, CA:  Cosmic Dance Party with MC Yoga & special guests.  Described as an “Intergalactic Planetary Dance Party In Northern California to celebrate the end of the Mayan Calendar, the Winter Solstice, and anything else that makes you feel like dancing.”  That about covers it…and dance you will want to:  with Robin Livingston on deck and Amanda Devi on visuals, this threesome pumps out high-voltage, bass-heavy tracks from MC’s latest CD, Pilgrimage, that you can’t help but move to.  Get the scoop.

Vancouver, BC: Mantra, kirtan and labyrinth meditation featuring the World Peace Flame, organized by Sandra Leigh and Give Peace a Chant Kirtan Community. 7 p.m., Labyrinth at St. Paul’s Anglican Church, Vancouver, BC. Details here.

Seattle, WA: Dharma Sound is presenting kirtan at 7 p.m., Samudra Yoga, Bremerton, WA.

IN THE EAST

Rosemont, PA:  Stay Strong 2 Release Party and Winter Solstice kirtan celebration with David Newman, Mira and The Beloved.  This is the official release party for Stay Strong 2: You Can Count On Me.  The evening is a benefit for The Bridge Foundation and Global Green USA.  8 p.m., The New Leaf Club, Rosemont, PA.  Details here.

Boston, MA:  Tom Lena is hosting a special Solstice edition of his regularly scheduled Kitchari Kirtan, featuring Beantown chantress Irene Solea. The evening will open with Shakti Rowan leading the KK Posse in a Solstice Ritual to welcome the new earth. 7 p.m., Cambridge, MA.  Details here.

Bedford, NY:  Satya Franche & MA Kirtan will add their “vibration to the celestial vortex” for holiday chanting and potluck gathering, beginning 7 p.m. at Transcendence at Sun Raven, Bedford, NY.  More info.

West Hartford, CT: Celebrate the Winter Solstice with friends and family in a gathering that includes the ancient Homa Hotra fire ceremony to “let go of that which we no longer need and manifest all that we envision for ourselves in the future.”  And of course, there will be chanting and dancing.  8:30 p.m.; West Hartford Yoga.  Details here.

Bennington, VT:  DEVI presents an evening of Solstice kirtan with special guest, Bill ‘Jambavan’ Pfleging.  DEVI’s just-released CD, “The Path of Love,” will be available for purchase.  6 p.m., Karma Cat Yoga, Bennington, VT.  More info.

IN THE MIDWEST

Minneapolis, MN:  The Midwest gets a head start on 12.21.12 with a celebration of mantra by Heartland bhaktas Sitari and Kalyana with Pavan Kumar (aka Susan Shehata, Colleen Buckman and Keith Helke), who are releasing their first self-titled CD on 12.20.  The evening includes a guided “clearing” meditation and a celebration of the return of the sun, and also features the music of Blue Soul Caravan and special guest Jill James. Long-time champions of midwestern bhav, this Minneapolis-based band (which also includes Will Kemperman) made its debut at Bhakti Fest Midwest this summer.  Details here.

Green Bay, WI:  Erika King and Be Alford team up for live music and yin yoga for a Winter Solstice Celebration at the Studio for Well-Being in Neenah, WI.  More info.

Chicago, IL:  The Bodhi Spiritual Center is hosting Birth of the Golden Age Celebration, a two-hour program including a Q & A led by Mariana Gigea on the Awakened State, a Crystal Bowl Meditation, dancing, and hands-on blessings for awakening in the tradition of  Amma Bhagavan, founder of the Oneness University. Find out more.

Your turn: tell us where you’ll be chanting on this long-anticipated day.  Will you be celebrating, praying, hiding your head in the sand…?


Diary of a Lazy Mo’Fo
→ A Convenient Truth


The universe (aka - Shri Krishna) seems to be telling me that I'm a lazy piece of shit that's full of excuses. It started on Facebook last week when I saw a post by my dear god brother Advaita Acarya. It was a link to a video (which I didn't watch), but his comment was something like, "For those who see the importance of distributing Srila Prabhupada's books they'll find a way to do it. For those who don't they'll find a lot of excuses why they can't." Something like that. I replied with a half-joke, "If you ever need excuses, I have a long list (winky face)." I thought I was joking (and he knew I was joking), but was I really joking? Or was there some truth to what I had just said?

Then one night while laying down I was reading this article on Cracked.com:

http://www.cracked.com/blog/6-harsh-truths-that-will-make-you-better-person/

It was like the events of that earlier day all started to make sense. Without going into too much detail, basically I was yelled at for work-related stuff. It was very shocking and emotional for me. I was even crying about it. I was already emotional because of being sick and dealing with the side effects of antibiotics. The getting yelled at was just the proverbial straw that broke my back. It was devastating.

So when I read that article on Cracked.com it was as if Paramatma was speaking to me, telling me the reason why I was getting reprimanded: I'm lazy and full of excuses.

Then today I got an email from my wife and it was a link to this:

http://zenpencils.com/comic/97-charles-bukowski-air-and-light-and-time-and-space/

BAM! There it was...again. And when I asked my wife why she sent it to me, she mentioned how she thought it was a cool comic and that it could also be related to sadhana.

So there it is. Shri Krishna and Shri Guru are clearly speaking to me. I need to stop being lazy, stop making excuses. Not only in terms of devotional service, but just in general, in life itself. Life is not about sitting idly by the side and just avoiding everything and waiting for death.

The really icing on the cake about the message Krishna is sending me was when I came across this video on YouTube by accident:



Spiritual activism. Yeah. Being active. Spiritual life is not about doing nothing. It's not about moving into a cave and not mingling with society, although at times that's exactly what I'd like to do. No. The real experience, the real lessons, the real opportunity to put ideals into practice is out here in the world.

My desire to negate everything (like the Buddhists) is quite impersonal. My relationships with everyone are reflections of how I relate with Shri Guru and Shri Krishna. Seeing duality between people I like and people I don't like is all illusion. Everything is Krishna and Krishna's energies. And I don't mean that in a "repeating what I heard" kind of way. I mean that in the way that THAT'S reality. To not see that is illusion.

Shri Guru speaks to us through everyone and everything, as long as we are receptive to it and not defensive, absorbed in false ego or full of pride. Through humility we can hear the message. We can't hold on to our initial negative reactions of anger, hurt, betrayal, disdain, denial, etc. We can't get caught up in the externals or only see the surface of things. We have to look beyond the appearance of the messenger and hear the message. We have to realize that every interaction with others is an interaction with Krishna.

So now that I can hear what Krishna is trying to tell me, the question becomes, "What am I going to do with this message?" Am I going to ignore it and keep doing whatever? Or am I going to try and make an improvement? Am I going to try and stop making excuses for everything and become proactive and enthused about serving everyone and everything?

My tendency to be lazy is deep-rooted. My tendency to make excuses is also deep-rooted. I can only pray to Shri Nityananda Prabhu that just as He has given me this message, that please also give me the strength to make a change.



Diary of a Lazy Mo’Fo
→ A Convenient Truth


The universe (aka - Shri Krishna) seems to be telling me that I'm a lazy piece of shit that's full of excuses. It started on Facebook last week when I saw a post by my dear god brother Advaita Acarya. It was a link to a video (which I didn't watch), but his comment was something like, "For those who see the importance of distributing Srila Prabhupada's books they'll find a way to do it. For those who don't they'll find a lot of excuses why they can't." Something like that. I replied with a half-joke, "If you ever need excuses, I have a long list (winky face)." I thought I was joking (and he knew I was joking), but was I really joking? Or was there some truth to what I had just said?

Then one night while laying down I was reading this article on Cracked.com:

http://www.cracked.com/blog/6-harsh-truths-that-will-make-you-better-person/

It was like the events of that earlier day all started to make sense. Without going into too much detail, basically I was yelled at for work-related stuff. It was very shocking and emotional for me. I was even crying about it. I was already emotional because of being sick and dealing with the side effects of antibiotics. The getting yelled at was just the proverbial straw that broke my back. It was devastating.

So when I read that article on Cracked.com it was as if Paramatma was speaking to me, telling me the reason why I was getting reprimanded: I'm lazy and full of excuses.

Then today I got an email from my wife and it was a link to this:

http://zenpencils.com/comic/97-charles-bukowski-air-and-light-and-time-and-space/

BAM! There it was...again. And when I asked my wife why she sent it to me, she mentioned how she thought it was a cool comic and that it could also be related to sadhana.

So there it is. Shri Krishna and Shri Guru are clearly speaking to me. I need to stop being lazy, stop making excuses. Not only in terms of devotional service, but just in general, in life itself. Life is not about sitting idly by the side and just avoiding everything and waiting for death.

The really icing on the cake about the message Krishna is sending me was when I came across this video on YouTube by accident:



Spiritual activism. Yeah. Being active. Spiritual life is not about doing nothing. It's not about moving into a cave and not mingling with society, although at times that's exactly what I'd like to do. No. The real experience, the real lessons, the real opportunity to put ideals into practice is out here in the world.

My desire to negate everything (like the Buddhists) is quite impersonal. My relationships with everyone are reflections of how I relate with Shri Guru and Shri Krishna. Seeing duality between people I like and people I don't like is all illusion. Everything is Krishna and Krishna's energies. And I don't mean that in a "repeating what I heard" kind of way. I mean that in the way that THAT'S reality. To not see that is illusion.

Shri Guru speaks to us through everyone and everything, as long as we are receptive to it and not defensive, absorbed in false ego or full of pride. Through humility we can hear the message. We can't hold on to our initial negative reactions of anger, hurt, betrayal, disdain, denial, etc. We can't get caught up in the externals or only see the surface of things. We have to look beyond the appearance of the messenger and hear the message. We have to realize that every interaction with others is an interaction with Krishna.

So now that I can hear what Krishna is trying to tell me, the question becomes, "What am I going to do with this message?" Am I going to ignore it and keep doing whatever? Or am I going to try and make an improvement? Am I going to try and stop making excuses for everything and become proactive and enthused about serving everyone and everything?

My tendency to be lazy is deep-rooted. My tendency to make excuses is also deep-rooted. I can only pray to Shri Nityananda Prabhu that just as He has given me this message, that please also give me the strength to make a change.



How Millions of Farmers are Advancing Agriculture For Themselves
→ The Yoga of Ecology

Click here to read the full article from Jonathan Latham at Independent Science News


The world record yield for paddy rice production is not held by an agricultural research station or by a large-scale farmer from the United States, but by Sumant Kumar who has a farm of just two hectares in Darveshpura village in the state of Bihar in Northern India. His record yield of 22.4 tons per hectare, from a one-acre plot, was achieved with what is known as the System of Rice Intensification (SRI). To put his achievement in perspective, the average paddy yield worldwide is about 4 tons per hectare. Even with the use of fertilizer, average yields are usually not more than 8 tons.

Sumant Kumar’s success was not a fluke. Four of his neighbors, using SRI methods, and all for the first time, matched or exceeded the previous world record from China, 19 tons per hectare. Moreover, they used only modest amounts of inorganic fertilizer and did not need chemical crop protection.

How Millions of Farmers are Advancing Agriculture For Themselves
→ The Yoga of Ecology

Click here to read the full article from Jonathan Latham at Independent Science News


The world record yield for paddy rice production is not held by an agricultural research station or by a large-scale farmer from the United States, but by Sumant Kumar who has a farm of just two hectares in Darveshpura village in the state of Bihar in Northern India. His record yield of 22.4 tons per hectare, from a one-acre plot, was achieved with what is known as the System of Rice Intensification (SRI). To put his achievement in perspective, the average paddy yield worldwide is about 4 tons per hectare. Even with the use of fertilizer, average yields are usually not more than 8 tons.

Sumant Kumar’s success was not a fluke. Four of his neighbors, using SRI methods, and all for the first time, matched or exceeded the previous world record from China, 19 tons per hectare. Moreover, they used only modest amounts of inorganic fertilizer and did not need chemical crop protection.

Wish Granted
→ Seed of Devotion

From the moment I had woken up at 3:30 in the morning, I was an engine revving to go. Go, go, go! Go to Mangal Arati, go to the Mayapur Academy, go practice, go chant, go! Get everything done so that I could go hear my guru speak tonight.

Radhanath Swami had been here in Mayapur for almost a week, speaking every night to 4,000 people on the glories of Lord Chaitanya. Even though the pandal where he was speaking was only a couple hundred meters from where I was studying, I had not yet had time to spend one full night to listen. I was just so, so busy.

But tonight would be different. I was scheduling my day meticulously to leave school on time. Not only that, I was going to sit up at the very, very front and look at Maharaj's face the entire time!

Night fell. Despite my planning, I was still at school. Still practicing for my exam.

The lecture had begun. The pandal was so close by the Academy that I could hear the echoes of the microphone as Maharaj spoke. I felt spikes of pain to be so close yet so far. My hopes from the whole day crashed around me.

And yet at the same time, I knew that by being here, studying for Krishna, that was what Radhanath Swami himself would've wanted of me.

So I stayed.

Later that night, I was walking home from dinner with my friend Jahnava. We were turning a corner on the road when I saw up ahead a figure in orange, walking by himself, his orange cloth lit up by a streetlight behind him. At first I thought he was a brahmachari.

Then I looked again.

"Oh my, Maharaj!" I exclaimed. I immediately knelt to the dust to offer my respects. Jahnava also knelt.

By the time I had stood up, Maharaj had walked up to both of us, his eyes shining, his face beaming.

"Bhakti lata devi!" he said and looked into my eyes. "I have been yearning to see you."

I was speechless for a moment. "Maharaj... I... I've been yearning to see you!"

He was quiet for a moment, smiling, then he turned to Jahnava and asked, "What is your name?"

"Jahnava," she replied.

"Beautiful," he said, holding her gaze for several moments. He turned to me again and was quiet. Then, as if he had all the time in the world, he asked me gently, "How are you?"

"I am very well, Maharaj," I said, and I was thinking I would just end it there. After all, this was someone who only an hour before had been speaking to 4,000 people. Surely he had other things to do, other people to talk to. But I found no such mood of rush in Maharaj's face or his voice. He simply wanted to know how I was.

And so I shared with Maharaj a little about Mayapur Academy, and we spoke about how to learn the essence of every ritual we do. He said that he may come to my graduation in March to hand students their diplomas. "I may hand you yours," Maharaj said with a smile.

Then we folded our palms and bid each other goodbye and goodnight.

Jahnava and I continued to walk home, and my eyes were wide and shining.

The holy land of Mayapur seems to grant wishes.


Subscribe

Wish Granted
→ Seed of Devotion

From the moment I had woken up at 3:30 in the morning, I was an engine revving to go. Go, go, go! Go to Mangal Arati, go to the Mayapur Academy, go practice, go chant, go! Get everything done so that I could go hear my guru speak tonight.

Radhanath Swami had been here in Mayapur for almost a week, speaking every night to 4,000 people on the glories of Lord Chaitanya. Even though the pandal where he was speaking was only a couple hundred meters from where I was studying, I had not yet had time to spend one full night to listen. I was just so, so busy.

But tonight would be different. I was scheduling my day meticulously to leave school on time. Not only that, I was going to sit up at the very, very front and look at Maharaj's face the entire time!

Night fell. Despite my planning, I was still at school. Still practicing for my exam.

The lecture had begun. The pandal was so close by the Academy that I could hear the echoes of the microphone as Maharaj spoke. I felt spikes of pain to be so close yet so far. My hopes from the whole day crashed around me.

And yet at the same time, I knew that by being here, studying for Krishna, that was what Radhanath Swami himself would've wanted of me.

So I stayed.

Later that night, I was walking home from dinner with my friend Jahnava. We were turning a corner on the road when I saw up ahead a figure in orange, walking by himself, his orange cloth lit up by a streetlight behind him. At first I thought he was a brahmachari.

Then I looked again.

"Oh my, Maharaj!" I exclaimed. I immediately knelt to the dust to offer my respects. Jahnava also knelt.

By the time I had stood up, Maharaj had walked up to both of us, his eyes shining, his face beaming.

"Bhakti lata devi!" he said and looked into my eyes. "I have been yearning to see you."

I was speechless for a moment. "Maharaj... I... I've been yearning to see you!"

He was quiet for a moment, smiling, then he turned to Jahnava and asked, "What is your name?"

"Jahnava," she replied.

"Beautiful," he said, holding her gaze for several moments. He turned to me again and was quiet. Then, as if he had all the time in the world, he asked me gently, "How are you?"

"I am very well, Maharaj," I said, and I was thinking I would just end it there. After all, this was someone who only an hour before had been speaking to 4,000 people. Surely he had other things to do, other people to talk to. But I found no such mood of rush in Maharaj's face or his voice. He simply wanted to know how I was.

And so I shared with Maharaj a little about Mayapur Academy, and we spoke about how to learn the essence of every ritual we do. He said that he may come to my graduation in March to hand students their diplomas. "I may hand you yours," Maharaj said with a smile.

Then we folded our palms and bid each other goodbye and goodnight.

Jahnava and I continued to walk home, and my eyes were wide and shining.

The holy land of Mayapur seems to grant wishes.


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Travel Journal#8.21: London, New York, Jacksonville
→ Travel Adventures of a Krishna Monk


Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 8, No. 21
By Krishna-kripa das
(November 2012, part one)
London, New York, Jacksonville
(Sent from Stuyvesant Falls, New York, on December 17, 2012)

Where I Went and What I Did

I continued to do harinama and lectures in London, based at Radha-Londonisvara’s temple on Soho Street for three days, flying to New York City the afternoon of the third day, to do harinama for a week with Rama Raya and Ekalavya Prabhus and their party who chant for four hours a day, mostly at Union Square. It was amazing to see the enthusiasm of those devotees for harinama and the enthusiasm of the New Yorkers who listened, gave donations, and took books about Krishna consciousness. I took a three-day break from the harinama party to visit family members. I visited my sister and my mother for a day each, cooking several meals and helping my mother with various computer issues. I visited my diksa-guru, Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami, where I assisted his team in a successful marathon to get the first volume of his autobiography, The Story of My Life, printed by the beginning of December. On November 15, I flew to Jacksonville, where I spent a very enlivening day assisting in our outreach at the University of North Florida there.

This issue is bountiful with the insights of great souls. I begin with many quotes from the books and lecture of our founder-acarya Srila Prabhupada. Next there are some wonderful insights from the letters of his guru maharaja, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura from a collection of his letters called Patravali, soon to be published in an abridged form by Touchstone Publishing as Patramrita. After that there some useful quotes from Bhakti Charu Swami and Radhanath Swami. Then I have excerpts from the first volume of the recently published, The Story of My Life, by Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami, mostly memories about the early days of our first center at 26 Second Ave. Then there are some revolutionary quotes by Aindra Prabhu, a great lover of the holy name. And Rama Raya Prabhu, a follower of Aindra, shares his conviction about the public chanting of the holy name. And there is still more!

Itinerary

Dec. 17–19, 2012: serving Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami in Stuyvesant, NY
Dec. 19–23, 2012: harinama in New York City
Dec. 24–25, 2012: visiting family in Albany, NY
Dec. 26, 2012–
Jan. 7, 2013: harinama in New York City
Jan. 8–April 2013: Gainesville, FL (with visits to Tallahassee and Jacksonville)

London Harinamas

I did harinama in London the first three days of November, before flying to New York. As the month of Karttika was starting, there was increased impetus to do more chanting and that boosted attendance on our harinamas. The after-breakfast harinama in London was much more regular and attended by more devotees than usual. In addition, late Friday afternoon we did harinama to Kings Cross for their Friday evening program at their storefront called “Matchless Gifts.” The Saturday Weekend Warrior program of chanting and book distribution was located in Ealing, a London borough which is practically on the way to Heathrow Airport, so I was able to participate for three hours before flying to New York.

Harinama in Manhattan

For several months Rama Raya Prabhu, who spent many years on Aindra Prabhu’s 24-Hour team in Vrindavan, and Ekalavya Prabhu, who plays the trumpet and is an excellent musician and performer, have been doing harinama in Manhattan, usually at Union Square, for four hours each and every day from 4 to 8 p.m. I joined their party for seven days. Once during foul weather we were chanting at Roosevelt Avenue subway station. I was singing my favorite tune of Hare Krishna and Ekalavya Prabhu played trumpet and a crowd of at least fifty people were watching us. I was amazed to see so many people stopped to watch a kirtana in America, especially one I was leading. One Sunday we chanted at Union Square for six hours from 2 to 8 p.m. One time we had seventeen people chanting, mostly practicing devotees with a few new people who had become interested from the daily public chanting in their city. Another day we had fifteen people. Even the slowest days we always had six or seven people at the end, although sometimes in the beginning there were just three or four of us. Some devotees are dedicated and go out every day for at least part of the time. One of these is Rasika Gopi dd, who as Bhaktin Rose went out on harinama with me twice in the Netherlands two and a half years ago.

Several new people have developed an interest in kirtana and Krishna consciousness during the several months the daily harinama has been going on and several thousand books have been distributed to people, just from them hearing the holy name and choosing to give a donation. Both Rama Raya and Ekalavya Prabhus are very enthusiastic about the program, and after a short break from January to March to go on pilgrimage in India, they are looking forward to another successful year.

Sharing Krishna at the University of North Florida

I have been singing on the campus of the University of North Florida in Jacksonville a few times a year since back in 2003 or 2004. I find the students are less under pressure in that relatively small school, and you always find interesting and interested people. People buy books, play instruments with us, like our treats, and talk about spiritual issues.

After a two-and-a-half-hour flight and a two-hour bus ride, I arrived at the campus too tired to chant, so I took lunch and a nap. Then in the late afternoon I decided to sit on a bench on the green and play my harmonium and sing for a couple of hours before our Thursday evening program and invite some new people to come.

I was surprised to meet Regina, one girl who remembered me from our weekly programs back in January, and who told me she has been coming to them ever since. Another girl, Jessica, just came to a single program, back in January, and also remembered me from that. We had a nice conversation about some supernatural experiences she had, and she promised to come to the program. On top of that, I met a math professor, who had done her graduate studies at University of California at San Diego and developed a love for the Krishna lunch the devotees served there each week. I had met her before on the green at UNF, and on days I did not see her there, I would bring prasadam to her office. It was wonderful that she spontaneously walked by during the brief time I was chanting there. I also met one young Indian man who is a Krishna devotee, and had looked online for Krishna temples in the area but had failed to find any. I told him about our program on the campus, and about our temples in Alachua and Gainesville. As a result he became a regular attendee at our programs at UNF.

By the fall semester of 2012, Dina Bandhu and Amrita Keli Prabhus, the devotees doing programs at UNF nature pavilion since January, had created enough interest in the students that they could create a Krishna Club with meetings on the campus. I was happy to see about fifteen people at the weekly program. Sometimes they said they got twenty-five. They do some yoga, have a talk related to Bhagavad-gita, have chanting of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra with instruments, and then Krishna prasadam, spiritual food for the soul. When I was there, after the program they discussed plans for a weekend field trip to a home program in LaCrosse and the Govardhan Puja festival in our Alachua temple. I was surprised to see the number of students interested in the devotional adventure. It was inspiring for me to see the interest in Krishna consciousness in a new place, and I bet such programs could be started on many campuses by enthusiastic young devotees who simply share in a straight forward way whatever they have learned about Krishna with others.

