Planet ISKCON

The first full moon of the autumn season marks the celebration of Krishna’s dancing with the 
gopis. On this day the Deities of Vrindavan are nicely decorated in white and Krishna-lila dramas are enacted.

Because the moon is very auspicious, the Braja-basis leave pots of sweet rice exposed to the full moon for the whole night to turn the sweet rice into ambrosial nectar. 

When Kṛṣṇa, the supreme enjoyer, desired to enjoy the company of the gopis on that full moon night of the śarat season, exactly at that very moment, the moon, the lord of the stars, appeared in the sky, displaying its most beautiful features. 

The appearance of the moon increased Kṛṣṇa’s desire to dance with the gopis. The forests were filled with fragrant flowers. The atmosphere was cooling and festive. When Lord Kṛṣṇa began to blow His flute, the gopis all over Vṛndāvana became enchanted.

Their attraction to the vibration of the flute increased a thousand times due to the rising full moon, the red horizon, the calm and cool atmosphere, and the blossoming flowers. All these 
gopis were by nature very much attracted to Kṛṣṇa’s beauty, and when they heard the vibration of His flute, they became apparently lustful to satisfy the senses of Kṛṣṇa.
Krishna Book (Chapter 29)

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Today in Edgware something truly extraordinary happened. Two sisters, Pramila and Kastur, were walking through the Broadwalk shopping mall, and by divine arrangement, when they exited, Niscinta Prabhu stopped Pramila and I stopped Kastur. Pramila shared a wonderful realisation. Just yesterday she had received the Bhaktivedanta Manor 2026 calendar in the post. As she was
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By Kaisori dasi Every year, offerings are written from ISKCON centers and projects around the world to glorify Srila Prabhupada. These heartfelt homages express gratitude, realizations, and renewed vows of service. They also help Srila Prabhupada’s followers see a picture of ISKCON most devotees rarely get to see: the incredible network of enthusiastic and loving
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We welcome you to this most auspicious place, the temple of Sri Sri Radha-Radhanath, on the most auspicious occasion of the beginning of Kartik, in the most auspicious association of Lord Krishna’s devotees. Kartik is also known as the month of Damodara (dama means “ropes,” and udara means “abdomen”), or Krishna who allowed Himself to be bound about the waist by the ropes of His devotee’s love.

Srila Rupa Gosvami compiled the law book of Krishna consciousness, the science of devotion, as the Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu, translated by Srila Prabhupada in a summary study as The Nectar of Devotion. There the observance of Kartik is mentioned as one of the sixty-four items of devotional service. Rupa Gosvami quotes from the Padma Purana that just as Lord Damodara is favorably inclined toward His devotees, so the month of Kartik, which is also dear to Him, bestows great favor upon His devotees, even for a little service or a little practice. It is even said that the benefit gained for service performed in the last five days of Kartik is equal to that gained from service performed for the entire month. In other words, for a very small performance of devotional service in the month of Damodara, one gets a very big result—especially in Vrindavan. Also, Srila Prabhupada has explained that wherever the Deities of Radha and Krishna are installed, that is also Vrindavan. So, even here our devotional service will be magnified “one thousand times.”

Srila Prabhupada gave the example of a store holding a sale, when a customer can get a valuable item by paying a small amount. The month of Kartik is like a sale—a transcendental sale—when by a little investment of spiritual practice and service, you can receive great benefit. Of course, the management of the store hopes that you will come to appreciate its goods and patronize the store even after the sale is over. And we too hope that you will continue with your spiritual practices, or increased practices, even after the month of Kartik.

There is a special potency to the month itself. Just as certain times of the day, such as the brahma-muhurta, which begins one hour and thirty-two minutes before sunrise and continues until the sun rises, are more auspicious for spiritual progress and enhance the value of one’s practices, so too, Kartik is the most auspicious month of the year. Devotees try to take advantage of the facility offered by Kartik by on one side increasing their spiritual practices and doing extra service—chanting more rounds, reading more scripture, reciting more prayers, distributing more books, and making special offerings—and on the other side decreasing their material involvement, their sense gratification. As it is, we are in the four-month period of Chaturmasya, so every month we forgo a certain type of food, but in Kartik devotees may do extra austerities. They may eat only once a day, or give up sweet or fried foods, or rise earlier than usual, or whatever—work on some area of their spiritual life that they want to improve—and they get special mercy to fulfill their vows and improve their spiritual practices.

Today also is sarat-purnima, the full-moon night of the sarat season, the night on which Krishna played upon His transcendental flute at Vamsivata by the Yamuna River in Vrindavan and called the gopis to dance with Him. Now, we may take it that He played on His flute and in a figurative way called the gopis to dance with Him, but actually Krishna’s flute is one of His messengers, and so the gopis not only heard the beautiful, melodious sound of the flute, but also received the message that Krishna wanted to meet them. And because their only desire was to please Krishna, to fulfill His desires and make Him happy, they all went to Him not to fulfill any selfish desire of their own, but with the sole aim of fulfilling Krishna’s transcendental desire to dance with them.

Because the rasa dance superficially resembles the dancing of men and women in the material world, it can easily be misunderstood, and there are critics of Lord Krishna and Srimad-Bhagavatam and Krishna consciousness itself that find fault with the rasa-lila. I know religious groups outside of the Vedic tradition that criticize and challenge: “Oh, Krishna is a womanizer. How can you worship a god that enjoys with women?” They do not understand the pure love exchanged by Krishna and the gopis. In Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Srila Krishnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami explains the difference between love, or prema, and lust, or kama. In lust, the person wants to gratify his or her own senses, whereas in pure love, the devotee wishes to satisfy Krishna’s transcendental senses. The two may resemble each other, but actually they are completely different.

kama, prema,—donhakara vibhinna laksana
lauha ara hema yaiche svarupe vilaksana

atmendriya-priti-vancha—tare bali ‘kama’
krsnendriya-priti-iccha dhare ‘prema’ nama

“Lust and love have different characteristics, just as iron and gold have different natures. The desire to gratify one’s own senses is kama, but the desire to please the senses of Lord Krsna is prema.” (Cc Adi 4. 164–165) Iron and gold are both metals, but there is a great difference between them, between their values. The pure love of the devotees for Krishna is like gold, and the lust of people in the material world who want to gratify their senses is like iron.

Another point of contention related to the Tenth Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam is that the name of Radha is not mentioned. Some people challenge, “You are worshipping Radha and Krishna, Radha-Radhanath, but on what authority? We don’t find the name of Radha in the Bhagavad-gita or Srimad-Bhagavatam.” But in the five chapters that describe the rasa-lila, we find that after Krishna called the gopis and began to reciprocate with them, He disappeared. The gopis then plunged into feelings of separation from Krishna, and they began to search all over the Vrindavan forest for Him. In time they found two pairs of footprints: Krishna’s and a gopi’s. Then the other gopis, in their separation, exclaimed:

anayaradhito nunam
  bhagavan harir isvarah
yan no vihaya govindah
  prito yam anayad rahah

“Certainly this particular gopi has perfectly worshiped the all-powerful Personality of Godhead. Therefore Govinda was so pleased with Her that He abandoned the rest of us and brought Her to a secluded place.” (SB 10.30.28) “Because She worship{p}ed Lord Hari better than all of us, She has gotten to be with Krishna now.” The word aradhito, which means “worshipped” or “perfectly worshipped,” refers to Radha, as confirmed by Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura and other acharyas. They explain that Her name does appear in the Vedas, Upanishads, and other Puranas, and that in this verse, although Her name is not mentioned explicitly, the superexcellent glories of Sri Radha are nonetheless proclaimed.

Ultimately Krishna also left Srimati Radharani, and when the other gopis came upon Her, they found Her in such a state of intense lamentation in separation that they felt, “Actually, She loves Krishna more.” There is a technical discussion of what actually took place in the rasa-lila, why Krishna left with Radharani and why eventually He left Her too. But His ultimate purpose was to reunite all the gopis, and when the other gopis saw Srimati Radharani in such a state of ecstasy in separation, they felt sympathetic toward Her; they did not feel any envy.

Thereafter, all the gopis searched for Krishna together. But they could not find Him anywhere, and finally they decided, “We cannot find Krishna unless He wishes to be found. We cannot force Him to come before us.” So, they considered, “How can we attract Krishna’s attention? How can we move Krishna to come back to us?” And they concluded that the best method was sankirtana, chanting the glories of Krishna together (along with crying).

When they returned to the banks of the Yamuna where they had originally met Krishna, they began to sing His glories—very beautiful songs in separation, known as the Gopi-gita. And when Krishna heard the gopis’ loving prayers, sankirtana, His heart was moved and He could no longer stay away from them. He came to them, reappeared before them, in His most attractive feature:

tasam avirabhuc chaurih
  smayamana-mukhambujah
pitambara-dharah sragvi
  saksan manmatha-manmathah

“Then Lord Krsna, a smile on His lotus face, appeared before the gopis. Wearing a garland and a yellow garment, He directly appeared as one who can bewilder the mind of Cupid, who himself bewilders the minds of ordinary people.” (SB 10.32.2)

Then followed an interesting dialogue between Krishna and the gopis. The gopis felt some transcendental anger, because Krishna had abandoned them. After all, He had called them to Him and they had risked everything to go to Him in the dead of night, and then He had left them. So they wanted Him to explain why.

In a most tactful and intelligent way, they began, “There are three kinds of lovers.” They presented three categories of lovers, three different ways that lovers deal with others, and asked Krishna to explain them. Indirectly, they were asking Krishna, “In which category do You fit?”

In one category are people who reciprocate exactly with the other party. In other words, “If you are kind to me, I will be kind to you; if you ignore me, I will ignore you.” Krishna said, “They are like merchants. They give only with the expectation of return, and they give only as much as they expect in return. Actually, they are selfish.”

In the next category are those who love the other even though the other does not love them. For example, at least in principle, parents love their children no matter what the children do. The children may not even appreciate the parents’ service, but the parents go on loving and serving them. And even better than parents are devotees, because although parents serve their own children, devotees love and serve everyone. Whether others appreciate them or not, they try to help everyone. Krishna said, “Those who love others even if others don’t love them in return are following the true path of dharma and are the true friends of humanity.”

In the third category are those who don’t reciprocate even when others love them. The first category is “I reciprocate only if you love me.” The second category is “Even if you don’t love me, I love you.” And the third category is “Even if you love me, I don’t reciprocate.” So, the gopis wanted Krishna to admit that He was in the third category. They did not want to say it themselves, but they wanted to hear it from Krishna’s own mouth. They wanted to trap Him with their subtle network of wise and clever words.

Now, within the third category there are four divisions. There is the atmarama: he is completely self-satisfied. Even if you love him, he won’t reciprocate, because he is self-satisfied; he is situated in transcendental bliss. Then there is the apta-kama: he has desires, but they are already satisfied, so he doesn’t need you. Even if you love him, he won’t reciprocate. Then there is the third division, akrta-jna: he is ungrateful. And then there is the last division, guru-druhah. In the first three, “You love me, but I don’t reciprocate; I remain indifferent,” but in this last category, guru-druhah, “You love me, and I am not just indifferent to you; I am inimical.” Actually, the gopis wanted Krishna to admit that He had been ungrateful.

Ultimately Krishna had to respond to the gopis’ question, and His answer was, “I did not neglect you, nor was I indifferent to you. I was always thinking of you. But in order to increase your love for Me, I hid Myself from you.” Krishna gave the example of a poor man who gains wealth and then loses it. He will be so anxious that he can think of nothing except his lost treasure: “What happened to my money? How can I get it back?” Krishna said, “So, I was reciprocating with you, because your desire was to increase your love for Me, and by hiding Myself from you I created a situation by which your attachment for Me would increase. So I was reciprocating with you.” Although Krishna’s argument sounded good, it did, however, contain one defect: the gopis’ love was already unlimited, and even so, by its very nature it was always increasing. So that could not have been the real reason.

Again, there is an intricate and elaborate discussion by the acharyas about the dialogue between Krishna and the gopis, but at the very end Krishna admits defeat. He says,

na paraye ’ham niravadya-samyujam
  sva-sadhu-krtyam vibudhayusapi vah
ya mabhajan durjara-geha-srnkhalah
  samvrscya tad vah pratiyatu sadhuna

“Actually, I am unable to repay My debt for your service to Me even with the prolonged life of Brahma, because you have given up everything for Me. You have given up family ties, which are so difficult to break. You have given up the dictates of the world, of the Vedas, and of your relatives. You have forsaken everything for My sake—which I could not do for you. You have given up all other relationships for Me, but I could not do that for you. I still have My father and mother and friends. You came running out of your houses in the middle of the night, but I sneak out and return in the morning so that no one catches Me. But you, with complete abandon, have come to meet Me without any consideration of the consequences. And I have so many devotees with whom I reciprocate: devotees in madhurya-rasa, in vatsalya-rasa, in sakhya-rasa, in dasya-rasa, and in santa-rasa. I also reciprocate with the sadhakas in the material world who are struggling and trying to become devotees. I reciprocate with everyone who approaches Me. But you love only Me. So I cannot equal your love. I admit it: I can never repay My debt to you.” And He concluded, “I am defeated by your love.”

The gopis were so touched by Krishna’s words that they thought, “Now He has defeated us! We could not admit to Him that He defeated us, but He has admitted to us that we defeated Him. So He has defeated us.” Of course, this is all on the platform of transcendental love. And it is said that later, when Krishna left Vrindavan to go to Mathura and Dvaraka and the gopis were left in separation from Him, they would think of His words to them—na paraye ’ham—and that would give them solace to bear the separation. Here we come to another subtle and intricate discussion, because even in separation from Krishna they experienced His presence.

After hearing Krishna’s reply, the gopis were appeased, and so He began the pastime of the rasa dance. All of the gopis were dancing in a circle, and Krishna expanded Himself to be next to each one. Each gopi felt, “Krishna is with me alone,” and each was completely satisfied by Him.

One of our devotees has envisioned the image of the rasa dance as a symbol for interfaith harmony. It is a symbol that is most appropriate, especially for a diverse country such as South Africa.

The idea is that there were so many gopis, and each was individual, but that Krishna was by the side of each one, reciprocating with each perfectly. He accepted all of them, and all of them accepted each other, and there was complete harmony in this dance of divine love—not only between Krishna and the gopis, but also among the gopis themselves. Likewise, different worshippers serve God in different ways. They have different practices and rituals, and different scriptures and languages. But God reciprocates with all of them. And if they can come into harmony, not only with God but also with each other, in the dance of divine love, there can be complete harmony in the world.

So, today is a most sacred occasion: the beginning of kartik-vrata, and sarat-purnima, the night Krishna enjoyed His rasa-lila with the gopis—after removing Himself from their presence in order to demonstrate to the world, in their separation from Him, their supreme love.

Thank you very much.

Hare Krishna.

[A talk by Giriraj Swami, October 17, 2005, Sri Sri Radha-Radhanath Temple, Durban, South Africa]

Every Krishna bhakta looks forward with great anticipation to Kartik Maas, the month of Damodar. During this time we make a special effort to remember the pastime of Mother Yashoda binding her naughty son with a rope to a grinding mortar as punishment for stealing butter.

In her frustration to bind the unbindable Supreme Lord with a rope that is always two inches too short, Krishna’s heart finally melts seeing his mother’s extreme effort, and He allows her to bind him in His ecstasy of reciprocal love. He thus fulfills His own desire for ever-increasing pastimes of bliss with his pure devotees.

During this auspicious month we chant the beautiful Damodarashtakam (see below video), offer ghee lamps to the Lord and chant extra rounds. In essence, Kartik and its vratas are meant to increase our love for the Lord. While this is a voluntary effort on our part, many times, like with Yashoda mata, the Lord tests us and puts us into a challenging situation where we have no alternative than to surrender to Him. It’s His sublime way of putting on the pressure to remind us of who we are in relation to Him, and testing our eagerness to be His servant.

How does that relate to the TOVP? After all, the TOVP is just a building under construction. What does the above example have to do with building the TOVP?

The answer is, by Srila Prabhupada’s order we have undertaken this humungous, time-consuming and expensive TOVP project, and it is dependent on all devotees to help complete; it is not one person’s project. And that is the Lord’s mercy on us all, to give us a chance to experience some transcendental anxiety in our combined service of completing the temple at Prabhupada’s command. The Lord wants us all to be a part of this great adventure of manifesting this Crown Jewel of Prabhupada’s ISKCON society.

And the funding, like the rope mother Yashoda used to bind the Lord, always falls short. And we always need to keep asking for more donations and come up with new schemes to inspire devotees to give more. More, more, more, the Lord always wants more service, more anxiety, more love, to increase the ever-expanding ecstasy of reciprocation with his devotees.

Please consider this auspicious time to make a new donation or pledge, or complete your existing pledge to complete the TOVP, now officially scheduled to open on or around the 50th disappearance anniversary of Srila Prabhupada, November 1, 2027 during a three-month-long celebration.

Visit the TOVP Seva Opportunity Page TODAY.

 

 

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Join us in observing the sacred month of Sri Damodar from 8th Oct to 5th Nov 2025 at Sri Sri Radha Giridhari Temple.

All are welcome to offer ghee lamps (deep daan) daily after Shringar Darshan at 7:20 am and Gaura Arati at 7:20pm. *Free diyas will be provided.

Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 21, No. 39

By Krishna Kripa Das

(Week 39: September 24–30, 2025)

Stuyvesant Falls, Chatham, Philadelphia, New York, Schenectady

(Sent from Stuyvesant Falls, New York, on October 4, 2025)

Where I Went and What I Did

The thirty-ninth week of 2025, I lived at Viraha Bhavan, the ashram of Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami in Stuyvesant Falls for three days, Wednesday, Monday and Tuesday. I helped his care takers with different services like cleaning the kitchen, and I did some personal service for him. Wednesday evening I attended a kirtan, lecture, and prasadam program in nearby Chatham.

On Thursday I went to Philadelphia to promote the Ratha-yatra on Saturday by chanting for three hours Thursday and Friday at Rittenhouse Square. Friday evening I attended the Bhakti Garden kirtan program. Saturday I attended the Ratha-yatra, and then I took a mid-afternoon train to New York to catch the last two hours of the Times Square Kirtan Festival by the NYC Harinam party I serve on in the autumn. Sunday I attended the feast program at ISKCON Schenectady, giving the lecture and leading the kirtan for the arati before returning to Stuyvesant Falls in the evening. Tuesday was my birthday, which Baladeva Prabhu, my guru’s principal caretaker, celebrated by making some amazing sweet rice.

I share quotes from Srila Prabhupada’s Krishna: The Supreme Personality of Godhead, and quotes from his letters. I share quotes from a new collection of writings by Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami, called Among Friends, Journal and Poems, volume 1, and I share a poem he wrote for my birthday. I share notes on a class by Kaustubha Prabhu at Philadelphia’s Bhakti Garden. I share a realization by a friend at Philadelphia Ratha-yatra.

Many thanks to Shreyakari Devi Dasi and ISKCON Schenectady for their kind donation. Thanks to the woman in Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia for giving me a donation toward my expenses.

Itinerary

September 12–October ??: serve Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami
October ??–December 31: NYC Harinam

Chanting Hare Krishna in Philadelphia

I chanted Thursday and Friday evening for three hours each day at Rittenhouse Square and told interested people about the Philadelphia Ratha-yatra. Unfortunately none of the 62 people on their harinama WhatsApp group were able to join me. One passerby wanted to take a video of me, so I asked her to take one for me too (https://youtu.be/vFqYd_MHMKw):

At least three people I invited actually came, including this couple, who enjoyed playing shakers with me in the procession (https://youtube.com/shorts/FQHtaWNQGY8):

It was nice to dance for Sri Sri Radha-Saradbihari in the mornings like I did when I lived in the Philly temple forty years ago. In that temple, my guru told me after Srila Prabhupada’s guru puja one day that I should dance more in the kirtan. I try to remember to do that.

Today is is the auspicious disappearance day of three great acharyas in the Gaudiya-Vaishnava sampradaya: Srila Raghunatha dasa Gosvami, Srila Raghunatha Bhatta Gosvami, and Srila Krishnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami. We shall read about Srila Raghunatha Bhatta Gosvami from Srila Krishnadasa Kaviraja’s Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Antya-lila, Chapter Thirteen: “Pastimes with Jagadananda Pandita and Raghunatha Bhatta.”

TEXT 89

etha tapana-misra-putra raghunatha-bhattacarya
prabhure dekhite calila chadi’ sarva karya

TRANSLATION

During this time, Raghunatha Bhattacarya, the son of Tapana Misra, gave up all his duties and left home, intending to meet Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

TEXT 90

kasi haite calila tenho gauda-patha diya
sange sevaka cale tanra jhali vahiya

TRANSLATION

Accompanied by a servant carrying his baggage, Raghunatha Bhatta started from Varanasi and traveled along the path leading through Bengal.

TEXT 91

pathe tare milila visvasa-ramadasa
visvasa-khanara kayastha tenho rajara visvasa

TRANSLATION

In Bengal he met Ramadasa Visvasa, who belonged to the kayastha caste. He was one of the king’s secretaries.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

The words visvasa-khanara kayastha indicate a secretary or clerk belonging to the kayastha caste. Kayasthas were usually secretaries to kings, governors, or other important persons. It is said that anyone working in the government secretariat at this time was a kayastha.

TEXT 92

sarva-sastre pravina, kavya-prakasa-adhyapaka
parama-vaisnava, raghunatha-upasaka

TRANSLATION

Ramadasa Visvasa was very learned in all the revealed scriptures. He was a teacher of the famous book Kavya-prakasa and was known as an advanced devotee and worshiper of Raghunatha [Lord Ramacandra].

PURPORT

Commenting on the word parama-vaisnava, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura says that anyone who desires to merge into the existence of the Lord cannot be a pure Vaisnava, but because Ramadasa Visvasa was a great devotee of Lord Ramacandra, he was almost a Vaisnava. In those days, no one could distinguish between a pure Vaisnava and a pseudo Vaisnava. Therefore Ramadasa Visvasa was known as a Vaisnava because he worshiped Lord Ramacandra.

TEXT 93

asta-prahara rama-namajapena ratri-dine
sarva tyaji’ calila jagannatha-darasane

TRANSLATION

Ramadasa had renounced everything and was going to see Lord Jagannatha. While traveling, he chanted the holy name of Lord Rama twenty-four hours a day.

TEXTS 94–102

When he met Raghunatha Bhatta on the way, he took Raghunatha’s baggage on his head and carried it.

Ramadasa served Raghunatha Bhatta in various ways, even massaging his legs. Raghunatha Bhatta felt some hesitation in accepting all this service.

“You are a respectable gentleman, a learned scholar, and a great devotee,” Raghunatha Bhatta said. “Please do not try to serve me. Just come with me in a happy mood.”

Ramadasa replied, “I am a sudra, a fallen soul. To serve a brahmana is my duty and religious principle.

“Therefore please do not be hesitant. I am your servant, and when I serve you my heart becomes jubilant.”

Thus Ramadasa carried the baggage of Raghunatha Bhatta and served him sincerely. He constantly chanted the holy name of Lord Ramacandra day and night.

Traveling in this way, Raghunatha Bhatta soon arrived at Jagannatha Puri. There he met Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu with great delight and fell at His lotus feet.

Raghunatha Bhatta fell straight as a rod at the lotus feet of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Then the Lord embraced him, knowing well who he was.

Raghunatha offered respectful obeisances to Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu on behalf of Tapana Misra and Candrasekhara, and the Lord also inquired about them.

TEXT 103

“bhala ha-ila aila, dekha ‘kamala-locana’
aji amara etha kariba prasada bhojana”

TRANSLATION

“It is very good that you have come here,” the Lord said. “Now go see the lotus-eyed Lord Jagannatha. Today you will accept prasada here at My place.”

TEXTS 104–111

The Lord asked Govinda to arrange for Raghunatha Bhatta’s accommodations and then introduced him to all the devotees, headed by Svarupa Damodara Gosvami.

Thus Raghunatha Bhatta lived with Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu continuously for eight months, and by the Lord’s mercy he felt increased transcendental happiness every day.

He would periodically cook rice with various vegetables and invite Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu to his home.

Raghunatha Bhatta was an expert cook. Whatever he prepared tasted just like nectar.

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu would accept with great satisfaction all the food he prepared. After the Lord was satisfied, Raghunatha Bhatta would eat His remnants.

When Ramadasa Visvasa met Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, the Lord did not show him any special mercy, although this was their first meeting.

Within his heart, Ramadasa Visvasa was an impersonalist who desired to merge into the existence of the Lord, and he was very proud of his learning. Since Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is the omniscient Supreme Personality of Godhead, He can understand the heart of everyone, and thus He knew all these things.

Ramadasa Visvasa then took up residence in Jagannatha Puri and taught the Kavya-prakasa to the Pattanayaka family [the descendants of Bhavananda Raya].

TEXT 112

asta-masa rahi’ prabhu bhatte vidaya dila
“vivaha na kariha” bali’ nisedha karila

TRANSLATION

After eight months, when Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu bade farewell to Raghunatha Bhatta, the Lord flatly forbade him to marry. “Do not marry,” the Lord said.

PURPORT

Raghunatha Bhattacarya had become a greatly advanced devotee while still unmarried. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu could see this, and therefore He advised him not to begin the process of material sense gratification. Marriage is a concession for people who are unable to control their senses. Raghunatha, however, being an advanced devotee of Krsna, naturally had no desire for sense gratification. Therefore Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu advised him not to enter the bondage of marriage. Generally a person cannot make much advancement in spiritual consciousness if he is married. He becomes attached to his family and is prone to sense gratification. Thus his spiritual advancement is very slow or almost nil.

COMMENT by Giriraj Swami

I once had the good fortune to receive a similar instruction from Srila Prabhupada. We were in Gorakhpur, and Prabhupada had received the latest issue of Back to Godhead, with an article I had written in Boston before I left for India—“The Genuine Spiritual Master.” He was pleased with the article and asked to see me. I was still quite young in Krishna consciousness, and Srila Prabhupada didn’t generally call for me. He said, “I have read your article, and it was very nice. You should write.” And he invited me to travel with him so he could train me how to write. Then he asked, “Do you ever think of getting married?” I said no. “Better to remain brahmachari,” he said, “and after some time I will give you sannyasa.” He said that the demands of the senses are like itches and that if you scratch the itches, the itching will get worse. It is better to tolerate the itches, and if you tolerate, gradually the itching will subside. The demands for eating and sleeping too—all of them—if we indulge them, they become aggravated. But if we tolerate them, they gradually subside.

TEXT 113

“vrddha mata-pitara yai’ karaha sevana
vaisnava-pasa bhagavata kara adhyayana”

TRANSLATION

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu said to Raghunatha Bhatta, “When you return home, serve your aged father and mother, who are devotees, and try to study Srimad-Bhagavatam from a pure Vaisnava who has realized God.”

PURPORT

One should note how Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, advised Raghunatha Bhattacarya to learn Srimad-Bhagavatam. He advised him to understand Srimad-Bhagavatam not from professional men but from a real bhagavata, a devotee. He also advised Raghunatha Bhatta to serve his mother and father because they were both Lord Caitanya’s devotees. Anyone who wishes to advance in Krsna consciousness must try to serve the devotees of Krsna. As Narottama dasa Thakura says, chadiya vaisnava-seva nistara peyeche keba: “Without serving a self-realized Vaisnava, no one has ever been released from the materialistic way of life.” Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu would have never advised Raghunatha Bhatta to serve ordinary parents, but since his parents were Vaisnavas, the Lord advised him to serve them.

One might ask, “Why shouldn’t ordinary parents be served?” As stated in Srimad-Bhagavatam (5.5.18):

gurur na sa syat sva-jano na sa syat
  pita na sa syaj janani na sa syat
daivam na tat syat na patis ca sa syan
  na mocayed yah samupeta-mrtyum

“One who cannot deliver his dependents from the path of birth and death should never become a spiritual master, a relative, a father or mother, or a worshipable demigod, nor should such a person become a husband.” Everyone naturally gets a father and mother at the time of birth, but the real father and mother are those who can release their offspring from the clutches of imminent death. This is possible only for parents advanced in Krsna consciousness. Therefore any parents who cannot enlighten their offspring in Krsna consciousness cannot be accepted as a real father and mother. The following verse from the Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu (1.2.200) confirms the uselessness of serving ordinary parents:

laukiki vaidiki vapi ya kriya kriyate mune
hari-sevanukulaiva sakarya bhaktim icchata

“One should perform only those activities—either worldly or prescribed by Vedic rules and regulations—which are favorable for the cultivation of Krsna consciousness.”

Concerning the study of Srimad-Bhagavatam, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu clearly advises that one avoid hearing from a non-Vaisnava professional reciter. In this connection Sanatana Gosvami quotes a verse from the Padma Purana:

avaisnava-mukhodgirnam
  putam hari-kathamrtam
sravanam naiva kartavyam
  sarpocchistam yatha payah

“No one should hear or take lessons from a person who is not a Vaisnava. Even if he speaks about Krsna, such a lesson should not be accepted, for it is like milk touched by the lips of a serpent.” Nowadays it is fashionable to observe Bhagavata-saptaha and hear Srimad-Bhagavatam from persons who are anything but advanced devotees or self-realized souls. There are even many Mayavadis who read Srimad-Bhagavatam to throngs of people. Many Mayavadis have recently begun reciting Srimad-Bhagavatam in Vrndavana, and because they can present the Bhagavatam with word jugglery, twisting the meaning by grammatical tricks, materialistic persons who go to Vrndavana as a matter of spiritual fashion like to hear them. All this is clearly forbidden by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. We should note carefully that since these Mayavadis cannot personally know the meaning of Srimad-Bhagavatam, they can never deliver others by reciting it. On the other hand, an advanced devotee of the Lord is free from material bondage. He personifies Srimad-Bhagavatam in life and action. Therefore we advise that anyone who wants to learn Srimad-Bhagavatam must approach such a realized soul.

COMMENT

Here Lord Chaitanya gives two instructions to Raghunatha Bhattacarya. First He instructs him to go back and serve his parents, because they were Vaishnavas. Serving Vaishnavas is most important for spiritual advancement. Srila Prabhupada remarks that Lord Chaitanya would have never advised Raghunatha Bhatta to return home to serve ordinary parents, and thus Srila Prabhupada quoted the verse gurur na sa syat sva-jano na sa syat.

In his room in Bombay one time, after having finally acquired Hare Krishna Land in Juhu, Srila Prabhupada quoted the same Bhagavatam verse to Mahamsa Prabhu and me: “No one should become a spiritual master, no one should become a relative, no one should become a father, no one should become a mother, and no one should become a husband unless he can deliver his or her dependents from repeated birth and death.” And he gave some examples. He said that if the father is attacked, the son’s duty is to defend him, but that when Lord Nrsimhadeva attacked Hiranyakasipu, Prahlada made no effort to defend him. Rather, he glorified the attacker. But Prahlada was not at fault, because his father was not a real father—he was not helping him become liberated from the repetition of birth and death.

Similarly, it is the duty of the son to obey the mother, but when Kaikeyi told Bharata to sit on the throne, he disobeyed. And he was not at fault, because Kaikeyi was not a real mother, because she was not helping him to become liberated from birth and death and to engage in devotional service. Similarly, it is the duty of the wife to obey the husband, but when the Vedic brahmans told their wives not to go to Krishna and Balarama in the forest, their wives disobeyed. And they were not at fault, because their husbands were not real husbands, because they were not helping them become Krishna conscious.

And similarly, it is the duty of the disciple to obey the spiritual master, but when Sukracharya ordered Bali Maharaja not to surrender everything to Lord Vishnu and not to keep his promise to Vishnu, Bali Maharaja disobeyed him. And Bali Maharaja was not at fault, because his spiritual master was not a real spiritual master. Then Srila Prabhupada told us, “You have left your mothers and fathers, but they are not real mothers and fathers. So you have done the right thing.”

Still, we offer respect to relatives. And, of course, for the service of guru and Krishna, a devotee may also serve relatives. In any case, the presence of a pure devotee in a family liberates the entire family.

Regarding the second instruction, Lord Chaitanya told Raghunatha Bhatta to hear and learn Srimad-Bhagavatam from a devotee. Svarupa Damodara Gosvami gave a similar instruction, that one should learn the book Bhagavata from the person bhagavata.

In 1970, when the first groups of Western devotees went to India, Srila Prabhupada instructed Gurudas Prabhu to go to Prabhupada’s quarters at Radha-Damodar and go through all his old papers and keep only the ones that were appropriate. The ones that were not appropriate—those that pertained to his householder life—should be destroyed. Gurudas invited me to accompany him, and when we went through Srila Prabhupada’s old papers, we found so many letters that he had written. One was to a man who had organized Bhagavata Week in Bombay and invited Srila Prabhupada to attend. Prabhupada had written back that the Bhagavata should be heard from liberated souls who are free from pretentious religiosity, not from Mayavadis, who have no access to the “great scripture” and who mislead the innocent public. He had informed the organizer, “Therefore I have not only refrained from attending the function myself but have advised many others not to attend as well.” Srila Prabhupada was so bold and forthright and fearless: abhaya.

TEXT 114

“punarapi eka-bara asiha nilacale”
eta bali’ kantha-mala dila tanra gale

TRANSLATION

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu concluded, “Come again to Nilacala [Jagannatha Puri].” After saying this, the Lord put His own neck beads on Raghunatha Bhatta’s neck.

TEXTS 115–119

Then the Lord embraced him and bade him farewell. Overwhelmed with ecstatic love, Raghunatha Bhatta began to cry due to imminent separation from Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

After taking permission from Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and all the devotees, headed by Svarupa Damodara, Raghunatha Bhatta returned to Varanasi.

In accordance with the instructions of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, he continuously rendered service to his mother and father for four years. He also regularly studied Srimad-Bhagavatam from a self-realized Vaisnava.

Then his parents died at Kasi [Varanasi], and he became detached. He therefore returned to Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, giving up all relationships with his home.

As previously, Raghunatha remained continuously with Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu for eight months. Then the Lord gave him the following order.

TEXT 120

“amara ajnaya, raghunatha, yaha vrndavane
tahan yanaraha rupa-sanatana-sthane

TRANSLATION

“My dear Raghunatha, on My order go to Vrndavana and live there under the care of Rupa and Sanatana Gosvamis.

