Planet ISKCON

Hi, Ananga. How are you? Hi, Gayatri. Nice to see you again. Nice to see you too.

The other day, I was having a conversation with one of the students from a UC university, and he’s a wonderful spiritual practitioner, very disciplined in his regular spiritual practice, has wonderful questions, thinks beyond himself, wants to do a lot for the community and society, and really kind hearted soul. He asked me whether spirituality is can be just left at being personal, like an individual practice, Or is it a necessity that one should join an institution, become a part of a society or a movement or a community? Even though he likes associating with other like minded people. But at the same time, he feels really afraid of becoming getting into the system of bureaucracy and becoming a part of an institution. So I was thinking we can speak with one of our very renowned speakers.

He has been a practitioner of bhakti yoga. In fact, a teacher of bhakti yoga for almost three decade. He speaks at prestigious universities, speaks at the TED and the peace conference. He has authored over 30 books. It is such an honor to have you here, Chaitanya Charan, Prabhu.

Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you, Prabhu, for joining us. One of your Guided to be here. Thank you for inviting. Great that you have started this podcast.

The podcast space is something which is expanding rapidly, and it’s a very human way to get in touch with people. And we do have some devotees doing podcast, but they’re mainly mails. It’s good that question that we are taking the lead. Hello? All the best and your service.

Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for your encouragement. And I was just sharing that one of the books that I daily refer to is Yogita daily and the inspirational quote. It’s something that I look at every single day and, seek inspiration.

It’s just amazing how you’ve been able to pull out such practicality in such an artistic, I would say, linguistic form from the Bhagavad Gita. It’s truly inspirational. So thank you so much again for joining us. Thank you, Prabhu, for joining us. We were just talking about I think Gayathri was mentioning that one of this one of she goes to one of the UC universities, and one of the students asked this very profound, thought provoking question.

And we just wanted to start from there that people say these days that I’m spiritual, but not religious. I don’t need a system. It’s between me and the supreme or it’s my it’s my personal practice. So it sounds appealing, Prabhu. What’s the right balance?

I wouldn’t say one versus the other. How do we align both individuality and the practice, as an institution in an association together. Yeah. I think that’s a question which comes up in everyone’s mind sooner or later. I’ll answer this from three perspectives.

First is more of a personal journey I’ll talk about. Second, then talk more from a philosophical perspective, and then I’ll talk of it from a cultural perspective. So, personally, I have been always more of a introvert, and I always work alone. Even in college, when I used to do research or write any papers, I was always friendly with people, but I just couldn’t work with people. So friends would call me, tease me, they would call me, you’re a lone wolf.

That’s right. So when I joined the Ashram in Pune, at that time, we had three rooms and the 90 of us staying in three rooms. Oh, we were always 90. For. We couldn’t spend.

The one we were That’s the hardest thing for which one. So I was 12 of us would sleep inside the rooms, and then others would sleep outside in the atrium at various places. So I initially thought this was just a this was just what Krishna consciousness meant. And, of course, in the spiritual life also, there is what I like to call as the honeymoon phase of Krishna consciousness. Very good.

Because everything is so new, and we have a sense of spirit of adventure. So we just can do a lot of things that are not sustainable in the long run. So for the first few years, I just this is what means that there was the initial real law being a part of a mission. But over a over a number of years, I started noticing that it requires you need your own space. Initially, it was almost as if I was made to feel guilty, not that anybody was intentionally doing that.

But It was just it would happen. And one of my services is writing, and writing requires concentration and very difficult to concentrate when there are so many people around. Yes. And So then slowly, I started associating with devotees who were writing. Now almost everybody many devotees are writing books.

We have culture of literary continuation of the tradition is really picking up. But in those times, 02/2003, ‘2 thousand ‘4, hardly anyone was writing. So authors were far and few. So I started connecting with authors, and they said, yes. We need space.

And that’s when, actually, I was introduced to the idea of finding our space according to our nature in Krishna consciousness. So slowly then, I started also seeking my space a little bit, insisting unapologetically doing that. And now so from that perspective, anybody who is a little more on the creative side will need space. That’s just the way artwork, creativity works. I find that within an institution, art, you could say science also has science or something like engineering or something mechanical.

You know, this is the process. Follow the process. There is not much individuality in that. But when we are doing anything artistic, there is definitely individuality. So we are going to record they’ll address the deities.