Insights

Srila Prabhupada:

from Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, Adi-lila 1.55, purport:

“The development of submissiveness is the cause of proportionate spiritual realization, by which one can ultimately meet the Supreme Lord in person, as a man meets another man face to face. Because of his development of transcendental attachment for the Supreme Lord, a surrendered soul feels the presence of his beloved everywhere, and all his senses are engaged in the loving service of the Lord. His eyes are engaged in seeing the beautiful couple Sri Radha and Krishna sitting on a decorated throne beneath a desire tree in the transcendental land of Vrindavan. His nose is engaged in smelling the spiritual aroma of the lotus feet of the Lord. Similarly, his ears are engaged in hearing messages from Vaikuntha, and his hands embrace the lotus feet of the Lord and His associates. Thus the Lord is manifested to a pure devotee from within and without. This is one of the mysteries of the devotional relationship in which a devotee and the Lord are bound by a tie of spontaneous love. To achieve this love should be the goal of life for every living being.”

from a lecture:

In this material life, you will never be able to make anyone happy by your activities. That is not possible. Neither you will be happy.

For the jnanis (those interested in cultivating knowledge) Krishna says, “After many births and deaths, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare.” (Bg. 7.19), for the karmis (those interested in enjoying their senses) Krishna says, “Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer or give away, and whatever austerities you perform — do that, O son of Kunti, as an offering to Me.” (Bg. 9.27), and for the yogis Krishna says, “A yogi is greater than the ascetic, greater than the empiricist and greater than the fruitive worker. Therefore, O Arjuna, in all circumstances, be a yogi” (Bg. 6.46).

Nirguna means Krishna is not influenced by the three qualities of material nature (gunas) not that He has no transcendental qualities.

from a lecture:

Meditation begins with the lotus feet of Lord. Meditation on Krishna’s lotus feet destroys the dirty things in our heart.

Krishna’s feet are marked with four primary symbols: ankusa (goad), vajra (thunderbolt), sauraubya (lotus), . . .

When a British reporter asked me where hell was. I told him London is hell. There is no sun. It is always rainy and cold. You to do not have to search out hell in another place, hell is already here.

There is no light so you are paying electricity bill, but in the spiritual world no additional illumination is required. Why do you not go there? Why should we pay the electric bill? Go to the spiritual world. Every planet is effulgence.

In the material world, even the richest person is full of anxiety, but the spiritual world is Vaikuntha, without anxiety, so we should aspire to go there.

No material condition can check Krishna consciousness.

from an early-morning walk in Vrindvana, India, in September 1975:

On one side they promote contraceptives, and on the other side they encourage women
to marry three times a week. This is their civilization. If you want to stop increasing the population, why are you inducing people: “Indulge in sex”? Everything is contradictory. And it is all based on sense gratification.

from a lecture on Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.2.6 in London on July 23, 1973:

Without following the religious principle there is not humanity. . . . It does not matter what kind of religion you follow, it doesn’t matter, but you must follow. . . . That is the duty, dharma. Human civilization begins when there is a religious conception of life.

Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura:

from the abridged Patravali, known as Patramrita, to be printed by Touchstone Publishing:

If you pray for the well-being of your subordinates then your own spiritual progress will take place.

As far as the present anarthas [unwanted tendencies] are concerned, if your hearing and chanting is very strong, they cannot display their prominence.
When I think that I am well, I become averse to Krishna, and as a result, I consider senior devotees to be junior to me. That is why, considering this, Lord Krishna keeps me in various distressful conditions, such as in ill health and other inconveniences. At such times I try to understand the meaning of the verse beginning with tat te’nukampam [My dear Lord, one who earnestly waits for You to bestow Your causeless mercy upon him, all the while patiently suffering the reactions of his past misdeeds and offering You respectful obeisances with his heart, words and body, is surely eligible for liberation, for it has become his rightful claim. (Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.14.8)].

When we remain absorbed in material subjects, which are not related to Krishna, we are inclined to quarrel with the different people of the world.

I am very glad to learn that Bhaktisarvasva Giri has received an English certificate. If the sannyasis and brahmacaris keep proving their merit in this way at different places, our happiness will know no bounds.

We should have churches for devotion and love all over India (preaching centers for pure devotional service and love of Krishna). Perhaps you remember the teachings of Mahaprabhu:

prithivite ache yata nagaradi-grama
sarvatra pracara haibe mora nama

“In every town and village of the world, My name [the holy name of Krishna] will be preached.”

No one has the right to drink even a drop of nectar from the ocean of the transcendental mellows of Lord Krishna’s pastimes without the mercy of the daughter of King Vrishabhanu [Radharani, Lord Krishna’s consort].

The dim reflection of madhurya-rasa is svakiya-rasa, and so it is simply another form of dasya-rasa. Many people make a mistake by accepting Lord Narayana’s pastimes with His legitimate wife as madhurya-rasa.

“A Vaishnava comes to this material world according to his karma, and after spending a fixed amount of time here, he goes to where he is being sent by Baladeva, according to his qualifications. Mahalaksmi resides within Balarama, and within Mahalaksmi resides the Supreme Lord. Therefore, Tota has gone back to serve his worshipable Lord. He was a Vaishnava part and parcel of Nityananda Prabhu, the predominating Lord of the sandhini potency and so if you learn to treat Lord Vishnu as your son, you will no longer feel the absence of your son.
“As the Supreme Lord lived in the heart of Tota and so you served Him, so now you should serve Lord Baladeva. The material body of Tota has been merged into the five gross material elements. The spirit soul of Tota will remain engaged in the service of the energetic Lord. Your material son has been separated from his material father. He is meant to be enjoyed by the Supreme Lord and so his real business is to serve Him. Realizing that you are not conditioned by maya, the Supreme Lord will not allow you to become overwhelmed with grief and will bestow upon you His unlimited mercy and power. This is my feeling.”

When Mahaprabhu accepted the renounced order of life, He said to His old mother, His wife Vishnupriya-devi, and the residents of Navadvipa, “I am only a human being and I am related to all of you in some kind of relationship. When I am gone, you should establish your relationship with Krishna instead of Me and thus give Me an opportunity to serve Lord Hari independently.”

“They may think that sincere premika bhaktas, who are under the shelter of the transcendental parakiya-rasa, are less ethical, but love for Hari has such a wonderful power that even a greatly delightful moral standard becomes dim in front of it.”

The Supreme Lord keeps Himself hidden within this universe in order to test us. If we can perceive Him behind every object, our apparent misunderstandings will diminish.

The Supreme Lord’s testing place is this material world. In order to pass this test, one has to hear glorification of Hari from the mouths of devotees of Hari.

Only those whose time for the destruction of anarthas has arrived will hear lectures on the topics of Hari and thus become successful in their attempt to achieve the ultimate goal of life.

If you chant one hundred thousand holy names every day then the offenders will not be able to disturb your bhajana.

There cannot be any better and more favorable condition for bhajana than giving up bad association.

In the inclination for service on the path of aisvarya, the chanting of the holy name, Hare Rama, refers to Lord Rama, the son of Dasaratha. But the devotees who worship the Lord on the path of madhurya know Rama to be Gopi-ramana, or the enjoyer of the gopis. He is the son of Nanda. In that case, the word Rama refers to Radha-ramana, and the word Hara refers to the daughter of Vrsabhanu.

There is never any possibility of falling down for a person who has received even a hint, or reflection, of the mula-mantra, or the secret of unalloyed bhajana. Still, as full-fledged members, their inability to accept the authority of the matha as a result of their previous offenses committed against the Vaishnavas is ultimately due to their personal weakness. When, by the grace of the Supreme Lord, the service attitude is progressively increased within their heart, they will not fall prey to sinful propensities. Try to benefit such fallen persons by helping them. That will be an act of real friendship.

Thoughtless and ignorant people who are unable to comprehend the magnanimous pastimes of exalted personalities question, “Why did Kala Krishnadasa, who was under the shelter of Gaurasundara, become attracted to the Bhattathari women? Why did Chota Haridasa, rather than exhibiting the example of a devotee, engage in inferior activity on the pretext of serving Gaura? Why did Ramacandra Puri give up his subordination to Madhavendra Puri? Why did a few so-called sons of Advaita Acarya Prabhu, and a few so-called disciples of Virabhadra, become independent?”
Ignorant people may like the arguments that challenge the faith of those on the kanistha and madhyama platforms which are put forth by those who are out of touch with reality and cannot accept the actual truth, but when these foolish people enter the deep meaning of the transcendentally magnanimous pastimes of exalted personalities who are under the shelter of Lord Caitanya or His devotees, they will understand that in order to provide an opportunity for well-being to all unfit and fallen souls, Lord Caitanya has revealed the truth that all living entities are constitutionally servants of Lord Krishna. Even though the service of Krishna temporarily manifested in a perverted form as an aversion to Krishna when combined with material enjoyment is abominable in the eyes of unqualified gross materialists who believe in direct perception, it does not violate the principle of the api cet suduracara verse. A maha-bhagavata knows everyone as his spiritual master and therefore only a maha-bhagavata is the spiritual master of the whole world.

The goal of our service is to arrange a meeting between the object of worship and the worshiper.

Bhajana is not something to make a show of. If we chant the holy name loudly, the enjoyment of idleness cannot devour us.

Bhakti Charu Swami:

Lord Caitanya taught Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Vrindavan is His abode, and the gopis method of worship is best.

If Yasoda knew that Krishna was the Supreme Personality could she try to tie Him up?

Everyone forgets that Krishna is God in Vrindavan.

The relationships of friendship, parenthood, and conjugal love are prominent in Vrindavan.

Aghasura could not be killed by the demigods, who would tremble in fear at the sound of his name.

If one performs vaidhi-bhakti he attains Vaikuntha.

After Krishna demonstrated his pastimes, he considered that when bhakti is merely performed according to rules and regulations, no one would ever attain Goloka Vrindavan.

Raganuga means to follow a resident of Vrindavan. By serving Lord Caitanya, we are serving Radharani, and what greater resident of Vrindavan is there than Radharani?

Asvatthama had the benediction from Lord Shiva to be invisible for one night, and so he could kill the sleeping Pandavas without being stopped. Why would Krishna would allow them to be killed? They had played their role in His pastimes and so they would not be needed in this world.

At the border of Vrindavan and Mathura when Krishna and Akrura bathed, Shyamasundara Krishna returned to Vrindavan and Vasudeva Krishna continued to Mathura and Dvaraka.

To go from Vaikuntha to Goloka Vrindavan, you have to come to this world and do sankirtana in Vrindavan.

Regarding your mother, because she went back to Godhead, you should consider what is your relationship with her now. Do you want to follow her example? Do you want to assist her in her service to Krishna? Do you want to pray to her that you might also be engaged in Krishna’s service?

When you give up an old car and buy a new one, do you lament? So in the same way, we should not lament when one gets a better body for serving Krishna.

A rich man is always changing his car while a poor man holds on to it until it is a piece of junk. We are neither the rich man nor the poor man. We are the chauffeur of the richest man, and He will certainly make sure we have a first class car to drive in His service, so we do not have to worry.

Radhanath Swami:

from a BTG article:

Mother Theresa spoke to me years ago, “The greatest problem in this world is not the hunger of the stomach but the hunger of the heart. All over the world both rich and poor suffer. They are lonely, starving for love. Only God’s love can satisfy the hunger of the heart.”

Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami:

from his autobiography, The Story of My Life:

It is always good to live with the chanting and to bring it out in a time of difficulty. It may seem odd to the people who are confining you, but it will always work in your favor. They will know you are religious and serious.

And I was there among the first. I feel he [Srila Prabhupada] will always remember me as “Satsvarupa” from my typing and donations and giving him a daily mango. He picked me up as a sad lonely hippie and made me a happy and responsible son. I will never forget those days or fail to treasure them.

At the welfare office I chanted Hare Krishna mantras silently in my mind. The Swami had approved the practice. I had told him my co-workers engaged in talking nonsense. He said, “Even the greatest philosophers are talking nonsense. Go on chanting Hare Krishna in your mind.”

Going to meet the Swami was the nectar of life, and I did it every morning for Caitanya-caritamrta class and every evening for kirtana and his Bhagavad-gita class. He was so kind and inviting, accepting me as I was, and giving me typing tasks. I gave him my money and that solidified my relationship. He called me “Sat-svaroop.” I don’t have to make up the early days. I just have to remember them as they were. Gradually more intimacy developed and a sense of belonging to his group. I was learning the philosophy of Krishna and eating lunch with him daily and taking “heavenly porridge” with the boys in the morning. It was a favorable burgeoning time. I remember leaving the storefront in the morning and walking to my workplace, feeling that I was a cowherd boy with my necktie in my back pocket. I had friendly talks with Rayarama and the others and felt they were my brotherhood of friends. I had moments alone with the Swami when I asked him questions about the philosophy and commented on how I was feeling. I was no longer intimidated by the city buildings in the concrete jungle. I saw them as material energy, and now they were temporary and in a sense unreal. Real was Krishna in the spiritual world. We had pictures of Radha and Krishna in Goloka Vrindavan. Gradually we were setting the foundation for lifelong commitment starting with the summer of 1966. We kind of knew what we were getting into.

I knew the Swami as my spiritual master, the guru of my soul. He was guiding me into my relationship with Krishna through him. We needed him to be there, and we wanted him and he was there. We knew where to find him, in his apartment, in his temple. He started a Sunday Love Feast and chanting in Tompkins Square Park. He was like putting milk in a bowl, and we were like cats lapping it up. Everything was auspicious, even as the season changed. So life revolved around the activities with the Swami and the future seemed eternal. We didn’t think of it ending. This was just fine, getting up at 1 a.m. and chanting japa on the red beads, sitting on the floor. Then dressing and leaving the apartment, entering the streets and passing people on your way to the storefront. As dependable as the Big Ben clock in London, the Swami would enter the storefront and step out of his shoes and sit and lead us in the morning tune chant for twenty minutes. Then he set up his reel-to-reel tape recorder and started lecturing about Sanatana Swami’s getting out of jail and going to meet Lord Caitanya in Benares. A cliff hanger lecture every morning. I can keep going back and remembering, and it’s always there. I don’t have to make it up. It all actually happened, and it was wonderful as he took me up and molded me into a devotee of Krishna consciousness. He is my Swami, and I hope to remember him now and at the hour of my death and to somehow go to him in that same mood as when I first joined him.

Aindra Prabhu:

from a lecture on March 16, 2009, in Varsana:

Humility means you have to be humble enough to realize that you are a fallen conditioned soul and your only hope is the sankirtana which has been specifically prescribed by the scripture and by Lord Caitanya and His representatives for the fallen souls of this age. No other process can help you.

Manadena means to respect the actual position of the living entities by engaging them in devotional service.

Book distribution is meant to convince the people to take to the sankirtana movement of Lord Caitanya.

If people do not do sankirtana. they will look for a higher taste elsewhere.

Japa is like taking tablets, and sankirtana is an injection.

from a lecture in March of 2010:

There are five more important items of devotional service, but the supreme item is nama-sankirtana. The other items cannot be complete without nama-sankirtana.

One comes to Vrindavan for the service of Srimati Radharani, and the best way to please Srimati Radharani is by chanting Hare Krishna. By pleasing Radharani only can we get the original Krishna.

We used to chant 8 or 10 hours a day [in public], and on Saturday 15 hours. Srila Prabhupada wrote a letter full of approval to Damodara Prabhu, our temple president, for our program in Washington, D.C., where we were chanting 14 hours a day.

In Vrindavan, for every hour of kirtana we get credit for a thousand hours of kirtana.

All except nama-sankirtana [the congregational chanting of the holy name] and what supports it, are cheating religion.

Laksmi Nrsimha Prabhu:

Rupa Goswami read Bharata Muni’s Rasa-tattva, describing mundane relationships in detail, and used his ideas in describing the eternal relationships we can have with Krishna.

In explaining the different rasas to people, I ask them, “Isn’t the love you have for your children different from the love you have for your spouse or the love you have for your parents?”

Dasa Mula—Ten Roots given by Bhaktivinoda Thakura
    1. Pramana: Evidence comes from the scripture.
    2. Parama-tattva: Hari alone is the Truth.
    3. He is the possessor of all potency.
    4. He is the source of all relationships, rasa.
    5. We are all his amsas (parts).
    6. Souls in this world are baddha (bound by maya [illusion]).
    7. Liberated souls are free from maya.
    8. We are simultaneous one with and different from Krishna [acintya-bheda-abheda].
    9. Pure devotion the is only means for perfection.
    10. Love of Krishna is the goal.

Respect means to look again and appreciate the good qualities of the person.

Aldous Huxley says the most realistic vision is to see our ourselves the way others see us and to see others the way they see themselves.

William James says that when two person are in a room there are actually six people: the way each person sees himself, the way each person sees the other, and the way each person actually is.

There is a Sufi saying that “words that come from the heart go to the heart, and words that just come from the lips do not make it past the ears.”

If we appreciate the qualities of others, we should express it.

Dayananda Swami:

Srila Prabhupada did not think the strategy of his godbrothers to distribute the books of his guru maharaja which were written for another time and place was so wise.

As we develop bhakti, our bhakti will impel us to spread it to others.

Maya likes senior devotees. [She says:] “Come with me . . . ”

Rama Raya Prabhu:

This sankirtana movement is not meant just to make a few street vendors teasingly take a few dance steps but to bring everyone on the planet to the point of chanting Hare Krishna with faith and love.

Because of the devotee’s attraction to Krishna, what is going on in the material world, no matter how popular or well advertised it is, is not of interest to him.

Q (by me): Is is sufficient just to go on harinama, which purifies the people, knowingly or unknowingly, to bring everyone on the planet to the point of chanting with faith and love or should we be doing other things too?
A: When the disease is severe, the medicine must be stronger and more frequently given. Thus there should be thousands of sankirtana parties going out regularly all over the world to bring people up to such a level of purity.

Radha Caran Prabhu:

Krishna arranges that the material bodies of the gopis stay home to please their family members while they go in the rasa dance with Krishna.

Pride disturbs the rasa [intimate relationship] we have Krishna, even in the case of the gopis [His most advanced devotees].

Ahladini Radharani Devi Dasa from her BTG article [Vol. 47, No. 1, page 22]:

“Just as red-hot cinders may smolder beneath a pile of hot ashes, love of God, though hidden, burns within the heart of every living entity. And just as blowing air on hot cinders can rekindle a flame, hearing the glories of the Lord can invoke one’s dormant love of God and revive one’s connection to Him.”

Caitanya-carana Prabhu:

Saying a resounding yes to Krsna is the most effective way of saying a decisive no to parasitic material desires.

Dr. Dina Bandhu Prabhu:

Religion regulates behavior, but so does our family or political system.

Religion is not so much different from other fields of study where there are teachers and a path.

Just as achieving an M.D. is not cheap, neither is attaining spiritual perfection.

Murali Gopal Prabhu:

Materialists love to know past, present, and future so they can maximize their sense gratification.

People are interested in the past life because they want to know why they are the way they are, but they do not ask the more important question, “What is my next life?”

Krishna’s cowherd boyfriends entered the mouth of the Aghasura demon fearlessly, although not knowing the future, because they had confidence that because Krishna was their friend, everything would be alright.

Although Krishna is omniscient, for the sake of His pastimes, He sometimes acts as if He does not know.

Although we may use astrology to understand some things about our nature, because a devotee is beyond karma, it cannot accurately predict a devotee’s life.

One devotee lady told Radhanatha Swami that before she became a devotee, by astrology she could very accurately see what was going to happen, but after she became a devotee sometimes astrology was accurate and sometimes not, and she asked him why. Radhanatha Swami explained that because she was now a devotee, Krishna was personally arranging her life.

a devotee at the Bhakti Center:

Offenses begin in the mind, progress to words and ultimately to action.

-----

kalim sabhajayanty arya
guna jñah sara-bhaginah
yatra sankirtanenaiva
sarva-svartho bhilabhyate

“Those who are actually advanced in knowledge are able to appreciate the essential value of this age of Kali. Such enlightened persons worship Kali-yuga because in this fallen age all perfection of life can easily be achieved by the performance of sankirtana [the congregational chanting of the holy name of the Lord].” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 11.5.36).


Travel Journal#8.21: London, New York, Jacksonville
→ Travel Adventures of a Krishna Monk


Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 8, No. 21
By Krishna-kripa das
(November 2012, part one)
London, New York, Jacksonville
(Sent from Stuyvesant Falls, New York, on December 17, 2012)

Where I Went and What I Did

I continued to do harinama and lectures in London, based at Radha-Londonisvara’s temple on Soho Street for three days, flying to New York City the afternoon of the third day, to do harinama for a week with Rama Raya and Ekalavya Prabhus and their party who chant for four hours a day, mostly at Union Square. It was amazing to see the enthusiasm of those devotees for harinama and the enthusiasm of the New Yorkers who listened, gave donations, and took books about Krishna consciousness. I took a three-day break from the harinama party to visit family members. I visited my sister and my mother for a day each, cooking several meals and helping my mother with various computer issues. I visited my diksa-guru, Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami, where I assisted his team in a successful marathon to get the first volume of his autobiography, The Story of My Life, printed by the beginning of December. On November 15, I flew to Jacksonville, where I spent a very enlivening day assisting in our outreach at the University of North Florida there.

This issue is bountiful with the insights of great souls. I begin with many quotes from the books and lecture of our founder-acarya Srila Prabhupada. Next there are some wonderful insights from the letters of his guru maharaja, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura from a collection of his letters called Patravali, soon to be published in an abridged form by Touchstone Publishing as Patramrita. After that there some useful quotes from Bhakti Charu Swami and Radhanath Swami. Then I have excerpts from the first volume of the recently published, The Story of My Life, by Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami, mostly memories about the early days of our first center at 26 Second Ave. Then there are some revolutionary quotes by Aindra Prabhu, a great lover of the holy name. And Rama Raya Prabhu, a follower of Aindra, shares his conviction about the public chanting of the holy name. And there is still more!

Itinerary

Dec. 17–19, 2012: serving Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami in Stuyvesant, NY
Dec. 19–23, 2012: harinama in New York City
Dec. 24–25, 2012: visiting family in Albany, NY
Dec. 26, 2012–
Jan. 7, 2013: harinama in New York City
Jan. 8–April 2013: Gainesville, FL (with visits to Tallahassee and Jacksonville)

London Harinamas

I did harinama in London the first three days of November, before flying to New York. As the month of Karttika was starting, there was increased impetus to do more chanting and that boosted attendance on our harinamas. The after-breakfast harinama in London was much more regular and attended by more devotees than usual. In addition, late Friday afternoon we did harinama to Kings Cross for their Friday evening program at their storefront called “Matchless Gifts.” The Saturday Weekend Warrior program of chanting and book distribution was located in Ealing, a London borough which is practically on the way to Heathrow Airport, so I was able to participate for three hours before flying to New York.