TEXT 121

“bhagavata pada, sada laha krsna-nama
acire karibena krpa krsna bhagavan”

TRANSLATION

“In Vrndavana you should chant the Hare Krsna mantra twenty-four hours a day and read Srimad-Bhagavatam continuously. Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, will very soon bestow His mercy upon you.”

TEXT 122

eta bali’ prabhu tanre alingana kaila
prabhura krpate krsna-preme matta haila

TRANSLATION

After saying this, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu embraced Raghunatha Bhatta, and by the Lord’s mercy Raghunatha was enlivened with ecstatic love for Krsna.

TEXTS 123–125

At a festival Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu had been given some unspiced betel and a garland of tulasi leaves fourteen cubits long. The garland had been worn by Lord Jagannatha.

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu gave the garland and betel to Raghunatha Bhatta, who accepted them as a worshipable Deity and preserved them very carefully.

Taking permission from Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Raghunatha Bhatta then departed for Vrndavana. When he arrived there, he put himself under the care of Rupa and Sanatana Gosvamis.

TEXT 126

rupa-gosanira sabha ya karena bhagavata-pathana
bhagavata padite preme aulaya tanra mana

TRANSLATION

When reciting Srimad-Bhagavatam in the company of Rupa and Sanatana, Raghunatha Bhatta would be overwhelmed with ecstatic love for Krsna.

TEXT 127

asru, kampa, gadgada prabhura krpate
netra kantha rodhe baspa, na pare padite

TRANSLATION

By the mercy of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, he experienced symptoms of ecstatic love—tears, trembling, and faltering of the voice. His eyes filled with tears, his throat became choked, and thus he could not recite Srimad-Bhagavatam.

TEXTS 128–130

His voice was as sweet as a cuckoo’s, and he would recite each verse of Srimad-Bhagavatam in three or four tunes. Thus his recitations were very sweet to hear.

When he recited or heard about the beauty and sweetness of Krsna, he would be overwhelmed with ecstatic love and become oblivious to everything.

Thus Raghunatha Bhatta surrendered fully at the lotus feet of Lord Govinda, and those lotus feet became his life and soul.

COMMENT

Actually, Raghunatha Bhatta Gosvami arranged for the construction of the Radha-Govinda temple in Vrindavan, which was the most beautiful and famous of all the temples in Vrindavan. So he may also give us some mercy to build a temple here.

TEXT 131

nija sisye kahi’ govindera mandira karaila
vamsi, makara kundaladi ‘bhusana’ kari’ dila

TRANSLATION

Subsequently Raghunatha Bhatta ordered his disciples to construct a temple for Govinda. He prepared various ornaments for Govinda, including a flute and shark-shaped earrings.

TEXT 132

gramya-varta na sune, na kahe jihvaya
krsna-katha-pujadite asta-prahara yaya

TRANSLATION

Raghunatha Bhatta would neither hear nor speak about anything of the material world. He would simply discuss Krsna and worship the Lord day and night.

TEXT 133

vaisnavera nindya-karma nahi pade kane
sabe krsna bhajana kare,—ei-matra jane

TRANSLATION

He would not listen to blasphemy of a Vaisnava, nor would he listen to talk of a Vaisnava’s misbehavior. He knew only that everyone was engaged in Krsna’s service; he did not understand anything else.

PURPORT

Raghunatha Bhatta never did anything harmful to a Vaisnava. In other words, he was never inattentive in the service of the Lord, nor did he ever violate the rules and regulations of a pure Vaisnava. It is the duty of a Vaisnava acarya to prevent his disciples and followers from violating the principles of Vaisnava behavior. He should always advise them to strictly follow the regulative principles, which will protect them from falling down. Although a Vaisnava preacher may sometimes criticize others, Raghunatha Bhatta avoided this. Even if another Vaisnava was actually at fault, Raghunatha Bhatta would not criticize him; he saw only that everyone was engaged in Krsna’s service. That is the position of a maha-bhagavata. Actually, even if one is serving maya, in a higher sense he is also a servant of Krsna. Because maya is the servant of Krsna, anyone serving maya serves Krsna indirectly. Therefore it is said:

keha mane, kehana mane, sabatanra dasa
ye na mane, tarahaya sei papenasa

“Some accept Him, whereas others do not, yet everyone is His servant. One who does not accept Him, however, will be ruined by his sinful activities.” (Cc Adi 6.85)

COMMENT

Srila Raghunatha Bhatta Gosvami “would not listen to blasphemy of a Vaishnava, nor would he listen to talk of a Vaishnava’s misbehavior. He knew only that everyone was engaged in Krishna’s service.” Yet in the purport, Srila Prabhupada comments that the Vaishnava acharya has to train his disciples according to the regulative principles and that if he sees that they are violating principles of Vaishnava behavior, he has to correct them. Even if the spiritual master is a maha-bhagavata, when he acts as spiritual master and takes the responsibility to train disciples, he must discriminate between proper and improper behavior. And if the disciples are behaving improperly, he must point out the defects and correct them.

When Srila Prabhupada first met his guru maharaja, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, he thought that Srila Bhaktisiddhanta was simply criticizing—criticizing the fruitive workers, criticizing the mental speculators, criticizing the impersonalists. But Prabhupada remarked that later he realized that what his guru maharaja had been saying was actually correct. Sadhu also means “to cut.” The sadhu must cut people’s false attachments, and therefore he may have to criticize—not out of envy or malice, as we may criticize, but only for the sake of cutting people’s false attachments and bringing them to the proper standards of devotional service.

Once, in Indore, Srila Prabhupada was strongly criticizing some popular religious figures. One of the gentlemen in the room became very upset and said, “You should not criticize. You should see everyone equally, as atma, and not criticize.” Srila Prabhupada replied, “That is a very high stage, sama-darsinah.” A maha-bhagavata doesn’t criticize anyone, because he sees everyone is already serving Krishna. Then Prabhupada discussed the verse (Gita 5.18) panditah sama-darsinah:

vidya-vinaya-sampanne
  brahmane gavi hastini
suni caiva sva-pake ca
  panditah sama-darsinah

“The humble sages, by virtue of true knowledge, see with equal vision a learned and gentle brahmana, a cow, an elephant, a dog, and a dog-eater.”

Prabhupada said that a learned brahman is supposed to be virtuous and that a dog is supposed to be sinful. So, to see a brahman and a dog equally means that one doesn’t distinguish between pious and sinful activities; one sees that everyone is serving Krishna. “But I am not on that stage,” Prabhupada said. “I say that because you don’t surrender to Krishna, you are sinful.”

So, even the uttama Vaishnava, when he preaches, has to act as a madhyama Vaishnava and point out faults and correct them. But if one is not in a position to actually instruct others for their benefit, he should act like Raghunatha Bhatta Gosvami. He should avoid material talks in general and blasphemy of Vaishnavas in particular, and he should remain absorbed in his service to Krishna.

The Bhagavad-gita (17.15) confirms,

anudvega-karam vakyam
  satyam priya-hitam ca yat
svadhyayabhyasanam caiva
  van-mayam tapa ucyate

“Austerity of speech consists in speaking words that are truthful, pleasing, beneficial, and not agitating to others, and also in regularly reciting Vedic literature.”

And Srila Prabhupada explains in the purport, “One should not speak in such a way as to agitate the minds of others. Of course, when a teacher speaks, he can speak the truth for the instruction of his students, but such a teacher should not speak to those who are not his students if he will agitate their minds. This is penance as far as talking is concerned. Besides that, one should not talk nonsense. The process of speaking in spiritual circles is to say something upheld by the scriptures. One should at once quote from scriptural authority to back up what he is saying. At the same time, such talk should be very pleasurable to the ear. By such discussions, one may derive the highest benefit and elevate human society. There is a limitless stock of Vedic literature, and one should study this. This is called penance of speech.”

One of the divine qualities mentioned in the Bhagavad-gita (16.1–3) is apaisunam, “aversion to faultfinding.” There Srila Prabhupada comments, “Apaisunam means that one should not find fault with others or correct them unnecessarily. Of course to call a thief a thief is not faultfinding, but to call an honest person a thief is very much offensive for one who is making advancement in spiritual life.”

TEXT 134

mahaprabhura datta mala mananera kale
prasada-kadara saha bandhi lena gale

TRANSLATION

When Raghunatha Bhatta Gosvami was absorbed in remembrance of Lord Krsna, he would take the tulasi garland and the prasada of Lord Jagannatha given to him by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, bind them together, and wear them on his neck.

TEXT 135

mahaprabhura krpaya krsna-prema anargala
eita’ kahilun tate caitanya-krpa-phala

TRANSLATION

Thus I have described the powerful mercy of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, by which Raghunatha Bhatta Gosvami remained constantly overwhelmed with ecstatic love for Krsna.

TEXTS 136–137

TRANSLATION

In this chapter I have spoken about . . . how Raghunatha Bhatta Gosvami achieved ecstatic love of Krsna by the mercy of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

TEXT 138

ye ei-sakala katha sune sraddha kari’
tanre krsna-prema-dhana dena gaurahari

TRANSLATION

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu [Gaurahari] bestows ecstatic love for Krsna upon anyone who hears these topics with faith and love.

TEXT 139

sri-rupa-raghunatha-pade yara asa
caitanya-caritamrta kahe krsnadasa

TRANSLATION

Praying at the lotus feet of Sri Rupa and Sri Raghunatha, always desiring their mercy, I, Krsnadasa, narrate Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, following in their footsteps.

Thus end the Bhaktivedanta purports to Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Antya-lila, Thirteenth Chapter, describing . . . Raghunatha Bhatta Gosvami’s achieving love of Krsna.

Giriraj Swami: Are there any questions or comments?

Devotee: In this country there are Bhagavata kathas, and sometimes people invite us to do a katha also. Should we accept the invitation to go and chant or speak?

Giriraj Swami: We should be careful, because we are now quite well established in Mauritius. We should rather hold our own programs and invite people to them. When Srila Prabhupada first returned to India, he accepted invitations to the Vedanta Sammelan in Amritsar and the Gita Jayanti Mahotsava in Indore because people did not know us. And by his attending such programs, people came to know us. But as soon as we became established, he stopped accepting such invitations. In fact, when I went to Madras, one man, Mr. Ratnam Iyer, had his own organization, called Astika Samaj, and he offered to take full responsibility to arrange Srila Prabhupada’s program in Madras, but in the end he didn’t really help, because ultimately he was a Mayavadi. He didn’t actually like us. When I informed Srila Prabhupada in a letter, Prabhupada wrote back that it is never good to have to depend on others for our preaching: “I am not surprised that Mr. Ratnam Iyer has decided to cancel the program you were planning. I was not eager to accept his proposal in the beginning, because it has been our experience that it is never good to have to depend upon others for our preaching.” We should make our own arrangements.

People sometimes invite us just to decorate their program, to attract people, and to get our stamp of approval—they try to use us for their own purposes. But we may not actually approve of their program, so we must be careful. Once, Guru Gauranga Prabhu, Srila Prabhupada’s disciple who was based in Switzerland, arranged for His Divine Grace to meet the head of the World Health Organization (W.H.O.) in Geneva. Srila Prabhupada was so intelligent and perceptive that when he agreed to meet the person, he said that no photos should be allowed. And he explained to us that the W.H.O. was trying to introduce birth control in Third World countries and considered India to be difficult because people in India understood contraceptive methods and abortion to be sinful. “So, they will want to take my photo and use it to make propaganda that I approve of the World Health Organization’s program.” And that is actually what happened: at the end of the meeting, they wanted to have their photos taken with Srila Prabhupada. Because we are authorized, people want to use us to gain credibility for their programs. But we may not actually approve of their programs. So we should be careful how we associate with them and how we are perceived to be associated with them.

Krsna-candra dasa: Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu gave different instructions to Raghunatha Bhatta at different times. First He instructed him to serve his devotee parents and to study Srimad-Bhagavatam from a realized devotee, and then He told him to go to Vrindavan and chant Hare Krishna and take shelter of Rupa Gosvami and Sanatana Gosvami. The spiritual master gives instructions to his disciples according to time, place, and circumstances, and so the spiritual master may change his instruction.

Giriraj Swami: Yes, that is true. Once, on a morning walk on Juhu Beach, Srila Prabhupada was discussing surrender, and he was pointing out various defects in supposed surrender. One defect is that the disciple will receive an instruction from the spiritual master, and later, when the spiritual master gives a different instruction, the disciple will object: “But previously you told me such-and-such.” Srila Prabhupada said that surrender means you accept the latest instruction, the immediate instruction. Once, when he gave an instruction to a disciple and then later gave him a different instruction, the disciple said, “Srila Prabhupada, previously you told me that, and now you are telling me this.” And Prabhupada replied, “If you accepted my authority then, why don’t you accept it now?” So, we have to be careful not to pick and choose what instruction we like and what instruction we don’t like.

Mukta-purusa dasa: Lord Chaitanya advised that one hear Srimad-Bhagavatam from a realized soul. But how can ordinary people know who is a realized soul? Sometimes professional reciters speak very ornamentally, and they are attractive to ordinary people.

Giriraj Swami: First we must know the constitutional position of the living entity. Jivera ‘svarupa’ haya—krsnera ‘nitya-dasa’: the living entity’s constitutional position is to be an eternal servant of Krishna. One who is acting as an eternal servant of Krishna—in other words, one who is a devotee—is self-realized. He has realized that he is the eternal servant of Krishna.

How can ordinary people know who is self-realized? They have to be educated. Either in person or from books, they have to hear from devotees to be educated in the science of self-realization. Someone who is choosing where to study, in which university, will make inquiries, and only after careful consideration will he or she decide which university to attend. He or she will inquire: What is the reputation of the school? Who are the professors? What are the results of the graduates? And that’s just for a few years of academic education. So, if we take so much care to decide where to go for a few years of academic education, how much more care we should take to decide where we go for spiritual education, which will guide us in our eternal spiritual life. We have to inquire and learn.

But many people are not actually serious or sincere; they just want to make a show that they are very pious, very religious. And they may want to be entertained. If someone is sincere and serious, he or she will try to understand the science of spiritual life from devotees. And ultimately one will come to the conclusion that one must learn from devotees.

We take knowledge from Krishna and Krishna’s representatives, and because we take knowledge from Krishna, we know that the knowledge is perfect and we don’t need to go to anyone else for knowledge. In one talk, Srila Prabhupada related how his disciple Achyutananda Prabhu had gone to distribute books at the ashram of a well-known Mayavadi sannyasi who gave Bhagavata-saptahas, and when one of the sannyasi’s disciples had canvassed him, “Why don’t you ask some question to Swamiji?” Achyutananda had replied, “I have nothing to question from your Swamiji.” Prabhupada continued, “So, actually bring any so-called yogi, swami, or incarnation, and our student will challenge him: he does not know anything. We have got such a nice book of knowledge, Bhagavad-gita.” Srila Prabhupada was very happy, very proud. Because we are getting knowledge from Krishna and Krishna’s representatives in disciplic succession, we don’t have anything to learn from anyone else.

Devotee: What happens to the relationship between spiritual master and disciple after death?

Giriraj Swami: The relationship between the spiritual master and the disciple is eternal. If the disciple is not completely successful in his or her attempt to go back to Godhead at the end of this life, he or she gets the chance to continue the process of devotional service in the next life and to follow the same instructions that he or she received from the spiritual master in this life. So, service to the spiritual master is eternal. And the spiritual master will arrange to guide the sincere disciple until he or she is completely successful and goes back home, back to Godhead.

Sri Raghunatha dasa Gosvami ki jaya!
Sri Raghunatha Bhatta Gosvami ki jaya!
Sri Krishnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami ki jaya!

[A talk by Giriraj Swami on >Raghunatha Bhatta Gosvami’s disappearance day, October 23, 1996, Hare Krishna Land, Phoenix, Mauritius]

Sri Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami was born in a Nadiya family of physicians at the village of Jhamatpur, within the district of Barddhaman, near Naihati. His father was Sri Bhagiratha, and his mother was Sri Sunanda. He had a younger brother named Syama das.

The deity of Gaura-Nityananda installed by Sri Kaviraja Gosvamis is still being worshiped there. It appears that his family line is no more. More information about the early life of Sri Kaviraja is available in a book called Ananda-ratnavali.

Sri Kaviraja said, “My brother had firm faith in Lord Caitanya but only a dim glimmer of faith in Lord Nityananda. Knowing this, Sri Ramadasa felt unhappy in his mind. I then rebuked my brother.

“These two brothers, I told him, are like one body; They are identical manifestations. If you do not believe in Lord Nityananda, you will fall down. If you have faith in one but disrespect the other, your logic is like the logic of accepting half a hen. It would be better to be an atheist by slighting both brothers than a hypocrite by believing in one and slighting the other.”

That night, because He was pleased with the chastisement that Krsna dasa gave his brother for offending His dear devotee Minaketana Ramadasa, Lord Nityananda appeared in his dreams and declared:

Are are krsnadasa, na karaha bhaya, vrndavana yaha, tanha sarva larya haya

“O my dear Krsnadasa, do not be afraid. Go to Vrndavana, for there you will attain all things.”
[C.C. Adi 5.195]

Thus receiving the mercy of Lord Nityananda in his dream, he started for Vrndavana with a joyful mind. The lotus feet of the spiritual master of Sri Kaviraja are none other than those of Lord Nityananda Himself.

