air freshener anyone? living under the influence…
→ everyday gita

Verse 3.27: The spirit soul bewildered by the influence of false ego thinks himself the doer of activities that are in actuality carried out by the three modes of material nature.

There is a phrase that the great bhakti yogi, Srila Prabhupada, often uses in reference to the soul. That phrase is:

"one's constitutional position"

I love this description because it strips away everything that is irrelevant and gives us the essence. Sometimes, when things are wrapped up in nice and glitzy packages, we get distracted. Case in point - many of us are so fixated on the body with all it's functions, abilities and appearance that we may forget what's really important - the soul inside.

Equally important to realizing that we are eternal souls, is the nature of the soul. Its nature can be summed up in two words: to serve.

Everything really falls in place if we understand these two points of service and the soul. Our desire to find our true calling and contribute to the world is in fact rooted in our innate nature to serve.

But...we face a challenge. We encounter it on a minute to minute basis and may not realize that it is in direct opposition to the soul's propensity and inherent nature of service. That challenge is otherwise known as: the false ego.

The false ego is like a voracious eater and the food it subsists on is control and recognition. Now before going any further, it's important to highlight that desiring control and recognition is not wrong or negative. It does, however, become a challenge when the false ego, which is always screaming to take credit of all activities that are being performed, interferes with our inherent nature to appreciate and recognize the Divine.

In fact, the soul doesn't crave recognition, control or anything else. It simply craves eternal and ever-lasting love. Under the influence of the false ego, we get bewildered into thinking that these other externals may somehow lead to that love.

In today's verse, Krsna is very beautifully explaining how the false ego affects us. It acts as an influence. That in and of itself gives great hope for all those who want to be freed from the tyrannical demands of the false ego. If the soul is under the influence of the false ego, it implies that the soul can also become freed from it!

Just as the air takes on the smell of any environment that it passes over, similarly the soul (having been in contact with the false ego for so many lifetimes) also takes on the influence of the false ego's association.

The temptation may be there to cover up the outward manifestations of the false ego, similar to trying to cover up a bad odor with a pleasant one. However, it just doesn't work. It may be a temporary fix, but those tendencies always comes out, often at the most inopportune times!

The only way to give up the influence of the false ego is by changing our association. By practicing mantra meditation, introspection and spending time with advanced bhakti yogis, we'll start to recognize the stink of the false ego. After all, it's only when you recognize the stink that you'll want to disassociate from it! By becoming aware of the ways that the false ego lures us in, we'll learn to not only ignore it, but gradually give up it's association completely.

air freshener anyone? living under the influence…
→ everyday gita

Verse 3.27: The spirit soul bewildered by the influence of false ego thinks himself the doer of activities that are in actuality carried out by the three modes of material nature.

There is a phrase that the great bhakti yogi, Srila Prabhupada, often uses in reference to the soul. That phrase is:

"one's constitutional position"

I love this description because it strips away everything that is irrelevant and gives us the essence. Sometimes, when things are wrapped up in nice and glitzy packages, we get distracted. Case in point - many of us are so fixated on the body with all it's functions, abilities and appearance that we may forget what's really important - the soul inside.

Equally important to realizing that we are eternal souls, is the nature of the soul. Its nature can be summed up in two words: to serve.

Everything really falls in place if we understand these two points of service and the soul. Our desire to find our true calling and contribute to the world is in fact rooted in our innate nature to serve.

But...we face a challenge. We encounter it on a minute to minute basis and may not realize that it is in direct opposition to the soul's propensity and inherent nature of service. That challenge is otherwise known as: the false ego.

The false ego is like a voracious eater and the food it subsists on is control and recognition. Now before going any further, it's important to highlight that desiring control and recognition is not wrong or negative. It does, however, become a challenge when the false ego, which is always screaming to take credit of all activities that are being performed, interferes with our inherent nature to appreciate and recognize the Divine.

In fact, the soul doesn't crave recognition, control or anything else. It simply craves eternal and ever-lasting love. Under the influence of the false ego, we get bewildered into thinking that these other externals may somehow lead to that love.

In today's verse, Krsna is very beautifully explaining how the false ego affects us. It acts as an influence. That in and of itself gives great hope for all those who want to be freed from the tyrannical demands of the false ego. If the soul is under the influence of the false ego, it implies that the soul can also become freed from it!

Just as the air takes on the smell of any environment that it passes over, similarly the soul (having been in contact with the false ego for so many lifetimes) also takes on the influence of the false ego's association.

The temptation may be there to cover up the outward manifestations of the false ego, similar to trying to cover up a bad odor with a pleasant one. However, it just doesn't work. It may be a temporary fix, but those tendencies always comes out, often at the most inopportune times!

The only way to give up the influence of the false ego is by changing our association. By practicing mantra meditation, introspection and spending time with advanced bhakti yogis, we'll start to recognize the stink of the false ego. After all, it's only when you recognize the stink that you'll want to disassociate from it! By becoming aware of the ways that the false ego lures us in, we'll learn to not only ignore it, but gradually give up it's association completely.

Devotional Service Committee (DSC) meeting on Saturday June 15th @ 11:00 am
→ ISKCON BRAMPTON'S BLOG

Devotional Service Committee (DSC) meeting on Saturday June 15th @ 11:00 am
ISKCON Brampton would be having its next DSC meeting on Saturday June 15th at 11:00 am. If you are currently performing a regular service at the temple like cleaning, cooking, pujari, vedic discourse .... or are interested in doing so then please come out to find out how you can contribute.
 
The ISKCON Brampton Board and Trustees have some exciting things planned and great updates to share with everyone and they would like to share these opportunities with you. Snacks will also be provided that day. Please contact Acharya Thakur Prabhu if you have any questions.

Sunday Feast, June 16th @ 11:00am

The program consists of arati, kirtan (devotional chanting), philosophical discussion and prasadam.  Please come, get inspired and inspire others through your desire to share Krsna Consciousness!

Program Schedule:
11:00 am - 11:30 am Guru Puja
11:30 am - 12:00 pm Arati & Kirtan
12:00 pm – 12:05 pm Narasingadev Prayers
12:10 pm - 1:00 pm  Vedic Discourse by His Grace Subhavilasa Prabhu
1:05 pm - 1:20 pm Tulasi Puja
1:20 pm - 2:00 pm Prasadam (Vegetarian feast)

Upcoming event:
Sunday School Picture Day - June 23rd 2013
ISKCON Brampton Sunday School will be having picture day on Sunday June 23rd 2013. 

Bring your smiles and finest Vaisnava attire!  (dhoti, kurta, lengha/gopi dress, tilak)

For more information, please contact the Sunday School teachers -sundayschool108@gmail.com

Devotional Service Committee (DSC) meeting on Saturday June 15th @ 11:00 am
→ ISKCON BRAMPTON'S BLOG

Devotional Service Committee (DSC) meeting on Saturday June 15th @ 11:00 am
ISKCON Brampton would be having its next DSC meeting on Saturday June 15th at 11:00 am. If you are currently performing a regular service at the temple like cleaning, cooking, pujari, vedic discourse .... or are interested in doing so then please come out to find out how you can contribute.
 
The ISKCON Brampton Board and Trustees have some exciting things planned and great updates to share with everyone and they would like to share these opportunities with you. Snacks will also be provided that day. Please contact Acharya Thakur Prabhu if you have any questions.

Sunday Feast, June 16th @ 11:00am

The program consists of arati, kirtan (devotional chanting), philosophical discussion and prasadam.  Please come, get inspired and inspire others through your desire to share Krsna Consciousness!

Program Schedule:
11:00 am - 11:30 am Guru Puja
11:30 am - 12:00 pm Arati & Kirtan
12:00 pm – 12:05 pm Narasingadev Prayers
12:10 pm - 1:00 pm  Vedic Discourse by His Grace Subhavilasa Prabhu
1:05 pm - 1:20 pm Tulasi Puja
1:20 pm - 2:00 pm Prasadam (Vegetarian feast)

Upcoming event:
Sunday School Picture Day - June 23rd 2013
ISKCON Brampton Sunday School will be having picture day on Sunday June 23rd 2013. 

Bring your smiles and finest Vaisnava attire!  (dhoti, kurta, lengha/gopi dress, tilak)

For more information, please contact the Sunday School teachers -sundayschool108@gmail.com

These things happen
→ Jayadvaita Swami

This letter was sent to me and Dravida Dasa, the chief editor at the North American BBT.

Respected Maharaj and Prabhu,

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

I request to read the following purport of SB 9.10.29

“After giving up the body, one is transferred to another body, but sometimes, if one is too sinful, he is checked from transmigrating to another body, and thus he becomes a ghost. To save a diseased person from ghostly life, the funeral ceremony, or sraddha ceremony, as prescribed in authorized sastra, must be performed. Ravana was killed by Lord Ramacandra and was destined for hellish life, but by Lord Ramacandra’s advice, Vibhisana, Ravana’s brother, performed all the duties prescribed in relation to the dead. Thus Lord Ramacandra was kind to Ravana even after Ravana’s death.”

Shouldn’t the word “diseased” be “deceased”?

Your servant,
Anuj Agrawal
Banswara
Rajasthan, India

Yes, it certainly should!

(This will be fixed in the next printing.)

The post These things happen appeared first on Jayadvaita Swami.

These things happen
→ Jayadvaita Swami

This letter was sent to me and Dravida Dasa, the chief editor at the North American BBT.
Respected Maharaj and Prabhu, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. I request to read the following purport of SB 9.10.29 “After giving up the body, one is transferred to another body, but sometimes, if one is too sinful, he is checked from transmigrating to another body, and thus he becomes a ghost. To save a diseased person from ghostly life, the funeral ceremony, or sraddha ceremony, as prescribed in authorized sastra, must be performed. Ravana was killed by Lord Ramacandra and was destined for hellish life, but by Lord Ramacandra’s advice, Vibhisana, Ravana’s brother, performed all the duties prescribed in relation to the dead. Thus Lord Ramacandra was kind to Ravana even after Ravana’s death.” Shouldn’t the word “diseased” be “deceased”? Your servant, Anuj Agrawal Banswara Rajasthan, India
Yes, it certainly should! (This will be fixed in the next printing.)

read more

These things happen
→ Jayadvaita Swami

This letter was sent to me and Dravida Dasa, the chief editor at the North American BBT.

Respected Maharaj and Prabhu,

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

I request to read the following purport of SB 9.10.29

“After giving up the body, one is transferred to another body, but sometimes, if one is too sinful, he is checked from transmigrating to another body, and thus he becomes a ghost. To save a diseased person from ghostly life, the funeral ceremony, or sraddha ceremony, as prescribed in authorized sastra, must be performed. Ravana was killed by Lord Ramacandra and was destined for hellish life, but by Lord Ramacandra’s advice, Vibhisana, Ravana’s brother, performed all the duties prescribed in relation to the dead. Thus Lord Ramacandra was kind to Ravana even after Ravana’s death.”

Shouldn’t the word “diseased” be “deceased”?

Your servant,
Anuj Agrawal
Banswara
Rajasthan, India

Yes, it certainly should!

(This will be fixed in the next printing.)

read more

think before you speak
→ everyday gita

Verse 3.26: So as not to disrupt the minds of ignorant men attached to the fruitive results of prescribed duties, a learned person should not induce them to stop work. Rather, by working in the spirit of devotion, he should engage them in all sorts of activities [for the gradual development of Kṛṣṇa consciousness].

Ever get so excited about something that when you get a chance to talk about it with others you just talk their head off? If so, you're not alone!

In some cases though, you may find out that the person you were speaking to got turned off by your rambling because they just couldn't relate to what you were saying.