Harinama in Manhattan

For several months Rama Raya Prabhu, who spent many years on Aindra Prabhu’s 24-Hour team in Vrindavan, and Ekalavya Prabhu, who plays the trumpet and is an excellent musician and performer, have been doing harinama in Manhattan, usually at Union Square, for four hours each and every day from 4 to 8 p.m. I joined their party for seven days. Once during foul weather we were chanting at Roosevelt Avenue subway station. I was singing my favorite tune of Hare Krishna and Ekalavya Prabhu played trumpet and a crowd of at least fifty people were watching us. I was amazed to see so many people stopped to watch a kirtana in America, especially one I was leading. One Sunday we chanted at Union Square for six hours from 2 to 8 p.m. One time we had seventeen people chanting, mostly practicing devotees with a few new people who had become interested from the daily public chanting in their city. Another day we had fifteen people. Even the slowest days we always had six or seven people at the end, although sometimes in the beginning there were just three or four of us. Some devotees are dedicated and go out every day for at least part of the time. One of these is Rasika Gopi dd, who as Bhaktin Rose went out on harinama with me twice in the Netherlands two and a half years ago.

Several new people have developed an interest in kirtana and Krishna consciousness during the several months the daily harinama has been going on and several thousand books have been distributed to people, just from them hearing the holy name and choosing to give a donation. Both Rama Raya and Ekalavya Prabhus are very enthusiastic about the program, and after a short break from January to March to go on pilgrimage in India, they are looking forward to another successful year.

Sharing Krishna at the University of North Florida

I have been singing on the campus of the University of North Florida in Jacksonville a few times a year since back in 2003 or 2004. I find the students are less under pressure in that relatively small school, and you always find interesting and interested people. People buy books, play instruments with us, like our treats, and talk about spiritual issues.

After a two-and-a-half-hour flight and a two-hour bus ride, I arrived at the campus too tired to chant, so I took lunch and a nap. Then in the late afternoon I decided to sit on a bench on the green and play my harmonium and sing for a couple of hours before our Thursday evening program and invite some new people to come.

I was surprised to meet Regina, one girl who remembered me from our weekly programs back in January, and who told me she has been coming to them ever since. Another girl, Jessica, just came to a single program, back in January, and also remembered me from that. We had a nice conversation about some supernatural experiences she had, and she promised to come to the program. On top of that, I met a math professor, who had done her graduate studies at University of California at San Diego and developed a love for the Krishna lunch the devotees served there each week. I had met her before on the green at UNF, and on days I did not see her there, I would bring prasadam to her office. It was wonderful that she spontaneously walked by during the brief time I was chanting there. I also met one young Indian man who is a Krishna devotee, and had looked online for Krishna temples in the area but had failed to find any. I told him about our program on the campus, and about our temples in Alachua and Gainesville. As a result he became a regular attendee at our programs at UNF.

By the fall semester of 2012, Dina Bandhu and Amrita Keli Prabhus, the devotees doing programs at UNF nature pavilion since January, had created enough interest in the students that they could create a Krishna Club with meetings on the campus. I was happy to see about fifteen people at the weekly program. Sometimes they said they got twenty-five. They do some yoga, have a talk related to Bhagavad-gita, have chanting of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra with instruments, and then Krishna prasadam, spiritual food for the soul. When I was there, after the program they discussed plans for a weekend field trip to a home program in LaCrosse and the Govardhan Puja festival in our Alachua temple. I was surprised to see the number of students interested in the devotional adventure. It was inspiring for me to see the interest in Krishna consciousness in a new place, and I bet such programs could be started on many campuses by enthusiastic young devotees who simply share in a straight forward way whatever they have learned about Krishna with others.

Insights

Srila Prabhupada:

from Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, Adi-lila 1.55, purport:

“The development of submissiveness is the cause of proportionate spiritual realization, by which one can ultimately meet the Supreme Lord in person, as a man meets another man face to face. Because of his development of transcendental attachment for the Supreme Lord, a surrendered soul feels the presence of his beloved everywhere, and all his senses are engaged in the loving service of the Lord. His eyes are engaged in seeing the beautiful couple Sri Radha and Krishna sitting on a decorated throne beneath a desire tree in the transcendental land of Vrindavan. His nose is engaged in smelling the spiritual aroma of the lotus feet of the Lord. Similarly, his ears are engaged in hearing messages from Vaikuntha, and his hands embrace the lotus feet of the Lord and His associates. Thus the Lord is manifested to a pure devotee from within and without. This is one of the mysteries of the devotional relationship in which a devotee and the Lord are bound by a tie of spontaneous love. To achieve this love should be the goal of life for every living being.”

from a lecture:

In this material life, you will never be able to make anyone happy by your activities. That is not possible. Neither you will be happy.

For the jnanis (those interested in cultivating knowledge) Krishna says, “After many births and deaths, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare.” (Bg. 7.19), for the karmis (those interested in enjoying their senses) Krishna says, “Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer or give away, and whatever austerities you perform — do that, O son of Kunti, as an offering to Me.” (Bg. 9.27), and for the yogis Krishna says, “A yogi is greater than the ascetic, greater than the empiricist and greater than the fruitive worker. Therefore, O Arjuna, in all circumstances, be a yogi” (Bg. 6.46).

Nirguna means Krishna is not influenced by the three qualities of material nature (gunas) not that He has no transcendental qualities.

from a lecture:

Meditation begins with the lotus feet of Lord. Meditation on Krishna’s lotus feet destroys the dirty things in our heart.

Krishna’s feet are marked with four primary symbols: ankusa (goad), vajra (thunderbolt), sauraubya (lotus), . . .

When a British reporter asked me where hell was. I told him London is hell. There is no sun. It is always rainy and cold. You to do not have to search out hell in another place, hell is already here.

There is no light so you are paying electricity bill, but in the spiritual world no additional illumination is required. Why do you not go there? Why should we pay the electric bill? Go to the spiritual world. Every planet is effulgence.

In the material world, even the richest person is full of anxiety, but the spiritual world is Vaikuntha, without anxiety, so we should aspire to go there.

No material condition can check Krishna consciousness.

from an early-morning walk in Vrindvana, India, in September 1975:

On one side they promote contraceptives, and on the other side they encourage women
to marry three times a week. This is their civilization. If you want to stop increasing the population, why are you inducing people: “Indulge in sex”? Everything is contradictory. And it is all based on sense gratification.

from a lecture on Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.2.6 in London on July 23, 1973:

Without following the religious principle there is not humanity. . . . It does not matter what kind of religion you follow, it doesn’t matter, but you must follow. . . . That is the duty, dharma. Human civilization begins when there is a religious conception of life.

Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura:

from the abridged Patravali, known as Patramrita, to be printed by Touchstone Publishing:

If you pray for the well-being of your subordinates then your own spiritual progress will take place.

As far as the present anarthas [unwanted tendencies] are concerned, if your hearing and chanting is very strong, they cannot display their prominence.
When I think that I am well, I become averse to Krishna, and as a result, I consider senior devotees to be junior to me. That is why, considering this, Lord Krishna keeps me in various distressful conditions, such as in ill health and other inconveniences. At such times I try to understand the meaning of the verse beginning with tat te’nukampam [My dear Lord, one who earnestly waits for You to bestow Your causeless mercy upon him, all the while patiently suffering the reactions of his past misdeeds and offering You respectful obeisances with his heart, words and body, is surely eligible for liberation, for it has become his rightful claim. (Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.14.8)].

When we remain absorbed in material subjects, which are not related to Krishna, we are inclined to quarrel with the different people of the world.

I am very glad to learn that Bhaktisarvasva Giri has received an English certificate. If the sannyasis and brahmacaris keep proving their merit in this way at different places, our happiness will know no bounds.

We should have churches for devotion and love all over India (preaching centers for pure devotional service and love of Krishna). Perhaps you remember the teachings of Mahaprabhu:

prithivite ache yata nagaradi-grama
sarvatra pracara haibe mora nama

“In every town and village of the world, My name [the holy name of Krishna] will be preached.”

No one has the right to drink even a drop of nectar from the ocean of the transcendental mellows of Lord Krishna’s pastimes without the mercy of the daughter of King Vrishabhanu [Radharani, Lord Krishna’s consort].

The dim reflection of madhurya-rasa is svakiya-rasa, and so it is simply another form of dasya-rasa. Many people make a mistake by accepting Lord Narayana’s pastimes with His legitimate wife as madhurya-rasa.

“A Vaishnava comes to this material world according to his karma, and after spending a fixed amount of time here, he goes to where he is being sent by Baladeva, according to his qualifications. Mahalaksmi resides within Balarama, and within Mahalaksmi resides the Supreme Lord. Therefore, Tota has gone back to serve his worshipable Lord. He was a Vaishnava part and parcel of Nityananda Prabhu, the predominating Lord of the sandhini potency and so if you learn to treat Lord Vishnu as your son, you will no longer feel the absence of your son.
“As the Supreme Lord lived in the heart of Tota and so you served Him, so now you should serve Lord Baladeva. The material body of Tota has been merged into the five gross material elements. The spirit soul of Tota will remain engaged in the service of the energetic Lord. Your material son has been separated from his material father. He is meant to be enjoyed by the Supreme Lord and so his real business is to serve Him. Realizing that you are not conditioned by maya, the Supreme Lord will not allow you to become overwhelmed with grief and will bestow upon you His unlimited mercy and power. This is my feeling.”

When Mahaprabhu accepted the renounced order of life, He said to His old mother, His wife Vishnupriya-devi, and the residents of Navadvipa, “I am only a human being and I am related to all of you in some kind of relationship. When I am gone, you should establish your relationship with Krishna instead of Me and thus give Me an opportunity to serve Lord Hari independently.”

“They may think that sincere premika bhaktas, who are under the shelter of the transcendental parakiya-rasa, are less ethical, but love for Hari has such a wonderful power that even a greatly delightful moral standard becomes dim in front of it.”

The Supreme Lord keeps Himself hidden within this universe in order to test us. If we can perceive Him behind every object, our apparent misunderstandings will diminish.

The Supreme Lord’s testing place is this material world. In order to pass this test, one has to hear glorification of Hari from the mouths of devotees of Hari.

Only those whose time for the destruction of anarthas has arrived will hear lectures on the topics of Hari and thus become successful in their attempt to achieve the ultimate goal of life.

If you chant one hundred thousand holy names every day then the offenders will not be able to disturb your bhajana.

There cannot be any better and more favorable condition for bhajana than giving up bad association.

In the inclination for service on the path of aisvarya, the chanting of the holy name, Hare Rama, refers to Lord Rama, the son of Dasaratha. But the devotees who worship the Lord on the path of madhurya know Rama to be Gopi-ramana, or the enjoyer of the gopis. He is the son of Nanda. In that case, the word Rama refers to Radha-ramana, and the word Hara refers to the daughter of Vrsabhanu.

There is never any possibility of falling down for a person who has received even a hint, or reflection, of the mula-mantra, or the secret of unalloyed bhajana. Still, as full-fledged members, their inability to accept the authority of the matha as a result of their previous offenses committed against the Vaishnavas is ultimately due to their personal weakness. When, by the grace of the Supreme Lord, the service attitude is progressively increased within their heart, they will not fall prey to sinful propensities. Try to benefit such fallen persons by helping them. That will be an act of real friendship.

Thoughtless and ignorant people who are unable to comprehend the magnanimous pastimes of exalted personalities question, “Why did Kala Krishnadasa, who was under the shelter of Gaurasundara, become attracted to the Bhattathari women? Why did Chota Haridasa, rather than exhibiting the example of a devotee, engage in inferior activity on the pretext of serving Gaura? Why did Ramacandra Puri give up his subordination to Madhavendra Puri? Why did a few so-called sons of Advaita Acarya Prabhu, and a few so-called disciples of Virabhadra, become independent?”
Ignorant people may like the arguments that challenge the faith of those on the kanistha and madhyama platforms which are put forth by those who are out of touch with reality and cannot accept the actual truth, but when these foolish people enter the deep meaning of the transcendentally magnanimous pastimes of exalted personalities who are under the shelter of Lord Caitanya or His devotees, they will understand that in order to provide an opportunity for well-being to all unfit and fallen souls, Lord Caitanya has revealed the truth that all living entities are constitutionally servants of Lord Krishna. Even though the service of Krishna temporarily manifested in a perverted form as an aversion to Krishna when combined with material enjoyment is abominable in the eyes of unqualified gross materialists who believe in direct perception, it does not violate the principle of the api cet suduracara verse. A maha-bhagavata knows everyone as his spiritual master and therefore only a maha-bhagavata is the spiritual master of the whole world.

The goal of our service is to arrange a meeting between the object of worship and the worshiper.

Bhajana is not something to make a show of. If we chant the holy name loudly, the enjoyment of idleness cannot devour us.

Bhakti Charu Swami:

Lord Caitanya taught Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Vrindavan is His abode, and the gopis method of worship is best.

If Yasoda knew that Krishna was the Supreme Personality could she try to tie Him up?

Everyone forgets that Krishna is God in Vrindavan.

The relationships of friendship, parenthood, and conjugal love are prominent in Vrindavan.

Aghasura could not be killed by the demigods, who would tremble in fear at the sound of his name.

If one performs vaidhi-bhakti he attains Vaikuntha.

After Krishna demonstrated his pastimes, he considered that when bhakti is merely performed according to rules and regulations, no one would ever attain Goloka Vrindavan.

Raganuga means to follow a resident of Vrindavan. By serving Lord Caitanya, we are serving Radharani, and what greater resident of Vrindavan is there than Radharani?

Asvatthama had the benediction from Lord Shiva to be invisible for one night, and so he could kill the sleeping Pandavas without being stopped. Why would Krishna would allow them to be killed? They had played their role in His pastimes and so they would not be needed in this world.

At the border of Vrindavan and Mathura when Krishna and Akrura bathed, Shyamasundara Krishna returned to Vrindavan and Vasudeva Krishna continued to Mathura and Dvaraka.

To go from Vaikuntha to Goloka Vrindavan, you have to come to this world and do sankirtana in Vrindavan.

Regarding your mother, because she went back to Godhead, you should consider what is your relationship with her now. Do you want to follow her example? Do you want to assist her in her service to Krishna? Do you want to pray to her that you might also be engaged in Krishna’s service?

When you give up an old car and buy a new one, do you lament? So in the same way, we should not lament when one gets a better body for serving Krishna.

A rich man is always changing his car while a poor man holds on to it until it is a piece of junk. We are neither the rich man nor the poor man. We are the chauffeur of the richest man, and He will certainly make sure we have a first class car to drive in His service, so we do not have to worry.

Radhanath Swami:

from a BTG article:

Mother Theresa spoke to me years ago, “The greatest problem in this world is not the hunger of the stomach but the hunger of the heart. All over the world both rich and poor suffer. They are lonely, starving for love. Only God’s love can satisfy the hunger of the heart.”

Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami:

from his autobiography, The Story of My Life:

It is always good to live with the chanting and to bring it out in a time of difficulty. It may seem odd to the people who are confining you, but it will always work in your favor. They will know you are religious and serious.

And I was there among the first. I feel he [Srila Prabhupada] will always remember me as “Satsvarupa” from my typing and donations and giving him a daily mango. He picked me up as a sad lonely hippie and made me a happy and responsible son. I will never forget those days or fail to treasure them.

At the welfare office I chanted Hare Krishna mantras silently in my mind. The Swami had approved the practice. I had told him my co-workers engaged in talking nonsense. He said, “Even the greatest philosophers are talking nonsense. Go on chanting Hare Krishna in your mind.”

Going to meet the Swami was the nectar of life, and I did it every morning for Caitanya-caritamrta class and every evening for kirtana and his Bhagavad-gita class. He was so kind and inviting, accepting me as I was, and giving me typing tasks. I gave him my money and that solidified my relationship. He called me “Sat-svaroop.” I don’t have to make up the early days. I just have to remember them as they were. Gradually more intimacy developed and a sense of belonging to his group. I was learning the philosophy of Krishna and eating lunch with him daily and taking “heavenly porridge” with the boys in the morning. It was a favorable burgeoning time. I remember leaving the storefront in the morning and walking to my workplace, feeling that I was a cowherd boy with my necktie in my back pocket. I had friendly talks with Rayarama and the others and felt they were my brotherhood of friends. I had moments alone with the Swami when I asked him questions about the philosophy and commented on how I was feeling. I was no longer intimidated by the city buildings in the concrete jungle. I saw them as material energy, and now they were temporary and in a sense unreal. Real was Krishna in the spiritual world. We had pictures of Radha and Krishna in Goloka Vrindavan. Gradually we were setting the foundation for lifelong commitment starting with the summer of 1966. We kind of knew what we were getting into.

I knew the Swami as my spiritual master, the guru of my soul. He was guiding me into my relationship with Krishna through him. We needed him to be there, and we wanted him and he was there. We knew where to find him, in his apartment, in his temple. He started a Sunday Love Feast and chanting in Tompkins Square Park. He was like putting milk in a bowl, and we were like cats lapping it up. Everything was auspicious, even as the season changed. So life revolved around the activities with the Swami and the future seemed eternal. We didn’t think of it ending. This was just fine, getting up at 1 a.m. and chanting japa on the red beads, sitting on the floor. Then dressing and leaving the apartment, entering the streets and passing people on your way to the storefront. As dependable as the Big Ben clock in London, the Swami would enter the storefront and step out of his shoes and sit and lead us in the morning tune chant for twenty minutes. Then he set up his reel-to-reel tape recorder and started lecturing about Sanatana Swami’s getting out of jail and going to meet Lord Caitanya in Benares. A cliff hanger lecture every morning. I can keep going back and remembering, and it’s always there. I don’t have to make it up. It all actually happened, and it was wonderful as he took me up and molded me into a devotee of Krishna consciousness. He is my Swami, and I hope to remember him now and at the hour of my death and to somehow go to him in that same mood as when I first joined him.

Aindra Prabhu:

from a lecture on March 16, 2009, in Varsana:

Humility means you have to be humble enough to realize that you are a fallen conditioned soul and your only hope is the sankirtana which has been specifically prescribed by the scripture and by Lord Caitanya and His representatives for the fallen souls of this age. No other process can help you.

Manadena means to respect the actual position of the living entities by engaging them in devotional service.

Book distribution is meant to convince the people to take to the sankirtana movement of Lord Caitanya.

If people do not do sankirtana. they will look for a higher taste elsewhere.

Japa is like taking tablets, and sankirtana is an injection.

from a lecture in March of 2010:

There are five more important items of devotional service, but the supreme item is nama-sankirtana. The other items cannot be complete without nama-sankirtana.

One comes to Vrindavan for the service of Srimati Radharani, and the best way to please Srimati Radharani is by chanting Hare Krishna. By pleasing Radharani only can we get the original Krishna.

We used to chant 8 or 10 hours a day [in public], and on Saturday 15 hours. Srila Prabhupada wrote a letter full of approval to Damodara Prabhu, our temple president, for our program in Washington, D.C., where we were chanting 14 hours a day.

In Vrindavan, for every hour of kirtana we get credit for a thousand hours of kirtana.

All except nama-sankirtana [the congregational chanting of the holy name] and what supports it, are cheating religion.

Laksmi Nrsimha Prabhu:

Rupa Goswami read Bharata Muni’s Rasa-tattva, describing mundane relationships in detail, and used his ideas in describing the eternal relationships we can have with Krishna.

In explaining the different rasas to people, I ask them, “Isn’t the love you have for your children different from the love you have for your spouse or the love you have for your parents?”

Dasa Mula—Ten Roots given by Bhaktivinoda Thakura
    1. Pramana: Evidence comes from the scripture.
    2. Parama-tattva: Hari alone is the Truth.
    3. He is the possessor of all potency.
    4. He is the source of all relationships, rasa.
    5. We are all his amsas (parts).
    6. Souls in this world are baddha (bound by maya [illusion]).
    7. Liberated souls are free from maya.
    8. We are simultaneous one with and different from Krishna [acintya-bheda-abheda].
    9. Pure devotion the is only means for perfection.
    10. Love of Krishna is the goal.

Respect means to look again and appreciate the good qualities of the person.

Aldous Huxley says the most realistic vision is to see our ourselves the way others see us and to see others the way they see themselves.

William James says that when two person are in a room there are actually six people: the way each person sees himself, the way each person sees the other, and the way each person actually is.

There is a Sufi saying that “words that come from the heart go to the heart, and words that just come from the lips do not make it past the ears.”

If we appreciate the qualities of others, we should express it.

Dayananda Swami:

Srila Prabhupada did not think the strategy of his godbrothers to distribute the books of his guru maharaja which were written for another time and place was so wise.

As we develop bhakti, our bhakti will impel us to spread it to others.

Maya likes senior devotees. [She says:] “Come with me . . . ”

Rama Raya Prabhu:

This sankirtana movement is not meant just to make a few street vendors teasingly take a few dance steps but to bring everyone on the planet to the point of chanting Hare Krishna with faith and love.

Because of the devotee’s attraction to Krishna, what is going on in the material world, no matter how popular or well advertised it is, is not of interest to him.

Q (by me): Is is sufficient just to go on harinama, which purifies the people, knowingly or unknowingly, to bring everyone on the planet to the point of chanting with faith and love or should we be doing other things too?
A: When the disease is severe, the medicine must be stronger and more frequently given. Thus there should be thousands of sankirtana parties going out regularly all over the world to bring people up to such a level of purity.

Radha Caran Prabhu:

Krishna arranges that the material bodies of the gopis stay home to please their family members while they go in the rasa dance with Krishna.

Pride disturbs the rasa [intimate relationship] we have Krishna, even in the case of the gopis [His most advanced devotees].

Ahladini Radharani Devi Dasa from her BTG article [Vol. 47, No. 1, page 22]:

“Just as red-hot cinders may smolder beneath a pile of hot ashes, love of God, though hidden, burns within the heart of every living entity. And just as blowing air on hot cinders can rekindle a flame, hearing the glories of the Lord can invoke one’s dormant love of God and revive one’s connection to Him.”

Caitanya-carana Prabhu:

Saying a resounding yes to Krsna is the most effective way of saying a decisive no to parasitic material desires.

Dr. Dina Bandhu Prabhu:

Religion regulates behavior, but so does our family or political system.

Religion is not so much different from other fields of study where there are teachers and a path.

Just as achieving an M.D. is not cheap, neither is attaining spiritual perfection.

Murali Gopal Prabhu:

Materialists love to know past, present, and future so they can maximize their sense gratification.

People are interested in the past life because they want to know why they are the way they are, but they do not ask the more important question, “What is my next life?”

Krishna’s cowherd boyfriends entered the mouth of the Aghasura demon fearlessly, although not knowing the future, because they had confidence that because Krishna was their friend, everything would be alright.

Although Krishna is omniscient, for the sake of His pastimes, He sometimes acts as if He does not know.

Although we may use astrology to understand some things about our nature, because a devotee is beyond karma, it cannot accurately predict a devotee’s life.