He accepted the Gosvamis Sri Rupa, Sri Sanatana, Sri Jiva, Sri Raghunatha, Sri Raghunatha Bhatta and Sri Gopala Bhatta as his instructing spiritual masters. From Sri Lokanatha Gosvami and Sri Raghunatha Bhatta Gosvami he begged permission to write Sri Caitanya-caritamrta.

Lokanatha directed Sri Kaviraja that he desired to be unmentioned in his book; that is why, in Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, hardly a reference about Lokanatha Gosvami is to be found.

Sri Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami compiled the following books still extant: Sri Govinda-lilamrta, Krsna-karnamrta commentary (Saranga-rangada kangada tika) and of course, Sri Caitanya-caritamrta.

We read from Srimad-Bhagavatam, Canto Nine, Chapter Ten: “The Pastimes of the Supreme Lord, Ramacandra.”

TEXT 20

te ’nikapa raghupater abhipatya sarve
  dvandvam varutham ibha-patti-rathasva-yodhaih
jaghnur drumair giri-gadesubhir angadadyah
  sitabhimarsa-hata-mangala-ravanesan

TRANSLATION

Angada and the other commanders of the soldiers of Ramacandra faced the elephants, infantry, horses, and chariots of the enemy and hurled against them big trees, mountain peaks, clubs, and arrows. Thus the soldiers of Lord Ramacandra killed Ravana’s soldiers, who had lost all good fortune because Ravana had been condemned by the anger of Mother Sita.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

The soldiers Lord Ramacandra recruited in the jungle were all monkeys and did not have proper equipment with which to fight the soldiers of Ravana, for Ravana’s soldiers were equipped with weapons of modern warfare whereas the monkeys could only throw stones, mountain peaks, and trees. It was only Lord Ramacandra and Laksmana who shot some arrows. But because the soldiers of Ravana were condemned by the curse of Mother Sita, the monkeys were able to kill them simply by throwing stones and trees. There are two kinds of strength—daiva and purusakara. Daiva refers to the strength achieved from the Transcendence, and purusakara refers to the strength organized by one’s own intelligence and power. Transcendental power is always superior to the power of the materialist. Depending on the mercy of the Supreme Lord, one must fight one’s enemies even though one may not be equipped with modern weapons. Therefore Krsna instructed Arjuna, mam anusmara yudhya ca: “Think of Me and fight.” We should fight our enemy to the best of our ability, but for victory we must depend on the mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

COMMENT by Giriraj Swami

Coming to Bhaktivedanta Manor, I was reminded of the struggle we faced here to keep the temple open to the public and to preach Krishna consciousness. Although in such battles the enemies sometimes appear to have the upper hand, in the end, as long as we remain faithful to and dependent on the Lord and at the same time make our best effort with all sincerity and intelligence, we will be successful, according to His will.

We had a similar struggle in Juhu, Bombay. In fact, in Juhu we were even less equipped than were the devotees here, who had already established the mission quite solidly and had many friends—a large congregation and friends in influential positions. Still, it was a great struggle here.

In Juhu we were comparable to the band of monkeys that joined Lord Ramachandra. Srila Prabhupada himself drew parallels between himself and Lord Ramachandra, and between us and the monkeys. He compared the Western countries to Ravana because they had so much wealth, just like Ravana in his opulent kingdom of Lanka. And wealth is Lakshmi—a manifestation of Lakshmi, or Sita. So, Srila Prabhupada said that just as Ravana had kidnapped Sita, the Western countries had kidnapped, or taken possession of, so much wealth. And just as Lord Ramachandra had crossed the ocean to redeem Sita, so Srila Prabhupada had also crossed the ocean. And just as Lord Ramachandra was assisted by so many monkeys, Srila Prabhupada was assisted by us.

The Juhu struggle is a great story, which has been told in Srila Prabhupada-lilamrta. One incident took place after we had been successful in getting the land from the previous owner, Mr. Nair. Srila Prabhupada used to refer to him as “the demon Nair.” When we first got possession of the land, the front of the property was vacant and in the back were some old tenement buildings. So, we built a temporary temple in the front for the Deities, Sri Sri Radha-Rasabihari. At first, we were living on the roofs on the terraces of the buildings, but eventually we were able to get one of the apartments for Srila Prabhupada from a tenant.

So, Srila Prabhupada was living there, and in the late afternoons he would go up to the roof and meet people. One evening he was sitting on the terrace and his disciple Haridas was fanning him. “Do you hear that?” Prabhupada asked. “Hear what?” Haridas replied. “Do you hear the sound of the kirtan in the temple?” “No, Srila Prabhupada.” “That’s the point!” Prabhupada said. “There’s no kirtan going on in the temple!” Then he asked, “Where are all the devotees? They should be in the temple doing kirtan; it’s the time of arati.” Haridas speculated and said, “They are probably out collecting. They haven’t gotten back from the city yet.” And Prabhupada replied, “That was not my idea that devotees should go out all day and collect and neglect the temple programs.”

“Why do you think we were successful here?” Prabhupada asked. “Mr. Nair was so much more powerful than we were. He was a wealthy man; we had very little money. He had been the sheriff of Bombay and knew so many influential people; we hardly knew anyone. And he owned one of the three English daily newspapers in Bombay. So, he was very powerful. And we had very little money or influence, yet we were successful. Why? Because we were working for Krishna, for the pleasure of Krishna, we were successful.” Regarding the temple program, he said, “We will be successful not because we go out all day to collect money and then come back late—we’ll be successful if Krishna is pleased. So, we should go out, but we should come back in time. The devotees should leave the city by five o’clock and come back, otherwise they will become like karmis. They should come and chant in front of the Deities and please the Deities, and when the Deities are pleased, we will be successful by Their mercy.”

This is always our position, that we make our best effort but depend on the mercy of the Lord. And making our best effort means according to the desire of the Lord—in our case, according to the order of the spiritual master. In the case of the monkeys of Lord Rama, they were directly under the Lord. Arjuna was directly under the Lord. We are also under the Lord, but under sadhu, shastra, and guru. They tell us what will please the Lord, and if we act to please the Lord, if the Lord is pleased, we will be successful.

Although the monkeys were successful in killing the army of Ravana, ultimately it was Lord Ramachandra who killed the great demon, and Rama-vijaya-dasami celebrates the victory of Ramachandra and specifically His killing of Ravana.

Now, in one sense this was an easier battle, because it is easier to battle forces that are outside of one’s self. But there are also enemies inside us with which we have to contend, and that struggle can be more difficult and more painful than the battle against enemies outside. Prahlada Maharaja survived so many attacks on his life organized by his father, Hiranyakasipu, but in his prayers to Lord Nrsimhadeva, he said that his biggest enemies were his own mind and senses.

The Bhagavad-gita says that the mind can be one’s best friend or one’s worst enemy. So, that’s a constant battle we all face—how to keep the mind focused on Krishna, especially when we gather together to hear and chant the holy name, to hear and chant about transcendental topics. We should fix the mind on Krishna. Mayy asakta-manah partha. In the seventh chapter of the Bhagavad-gita, Krishna says that the mind should be attached to Him. For us, aspiring devotees or practicing devotees, the best way to fix our mind on Krishna is to hear the holy names of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra—Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare / Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare—and to hear, to actually hear, each word, each syllable. But it is difficult, because the mind is flickering and unsteady (cancalam hi manah krsna). Arjuna tells Krishna that it seems more difficult to control the mind than to control the wind. And who can control the wind? Nobody. That means it is practically impossible to control the mind. But Krishna says that it is possible by suitable practice and detachment. Abhyasa is the word for “practice.” We have to practice chanting and hearing. It’s a struggle—it’s an effort—but we have to practice. As Srila Prabhupada said, “Practice makes perfect, even in spiritual life.”

Still, we will not be successful by our own efforts alone. I think we all have that experience—it applies not only to chanting japa, but to any of our activities. It applies to book distribution: Sometimes devotees go out thinking, “Oh, I am really fit today. I am going to have a great day.” And then they hardly have any results. And at other times they go out feeling miserable—they don’t even know how they are going to get through the day—and they are very successful. They experience the lesson that they are not the doers, not the controllers. Whatever they do is by the mercy of the Lord, the mercy of the spiritual master, the mercy of the disciplic succession.

So, we make our effort, but ultimately we have to depend on the mercy of the Lord. Srila Prabhupada showed this all the time. After the success of the first Bombay pandal, he sent Tamal Krishna Goswami and me to Calcutta to organize a pandal program there. There were many Naxalites—communist youth—there at the time. They used to kidnap people from rich families, and they would kill for their cause. When Srila Prabhupada first came to Calcutta, the Naxalites shot a wealthy person dead right on the street, just a few blocks from where Prabhupada was staying. They were envious. They may have had their reasons, but still, they were envious.

When Prabhupada came for the pandal program, the Naxalites were very disturbed and even sent Prabhupada a note: “Fly or die,” composed of letters cut out of a newspaper so that no one could trace the typewriter. The mood in the city was very tense.

Before the pandal program began, we had a small press conference with Srila Prabhupada behind the tent, and one of the reporters challenged, “What is the use of spending all this money on this pandal? You could use the money to help poor people.” And Prabhupada said, “What is the use? The use is to give people a chance to hear. Actually, the whole pandal has come from hearing. I went to America and spoke, and some young people heard me, and because they heard me, now they have made all the effort to organize the program. So, the use is to give people a chance to hear, and everything comes from that.”

In the Bhagavad-gita Krishna tells Arjuna, tac chrnu: “Just hear from Me.” So, first comes hearing (sravanam), and then kirtanam and the other items of devotional service. Srila Prabhupada said, “They heard from me, and now they are repeating what they heard.”

Thousands of people attended the first night of the pandal program; they were just streaming in. We had dhurries, simple Indian carpets, on the ground, and most people sat on them, cross-legged. To the side, we had folding chairs, and we charged one rupee for a seat. So, a group of Naxalites came, and they were agitated that some people got to sit on the seats while other people had to sit on the ground. They made a huge disturbance. Srila Prabhupada was trying to speak, and they were banging chairs together to make noise so that Prabhupada couldn’t be heard. It was really tense. We didn’t know what was going to happen.

Suddenly Prabhupada leaned forward toward the microphone, and his voice boomed through the speaker system: “govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami . . .” He was singing the Govindam prayers. Immediately the commotion stopped, and the Naxalites just walked away. I thought, “He has so much of faith in Krishna. He completely depends on Krishna.” (Years later, I read Gurudas Prabhu’s account of that incident, and it seems that along with singing the Govindam prayers, Prabhupada was sending notes to Gurudas telling him what to do with the Naxalites. And that’s good, too. We make our best effort and depend on Krishna. That is our process.)

We are about to begin the special month of Damodara, Kartik, and during this month we celebrate the binding of Krishna with ropes. Dama means “ropes,” and udara means “belly.” Many of you know the story: Mother Yasoda was breastfeeding baby Krishna, and while doing so she realized that some milk that was on the fire was boiling over. So she set baby Krishna aside before He was satisfied, in order to tend to the milk on the fire. Baby Krishna became angry, and eventually He broke a pot of makhana (freshly churned butter) and began to eat it and share it with His friends.

When Mother Yasoda returned to where she had left Krishna, He wasn’t there. She saw His little footprints—His feet had been smeared with butter—and saw the broken pot. She was concerned and considered that she would have to discipline Krishna so that He would grow up properly. All responsible parents are concerned that they have to raise their children properly—that if they don’t discipline them, the children will not learn how to behave. As it was, Krishna was going to the neighbors’ homes and doing mischief, and they were complaining to Yasoda, “You better take care of your son. He is not behaving properly.”

Ultimately Mother Yasoda found Krishna, and when He saw her approaching—He was sitting, eating the makhana—He immediately got up and began to flee. She pursued Him, but because He was smaller and more agile, He was able to get away. Eventually He allowed her to catch Him, and once she did, she wanted to bind Him with ropes. Every morning she would tie His belt before He went to the pasturing grounds, so she didn’t think it would be difficult. But when she attempted to tie the rope, it was two inches, or the width of two fingers, too short. So she added some more rope, but it was still two fingers too short. She added more. It was still two fingers too short. She gathered all the ropes in the household—being in a cowherd community, they had a lot of ropes for tying the cows and calves. And the neighbors were bringing their ropes. It was miles and miles of ropes, yet she still couldn’t bind Krishna. But she didn’t give up. Her friends were telling her, “You are not going to be able to do it. This is not working. Just give up.” But she was so sincere, feeling that, as Krishna’s mother, she had a duty, that she endeavored to tie Him up so that He wouldn’t create further mischief—and to teach Him a lesson. She didn’t give up. And when Krishna saw her sincere effort, His heart melted and He allowed her to bind Him.

Our acharyas have commented on the significance of the two fingers by which the rope was too short. Srila Visvanatha Chakravarti Thakura explains that there was a competition between Krishna’s desire and Yasoda’s desire. Krishna’s desire was to be free and play with His friends, and Yasoda’s desire was to bind Krishna, so their desires were opposed to each other. Krishna has two shaktis. One potency is called satya-sankalpa-sakti, which means that whatever He desires is fulfilled. So, that came into play. Another potency is called vibhuti-sakti, which allows Him to manifest His opulences, although He usually doesn’t—only when necessary. Say there is a forest fire. He can be defeated by His friends in their sports, but when there is a forest fire or some other threat to the residents of Vrindavan, the vibhuti-sakti comes into play and allows Him to manifest His opulences and swallow the forest fire.

In this case, the two shaktis—satya-sankalpa and vibhuti—joined together to fulfill Krishna’s desire to play, and Mother Yasoda couldn’t bind Him. But when He saw her tireless efforts, He felt compassionate toward her and allowed her to bind Him. The acharyas say that one finger represents parisrama, personal endeavor, and that the other represents krsna-krpa, Krishna’s mercy. When these two combine, Krishna agrees to be bound.

So, we make our effort. We never give up, no matter what. We make our effort, and when Krishna sees that we are sincere in our effort to serve Him and please Him, His heart melts and He allows Himself to be bound. In any effort it is the same combination: our hard labor (parisrama) and Krishna’s mercy (krsna-krpa). It applies to our efforts to preach and to distribute books. It applies to our efforts to hear and to chant, to chant japa. We make our effort, and at the same time we pray for Krishna’s mercy. We depend on Krishna and pray for His mercy.

Here the mood of humility is essential. As long as we think we can do it on our own, we won’t get Krishna’s mercy, at least not to the same extent. That was Ravana’s mentality. He thought he didn’t need anyone. He thought he could do everything by his own strength and powers. So, we all have that little Ravana tendency. You may not, but I do. So, we have to be conscious of that tendency and pray to Lord Rama to subdue that Ravana-like tendency within us.

There’s a beautiful prayer by Prahlada Maharaja in the Fifth Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam, in which he prays to Lord Nrsimhadeva, “Please vanquish the demonlike desires in my heart, just like You vanquished the demon Hiranyakasipu.” Hiranya means “gold,” and kasipu means “soft bedding.” Those are the main interests of materialistic people—money and sense indulgence. So, “Just as You killed the great demon Hiranyakasipu, please vanquish the demonlike desires within my heart.” After Nrsimhadeva subdued Hiranyakasipu, He sat on Hiranyakasipu’s throne, lifted the demon onto His lap, and tore his heart out. So, we want Lord Nrsimhadeva to sit on the throne of our hearts and kill these demonlike desires for gold and sense gratification, to tear them out.

Srila Prabhupada has given us everything. I am sure people have said it before, but he really has. He has given us the knowledge, he has given us the process, and he has given us the way to invoke Krishna’s mercy. The best way to invoke Krishna’s mercy is to practice and preach. That combination will invoke Krishna’s mercy and make us successful.

In previous ages, the Lord would kill the demons—Nrsimhadeva killed Hiranyakasipu, Ramachandra killed Ravana, and Krishna killed so many demons—but in Kali-yuga, because we all have demonic tendencies within us and pretty much everyone has bad habits, the Lord doesn’t physically kill the person; He kills their demonic mentalities by His mercy, by giving them the holy name. We find that exemplified in the story of Jagai and Madhai. They were violent toward Lord Nityananda, and when Lord Chaitanya heard, He came rushing to the spot, ready to kill them with His Sudarshan chakra. But Nityananda Prabhu appealed to the Lord, “This is Kali-yuga, My Lord. In Kali-yuga You can’t just kill the people like that. In Kali-yuga everyone will be like Jagai and Madhai, so are You going to kill everyone? In Kali-yuga Your mission is to deliver them by Your mercy.” When Lord Nityananda intervened on behalf of the two sinful brothers, Lord Chaitanya hesitated, and the two surrendered to Lord Chaitanya, and He forgave them for their sins, with the condition that they would not commit sins again. They took up the chanting of the holy name. That means they developed faith in Nityananda Prabhu and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and because they developed faith, they took up the chanting and were eligible to receive the Lord’s mercy, and they were forgiven.

That’s our position in Kali-yuga. We need the mercy of Lord Nityananda and through Him the mercy of Lord Chaitanya. Srila Prabhupada said in LA, “To approach Radha and Krishna, we need the mercy of Lord Chaitanya. And to get the mercy of Lord Chaitanya, we need the mercy of Lord Nityananda. And to get the mercy of Lord Nityananda, we have to approach people like Jagai and Madhai”—in other words, the people on the street, the people in the subways, the people at the airport, the people in the offices, the people in the neighborhood, and sometimes even closer.