At some point in time our lives, I think most of us have been both the source of such over-exuberance and the recipient of it! Today's verse speaks to this type of situation by offering some extremely practical advice to the super excited individual who is just bursting at the seams to speak:

Think before you speak.

Communications 101 teaches us that knowing your audience is just as important as how, what and why you're sharing information. The most effective communication occurs when we address the needs, interests and concerns of whoever we are talking to. Also extremely important is the relationship we have with the person we are conversing with.

Here, the Gita is saying that it takes time to understand bhakti. That's why it's important to start at the beginning. If you recall, one of the key topics Krsna speaks to Arjuna about (the first being the importance of the soul), is the necessity of working according to one's nature. Note: Krsna did not advice Arjuna to give up everything and run away to the forest to meditate.

Essentially, Krsna addressed Arjuna's needs, interests and concerns on a very practical level. Now as we continue to journey through the Gita, we'll learn more about the intricate nature of bhakti and how the most advanced bhakti yogis are not obligated work. But....that takes time, knowledge and the practical and steady application of the bhakti process.

Sometimes when we get really excited or inspired, we can overwhelm our listeners. What I love about this verse is that it's so applicable and relevant in our everyday lives. After all...I don't think anyone can argue that it's always best to think before we speak

Death of a Yogi
→ Bhagavatam By Braja

This is a partial excerpt from the manuscript to Beautiful Tales of the All Attractive, Vol. 2 – the topic at hand does continue past the end of the excerpt.

the_yogi_attains_siddhi_op8919-21

Parīkṣit: Please explain how those yogīs actually discard the body.

Śuka: They sit with the heel pressing the rectum so their life-air[1] can rise through the six stations, conquering weariness.

The thoughtful use their intelligence to gradually draw out and raise their life-air from the navel to the heart, and then upwards to the chest and throat. Finally, they bring their life-air between their eyebrows and close all the seven bodily outlets completely. Existing for half a moment in this independent state, they set their sights upon Viṣṇu’s worriless position and give up their body by bursting out from the top of the head, towards that supreme destination.

22

Parīkṣit: Do they make it successfully all the way to the supreme destination?

Śuka: Not if they still have personal ambitions, O King. On the path to the supreme they might want to use their mind and sensual faculties to enjoy the multifaceted world as supernatural beings who have eight mystic powers.

23

Parīkṣit: How is this different than the paradisiac goal achieved by ritual and responsibility?

Śuka: Yogic masters who have cultivated knowledge, austerity, yoga, and meditation can attain material destinations without being limited to them. They continue to progress within and beyond these destinations in a purified, subtle body. Those who perform the rituals and responsibilities of karma cannot attain such perfection.

24

Parīkṣit: How do they continue moving towards the supreme destination?

Śuka: They reach the heavens, where the Sun presides, by traversing the path of space. Then they follow the Sun’s ray towards to Moon[2] and progress further on the path towards Brahmā. Finally, when they are completely pure, they move upwards into Hari’s circle of stars.[3]

[1] The life air is the medium transmitting consciousness to the physical realm. So “raising the life-air” amounts to raising the focus of consciousness.

[2] Suṣumṇa

[3] Śiśumāra


The Death of a Yogi
→ The Enquirer

This is a partial excerpt from the manuscript to Beautiful Tales of the All Attractive, Vol. 2 – the topic at hand does continue past the end of the excerpt.

the_yogi_attains_siddhi_op8919-21

Parīkṣit: Please explain how those yogīs actually discard the body.

Śuka: They sit with the heel pressing the rectum so their life-air[1] can rise through the six stations, conquering weariness.

The thoughtful use their intelligence to gradually draw out and raise their life-air from the navel to the heart, and then upwards to the chest and throat. Finally, they bring their life-air between their eyebrows and close all the seven bodily outlets completely. Existing for half a moment in this independent state, they set their sights upon Viṣṇu’s worriless position and give up their body by bursting out from the top of the head, towards that supreme destination.

22

Parīkṣit: Do they make it successfully all the way to the supreme destination?

Śuka: Not if they still have personal ambitions, O King. On the path to the supreme they might want to use their mind and sensual faculties to enjoy the multifaceted world as supernatural beings who have eight mystic powers.

23

Parīkṣit: How is this different than the paradisiac goal achieved by ritual and responsibility?

Śuka: Yogic masters who have cultivated knowledge, austerity, yoga, and meditation can attain material destinations without being limited to them. They continue to progress within and beyond these destinations in a purified, subtle body. Those who perform the rituals and responsibilities of karma cannot attain such perfection.

24

Parīkṣit: How do they continue moving towards the supreme destination?

Śuka: They reach the heavens, where the Sun presides, by traversing the path of space. Then they follow the Sun’s ray towards to Moon[2] and progress further on the path towards Brahmā. Finally, when they are completely pure, they move upwards into Hari’s circle of stars.[3]

[1] The life air is the medium transmitting consciousness to the physical realm. So “raising the life-air” amounts to raising the focus of consciousness.

[2] Suṣumṇa

[3] Śiśumāra


Travel Journal#9.9: Holland, London, The North of England, Northern Ireland
→ Travel Adventures of a Krishna Monk

Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 9, No. 9
By Krishna-kripa das
(May 2013, part one)
Holland, London, The North of England, Northern Ireland
(Sent from London, England, on June 13, 2013)

Where I Went and What I Did

After the Queen’s Day harinama, I stayed in Amsterdam and did harinama for three days. Then I went to Rotterdam for two days of harinama and a Saturday feast program. Next I went to Den Haag (The Hague) for an afternoon of harinama and a Sunday feast. Finally I returned to Amsterdam for harinama in Vondel Park. Then I did a day of harinama in London, harinama and a nama-hatta program in Sheffield, and went back to Newcastle, my summer base, where I stayed for four days of harinama and the Sunday feast lecture. Then I went on to Northern Ireland, where I chanted with Ananta Nitai Prabhu in Belfast for one day, and with both Ananta Nitai and Bhagavata Dasi in Lisburn, Bangor, Newry, and Hillsborough, all cities within an hour of Belfast, for the next four days. Thus it was a very busy time for me.

I share notes from Srila Prabhupada’s wonderful lectures and books. This month I had the opportunity to hear several classes by Kavicandra Swami, who remained in Amsterdam as long as his schedule would permit at the request of Kadamba Kanana Swami, who is always desirous of developing our outreach there. Kavicandra Swami is very perceptive and made lots of beautiful points in his classes which I share.

Thanksto Sanatani Devi Dasi for the photo of our Amsterdam harinama, onlooker John Doherty for the Hillsborough, Northern Island, picture of our harinamaparty, the web site http://www.discovernorthernireland.comfor the picture of the Hillsborough Tourism Centre, and an unknown passerby, who took our picture in Lisburn, chanting in front of the party shop.

Harinama in Amsterdam

I went on harinama for the entire week I spent in Holland, and only on the final day did I have go out alone. The weather was practically perfect the whole time. The first day we went out with Kavicandra Swami, who came out every day, and with some devotees from Scandinavia, who had come for the Queen’s Day harinama.


Another day on harinama two people joined our party at different times and chanted and danced with us. Tulasi Prabhu, a brahmacari book distributor from Bulgaria, later talked to one of these young men, who commented that he was curious what it was all about and purchased a Bhagavad-gita. Those are my favorite harinama experiences, when people become so interested they want to read the books.

The final day I spent in Amsterdam. I went out alone. I chanted as I walked through the streets for an hour and a half as went to and from Vondel Park, which Srila Prabhupada visited and in which gave a lecture many years ago. I chanted in the park itself for another three hours. One policeman called me over as soon as I got there, and I worried that I was not allowed to use my amplifier or I had done something else wrong, but he had no issues with me. While we talked, he mentioned he liked it on Queen’s Day when the group of us chanted together there by the museum where all the people were. I was pleased to hear a rare appreciation of the chanting from a cop.

Rotterdam and Den Haag

Sivananda Sena Prabhu and his wife, Moksa Lakshmi Devi Dasi, are disciples of Janananda Goswami, and like him, they have a fondness for promoting the congregational chanting of the holy name of the Lord in public. Thus they invited me for three harinamas and two programs in Rotterdam and Den Haag.


They regularly do two hours on chanting in Rotterdam on Fridays starting at the central train station at 7 p.m. They go to a crowded section with lots of shops.

Different onlookers were attracted and participated in dancing with the party.




I led half the kirtanaat the Saturday feast program in Rotterdamto let some of the others have some of the action.


In Den Haag there are two ISKCON temples. One I went to back in 2010, and the other I went this year. Before the Sunday program, we did harinama for over an hour in a local park, and several people happily danced.


The weather was excellent, and many people were happy to encounter the happily chanting devotees.

A Muslim family enjoyed dancing with us.


And other individuals did too.



London

In London one young French lady came to the temple one evening, and Erzsebet from Hungary, who is enthusiasm personified in outreach, sold her a book which she read that very night. She returned to the temple the next day and came to the lunch program lecture which I gave. Later I asked the devotee lady who talked to her during the lunch if the class had been beneficial for her. She said the French lady said she really liked the idea that we can have one of five relationships eternally with Krishna. The devotee lady asked her which one she liked, and she said she would like to be the friend or lover of Krishna eternally. I had spoken on the verse where Krishna states that he will reciprocate with us according to how we surrender to him. In his purport Srila Prabhupada writes, “One devotee may want Krishna as his supreme master, another as his personal friend, another as his son, and still another as his lover. Krishna rewards all the devotees, equally according to their different intensities of love for Him.” (Bg. 4.11, purport) I will keep this verse in mind as a good one to give introductory classes on that might attract one to Krishna. The French lady lives in Paris and shared contact information with devotee who spoke to her at lunch, so hopefully her interest will develop, and she will visit our temple there.

Sheffield

I chanted in Sheffield alone before the Wednesday nama-hatta meeting. Some people appreciated but one lady harassed me so much to give her a pound fifty for the bus, that I finally did so just to get her to go away.

It was nice to see a couple new people had become regulars at our Sheffield program since last year.

Leeds Farmers Market Harinama

My bus from Sheffield to Newcastle had a forty-minute rest in Leeds, and as we pulled into the coach station there, I noticed it was right next to the Leeds Farmers Market. When the bus stopped I learned of the break, and the bus driver advised me to go to the farmers market to get a bite to eat. I decided to go, not to shop, but to sing.
As soon as I sat down to saing, someone said, “Haribol!” And someone very soon gave a donation.

Newcastle Area Harinamas

I chanted in Newcastle, and different devotees would come out with me at different times. I would put out a hat to collect donations when we stayed in one place, and I would offer invitations and books to those who gave something, no matter how small. Because not everyone would take a book, I got enough in donations to pay for the books that were distributed. It was nice to always see books going out


The weather was wild. Some days were in the 40s F (5 to 10 C), and with winds from the north at 20 mph (32 kph).

In Sunderland we had four devotees, three singing and one distributing books. In addition, I was able to distribute three books myself by asking people who put money in the hat if they wanted one. We chanted about an hour and forty minutes. I like Sunderland because there are lots of people and always a few favorable ones. Kadamba Kanana Prabhu from Hungary had not been on harinama for ten years, and he was very happy he came out. One young lady who chanted with us got a call from a friend in London who asked if she was singing in Sunderland because someone had taken a video of her singing and put it on Facebook. Her friends from her hometown of Sunderland did not know much about her relationship with Hare Krishna, at least until now.

In Newcastle on Sunday, Bhakti Rasa and his wife, Kirtida Prabhu, came out, and we happened to meet Ekacakranatha Prabhu on the way.


We chanted three hours all together. People danced to the music, like these four guys below.