One devotee lady told Radhanatha Swami that before she became a devotee, by astrology she could very accurately see what was going to happen, but after she became a devotee sometimes astrology was accurate and sometimes not, and she asked him why. Radhanatha Swami explained that because she was now a devotee, Krishna was personally arranging her life.

a devotee at the Bhakti Center:

Offenses begin in the mind, progress to words and ultimately to action.

-----

kalim sabhajayanty arya
guna jñah sara-bhaginah
yatra sankirtanenaiva
sarva-svartho bhilabhyate

“Those who are actually advanced in knowledge are able to appreciate the essential value of this age of Kali. Such enlightened persons worship Kali-yuga because in this fallen age all perfection of life can easily be achieved by the performance of sankirtana [the congregational chanting of the holy name of the Lord].” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 11.5.36).


Obama’s Speech
→ The Vaishnava Voice

This was President Obama’s speech yesterday:

Thank you. Thank you, Governor. To all the families, first responders, to the community of Newtown, clergy, guests – Scripture tells us: “…do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away…inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.”

We gather here in memory of twenty beautiful children and six remarkable adults. They lost their lives in a school that could have been any school; in a quiet town full of good and decent people that could be any town in America.

Here in Newtown, I come to offer the love and prayers of a nation. I am very mindful that mere words cannot match the depths of your sorrow, nor can they heal your wounded hearts. I can only hope it helps for you to know that you’re not alone in your grief; that our world too has been torn apart; that all across this land of ours, we have wept with you, we’ve pulled our children tight. And you must know that whatever measure of comfort we can provide, we will provide; whatever portion of sadness that we can share with you to ease this heavy load, we will gladly bear it. Newtown – you are not alone.

As these difficult days have unfolded, you’ve also inspired us with stories of strength and resolve and sacrifice. We know that when danger arrived in the halls of Sandy Hook Elementary, the school’s staff did not flinch, they did not hesitate. Dawn Hochsprung and Mary Sherlach, Vicki Soto, Lauren Rousseau, Rachel Davino and Anne Marie Murphy – they responded as we all hope we might respond in such terrifying circumstances – with courage and with love, giving their lives to protect the children in their care.

We know that there were other teachers who barricaded themselves inside classrooms, and kept steady through it all, and reassured their students by saying “wait for the good guys, they’re coming”; “show me your smile.”

And we know that good guys came. The first responders who raced to the scene, helping to guide those in harm’s way to safety, and comfort those in need, holding at bay their own shock and trauma because they had a job to do, and others needed them more.

And then there were the scenes of the schoolchildren, helping one another, holding each other, dutifully following instructions in the way that young children sometimes do; one child even trying to encourage a grown-up by saying, “I know karate. So it’s okay. I’ll lead the way out.”

As a community, you’ve inspired us, Newtown. In the face of indescribable violence, in the face of unconscionable evil, you’ve looked out for each other, and you’ve cared for one another, and you’ve loved one another.This is how Newtown will be remembered. And with time, and God’s grace, that love will see you through.

But we, as a nation, we are left with some hard questions. Someone once described the joy and anxiety of parenthood as the equivalent of having your heart outside of your body all the time, walking around. With their very first cry, this most precious, vital part of ourselves – our child – is suddenly exposed to the world, to possible mishap or malice. And every parent knows there is nothing we will not do to shield our children from harm. And yet, we also know that with that child’s very first step, and each step after that, they are separating from us; that we won’t – that we can’t always be there for them. They’ll suffer sickness and setbacks and broken hearts and disappointments. And we learn that our most important job is to give them what they need to become self-reliant and capable and resilient, ready to face the world without fear.

And we know we can’t do this by ourselves. It comes as a shock at a certain point where you realize, no matter how much you love these kids, you can’t do it by yourself. That this job of keeping our children safe, and teaching them well, is something we can only do together, with the help of friends and neighbors, the help of a community, and the help of a nation. And in that way, we come to realize that we bear a responsibility for every child because we’re counting on everybody else to help look after ours; that we’re all parents; that they’re all our children.

This is our first task – caring for our children. It’s our first job. If we don’t get that right, we don’t get anything right. That’s how, as a society, we will be judged.

And by that measure, can we truly say, as a nation, that we are meeting our obligations? Can we honestly say that we’re doing enough to keep our children – all of them – safe from harm? Can we claim, as a nation, that we’re all together there, letting them know that they are loved, and teaching them to love in return? Can we say that we’re truly doing enough to give all the children of this country the chance they deserve to live out their lives in happiness and with purpose?

I’ve been reflecting on this the last few days, and if we’re honest with ourselves, the answer is no. We’re not doing enough. And we will have to change.

Since I’ve been President, this is the fourth time we have come together to comfort a grieving community torn apart by a mass shooting. The fourth time we’ve hugged survivors. The fourth time we’ve consoled the families of victims. And in between, there have been an endless series of deadly shootings across the country, almost daily reports of victims, many of them children, in small towns and big cities all across America – victims whose – much of the time, their only fault was being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

We can’t tolerate this anymore. These tragedies must end. And to end them, we must change. We will be told that the causes of such violence are complex, and that is true. No single law – no set of laws can eliminate evil from the world, or prevent every senseless act of violence in our society.

But that can’t be an excuse for inaction. Surely, we can do better than this. If there is even one step we can take to save another child, or another parent, or another town, from the grief that has visited Tucson, and Aurora, and Oak Creek, and Newtown, and communities from Columbine to Blacksburg before that – then surely we have an obligation to try.

In the coming weeks, I will use whatever power this office holds to engage my fellow citizens – from law enforcement to mental health professionals to parents and educators – in an effort aimed at preventing more tragedies like this. Because what choice do we have? We can’t accept events like this as routine. Are we really prepared to say that we’re powerless in the face of such carnage, that the politics are too hard? Are we prepared to say that such violence visited on our children year after year after year is somehow the price of our freedom?

All the world’s religions – so many of them represented here today – start with a simple question: Why are we here? What gives our life meaning? What gives our acts purpose? We know our time on this Earth is fleeting. We know that we will each have our share of pleasure and pain; that even after we chase after some earthly goal, whether it’s wealth or power or fame, or just simple comfort, we will, in some fashion, fall short of what we had hoped. We know that no matter how good our intentions, we will all stumble sometimes, in some way. We will make mistakes, we will experience hardships. And even when we’re trying to do the right thing, we know that much of our time will be spent groping through the darkness, so often unable to discern God’s heavenly plans.

There’s only one thing we can be sure of, and that is the love that we have – for our children, for our families, for each other. The warmth of a small child’s embrace – that is true. The memories we have of them, the joy that they bring, the wonder we see through their eyes, that fierce and boundless love we feel for them, a love that takes us out of ourselves, and binds us to something larger – we know that’s what matters. We know we’re always doing right when we’re taking care of them, when we’re teaching them well, when we’re showing acts of kindness. We don’t go wrong when we do that.

That’s what we can be sure of. And that’s what you, the people of Newtown, have reminded us. That’s how you’ve inspired us. You remind us what matters. And that’s what should drive us forward in everything we do, for as long as God sees fit to keep us on this Earth.

“Let the little children come to me,” Jesus said, “and do not hinder them – for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.”

Charlotte. Daniel. Olivia. Josephine. Ana. Dylan. Madeleine. Catherine. Chase. Jesse. James. Grace. Emilie. Jack. Noah. Caroline. Jessica. Benjamin. Avielle. Allison.

God has called them all home. For those of us who remain, let us find the strength to carry on, and make our country worthy of their memory.

May God bless and keep those we’ve lost in His heavenly place. May He grace those we still have with His holy comfort. And may He bless and watch over this community, and the United States of America.


BHAKTI YOGA SEASIDE RETREAT – Invitation
→ Welcome to the official site of ISKCON Perth

Dear Devotees and well-wishers,

It gives us great joy to invite you and your loved ones to the first Perth Hare Krishna spiritual event for 2013 THE BHAKTI YOGA SEASIDE RETREAT Come and join your friends and fellow devotees to get their sublime association in the tranquil settings of the Indian Ocean, whilst participating in a spiritual feast of activities ranging from transcendental kirtans, spiritually uplifting workshops, international cuisine prasadam, cultural and beach activities, japa walks and more. With fun activities for kids, there is something for everyone!

All are welcome.

Book (paid) by Dec 16 2012, to take advantage of the Early Bird Discount! We kindly request a donation of only $90 per adult and $50 per child (under 16) for the whole retreat (includes accommodation and meals).

Early bird donations are only $80 per adult and $45 per child (under 16) for the whole retreat (includes accommodation and meals). If you are unable to join us for the whole retreat, please take advantage of the day visitor option which includes prasadam and day activities (excludes accommodation at the retreat venue) for the days that suit you for a donation request of $35 per adult and $20 per child per day.

Venue: Alfred Hines Seaside Camp, Hymus Street, Point Peron, Rockingham

Dates: 25 -28 January 2013Arrival Time: Friday from 5pm

Register now, by simply completing the attached registration form and returning with full cash only payment to Jane ASAP.

For more information or sponsorship opportunities, please contact Jane on
0430 810 800 or email iskconperth1@gmail.com

Best Wishes,

Bhakti Yoga Seaside Retreat Organising Team

Bhakti_Yoga_Seaside_Retreat_Poster4

Bhakti_Yoga_Seaside_Retreat_Registeration_Form4

Forecasting Denial: Why Are TV Weathercasters Ignoring Climate Change?
→ The Yoga of Ecology




It's been a busy year for TV weathercasters: July was the hottest month ever recorded in the United States, unprecedented wildfires scorched the West, the worst drought in 50 years parched two-thirds of the county. Then, in October, Hurricane Sandy slammed into New York and New Jersey. Yet the cause of much of the meteorological mayhem – global warming – was rarely mentioned on air. The reason: There's a shockingly high chance that your friendly TV weatherman is a full-blown climate denier.



Forecasting Denial: Why Are TV Weathercasters Ignoring Climate Change?
→ The Yoga of Ecology




It's been a busy year for TV weathercasters: July was the hottest month ever recorded in the United States, unprecedented wildfires scorched the West, the worst drought in 50 years parched two-thirds of the county. Then, in October, Hurricane Sandy slammed into New York and New Jersey. Yet the cause of much of the meteorological mayhem – global warming – was rarely mentioned on air. The reason: There's a shockingly high chance that your friendly TV weatherman is a full-blown climate denier.



Travel Journal#8.20: The North of England and London
→ Travel Adventures of a Krishna Monk


Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 8, No. 20
By Krishna-kripa das
(October 2012, part two)
The North of England and London
(Sent from Stuyvesant Falls, New York, on December 12, 2012)

Where I Went and What I Did

As Newcastle and The North of England are my base in the summer, I felt I should return there before going to the U.S.A. for the winter. I spent a few days in Newcastle and was happy that Prema Sankirtana Prabhu encouraged a few new devotees to go out with us on harinama, and they all had pleasant experiences. During one busy period from October 21 to October 29, I gave nine evening lectures, in Newcastle, Sunderland, Leeds, Sheffield, Preston, Liverpool, Bolton, Manchester, and London. Harinamas in Sheffield, Preston, and Bolton stand out in my mind. In Sheffield favorable people talked to me, in Preston a couple who met us on harinama came to our evening program, and in Bolton several children joined us, carrying our mantra signs, chanting, dancing, and even trying to play the drum. I have several pictures of that lively Bolton harinama. I was planning to fly to New York on October 30, so I could be there to do harinama on Halloween, but Hurricane Sandy, under the direction of the Supreme Lord, delayed my departure, so I got to chant for a few days with my London friends on Oxford Street. One London devotee who was committed to doing harinama every Thursday night at 6:00 p.m., decided to increase for Karttika and do harinama 6:00 p.m. every night that he had no other engagement. Thus as it turned out on Halloween, I got to give two lectures and go on harinama for four hours. Indeed, had I turned down the second lecture opportunity and continued with the harinama, it would have been six hours. I like college outreach programs, however, as I met the devotees at that time in my life and like to encourage people of that age, so I spoke to the students instead of doing more harinama. In London, I also met some friends from America, specifically, my former temple president in St. Augustine, Vasudeva Prabhu, who came to the UK to help start a devotee restaurant in Nottingham, and Estefania, who encountered the devotees in Gainesville, and was enroute to India to study Bhakti-sastri and for pilgrimage. She joined us for harinama in London on Halloween.

I do not have so many lecture notes to share, as I was staying at places without morning programs, just a few from London where I ended out the month, most notably one by Candramauli Swami and another by Gaura Krishna Prabhu.

Itinerary

Dec. 12–19, 2012: Serving Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami in Stuyvesant, NY
Dec. 19–23, 2012: harinama in New York City
Dec. 24–25, 2012: Visiting family in Albany, NY
Dec. 26, 2012–
Jan. 7, 2013: harinama in New York City
Jan. 8–April 2013: Gainesville, FL (with visits to Tallahassee and Jacksonville)

Memorable Harinamas in the North of England

This time in Sheffield was the only time I could not find anyone to go out with me on harinama. Moreover it was lightly sprinkling a lot of the time. Still a few people stopped to talk:
  1. an Eastern European who did not know we had Hare Krishna programs in Sheffield.
  2. two Muslim couples, stopping at different times, who upon hearing my explanation, considered that chanting God’s names in public was a good thing to do.
  3. a lady who was a follower of another Gaudiya Vaishnava group who did not know there were Hare Krishna programs in Sheffield.
Because of informing a few people about our local programs and our process of chanting the holy name, the fact that I was chanting alone in the rain did not negatively color my experience, but rather I felt glad I had gone out on harinama in Sheffield.

In Preston, Bhakta Doug is full of enthusiasm. The weekly Thursday program that had been reduced to a monthly Thursday program has been elevated to its former status as a weekly program by him. Moreover Bhakta Doug is always ready to go on harinama. While the two of us were on harinama, we met a couple who attend our programs at Bhaktivedanta Manor. The man works during the week at different cities in the UK, sometimes at a company office in Chorley, just 20 minutes from Preston. He was happy to learn of our Thursday programs in Preston, and he and his wife attended it that very night.

I was surprised to see the number of people roaming the streets of Bolton on Saturday during the time of our monthly harinama. Some were children who were attracted to join our kirtana party.


A few boys danced.


Two girls carried our Hare Krishna mantra signs in front of our party for some time. 


One guy even tried playing the drum.


One girl bowed down to the the devotees.


One girl delighted in taking pictures of her friends with the devotees. The children must have participated for at least 45 minutes. Local devotees say that this was not the first time the kids participated. After the harinama, as we were driving to the temple for the program after, two of the girls who had held our mantra signs, spotted us in the car, and ran up to smilingly knuckle touch our driver.

Vrajendralal Prabhu, singing in front in the picture below, is the leader of the monthly Bolton harinama program, which is generally the last Saturday of the month.


Thanks to Manish Negi for the photos. To see more, if you have access to Facebook, click on this link: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151297177153665.514451.519068664&type=3


Insights

Candramauli Swami:

Even the residents of Vrindavana got into trouble because of their relationship with Krishna, but He saved them in the end. Krishna will always save you. Sometimes not in the beginning but in the end.

Life is about learning how to die in the right consciousness, thinking of Krishna, so you attain the spiritual world. One is happy to leave when Krishna says it is time to go.

Spiritual life is difficult, but material life is impossible. Material life is impossible because whatever you gain you lose, but in spiritual life, your spiritual assets come with you to the next life.

Hanuman becomes a physician, Murari Gupta, in Lord Caitanya’s pastimes. Actually he was also a physician in Lord Rama’s pastimes because he brought the herbs to bring Laksman back to life.
In the last stanza of the “Damodarastakam” the phrase “your unlimited pastimes” refers to rasa-lila [Lord Krishna’s celebrated dance with the gopis].

If we could hear Krishna’s flute we would drop everything in the material world.

When pride enters, Krishna is gone.

Bhakti means to assist the Lord in His pastimes.

The gopis always aspire to assist Radha and Krishna in Their pastimes.

People say they love God, but what do they actually do for God?

If you want to do something to increase the happiness of the other person, that is love.

Radharani can please Krishna by being mad at Him, and that is difficult to do, but Radha can do it.

Krishna wants to taste love from each and every soul.

In this world, people pray to God for food, but in the spiritual world, they consider what food to offer to God.

Prabhupada says Krishna’s favorite sweet is rasgulla.

The soft sweet sound in the heart is the Lord, and that loud voice is our false ego.

Krishna’s name, Gopi-vallabha, means one who gives ever newer pleasure to the gopis.

Niranjana Swami:

from a recorded lecture in Ukraine:

Krishna enjoys by sharing the pleasure He enjoys with His devotees.

Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami:

from his autobiography entitled, The Story of My Life:

“Krishna-kripa quoted Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati as saying harinama sankirtana was the emperor of all sadhanas. Every form of sadhana must have its connection with harinama sankirtana in order to have its meaning. He said this was the best quote he had ever found and Agnideva said, ‘Wow!’ I hope I connected to harinama sankirtana while describing the spring, otherwise it’s useless. We chant while we work, singing the Lord’s Names.”

from Viraha Bhavan, October 25, 2012 poem:

I am remembering Bhaktisiddhanta
Sarasvati’s saying that the Hare Krishna mantra
is nama-bhajana to Radha.

Gaura Krishna Prabhu:

When Gopa Kumara attained Goloka Vrindavana and ran up to Krishna and embraced Him, they both fainted in ecstasy. At Heathrow you will see many reunions, but nothing like that.

Our reunion with Krishna comes through service.

We each have a special thing to offer to Krishna. Although He is self-sufficient He is missing that special thing until we reconnect and offer it to Him.

Kirtida dd:

Krishna explains that without tolerating dualities we cannot come up to the level of spiritual knowledge.

Radha Mohan Prabhu:

Just as people all over world were interested when Bin Ladin was killed, all the demigods were very interested to hear that Krishna had killed Aghasura.

Although Krishna as the Lord is worthy of being served, He took pleasure in letting His friends eat their lunch while He searched for the calves.

comment by Gaura Prabhu:

One student who joined a devotional retreat in South Africa became convinced that this Krishna consciousness was something special by the end of it because all we did was sing the same song and yet it got better and better. Thus he joined and became a very good preacher.

Radha Ramana Prabhu (of Wales):

conversation of prospective disciple with Radhanatha Swami:

prospective disciple: I feel you are my spiritual master.
Radhanatha Swami: I feel I am your servant.

-----

tava kathamritam tapta-jivanam
kavibhir iditam kalmashapaham
sravana-mangalam srimad atatam
bhuvi grinanti ye bhuri-da janah

[The gopis addressing Lord Krishna:] “The nectar of Your words and the descriptions of Your activities are the life and soul of those suffering in this material world. These narrations, transmitted by learned sages, eradicate one’s sinful reactions and bestow good fortune upon whoever hears them. These narrations are broadcast all over the world and are filled with spiritual power. Certainly those who spread the message of Godhead are most munificent.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.31.9)

Travel Journal#8.20: The North of England and London
→ Travel Adventures of a Krishna Monk


Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 8, No. 20
By Krishna-kripa das
(October 2012, part two)
The North of England and London
(Sent from Stuyvesant Falls, New York, on December 12, 2012)

Where I Went and What I Did

As Newcastle and The North of England are my base in the summer, I felt I should return there before going to the U.S.A. for the winter. I spent a few days in Newcastle and was happy that Prema Sankirtana Prabhu encouraged a few new devotees to go out with us on harinama, and they all had pleasant experiences. During one busy period from October 21 to October 29, I gave nine evening lectures, in Newcastle, Sunderland, Leeds, Sheffield, Preston, Liverpool, Bolton, Manchester, and London. Harinamas in Sheffield, Preston, and Bolton stand out in my mind. In Sheffield favorable people talked to me, in Preston a couple who met us on harinama came to our evening program, and in Bolton several children joined us, carrying our mantra signs, chanting, dancing, and even trying to play the drum. I have several pictures of that lively Bolton harinama. I was planning to fly to New York on October 30, so I could be there to do harinama on Halloween, but Hurricane Sandy, under the direction of the Supreme Lord, delayed my departure, so I got to chant for a few days with my London friends on Oxford Street. One London devotee who was committed to doing harinama every Thursday night at 6:00 p.m., decided to increase for Karttika and do harinama 6:00 p.m. every night that he had no other engagement. Thus as it turned out on Halloween, I got to give two lectures and go on harinama for four hours. Indeed, had I turned down the second lecture opportunity and continued with the harinama, it would have been six hours. I like college outreach programs, however, as I met the devotees at that time in my life and like to encourage people of that age, so I spoke to the students instead of doing more harinama. In London, I also met some friends from America, specifically, my former temple president in St. Augustine, Vasudeva Prabhu, who came to the UK to help start a devotee restaurant in Nottingham, and Estefania, who encountered the devotees in Gainesville, and was enroute to India to study Bhakti-sastri and for pilgrimage. She joined us for harinama in London on Halloween.

I do not have so many lecture notes to share, as I was staying at places without morning programs, just a few from London where I ended out the month, most notably one by Candramauli Swami and another by Gaura Krishna Prabhu.

Itinerary

Dec. 12–19, 2012: Serving Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami in Stuyvesant, NY
Dec. 19–23, 2012: harinama in New York City
Dec. 24–25, 2012: Visiting family in Albany, NY
Dec. 26, 2012–
Jan. 7, 2013: harinama in New York City
Jan. 8–April 2013: Gainesville, FL (with visits to Tallahassee and Jacksonville)

Memorable Harinamas in the North of England

This time in Sheffield was the only time I could not find anyone to go out with me on harinama. Moreover it was lightly sprinkling a lot of the time. Still a few people stopped to talk:
  1. an Eastern European who did not know we had Hare Krishna programs in Sheffield.
  2. two Muslim couples, stopping at different times, who upon hearing my explanation, considered that chanting God’s names in public was a good thing to do.
  3. a lady who was a follower of another Gaudiya Vaishnava group who did not know there were Hare Krishna programs in Sheffield.
Because of informing a few people about our local programs and our process of chanting the holy name, the fact that I was chanting alone in the rain did not negatively color my experience, but rather I felt glad I had gone out on harinama in Sheffield.

In Preston, Bhakta Doug is full of enthusiasm. The weekly Thursday program that had been reduced to a monthly Thursday program has been elevated to its former status as a weekly program by him. Moreover Bhakta Doug is always ready to go on harinama. While the two of us were on harinama, we met a couple who attend our programs at Bhaktivedanta Manor. The man works during the week at different cities in the UK, sometimes at a company office in Chorley, just 20 minutes from Preston. He was happy to learn of our Thursday programs in Preston, and he and his wife attended it that very night.

I was surprised to see the number of people roaming the streets of Bolton on Saturday during the time of our monthly harinama. Some were children who were attracted to join our kirtana party.


A few boys danced.


Two girls carried our Hare Krishna mantra signs in front of our party for some time. 


One guy even tried playing the drum.


One girl bowed down to the the devotees.


One girl delighted in taking pictures of her friends with the devotees. The children must have participated for at least 45 minutes. Local devotees say that this was not the first time the kids participated. After the harinama, as we were driving to the temple for the program after, two of the girls who had held our mantra signs, spotted us in the car, and ran up to smilingly knuckle touch our driver.