That is Srila Prabhupada’s special mood, coming from the Pancha-tattva. It is his special mood to get the Lord’s mercy by preaching, by approaching anyone and everyone to give them Krishna consciousness, give them the holy name of Krishna. So, our effort (parisrama) has two sides: one is our own practices—hearing and chanting attentively and following the whole system that Prabhupada gave us (sadhana-bhakti)—and the other is at the same time making the effort to give Krishna consciousness to others, to induce others to accept the great gift of the holy name.

Hare Krishna.

[A talk by Giriraj Swami in Rama-vijaya-dasami, October 19, 2007, Bhaktivedanta Manor, Near London, England]
 

 

Shri Madhvacharya appeared in 1238 A.D. near Udupi, Karnataka in South India. He was considered an incarnation of Vayu (wind god). He had an unusually strong physique and extraordinary intellectual power.

Once a fierce Bengali tiger attacked Madhvacharya’s sannyasa disciple, Satya Tirtha. Madhvacharya wrestled the tiger and sent him away with his tail between his legs. Madhvacharya took diksha at age five, sannyasa at twelve and left home.

He appeared with a mission to fight and defeat Sankara’s Mayavada (impersonal) philosophy. By giving a pure interpretation of Vedanta-sutra he promoted pure theism. He named his innovative shastric explanation dvaita-dvaita-vada (pure dualism).

With a hope of meeting Shrila Vyasadeva himself Madhvacharya walked up the Himalayas. Vyasadeva gave him a Shalagrama sila called Ashtamurti, approved his Bhagavad-gita commentary, and blessed Madhvacharya with deeper realizations of the sastras. 

In Udupi, Madhvacharya installed a beautiful Deity of Gopala standing alone holding a cowherding stick. This Deity manifested from within a chunk of gopi-candana (sacred clay). He established eight mathas (Temples) to lovingly serve “Udupi Krishna.”

The sannyasi leaders of each matha worship the Krishna Deity with a rigorous regimen of ceremonial ritual, punctuality, and impeccable personal conduct. Every Ekadashi they observe nirjala (total fast all food and water).

Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and His followers thoroughly studied Madhva’s works before compiling their philosophy. For the Sat Sandarbhas Shri Jiva Goswami drew heavily from Madhva’s writings. Jiva Goswami found the Gaudiya philosophy of acintya-bheda-abheda tattva in Madhva’s Bhagavat-parya. Shri Chaitanya Himself visited Udupi, the seat of Madhva’s sect. The Lord introduced Hari Nama sankirtana into their sect. 

By Gopaswami Das ACBSP A historic turn of events took place in France the day before Radhastami. For the first time since Srila Prabhupada inaugurated this beautiful community and installed his beloved Sri Sri Krishna-Balarama, both the ambassador of India at UNESCO and the town’s mayor glorified Srila Prabhupada, New Mayapura community, and Iskcon with
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Also known as Dussehra, Vijaya Dashami is the celebration of Rama’s victory over the demon Ravana. The story of Rama’s killing of Ravana is found in the Ramayana. Vijaya means victory and dashami means tenth and so Vijaya Dashami is the victory on the 10th lunar day.

If the Nava Ratris are a time of purification and the attainment of spiritual powers and wisdom, the Vijaya Dashami celebration, which follows the day after the last Nava Ratri in the fall is the culmination of that time of purification with the final conquering of evil symbolized by Rama’s killing of Ravana.

Commonly an effigy of Ravana is burnt when a flaming arrow is shot into Ravana’s heart by a devotee dressed up like Rama.

By Krishna Kripa Das

(Week 38: September 17–23, 2025)

Stuyvesant Falls and East Chatham

(Sent from Philadelphia on September 27, 2025)

Where I Went and What I Did

The thirty-eighth week of 2025, I lived at Viraha Bhavan, the ashram of Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami in Stuyvesant Falls. 

I did the deity worship until his pujari, Krsna Dasi returned. I also helped his care takers with different services like cleaning the kitchen, and I did some personal service for him. On Saturday evening I attended a kirtan program at Raghunath Prabhu’s Supersoul Farm.

I share quotes from Srila Prabhupada’s The Nectar of Devotion and a quote from one of his letters. I share quotes from a new collection of writings by Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami, called Among Friends, Journal and Poems, volume 1. I share comments by Sthita-dhi Muni and Krsna-bhajana Prabhus on a presentation I did on chapter 7 of Sadaputa Prabhu’s Maya: The World as Virtual Reality.

Many, many thanks to Nitai Prabhu for his very generous donation.

Itinerary

September 12–October ??: serve Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami 
– September 27: Philadelphia Ratha-yatra and Times Square Kirtan Festival 
– September 28: ISKCON Schenectady Sunday Feast
October ??–December 31: NYC Harinam

Chanting Hare Krishna in Upstate New York

On Janmastami Prabhu’s last day here at Viraha Bhavan, we had four devotees chanting Hare Krishna in the evening kirtan (https://youtu.be/bCfLWd6gW7c):

I knew Janmastami Prabhu from doing harinama in several European cities, most recently Brussels (https://youtu.be/uk4t7P6GYi0?si=K3Ws9T-ch2PSN4HE):

He is replaced by Ojasvini Radha Devi Dasi, who did harinama with me in Berlin 6 years ago. She is wearing a pink top and distributing books in this video (https://youtu.be/O9mVezSUITA):

Nitai Prabhu, who prints many of Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami’s books in India, visited for a few days. He made a podcast-style interview with Maharaja about Vandanam, one of his books on prayers (https://youtu.be/8HRODfNFbBA):

Raghunath Prabhu, who is famous for his band, Shelter, and his podcast, Wisdom of the Sages, with Kaustubha Prabhu, has a property in East Chatham in Columbia County, New York, called Supersoul Farm. Often on Saturdays he does kirtan programs for the local community. He also hosts retreats on many weekends there.

We thought the kirtan was at 7 p.m., but it was at 7:30 p.m. Thus although thinking we were late, we were actually exactly on time. Almost everyone else was late, so I took advantage of the situation and grabbed the harmonium and chanted the evening tune of Hare Krishna for ten minutes until Raghunath Prabhu and the others came.

Here Bhaktivinoda Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at Supersoul Farm in East Chatham (https://youtu.be/QMNuF1SjW-g):

Keli Lalita Devi Dasi chants “Govinda Jaya Jaya” there too (https://youtu.be/sV7YivkIJw0):

Keli Lalita ended her kirtan with a Hare Krishna tune (https://youtu.be/S6TZMjpz7nQ):

Photos

The day before Krsna Dasi returned I dressed Radha Govinda for the last time.

I also decorated the altar with flowers, including the many roses which bloomed that day.

Ojasvini Radha Devi Dasi, who is a real pujari, made the turban. Guru Maharaja said it was better than mine but not as good as Krsna Dasi’s.

Krishnendu Prabhu impressed me by making five preps for our Ekadasi lunch. The desserts made the biggest impression on my mind.

There was buckwheat cake with a peanut butter / honey topping.

There were puffed lotus buds with coconut sugar and a sweet spice.

Ever wonder what the GPT means in ChatGPT?I decided to ask it:

Insights

Srila Prabhupada:

From The Nectar of Devotion, Chapter 13:

“Rupa Gosvami has stated that five kinds of devotional activities – namely, residing in Mathura, worshiping the Deity of the Lord, reciting Srimad-Bhagavatam, serving a devotee and chanting the Hare Krishna mantra – are so potent that a small attachment to any one of these five items can arouse devotional ecstasy even in a neophyte.”

From The Nectar of Devotion, Chapter 20:

“The particular loving mood or attitude relished in the exchange of love with the Supreme Personality of Godhead is called rasa, or mellow. The different types of rasa, when combined together, help one to taste the mellow of devotional service in the highest degree of transcendental ecstasy. Such a position, although entirely transcendental to our experience, will be explained in this section as far as possible, following in the footsteps of Srila Rupa Gosvami.

“Without relishing some sort of mellow, or loving mood, in one’s activities, no one can continue to perform such activities. Similarly, in the transcendental life of Krishna consciousness and devotional service there must be some mellow, or specific taste, from the service. Generally this mellow is experienced by chanting, hearing, worshiping in the temple and being engaged in the service of the Lord. So when a person feels transcendental bliss, that is called ‘relishing the mellow.’ To be more clear, we may understand that the various feelings of happiness derived from discharging devotional service may be termed the ‘mellows’ of devotional service.

“This relishing of transcendental mellow in discharging devotional service cannot be experienced by all classes of men because this sweet loving mood is developed only from one’s previous life’s activities or by the association of unalloyed devotees. As explained above, association with pure devotees is the beginning of faith in devotional service. Only by developing such faith in the association of a pure devotee, or by having in one’s previous life executed devotional activities, can one actually relish the mellow of devotional service. In other words, this transcendental bliss is not to be enjoyed by any common man unless he is so extraordinarily fortunate as to be in association with devotees or to be continuing his previous birth’s devotional activities.

“The gradual process of development to the stage of devotional service is explained in Srimad-Bhagavatam, First Canto: ‘The beginning is to hear about Lord Krishna in the association of devotees who have themselves cleansed their hearts by association. Hearing about the transcendental activities of the Lord will result in one’s feeling transcendental bliss always.’ It is also explained in Bhagavad-gita that for one who has actually come to the spiritual platform, the first symptom visible will be that he is always joyful. This joyous life is attained by one’s reaction to reading Bhagavad-gita or Srimad-Bhagavatam, or else from associating with persons who are very interested in the spiritual life of Krishna consciousness – specifically those who have made the determination to achieve the favor of Govinda by being engaged in transcendental loving service at His lotus feet. Being encouraged by such a feeling, one who is constantly engaged in discharging the regulative principles of devotional service in such a way as to please the Supreme Personality of Godhead develops two principles of compelling force, which come under the heading of vibhava. Thus one enjoys transcendental bliss.”

From a letter on September 13, 1970:

“In India our preaching work is going on. Practically everyday we have got an outside nice meeting. There is regular newspaper coverage, but the difficulty is that the whole country is now communist infected. People are in very much perturbed condition. All of them are expecting me to do something for ameliorating the situation, but I am simply advising them to chant Hare Krsna because this transcendental sound is the only panacea for all material diseases.”

Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami:

From Among Friends, Journal and Poems, Volume 1:

“After all, the best devotees

beyond Sukadeva and Narada,

are the simple girls of Vrndavana.

Of the gopis Prabhupada said,

‘They never asked anything of Krishna!’

But they were not ordinary women.

May we all become

followers of those cowherd girls

who saved their love

for Radha and Krishna.”

“Chanting Hare Krishna mantra together

in the dim room while bright light

emanates from the forms of the Deities—

is the best place in the universe.”

“We can’t prevent our minds and eyes

from flitting and drooping,

but we thank You

for allowing us to bow down

and to taste Your caranamrta [water from bathing the Deities].”

[Comment by gurukula student] “There is even a hell for those who don’t believe in hell!”

“But will I be reborn and have to become a boy again with teachers always telling me what to do and constant duties? Could I become a dog again, with gurukula boys shouting and hitting me with rocks? Why don’t I make more effort in my last decades in this body to get out once and for all, instead of gliding nonchalantly toward respectable old age?”

“Please make me ready to do what I need for further surrender. If I can’t surrender all at once, as I should, please give me the next installments of surrender. Please hear my prayer that I want to be able to say, ‘Yes!’ to You. I want to receive you in my heart, Lord Krishna and Srila Prabhupada. I want to give up my own plans and pride. Please make me intelligent and strong enough to defeat the doubts. Lord, give me courage.”

“I am not able to fully surrender; I admit it. I’m too afraid and too attached for that. And so I should not be harsh (and hypocritical) in my judgment of others who also don’t seem to fully surrender to Krishna. Don’t make fun of people’s funny human habits; you have some habits yourself, and you wish to be accepted without scorn. So be kind, smile; we’re only human. But we are following Prabhupada’s order, going with his protection, all the way.”

“Evening Prayer

“Please help us Lord, to have faith,

to be sincere devotees,

to help each other,

and to fulfill the mission of Prabhupada.

I’m writing this down to be with You.

Although I seem to talk to myself,

I know that You are here.

I want to live with You as my best friend.

Please make me a servant

of the servant of the servant of the Lord.”

“To bow to Krishna and His devotee in Vrindavan is as common as stopping for a red light in California.”

“Early this morning I took a glass of orange juice and immediately got indigestion which stayed with me all day. India is so strict. Ever since arriving here you have so little energy. And yet in Vrindavan I seem to have better spiritual intelligence. There is less danger of being ‘active foolish.’”

“But we are all among the blessed, rare

followers of Prabhupada, Rupa, and Sanatana,

the philosopher-lovers of Radha-Krishna.

I pray to overlook the faults,

appreciate the deep,

sweet drinking water which is

the accessible well of ISKCON.”

(Vrndavana Karttika 1989)

“Being quiet and thinking of Krishna is a positive social act.”

“Walking for japa 6:00 A.M. by Ramana-reti. A mangy dog approached me with gruff barking. I thought, ‘If you come any closer, you’ll get the end of this danda,’ and he went away. Madhu and I then circumambulated the Krishna-Balarama Tree. At the same spot there were two old Indian matajis bowing down in the sand. They smiled slightly at us. Then the same aggressive dog went up to the old lady. She was small and with no stick. To my surprise, she began speaking softly to the dog in low tones. He sat down before her, making gruff sounds. She then disentangled her hand from her bead bag, reached into another bag, pulled out a piece of food and threw it on the ground for the dog. By now we had passed her, and I saw this by looking back. Once again I saw that I had misunderstood the meaning of Vrindavan.”

“While walking through soft sands of Ramana-reti chanting japa, a ‘voice’ within says, ‘Your chanting is nothing at all.’ I ask, ‘Who is saying that?’ I decide it’s the mind and that the mind has been ruining my japa for many years, undermining my confidence.”

“The skeptical mind says, ‘You feel nothing when you chant. Just see. Twenty years of it and nothing.’

“I reply, ‘Bug off monkey, out of my way! It may be twenty lifetimes, but I’m clinging to the hari-nama boat and not letting go. It’s my shelter in the worldly ocean. If you, dear mind, would cooperate, the chanting would be much better. But even if you do your worst, I won’t give up.’”

“For improving japa I know what I have to do; it’s no mystery. I have to quiet my mind of its many passing concerns and simply hear the names Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare / Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.”

“Why do they play

pop bhajana tunes

blaring from a loudspeaker?

Why do some of them

cast hostile looks and jibbing words?

I don’t know. I only know

it’s like a covering of mud-scum

while the Yamuna flows on.”

“Thank you, Prabhupada, for letting me

praise you daily in the classroom.

Today we discussed

how almost everything we do

bears your impression.

Like one of those sheep in Ireland

with the splash of red dye,

I’m marked as one of your flock.

I pray for a place

in your eternal retinue.”

“I know nothing,

possess nothing

and I am nothing

except a servant of my master

who kindly accepts me,

but who wants me to do more.”

“You can’t expect to always have

Krishna as Yours only

in a quiet place.”

“Thanks for the troubles ahead by which I will be driven within to seek shelter of my Lord who promises Vaikuntha to His devotee.”

“It’s Prabhupada’s mercy

that I can take gems from his books

and place them in a mosaic

of bhakti-yoga.”

“As one monk wrote: The simple, narrow life helps to protect the depths of the inner life.”

“On the pack of ‘Priyanka Incense,’ made in Bangalore, the manufacturers have printed, ‘Excellent for the worship of God.’ Where else but India could they say it that way? Puja is a matter of fact. Little do they know, though, what they’re actually saying, or who is Bhagavan, and what constitutes His worship. Little do I know, as I light the incense and perform arati to Prabhupada. But I want to do it.”

“O sentimental person,

you don’t deserve to think of Him,

but He has appeared in your mind

with mild playful smile;

His fingers extend as He plays the flute.”

“The Lord who revealed the Vedas

who stands in the midst of the gopis,

resides in Gita-nagari.

He’s worshiped day and night

by followers of Prabhupada.

Go serve Him there.”

“Reading is one of those basics of devotional service which will never leave us. When I think back as little as five years ago, much of what I was doing is now gone with the wind. The large zone I commanded, the car I drove in, the regional secretary who carried out my plans, the army of painting sellers and book distributors—the whole infrastructure has in many ways vanished. But the basics remain. Back then there was chanting and hearing, and there is still chanting and hearing. It is best to put energy into that which will never fail—and that which Srila Prabhupada has emphasized as most important. Every day I want a strong foundation of the basics (sravanam, kirtanam, vishnu-smaranam) and then I can carry out my intrepid plans, which may or may not be lasting.”

Sthita-dhi Muni Prabhu:

Comments on my Zoom talk on Chapter 7 of Sadaputa Prabhu’s Maya: The World as Virtual Reality:

One important question is: “Do hallucinatory drugs open us up to a existing realm not usually perceivable or do they create completely illusory images?”

You cannot suggest ghosts and visions are real to scientists, but . . .

Krsna-bhajana Prabhu:

Comments on my Zoom talk on Chapter 7 of Sadaputa Prabhu’s Maya: The World as Virtual Reality:

There are real life consequences for the atheistic point of view that religious experiences are all delusional.