There are some standard rules to follow in addressing the deities. But if we make everything rule bound, then every day the deity would have exactly the same, and there will no room for individuality. Mhmm. So, like, that room for individuality is very much needed. And we could say, Bhakti is a relationship with Krishna, and a relationship is a personal one to one relationship.

And I’m going for the personal and the philosophical. So from personal perspective, I did recognize the need for it myself, and I’ll come back to the portal towards the end once again. And feel free to interrupt anytime you want to comment or reflect or anything or anything is not clear. I I actually really appreciated how you mentioned. You’re especially giving the example of dressing the deities because I love dressing the deities, and that was one of my primary services when I lived in New Vrindavan.

And it we still look forward to this different flavors, and flavors is the spice of lunch. Even like we’ve hear in the scriptures that Srimati Radharani, she cook for Krishna and not one item is repeated. And naturally, there is variety in personalities, in different kinds of emotions, there is variety. So spirituality includes variety. And if if we don’t facilitate that, then somewhere we’re failing as an society or we’re failing as a community to fan that spark in each and every one of us, maybe intentionally or unintentionally.

So it really resonated with your point. Thank you so much for so simply simplifying the need for diversity. And that’s actually one of our strengths actually within our ISKCON society, the diversity that we have. So now from the philosophical perspective, as I mentioned, it’s a relationship. And relationship is essentially True.

At the same time, within the philosophy, within the tradition, there’s an emphasis on association, and it’s considered almost, impossible thing to try to practice bhakti without association. So the tradition is called not just. Is do it with others. Is such an important part. So, eventually, when a group of individuals who want to the shared purpose and the shared values that are characteristic of those who are the.

And they come together. They may create some infrastructure, some resources for the systematic or smooth the sync of their bank. And those consolidated resources that are created become the what we call as an organization. So, essentially, an organization could say the formalization of the facilities and resources for a community to practice the spiritual life. And within that, philosophically, we could say that while within the Indian tradition again, how do you define an organization and institution itself is a philosophical issue?

Some people may consider even marriage to be an institution. And, yes, it’s an institution, but then it’s required. The most fundamental institution required for society. So school is an institution. The one place is an institution.

So in that sense, institutions are just part of the structuring of life. So some structure is required. Now within the philosophy itself is the fact that there are three modes of material nature, and we will explore that a little bit later. But so when the organization is formed, organization is basically you could say material. But deal in the sense that it is formed in the material world using material resources.

It may be for a spiritual purpose, but it’s formed in the material world. So it’s like the example I like is there’s a trickle of water and the top of mountain which wants to go to the ocean. That trickle of water wanting to go all along to the ocean. It may be very difficult for it to get all the way down to the ocean. Right.

It it combines with other trickles of water. It becomes a tributary, and then it combines to become a river. And the river can flow toward the ocean much more easily. And future drops of water or trickles of water that come in, they will move forward because of the flow of the river. And as the river keeps flowing so the river is like the commune.

River is like the community or the society. Nowadays, the word society has many meanings. Community is a more popular word or a more sweet sounding word, you could say. But when started, he did not start the international organization or institution of Krishna conscious. Started the international society.

So it’s an interesting usage of word. But the river flowing is like the community. Now as the river keeps flowing, it forms a bed. And then that bed is meant to enable the river to keep flowing more smoothly in the future. But once a bed is formed, then it may well happen that people may come and form a dam on the way.

They are not interested in going to the ocean. They are interested in using the water for their own purposes. So So If it were just a river, okay, that’s there. But once the bed is formed, then it becomes predictable. The river is always going to go in this direction.

And that’s when dams are formed. So the dam is like the diversion of spiritual resources for nonspiritual purposes. Mhmm. That’s what can happen, and that’s where people start feeling, oh, this is becoming too ritualistic. This is becoming too materialistic.

This is becoming too calculative. What a fantastic example. Can happen. So I would say, in principle, the institution or some kind of formalization of the structure and the infrastructure necessary. But it comes with inherent dangers, and one needs to be aware of those dangers.

So having said that, we’ll come back to how to address the dangers a little later. We’ll let me complete that. Now from a cultural perspective, I was born and brought up in India. I was introduced to a few also in India. The first almost twenty years of my spiritual life was in India.

Last ten years, I’ve been spending more than only every six or more months outside India. And I have interacted with a lot of non Indian mainly in America, but Europe and Australia, New Zealand also. And, overall, there is also a significant difference in ethos. In India is still a more conservative country. America, any other western world is much more liberal.