Vrajendralal Prabhu, singing in front in the picture below, is the leader of the monthly Bolton harinama program, which is generally the last Saturday of the month.


Thanks to Manish Negi for the photos. To see more, if you have access to Facebook, click on this link: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151297177153665.514451.519068664&type=3


Insights

Candramauli Swami:

Even the residents of Vrindavana got into trouble because of their relationship with Krishna, but He saved them in the end. Krishna will always save you. Sometimes not in the beginning but in the end.

Life is about learning how to die in the right consciousness, thinking of Krishna, so you attain the spiritual world. One is happy to leave when Krishna says it is time to go.

Spiritual life is difficult, but material life is impossible. Material life is impossible because whatever you gain you lose, but in spiritual life, your spiritual assets come with you to the next life.

Hanuman becomes a physician, Murari Gupta, in Lord Caitanya’s pastimes. Actually he was also a physician in Lord Rama’s pastimes because he brought the herbs to bring Laksman back to life.
In the last stanza of the “Damodarastakam” the phrase “your unlimited pastimes” refers to rasa-lila [Lord Krishna’s celebrated dance with the gopis].

If we could hear Krishna’s flute we would drop everything in the material world.

When pride enters, Krishna is gone.

Bhakti means to assist the Lord in His pastimes.

The gopis always aspire to assist Radha and Krishna in Their pastimes.

People say they love God, but what do they actually do for God?

If you want to do something to increase the happiness of the other person, that is love.

Radharani can please Krishna by being mad at Him, and that is difficult to do, but Radha can do it.

Krishna wants to taste love from each and every soul.

In this world, people pray to God for food, but in the spiritual world, they consider what food to offer to God.

Prabhupada says Krishna’s favorite sweet is rasgulla.

The soft sweet sound in the heart is the Lord, and that loud voice is our false ego.

Krishna’s name, Gopi-vallabha, means one who gives ever newer pleasure to the gopis.

Niranjana Swami:

from a recorded lecture in Ukraine:

Krishna enjoys by sharing the pleasure He enjoys with His devotees.

Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami:

from his autobiography entitled, The Story of My Life:

“Krishna-kripa quoted Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati as saying harinama sankirtana was the emperor of all sadhanas. Every form of sadhana must have its connection with harinama sankirtana in order to have its meaning. He said this was the best quote he had ever found and Agnideva said, ‘Wow!’ I hope I connected to harinama sankirtana while describing the spring, otherwise it’s useless. We chant while we work, singing the Lord’s Names.”

from Viraha Bhavan, October 25, 2012 poem:

I am remembering Bhaktisiddhanta
Sarasvati’s saying that the Hare Krishna mantra
is nama-bhajana to Radha.

Gaura Krishna Prabhu:

When Gopa Kumara attained Goloka Vrindavana and ran up to Krishna and embraced Him, they both fainted in ecstasy. At Heathrow you will see many reunions, but nothing like that.

Our reunion with Krishna comes through service.

We each have a special thing to offer to Krishna. Although He is self-sufficient He is missing that special thing until we reconnect and offer it to Him.

Kirtida dd:

Krishna explains that without tolerating dualities we cannot come up to the level of spiritual knowledge.

Radha Mohan Prabhu:

Just as people all over world were interested when Bin Ladin was killed, all the demigods were very interested to hear that Krishna had killed Aghasura.

Although Krishna as the Lord is worthy of being served, He took pleasure in letting His friends eat their lunch while He searched for the calves.

comment by Gaura Prabhu:

One student who joined a devotional retreat in South Africa became convinced that this Krishna consciousness was something special by the end of it because all we did was sing the same song and yet it got better and better. Thus he joined and became a very good preacher.

Radha Ramana Prabhu (of Wales):

conversation of prospective disciple with Radhanatha Swami:

prospective disciple: I feel you are my spiritual master.
Radhanatha Swami: I feel I am your servant.

-----

tava kathamritam tapta-jivanam
kavibhir iditam kalmashapaham
sravana-mangalam srimad atatam
bhuvi grinanti ye bhuri-da janah

[The gopis addressing Lord Krishna:] “The nectar of Your words and the descriptions of Your activities are the life and soul of those suffering in this material world. These narrations, transmitted by learned sages, eradicate one’s sinful reactions and bestow good fortune upon whoever hears them. These narrations are broadcast all over the world and are filled with spiritual power. Certainly those who spread the message of Godhead are most munificent.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.31.9)

Guess Whose Coming to Town?
→ Toronto Sankirtan Adventures


The much awaited weekend is here, the icing on the “Marathon Cake” – His Grace Vaisesika Prabhu and Her Grace Nirakula Mataji arrive on Thursday! An exciting extended weekend has been arranged for your transcendental pleasure and inspiration!
 
If you've been to any of these events before, you surely need no convincing; and if you have not, then you really don’t know what you're missing! Check out the detailed schedule below, and mark off the dates! Make the most of this amazing weekend, come and drown into the ocean of bliss…as much as you can!



Detailed Schedule
Special 4-part Srimad Bhagavatam Classes (Fri Dec 14th to Mon Dec 17th, 7:30 to 9:00 am): “Books are the Basis - Meeting Krishna Through Srila Prabhupada's Books”
“By regular attendance in classes on the Bhāgavatam and by rendering of service to the pure devotee, all that is troublesome to the heart is almost completely destroyed, and loving service unto the Personality of Godhead, who is praised with transcendental songs, is established as an irrevocable fact.” Srimad Bhagavatam 1.2.18
Come to inspire and be inspired, learn how to do “Sastra-deity worship”, develop strong personal sadhana through reading and distributing Srila Prabhupada's Books

Friday Evening Seminar (Dec 14th, 6:30 – 9:00 pm) on Top 6 Techniques to Fast Track your Krishna Conscious ‘Career’
Where do you see your Krishna Consciousness in 5, 10…25 years? What did that senior devotee do right? How to maintain and grow your KC with increasing responsibilities in life (family/job/health)? Come to find out answers to these questions from the ancient yoga texts!

Saturday Street Sankirtan Festival (Dec 15th, Noon – 4:00pm)
A rare chance to head out with Vaisesika Prabhu and share this beautiful gift of Krishna Consciousness with people of Toronto! Highlight is the sharing of the nectar stories with everyone over sumptuous lunch prasadam in the temple!

Saturday Bhajan Night (Dec 15th, 7:00 - 9:00 pm) - Bhajans with Sankirtan Stories led by Vaisesika Prabhu
The all-famous Bhajan Night interspersed with Sankirtan Stories. Come...get a glimpse of the spiritual world!

Sunday Feast Lecture & Kirtan (Dec 16th, 6:30 – 9:00pm) 
Not to be missed!

Guess Whose Coming to Town?
→ Toronto Sankirtan Adventures


The much awaited weekend is here, the icing on the “Marathon Cake” – His Grace Vaisesika Prabhu and Her Grace Nirakula Mataji arrive on Thursday! An exciting extended weekend has been arranged for your transcendental pleasure and inspiration!
 
If you've been to any of these events before, you surely need no convincing; and if you have not, then you really don’t know what you're missing! Check out the detailed schedule below, and mark off the dates! Make the most of this amazing weekend, come and drown into the ocean of bliss…as much as you can!



Detailed Schedule
Special 4-part Srimad Bhagavatam Classes (Fri Dec 14th to Mon Dec 17th, 7:30 to 9:00 am): “Books are the Basis - Meeting Krishna Through Srila Prabhupada's Books”
“By regular attendance in classes on the Bhāgavatam and by rendering of service to the pure devotee, all that is troublesome to the heart is almost completely destroyed, and loving service unto the Personality of Godhead, who is praised with transcendental songs, is established as an irrevocable fact.” Srimad Bhagavatam 1.2.18
Come to inspire and be inspired, learn how to do “Sastra-deity worship”, develop strong personal sadhana through reading and distributing Srila Prabhupada's Books

Friday Evening Seminar (Dec 14th, 6:30 – 9:00 pm) on Top 6 Techniques to Fast Track your Krishna Conscious ‘Career’
Where do you see your Krishna Consciousness in 5, 10…25 years? What did that senior devotee do right? How to maintain and grow your KC with increasing responsibilities in life (family/job/health)? Come to find out answers to these questions from the ancient yoga texts!

Saturday Street Sankirtan Festival (Dec 15th, Noon – 4:00pm)
A rare chance to head out with Vaisesika Prabhu and share this beautiful gift of Krishna Consciousness with people of Toronto! Highlight is the sharing of the nectar stories with everyone over sumptuous lunch prasadam in the temple!

Saturday Bhajan Night (Dec 15th, 7:00 - 9:00 pm) - Bhajans with Sankirtan Stories led by Vaisesika Prabhu
The all-famous Bhajan Night interspersed with Sankirtan Stories. Come...get a glimpse of the spiritual world!

Sunday Feast Lecture & Kirtan (Dec 16th, 6:30 – 9:00pm) 
Not to be missed!

“I’ll Be Your Best Friend”
→ Devamrita Swami's Facebook notes

The interior of Mexico, Guadalajara, is one of my last stops, before a 4-month journey around the world ends. Of course, the life of a traveling swami means that the finish of one journey soon fades into the fresh start of another. Will ever there be "home sweet home" for me? Well, frankly not in this lifetime, not in this world.

Don't worry, the reality is not as cold and heartless as it may sound. As the years in bhakti roll by, the more I seek to surround myself with glorification of Krishna, the more at home I feel. Basking in the association of bhakti-yogis eager to share talks and songs of Krishna, for me, means lying on the genuine lap of luxury. Just to be in the midst of Krishna talks and Krishna kirtan "sends me."

Maybe when you were a little, you would tell another kid, "Do this for me—for example, give me one of your candies—and I promise, you'll be my best friend." So if you want to grant me mercy, then indulge me in hearing, reading, and singing of Govinda, the enlivener of the cows and sense. Do it, and you can be my friend.

And remember, actually every living entity is homeless in this world, having strayed from our original home with Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Pleasure, who says:

"I am not in Vaikuntha nor in the hearts of the yogis. I remain where devotees engage in glorifying My activities." 

At Every Moment
→ kirtaniyah sada hari

In an age where the expectation is instant, whether it be in attaining gratification, results or service, it's no wonder that the path of Bhakti may seem difficult for some. And when I say some, I mean me!

This type of inculcation by modern society results in the mind becoming weak and susceptible to the notion that surrender to Krsna is next to impossible. Why? Because surrender is an active process that requires strength, faith in Krsna and most of all the realization that it is not a one time deal. Surrender to Krsna is something we must practice at every moment.

I remember when I first heard this. It instantly sat right with me. But then as time went on and the actual work needed to get started, I wasn't so keen anymore. Surrendering at every moment starts with becoming more conscious of Krsna. Specifically it means being able to see the Krsna conscious perspective of a situation and learning to let go of what "I think is right" and seeing through the eyes of sastra (i.e. seeing through the lens of what Krsna and his authorized representatives have told us).

Surrender is also difficult because it involves our free will, which is something some of us are not very good at utilizing. Normally we use our free will to protect the ego and defend our actions. Surrendering at every moment means we now have to choose between what's best according to Krsna, guru, sadhu and sastra and choosing to act according to what our mind thinks is best (which is normally the easy and "instant" way out).

Old habits are hard to overcome. After lifetimes of choosing "my" way, is it any surprise that we now grapple with utilizing our free will properly? But as I often have to tell my mind, it's not an excuse to give up. Like anything, this struggle can only help us become stronger if in conjunction we are practicing a strong regimen of chanting, serving the devotees and eating food offered with love to Krsna.

It's like lifting weights. I remember when I first started a year ago; it was embarrassing how weak I was! But when I made a commitment to go regularly, eat better and rest properly, I was surprised to see that I was making progress. In fact, the time soon came where I felt the need to increase the weight since it was getting easy.

I'm no expert on surrender, in fact I'm probably in the pre-school class, but it only makes sense that the proper diet and lifestyle change would need to be accompanied in the "Surrender program".

We always need a challenge, whether we realize it or not. So what better way to challenge oneself than increase the frequency by which we surrender to Krsna! Krsna says He helps those who help themselves, so what are we waiting for? Let's go grab that help!





At Every Moment
→ kirtaniyah sada hari

In an age where the expectation is instant, whether it be in attaining gratification, results or service, it's no wonder that the path of Bhakti may seem difficult for some. And when I say some, I mean me!

This type of inculcation by modern society results in the mind becoming weak and susceptible to the notion that surrender to Krsna is next to impossible. Why? Because surrender is an active process that requires strength, faith in Krsna and most of all the realization that it is not a one time deal. Surrender to Krsna is something we must practice at every moment.

I remember when I first heard this. It instantly sat right with me. But then as time went on and the actual work needed to get started, I wasn't so keen anymore. Surrendering at every moment starts with becoming more conscious of Krsna. Specifically it means being able to see the Krsna conscious perspective of a situation and learning to let go of what "I think is right" and seeing through the eyes of sastra (i.e. seeing through the lens of what Krsna and his authorized representatives have told us).

Surrender is also difficult because it involves our free will, which is something some of us are not very good at utilizing. Normally we use our free will to protect the ego and defend our actions. Surrendering at every moment means we now have to choose between what's best according to Krsna, guru, sadhu and sastra and choosing to act according to what our mind thinks is best (which is normally the easy and "instant" way out).

Old habits are hard to overcome. After lifetimes of choosing "my" way, is it any surprise that we now grapple with utilizing our free will properly? But as I often have to tell my mind, it's not an excuse to give up. Like anything, this struggle can only help us become stronger if in conjunction we are practicing a strong regimen of chanting, serving the devotees and eating food offered with love to Krsna.

It's like lifting weights. I remember when I first started a year ago; it was embarrassing how weak I was! But when I made a commitment to go regularly, eat better and rest properly, I was surprised to see that I was making progress. In fact, the time soon came where I felt the need to increase the weight since it was getting easy.

I'm no expert on surrender, in fact I'm probably in the pre-school class, but it only makes sense that the proper diet and lifestyle change would need to be accompanied in the "Surrender program".

We always need a challenge, whether we realize it or not. So what better way to challenge oneself than increase the frequency by which we surrender to Krsna! Krsna says He helps those who help themselves, so what are we waiting for? Let's go grab that help!





Travel Journal#8.19: The North of England, Scotland, and Ireland
→ Travel Adventures of a Krishna Monk


Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 8, No. 19
By Krishna-kripa das
(October 2012, part one)
The North of England, Scotland, and Ireland
(Sent from Stuyvesant Falls, New York, on December 8, 2012)

Where I Went and What I Did

As the World Holy Name Festival continued into October, I continued traveling with Janananda Goswami and his party around Manchester, Newcastle, and up to Edinburgh, Scotland, where devotees held an 8-hour kirtana in the hall of a church downtown, and invited their yoga friends, and the people in general. I left the two-day Scottish festival, which continued on at Karuna Bhavan, to go to Belfast and help with a program for Quaker children at our temple there. Then after three days of harinama in Belfast, we chanted in Enniskillen, near Govindadvipa (Inis Rath), our Hare Krishna island in Northern Ireland. Friday we did harinama to all three Govinda’s Restaurants in Dublin. Saturday we did our second 12-hour harinama in Dublin, and got a larger participation than before. Sunday was the Sunday feast program, and Monday we did 12-hours of kirtana at the temple. Tuesday we did harinama in Bray, a city outside of Dublin and the usual Tuesday evening kirtana program, before returning to The North of England.

I share Srila Prabhupada notes as usual, and notes from Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami’s writings, including his recently printed autobiography, The Story of My Life, which includes new Prabhupada stories and Hare Krishna history. I also have realizations from Janananda Goswami and several Prabhupada disciples from the UK and Ireland, and a few other devotees.

Itinerary

Dec. 8–9, 2012: Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami Vyasa-puja
Dec. 10–23, 2012: Serving SDG in Stuyvesant, NY
Dec. 24–25, 2012: Visiting family in Albany, NY
Dec. 26, 2012–
Jan. 7, 2013: harinama in New York City
Jan. 8–April 2013: Gainesville, FL (with visits to Tallahassee and Jacksonville)

Edinburgh 8-hour Kirtana

I was happy that my first visit to Scotland was on the occasion of an 8-hour kirtana in Edinburgh. Janananda Goswami arrived just over an hour early and organized a harinama in the streets of Edinburgh, and we distributed the remaining invitations to the interested people. The venue for the event was a church community room, and different yoga people and alternative people came, some for the first time. Diya from Sunderland led a lively kirtana, and many of her friends danced nicely in the audience. Janananda Goswami led a super lively kirtana, with almost everyone dancing, and our only lamentation was he was not given a longer slot. Some of the organizers knew me and kindly allowed me to sing for half an hour. Gaura Prabhu from South Africa, who lives in Mayapur, played the drum, and by the end a lot of people danced nicely.

Quaker Kids Program at Belfast Temple

Every four years the First Day School teacher at the Belfast Friends Meeting (Quakers) brings her students to the Hare Krishna temple to experience another religious practice. Shelina, who had done the program four years ago, led the program again, and I assisted. I mentioned some of important similarities in the two philosophies, such as life is meant for seeking spiritual truth and the Lord is within everyone’s heart. I also taught a simple mrdanga (drum) beat to any child who wanted to learn, and I dressed interested boys in cadars. I was impressed with the good behavior of the kids. One boy almost immediately picked up the drum beat.

Enniskillen and Dublin Harinamas

During the whole bus ride from Belfast to Enniskillen rain was pouring down. Earlier I had been joking with the devotees about whether praying for good weather was bona fide. When we began to chant the rain stopped, and by the end of the three-hour kirtana the sun could often be seen. One lady who was interested in yoga bought a book from our book distributor and gave us a donation beyond that. She was happy to hear we had a temple in nearby Derrylin. Thus austerity of the bus ride and inclement weather was worth it as someone was happy to come in touch with Krishna.

The next we went to Dublin and did harinama in the late afternoon. My friend, Dhruva Prabhu, who is an ISKCON tourist was happy that on our evening harinama we visited all three of our restaurants in Dublin. We had tea in a couple places in addition to spring rolls, but unfortunately the desserts had already sold out. My fingers suffered from playing instruments in the cold weather.

Dublin’s Second 12-hour Harinama and 12-hour Kirtana


Everyone who went on our 12-hour harinama back in July really liked it, so Ananta Nitai Prabhu and I organized another one for October.



Ananta Nitai was so enthusiastic he also organized a 12-hour kirtana at the temple two days later. Having a positive experience, he decided to try to do a 12-hour harinama the first Saturday of each month, and follow it by a 12-hour kirtana on the following Monday. This time a traveling party of brahmacari book distributors mostly from Poland joined forces with us for the 12-hour harinama and increased our ecstasy.


 One man who had seen us chanting for 12-hours on Saturday was surprised to see us chanting on Sunday morning. Nanda Kumar Prabhu and Bhaktin Anet distributed many books during the course of the harinama, which spend most of its time at the big intersection near the temple. In the evening, instead of doing the usual sit-down harinama, since the sidewalk was wet, we did harinama to a crowded area called Temple Bar, which is frequented more for its bars than its temples. One Indian girl looked with interest at our chanting party, and I talked with her and she followed us. She explained that because it was Saturday the train schedule was different, and she missed her last train home and thus had the opportunity to meet our harinama party. That was Krishna’s mercy on her. She expressed an interest in coming to our events, and I hope she remembers this desire of hers at the opportune time to act on it.

Devotees joined our 12-hour kirtana throughout the day on Monday, and there were always just enough people to keep in going. 



Manu Prabhu, one of Dublin ISKCON’s celebrated kirtana leaders, was one of the singers.


I danced a lot of the time.


Caitanya-candrodaya Prabhu took pictures of the devotees during the kirtana, and they are all so meditative. I share a couple. Thanks for all of your pictures of the harinama and kirtana in Dublin, Caitanya!





On Tuesday we traveled with the brahmacari book distributors to Bray, about half an hour from Dublin, and we chanted as they distributed books. Because we had chanted for twelve hours the previous Saturday and Monday, we found two and three-quarters hours went by like no time at all.

Insights

Srila Prabhupada:
from Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.14.26, purport:
“The scientists are cheaters because they present so many bogus things in the name of science. They propose going to the moon, but actually they end up cheating the entire public of large sums of money for their experiments. They cannot do anything useful. Unless one can find a person transcendental to the four basic defects, one should not accept advice and become a victim of the material condition. The best process is to take the advice and instructions of Sri Krishna or His bona fide representative. In this way one can be happy in this life and the next.”

Janananda Goswami:

If we had as much enthusiasm for Krishna as we do for our computers and mobiles, we could make rapid advancement.

There are some things we do every day, eat, sleep, use the toilet, and brush our teeth. Similarly we should read Srila Prabhupada’s books every day.

Krishna consciousness is not just to make our material life or our present existence more comfortable. It is to go to the spiritual world and to become released from birth and death and redevelop our relationship with Krishna.

Four things given by Srila Prabhupada to make your house a temple.
  1. have an altar
  2. offer your food to Krishna
  3. chant the holy name, the Hare Krishna maha-mantra
  4. read the scriptures
Another important activity for householders is taking care of guests.

Srila Prabhupada told his GBC members their first duty is to make sure everyone in the temple is chanting 16 rounds of Hare Krishna and following the four rules prohibiting intoxication, meat-eating, illicit sex, and gambling.

Haridasa Thakura was chanting 300,000 names of the Lord before Lord Caitanya’s appearance.
Sometimes it is described that some devotee of the Lord is an incarnation of two intimate associates of the Lord. This is not so strange as in the material world sometimes someone is haunted by a ghost and two souls are inhabiting the same body and vying for control. Of course, in the Lord’s pastimes, the two devotees are cooperating to serve the Lord’s mission.
Q: How to measure spiritual strength?
A: Enthusiasm for chanting and hearing and association with devotees, enthusiasm to render service, being less affected by our material situation, taking shelter of guru and Krishna, all these are symptoms of spiritual strength. When the body ages, you may not be able to do so much physical activity, but you still have enthusiasm for them.
One devotee who was 93 years old was explaining he could not remember anything but Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare, but in one sense, that is a good thing.
Story of Mother Isa who Niranjana Swami visited in a nursing home: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=10841&paged=2
If we are not feeling increasing spiritual strength, perhaps we are being tested by Krishna or else we have done something unfavorable.
When we carry on our spiritual practice beyond our slip ups, we can become stronger than before.
One devotee had a late night program and so his sadhana was quite irregular and the devotees were concerned and asked Srila Prabhupada whether he should be asked to leave the temple. Srila Prabhupada replied that if he at least goes to mangala-arati, our early morning service, then he can stay.
We had five classes a day in our first temple in London on Bury Place—two in the morning, The Nectar of Devotion or Sri Isopanisad before greeting of the deities, Bhagavatam class after, The Nectar of Devotion or Sri Isopanisad (whichever was not done in the morning) before the evening arati, Bhagavad-gita after, then a song class and Krishna book reading after the evening arati.

comments by Saksi Gopal Prabhu:

In the early days one new devotee was sent by the treasurer, with a half-shaved head to go out and collect for a razor blade to finish the job.