Lots of people I talked to in the capacity of a counselor told me that they had seen ghosts.

There is no such thing as being objective in science.

The scientists are ready to discount the perceptions of vast numbers of people.

Raghunath Prabhu of Shelter and Wisdom of the Sages:

From a Saturday kirtan program at his Supersoul Farm:

“The mantra does not just make the mind peaceful, it scrubs the mind of desires that will actually not satisfy us.”

“It doesn’t matter if you are a good singer or not because the meditation is just like a cry of love from our heart.”

-----

In the Vedic literature, the best way to progress spiritually is clearly defined. There is no doubt about it. Brhan-naradiya Purana (38.126), which Lord Caitanya said his guru taught Him, is among the most emphatic verses in this connection.

harer nama harer nama

harer namaiva kevalam

kalau nasty eva nasty eva

nasty eva gatir anyatha

“For spiritual progress in this Age of Kali, there is no alternative, there is no alternative, there is no alternative to the holy name, the holy name, the holy name of the Lord.”

We wish everyone well in his/her attempts to take shelter of a favorite name of the Lord, and thus achieve the love of God, which is the goal of this chanting.

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By Yogesvara Gopinath das Date: September 21, 2025, Location: Ilford, East London Sunday, 21st September was a very special day as the East London Hare Krishna Community got an opportunity to organize the 12th Jagannath Rathyatra Chariot festival in Ilford. This was the annual Chariot festival when the Lord of the Universe (Lord Jagannatha) shows
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By Radhika krpa dd In the year 2020, our beloved Guru Maharaja gave me the divine target of 1000 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam sets for distribution. With his causeless mercy and the blessings of Srila Prabhupada, I with my Peacefood Devotional Family; the sincere souls connected to me humbly kept striving year after year: Progression of Sets Distributed:
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King Yudhiṣṭhira was known as ajāta-śatru, or a person who had no enemy. Therefore, when all the men, demigods, kings, sages and saints saw the successful termination of the Rājasūya-yajña performed by King Yudhiṣṭhira, they were very happy.

Śukadeva Gosvāmī said, “My dear King Parīkṣit, your grandfather King Yudhiṣṭhira was a great soul. His congenial disposition attracted everyone to be his friend, and therefore he was known as ajāta-śatru, one who never created an enemy. He engaged all the members of the Kuru dynasty in taking charge of different departments for the management of the Rājasūya sacrifice. 

For example, Bhīmasena was put in charge of the kitchen department, Duryodhana in charge of the supplies department, Sahadeva in charge of the reception department, Nakula in charge of the store department, and Arjuna in charge of looking after the comforts of the elder persons.

The most astonishing feature was that Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, took charge of washing the feet of all the incoming guests. The Queen, the goddess of fortune Draupadī, was in charge of administering the distribution of food, and because Karṇa was famous for giving charity, he was put in charge of the charity department.

After the end of the Rājasūya-yajña, when all the friends, guests and well-wishers had been fully honoured and rewarded, King Yudhiṣṭhira went to bathe in the Ganges. The city of Hastināpura stands today on the bank of the Yamunā, and the statement of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that King Yudhiṣṭhira went to bathe in the Ganges indicates, therefore, that during the time of the Pāṇḍavas the river Yamunā was also known as the Ganges.”

Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 21, No. 37
By Krishna Kripa Das
(Week 37: September 10–16, 2025)
Syracuse, Albany, and Stuyvesant Falls
(Sent from Stuyvesant Falls, New York, on September 20, 2025)

Where I Went and What I Did

The thirty-seventh week of 2025, I spent two days in Syracuse doing harinama at Syracuse University and giving lectures at Mantra Central and five days acting as a pujari for my guru’s deities in Stuyvesant Falls, both venues in Upstate New York. In between I chanted Hare Krishna for about an hour at the Albany-Rensselaer Amtrak station. There some Indian taxi cab drivers stopped by to talk. One played around with the harmonium. In addition to my pujari duties at Viraha Bhavan, the ashram of Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami, I would maintain a program of morning and evening kirtans. 

My friend, Janmastami Prabhu of Belgium, under the direction of Yadunandana Swami, was visiting for a month, and he joined me for almost every kirtan.

I share quotes from Srila Prabhupada’s Srimad-Bhagavatam, Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, and Teachings of Lord Kapila. I share quotes from Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami’s Journal and Poems, volume 1.

Many, many thanks to Rama Dasa Prabhu of Syracuse for his very generous donation. Thanks to Madhu Sri Prabhu, who regularly attends the ISKCON NYC Sunday feast and gave me a donation this and the previous week. Thanks to Partha Prabhu of Syracuse his donation of leftover euros.

Itinerary

September 12–October ??: serve Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami
– September 21: ISKCON Schenectady Sunday Feast 
– September 25–26: Philadelphia harinamas 
– September 27: Philadelphia Ratha-yatra and Times Square Kirtan Festival 
– September 28: ISKCON Schenectady Sunday Feast?
October ??–December 31: NYC Harinam

Chanting Hare Krishna in Upstate New York

Rama Dasa Prabhu, who is in charge of a small center in Syracuse called Mantra Central, invited me to come there and do harinama and give lectures.

Madhava Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at Syracuse University, I play the drum, and Rama Dasa Prabhu distributes books in the background (https://youtu.be/3Xs1ncsaWGk):

Rama Dasa Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at the Mantra Central Wednesday program (https://youtu.be/HglefWqDtNs):

Janmastami Prabhu, who I know from doing harinama in Holland and Belgium, chants Hare Krishna in an evening kirtan at Viraha Bhavan, the ashram of Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami, in Stuyvesant Falls, New York (https://youtube.com/shorts/4rPPvmL-Q-o?feature=share):

Photos

In 1982, after graduating from Brown University with a degree in computer science, I went to write software for Adikesava Prabhu, who had a company with a office on Route 46 in Fairfield, New Jersey, a place I don’t think I’ve been to since but which I past en route to Syracuse, New York, to do harinama.

Then I would live at the Towaco temple, where the Gaura-Nitai deities I knew from living in our 55^th Street temple in 1979 resided, and I would drive to work.

Although not a real pujari, somehow I am engaged in taking care of and even dressing my guru’s deities of Radha-Govinda in Stuyvesant Falls.

Insights

Srila Prabhupada:

From Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.23.7, purport:

“In order to be recognized by Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one should chant the holy name of the Lord continuously, twenty-four hours a day.”

From Srimad-Bhagavatam 6.5.14, purport:

“Karmis change their professions at any moment, but a Krishna conscious person does not change his profession, for his only profession is to attract the attention of Krishna by chanting the Hare Krishna mantra and living a very simple life, without following daily changes of fashion.”

From Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, Adi 2.11, purport:

“A pure devotee knows that when he chants the transcendental name ‘Krishna,’ Sri Krishna is present as transcendental sound. He therefore chants with full respect and veneration.”

From Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, Adi 8.16, purport:

“One must come to the understanding that the holy name of the Lord and the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself are identical. One cannot reach this conclusion unless one is offenseless in chanting the holy name.”

From Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, Adi 9.36, purport:

“A person who is actually a follower of Sri Bhaktivinoda Thakura must immediately accept the request of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu by offering respectful obeisances unto His lotus feet and thus beg from Him the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. If one is fortunate enough to beg from the Lord this Hare Krishna maha-mantra, his life is successful.”

From Teachings of Lord Kapila, verses 25 and 26:

“The name of Krishna and Krishna are nondifferent, but we cannot realize this intellectually. We have to practice chanting Hare Krishna to realize it. When we actually advance in devotional service and chant the Hare Krishna maha-mantra offenselessly, we will realize that Krishna and His name are nondifferent.”

From a letter to Satsvarupa on May 28, 1970:

“As I have already said many times that we have to maintain two lines parallel; namely the path of Srimad-Bhagavatam and the path of Pancaratriki. Srimad-Bhagavatam is the path for Paramahamsas, and Pancaratra path is for the neophytes. So the Temple worship is necessary for the beginners so that by following the regulative principles such devotees become more and more purified and thus gradually come on the platform to understand Srimad-Bhagavatam. So we shall always keep these principles in view and maintain our centers on this standard.”

Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami:

From I Am Never Displeased With Any Member (Letters, Volume 3), March 1970:

“Still, whether we printed it all or not, devotees seemed to love to write poetry in those days. It was understood as early as 1966 and especially by 1967 that Prabhupada liked us to express ourselves in the poetry of our country. The poets flowered in 1967, writing free verse. That output has not been matched since in our movement, and most of the poetry published in BTG today tends to be rhyming poetry. It’s a different mood now. We wrote of our actual experiences of practicing what Prabhupada taught in those days. Prabhupada read those poems and told us that he liked them.”

Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami told me to include some sample poems from that time period.

Here are two from January 20, 1967. This is one of his:

Chanting

When we go chanting

Hare Krishna

outdoors,

under the blue sky,

with drums and cymbals

through the streets,

who can measure

the essence of that?

From a cloud hung a

waterspout, the sun

was going in and out,

buildings, faces, and

cars, people – seemed the same

stopping to look at us

in awe.

“We are unbustable,” said

Achyutananda;

He meant when

we chant

Hare Krishna

We are unbustable and made

100% pure

by virtue of the Holy Name

Of Krishna.

And this is one of Hayagriva Prabhu’s:

Some Questions to Lord Krishna

1.

Is it true

That Thou art blue

And art the Supreme

Godhead too?

I also hear

You like to toy

About Vaikuntha

As Cow Boy.

Swamiji says

You always wear

A peacock feather

In Thy Hair

And that Thy Feet

Are colored red

And leave a lotus

Where’er You tread

And that eternally

You play

Upon Thy flute

The Vedic Way.

And that in battle

You gave the Gita

To Arjuna

That we might read ’er.

But is it true?

May we traverse?

Within Thy Mouth

The universe?

O Lord Divine,

Who dares to doubt it?

Thy cosmos shouts

Thy praise throughout it.

2.

Because, O Lord,

The Milky Way

Is but cow's milk

You drank one day.

And I believe

We really float

Within Thy Belly

Like a boat.

And time will come

When You'll discharge

Our galaxy

Upon Thy yard.

Then we’ll look up

To see Thy Face

And Thy true Form

With all its Grace.

“Welcome,’ You’ll laugh

And give a kick

And like a cow boy

Play a trick.

Lasso devotees,

Corral and tie

All those who to

Vrindavan fly.

And call to us,

“Come on, ladies!

I’ve made rice, dhall,

And chopaties.”

Then I will know

That it is true

That Thou art blue

And Godhead too.

From Journal and Poems, Volume 1:

“When I heard so many birds I thought, ‘the material world is actually the spiritual world.’ The material is spiritual, because it comes from the Supreme. Whatever comes from the Spiritual is also spiritual. There I’ve said it—as theology. But sometimes you feel it, and you realize that everything is wonderful because everything is coming from Krishna.”

“Sit down on this log

for a moment of peace and contemplation.

Put your gloved hands together.

Don’t pay too much attention

to the sky.

Just think: you are a tiny soul

and everything around you

is the energy of Krishna.”

“I am certain of pain,

I am sure devotional service

is the best way to go.”

“‘Even when there is no God’s picture,’

said Prabhupada,

‘one who is God conscious can see

“Oh, how God is artistic,

how He has painted,

how He has made this tree.”

Because without God

there can be nothing.’”

“I’ll talk out loud

the feast

of God’s names.”

“And I who possess a human brain

walk in my boots

chanting God’s names

amid the zillions of grasses.”

“Pines fall

into poems,

but I keep wanting

to put God in.

When will I realize

that He is here?”

“I plan to spend almost thirty days in Ireland with no other duties except to be alone with Lord Krishna and to understand my relationship with Him. My approach should be mainly through the Hare Krishna mantra. I want to be faithful to Prabhupada and the sastras, and this is what they emphatically declare:

“In the age of Kali

there is no other way,

no other way

no other way

to reach God realization

except to chant the holy name

chant the holy name

chant the holy name.

“But mechanical chanting and nama-aparadha cover me. Therefore, it seems advisable that I also think and write about my relationship with the holy name.

Try to think what has happened. What are my problems? What are my doubts? How can I overcome them? I can make a directed study of the holy name: japa reform.”

“There is no easy victory over the anarthas. How many times have I tried to revive my attraction to the holy name, only to find it is just another ‘fad’?”

“Now a note has arrived from an initiated disciple with a gift of gopi-candana for tilaka. She writes, ‘Please bless me that I may chant Hare Krishna from my heart.’ How can I bless her since I myself don’t chant from the heart? So I have written her, ‘Please pray to the Lord that your spiritual master may be able to chant Hare Krishna from the heart, and then he can bless you.’”

“Personal faith in Krishna

is a grace from God.”

“So we’re all meant to think of the Lord and His personal form or name with His personal activities and qualities, but we’re very busy. So Krishna has given us ways to think of Him even while we’re engaged in our activities. ‘Remember Me and fight,’ He tells Arjuna.”

“My life has advantages of being able to have time and place to turn inward more. Now if I can do that as a service to others and assure them that meditation is possible while chanting, and if I can also tell them some of the nectar of Krishna because of my ability to read and absorb myself in it, then that’s a service. But if I myself am not able to do this, then how can I render that service? So I am taking time to do it.”

“My dear Lord Krishna, dear Srila Prabhupada,

“I have abused my relationship with you, doubted it, neglected it and been disobedient in devious ways. Punish me as you see fit and bring me under your control.

“I cannot surrender. But you can cause me to surrender. Please don’t let me perish in my pride and false ego.

“Please protect your helpless, tiny son. Let me do good to others in your name. Give me conviction.”

“As St. Francis of Assisi said on his death bed, ‘I have done what is mine to do: may Christ teach you what is yours to do.’”

“All our devotional and occupational activities may be compared to streams, and japa is the spring from which they flow. . . . It seems especially appropriate for a teacher to work on the basics in order to ‘set the example.’ It is a good example even for those preachers who are more active than I am, because they also must derive their energy from the inexhaustible spring of hari-nama.”

“I’m not justified in disliking anything Prabhupada does or teaches.”

“My spiritual master is giving me a hard time. I want to go my own way, but he knows what is best for me. He is the spiritual father. (And we all have problems with father figures, right?) He is the authority and as Allen Ginsberg said to Prabhupada, ‘We have a problem with authorities in this country.’ He is the representative of God.”

“Everyone more or less knows the philosophy but we want to appreciate it and wake up to it.”

“It’s inner warfare

to transform pain and boredom

into little acts of love.”

“Red splotches of dye on sheep remind you that they’ll soon be bloodied and slaughtered. All living entities are stained by the material nature; we are a herd marked for annihilation. We are like the sheep let loose to wander over large, mountainous areas.”

“Sign: ‘A career woman has to look like a lady, act like a man and work like a dog.’”

“We should stay under the guidance of the spiritual master and pray as we act.”

“In order to preach downtown I had to stay up late and eat an evening feast, but it was worth it.”

“Gobhata dasa asked how can we avoid the attitude that we’ve heard about Krishna again and again and that it is simply repetitive? I said that our feelings of dryness and thinking of Krishna consciousness as ‘the same old thing’ are because we are only superficially tasting it, just like the person who licks the outside of a jar of honey. If we could actually taste the honey, we would not become tired of it.”

“Praise His name (even before you taste it). Praise the name, and Srimad-Bhagavatam and Srila Prabhupada; they are your saviors. You would like to taste the nectar. The secret is in trnad api. I daydream of calling out, mad in the holy names, the happy freedom of a humble piece of straw, with nothing to defend and always chanting.”

“May the holy name of Krishna bless the inhabitants of the earth planet! All kindness to the motley crowds who have come to the human form of life. May they hear these Names, even if in passing, let them hear. We chanters only know that we are singing, and it is the highest good. May the Hare Krishna mantra fly out in gentle and swaying melodies, Bengali rhythms heard half a block away, and may the singers, humorous and aware, go on serving their Lord in the shelter of the yuga-dharma. May the holy name fill our lungs as we sing God’s names. Save us from Kali’s band!”

“Successful chanting means the Lord is pleased with you, and He reciprocates.”

“Dear Lord Krishna, dear Srila Prabhupada,

I feel energy for creating literary works; it makes me joyful. I want to use it in your service. As Srila Prabhupada writes, a devotee’s only thought is ‘Where is there an opportunity to preach Krishna consciousness?’ You are granting me the chance to praise you in writing. You allow me to print and distribute books as few authors are allowed. I’m not a qualified craftsman or great thinker or poet—still you allow me. It’s you who are to be praised, since you give all authors intelligence. Besides, what is there to write about but your universe, love and life which comes from you? Ultimately, you are the object of literature. I pray to serve you. You are making me very happy. I want to make others happy in Krishna consciousness. All glories to you.”

“Keep on trying,

chant and pick flowers

for your smiling God.”

“I recently received six tapes by Ravindra-svarupa Prabhu and six by Sadaputa Prabhu. I listened to them during breakfast and lunch and with hot milk at night. They comfort me and guard me and inspire me. Both of these men are brilliant intellectuals, and both have a strong faith (nistha) in Srila Prabhupada’s teachings. It comforts me to have their friendship in this way, and their strong faith guards me. They inspire me because they are presenting the ‘old’ teaching in new ways, help us to see Krishna consciousness, not as sectarian religion, but as all-embracing truth.”