Harinamas in North Ireland

When my friend, Caitanya-candrodaya Prabhu, was temple president of Belfast, I got in the habit of going there and doing harinama. Devotees had occasionally talked about us chanting in different places around Belfast, but it did not happen until this year.

Monday Ananta Nitai Prabhu, who traveled by bus from Dublin, and I who traveled by plane from Newcastle, arrived at the Belfast temple within five minutes of each other. We were greeted by Bhagavata Dasi, our harinama partner from Govindadvipa, who moved back to Belfast and promised to take us out on harinama in her car the next four days. We were also greeted by all kinds of maha-prasadam, the opulence of a small temple. That day just Ananta Nitai and I went out to Belfast city center to chant for three hours. While traveling there by bus, the sun was shining, but as soon as I got off the bus, it started to rain. We found a sheltered spot to chant, and were greatly relieved when the sun shone again. But that was not for long. Soon it rained again. But again we were relieved when the sun again shone. During that harinama, the sun came out four times and it rained five times! As I walked back to take the bus home, chanting on the way, it was raining, but on the bus itself, the sun came out! That was the craziest weather I had experienced recently, but we were able to keep the chanting going the whole time, and collect donations and give out books and invitations as well.

On Tuesday, Bhagavata took us to Lisburn, about 15 minutes from the temple. We chanted on a main street and several groups of people stopped to watch at different times. At one point, we chanted under the sign of former birthday party shop underneath its sign “Pure Party.”


The congregational chanting is glorified by Lord Caitanya “cleansing the mirror of the mind,” and being “the nectar for which we are always anxious.” It is described by Narottama Das Thakura as imported from the spiritual world. For these reason, I thought “pure party” was a great description of harinama.

We found some teenage kids hanging out, and we sang in their midst for a while. I would have never done it myself, but the other devotees were better at dealing with kids than me, so I went along with it. At one point, the kids decided to harass us. Some of the more rowdy ones placed some nearby road construction barricades to surround our party, and they started throwing empty plastic bottles at us. We just kept chanting, and one of them decided to remove the barricades and throw the bottles in the trash so the other kids could not through them at us any more. Later someone asked us about our philosophy and one girl, who took pleasure in singing the whole mantra with us, gave us each some candy when she left. On the whole, the kids became more favorable as time marched on.

Since we had stopped chanting before we finished my quota of three hours, Ananta Nitai and I chanted in the parking lot of a store while Bhagavata did some shopping for the temple. We chanted for half an hour, and no authorities asked us to move, and some favorable people came by.


Wednesday we chanted in Bangor, and a passerby gave 10 British pounds for a Bhagavad-gita and a Sri Isopanisad. We chanted next to a butcher shop, and employees came out of the shop and looked at us from time to time but said nothing. After we chanted two and a half hours, a policeman came and explained that he had no problem with our singing, but some local vendors were complaining, and he told us of a couple other places where we could sing and would not get into difficulty. He was the most polite policeman who had ever asked us to move, and Ananta Nitai Prabhu gave him a small book which he accepted.

Thursday we chanted in Newry on a day where rain often threatened but was never so severe we had to stop. At several times groups of teenagers would sit behind us and move with the music.

On Friday we chanted in Hillsborough, a town of 3,400 people, where there was that day the Garden Show Ireland, an open house at the gardens of the Queen’s Hillsborough Castle.


John Doherty, an open-minded man, with both Catholic and Protestant connections, was attracted by our party and its chanting, appreciating its religious connection, and he took pictures of us, which he later send to me by email.


Often I give my business card to photographers who take pictures of us and ask them to send me the photos. They actually send me the photos 20% of the time at the very most, but in North Ireland and the Republic of Ireland people sent me the pictures two out of three or four times I asked for them.


A man behind the counter at tourist office, said to me, “Hare Krishna is from North India, isn’t it?"” I explained that the chanting we do in the streets, which we were doing outside his office for the last hour, started in Bengal. He inquired further, “And what is the name of the town in Bengal?” And I replied, “Mayapur.” And he said with a smile of recognition, “Oh yes, Mayapur!” Wow! I couldn’t believe it! In this tiny town in this remote land someone had heard of Mayapur, the birthplace of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu! Apparently the man spent some time in Kolkata and had eaten at our Govinda's Restaurant there. It is a small world!

The man also knew of Inis Rath island and their Sunday feast, and the lady in the office lived in Dunmurry, the Belfast suburb where our temple is, and she knew of our Sunday program there.

After Hillsborough, Ananta Nitai Prabhu and I boarded a bus for Dublin to continue our harinama adventures there

Insights

Srila Prabhupada:

from Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.28.31, purport:

“We have already started the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, and many thousands of Europeans and Americans have joined this movement. Indeed, it is spreading like wildfire. The cult of Krishna consciousness, based on the nine principles of devotional service (sravanam kirtanam visnohsmaranam pada-sevanam/ arcanam vandanam dasyam sakhyam atma-nivedanam[SB 7.5.23]), will never be stopped. It will go on without distinction of caste, creed, color or country. No one can check it.

from a lecture on Srimad-Bhagavatam5.5.2 given in London on September 17, 1969:

“The devotee aspires only to make friendship with Krishna. . . . The devotee’s only lovable object is Krishna.”

from a conversation in Durban, South Africa, in October 1975, printed in Back to Godhead, Volume 47, No. 4, p. 44:

Disciple: The scientists always say,“Last year we made a mistake, and now it’s all right.”
Srila Prabhupada: Hmm. “Now we are advanced.” And what is the guarantee that your present theories are correct? You will advance again. That means you are always incorrect.

Jiva Goswami:

from his Gopala Campu:

Krishna stole the gopi’scloth and their hearts and only returned their cloth. He did not return their hearts but hid them.

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura:

from his Amrita Vani, quoted in Back to Godhead, Volume 47, No. 4, p. 67:

We should show compassion toward all living entities, develop a taste for chanting the Lord’s names, and serve Vaishnavas. These are Mahaprabhu’s three principal
instructions.

Kavicandra Swami:

Another one of my godbrothers, Kesava Prabhu, left his body the other day. He is famous for book distribution. As president of the San Francisco temple, when he heard that Buddhimantra Prabhu had distributed twenty Krishna books one day, he sent Buddhimanta with a van loaded with Krishna books, saying, “Do not return until the van is empty.”

One dying devotee told some elementary school students, “I am dying” which was a shock to them. Then he continued, “but you might die before me” which shocked them even more [although it was certainly possible].

Ramachandra Khan wanted to defame Haridasa Thakura by sending a prostitute to break his vow of celibacy, but when Haridasa Thakura remained undisturbed and engaged the prostitute in pure devotional service to the Lord, he became more famous than before. Thus Ramachandra Khan was foiled in his attempt.

Ruci means having such a taste that you cannot stop chanting.

I watched many people from the crowd who were chanting at Queen’s Day.

In Tel Aviv many people dance with us.

In Puri Lord Caitanya sent people in groups of five to chant in front of people’s homes.

Although one newspaper article spoke critically of the devotees, Srila Prabhupada liked it because “Hare Krishna” was mentioned so many times. The offense is temporary, but the benefit of chanting the holy name is eternal.

The parents of one girl from Greece studied in London and heard the devotees chant on Oxford Street every day. Her father would sometimes bang on pots and jokingly say “Hare Krishna.” Later when she grew up, that girl was attracted to join the harinama in Greece and became a devotee.

Srila Prabhupada wanted many pictures to illustrate the Krishna book. He called them “windows to the spiritual world.” We would just show people the pictures in the books and tell the people, “these are windows to the spiritual world” and people would be amazed and buy the books.

Q: What gives us the taste for devotional service? What causes us to lose it?
A: Sadhu sanga sadhu sanga . . . By the mercy of the devotees one gets a taste for devotional service, and by offenses, especially offenses to devotees, one loses his taste.

The reasons a person falls down are the same, whether one is a sannyasi or an ordinary person.

When the Fifth Canto came out, many people left the movement. Some say it was because of the cosmology of the Bhagavatam, but I think it was the verses and purports that destroy the illusion of the pleasure of material sex life, which are great to read for one who actually wants to be renounced.

I think that the word “bloop” which in the Hare Krishna movement we use to mean to leave the spiritual path and return to materialistic life comes from the phrase “one falls down again into the material pool,” the word “bloop” being used in comics when an object falls into a pool of water. That phrase comes from a description of process of degradation in Bhagavad-gita 2.62–63: “While contemplating the objects of the senses, a person develops attachment for them, and from such attachment lust develops, and from lust anger arises. From anger, complete delusion arises, and from delusion bewilderment of memory. When memory is bewildered, intelligence is lost, and when intelligence is lost one falls down again into the material pool.”

People recognize that anger is bad and so they have classes to control anger, but unfortunately they do not have classes to control lust, which according to Bhagavad-gita 2.62,is the cause of anger.

In an art museum, when you see a beautiful piece of art, you glorify the artist, but when we see the beauty of nature, we do not glorify God, who is the artist. That is not right.

We are supposed to love people and use things, but in this degraded age, we love things and use people.

If you are facing the sun, you do not see the shadows, but if you face away from sun the shadows will be there. Similarly if one is facing Krishna, there will be no illusion for him.

Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura said some people say that Haridasa Thakura missed out on so many of the Lord Caitanya’s pastimes because he was always chanting, but because the holy name contains all the pastimes, that was not a fact.

In Japan when I would sell books, everyone said, “I am in a hurry. I have no time.” So I would say, “I am in a hurry too. Give me a donation quickly.” Many times people quickly gave me a donation.

If any other avatar of Krishna asked the demons for the nectar of immortality they would have fought Him for it, thus He appeared as a most attractive woman, and the lusty demons eagerly gave Her the nectar voluntarily desiring to please Her.

It appears that the devotees are also dying, but they do not have to accept another material body or suffer hellish punishment. They go to Krishna and live with Him forever.

The Hare Krishna mantra is the sword to cut the knot in the heart binding us to this body and this world.

Different people interact with the harinama party for different reasons, but they all are benefited.

When people get back from their vacations they have seen Hare Krishnas in London, they have seen Hare Krishnas in Amsterdam, and they have seen Hare Krishnas in Berlin.

Success means getting what you want. Happiness means wanting what you get.

If someone experiences a trauma they cannot get beyond, going to another place that does not remind them of the trauma helps.

Before Jahnava Mata, the eternal consort of Lord Nityananda Prabhu, would leave to travel to a new place, she would always ask the permission of the deity.

It is an important teaching of Lord Caitanya and all other spiritual teachers that one is judged by his qualities and activities, as Krishna mentions in Bhagavad-gita,and not by one’s birth. In Vrindavan, there are still brahmanas who will not eat with us Western mlecchasor eat grains cooked by us.

One of the first pollutions of the age of Kali is that the brahmanassay that one is a brahmana by birth and that a non-brahmana can never become a brahmana.

Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya tried to teach Mayavadi philosophy to Lord Caitanya, but Lord Caitanya ended up teaching Vaishnava philosophy to him.

The nondevotees cannot see Krishna so they take for granted that the devotees’ activities and their own activities are the same.

Both Bhakti Tirtha Swami and Devamrita Swami read Srila Prabhupada’s books and liked them, but when they first encountered the devotees, they thought the devotees were crazy.

Some say japa is just for ourselves, but a real Vaishnava does not think like that. He sees that his sadhana is meant for becoming empowered to help others.

Here in Amsterdam the people appreciate us. They do not know what we are doing, but they like it. Someday in the future, maybe a future lifetime, they will become devotees because of that appreciation.