One time in the early days the pujari came through temple room to bring the breakfast offering to the deities and found that not only had everyone hearing the morning class fallen asleep but the speaker had also fallen asleep.

Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami (mostly from his web site, www.sdgonline.org):

from Narada-bhakti-sutra, text 67, purport:

“Being single-pointed in devotional service does not mean shutting out reality. Exclusivity can become sectarian if one focuses on relative truths or dedicates oneself to an ordinary person. But when the object of appreciation is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one attains the broadest vision, the vision of a mahatma.”

from Viraha Bhavan, October 3, 2012, poem:
They say if you prematurely
think yourself a sakhi you
will come back next life
as a material woman.

from Viraha Bhavan, October 15, 2012, poem:

Prabhupada said if we
follow him he has a key
to enter the back door of
Goloka Vrndavana. I am
counting on that, although I am
completely unfit.

from The Story of My Life, his autobiography:

“[At Ananda Ashram] We had a wild kirtana in the big yoga studio. Swamiji let a black man play a big double bass, swinging it in rhythm like a jazz beat. We danced around in a big circle. The ISKCON people mixed with the Ananda Ashram people. Round and round we danced in ecstasy for an hour.”

“Himavati made him [Srila Prabhupada] a set of clothes for Them [his Radha-Krishna deities]. Radharani’s skirt was a little short. “That is all right,” he wrote, “It affords us a look at Her lotus feet.”

A boy had raised his hand for a question. “What happens when you go inside and you look further and further and further and Further!?” He was crazy. Prabhupada replied, “That I do not know. You know.” That boy chanted Hare Krishna and became an initiated disciple in time, Kusakratha. He became a great Sanskrit scholar.

ISKCON is like the Ganges, sometimes it is flowing thin and somewhere it is roaring wide, but it is always flowing.

Srila Prabhupada asked us why we closed the temple and came to New York. What did we leave Jagannath, Baladeva, and Subhadra locked up? “If you left me locked up in a room how would I eat?” he asked. He told us not to do that again.

Once I was preparing eggplant and small peanuts at his request and he [Srila Prabhupada] came into the kitchen to see how I was doing. He said, “I don’t ask for this because I want it. I just want to train you in how to cook it.”

He [Srila Prabhupada] liked a cup of warm milk with sugar in the evening also.

I took part in an all-night schedule of single men going inside Prabhupada’s mosquito net and sitting on his bed and rubbing his body. I would take the ten to midnight or the midnight to 2 a.m. time. That was very intimate, and you had to use all your strength to keep rubbing him and stay awake. I managed to do this, and it was a great thrill of loving exchange towards him. It was hard to keep awake, and I did it by thinking who Prabhupada was, siksa-guru for anyone who had the sense to come to him, and diksa-guru for anyone who had vowed to be his eternal servant. “I am so fallen, Prabhupada,” I thought, “I want to fall asleep. I must stay awake and massage you for your comfort.” I managed to say awake, and when my shift was over I looked forward to doing it again.

from Passing Places, Eternal Truths:

“Walking for japa at 6:00 A.M. by Raman Reti:

A mangy dog approached me with gruff barking. I thought, ‘If you come any closer, you’ll get the end of this danda,’ and he went away. Madhu and I then circumambulated the Krishna-Balarama Tree. At the same spot there were two old Indian matajis bowing down in the sand. They smiled slightly to us. Then the same aggressive dog went up to one old lady. She was so small and had no stick. To my surprise, she began speaking softly to the dog in low tones. He sat down before her, making gruff sounds. She then disentangled her hand from her bead bag, reached into another bag, pulled out a piece of food and threw it on the ground for the dog. By now we had passed her, and I saw this by looking back. Once again I saw that I had misunderstood the meaning of Vrndavana.”

Bhagavatasraya Prabhu:

Last semester students at Bath got 25 signatures for a club on Krishna consciousness, and this year they got 100 signatures.

If you ask people what they want most in life, they invariably say that they want to be happy. Then if you ask them how long they want to be happy for, they will tell you they want to be happy forever. It is not surprising that everyone wants a condition of eternal happiness because that is the nature of the soul.

We are so conditioned, we think this body is alive and that we need a material body to be alive.
Srila Prabhupada’s greatest challenge to create life out of matter which has never been done because it can never be done.

When you come into this world, you become so conditioned that you cannot get out. You do not even know which direction out is.

The nectar for which we are always anxious is the nectar of our relationship with Krishna.

Only through the intervention of the Lord in human society, as in his instructions in Bhagavad-gita can we know of spiritual world and how we can get there.

Krishna gives you the ticket to get out of the material world, but we have to take the ride.

Previous misconceptions of God are very difficult to remove from the mind.

It is not difficult to have faith in Krishna because we immediately begin to feel happy by following His instructions.

Arjuna surrenders to Krishna twice in Bhagavad-gita, to be instructed in Bg. 2.7 and in Bg. 18.73 when he agrees to follow Krishna’s instructions.

We are brought up with the idea that evil is separate from God, but nothing is separate from God.

We have to give up the idea that we are the victim of something beside our own actions.
Dhrtarastra asked Krishna why he was born blind, and Krishna showed him his past 100 births. For 99 births he was an ideal king, but in the previous birth he had a skin disease, and the only cure was to prepare an ointment from the bodies of 100 swans. Instead of worrying about the protection of the swans residing in his kingdom as an ideal king, he ordered the 100 swans killed and the ointment prepared, and his disease was cured and for the rest of his life, he was an ideal king. For his blindness in not protecting the swans for his own sensual pleasure 100 births ago, he was born blind and the 100 swans took birth as his sons, his sons were all killed, and he lost his kingdom. [The speaker said he heard this from Krishna Das Swami.]

In our material conditional life we cannot see Krishna because our desire to forget Krishna blinds us. 

We see Krishna first by hearing from the scripture.

In our conditioned state our love for Krishna is in a dormant state like a tree in the winter which appears leafless and lifeless.

We need to learn that Krishna exists, our relationship with Krishna exists, and to act in relationship with Krishna is our constitutional position.

Perfection in Krishna consciousness does not come quickly, just as walnut trees take 50 years to mature or olive trees take 100 years to produce the best olives.

Remaining in the association of devotees and developing a strong practice of hearing can protect us from maya.

We are making rapid progress back to Godhead, but our experience is one of gradual development.

Srila Prabhupada gave excellent lectures on Narada’s instructions to Vyasa, and I think they should make it into book.

Few people are interested in Krishna consciousness because it takes a long time being kicked by maya before one asks if there is something else.

\Bhakti Charu Swami argues that the whole development of modern civilization over the last several hundred years which started about the time of Lord Caitanya was meant to facilitate the spread of Lord Caitanya’s sankirtana movement.
We should deepen our conviction to do what we are doing for the simply for pleasure of Krishna.
Gopal Kumara’s guru told him that your fix your intention and then chant the mantra and your will get that result. So make your intention to do just what you are doing for the pleasure of Krishna.
When asked at Bhaktivedanta Manor by a journalist about the purpose of life, Srila Prabhupada explained that the purpose of life is to enjoy. Then he explained that we have forgotten the real platform of enjoyment.

If we stop serving the Lord favorably we will have to serve the Lord unfavorably and indirectly, and that will not be satisfying to ourselves or to anybody else.
Krishna knows that the living entity cannot be happy without being engaged in the Lord’s service because that is his constitutional position.

One time there was complication regarding a preaching program, and a devotee expressed concern that Prabupada be inconvenienced. Srila Prabhupada replied, “Preaching means inconvenience.”

Sometimes devotees complain, “I gave the best years of my life to ISKCON, and what did ISKCON do for me?” Praghosa Prabhu has offered this response which I like, “Actually ISKCON has given you the best years of your life, and you should really try to understand what ISKCON did give you.”

Here it is described how a person whose body, mind, and words, are fully engaged in devotional service is liberated. I experienced this traveling with Vaisesika Prabhu in England. Our itinerary was ill-conceived and we drove two and a half hours from Leicester to Manchester for an evening program, returning at 1 a.m. Then we had to drive to London for a program at 6:30 a.m. in the morning. Vaisesika cheerfully participated as he was expected to and would absorb himself in reading during the journey, not disturbed by his surroundings.

Prabhupada observed that in the West the people have all material facility but they are suffering greatly mentally.
One woman wrote a book called The Secret, which speaks about the universe as reciprocating your desire. This conception is expressed by Srila Prabhupada: “Such materialists cannot even imagine that there is a transcendental body which is imperishable, full of knowledge and eternally blissful. . . . For such materialistic men, the form of the gigantic material manifestation is supreme.” (Bhagavad-gita 4.10, purport)

Lord Caitanya would sit on the floor and his intimates associates would describe Lord Krishna’s pastimes and He would cry. Srila Prabhupada explained that is our practice: sit down, hear about Krishna, and cry.

When I was young I had the opportunity to read a copy of Krishna book that was in a house I was sharing with someone. I read it for awhile, and I could not deny anything that was written there, but at a certain point, I decided I was not ready for this, and I put it aside. Then Krishna put me through the wringer, and two years later I was ready for this.

When the Bible or Koran says “You cannot see the face of God and live,” it is my conviction that it means that you cannot engage in an ordinary materialistic life once you have seen God and not that you literally die.

We are all here because our love for Krishna has been reawakened. Ecstasy means to go beyond the static.

The question is, “How close do you want to sit to the fire of sankirtana?”

The degree that this knowledge is revealed to you and the degree that you apply it determine how soon you become Krishna consciousness.

You can become Krishna conscious in a minute, but that minute may take millions of births to reach.

Srila Bhaktivinoda in explaining Bhagavad-gita 9.30 says that eventually the devotional service will displace all the materialistic tendencies.

He, referring to a godbrother who remembered the Lord at death, was liberated, but he was not famous. You do not have to be famous to be liberated.

Duryodhana Guru Prabhu [one of Srila Prabhupada’s Sanskrit editors]:

Religion is often a relationship with dogma while spirituality is a relationship with God.

Some people are very uncomfortable with the term God because they have had a bad experience with a particular religion and thus they have negative feelings toward God.

In Kali-yuga the degradation progresses, but there is within it, an age of enlightenment, and we see evidence of the both progressive degradation and the enlightenment.

I was in Nashville, Tennessee, and we stopped at one traffic light, and on each of the four corners there was a church.

Hinduism has no founder and no founding date, unlike the other major religions which all appeared in the age of Kali, the age of degradation.

Dharma is duty, obligation, honesty, integrity, and acting according to our own nature.

Yoga is the union of the soul with God.

Bhakti-yoga the yoga of love and devotion.

We are all attracted to bhakti-yoga, whether we know it or not, because we are all looking for love.

What does God wear? What does he like to eat? Most religions cannot answer these questions.

Who did the Indian people invade? Nobody. The Indian people invaded no one for the last ten thousand years. Neither the Hindus invaded others, nor the Buddhists. The Jews also were not interested in invasion. But the religions that arose later in Kali-yuga, the age of degradation, Christianity and Islam, are always invading others.

If you are thinking you are God, you will find it difficult to have a loving relationship with God, because love requires two people.

We can become free from material limitations by serving God.

Once you choose a spiritual path, stick with it until you attain success

In the spiritual world, everything is conscious. When Radha cooks rice for Krishna, she asks the rice, “Are you done yet?” And the rice says, “No. It will be a couple more minutes.”

Q: Is astrology useful in bhakti-yoga?
A: Of course, that is what I do, and I have been doing that for thirty-five years. Astrology is a tool. As long as you understand it is tool, you can use it.

Q: What is the price to become as free as Narada Muni?
A: Complete surrender..

As deep as your love goes, that is the level Krishna will reciprocate at.

Pundarika Vidyanidhi Prabhu:

In 1973 Srila Prabhupada began speaking about varnasrama. Prior to that he spoke about chanting Hare Krishna and becoming purified in that way. This is because he saw people leaving his society because of not being engaged properly.

There is some injunction that says if you follow varnasrama for seventy lives you will attain liberation.

Krishna tells Arjuna not to follow the Vedas (Bg. 2.45) because they deal with the three models of material nature, and yet He also says He is goal of the Vedas (Bg. 15.15). Thus there is transcendental aspect to the Vedas that is valuable for us.

A mature devotee is willing to do whatever is required in the service of the Lord, but if we engage a new person in doing whatever needs to be done, disregarding the person’s natural propensity, he may not stick around long enough to become a mature devotee, being dissatisfied at working contrary to his own nature.

Saksi Gopal Prabhu:

According to the Vedas, you can offer rice wine to Varuna on a certain day of the moon, but that is not for those on the highest level of religious practice.

Every tradition has mystics that can access other realms.

Many ancient traditions are being lost. Who would have thought that India, which has a cultural of cow protection, would become the world’s second largest exporter of beef.

It is rare in yoga that the means and end are the same, but in bhakti-yoga, because it is our eternal activity, both the means and end are the same.

Srila Prabhupada once said, “Do not think that I am not also making advancement.”

Once Srila Prabhupada said at Bhaktivedanta Manor, “Don’t take birth again in Kali-yuga [this present age of degradation].” At the time, I was thinking it was not so bad, but now that over 30 years have passed, I see how things have degraded and how we have had so many problems, even in the Hare Krishna movement.

We have a spiritual cleaning service.

Bhakti-yoga is a process for constantly purifying our intentions.

comment by Janananda Goswami:

Eight years ago I was talking to someone from the Sioux Indian tribe who was a scholar who taught their history in the university. I asked him about their origins, and he said they came from India about 25,000 years ago. He also said that their totem pole derived from the Garuda stambha.

Dayananda Swami:

From sraddha to bhava two symptoms are prominent, klesa-ghni, freedom from miseries, and subha-da, the beginning of all of auspiciousness. Then at bhava, moksa-laghu-krt, the minimization of liberation, and sudurlabham, the rareness of attainment is experienced.

I used to think it would be nice if I had a service where I could just chant, but then later I realized that the quality of my chanting was not so great that that would be best for me.

A devotee asked Srila Prabhupada how one could attain perfection in a moment. Prabhupada replied with an analogy. Dry wood placed in a hot fire can immediately burst into flames, while wet wood takes awhile to come to the point of burning. So if one is advanced from a previous practice, very quickly one can attain perfection.

At nistha one realizes there is no difference between the holy name and Krishna.

Everything is already Krishna’s, we just have to agree to it, and then engage everything in Krishna’s service.

Ananta Nitai Prabhu:

I was distributing books on Grafton Street in Dublin early in the morning. People were going to work. I tried to stop one young man. He said he could not stop, he was in a rush. So I said to him, ““Are you in a rush to die?”” He stopped dead in his tracks and asked me what I meant by that statement.I said, ““Well, you are in a rush today, you will be in a rush tomorrow, and the next day, and the next, so ultimately you’re in a rush to die.”” He was struck by what I said and took Science of Self-Realization and gave a donation.

Nanda Kumar IDS Prabhu:

All yoga traditions stress the importance of the spiritual teacher.

Once a bhajana leader in Radha-Ramana temple one evening chanted Guruvastakam, and I could participate and felt Srila Prabupada had the gave the essence of Vrajavasi life.

Jesu [from a conversation on an Irish ferry]:

Mahavishnu Swami and I went to see George Harrison and ask him about his interest in reincarnation as we had heard about it but wanted to know the truth of it. We went to his house in the morning and saw him sitting in his garden chanting Hare Krishna japa, and we offered obeisances and chanted pranamas to Srila Prabhupada in George’s presence so he would know we were followers of Srila Prabhupada. When we arose, he said something that made us all crack up laughing, “What are you? Dropouts from the Hare Krishna temple?” In fact, Mahavishnu Swami was so absorbed in laughing that I ended up talking to George myself.

------

sa hanis tan mahac chidram
sa mohah sa ca vibhramah
yan-muhurtam ksanam vapi
vasudevam na cintayet

“If even for a moment remembrance of Vasudeva, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is missed, that is the greatest loss, that is the greatest illusion, and that is the greatest anomaly.” (Vishnu Purana, quoted in Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.9.36, purport)

Travel Journal#8.19: The North of England, Scotland, and Ireland
→ Travel Adventures of a Krishna Monk


Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 8, No. 19
By Krishna-kripa das
(October 2012, part one)
The North of England, Scotland, and Ireland
(Sent from Stuyvesant Falls, New York, on December 8, 2012)

Where I Went and What I Did

As the World Holy Name Festival continued into October, I continued traveling with Janananda Goswami and his party around Manchester, Newcastle, and up to Edinburgh, Scotland, where devotees held an 8-hour kirtana in the hall of a church downtown, and invited their yoga friends, and the people in general. I left the two-day Scottish festival, which continued on at Karuna Bhavan, to go to Belfast and help with a program for Quaker children at our temple there. Then after three days of harinama in Belfast, we chanted in Enniskillen, near Govindadvipa (Inis Rath), our Hare Krishna island in Northern Ireland. Friday we did harinama to all three Govinda’s Restaurants in Dublin. Saturday we did our second 12-hour harinama in Dublin, and got a larger participation than before. Sunday was the Sunday feast program, and Monday we did 12-hours of kirtana at the temple. Tuesday we did harinama in Bray, a city outside of Dublin and the usual Tuesday evening kirtana program, before returning to The North of England.

I share Srila Prabhupada notes as usual, and notes from Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami’s writings, including his recently printed autobiography, The Story of My Life, which includes new Prabhupada stories and Hare Krishna history. I also have realizations from Janananda Goswami and several Prabhupada disciples from the UK and Ireland, and a few other devotees.

Itinerary

Dec. 8–9, 2012: Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami Vyasa-puja
Dec. 10–23, 2012: Serving SDG in Stuyvesant, NY
Dec. 24–25, 2012: Visiting family in Albany, NY
Dec. 26, 2012–
Jan. 7, 2013: harinama in New York City
Jan. 8–April 2013: Gainesville, FL (with visits to Tallahassee and Jacksonville)

Edinburgh 8-hour Kirtana

I was happy that my first visit to Scotland was on the occasion of an 8-hour kirtana in Edinburgh. Janananda Goswami arrived just over an hour early and organized a harinama in the streets of Edinburgh, and we distributed the remaining invitations to the interested people. The venue for the event was a church community room, and different yoga people and alternative people came, some for the first time. Diya from Sunderland led a lively kirtana, and many of her friends danced nicely in the audience. Janananda Goswami led a super lively kirtana, with almost everyone dancing, and our only lamentation was he was not given a longer slot. Some of the organizers knew me and kindly allowed me to sing for half an hour. Gaura Prabhu from South Africa, who lives in Mayapur, played the drum, and by the end a lot of people danced nicely.

Quaker Kids Program at Belfast Temple

Every four years the First Day School teacher at the Belfast Friends Meeting (Quakers) brings her students to the Hare Krishna temple to experience another religious practice. Shelina, who had done the program four years ago, led the program again, and I assisted. I mentioned some of important similarities in the two philosophies, such as life is meant for seeking spiritual truth and the Lord is within everyone’s heart. I also taught a simple mrdanga (drum) beat to any child who wanted to learn, and I dressed interested boys in cadars. I was impressed with the good behavior of the kids. One boy almost immediately picked up the drum beat.

Enniskillen and Dublin Harinamas

During the whole bus ride from Belfast to Enniskillen rain was pouring down. Earlier I had been joking with the devotees about whether praying for good weather was bona fide. When we began to chant the rain stopped, and by the end of the three-hour kirtana the sun could often be seen. One lady who was interested in yoga bought a book from our book distributor and gave us a donation beyond that. She was happy to hear we had a temple in nearby Derrylin. Thus austerity of the bus ride and inclement weather was worth it as someone was happy to come in touch with Krishna.

The next we went to Dublin and did harinama in the late afternoon. My friend, Dhruva Prabhu, who is an ISKCON tourist was happy that on our evening harinama we visited all three of our restaurants in Dublin. We had tea in a couple places in addition to spring rolls, but unfortunately the desserts had already sold out. My fingers suffered from playing instruments in the cold weather.

Dublin’s Second 12-hour Harinama and 12-hour Kirtana


Everyone who went on our 12-hour harinama back in July really liked it, so Ananta Nitai Prabhu and I organized another one for October.



Ananta Nitai was so enthusiastic he also organized a 12-hour kirtana at the temple two days later. Having a positive experience, he decided to try to do a 12-hour harinama the first Saturday of each month, and follow it by a 12-hour kirtana on the following Monday. This time a traveling party of brahmacari book distributors mostly from Poland joined forces with us for the 12-hour harinama and increased our ecstasy.


 One man who had seen us chanting for 12-hours on Saturday was surprised to see us chanting on Sunday morning. Nanda Kumar Prabhu and Bhaktin Anet distributed many books during the course of the harinama, which spend most of its time at the big intersection near the temple. In the evening, instead of doing the usual sit-down harinama, since the sidewalk was wet, we did harinama to a crowded area called Temple Bar, which is frequented more for its bars than its temples. One Indian girl looked with interest at our chanting party, and I talked with her and she followed us. She explained that because it was Saturday the train schedule was different, and she missed her last train home and thus had the opportunity to meet our harinama party. That was Krishna’s mercy on her. She expressed an interest in coming to our events, and I hope she remembers this desire of hers at the opportune time to act on it.

Devotees joined our 12-hour kirtana throughout the day on Monday, and there were always just enough people to keep in going. 



Manu Prabhu, one of Dublin ISKCON’s celebrated kirtana leaders, was one of the singers.


I danced a lot of the time.


Caitanya-candrodaya Prabhu took pictures of the devotees during the kirtana, and they are all so meditative. I share a couple. Thanks for all of your pictures of the harinama and kirtana in Dublin, Caitanya!





On Tuesday we traveled with the brahmacari book distributors to Bray, about half an hour from Dublin, and we chanted as they distributed books. Because we had chanted for twelve hours the previous Saturday and Monday, we found two and three-quarters hours went by like no time at all.

Insights

Srila Prabhupada:
from Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.14.26, purport:
“The scientists are cheaters because they present so many bogus things in the name of science. They propose going to the moon, but actually they end up cheating the entire public of large sums of money for their experiments. They cannot do anything useful. Unless one can find a person transcendental to the four basic defects, one should not accept advice and become a victim of the material condition. The best process is to take the advice and instructions of Sri Krishna or His bona fide representative. In this way one can be happy in this life and the next.”

Janananda Goswami:

If we had as much enthusiasm for Krishna as we do for our computers and mobiles, we could make rapid advancement.

There are some things we do every day, eat, sleep, use the toilet, and brush our teeth. Similarly we should read Srila Prabhupada’s books every day.

Krishna consciousness is not just to make our material life or our present existence more comfortable. It is to go to the spiritual world and to become released from birth and death and redevelop our relationship with Krishna.

Four things given by Srila Prabhupada to make your house a temple.
  1. have an altar
  2. offer your food to Krishna
  3. chant the holy name, the Hare Krishna maha-mantra
  4. read the scriptures
Another important activity for householders is taking care of guests.