“Books and writing are okay,

and eating and sleeping are okay,

and my attempt

to say my prayers is okay,

and so is the fact that even a little devotional service

will never be lost.

But it would be nice to break through,

and rise to the next higher step.”

“Srila Prabhupada has taught us well,

but a slow student

goes on serving without the higher taste.

I know exactly what is wrong,

but I am helpless to cast off the bonds—

attachment to the senses,

and the tendency to speculate.

I pray

that You please find a way

to transform me;

please make me into a loving soul,

proclaiming Your glories.”

“Kala moves us along, sometimes gently and sometimes with rude force. We’re never in control.”

“Getting ready to travel produces a life-sadness, uneasiness—more aware than usual that my life will eventually end, as it does for everyone.”

“Srila Prabhupada said that Radha is the best devotee of Krishna. She loves Him purely. We should follow Her example of trying to please and satisfy the Supreme Lord by our loving service. That’s the essence of Radha aside from more technical descriptions of the Lord’s internal energies and the mood of conjugal rasa. This simple meaning is perhaps the best way for me to understand Radha.”

-----

I asked Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami if he had any favorite verses, and the first one he mentioned was Bhagavad-gita 6.30:

yo mam pasyati sarvatra

sarvam ca mayi pasyati

tasyaham na pranasyami

sa ca me na pranasyati

“For one who sees Me everywhere and sees everything in Me, I am never lost, nor is he ever lost to Me.”

When he said that it reminded me of how in his writings there are so many examples of seeing Krishna in nature. Thus it made sense that he would like that verse.

Lord Kapila was very much satisfied by His mother’s questions because the answers stimulate one’s desire for liberation from the conditional life of material existence. Such questions are called apavarga-vardhanam.

Those who have actual spiritual interest are called sat, or devotees. Satam prasangat. Sat means “that which eternally exists,” and asat means “that which is not eternal.” Unless one is situated on the spiritual platform, he is not sat; he is asat.

The asat stands on a platform which will not exist, but anyone who stands on the spiritual platform will exist eternally. As spirit soul, everyone exists eternally, but the asat has accepted the material world as his shelter, and therefore he is full of anxiety.

By Sri Nandanandana dasa (Stephen Knapp) The word Veda has its Sanskrit root vid, which means “to know”, or simply “knowledge.” The word Veda also has three root meanings, representing its connection with the power of God, namely; 1) that Vedic knowledge is eternal; 2) Veda is the essential knowledge itself, which means that it
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To commemorate the anniversary of Srila Prabhupada’s arrival in America, we shall read and discuss the second poem that he wrote on the ship Jaladuta when he arrived in the Boston harbor on September 17, 1965.

Poem [translation]:

1:  My dear Lord Krishna, You are so kind upon this useless soul, but I do not know why You have brought me here. Now You can do whatever You like with me.

2:  But I guess You have some business here. Otherwise, why would You bring me to this terrible place?

3:  Most of the population here is covered by the material modes of ignorance and passion. Absorbed in material life, they think themselves very happy and satisfied, and therefore they have no taste for the transcendental message of Vasudeva. I do not know how they will be able to understand it.

4:  But I know Your causeless mercy can make everything possible, because You are the most expert mystic.

5:  How will they understand the mellows of devotional service? O Lord, I am simply praying for Your mercy so that I will be able to convince them about Your message.

6:  All living entities have come under the control of the illusory energy by Your will, and therefore, if You like, by Your will they can also be released from the clutches of illusion. I wish that You may deliver them.

7:  I wish that You may deliver them. Therefore, if You so desire their deliverance, then only will they be able to understand Your message.

8:  The words of Srimad-Bhagavatam are Your incarnation, and if a sober person repeatedly receives them with submissive aural reception, then he will be able to understand Your message.

9:  It is said in Srimad-Bhagavatam (1.2.17–21): ‘Sri Krsna, the Personality of Godhead, who is the Paramatma [Supersoul] in everyone’s heart and the benefactor of the truthful devotee, cleanses the desire for material enjoyment from the heart of the devotee who relishes His messages, which are in themselves virtuous when properly heard and chanted. By regularly hearing the Bhagavatam and rendering service unto the pure devotee, all that is troublesome to the heart is practically destroyed, and loving service unto the glorious Lord, who is praised with transcendental songs, is established as an irrevocable fact. At the time loving service is established in the heart, the modes of passion [rajas] and ignorance [tamas], and lust and desire [kama] disappear from the heart. Then the devotee is established in goodness and he becomes happy. Thus established in the mode of goodness, the man rejuvenated by loving service to the Lord gains liberation from material association [mukti] and comes to know scientifically of the Personality of Godhead. Thus the knot in the heart and all misgivings are cut to pieces. The chain of fruitive actions [karma] is terminated when one sees the self as master.”

10:  He will become liberated from the influence of the modes of ignorance and passion and thus all inauspicious things accumulated in the core of the heart will disappear.

11:  How will I make them understand the message of Krishna consciousness? I am very unfortunate, unqualified, and the most fallen. Therefore I am seeking Your benediction so that I can convince them, for I am powerless to do so on my own.

12:  Somehow or other, O Lord, You have brought me here to speak about You. Now, my Lord, it is up to You to make me a success or failure as You like.

13:  O spiritual master of all the worlds! I can simply repeat Your message, so if You like You can make my power of speaking suitable for their understanding.

14:  Only by Your causeless mercy will my words become pure. I am sure that when this transcendental message penetrates their hearts they will certainly feel engladdened and thus become liberated from all unhappy conditions of life.

15:  O Lord, I am just like a puppet in Your hands. So if You have brought me here to dance, then make me dance, make me dance. O Lord, make me dance as You like.

16:  I have no devotion, nor do I have any knowledge, but I have strong faith in the holy name of Krishna. I have been designated as Bhaktivedanta, and now if You like You can fulfill the real purport of Bhaktivedanta.

Signed—the most unfortunate, insignificant beggar,

A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami,
on board the ship Jaladuta,
Commonwealth Pier,
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
dated 18th of September, 1965

 

Sri Prahlada dasa:

I shall read from the introduction to the section in The Science of Self-Realization entitled “Srila Prabhupada Arrives in America”:

“On September 17, 1965, His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada arrived in Boston on board the ship Jaladuta, carrying within his heart the orders of his spiritual master to spread the teachings of Sri Chaitanya beyond the borders of India throughout the entire world. As he looked upon Boston’s bleak and dirty skyline, he could understand the difficulty of this sacred mission and felt great compassion for those godless people. Thus, with perfect humility, he composed this historic prayer in Bengali, praying for the deliverance of the fallen souls.”

Verse 1: “My dear Lord Krishna, You are so kind upon this useless soul, but I do not know why You have brought me here. Now You can do whatever You like with me.”

Here, Srila Prabhupada is expressing strong sentiments. First, Krishna is always kind to His devotee. Srila Prabhupada, in his humility, is calling himself a useless soul and asking Krishna, “You are so kind, but if You are so kind, why have You brought me to this place? Obviously, You have some plan.”

It is interesting how Srila Prabhupada sees his coming to America as Krishna’s bringing him, although he himself made so much endeavor to fulfill the mission of his spiritual master and come to the West, such as cultivating Sumati Morarji to get her to sponsor his journey. He had to convince her; it wasn’t easy. She was reluctant because of Srila Prabhupada’s age and the fact that he didn’t have any friends or relatives in America. So, he had to convince her, but still he is saying to Krishna, “I don’t know why You brought me here.” He is seeing that it was actually Krishna who made the arrangements and who brought him to the United States.

That is how the devotee sees any experience he has in life: he sees it as Krishna’s mercy. It is said that when Gaurakisora dasa Babaji would go about Navadvipa, if he saw a boy who was dark, he would think of him as Krishna, and if he saw a boy who was fair, he would think of him as Gaura. And if one of the boys would touch him, he would say, “Look, Yasoda Mayi, your Gopala has punched me!” or “Look, Saci Mata, your Gaura is making a face at me!” So, he was seeing Krishna everywhere. We might see rascal boys misbehaving and become angry at them and want to correct them, but Gaurakisora dasa Babaji Maharaja’s vision was completely transcendental.

The principle here is to see everything as Krishna’s arrangement. And we also have to try to develop that vision, to see Krishna’s plan in everything, to see Krishna’s arrangement in everything—that we have surrendered to Him and so He is taking care of us. Sometimes we may experience setbacks or disappointments, but actually Krishna has some reason for giving them to us. We should try to understand that, and if we do, we’ll never be disappointed in life. We’ll be always happy in Krishna’s mercy, even in adversity.

Srila Prabhupada says, “Why have You brought me here? Whatever the case, do with me as You like.” And this is very much the mood of this poem—Prabhupada’s complete surrender: “I am Your instrument. You can use me. You can engage me as You wish. I have no personal agenda. My agenda is whatever You desire. I am here to accept Your desire as my life and soul, to give everything to please You, to serve You.”

Verse 2: “But I guess You have some business here. Otherwise, why would You bring me to such a terrible place?”

This is an interesting perspective. In India everyone wants to go to America, because it’s the “land of the free and the home of the brave.” But here Srila Prabhupada is arriving in America and calling it “a terrible place.” When he was staying in London, there was a famous presenter who had a popular television show. He would invite different personalities and ask them difficult questions that embarrassed them on the set, and that’s why he was so popular. So, he invited Prabhupada. Knowing the man’s reputation and thinking that he would try to humiliate Prabhupada on screen, the devotees were reluctant to let Prabhupada go. They humbly advised him, “Srila Prabhupada, we don’t think you should go for this.” But Srila Prabhupada replied, “No, it is our duty. We must go.”

So, Prabhupada went, and he sat comfortably in the chair, and then the interviewer, as usual, began with some casual question—just to make the guest comfortable before he brought in the punch. He asked Srila Prabhupada, “So, how do you like it here in London?” Generally, everyone would give the same cliché answer: “It’s wonderful. I really like it. I am really enjoying myself here. It’s so good to be in this great city.” That’s the expected response—being positive on screen. But Srila Prabhupada answered, “London? London is hell!”

The interviewer was shocked; it wasn’t the expected response. He didn’t know how to continue. Prabhupada had actually stumped him. There was a short period of silence. The interviewer had his plan, but this—“London is hell!”—wasn’t part of the script. So, there were some moments of uncomfortable silence. Then Prabhupada saved the day. He said, “But it is a great credit to the British people that they have built such a beautiful city under such hellish conditions, with hellish weather.” And from then on, the interviewer was very respectful, and Prabhupada actually got to preach. Srila Prabhupada was so expert. His view was that this material world is hellish. Whether it is America or England, it’s all the material world and so it’s hellish.

In his poem, Srila Prabhupada has just come from Sri Vrindavan dhama, Radha-Damodar Mandir, and now he is arriving in Boston: “Why would you bring me to this terrible place?”

Another thing I remember here is Srila Prabhupada’s statement in Gainesville, Florida, while he was sitting on his vyasasana, after beholding a painting of Lord Chaitanya and His associates in the temple room: “It is so nice to see so many young boys and girls here in this remote corner of the world, so far away from the birthplace of Lord Chaitanya.” His perspective was that this was a terrible place and that he was here only for Krishna’s work, only for Krishna’s pleasure, only to fulfill Krishna’s desire: to deliver the conditioned souls—to give them a spark of Krishna consciousness, a ray of bhakti.

Now Prabhupada describes why it is a terrible place:

Verse 3: “Most of the population here is covered by the material modes of ignorance and passion. Absorbed in material life, they think themselves very happy and satisfied, and therefore they have no taste for the transcendental message of Vasudeva. I do not know how they will able to understand it.”

This is why people cannot understand—because they are covered by ignorance and passion. The nature of passion is that we become feverish to enjoy material life. We hanker. We make schemes and plans, and then, when they are not fulfilled, we become disappointed and fall into ignorance, depression, apathy, bewilderment, madness. This is bhoga-tyaga: desire for enjoyment and then so-called renunciation, the “sour grapes” philosophy of the fox who couldn’t reach some grapes: “Anyway, they are sour. Who needs them? Who wants them?” First he is trying so hard to jump and catch them, but when he is not successful he says, “What’s the use, anyway? They are sour.” He becomes very renounced. So that is our situation in material life, material conditioning. We are constantly fluctuating between these two states of bhoga and tyaga, the desire for enjoyment and false renunciation. And because of this, it is difficult to develop attachment or attraction to the transcendental message of Vasudeva. We are so absorbed in materialistic life that the message of Vasudeva has no appeal. And so Srila Prabhupada is wondering, “How will I be able to tell them of Krishna? How will I be able to tell them of Sri Vrindavan dhama and devotional service?”

Not only is it very difficult; it is almost impossible, and it is a miracle that Srila Prabhupada accomplished what he did. No one else could do it, not even all the other great acharyas who had appeared in this world. They taught in Bharata-varsha, in India, where the Lord Himself made His appearance and where the Vedas are generally understood and respected. But that Prabhupada was able to come to this foreign land and instill this sraddha, this faith, in the hearts of the Westerners is a great miracle. Bhaktivinoda Thakura envisioned it and endeavored for it himself. Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura spoke with Westerners (as did Bhaktivinoda Thakura) and personally sent his disciples to the West to try to do it, and he was maintaining them in London. But it was Srila Prabhupada who was actually successful in performing this miraculous feat. And by reading these songs, we can get a taste, or a glimpse, of how and why: it was by his surrender to Krishna, his humility, his absolute faith in the instruction of his spiritual master.

When we were in Bombay some years ago, some Sri Vaishnavas came to the Chowpatty Temple. They wanted to speak with somebody, and they were introduced to me. So, we sat in the temple room, and they said, “We have a very important question.”

“Yes—please. We are not very qualified, but we’ll try to answer.”

They asked, “Who is Prabhupada?”

“Prabhupada is our spiritual master. He took Krishna consciousness to the West and started—”

“No, no. We know that. We know about his life and his achievements. But who is he?”

It was a very esoteric question. I said, “You should explain a little more what you want to know.”

They explained, “Ramanujacharya—we know that he is Sesa, that he is Laksmana, that he is Balarama. We know. So, Ramanujacharya was able to teach Vaishnavism throughout India, though mainly in Southern India. But your Prabhupada took it all over the world. Who is he?”

I replied, “We can’t answer that question. Once, Prabhupada was asked, ‘Who are you?’ and he said, ‘If I told you, you would faint.’ And that is as much as we know. Still, we can understand that he is such an intimate servitor of the Lord that he was able to perform such an important and confidential service, fulfilling the vision of the acharyas and the plan of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, who said, prthivite ache yata nagaradi-grama: ‘In all the villages and towns of the world My name will be chanted.’ ”

Their next question was, “How did he do it?”

I answered, “You know, he went and chanted—”

But they interrupted, “No. That’s the external, but how actually did he do it?—because no one else was able to do it.”

I replied, “Well, this is also a difficult question to answer.” But I suggested that it was by his faith in the words of his spiritual master. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati gave him the order, and he understood that it was the desire of his spiritual master and of the acharyas and of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and that because it was their desire, so it would be. Because of that faith and surrender, he was able to do the impossible.

Verse 5: “How will they understand the mellows of devotional service? O Lord, I am simply praying for Your mercy so that I will be able to convince them about Your message.”

Giriraj Swami:

Verse 6: “All living entities have come under the control of the illusory energy by Your will, and therefore, if You like, by Your will they can also be released from the clutches of illusion. I wish that You may deliver them.”

Verse 7: “I wish that You may deliver them. Therefore, if You so desire their deliverance, then only will they be able to understand Your message.”

In reply to the question “How?” Srila Prabhupada answers, “By Your mercy,” by Krishna’s mercy. But Krishna’s mercy is not the whole answer; it is actually by Srila Prabhupada’s appeal to Krishna for His mercy.

Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura discusses how the conditioned souls get bhakti. He proves with evidence from the scriptures that one cannot get bhakti by karma or jnana (by fruitive activities or mental speculation), or by austerities, charity, mystic perfections, or any other pious acts. He quotes from the Bhagavatam (11.3.31), bhaktya sanjataya bhaktya: bhakti comes from bhakti.

How does bhakti come from bhakti? What is the actual process? He says that someone may propose that one gets bhakti by the mercy of Krishna. But Krishna is equal to all. He is the supreme father of all living entities, so He must be equal to all. So, we cannot simply say that the cause of bhakti is the mercy of Krishna, because Krishna would bestow bhakti equally on everyone, whereas we see that some get bhakti while others do not. Then Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura says, “One could propose that one gets bhakti by the mercy of the devotee.” But again one might argue that the devotee, like the Lord, should be equal to everyone.

Here Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura says that the preacher, the madhyama-bhakta, by nature shows partiality or discretion in distributing mercy, as stated in Srimad-Bhagavatam (11.2.46): prema-maitri-krpopeksa yah karoti sa madhyama—he gives his love to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, makes friendship with devotees, shows mercy to the innocent, and neglects the envious. Thus, giving mercy, specifically to the innocent, is the preacher’s function. Therefore, even though a maha-bhagavata such as Srila Prabhupada in the ultimate sense sees everyone equally, everyone as a servant of Krishna and therefore in no need of mercy, when he takes the position of a preacher and functions as a preacher, he does give mercy, especially to the innocent. How does he give the mercy? He prays to Krishna to give mercy, and thus it is said that the mercy of Krishna follows the mercy of the devotee.