Satyaraja Prabhu:

Many people don’t know this, but John Paul II confirmed that according to the teachings of Christianity that animals do indeed have souls. In 1990 he said that all creatures were given the “breath of life” by God, just like humans were. (See http://www.dreamshore.net/rococo/pope.html)

Urmila Devi:

from her article “The Swirling Smoke of Fragrant Love” in Back to Godhead, Volume 47, No. 4, p. 48:

“The most opulent arcana[worship of the Lord in his deity form] consists of sixty-four items; the most simple, five items.” In every list, offering incense to Krishna is included. Incense is part of worship of the Lord and His representatives in the scriptures of many of the world’s traditions. For example, when Jesus was born, the wise men brought the child gifts of frankincense and myrrh.

Ananta Nitai Prabhu:

Kirtana means glorification of the Supreme Lord, Vishnu, not any demigod.

Qualified personalities curse people for their benefit not for revenge.

On the harinama yesterday the kids did strange things like surround us with barricades and throw bottles at us, but one of the them, who was more pious, removed the barricades and put the bottles in the recycling bin so his friends could not keep throwing at us. Some of the kids ultimately chanted, gave us sweets, and inquired about what we were doing. So by association, they came up to a higher level of consciousness and activity.

On book distribution one lady claimed she had so many spirituals books she did not need a Bhagavad-gita, so I asked her if she would give me a banana in charity. As she went to get the banana, because she knew I was monk, she asked if I accepted donations, and I said, “Yes.” She returned with two bananas, two apples, and five-pound note. I presented her with a Bhagavad-gita, telling her to read at least the introduction and chapter two. And she smiled and said, “Thank you.”

from a conversation:

The worst anartha [undesirable quality] is to think you have no anarthas.

I have a couple devotee friends from England who were getting married about the same time and loved harinama. They both told their respective wives-to-be, “I like harinama so much that if you are not interested in it, you should go and marry someone else.” Both wives accepted the condition, and both couples have gone on harinama practically every weekend for the past eight years and are really empowered because of it.

Navina Syama Prabhu:

from his article, “Sherlock Holmes and the Limits of Modern Knowing” in Back to Godhead, Vol. 47, No. 4, (Jul/Aug 2013):

“For one exploring religion and seeking absolute knowledge, this uncertainty [of knowledge based on induction] is unacceptable. If it turns out that my theory about the
migration pattern of humpback whales is wrong, I might be a little embarrassed, but life will go on. If my understanding of God is off, on the other hand, the fate of my eternal soul hangs in the balance.” (p. 14)

“It is interesting to note that reliance on knowledge from authority is commonplace in modern society (e.g. students listening to teachers at school, viewers listening to news reporters on television), but that the approach is generally abandoned in spiritual matters.” (p. 15)

-----

etavan eva loke ’smin
pumam dharmah parah smritah
bhakti-yogo bhagavati
tan-nama-grahanadibhih


“Devotional service, beginning with the chanting of the holy name of the Lord, is the ultimate religious principle for the living entity in human society.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 6.3.22)

Travel Journal#9.9: Holland, London, The North of England, Northern Ireland
→ Travel Adventures of a Krishna Monk

Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 9, No. 9
By Krishna-kripa das
(May 2013, part one)
Holland, London, The North of England, Northern Ireland
(Sent from London, England, on June 13, 2013)

Where I Went and What I Did

After the Queen’s Day harinama, I stayed in Amsterdam and did harinama for three days. Then I went to Rotterdam for two days of harinama and a Saturday feast program. Next I went to Den Haag (The Hague) for an afternoon of harinama and a Sunday feast. Finally I returned to Amsterdam for harinama in Vondel Park. Then I did a day of harinama in London, harinama and a nama-hatta program in Sheffield, and went back to Newcastle, my summer base, where I stayed for four days of harinama and the Sunday feast lecture. Then I went on to Northern Ireland, where I chanted with Ananta Nitai Prabhu in Belfast for one day, and with both Ananta Nitai and Bhagavata Dasi in Lisburn, Bangor, Newry, and Hillsborough, all cities within an hour of Belfast, for the next four days. Thus it was a very busy time for me.

I share notes from Srila Prabhupada’s wonderful lectures and books. This month I had the opportunity to hear several classes by Kavicandra Swami, who remained in Amsterdam as long as his schedule would permit at the request of Kadamba Kanana Swami, who is always desirous of developing our outreach there. Kavicandra Swami is very perceptive and made lots of beautiful points in his classes which I share.

Thanksto Sanatani Devi Dasi for the photo of our Amsterdam harinama, onlooker John Doherty for the Hillsborough, Northern Island, picture of our harinamaparty, the web site http://www.discovernorthernireland.comfor the picture of the Hillsborough Tourism Centre, and an unknown passerby, who took our picture in Lisburn, chanting in front of the party shop.

Harinama in Amsterdam

I went on harinama for the entire week I spent in Holland, and only on the final day did I have go out alone. The weather was practically perfect the whole time. The first day we went out with Kavicandra Swami, who came out every day, and with some devotees from Scandinavia, who had come for the Queen’s Day harinama.


Another day on harinama two people joined our party at different times and chanted and danced with us. Tulasi Prabhu, a brahmacari book distributor from Bulgaria, later talked to one of these young men, who commented that he was curious what it was all about and purchased a Bhagavad-gita. Those are my favorite harinama experiences, when people become so interested they want to read the books.

The final day I spent in Amsterdam. I went out alone. I chanted as I walked through the streets for an hour and a half as went to and from Vondel Park, which Srila Prabhupada visited and in which gave a lecture many years ago. I chanted in the park itself for another three hours. One policeman called me over as soon as I got there, and I worried that I was not allowed to use my amplifier or I had done something else wrong, but he had no issues with me. While we talked, he mentioned he liked it on Queen’s Day when the group of us chanted together there by the museum where all the people were. I was pleased to hear a rare appreciation of the chanting from a cop.

Rotterdam and Den Haag

Sivananda Sena Prabhu and his wife, Moksa Lakshmi Devi Dasi, are disciples of Janananda Goswami, and like him, they have a fondness for promoting the congregational chanting of the holy name of the Lord in public. Thus they invited me for three harinamas and two programs in Rotterdam and Den Haag.


They regularly do two hours on chanting in Rotterdam on Fridays starting at the central train station at 7 p.m. They go to a crowded section with lots of shops.

Different onlookers were attracted and participated in dancing with the party.




I led half the kirtanaat the Saturday feast program in Rotterdamto let some of the others have some of the action.


In Den Haag there are two ISKCON temples. One I went to back in 2010, and the other I went this year. Before the Sunday program, we did harinama for over an hour in a local park, and several people happily danced.


The weather was excellent, and many people were happy to encounter the happily chanting devotees.

A Muslim family enjoyed dancing with us.


And other individuals did too.



London

In London one young French lady came to the temple one evening, and Erzsebet from Hungary, who is enthusiasm personified in outreach, sold her a book which she read that very night. She returned to the temple the next day and came to the lunch program lecture which I gave. Later I asked the devotee lady who talked to her during the lunch if the class had been beneficial for her. She said the French lady said she really liked the idea that we can have one of five relationships eternally with Krishna. The devotee lady asked her which one she liked, and she said she would like to be the friend or lover of Krishna eternally. I had spoken on the verse where Krishna states that he will reciprocate with us according to how we surrender to him. In his purport Srila Prabhupada writes, “One devotee may want Krishna as his supreme master, another as his personal friend, another as his son, and still another as his lover. Krishna rewards all the devotees, equally according to their different intensities of love for Him.” (Bg. 4.11, purport) I will keep this verse in mind as a good one to give introductory classes on that might attract one to Krishna. The French lady lives in Paris and shared contact information with devotee who spoke to her at lunch, so hopefully her interest will develop, and she will visit our temple there.

Sheffield

I chanted in Sheffield alone before the Wednesday nama-hatta meeting. Some people appreciated but one lady harassed me so much to give her a pound fifty for the bus, that I finally did so just to get her to go away.

It was nice to see a couple new people had become regulars at our Sheffield program since last year.

Leeds Farmers Market Harinama

My bus from Sheffield to Newcastle had a forty-minute rest in Leeds, and as we pulled into the coach station there, I noticed it was right next to the Leeds Farmers Market. When the bus stopped I learned of the break, and the bus driver advised me to go to the farmers market to get a bite to eat. I decided to go, not to shop, but to sing.
As soon as I sat down to saing, someone said, “Haribol!” And someone very soon gave a donation.

Newcastle Area Harinamas

I chanted in Newcastle, and different devotees would come out with me at different times. I would put out a hat to collect donations when we stayed in one place, and I would offer invitations and books to those who gave something, no matter how small. Because not everyone would take a book, I got enough in donations to pay for the books that were distributed. It was nice to always see books going out


The weather was wild. Some days were in the 40s F (5 to 10 C), and with winds from the north at 20 mph (32 kph).

In Sunderland we had four devotees, three singing and one distributing books. In addition, I was able to distribute three books myself by asking people who put money in the hat if they wanted one. We chanted about an hour and forty minutes. I like Sunderland because there are lots of people and always a few favorable ones. Kadamba Kanana Prabhu from Hungary had not been on harinama for ten years, and he was very happy he came out. One young lady who chanted with us got a call from a friend in London who asked if she was singing in Sunderland because someone had taken a video of her singing and put it on Facebook. Her friends from her hometown of Sunderland did not know much about her relationship with Hare Krishna, at least until now.

In Newcastle on Sunday, Bhakti Rasa and his wife, Kirtida Prabhu, came out, and we happened to meet Ekacakranatha Prabhu on the way.


We chanted three hours all together. People danced to the music, like these four guys below.


Harinamas in North Ireland

When my friend, Caitanya-candrodaya Prabhu, was temple president of Belfast, I got in the habit of going there and doing harinama. Devotees had occasionally talked about us chanting in different places around Belfast, but it did not happen until this year.

Monday Ananta Nitai Prabhu, who traveled by bus from Dublin, and I who traveled by plane from Newcastle, arrived at the Belfast temple within five minutes of each other. We were greeted by Bhagavata Dasi, our harinama partner from Govindadvipa, who moved back to Belfast and promised to take us out on harinama in her car the next four days. We were also greeted by all kinds of maha-prasadam, the opulence of a small temple. That day just Ananta Nitai and I went out to Belfast city center to chant for three hours. While traveling there by bus, the sun was shining, but as soon as I got off the bus, it started to rain. We found a sheltered spot to chant, and were greatly relieved when the sun shone again. But that was not for long. Soon it rained again. But again we were relieved when the sun again shone. During that harinama, the sun came out four times and it rained five times! As I walked back to take the bus home, chanting on the way, it was raining, but on the bus itself, the sun came out! That was the craziest weather I had experienced recently, but we were able to keep the chanting going the whole time, and collect donations and give out books and invitations as well.

On Tuesday, Bhagavata took us to Lisburn, about 15 minutes from the temple. We chanted on a main street and several groups of people stopped to watch at different times. At one point, we chanted under the sign of former birthday party shop underneath its sign “Pure Party.”


The congregational chanting is glorified by Lord Caitanya “cleansing the mirror of the mind,” and being “the nectar for which we are always anxious.” It is described by Narottama Das Thakura as imported from the spiritual world. For these reason, I thought “pure party” was a great description of harinama.

We found some teenage kids hanging out, and we sang in their midst for a while. I would have never done it myself, but the other devotees were better at dealing with kids than me, so I went along with it. At one point, the kids decided to harass us. Some of the more rowdy ones placed some nearby road construction barricades to surround our party, and they started throwing empty plastic bottles at us. We just kept chanting, and one of them decided to remove the barricades and throw the bottles in the trash so the other kids could not through them at us any more. Later someone asked us about our philosophy and one girl, who took pleasure in singing the whole mantra with us, gave us each some candy when she left. On the whole, the kids became more favorable as time marched on.