Srila Prabhupada told his GBC members their first duty is to make sure everyone in the temple is chanting 16 rounds of Hare Krishna and following the four rules prohibiting intoxication, meat-eating, illicit sex, and gambling.

Haridasa Thakura was chanting 300,000 names of the Lord before Lord Caitanya’s appearance.
Sometimes it is described that some devotee of the Lord is an incarnation of two intimate associates of the Lord. This is not so strange as in the material world sometimes someone is haunted by a ghost and two souls are inhabiting the same body and vying for control. Of course, in the Lord’s pastimes, the two devotees are cooperating to serve the Lord’s mission.
Q: How to measure spiritual strength?
A: Enthusiasm for chanting and hearing and association with devotees, enthusiasm to render service, being less affected by our material situation, taking shelter of guru and Krishna, all these are symptoms of spiritual strength. When the body ages, you may not be able to do so much physical activity, but you still have enthusiasm for them.
One devotee who was 93 years old was explaining he could not remember anything but Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare, but in one sense, that is a good thing.
Story of Mother Isa who Niranjana Swami visited in a nursing home: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=10841&paged=2
If we are not feeling increasing spiritual strength, perhaps we are being tested by Krishna or else we have done something unfavorable.
When we carry on our spiritual practice beyond our slip ups, we can become stronger than before.
One devotee had a late night program and so his sadhana was quite irregular and the devotees were concerned and asked Srila Prabhupada whether he should be asked to leave the temple. Srila Prabhupada replied that if he at least goes to mangala-arati, our early morning service, then he can stay.
We had five classes a day in our first temple in London on Bury Place—two in the morning, The Nectar of Devotion or Sri Isopanisad before greeting of the deities, Bhagavatam class after, The Nectar of Devotion or Sri Isopanisad (whichever was not done in the morning) before the evening arati, Bhagavad-gita after, then a song class and Krishna book reading after the evening arati.

comments by Saksi Gopal Prabhu:

In the early days one new devotee was sent by the treasurer, with a half-shaved head to go out and collect for a razor blade to finish the job.

One time in the early days the pujari came through temple room to bring the breakfast offering to the deities and found that not only had everyone hearing the morning class fallen asleep but the speaker had also fallen asleep.

Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami (mostly from his web site, www.sdgonline.org):

from Narada-bhakti-sutra, text 67, purport:

“Being single-pointed in devotional service does not mean shutting out reality. Exclusivity can become sectarian if one focuses on relative truths or dedicates oneself to an ordinary person. But when the object of appreciation is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one attains the broadest vision, the vision of a mahatma.”

from Viraha Bhavan, October 3, 2012, poem:
They say if you prematurely
think yourself a sakhi you
will come back next life
as a material woman.

from Viraha Bhavan, October 15, 2012, poem:

Prabhupada said if we
follow him he has a key
to enter the back door of
Goloka Vrndavana. I am
counting on that, although I am
completely unfit.

from The Story of My Life, his autobiography:

“[At Ananda Ashram] We had a wild kirtana in the big yoga studio. Swamiji let a black man play a big double bass, swinging it in rhythm like a jazz beat. We danced around in a big circle. The ISKCON people mixed with the Ananda Ashram people. Round and round we danced in ecstasy for an hour.”

“Himavati made him [Srila Prabhupada] a set of clothes for Them [his Radha-Krishna deities]. Radharani’s skirt was a little short. “That is all right,” he wrote, “It affords us a look at Her lotus feet.”

A boy had raised his hand for a question. “What happens when you go inside and you look further and further and further and Further!?” He was crazy. Prabhupada replied, “That I do not know. You know.” That boy chanted Hare Krishna and became an initiated disciple in time, Kusakratha. He became a great Sanskrit scholar.

ISKCON is like the Ganges, sometimes it is flowing thin and somewhere it is roaring wide, but it is always flowing.

Srila Prabhupada asked us why we closed the temple and came to New York. What did we leave Jagannath, Baladeva, and Subhadra locked up? “If you left me locked up in a room how would I eat?” he asked. He told us not to do that again.

Once I was preparing eggplant and small peanuts at his request and he [Srila Prabhupada] came into the kitchen to see how I was doing. He said, “I don’t ask for this because I want it. I just want to train you in how to cook it.”

He [Srila Prabhupada] liked a cup of warm milk with sugar in the evening also.

I took part in an all-night schedule of single men going inside Prabhupada’s mosquito net and sitting on his bed and rubbing his body. I would take the ten to midnight or the midnight to 2 a.m. time. That was very intimate, and you had to use all your strength to keep rubbing him and stay awake. I managed to do this, and it was a great thrill of loving exchange towards him. It was hard to keep awake, and I did it by thinking who Prabhupada was, siksa-guru for anyone who had the sense to come to him, and diksa-guru for anyone who had vowed to be his eternal servant. “I am so fallen, Prabhupada,” I thought, “I want to fall asleep. I must stay awake and massage you for your comfort.” I managed to say awake, and when my shift was over I looked forward to doing it again.

from Passing Places, Eternal Truths:

“Walking for japa at 6:00 A.M. by Raman Reti:

A mangy dog approached me with gruff barking. I thought, ‘If you come any closer, you’ll get the end of this danda,’ and he went away. Madhu and I then circumambulated the Krishna-Balarama Tree. At the same spot there were two old Indian matajis bowing down in the sand. They smiled slightly to us. Then the same aggressive dog went up to one old lady. She was so small and had no stick. To my surprise, she began speaking softly to the dog in low tones. He sat down before her, making gruff sounds. She then disentangled her hand from her bead bag, reached into another bag, pulled out a piece of food and threw it on the ground for the dog. By now we had passed her, and I saw this by looking back. Once again I saw that I had misunderstood the meaning of Vrndavana.”

Bhagavatasraya Prabhu:

Last semester students at Bath got 25 signatures for a club on Krishna consciousness, and this year they got 100 signatures.

If you ask people what they want most in life, they invariably say that they want to be happy. Then if you ask them how long they want to be happy for, they will tell you they want to be happy forever. It is not surprising that everyone wants a condition of eternal happiness because that is the nature of the soul.

We are so conditioned, we think this body is alive and that we need a material body to be alive.
Srila Prabhupada’s greatest challenge to create life out of matter which has never been done because it can never be done.

When you come into this world, you become so conditioned that you cannot get out. You do not even know which direction out is.

The nectar for which we are always anxious is the nectar of our relationship with Krishna.

Only through the intervention of the Lord in human society, as in his instructions in Bhagavad-gita can we know of spiritual world and how we can get there.

Krishna gives you the ticket to get out of the material world, but we have to take the ride.

Previous misconceptions of God are very difficult to remove from the mind.

It is not difficult to have faith in Krishna because we immediately begin to feel happy by following His instructions.

Arjuna surrenders to Krishna twice in Bhagavad-gita, to be instructed in Bg. 2.7 and in Bg. 18.73 when he agrees to follow Krishna’s instructions.

We are brought up with the idea that evil is separate from God, but nothing is separate from God.

We have to give up the idea that we are the victim of something beside our own actions.
Dhrtarastra asked Krishna why he was born blind, and Krishna showed him his past 100 births. For 99 births he was an ideal king, but in the previous birth he had a skin disease, and the only cure was to prepare an ointment from the bodies of 100 swans. Instead of worrying about the protection of the swans residing in his kingdom as an ideal king, he ordered the 100 swans killed and the ointment prepared, and his disease was cured and for the rest of his life, he was an ideal king. For his blindness in not protecting the swans for his own sensual pleasure 100 births ago, he was born blind and the 100 swans took birth as his sons, his sons were all killed, and he lost his kingdom. [The speaker said he heard this from Krishna Das Swami.]

In our material conditional life we cannot see Krishna because our desire to forget Krishna blinds us. 

We see Krishna first by hearing from the scripture.

In our conditioned state our love for Krishna is in a dormant state like a tree in the winter which appears leafless and lifeless.

We need to learn that Krishna exists, our relationship with Krishna exists, and to act in relationship with Krishna is our constitutional position.

Perfection in Krishna consciousness does not come quickly, just as walnut trees take 50 years to mature or olive trees take 100 years to produce the best olives.

Remaining in the association of devotees and developing a strong practice of hearing can protect us from maya.

We are making rapid progress back to Godhead, but our experience is one of gradual development.

Srila Prabhupada gave excellent lectures on Narada’s instructions to Vyasa, and I think they should make it into book.

Few people are interested in Krishna consciousness because it takes a long time being kicked by maya before one asks if there is something else.

\Bhakti Charu Swami argues that the whole development of modern civilization over the last several hundred years which started about the time of Lord Caitanya was meant to facilitate the spread of Lord Caitanya’s sankirtana movement.
We should deepen our conviction to do what we are doing for the simply for pleasure of Krishna.
Gopal Kumara’s guru told him that your fix your intention and then chant the mantra and your will get that result. So make your intention to do just what you are doing for the pleasure of Krishna.
When asked at Bhaktivedanta Manor by a journalist about the purpose of life, Srila Prabhupada explained that the purpose of life is to enjoy. Then he explained that we have forgotten the real platform of enjoyment.

If we stop serving the Lord favorably we will have to serve the Lord unfavorably and indirectly, and that will not be satisfying to ourselves or to anybody else.
Krishna knows that the living entity cannot be happy without being engaged in the Lord’s service because that is his constitutional position.

One time there was complication regarding a preaching program, and a devotee expressed concern that Prabupada be inconvenienced. Srila Prabhupada replied, “Preaching means inconvenience.”

Sometimes devotees complain, “I gave the best years of my life to ISKCON, and what did ISKCON do for me?” Praghosa Prabhu has offered this response which I like, “Actually ISKCON has given you the best years of your life, and you should really try to understand what ISKCON did give you.”

Here it is described how a person whose body, mind, and words, are fully engaged in devotional service is liberated. I experienced this traveling with Vaisesika Prabhu in England. Our itinerary was ill-conceived and we drove two and a half hours from Leicester to Manchester for an evening program, returning at 1 a.m. Then we had to drive to London for a program at 6:30 a.m. in the morning. Vaisesika cheerfully participated as he was expected to and would absorb himself in reading during the journey, not disturbed by his surroundings.

Prabhupada observed that in the West the people have all material facility but they are suffering greatly mentally.
One woman wrote a book called The Secret, which speaks about the universe as reciprocating your desire. This conception is expressed by Srila Prabhupada: “Such materialists cannot even imagine that there is a transcendental body which is imperishable, full of knowledge and eternally blissful. . . . For such materialistic men, the form of the gigantic material manifestation is supreme.” (Bhagavad-gita 4.10, purport)

Lord Caitanya would sit on the floor and his intimates associates would describe Lord Krishna’s pastimes and He would cry. Srila Prabhupada explained that is our practice: sit down, hear about Krishna, and cry.

When I was young I had the opportunity to read a copy of Krishna book that was in a house I was sharing with someone. I read it for awhile, and I could not deny anything that was written there, but at a certain point, I decided I was not ready for this, and I put it aside. Then Krishna put me through the wringer, and two years later I was ready for this.

When the Bible or Koran says “You cannot see the face of God and live,” it is my conviction that it means that you cannot engage in an ordinary materialistic life once you have seen God and not that you literally die.

We are all here because our love for Krishna has been reawakened. Ecstasy means to go beyond the static.

The question is, “How close do you want to sit to the fire of sankirtana?”

The degree that this knowledge is revealed to you and the degree that you apply it determine how soon you become Krishna consciousness.

You can become Krishna conscious in a minute, but that minute may take millions of births to reach.

Srila Bhaktivinoda in explaining Bhagavad-gita 9.30 says that eventually the devotional service will displace all the materialistic tendencies.

He, referring to a godbrother who remembered the Lord at death, was liberated, but he was not famous. You do not have to be famous to be liberated.

Duryodhana Guru Prabhu [one of Srila Prabhupada’s Sanskrit editors]:

Religion is often a relationship with dogma while spirituality is a relationship with God.

Some people are very uncomfortable with the term God because they have had a bad experience with a particular religion and thus they have negative feelings toward God.

In Kali-yuga the degradation progresses, but there is within it, an age of enlightenment, and we see evidence of the both progressive degradation and the enlightenment.

I was in Nashville, Tennessee, and we stopped at one traffic light, and on each of the four corners there was a church.

Hinduism has no founder and no founding date, unlike the other major religions which all appeared in the age of Kali, the age of degradation.

Dharma is duty, obligation, honesty, integrity, and acting according to our own nature.

Yoga is the union of the soul with God.

Bhakti-yoga the yoga of love and devotion.

We are all attracted to bhakti-yoga, whether we know it or not, because we are all looking for love.

What does God wear? What does he like to eat? Most religions cannot answer these questions.

Who did the Indian people invade? Nobody. The Indian people invaded no one for the last ten thousand years. Neither the Hindus invaded others, nor the Buddhists. The Jews also were not interested in invasion. But the religions that arose later in Kali-yuga, the age of degradation, Christianity and Islam, are always invading others.

If you are thinking you are God, you will find it difficult to have a loving relationship with God, because love requires two people.

We can become free from material limitations by serving God.

Once you choose a spiritual path, stick with it until you attain success

In the spiritual world, everything is conscious. When Radha cooks rice for Krishna, she asks the rice, “Are you done yet?” And the rice says, “No. It will be a couple more minutes.”

Q: Is astrology useful in bhakti-yoga?
A: Of course, that is what I do, and I have been doing that for thirty-five years. Astrology is a tool. As long as you understand it is tool, you can use it.

Q: What is the price to become as free as Narada Muni?
A: Complete surrender..

As deep as your love goes, that is the level Krishna will reciprocate at.

Pundarika Vidyanidhi Prabhu:

In 1973 Srila Prabhupada began speaking about varnasrama. Prior to that he spoke about chanting Hare Krishna and becoming purified in that way. This is because he saw people leaving his society because of not being engaged properly.

There is some injunction that says if you follow varnasrama for seventy lives you will attain liberation.

Krishna tells Arjuna not to follow the Vedas (Bg. 2.45) because they deal with the three models of material nature, and yet He also says He is goal of the Vedas (Bg. 15.15). Thus there is transcendental aspect to the Vedas that is valuable for us.

A mature devotee is willing to do whatever is required in the service of the Lord, but if we engage a new person in doing whatever needs to be done, disregarding the person’s natural propensity, he may not stick around long enough to become a mature devotee, being dissatisfied at working contrary to his own nature.

Saksi Gopal Prabhu:

According to the Vedas, you can offer rice wine to Varuna on a certain day of the moon, but that is not for those on the highest level of religious practice.

Every tradition has mystics that can access other realms.

Many ancient traditions are being lost. Who would have thought that India, which has a cultural of cow protection, would become the world’s second largest exporter of beef.

It is rare in yoga that the means and end are the same, but in bhakti-yoga, because it is our eternal activity, both the means and end are the same.

Srila Prabhupada once said, “Do not think that I am not also making advancement.”

Once Srila Prabhupada said at Bhaktivedanta Manor, “Don’t take birth again in Kali-yuga [this present age of degradation].” At the time, I was thinking it was not so bad, but now that over 30 years have passed, I see how things have degraded and how we have had so many problems, even in the Hare Krishna movement.

We have a spiritual cleaning service.

Bhakti-yoga is a process for constantly purifying our intentions.

comment by Janananda Goswami:

Eight years ago I was talking to someone from the Sioux Indian tribe who was a scholar who taught their history in the university. I asked him about their origins, and he said they came from India about 25,000 years ago. He also said that their totem pole derived from the Garuda stambha.

Dayananda Swami:

From sraddha to bhava two symptoms are prominent, klesa-ghni, freedom from miseries, and subha-da, the beginning of all of auspiciousness. Then at bhava, moksa-laghu-krt, the minimization of liberation, and sudurlabham, the rareness of attainment is experienced.

I used to think it would be nice if I had a service where I could just chant, but then later I realized that the quality of my chanting was not so great that that would be best for me.

A devotee asked Srila Prabhupada how one could attain perfection in a moment. Prabhupada replied with an analogy. Dry wood placed in a hot fire can immediately burst into flames, while wet wood takes awhile to come to the point of burning. So if one is advanced from a previous practice, very quickly one can attain perfection.

At nistha one realizes there is no difference between the holy name and Krishna.

Everything is already Krishna’s, we just have to agree to it, and then engage everything in Krishna’s service.

Ananta Nitai Prabhu:

I was distributing books on Grafton Street in Dublin early in the morning. People were going to work. I tried to stop one young man. He said he could not stop, he was in a rush. So I said to him, ““Are you in a rush to die?”” He stopped dead in his tracks and asked me what I meant by that statement.I said, ““Well, you are in a rush today, you will be in a rush tomorrow, and the next day, and the next, so ultimately you’re in a rush to die.”” He was struck by what I said and took Science of Self-Realization and gave a donation.

Nanda Kumar IDS Prabhu:

All yoga traditions stress the importance of the spiritual teacher.

Once a bhajana leader in Radha-Ramana temple one evening chanted Guruvastakam, and I could participate and felt Srila Prabupada had the gave the essence of Vrajavasi life.

Jesu [from a conversation on an Irish ferry]:

Mahavishnu Swami and I went to see George Harrison and ask him about his interest in reincarnation as we had heard about it but wanted to know the truth of it. We went to his house in the morning and saw him sitting in his garden chanting Hare Krishna japa, and we offered obeisances and chanted pranamas to Srila Prabhupada in George’s presence so he would know we were followers of Srila Prabhupada. When we arose, he said something that made us all crack up laughing, “What are you? Dropouts from the Hare Krishna temple?” In fact, Mahavishnu Swami was so absorbed in laughing that I ended up talking to George myself.

------

sa hanis tan mahac chidram
sa mohah sa ca vibhramah
yan-muhurtam ksanam vapi
vasudevam na cintayet

“If even for a moment remembrance of Vasudeva, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is missed, that is the greatest loss, that is the greatest illusion, and that is the greatest anomaly.” (Vishnu Purana, quoted in Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.9.36, purport)

Scientific Spirituality
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Science is Great

Science is great! Science helps us understand the world, cure diseases, build great things like computers, mobile devices, skyscrapers, and jet airplanes. It is useful, fascinating and magical. Indeed, sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, as the physicist and science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke famously said.

Moreover, additional benefits of science include wonderful inventions like coal-fired power plants, automobiles, and industrial farming, all allowing humans to do great things like destroy the rainforest, raise the temperature of the entire planet, and cause mass extinctions, clearly undesirable side effects of science. However, science will surely be able to solve the problem it has created. Take the Toyota Prius, for example, a wonder of technology, a hybrid car that is extremely fuel efficient. While it still uses fuel like any other car, it is much better than the gas-guzzlers of yesteryear. So good that its “fuel efficiency” is close to that of a horse. With a few more years of scientific advances, we will surely be able to make cars that run on nearly nothing, re-grow the rainforest and clone extinct species back into existence. So, science is great. Right?

The Horsemen Approach

Have you heard of the Four Horsemen? The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Conquest, War, Famine and Death, are described in the last chapter of the Bible as harbingers of final judgement of God over all people. However, I’m not speaking of these horsemen. Rather, I’m referring to the self-styled Four Horsemen known as the torch-bearers of the “New Atheists” movement: Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens. These four scientists claim to represent critical thinking, knowledge and reason. Disagree with their thinking and you must be an irrational, delusional religious fanatic. After all, they represent science. 

The most famous of the Four Horseman is Professor Richard Dawkins of Oxford University. A prolific author, Dawkins is best known for his book “The God Delusion”. He also occasionally gives public lectures. I remember hearing of one of his lectures a few years ago. 

The Horseman Speaks

I was sitting in my office in the School of Computer Science at the University of Manchester, an office with narrow slits of windows letting in a little daylight, a building that is perpetually either too hot or too cold, having been designed with a monstrously over-powered air-conditioning system for the vacuum tube computers of years gone by. This building, the hallowed halls of learning, the zenith of Western Civilization, is not named after Alan Turing, the famous scientist from Manchester who came up with a universal theory of computation. Instead, it is named after Tom Kilburn, the engineer who built the first stored program computer, highlighting the difference between science and engineering. Scientists come up with ideas, but it is the engineers that make them actually work and create technology. Engineering is applied science. 

While sitting at my desk, Mikel, a friend and fellow PhD student, came in wearing a large backpack. I waited until he sat down and caught his breath, then asked him where he just came from. He explained he was at Oxford University for a public lecture by Richard Dawkins. I then asked what he thought of the lecture, expecting a rant about how Dawkins was brilliantly condemning religion, especially the Catholic Church. Mikel was a staunch atheists with a special axe to grind against the Catholic Church, an organization quite prominent in his home country of Spain. I enjoyed these rants, as they were quite entertaining and often led to interesting friendly arguments between the two of us.

Much to my surprise, however, Mikel said he was disappointed by Dawkins’ talk. Mikel explained that he was expecting Dawkins to make some good arguments for atheism, but instead the Professor was using emotional language and preaching like a Bible-basher. According to Mikel, Dawkins sounded as much as a religious fanatic, as the religious leaders he was speaking against with such “religious” fever. 

I remember this incident because it taught me of the insidiousness the Western materialistic scientific worldview. Matter is imbued with extraordinary secret powers. The material universe can come from nothing by magic, life can arise from matter by accident, and consciousness can arise from the brain by biochemical reaction. These claims are true, because, well, they just are.

Science is True

Let us examine a few of the ideas of materialistic science. I was quite astounded when I first learnt of each of these, reacting with a “wow, I would never have thought!”

It is common knowledge that the Earth orbits around the Sun. The Earth as the center of the Universe is an archaic idea, an outdated concept, one that no one believes in anymore. Western scientists as far back as Copernicus have discovered that actually the Sun is in the center and the Earth orbits around that. 

But not so fast. If we dig a bit deeper we learn that accepted wisdom is false. The Earth actually orbits around the gravitational center of the solar system. Large planets such as Jupiter and Saturn, pull on the Earth with their enormous gravitational force. This causes the central point of orbit to vary greatly. Indeed, it is almost never being centered directly on the Sun. We can go further still. Let us take into account that our entire solar system is orbiting around the galactic core, and our galaxy, in turn, is probably moving and orbiting in some undiscovered pattern around other galaxies. So, why do we believe one childish simplification of the structure of the universe (Sun is the center) in favor of another (Earth is the center)?

To quote Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi:

"Luke, you’re going to find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view."

There is more scientific “truth” that falls into this hazy realm, a realm of generally accepted scientific wisdom, a place of theories that no one has ever verified by observation and theories which are impossible to verify by observation.

One such hypothesis is the big bang theory. It proclaims to explain the origin of matter, time and space, but it seems highly unlikely that anyone will be able to stage an experiment to verify what actually happened at the beginning of the universe.

Then there is macro-evolution. A species is defined as a group of life-forms that can interbreed producing fertile offspring. Evolution claims that species evolve into other species, yet scientists have never observed any animal evolving into a new creature that no longer can interbreed with members of its previous species).

The last question we will tackle is the origin of life, and the origin of consciousness. How best to get to the bottom of these mysteries and know for sure? Could such a thing even be possible? Believe it or not, I see very good reasons to be optimistic about solving these conundrums.