Here I have my own experience: I met Srila Prabhupada in 1969 in Boston, and I was touched by him. I felt that he was the spiritual master for whom I had been looking. After about three months, the devotees there needed another pujari. (In those days one could be a pujari after first initiation.) They thought, “He has been here for a while; why not recommend him?” So Satsvarupa Maharaja, as the temple president, recommended me. Srila Prabhupada was in Los Angeles at the time, so I suppose in one sense I was actually initiated there. He sent back a letter: “Your initiated name is Giriraj. Giriraj is a name for Govardhan Hill where Krishna used to tend His cows. Sometimes devotees take a stone from Govardhan Hill and worship it as Krishna. So, I marked it in your person when I was in Boston, and I prayed to Krishna that this good soul may be aware of the importance of Krishna consciousness.”

What is our qualification? When I look for my qualifications, I don’t find any. Our only qualification is that Srila Prabhupada took compassion on us and gave us his mercy: He prayed to Krishna for us, just as he says here in the poem.

Coming back to Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura’s discussion, someone could question, “Why should Krishna listen to the prayers of the devotee? So many people are praying to Krishna; why should He listen especially to the devotee? Is that not also partiality?” Here Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura says that of all of Krishna’s qualities, the quality of being affectionate to His devotees, bhakta-vatsalya, is considered the supermost, the emperor that conquers over all the Lord’s other qualities and reconciles all contradictions. So being partial to His devotees is not a fault (dusanam) in Krishna but an ornament (bhusanam)—His most exalted quality. He really has no desire other than to please His devotees, just as the devotees have no desire other than to please Krishna. So when a devotee such as Srila Prabhupada prays to Krishna to give mercy to the fallen souls, or to a particular soul, Krishna readily does it—to please His devotee.

Years after my initiation, I found the verses that Srila Prabhupada paraphrased here in “The Prayers of the Personified Vedas” from Srimad-Bhagavatam (10.87.14). The personified Vedas prayed to the Lord, “The fallen souls are under the control of maya, and maya is under Your control. Therefore, if you show them Your mercy, they can be released from the control of maya. We pray that You kindly do so.”

The same verse was quoted by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu to Vasudeva Datta. Vasudeva Datta had prayed, “Let all the sinful reactions of all the living entities in the entire universe fall upon me,” and Lord Chaitanya became overwhelmed with love for him and began to tremble and weep out of affection.

Generally, we wouldn’t accept the sinful reactions of even one living entity. There is the famous story of Valmiki. Valmiki was a thief, but he wasn’t stealing for himself; he was stealing for the sake of his family. Then Narada came and asked Valmiki’s wife, “Your husband is stealing for your sake, not for his sake. You are enjoying because he is stealing for you. Will you at least take some share of the sinful reactions?” “No!” she replied. “Why should I? He is the one who is doing the stealing—not I.”

So, we don’t want to take anyone’s sinful reactions. Just our own sinful reactions are hard enough to tolerate. Yet here Vasudeva Datta is saying he will take the reactions for every living entity in the whole universe. We cannot even conceive of how much suffering he would have to undergo. He said, “Let me suffer in a hellish condition perpetually,” and he spoke without duplicity. Sometimes we may say things to sound good, to say the right thing, to sound like a pure devotee. But Vasudeva Datta was serious. Thus, when Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu heard what he said, His heart melted and He told him, “You need not suffer their sinful reactions. By your desire alone they can be liberated. Krishna fulfills the desires of His pure devotees. So, by your desire, He can liberate them without your accepting their sinful reactions.” And Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu quoted the same verse from “The Prayers of the Personified Vedas”: “O Lord, kindly conquer the nescience of the living entities by Your grace.”

So, from one point of view, this is the secret: In his sincere love and compassion, and in his intimate relationship with Krishna, Srila Prabhupada prayed for us, and Krishna reciprocated.

But again, what is the method by which we get the mercy? Srila Prabhupada wrote, “So I prayed to Krishna that this soul may be aware of the importance of Krishna consciousness.” In other words, we must become aware of the value of Krishna consciousness and then take to the process that Srila Prabhupada gave. Thus we come to the second part of Verse 7: “If You so desire their deliverance, then only will they be able to understand Your message.”

Many people heard Srila Prabhupada’s message, Krishna’s message, but not all developed faith in it. The beginning of bhakti is faith (adau sraddha). Thus, when we ask how one gets bhakti, we really mean, how does one get sraddha, which is bhakti in its initial stage.

Here “faith” means faith in the words of the scriptures and the words of the spiritual master that glorify and explain the process of bhakti. Prabhupada, in utter humility, prayed that Krishna make his words suitable, and he also prayed that Krishna enlighten us, or inspire us, with appreciation for His message. Thus Srila Prabhupada, in the mood of utter surrender, really saw that Krishna was doing everything: Krishna was inspiring him to speak, and Krishna was inspiring us to appreciate what he said.

Even we, as servants of Srila Prabhupada, had the same mood—though not to the same degree—when we tried to distribute books. We prayed, “Please empower me to approach this person; please inspire me to approach this person. Please make my words suitable.” We would pray to Krishna—especially while the person was looking at the book and considering whether or not to buy it—“Please inspire this person to take the book. Please inspire this person to do service.” That is the mood.

Of course, here Srila Prabhupada is speaking in the mood of compassion, praying for the sake of others, but we can pray even for our own protection. It is not wrong to pray for our own protection. Once, in a lecture at Bhaktivedanta Manor, Srila Prabhupada said, “All of you can fall down, but I cannot fall down.” After the lecture, Srila Prabhupada came before the Deities and was praying, and later one disciple asked him, “Srila Prabhupada, what were you praying?” Srila Prabhupada replied, “I was praying that I may never fall down.” The disciple, astonished, objected, “But Srila Prabhupada, you just said that you cannot fall down.” And Srila Prabhupada explained, “Yes, because I am always praying that I may never fall down, therefore I can never fall down.”

Verse 9 is actually a series of five verses from Srimad-Bhagavatam, and we shall read the translations:

Verse 9: “It is said in Srimad-Bhagavatam (1.2.17): ‘Sri Krishna, the Personality of Godhead, who is the Paramatma [Supersoul] in everyone’s heart and the benefactor of the truthful devotee, cleanses the desire for material enjoyment from the heart of the devotee who relishes his messages, which are in themselves virtuous when properly heard and chanted.’ ”

Earlier, Srila Prabhupada had said, “Because the population is absorbed in material enjoyment, they cannot appreciate the message of Vasudeva.” And now he is saying, “If they hear the message of Vasudeva, the desire for material enjoyment will be cleansed from their hearts.” The idea here is similar to Rupa Gosvami’s verse that says that even though the sweet holy names, forms, qualities, and pastimes of Krishna may be bitter to the diseased conditioned souls, if they take the medicine of the holy names they will be cured of the disease, and then they will be able to relish the sweetness.

“By regularly hearing the Bhagavatam and rendering service unto the pure devotee, all that is troublesome to the heart is practically destroyed, and loving service unto the glorious Lord, who is praised with transcendental songs, is established as an irrevocable fact.” (SB 1.2.18)

So, both methods work—serving the person bhagavata and reading the book Bhagavata—and from the very beginning, Srila Prabhupada engaged the devotees in service. One famous example was when a man walked into the storefront temple at 26 Second Avenue in New York with some rolls of toilet paper and offered them to Srila Prabhupada. Prabhupada accepted them and said, “He has begun his devotional service.” Another time, someone came with some Mayavadi leaflets, and Prabhupada accepted them too. Later, when the devotees were distributing prasada, he handed out those leaflets for the guests to use as paper plates. So, Prabhupada knew the value of service, and he did whatever he could to engage anyone and everyone in devotional service.

“At that time loving service is established in the heart, and the modes of passion [rajas] and ignorance [tamas] and lust and desire [kama] disappear from the heart.” (SB 1.2.19)

Earlier, Prabhupada had prayed, “People are covered by passion and ignorance; how will they be able to understand Your message?” Now he says that by hearing the book Bhagavata from the person bhagavata and rendering service to the person bhagavata, one will be freed from the lower modes and become established in goodness. Then he will be able to understand the message. “Then the devotee is established in goodness and becomes happy.” (SB 1.2.19)

“Thus established in the mode of goodness, the person rejuvenated by loving service to the Lord gains liberation from material association [mukti] and comes to know scientifically of the Personality of Godhead. Thus the knot in the heart and all misgivings are cut to pieces. The chain of fruitive actions [karma] is terminated when one sees the Self as master.” (SB 1.2.20–21)

So, Srila Prabhupada prayed to Krishna to give His mercy to us, to make his words suitable and to make us appreciate his message. But then again, we also have to take up the process, and here I think of the example of a person fallen in a well. On his own, he cannot get out. But if someone comes and sends a rope down into the well, he can be delivered. Still, he has to make the effort and hold on to the rope. The mercy of the spiritual master is that he gives us proper instructions, and if we hold on to the instructions, he will lift us out of the well of material existence and deliver us to the lotus feet of Krishna.

Once, in Bombay, when a disciple said to Srila Prabhupada, “Please give me your mercy that I may follow your instructions,” Prabhupada replied, “It is like you are in a well and I hand down a rope to lift you out and you are praying, ‘O Prabhupada! O Prabhupada! Please make my fingers curl around the rope and hold on.’ ” Srila Prabhupada explained, “My mercy is that I send down the rope, but you have to hold on to it.” So, Srila Prabhupada’s mercy is that he gives us the instructions and prays to Krishna that we can appreciate the instructions. But we also have to do our part. Therefore, because both are involved—mercy and effort—if someone was too far on one side, Srila Prabhupada would emphasize the other side to bring the person to the proper position.

Another time in Bombay, an Indian gentleman came to Srila Prabhupada and said, “Swamiji, Swamiji, please save me. Only you can save me. I am drowning in the ocean of material existence. Please save me. Only you can save me.” And Srila Prabhupada replied, “I cannot save you. But I can give you the method by which you can save yourself. But you have to do the work.” This is the combination that works: on the one side Srila Prabhupada’s mercy in the form of his instructions and his prayers to Krishna that we can appreciate His mercy and instructions, and on the other side our efforts. But of course, Srila Prabhupada also inspired us to make efforts, and he continues to do so today.

Sri Prahlada dasa:

We also have the example of Yasoda trying to bind Krishna with ropes but being unsuccessful. The ropes are always two inches too short. She is struggling, taking ropes from all over the house, tying them together, but still the ropes are two inches too short. When Krishna sees the perspiration on her forehead, when He sees that the flowers that were decorating her hair have fallen to the ground and that her hair has become disarrayed, and how she is working so hard to bind Him, He thinks, “Okay. Let her bind Me.” And so she finally ties that knot, and Krishna is bound. Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura says that the two inches of rope that were missing represent two things: one is the endeavor of the devotee, and the other is Krishna’s mercy, Krishna’s agreement. When Krishna gives His mercy and the devotee endeavors to take that mercy, then we are successful in binding Krishna, or achieving Krishna. Of course, that mercy comes to us by Krishna’s grace.

Giriraj Swami:

Verse 10: “He will become liberated from the influence of the modes of ignorance and passion and thus all inauspicious things accumulated in the core of the heart will disappear.”

The three modes of material nature (sattva, rajas, and tamas) are the constituents of material nature, and the spiritual nature also has three constituents—samvit, sandini, and hladini, or eternity, knowledge, and bliss (sac-cid-ananda). They translate in this material nature as goodness, passion, and ignorance. They are the opposite of transcendence. Because we are covered by these modes of material nature, we cannot appreciate the message of Vasudeva. However, by contacting the pure devotee and hearing that message, these troublesome things in the heart are cleaned away, and then we can appreciate the message of Vasudeva.

Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu says, ceto-darpana marjanam: the cetah, or the consciousness, which is also the heart, is cleaned of all the dust accumulated for years on it. When a mirror is covered with dust, you cannot see yourself in it. You cannot see who you are. But when that dust is cleaned away, you can see yourself. Similarly, when the mirror of the heart is cleaned, we can understand our nature as soul, as servant of Krishna.

Verse 11: “How will I make them understand the message of Krishna consciousness? I am very unfortunate, unqualified, and the most fallen. Therefore I am seeking Your benediction so that I can convince them, for I am powerless to do so on my own.”

It is not something mechanical or artificial; one has to become empowered by the Lord. One has to become saktyavesa, an empowered representative of the Lord, and then that dynamic is there. Certainly, Srila Prabhupada was empowered by Krishna because of his full dedication, full faith, and full surrender. It is not a material phenomenon, that one can represent the Lord and transform the heart of the conditioned soul; it is a transcendental phenomenon.

Verse 16: “I have no devotion, nor do I have any knowledge, but I have strong faith in the holy name of Krishna. I have been designated as Bhaktivedanta, and now if You like You can fulfill the real purport of Bhaktivedanta.”

Bhakti means “devotion” and vedanta means “knowledge.” Actually, veda means “knowledge” and anta means “the end.” So vedanta means “the end of knowledge,” or “the conclusion of all knowledge.” Here Srila Prabhupada is saying, “I am designated as Bhaktivedanta, but I have no bhakti or Vedanta. But if You like, You can make me Bhaktivedanta.” And so we come back to Srila Prabhupada’s secret. How did he succeed? He says, “I have strong faith in the holy name of Krishna.” Sri Prahlada mentioned Prabhupada’s faith in his spiritual master and in the previous acharyas, and along with such faith comes faith in the process of devotional service and especially in the holy names.

We should always treat Vaishnavas with respect. Obviously, if they directly or indirectly criticize or attack Srila Prabhupada or Srila Prabhupada’s movement, we have to defend. But otherwise, our attitude should be respectful. We should appreciate their service, however big or small it may be.

Srila Prabhupada had a godbrother, Akincana Krishnadasa Babaji Maharaja, who was always absorbed in hari-nama. Prabhupada said that he was a paramahamsa, a liberated soul. So, Krishnadasa Babaji met another of Srila Prabhupada’s godbrothers, who had been sent by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura to England to preach. And Babaji Maharaja asked him, “You went to the West and Swami Maharaja (our Srila Prabhupada, Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaja) also went to the West. You presented the teachings of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and he presented the teachings of Mahaprabhu. You chanted the holy name of Krishna, and he chanted the holy name of Krishna. Yet he was successful, and you were not. Why?” Then Babaji Maharaja himself gave the answer: “Because Swami Maharaja had full faith in the holy names, that if the Westerners just chanted the holy names of Krishna, gradually they would become Krishna conscious, they would become devotees.”

For a while in Calcutta, the temple president somehow became absorbed in doing business, in making money for the temple, and the devotees in the temple were being neglected. We were poor—very poor. We couldn’t afford milk. And even if we could, we wouldn’t know what white liquid we might get. The milkmen used to soak paper in watery milk to add bulk to the liquid, and what “milk” we got was often a combination of buffalo milk, water, and paper.

So, there was a devotee there named Sudama Vipra. He had tattoos, and he was really strong. But even he was starving. We all were starving. So after the arati, he would collect the ghee wicks and squeeze them to try to get a drop or two of ghee.

We were all just waiting for Srila Prabhupada to come and save us. When he did come, different devotees met him and complained, and then he called a meeting. He listened very patiently and sympathetically to all the devotees’ complaints. At one point the GBC there said, “Srila Prabhupada, I was just trying to execute the will of Your Divine Grace.” And Srila Prabhupada said sarcastically, “Is it My Divine Grace’s will that all the devotees should be disturbed?”

So, he was very sympathetic to the devotees. He said that we should have meetings every week and that we should record our resolutions in the minutes book and stick to the resolutions. He was very concerned.

But then Srila Prabhupada’s mood changed. He told us that we shouldn’t be too absorbed in these material matters, because the tendency of the conditioned souls is to become engrossed in material things, and if we get too preoccupied and just talk about material things, we’ll forget Krishna. We won’t talk about Krishna.

Then he told us, “My motto has always been ‘Everything for Krishna and nothing for myself.’ Therefore I never complained.” He said, “I suffered so much for the sake of this movement”—for our sake, really. “I had two heart attacks on the ship on the way to New York. Then in New York City I had a stroke.” And he confided, “Even otherwise, I had headaches and ringing in my ears. . . . You cannot conceive of how much I suffered, and I don’t want to discuss it. But my motto was always ‘Everything for Krishna and nothing for myself.’ ” And that is Prabhupada. That is Prabhupada.

Then: “Signed—the most unfortunate, insignificant beggar, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami.”

This poem was first published in Back to Godhead many years ago, by early 1971, which is when I first heard it. A few of us were living in the Sea Palace Hotel in Bombay. Srila Prabhupada had a friend from England named Ramchand Chhabria, who owned the hotel. He was vegetarian and the hotel was vegetarian and we didn’t have any other place to stay, so he invited us to stay there. When the magazine came, there were just a few of us—Guru dasa Prabhu, Yamuna Devi, and myself. The first article was the poem. Yamuna Devi read it out loud. And when she came to this—“Signed—the most unfortunate, insignificant beggar, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami”—she burst into tears. She just couldn’t contain herself.

So, what can we say here?

Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!

[Talks by Giriraj Swami and Sri Prahlada dasa, September 28, 2002, Three Rivers, California]