Since we had stopped chanting before we finished my quota of three hours, Ananta Nitai and I chanted in the parking lot of a store while Bhagavata did some shopping for the temple. We chanted for half an hour, and no authorities asked us to move, and some favorable people came by.


Wednesday we chanted in Bangor, and a passerby gave 10 British pounds for a Bhagavad-gita and a Sri Isopanisad. We chanted next to a butcher shop, and employees came out of the shop and looked at us from time to time but said nothing. After we chanted two and a half hours, a policeman came and explained that he had no problem with our singing, but some local vendors were complaining, and he told us of a couple other places where we could sing and would not get into difficulty. He was the most polite policeman who had ever asked us to move, and Ananta Nitai Prabhu gave him a small book which he accepted.

Thursday we chanted in Newry on a day where rain often threatened but was never so severe we had to stop. At several times groups of teenagers would sit behind us and move with the music.

On Friday we chanted in Hillsborough, a town of 3,400 people, where there was that day the Garden Show Ireland, an open house at the gardens of the Queen’s Hillsborough Castle.


John Doherty, an open-minded man, with both Catholic and Protestant connections, was attracted by our party and its chanting, appreciating its religious connection, and he took pictures of us, which he later send to me by email.


Often I give my business card to photographers who take pictures of us and ask them to send me the photos. They actually send me the photos 20% of the time at the very most, but in North Ireland and the Republic of Ireland people sent me the pictures two out of three or four times I asked for them.


A man behind the counter at tourist office, said to me, “Hare Krishna is from North India, isn’t it?"” I explained that the chanting we do in the streets, which we were doing outside his office for the last hour, started in Bengal. He inquired further, “And what is the name of the town in Bengal?” And I replied, “Mayapur.” And he said with a smile of recognition, “Oh yes, Mayapur!” Wow! I couldn’t believe it! In this tiny town in this remote land someone had heard of Mayapur, the birthplace of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu! Apparently the man spent some time in Kolkata and had eaten at our Govinda's Restaurant there. It is a small world!

The man also knew of Inis Rath island and their Sunday feast, and the lady in the office lived in Dunmurry, the Belfast suburb where our temple is, and she knew of our Sunday program there.

After Hillsborough, Ananta Nitai Prabhu and I boarded a bus for Dublin to continue our harinama adventures there

Insights

Srila Prabhupada:

from Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.28.31, purport:

“We have already started the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, and many thousands of Europeans and Americans have joined this movement. Indeed, it is spreading like wildfire. The cult of Krishna consciousness, based on the nine principles of devotional service (sravanam kirtanam visnohsmaranam pada-sevanam/ arcanam vandanam dasyam sakhyam atma-nivedanam[SB 7.5.23]), will never be stopped. It will go on without distinction of caste, creed, color or country. No one can check it.

from a lecture on Srimad-Bhagavatam5.5.2 given in London on September 17, 1969:

“The devotee aspires only to make friendship with Krishna. . . . The devotee’s only lovable object is Krishna.”

from a conversation in Durban, South Africa, in October 1975, printed in Back to Godhead, Volume 47, No. 4, p. 44:

Disciple: The scientists always say,“Last year we made a mistake, and now it’s all right.”
Srila Prabhupada: Hmm. “Now we are advanced.” And what is the guarantee that your present theories are correct? You will advance again. That means you are always incorrect.

Jiva Goswami:

from his Gopala Campu:

Krishna stole the gopi’scloth and their hearts and only returned their cloth. He did not return their hearts but hid them.

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura:

from his Amrita Vani, quoted in Back to Godhead, Volume 47, No. 4, p. 67:

We should show compassion toward all living entities, develop a taste for chanting the Lord’s names, and serve Vaishnavas. These are Mahaprabhu’s three principal
instructions.

Kavicandra Swami:

Another one of my godbrothers, Kesava Prabhu, left his body the other day. He is famous for book distribution. As president of the San Francisco temple, when he heard that Buddhimantra Prabhu had distributed twenty Krishna books one day, he sent Buddhimanta with a van loaded with Krishna books, saying, “Do not return until the van is empty.”

One dying devotee told some elementary school students, “I am dying” which was a shock to them. Then he continued, “but you might die before me” which shocked them even more [although it was certainly possible].

Ramachandra Khan wanted to defame Haridasa Thakura by sending a prostitute to break his vow of celibacy, but when Haridasa Thakura remained undisturbed and engaged the prostitute in pure devotional service to the Lord, he became more famous than before. Thus Ramachandra Khan was foiled in his attempt.

Ruci means having such a taste that you cannot stop chanting.

I watched many people from the crowd who were chanting at Queen’s Day.

In Tel Aviv many people dance with us.

In Puri Lord Caitanya sent people in groups of five to chant in front of people’s homes.

Although one newspaper article spoke critically of the devotees, Srila Prabhupada liked it because “Hare Krishna” was mentioned so many times. The offense is temporary, but the benefit of chanting the holy name is eternal.

The parents of one girl from Greece studied in London and heard the devotees chant on Oxford Street every day. Her father would sometimes bang on pots and jokingly say “Hare Krishna.” Later when she grew up, that girl was attracted to join the harinama in Greece and became a devotee.

Srila Prabhupada wanted many pictures to illustrate the Krishna book. He called them “windows to the spiritual world.” We would just show people the pictures in the books and tell the people, “these are windows to the spiritual world” and people would be amazed and buy the books.

Q: What gives us the taste for devotional service? What causes us to lose it?
A: Sadhu sanga sadhu sanga . . . By the mercy of the devotees one gets a taste for devotional service, and by offenses, especially offenses to devotees, one loses his taste.

The reasons a person falls down are the same, whether one is a sannyasi or an ordinary person.

When the Fifth Canto came out, many people left the movement. Some say it was because of the cosmology of the Bhagavatam, but I think it was the verses and purports that destroy the illusion of the pleasure of material sex life, which are great to read for one who actually wants to be renounced.

I think that the word “bloop” which in the Hare Krishna movement we use to mean to leave the spiritual path and return to materialistic life comes from the phrase “one falls down again into the material pool,” the word “bloop” being used in comics when an object falls into a pool of water. That phrase comes from a description of process of degradation in Bhagavad-gita 2.62–63: “While contemplating the objects of the senses, a person develops attachment for them, and from such attachment lust develops, and from lust anger arises. From anger, complete delusion arises, and from delusion bewilderment of memory. When memory is bewildered, intelligence is lost, and when intelligence is lost one falls down again into the material pool.”

People recognize that anger is bad and so they have classes to control anger, but unfortunately they do not have classes to control lust, which according to Bhagavad-gita 2.62,is the cause of anger.

In an art museum, when you see a beautiful piece of art, you glorify the artist, but when we see the beauty of nature, we do not glorify God, who is the artist. That is not right.

We are supposed to love people and use things, but in this degraded age, we love things and use people.

If you are facing the sun, you do not see the shadows, but if you face away from sun the shadows will be there. Similarly if one is facing Krishna, there will be no illusion for him.

Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura said some people say that Haridasa Thakura missed out on so many of the Lord Caitanya’s pastimes because he was always chanting, but because the holy name contains all the pastimes, that was not a fact.

In Japan when I would sell books, everyone said, “I am in a hurry. I have no time.” So I would say, “I am in a hurry too. Give me a donation quickly.” Many times people quickly gave me a donation.

If any other avatar of Krishna asked the demons for the nectar of immortality they would have fought Him for it, thus He appeared as a most attractive woman, and the lusty demons eagerly gave Her the nectar voluntarily desiring to please Her.

It appears that the devotees are also dying, but they do not have to accept another material body or suffer hellish punishment. They go to Krishna and live with Him forever.

The Hare Krishna mantra is the sword to cut the knot in the heart binding us to this body and this world.

Different people interact with the harinama party for different reasons, but they all are benefited.

When people get back from their vacations they have seen Hare Krishnas in London, they have seen Hare Krishnas in Amsterdam, and they have seen Hare Krishnas in Berlin.

Success means getting what you want. Happiness means wanting what you get.

If someone experiences a trauma they cannot get beyond, going to another place that does not remind them of the trauma helps.

Before Jahnava Mata, the eternal consort of Lord Nityananda Prabhu, would leave to travel to a new place, she would always ask the permission of the deity.

It is an important teaching of Lord Caitanya and all other spiritual teachers that one is judged by his qualities and activities, as Krishna mentions in Bhagavad-gita,and not by one’s birth. In Vrindavan, there are still brahmanas who will not eat with us Western mlecchasor eat grains cooked by us.

One of the first pollutions of the age of Kali is that the brahmanassay that one is a brahmana by birth and that a non-brahmana can never become a brahmana.

Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya tried to teach Mayavadi philosophy to Lord Caitanya, but Lord Caitanya ended up teaching Vaishnava philosophy to him.

The nondevotees cannot see Krishna so they take for granted that the devotees’ activities and their own activities are the same.

Both Bhakti Tirtha Swami and Devamrita Swami read Srila Prabhupada’s books and liked them, but when they first encountered the devotees, they thought the devotees were crazy.

Some say japa is just for ourselves, but a real Vaishnava does not think like that. He sees that his sadhana is meant for becoming empowered to help others.

Here in Amsterdam the people appreciate us. They do not know what we are doing, but they like it. Someday in the future, maybe a future lifetime, they will become devotees because of that appreciation.

Satyaraja Prabhu:

Many people don’t know this, but John Paul II confirmed that according to the teachings of Christianity that animals do indeed have souls. In 1990 he said that all creatures were given the “breath of life” by God, just like humans were. (See http://www.dreamshore.net/rococo/pope.html)

Urmila Devi:

from her article “The Swirling Smoke of Fragrant Love” in Back to Godhead, Volume 47, No. 4, p. 48:

“The most opulent arcana[worship of the Lord in his deity form] consists of sixty-four items; the most simple, five items.” In every list, offering incense to Krishna is included. Incense is part of worship of the Lord and His representatives in the scriptures of many of the world’s traditions. For example, when Jesus was born, the wise men brought the child gifts of frankincense and myrrh.

Ananta Nitai Prabhu:

Kirtana means glorification of the Supreme Lord, Vishnu, not any demigod.

Qualified personalities curse people for their benefit not for revenge.

On the harinama yesterday the kids did strange things like surround us with barricades and throw bottles at us, but one of the them, who was more pious, removed the barricades and put the bottles in the recycling bin so his friends could not keep throwing at us. Some of the kids ultimately chanted, gave us sweets, and inquired about what we were doing. So by association, they came up to a higher level of consciousness and activity.

On book distribution one lady claimed she had so many spirituals books she did not need a Bhagavad-gita, so I asked her if she would give me a banana in charity. As she went to get the banana, because she knew I was monk, she asked if I accepted donations, and I said, “Yes.” She returned with two bananas, two apples, and five-pound note. I presented her with a Bhagavad-gita, telling her to read at least the introduction and chapter two. And she smiled and said, “Thank you.”

from a conversation:

The worst anartha [undesirable quality] is to think you have no anarthas.

I have a couple devotee friends from England who were getting married about the same time and loved harinama. They both told their respective wives-to-be, “I like harinama so much that if you are not interested in it, you should go and marry someone else.” Both wives accepted the condition, and both couples have gone on harinama practically every weekend for the past eight years and are really empowered because of it.