Science is becoming more Scientific

Why do I see reasons to be optimistic? Two reasons, each converging on the other, as if seeking to merge in a wonderful fusion of spiritual and material knowledge.

On the spiritual side: we are rediscovering ancient spiritual knowledge that gives a detailed scientific account of life, the universe and consciousness. More on this a bit later on.

On the material side: some scientists are beginning to remove the blinders of materialism, considering that perhaps there might be more to the universe than just matter. Chinks are beginning to appear in the armor of the Western materialist worldview. People are beginning to realize that money does not buy happiness, unlimited economic growth is unsustainable, and something as subtle as consciousness plays a significant role in the laws of physics. Scientists are realizing there is a great need for scientific research to answer fundamental questions such as: What is consciousness? How can we become more conscious? What is happiness? How can we become more happy?

In short, science is realizing that true science can and should be open to the study of everything and scientific spiritual knowledge is eagerly waiting to be rediscovered by open-minded scientists. Wonderful! 

Vedas: Knowledge of Everything

I first came across the Vedic wisdom ancient India in the year 2000 while studying at the University of Southampton. I stumbled upon a university club dedicated to studying and applying the knowledge contained in the Vedas. “Veda” literally means knowledge, and the many books that encompass the Vedic literature indeed contain a great deal of knowledge.

One of the many pearls of timeless Vedic wisdom is that real spiritual knowledge should be scientific. The Vedas teach how to use scientific methods to study and understand spirituality. This was an intriguing proposition. I had always admired the rigor of scientific knowledge, and here was a way to apply that methodology to the big questions of life (who am I, why are we here, etc.) 

The Vedic wisdom explains the mystery of conscious as follows.

“O son of Bharata, as the sun alone illuminates all this universe, so does the living entity, one within the body, illuminate the entire body by consciousness.”

- Bhagavad-Gita 13.34

That is the basis of scientific spiritual teachings. The body only functions when there is consciousness, without consciousness there can be no life. At the same time, the conscious entity is a separate thing from the material body. Some interpretations of quantum mechanics lead to similar conclusions.

Happiness, proof in the pudding

Everyone wants to be happy. The United States of America was founded on the promises of the right to the “pursuit of happiness.” Yet it offers no clue on how someone might go about finding happiness. Indeed, that is one of the great mysterious of life. What will make me happy?

It turns out that happiness is one of the key factors in the scientific approach to spiritual knowledge. The Vedic knowledge explains a step-by-step process for finding happiness, happiness with a very distinct flavor, happiness unlike any previously experienced, happiness that is, quite literally, out of this world.

Here is a quote from a Vedic scripture on the topic of happiness.

“Some say that people will be happy by performing pious religious activities. Others say that happiness is attained through fame, sense gratification, truthfulness, self-control, peace, self-interest, political influence, opulence, renunciation, consumption, sacrifice, penance, charity, vows, regulated duties or strict disciplinary regulation. Each process has its proponents." 

- Srimad Bhagavatam 11.14.10

All the persons I have just mentioned obtain temporary fruits from their material work. Indeed, the meager and miserable situations they achieve bring future unhappiness and are based on ignorance. Even while enjoying the fruits of their work, such persons are filled with lamentation.  

O learned Uddhava, those who fix their consciousness on Me [Krishna], giving up all material desires, share with Me a happiness that cannot possibly be experienced by those engaged in sense gratification.”

- Srimad-Bhagavatam 11.14.12

This quote acknowledges various approaches to attaining happiness, ultimately recommending the approach of fixing one’s consciousness upon Krishna, Krishna being the Supreme Personality of Godhead, universally revered throughout the Vedic literature. The happiness experienced during this practice of “Krishna Consciousness” is markedly different from the happiness experienced through so many other activities. Here we have a scientific hypothesis: happiness in Krishna Consciousness is distinct from the happiness experienced when pleasing the senses.

“Hold on!” you might say, “happiness is a subjective experience, not something that can be objectively measured. Science only deals with things that are objectively measurable.” True enough, but consciousness is an entirely subjective experience, and that is exactly what we are trying to study here. We have to cast off the shackles of materialistic science to make progress is this exciting new field of spiritual science. Just because something is not objectively measurable does not mean it does not exist, and certainly does not mean we should not endeavor to study it. Otherwise, if we neglected to study anything new and unknown, how could we make any progress?

Process

So how does one make process in this exciting realm where science and spirituality coalesce? The Vedic wisdom suggests an approach.

“Now hear, O son of Pr?th?, how by practicing yoga in full consciousness of Me, with mind attached to Me, you can know Me in full, free from doubt.”

- Bhagavad-Gita 7.1

Here Krishna is speaking in the seventh chapter of the Bhagavad-Gita. He is explaining a scientific yoga process for understanding His nature. This process is more than just physical exercise. Yoga is a complete system for self-realization where the physical yoga postures are only one small part of the routine, there to make the practitioner fit to dive deeper into the complete system, culminating in complete absorption in the spiritual energy, resulting in full consciousness of Krishna beyond any doubt. So, at the end of a systematic process we have scientific proof. 

The process Krishna mentions involves integrating Krishna consciousness into everyday activities, aligning them with Krishna’s desires. Krishna recommends, reading about him, chanting of special Vedic mantras, contemplating the spiritual science and ultimately dedicating all one’s actions for a spiritual purpose. At the end of the process, the result should speak for itself.

As the Nobel Prize winning quantum physicists Werner Heisenberg has famously said: 

“The first gulp from the glass of the natural sciences will turn you into an atheist, but at the bottom of the glass God is waiting for you.”

Scientific Spirituality
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Science is Great

Science is great! Science helps us understand the world, cure diseases, build great things like computers, mobile devices, skyscrapers, and jet airplanes. It is useful, fascinating and magical. Indeed, sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, as the physicist and science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke famously said.

Moreover, additional benefits of science include wonderful inventions like coal-fired power plants, automobiles, and industrial farming, all allowing humans to do great things like destroy the rainforest, raise the temperature of the entire planet, and cause mass extinctions, clearly undesirable side effects of science. However, science will surely be able to solve the problem it has created. Take the Toyota Prius, for example, a wonder of technology, a hybrid car that is extremely fuel efficient. While it still uses fuel like any other car, it is much better than the gas-guzzlers of yesteryear. So good that its “fuel efficiency” is close to that of a horse. With a few more years of scientific advances, we will surely be able to make cars that run on nearly nothing, re-grow the rainforest and clone extinct species back into existence. So, science is great. Right?

The Horsemen Approach

Have you heard of the Four Horsemen? The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Conquest, War, Famine and Death, are described in the last chapter of the Bible as harbingers of final judgement of God over all people. However, I’m not speaking of these horsemen. Rather, I’m referring to the self-styled Four Horsemen known as the torch-bearers of the “New Atheists” movement: Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens. These four scientists claim to represent critical thinking, knowledge and reason. Disagree with their thinking and you must be an irrational, delusional religious fanatic. After all, they represent science. 

The most famous of the Four Horseman is Professor Richard Dawkins of Oxford University. A prolific author, Dawkins is best known for his book “The God Delusion”. He also occasionally gives public lectures. I remember hearing of one of his lectures a few years ago. 

The Horseman Speaks

I was sitting in my office in the School of Computer Science at the University of Manchester, an office with narrow slits of windows letting in a little daylight, a building that is perpetually either too hot or too cold, having been designed with a monstrously over-powered air-conditioning system for the vacuum tube computers of years gone by. This building, the hallowed halls of learning, the zenith of Western Civilization, is not named after Alan Turing, the famous scientist from Manchester who came up with a universal theory of computation. Instead, it is named after Tom Kilburn, the engineer who built the first stored program computer, highlighting the difference between science and engineering. Scientists come up with ideas, but it is the engineers that make them actually work and create technology. Engineering is applied science. 

While sitting at my desk, Mikel, a friend and fellow PhD student, came in wearing a large backpack. I waited until he sat down and caught his breath, then asked him where he just came from. He explained he was at Oxford University for a public lecture by Richard Dawkins. I then asked what he thought of the lecture, expecting a rant about how Dawkins was brilliantly condemning religion, especially the Catholic Church. Mikel was a staunch atheists with a special axe to grind against the Catholic Church, an organization quite prominent in his home country of Spain. I enjoyed these rants, as they were quite entertaining and often led to interesting friendly arguments between the two of us.

Much to my surprise, however, Mikel said he was disappointed by Dawkins’ talk. Mikel explained that he was expecting Dawkins to make some good arguments for atheism, but instead the Professor was using emotional language and preaching like a Bible-basher. According to Mikel, Dawkins sounded as much as a religious fanatic, as the religious leaders he was speaking against with such “religious” fever. 

I remember this incident because it taught me of the insidiousness the Western materialistic scientific worldview. Matter is imbued with extraordinary secret powers. The material universe can come from nothing by magic, life can arise from matter by accident, and consciousness can arise from the brain by biochemical reaction. These claims are true, because, well, they just are.

Science is True

Let us examine a few of the ideas of materialistic science. I was quite astounded when I first learnt of each of these, reacting with a “wow, I would never have thought!”

It is common knowledge that the Earth orbits around the Sun. The Earth as the center of the Universe is an archaic idea, an outdated concept, one that no one believes in anymore. Western scientists as far back as Copernicus have discovered that actually the Sun is in the center and the Earth orbits around that. 

But not so fast. If we dig a bit deeper we learn that accepted wisdom is false. The Earth actually orbits around the gravitational center of the solar system. Large planets such as Jupiter and Saturn, pull on the Earth with their enormous gravitational force. This causes the central point of orbit to vary greatly. Indeed, it is almost never being centered directly on the Sun. We can go further still. Let us take into account that our entire solar system is orbiting around the galactic core, and our galaxy, in turn, is probably moving and orbiting in some undiscovered pattern around other galaxies. So, why do we believe one childish simplification of the structure of the universe (Sun is the center) in favor of another (Earth is the center)?

To quote Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi:

"Luke, you’re going to find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view."

There is more scientific “truth” that falls into this hazy realm, a realm of generally accepted scientific wisdom, a place of theories that no one has ever verified by observation and theories which are impossible to verify by observation.

One such hypothesis is the big bang theory. It proclaims to explain the origin of matter, time and space, but it seems highly unlikely that anyone will be able to stage an experiment to verify what actually happened at the beginning of the universe.

Then there is macro-evolution. A species is defined as a group of life-forms that can interbreed producing fertile offspring. Evolution claims that species evolve into other species, yet scientists have never observed any animal evolving into a new creature that no longer can interbreed with members of its previous species).

The last question we will tackle is the origin of life, and the origin of consciousness. How best to get to the bottom of these mysteries and know for sure? Could such a thing even be possible? Believe it or not, I see very good reasons to be optimistic about solving these conundrums.

Science is becoming more Scientific

Why do I see reasons to be optimistic? Two reasons, each converging on the other, as if seeking to merge in a wonderful fusion of spiritual and material knowledge.

On the spiritual side: we are rediscovering ancient spiritual knowledge that gives a detailed scientific account of life, the universe and consciousness. More on this a bit later on.

On the material side: some scientists are beginning to remove the blinders of materialism, considering that perhaps there might be more to the universe than just matter. Chinks are beginning to appear in the armor of the Western materialist worldview. People are beginning to realize that money does not buy happiness, unlimited economic growth is unsustainable, and something as subtle as consciousness plays a significant role in the laws of physics. Scientists are realizing there is a great need for scientific research to answer fundamental questions such as: What is consciousness? How can we become more conscious? What is happiness? How can we become more happy?

In short, science is realizing that true science can and should be open to the study of everything and scientific spiritual knowledge is eagerly waiting to be rediscovered by open-minded scientists. Wonderful! 

Vedas: Knowledge of Everything

I first came across the Vedic wisdom ancient India in the year 2000 while studying at the University of Southampton. I stumbled upon a university club dedicated to studying and applying the knowledge contained in the Vedas. “Veda” literally means knowledge, and the many books that encompass the Vedic literature indeed contain a great deal of knowledge.

One of the many pearls of timeless Vedic wisdom is that real spiritual knowledge should be scientific. The Vedas teach how to use scientific methods to study and understand spirituality. This was an intriguing proposition. I had always admired the rigor of scientific knowledge, and here was a way to apply that methodology to the big questions of life (who am I, why are we here, etc.) 

The Vedic wisdom explains the mystery of conscious as follows.

“O son of Bharata, as the sun alone illuminates all this universe, so does the living entity, one within the body, illuminate the entire body by consciousness.”

- Bhagavad-Gita 13.34

That is the basis of scientific spiritual teachings. The body only functions when there is consciousness, without consciousness there can be no life. At the same time, the conscious entity is a separate thing from the material body. Some interpretations of quantum mechanics lead to similar conclusions.

Happiness, proof in the pudding

Everyone wants to be happy. The United States of America was founded on the promises of the right to the “pursuit of happiness.” Yet it offers no clue on how someone might go about finding happiness. Indeed, that is one of the great mysterious of life. What will make me happy?

It turns out that happiness is one of the key factors in the scientific approach to spiritual knowledge. The Vedic knowledge explains a step-by-step process for finding happiness, happiness with a very distinct flavor, happiness unlike any previously experienced, happiness that is, quite literally, out of this world.

Here is a quote from a Vedic scripture on the topic of happiness.

“Some say that people will be happy by performing pious religious activities. Others say that happiness is attained through fame, sense gratification, truthfulness, self-control, peace, self-interest, political influence, opulence, renunciation, consumption, sacrifice, penance, charity, vows, regulated duties or strict disciplinary regulation. Each process has its proponents." 

- Srimad Bhagavatam 11.14.10

All the persons I have just mentioned obtain temporary fruits from their material work. Indeed, the meager and miserable situations they achieve bring future unhappiness and are based on ignorance. Even while enjoying the fruits of their work, such persons are filled with lamentation.  

O learned Uddhava, those who fix their consciousness on Me [Krishna], giving up all material desires, share with Me a happiness that cannot possibly be experienced by those engaged in sense gratification.”

- Srimad-Bhagavatam 11.14.12

This quote acknowledges various approaches to attaining happiness, ultimately recommending the approach of fixing one’s consciousness upon Krishna, Krishna being the Supreme Personality of Godhead, universally revered throughout the Vedic literature. The happiness experienced during this practice of “Krishna Consciousness” is markedly different from the happiness experienced through so many other activities. Here we have a scientific hypothesis: happiness in Krishna Consciousness is distinct from the happiness experienced when pleasing the senses.

“Hold on!” you might say, “happiness is a subjective experience, not something that can be objectively measured. Science only deals with things that are objectively measurable.” True enough, but consciousness is an entirely subjective experience, and that is exactly what we are trying to study here. We have to cast off the shackles of materialistic science to make progress is this exciting new field of spiritual science. Just because something is not objectively measurable does not mean it does not exist, and certainly does not mean we should not endeavor to study it. Otherwise, if we neglected to study anything new and unknown, how could we make any progress?

Process

So how does one make process in this exciting realm where science and spirituality coalesce? The Vedic wisdom suggests an approach.

“Now hear, O son of Pr?th?, how by practicing yoga in full consciousness of Me, with mind attached to Me, you can know Me in full, free from doubt.”

- Bhagavad-Gita 7.1

Here Krishna is speaking in the seventh chapter of the Bhagavad-Gita. He is explaining a scientific yoga process for understanding His nature. This process is more than just physical exercise. Yoga is a complete system for self-realization where the physical yoga postures are only one small part of the routine, there to make the practitioner fit to dive deeper into the complete system, culminating in complete absorption in the spiritual energy, resulting in full consciousness of Krishna beyond any doubt. So, at the end of a systematic process we have scientific proof. 

The process Krishna mentions involves integrating Krishna consciousness into everyday activities, aligning them with Krishna’s desires. Krishna recommends, reading about him, chanting of special Vedic mantras, contemplating the spiritual science and ultimately dedicating all one’s actions for a spiritual purpose. At the end of the process, the result should speak for itself.

As the Nobel Prize winning quantum physicists Werner Heisenberg has famously said: 

“The first gulp from the glass of the natural sciences will turn you into an atheist, but at the bottom of the glass God is waiting for you.”

The Help Everyone Needs
→ Matsya Avatar das adhikari


The path of spiritual evolution is marked by different phases, breakthroughs,  deviations and stagnations, falls, imprisonments and  progressive liberations.
Even the man who has testified the important improvements on the path of spiritual realization and is sincere in his intention to evolve, is still bound to make mistakes and therefore is subject to karmic conseguences due to the remaining unsolved conditionings. 
However it is at the time of crisis that a person needs our affection more than ever, needs our help through comprehension  and forgiveness in order to try once again and overcome the limits, that had been structured in the numerous past lives.
As I have been observing for decades, the persons meet a lot of difficulties along the path of evolution, and it is rare that one proceeds steadily and coherently, rather everyone makes steps backwards and forwards according to one's peculiar characteristics: the individuals most advanced in the inner growth are those who make more steps forwards than backwards.
Through their walking towards spiritual love and perfection all these souls in the prakriti world need encouragement, most of all when they are in the process of rolling back. A sincere help received at the most crucial moments of life is the best call in order to carry on along the right path.

The Help Everyone Needs
→ Matsya Avatar das adhikari


The path of spiritual evolution is marked by different phases, breakthroughs,  deviations and stagnations, falls, imprisonments and  progressive liberations.
Even the man who has testified the important improvements on the path of spiritual realization and is sincere in his intention to evolve, is still bound to make mistakes and therefore is subject to karmic conseguences due to the remaining unsolved conditionings. 
However it is at the time of crisis that a person needs our affection more than ever, needs our help through comprehension  and forgiveness in order to try once again and overcome the limits, that had been structured in the numerous past lives.
As I have been observing for decades, the persons meet a lot of difficulties along the path of evolution, and it is rare that one proceeds steadily and coherently, rather everyone makes steps backwards and forwards according to one's peculiar characteristics: the individuals most advanced in the inner growth are those who make more steps forwards than backwards.
Through their walking towards spiritual love and perfection all these souls in the prakriti world need encouragement, most of all when they are in the process of rolling back. A sincere help received at the most crucial moments of life is the best call in order to carry on along the right path.

Duchess of Cambridge’s baby: It’s a girl!
→ The Vaishnava Voice

I have been a bit surprised at the level of media interest in the Duchess of Cambridge’s pregnancy. From all over the world reporters have descended on London, crowding the streets outside the private Edward VII hospital where Kate was admitted two days ago with acute morning sickness. Congratulations are certainly in order, although traditionally not offered until after the safe period of three months has elapsed.

The child  - now known to be a girl – will be third in line to the throne, although why this fact should be of interest to the world is a mystery to me. The longevity of our current monarch means that those in the royal line may never be monarchs themselves, no matter their legitimate claim to the throne. Whatever the reason for the intense interest, this royal baby must be already the most famous embryo in the world. Its a superlative level of real fame when everyone’s talking about you – and your physical body is not yet formed.

One of the most famous embryos in the history of the world was the child of Uttara and Abhimanyu, Pariksit by name. He was the grandson of the celebrated Arjuna – another royal – and even in the womb he was attacked. When Krishna gave him mystical protection, his life was spared and he lived to become famous as the great hearer of the Bhagavata Purana. His name means ‘the examiner’ as he was always looking at people’s faces to see whether he could recognise the Person who saved him in the womb.

While Kate’s foetus, barely 12 weeks in existence is already being personified as ‘a girl,’  and ‘royalty,’ just streets away from the Edward VII Hospital another foetus – another little girl – of 24 weeks will tonight be cut from her mother’s womb, de-personified as ’tissue’ and thrown away.

Only when all little girls, inside or outside the womb, are venerated as princesses will we be able to call ourselves a civilized society.


Creating a Masterpiece
→ Undoing Reality

The human spirit craves mastery over its carnal shell.  There is an intoxicating feeling of control derived from flesh altering practices.  But we must ask ourselves, “Why are we not satisfied with the body given to us? ”   We have tattooing, body piercing, plastic surgery, body building, and transgendering.  Also people resort to bulimia and anorexia to satisfy the need for the perfect body.  When people want to change their bodies or their minds, they join the gym, go to the beauty salon, visit a medium or psychic, or psychotherapists.  All these things will change the shell but not the person within who remains at a constant equilibrium despite the changes wrought upon its frame.

“I can tell you what you need to be perfect.”  How many industries make their profit on making you feel good and look good?   Business is based on supply and demand. When there is a demand for something, be sure that a business will spring up to make money meeting it!  Our desire for self-improvement has sprung up industries that would shock generations going back even 100 years ago.  As human perfection has taken on a new meaning, ideals and virtues that reflect the character of a person are becoming less and less important.

A bird in a cage is a good metaphor to use.The cage is the material body, the carnal shell and the bird is us. Today’s society focuses on the cage and not the bird within.  We have to take responsibility to release the bird from it’s cage, and desist on

trying to make a masterpiece by altering our bodies in the myriads of fashions available.   Create a masterpiece by changing our consciousness, escaping the cage of this body.

Be Prepared…for the Atheist Boy Scouts
→ The Vaishnava Voice

Here’s the news today, as relayed by the Theos website:

The Scout Association has launched a consultation to gauge support among members for an alternate atheist Scout promise, removing the invocation of a deity. At the same time, the Guide Association, the parallel movement which began two years later, is to launch a consultation about its very similar promise, with views sought on all parts of the wording from early January.

The current version of the Scout promise reads: “On my honour, I promise that I will do my best to do my duty to God and to the Queen, to help other people and to keep the Scout law.”

My thoughts about this, should my dear readers be interested, is that yes, on the one hand the consultation simply reflects the reality that boys can be atheists at a young age, and why shouldn’t they be allowed to be Scouts if they’re atheists? Does faith in God really help in putting up that tent, after all? Will their compasses no longer point to the true north if they don’t believe in a deity?

On the other hand, the Scouts were founded by someone who obviously believed that faith was important in the building of a young man’s character. Its not all about rubbing sticks together to make a fire, tying knots and singing ging-gang-gooly; its about the many-layers of development that go into formation of character and making us fully-rounded human beings. Spirituality being one of them.

Lord Baden-Powell had just come through the Boer War when he formed the Boy Scouts in 1908. He took the existence of God as a truth, felt the recognition of God and duty to Him to be a prerequisite of character formation, and that’s why the Scouts promise was written as it is. Perhaps – as ‘BP’ and my own grandfather did – you have to be pinned down by an opposing army and pray to God for help before you realise you’re not alone in the universe.

The sinking feeling I had when reading this news is that it was yet another indication of Britain’s swing away from the very legitimacy of having ‘deity’ as a useful part of life, and towards an unofficial adoption of atheism as a standard, and more logical, disposition. Once we start that, full de-legitimisation of religion per se – as in North Korea – comes very quickly. Within 100 years we could see religion done away with completely.

Long before that, of course, the Scouts will also have dropped pledging their allegiance to the monarchy, (a remnant of Biblical notions) and the salute of the Union flag (since it is based upon three Christian symbols and therefore highly suspect) will have been also dismissed.