Navina Syama Prabhu:

from his article, “Sherlock Holmes and the Limits of Modern Knowing” in Back to Godhead, Vol. 47, No. 4, (Jul/Aug 2013):

“For one exploring religion and seeking absolute knowledge, this uncertainty [of knowledge based on induction] is unacceptable. If it turns out that my theory about the
migration pattern of humpback whales is wrong, I might be a little embarrassed, but life will go on. If my understanding of God is off, on the other hand, the fate of my eternal soul hangs in the balance.” (p. 14)

“It is interesting to note that reliance on knowledge from authority is commonplace in modern society (e.g. students listening to teachers at school, viewers listening to news reporters on television), but that the approach is generally abandoned in spiritual matters.” (p. 15)

-----

etavan eva loke ’smin
pumam dharmah parah smritah
bhakti-yogo bhagavati
tan-nama-grahanadibhih


“Devotional service, beginning with the chanting of the holy name of the Lord, is the ultimate religious principle for the living entity in human society.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 6.3.22)

Special Seminar on Thursday: Internally Developing Your Devotional Service
→ The Toronto Hare Krishna Blog!

The parade of guests coming through Toronto doesn't end as we welcome Laxmimoni prabhu home! Laxmimoni prabhu is a spiritual force that first started here in Toronto. We are very pleased to welcome her back as she will be leading the Vaishnavi Sanga Retreat with Akuti prabhu this weekend - a spiritual retreat for the women of our community.

This Thursday, June 13th, Laxmimoni prabhu will be leading a discussion on how we can develop our devotional service internally, starting at 6:30pm. A lot of the times, we are busy with services but we are not able to go internally and focus on developing our spirituality within.



Looking into our ancient scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita, Arjuna contemplated whether to stay and fight on the battlefield or to head to the forests, chanting in seclusion. As a question to fuel Thursday's discussion: was Arjuna more internal about his spiritual practice on the battlefield or in the forests?

To be part of this discussion, please don't miss Thursday's class. We promise a stimulating discussion!

Special Seminar on Thursday: Internally Developing Your Devotional Service
→ The Toronto Hare Krishna Blog!

The parade of guests coming through Toronto doesn't end as we welcome Laxmimoni prabhu home! Laxmimoni prabhu is a spiritual force that first started here in Toronto. We are very pleased to welcome her back as she will be leading the Vaishnavi Sanga Retreat with Akuti prabhu this weekend - a spiritual retreat for the women of our community.

This Thursday, June 13th, Laxmimoni prabhu will be leading a discussion on how we can develop our devotional service internally, starting at 6:30pm. A lot of the times, we are busy with services but we are not able to go internally and focus on developing our spirituality within.



Looking into our ancient scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita, Arjuna contemplated whether to stay and fight on the battlefield or to head to the forests, chanting in seclusion. As a question to fuel Thursday's discussion: was Arjuna more internal about his spiritual practice on the battlefield or in the forests?

To be part of this discussion, please don't miss Thursday's class. We promise a stimulating discussion!

“In His Own Words”—from Indradyumna Swami, June 9, 2013
Giriraj Swami

anantaDiary of a Traveling Monk, Volume 13, Chapter 12

Anatoli Fedorovich Pinyayev (Ananta-santi dasa) was the first Soviet Hare Krsna devotee. Because of his active preaching throughout the USSR and because of the spiritual influence he had on many people, he was subjected to severe persecution for five and a half years at the hands of the staff at various Soviet psychiatric hospitals. The following excerpts are from an interview with him conducted in February 1988.

I started preaching Krsna consciousness after Srila Prabhupada visited Moscow in 1971. Gradually people in the Soviet Union became more and more attracted to
Krsna consciousness and it became quite widespread. The authorities, however, became afraid because so many from the intelligentsia were interested in Krsna consciousness. Everything spiritual was considered to be criminal and thus they started repressions.

It was just like an explosion of Krsna consciousness in the Soviet Union. The authorities were terrified so they tried to discredit the movement and present it as simply a group of crazy criminals. Because I was the first one to preach and the only disciple of Srila Prabhupada, they tried to repress me and present me as a crazy criminal. The court accused my godbrothers and me of teaching vegetarianism, which they said is harmful to the body, and of teaching mantras and praying, which they said is harmful for a person’s mental condition. On this ridiculous pretext they were accusing us.

I was imprisoned, and they tried to present every person who was following Krsna consciousness in this country as crazy. They then put me in a mental prison, a mental jail. There the doctors said that they were taught that religious believers are insane, and that only insane persons can think that there is a God, that there is spirit, and that we are not these bodies but spiritual sparks.

I was given courses of medication for many months. They gave me drugs three times a day. It was so bad that I was only able to lie in bed. This drug was special; it made it impossible to concentrate on anything. If I tried to chant loudly they would give me such large doses that I could have died. Lying on the bed I had so much material discomfort; these drugs make you restless and force you to change the position of your body all the time. I was feeling very weak and so much discomfort. It was just like torture for months and years. The only pause in the torture was when I was sleeping at night.

Initially, when the psychiatrists considered me crazy, they brought me from the regular prison to a psychiatric prison in Smolensk. It was on the same site as the ordinary prison but it had special cells for psychiatric prisoners. It had the bad aspects of both a mental asylum and prison. We were living in small cells with about twenty people in each. There was not enough fresh air. We took baths irregularly, sometimes not for 23 days. Many people there had insects on their bodies.

The entire place was very dirty. The food was prepared very badly. People there often had their teeth fall out, and their gums would bleed. I was taking very little food. Everything was a problem there. Even the janitors where criminals. It was a place for crazy criminals, and there was constant fighting amongst them. There was pressure from the doctors, the janitors, the criminals, everyone. Everyone was very much disturbed. My relatives were told that I would never be released.

The prisoners were punished for everything. I was trying to wash my clothes and every morning I tried to wash at least parts of my body. But I was punished many times for this. They did not like this. The janitors tried to beat me up several times.

There was psychological pressure all the time. Drugs were given for any reason and on any pretext. Somehow or the other the doctors decided I was eligible for release from this special psychiatric prison to a normal psychiatric prison. The KGB did not like this because their aim was to keep me there for my whole life. So instead I was transferred to another special psychiatric prison in the city of Oryol.

Everyone in that place was astonished by the fact that I was imprisoned for preaching religion. They saw that the authorities were especially oppressive towards me; they could not understand why.

I found out from my mother that my godbrothers all over the world had started a campaign for my release, as well as the release of other imprisoned devotees in the Soviet Union. The situation changed a little. During the last half year in Oryol some changes where expected, so I started to preach more at that time.

In Smolensk I was kept in one ward where there was a doctor who was famous for his sadistic inclinations. In Oryol, however, my last doctor told me that I was completely sane. He said he understood that I was in the mental prison because of the political situation. Before “perestroika” every aspect of spiritual and intellectual life was oppressed in our country. He said, “Time is working for you. Because of the changes in our society and because of the help from abroad, sooner or later you will be released.” He was a little compassionate towards me, and I preached to him. I was very thankful to my godbrothers and people all over the world who did something to somehow release me.

I was released from the Oryol psychiatric prison in a very strange and unusual way. One day my doctor called me in and said he was a little bit agitated. He told me that some papers had come from Moscow saying that I should be released. He said that there would be a special professor coming from Moscow to be part of a medical commission that would release me.

When the professor came, he talked to my doctor for a long time about me without me being present. In the end he told my doctor, “Yes, he is completely sane. We will release him, but we will leave his diagnoses for now because his condition may appear again in the future.” When my doctor told me about this, I requested him to ask the professor, “Who can guarantee that YOU will not go crazy after some time?” My doctor told me, “Yes, I asked him this question and he told me that he also finds the symptoms of mental disease within himself.”

To download PDF version of this Diary Chapter please go to:

http://gallery.mailchimp.com/605ba73a2b9f5142f3211b238/files/Diary_VOL13_12.pdf

Digesting Life
→ Tattva - See inside out

How should we react to life’s challenges? To answer this question, a teacher once told his student to bring a cup of boiling water, a potato, some cotton wool and a bottle of herbs. The teacher plumped the potato into the cup. After some time the hard potato crumbled: “Some people become an emotional wreck and fall apart in difficult times – don’t be like this” he said. Next, the cotton wool was dipped into the boiling water. A few minutes later the soft substance had become solid and impenetrable: “other people become hard-hearted and emotionally indifferent – don’t be like this” he said. The herbs were then thrown in. Almost instantaneously a wonderful aroma began to emanate from the cup: “a few unique individuals use life’s challenges to bring out their best – be like this!” he concluded.

An interesting concept indeed. Sometimes we allow life’s challenges to overwhelm us. We become emotionally entangled and visibly frustrated. Not nice. On the other extreme, however, we may artificially erect a tough exterior and shut it all out. We resist the desire to react and opt to ignore. Facing challenges, however, is not just about gritting your teeth, disregarding emotion, and getting on with life. The external resilience will not cover up the internal unrest forever.

Undigested food turns and twists in the stomach; neither comfortable nor nourishing. Similarly, if we don’t internally digest life’s challenges, the emotions we neglect today will likely come back to haunt us in the future. Real tolerance is about good digestion. You accept what has happened, assimilate the events with spiritual insight, identify the lessons to learn, and let the rest go and move on. This approach liberates us from any negativity and helps us grow from the experience. The karmic law is all about character development.

Digesting Life
→ Tattva - See inside out

How should we react to life’s challenges? To answer this question, a teacher once told his student to bring a cup of boiling water, a potato, some cotton wool and a bottle of herbs. The teacher plumped the potato into the cup. After some time the hard potato crumbled: “Some people become an emotional wreck and fall apart in difficult times – don’t be like this” he said. Next, the cotton wool was dipped into the boiling water. A few minutes later the soft substance had become solid and impenetrable: “other people become hard-hearted and emotionally indifferent – don’t be like this” he said. The herbs were then thrown in. Almost instantaneously a wonderful aroma began to emanate from the cup: “a few unique individuals use life’s challenges to bring out their best – be like this!” he concluded.

An interesting concept indeed. Sometimes we allow life’s challenges to overwhelm us. We become emotionally entangled and visibly frustrated. Not nice. On the other extreme, however, we may artificially erect a tough exterior and shut it all out. We resist the desire to react and opt to ignore. Facing challenges, however, is not just about gritting your teeth, disregarding emotion, and getting on with life. The external resilience will not cover up the internal unrest forever.

Undigested food turns and twists in the stomach; neither comfortable nor nourishing. Similarly, if we don’t internally digest life’s challenges, the emotions we neglect today will likely come back to haunt us in the future. Real tolerance is about good digestion. You accept what has happened, assimilate the events with spiritual insight, identify the lessons to learn, and let the rest go and move on. This approach liberates us from any negativity and helps us grow from the experience. The karmic law is all about character development.

Making Peace with Anger
→ Seed of Devotion

I remember growing up how my family seemed to be on fire with anger. Heated fights with sharp words sometimes seemed the only way we could communicate with one another.

When I got older, at times I faced an anger so deep that fire seemed to course through my veins. I would shake, tears would stream from my eyes. I would fling words like knives from my mouth. Afterwards I felt like a monster, for surely I had betrayed the trust of those around me. How could anyone love me again?

Through emotional education with Satvatove Institute and my own exploration over the years, I have been on a long, painful and beautiful path of healing. I have learned so much about the dynamics of anger, being in integrity, and being assertive. I would say that I had made a tentative peace with anger.

Then, about a month and a half ago, I was tested. For the upcoming drama here in Mayapur, I was asked to play the part or Lord Narasimha. Lord Narasimha is God in His most ferocious, terrible form as the personification of anger to protect His devotee.

I agreed to play the part.

This particular production was unique, for we would be portraying Lord Narasimha with four people, to represent the aspect that God is everywhere. In practice, I would roar and kill and destroy, my rage filling the entire auditorium.All four of us girls seemed to go deeper and deeper into the experience of divine anger.

But as practices wore on, I would sometimes leave late at night feeling so exhausted and empty. For a week or so I lost my voice so profoundly that my words came out in squeaks. I was supposed to be a lion but I felt like a kitten!

The day of the performance, the director kept insisting on using dramatic bloody guts that I would rip out of the abdomen of the demon I was killing. At her insistence, inside of my chest I felt a brick wall come up.

No.

I wouldn’t do it.

I said I didn’t want to because I had never practiced the whole killing scene before. There were so many other things that were last minute. I didn’t want to ruin my entire costume.

Etc. Etc.

Deep down, I knew the reason why I didn’t want to rip out the demon’s guts.

I was scared.

I was scared of my own anger, of expressing anger to that utter point of rage. In practice, I had always mimed ripping out the demons heart and placing his intestines around my neck. But to actually have blood on my hands, for blood to fly everywhere…

I cowered inside.

That was taking anger too far.

When I was having my lion face make-up done, I remembered the story of how Jadurani dasi had been painting this same killing scene with Lord Narasimha and the demon, Hiranyakashipu. The original painting had had a few drops of blood here and there. Srila Prabhupad had frowned and then ordered her to paint blood and gore everywhere. So she did. Only then was Prabhupad satisfied.



If this is what Srila Prabhupad would want, I thought, then my resistance to this violence is only out of my own personal fears.

Just before the crowds started to arrive, we went on stage and practiced ripping open the armor. I went through the practice with tight lips and a frowning face. Clammy hands.

There was no backing out now. After the practice, I nodded curtly, silently, that I would do it.

The drama began. Scene after dramatic scene, I could feel the tension building. The demon Hiranyakashipu kept trying to kill his son, Prahlad, but the Lord kept coming to protect the little boy. Prahlad's demon father was at wit's end.

The finale scene came. A giant, Styrofoam pillar was moved onstage. We four Lord Narasimhas lined up behind the pillar, and I stepped inside the pillar itself. I could feel the entire auditorium watching us on the other side of the styrofoam walls. The air seemed to crackle with electricity.

I turned to the other Narasimhas and whispered, “Let us pray. Let us pray to Lord Narasimha that we may represent Him as a service to the devotees,” All of our faces became grave and we folded our palms.

I turned back around, folded my palms, and closed my eyes. I felt feverish. I murmured over and over again, “Jai Nrisimha, Sri Nrisimha, Jai Jai Nrisimhadeva,” I could hear my voice echo off of the pillar walls. 

Something curious happened. Chills went up and down my whole body.Then suddenly, a deep calm settled over my entire body. I stopped murmuring out loud. I opened my eyes.

Hiranyakashipu shouted, “If He is everywhere, even in this pillar, then I shall kill Him!” and struck the styrofoam walls.

I reached one hand through the crack. Then the other hand. With one move, I tore the pillar to both sides of the stage, leapt out of the pillar and roared from a place deep within. The roar of all four of us filled the auditorium. Cheers joined our roars.

As Lord Narasimha, I killed the demons one by one, like crushing insects. My heart pounded. I went through the motions of how we had done it in practice two dozen times, but suddenly this didn’t feel like practice anymore.

This was real.

We fought and danced through the fight scene. At last the moment came when I placed the demon into a backbend over my knee. I drew my claws and the demon screamed when he looked up at me.

My eyes were fire. My mind spun with the emotions, but mostly with the words: How dare you?

How dare you? 

I plunged my hands into the demon’s armor, wrestled with the saran wrap that covered the blood soaked garlands. I lifted the garlands out and suddenly blood exploded everywhere. The audience roared. I kept ripping the garland and then slammed the pieces to the side of the stage.

I drank the demon’s blood. In one final move I mimed placing his intestines around my neck. In deep disgust, I looked down at the demon’s broken body and flung him away. I roared twice more until my entire body shook.

When the play continued, I saw that blood had gotten all over the entire stage.

I only ceased my anger when the boy, Prahlad, came to offer his prayers. My face slowly softened, my claws slowly relaxed. At last I gestured to the boy to come close and I petted him with tender affection.

The fire had left my body and my heart.

When I got backstage, I saw that I had gotten blood not only all over my costume, but the other three Narasimhas as well. What I had feared the most had happened. A part of me wondered if others would shy away from me after witnessing such ferocity.

But there was no fall-out. In fact, all the other actors and the audience was delighted that blood had gotten all over everything. I was shocked. I kept insisting on somehow or other washing out the stains.

I walked home, quietly reeling from what had just happened. I went to sleep that night exhausted to the bone, as if I had just fought a war.

The next morning I woke up deeply reflective. I began my spiritual practice of chanting God’s holy name, and images from the night before began to flash before my mind’s eye. The demon, the four Narasimhas, the roars, the blood flying everywhere. Everywhere.

As I continued to chant and the images wheeled through me faster and faster, my body was swept with chills.

At last. At last I had not only faced my anger, God had given me the opportunity to purify that anger. God had allowed me to channel His anger as a service.

Gratitude rolled through my body in waves.

Days went by and men, women, and children in the Mayapur community approached me. They expressed their gratitude that I had portrayed such a ferocious form of Lord Narasimha. I could only bow and quietly offer their appreciation to Lord Narasimha.

Thank you, Lord Narasimha. Thank you. Thank you. May Your divine anger purify my heart.





ugram viram maha-vishnum 
jvalantam sarvato mukham 
nrisimham bhishanam bhadram 
mrityur mrityum namamy aham 

"May my head be protected by the moon colored one, who is the greatest among humans. My obeisance unto the ferocious and powerful, the great Vishnu, the fiery one, whose faces are on all sides; the fearful one, Nrsimha, who causes the death of even death personified."
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Making Peace with Anger
→ Seed of Devotion

I remember growing up how my family seemed to be on fire with anger. Heated fights with sharp words sometimes seemed the only way we could communicate with one another.

When I got older, at times I faced an anger so deep that fire seemed to course through my veins. I would shake, tears would stream from my eyes. I would fling words like knives from my mouth. Afterwards I felt like a monster, for surely I had betrayed the trust of those around me. How could anyone love me again?

Through emotional education with Satvatove Institute and my own exploration over the years, I have been on a long, painful and beautiful path of healing. I have learned so much about the dynamics of anger, being in integrity, and being assertive. I would say that I had made a tentative peace with anger.

Then, about a month and a half ago, I was tested. For the upcoming drama here in Mayapur, I was asked to play the part or Lord Narasimha. Lord Narasimha is God in His most ferocious, terrible form as the personification of anger to protect His devotee.

I agreed to play the part.

This particular production was unique, for we would be portraying Lord Narasimha with four people, to represent the aspect that God is everywhere. In practice, I would roar and kill and destroy, my rage filling the entire auditorium.All four of us girls seemed to go deeper and deeper into the experience of divine anger.

But as practices wore on, I would sometimes leave late at night feeling so exhausted and empty. For a week or so I lost my voice so profoundly that my words came out in squeaks. I was supposed to be a lion but I felt like a kitten!

The day of the performance, the director kept insisting on using dramatic bloody guts that I would rip out of the abdomen of the demon I was killing. At her insistence, inside of my chest I felt a brick wall come up.

No.

I wouldn’t do it.

I said I didn’t want to because I had never practiced the whole killing scene before. There were so many other things that were last minute. I didn’t want to ruin my entire costume.

Etc. Etc.

Deep down, I knew the reason why I didn’t want to rip out the demon’s guts.

I was scared.

I was scared of my own anger, of expressing anger to that utter point of rage. In practice, I had always mimed ripping out the demons heart and placing his intestines around my neck. But to actually have blood on my hands, for blood to fly everywhere…

I cowered inside.

That was taking anger too far.

When I was having my lion face make-up done, I remembered the story of how Jadurani dasi had been painting this same killing scene with Lord Narasimha and the demon, Hiranyakashipu. The original painting had had a few drops of blood here and there. Srila Prabhupad had frowned and then ordered her to paint blood and gore everywhere. So she did. Only then was Prabhupad satisfied.



If this is what Srila Prabhupad would want, I thought, then my resistance to this violence is only out of my own personal fears.

Just before the crowds started to arrive, we went on stage and practiced ripping open the armor. I went through the practice with tight lips and a frowning face. Clammy hands.

There was no backing out now. After the practice, I nodded curtly, silently, that I would do it.

The drama began. Scene after dramatic scene, I could feel the tension building. The demon Hiranyakashipu kept trying to kill his son, Prahlad, but the Lord kept coming to protect the little boy. Prahlad's demon father was at wit's end.

The finale scene came. A giant, Styrofoam pillar was moved onstage. We four Lord Narasimhas lined up behind the pillar, and I stepped inside the pillar itself. I could feel the entire auditorium watching us on the other side of the styrofoam walls. The air seemed to crackle with electricity.

I turned to the other Narasimhas and whispered, “Let us pray. Let us pray to Lord Narasimha that we may represent Him as a service to the devotees,” All of our faces became grave and we folded our palms.

I turned back around, folded my palms, and closed my eyes. I felt feverish. I murmured over and over again, “Jai Nrisimha, Sri Nrisimha, Jai Jai Nrisimhadeva,” I could hear my voice echo off of the pillar walls. 

Something curious happened. Chills went up and down my whole body.Then suddenly, a deep calm settled over my entire body. I stopped murmuring out loud. I opened my eyes.

Hiranyakashipu shouted, “If He is everywhere, even in this pillar, then I shall kill Him!” and struck the styrofoam walls.

I reached one hand through the crack. Then the other hand. With one move, I tore the pillar to both sides of the stage, leapt out of the pillar and roared from a place deep within. The roar of all four of us filled the auditorium. Cheers joined our roars.

As Lord Narasimha, I killed the demons one by one, like crushing insects. My heart pounded. I went through the motions of how we had done it in practice two dozen times, but suddenly this didn’t feel like practice anymore.

This was real.

We fought and danced through the fight scene. At last the moment came when I placed the demon into a backbend over my knee. I drew my claws and the demon screamed when he looked up at me.

My eyes were fire. My mind spun with the emotions, but mostly with the words: How dare you?

 How dare you? 

I plunged my hands into the demon’s armor, wrestled with the saran wrap that covered the blood soaked garlands. I lifted the garlands out and suddenly blood exploded everywhere. The audience roared. I kept ripping the garland and then slammed the pieces to the side of the stage.

I drank the demon’s blood. In one final move I mimed placing his intestines around my neck. In deep disgust, I looked down at the demon’s broken body and flung him away. I roared twice more until my entire body shook.

When the play continued, I saw that blood had gotten all over the entire stage.

I only ceased my anger when the boy, Prahlad, came to offer his prayers. My face slowly softened, my claws slowly relaxed. At last I gestured to the boy to come close and I petted him with tender affection.

The fire had left my body and my heart.

When I got backstage, I saw that I had gotten blood not only all over my costume, but the other three Narasimhas as well. What I had feared the most had happened. A part of me wondered if others would shy away from me after witnessing such ferocity.

But there was no fall-out. In fact, all the other actors and the audience was delighted that blood had gotten all over everything. I was shocked. I kept insisting on somehow or other washing out the stains.

I walked home, quietly reeling from what had just happened. I went to sleep that night exhausted to the bone, as if I had just fought a war.

The next morning I woke up deeply reflective. I began my spiritual practice of chanting God’s holy name, and images from the night before began to flash before my mind’s eye. The demon, the four Narasimhas, the roars, the blood flying everywhere. Everywhere.

As I continued to chant and the images wheeled through me faster and faster, my body was swept with chills.

At last. At last I had not only faced my anger, God had given me the opportunity to purify that anger. God had allowed me to channel His anger as a service.

Gratitude rolled through my body in waves.

Days went by and men, women, and children in the Mayapur community approached me. They expressed their gratitude that I had portrayed such a ferocious form of Lord Narasimha. I could only bow and quietly offer their appreciation to Lord Narasimha.

Thank you, Lord Narasimha. Thank you. Thank you. May Your divine anger purify my heart.





ugram viram maha-vishnum 
jvalantam sarvato mukham 
nrisimham bhishanam bhadram 
mrityur mrityum namamy aham 

"May my head be protected by the moon colored one, who is the greatest among humans. My obeisance unto the ferocious and powerful, the great Vishnu, the fiery one, whose faces are on all sides; the fearful one, Nrsimha, who causes the death of even death personified."
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A Little More About Chanting Hare Krishna
→ The Enquirer

English: Promotional poster for Mantra-Rock Da...

In Bhajana Rahasya, Srimad Bhaktivinode Thakur explains the following verse from Sri Sanatana Goswami’s Haribhakti-vilasa:

manah samharanam saucam maunam manträrtha-cintanam
avyagratvam anirvedo japa – sampatti – hetavah

The Thakur says that this instruction applies to both nama-japa and mantra-japa (a.k.a “gayatri”). The advice here is: “Take complete control of your thoughts, making them pure and silent. Contemplate the meaning and intention of the mantra. Be resolute, but patient – then you will bring about the full realization of chanting.”

The Thakur elaborates on mantrartha-cintana (“contemplating the meaning and intention of the mantra“) with five specific instructions:

1) Educate yourself in the meaning of the mantra, and the on the persons named by the mantra. In other words, learn the various multifaceted meanings of the words “hare, krishna, rama” and learn the qualities, form, and pastimes of the persons named by those words.

2) Consider the person(s) named in the mantra to be your only true protector, and chant the mantra many times (instead of just once) for their pleasure.

3) Consider that there is nothing existing at all outside of the mantra. The mantra, being non-different from the divine beings it names, encompases all of reality.

4) Give yourself to the mantra in the mood of needing to be rescued by it.

5) Give your heart and soul to the mantra. If chanting it conflicts with other interests, sacrifice those interests. Sacrifice everything for the mantra, but never sacrifice the mantra for anything.

Bhaktivinode Thakur says that if we chant in this manner, we will attain astonishing results extremely rapidly.


TEXAS FAITH 102: What does it mean to be an American today?
→ Nityananda Chandra Das' Blog, ISKCON Dallas

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

What does it mean to be an American today?

This question is more than an academic one. It goes to the heart of the immigration debate that is growing hot in the Senate this month.

The Senate is debating a reform bill that could come up for a final vote by July 1. A part of that legislation focuses on institutions that help immigrants become part of American society. I recently wrote a column about this aspect of the bill, which you can read at this link.

Tamar Jacoby of Immigration Works USA has written extensively about the concept of assimilation. As she has pointed out, what it means to be an American today is vastly different from what it meant in, say, the 1950s.

Almost a decade ago, Jacoby wrote this:

“We may need a new definition, or new understanding of assimilation — a definition that makes sense today, in an era of globalization, the Internet, identity politics, niche advertising and a TV dial that offers a choice among a hundred or more different channels.
“Even as they live out the melting pot myth, today’s immigrants and their children are searching for new ways to think and talk about it, and together, they and the rest of the nation face the challenge of updating the traditional ideal.”

(For more of her essay, see this link)

I would say we still are searching for an update for that ideal, including how immigrants become part of the mainstream without losing their ethnic identity.

This is obviously hard work. As our society becomes more diverse, America develops a broader and richer culture. At the same time, nations depend upon some common core of values, beliefs and identity to hang together. And that requires some kind of definition of what it means to be an American.

So, how would you define being an American today?

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

The Motto on every dollar bill is “In God We Trust”

The highest ideal would be that Americans embody this motto by becoming a nation of God-conscious people. For without God Consciousness, or Krishna Consciousness, society blindly wanders after the temporary.

Those who chase after temporary gains may sometimes be lawful or may sometimes be unlawful and exploitative. However in either case such hungry souls are never satisfied. They consume, they use, they exploit, they justify, and teach others to do the same.

Only those who are invested in the eternal can be satisfied and thus be peaceful. That society whose very example is of internal peace, are the ones fit to hold the influential position in the world that is known as America.

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

TEXAS FAITH 102: What does it mean to be an American today?
→ Nityananda Chandra Das' Blog, ISKCON Dallas

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

What does it mean to be an American today?

This question is more than an academic one. It goes to the heart of the immigration debate that is growing hot in the Senate this month.

The Senate is debating a reform bill that could come up for a final vote by July 1. A part of that legislation focuses on institutions that help immigrants become part of American society. I recently wrote a column about this aspect of the bill, which you can read at this link.

Tamar Jacoby of Immigration Works USA has written extensively about the concept of assimilation. As she has pointed out, what it means to be an American today is vastly different from what it meant in, say, the 1950s.

Almost a decade ago, Jacoby wrote this:

“We may need a new definition, or new understanding of assimilation — a definition that makes sense today, in an era of globalization, the Internet, identity politics, niche advertising and a TV dial that offers a choice among a hundred or more different channels.
“Even as they live out the melting pot myth, today’s immigrants and their children are searching for new ways to think and talk about it, and together, they and the rest of the nation face the challenge of updating the traditional ideal.”

(For more of her essay, see this link)

I would say we still are searching for an update for that ideal, including how immigrants become part of the mainstream without losing their ethnic identity.

This is obviously hard work. As our society becomes more diverse, America develops a broader and richer culture. At the same time, nations depend upon some common core of values, beliefs and identity to hang together. And that requires some kind of definition of what it means to be an American.

So, how would you define being an American today?

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

The Motto on every dollar bill is “In God We Trust”

The highest ideal would be that Americans embody this motto by becoming a nation of God-conscious people. For without God Consciousness, or Krishna Consciousness, society blindly wanders after the temporary.

Those who chase after temporary gains may sometimes be lawful or may sometimes be unlawful and exploitative. However in either case such hungry souls are never satisfied. They consume, they use, they exploit, they justify, and teach others to do the same.

Only those who are invested in the eternal can be satisfied and thus be peaceful. That society whose very example is of internal peace, are the ones fit to hold the influential position in the world that is known as America.

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

don’t be fooled by what you see
→ everyday gita

Verse 3.25: As the ignorant perform their duties with attachment to results, the learned may similarly act, but without attachment, for the sake of leading people on the right path.

The Gita speaks of four limitations that all embodied beings face. They are:

1. tendency to cheat others
2. tendency to commit mistakes
3. tendency to fall under illusion
4. having to deal with imperfect senses

It should be noted that these conditions are attributed to the body, NOT the soul. In fact, if anyone feels slighted or even put off by this fact, take comfort in knowing that in no way do these characteristics reflect who you really are. The soul is above these limitations as it is full of eternity, knowledge and bliss.

This knowledge is there to open our eyes to the fact that identifying with the body isn't all that it's cracked up to be.

Yoga goes beyond the body and is about making soul connections. Often, when we try to connect with one another, we use our senses to interpret and understand what the other is saying.

In reading today's verse, the limitation of having to deal with imperfect senses really jumped out at me. If we solely rely on our senses to determine what is truth and what isn't, this will invariably limit our ability to understand a person, place or situation effectively. Although actions do normally give a greater glimpse into what a person is thinking or feeling, it's not always the case.

It's especially not the case for those who are practicing bhakti yoga. Living a life of gratitude and detachment by offering the results of one's work may appear externally similar to one who is completely attached to the results of their work. (i.e. two people can work the exact same job, but their consciousness may be so different). If we simply rely on our senses to understand one another, we can land in trouble because:

Consciousness is not something that can be perceived by the eyes.

Acknowledging that we face these limitations, that come hand in hand with owning a material body, actually helps the aspiring yogi to interact with the world more effectively. It reminds them that there is more to life than just the externals.

To be clear, the body itself is in no way bad. It's our attachment to identifying with the body that causes us unnecessary pain and difficulty.

When we realize that the body is an instrument by which we can utilize our talents to do good in the world and offer the results in gratitude to the Divine, we won't ever have to worry about being fooled by our senses. We'll be taking our first step to living a soul-full life. ;)

I am Living Proof
→ Servant of the Servant

Upendra Prabhu and I had just observed Nirjala Ekadasi in Sri Vrndavan Dham.It was June of 1977. The temperature was over 100*. Even though we were young we became very weak and I could hardly stand up by the end of the day.Upendra would cook Srila Prabhupada's lunch every day spending hours every morning toiling away in the kitchen. Srila Prabhupada had been sick and he actually came to Vrndavan specifically to 'leave his body'. Even though Upendra worked so hard to prepare the foods the way Srila Prabhupada liked it; Srila Prabhupada had been refusing to eat.

For the previous few weeks when the Plate was brought to Srila Prabhupada he waved it off saying, "Distribute!". Well after fasting the day before and becoming so weak Upendra got frustrated when Srila Prabhupada again refused to eat. Upendra asked Srila Prabhupada how it was that we young boys could barely survive one day of fasting in the Vrndavan heat and he had been fasting for weeks now. Upendra asked Srila Prabhupada, "How do you do it?"

Srila Prabhupada responded, "I am living proof that the soul is not dependant on the body for subsistance; but rather the body is dependant on the soul"! Although I was a neopyhte I could see that Srila Prabhupada was totally Krishna conscious and above the bodily concept of life. He was/is a total inspiration to me. Those were the best days of my life. To serve Srila Prabhupada in Sri Vrndavan Dham was a dream come true. I counted my blessings as I gazed out my window at night and could see Srila Prabhupada translating his books all night long on his rooftop.I could hardly sleep at times anxious for the next morning when I could resume my daily services for Srila Prabhupada. All glories to our transcendental spiritual master; the acharya, our living proof!

"He lives forever by his divine instructions and the followers live with him"

By Gauridasa Pandita Dasa

I am Living Proof
→ Servant of the Servant

Upendra Prabhu and I had just observed Nirjala Ekadasi in Sri Vrndavan Dham.It was June of 1977. The temperature was over 100*. Even though we were young we became very weak and I could hardly stand up by the end of the day.Upendra would cook Srila Prabhupada's lunch every day spending hours every morning toiling away in the kitchen. Srila Prabhupada had been sick and he actually came to Vrndavan specifically to 'leave his body'. Even though Upendra worked so hard to prepare the foods the way Srila Prabhupada liked it; Srila Prabhupada had been refusing to eat.

For the previous few weeks when the Plate was brought to Srila Prabhupada he waved it off saying, "Distribute!". Well after fasting the day before and becoming so weak Upendra got frustrated when Srila Prabhupada again refused to eat. Upendra asked Srila Prabhupada how it was that we young boys could barely survive one day of fasting in the Vrndavan heat and he had been fasting for weeks now. Upendra asked Srila Prabhupada, "How do you do it?"

Srila Prabhupada responded, "I am living proof that the soul is not dependant on the body for subsistance; but rather the body is dependant on the soul"! Although I was a neopyhte I could see that Srila Prabhupada was totally Krishna conscious and above the bodily concept of life. He was/is a total inspiration to me. Those were the best days of my life. To serve Srila Prabhupada in Sri Vrndavan Dham was a dream come true. I counted my blessings as I gazed out my window at night and could see Srila Prabhupada translating his books all night long on his rooftop.I could hardly sleep at times anxious for the next morning when I could resume my daily services for Srila Prabhupada. All glories to our transcendental spiritual master; the acharya, our living proof!

"He lives forever by his divine instructions and the followers live with him"

By Gauridasa Pandita Dasa