And one aspect of how this plays out is in the attitude towards authority. In India, our regional and eastern cultures, where the culture is a little more hierarchical and more conservative, if somebody’s in authority position by default, there is respect for authority. Now, of course, if the authority behaves in inappropriate ways, obnoxious ways, that respect may be lost. Right. By default, there is a spirit for authority.

In the West, this applies in general and all the more super religious authority. By default, there is skepticism and suspicion to all the power. And in general, there’s a long history about it. It’s not that respect is not there, but respect cannot be assumed because of there being a position of authority. Respect has to be owed.

And in that sense, for the western mind to associate spirituality with the institution, with the structures of power, with these hierarchies, and authority figures becomes a bit something which I don’t want. We could go specifically into why this has happened. I think there are three reasons. One is the Catholic church was a very rigid system of authority. I mean, the American the original Americans who came to India, they came with the very came to America, what they or that time, it is the land of what they consider the Indians.

Yes. So they came to break free from the rigid authority structure of the church. So in that sense, America began itself as a statement against any centralized authority. And the second is that, also, within the very nature of how America is how America is politically is a confederation, not a federation. Like, the states come together and the states give power to the center.

India is a penetration where the center use power to the states. Center is much more poor. So that whole idea work historically into the religion, into the politics. And America is more the idea of the rugged individual fighting it alone. The pioneer years are the people who will still inspire Americans.

It’s not being the historic conscious historical memory, but the idea is I want to do my own thing. So because of all these factors, institutionalized spirituality does Come with a red signal. It is as in today’s language, we call it trigger warning. It’s something we do not want. Carries a lot of baggage already from the history.

Prabhu, Adnan, I want to go back to your ocean, the analogy for trickles of water. Like, initially, you said we all have a honeymoon period in our bhakti, which we all did. We overshadowed all the attention. We were we were so enthusiastic to do so much service, and then you mentioned a very profound thing that Bhakti is a relationship. So that means Bhakti is not people think that spirituality can be a presentation.

Outwardly, everything looks good. So spirituality is not a presentation. Spirituality is our relationship with ourself, with the divine. With this analogy, I was thinking, like, trickles of water. So one trickling of water is each trickling of water is the individual part, our individuality.

So some some people might think, okay. The ocean current will come, like, in our institution. We can have program. We can have festivals. We can move from one year to the other celebrating together, but still not advanced.

Like So there are times when we may have to make our decision individually also. And so in life, when we face crisis, it could be a crisis of finances, crisis of health, be a crisis of fee. At that time, we won’t be able to just go along because the river is there. Oh, so in one sense, while we are in the reverse flow may push us along, but life is also flowing along, and life may push us keep pushing us out of the river. And it’s not just something like pushes out of the river.

Within the currents of the river, it’s just sometimes flow push something out of the river also. The river tends to overflow. So we often ask people who come new to what how do you come to Krishna? That’s an important question. But if you really want to get honest with people, the change the question asks is, why did you stay in Krishna?

That’s true. That’s true. And also we’re more interested. And so I think the individual intention is something which is important. Well, is we who are to develop our relationship.

And that’s why when somebody has some issues with the institution, everybody will because that’s just the nature of the world. Often, the way I phrase it is that the institution is not source of our spirituality. It is a resource for our spirituality. Beautiful. It is a resource, and I will consider it invaluable and sometimes even indispensable resource.

But it’s a resource. It’s our responsibility to grow spiritual. In that sense, it’s like like a university. You are still employed lots of facility to study, which we were to study. It’s like a stock exchange that we can earn money over there, but it’s our money, and it’s our responsibility.

Now we may invest the money with some strong broker, and that person may invest somewhere. But ultimately, the loss is going to come to us, not to that person. So in that sense, the individual intention and individual responsibility are never lost. And that is one of years that people have, also some of the unfortunate reality that happens that we may outsource the responsibility of our spiritual growth Yeah. To the institution.

Yeah. In the name of association, we sometimes outsource as well. Like, if I’m going if I’m with devotees, I’ll advance. If I am yeah. If I’m chanting in a group, I’ll chant well.

But what is my individual responsibility? Just so I really like that that but they cannot be outsourced always. That’s so beautiful. I think, what you really have emphasized here is the balance. The balance, and there is that serenity prayer that says that to know the difference or to understand when you actually need the associate to progress and make progress and uplift yourself with encouragement and with association.

At the same time, you need those quiet moments where you are diving deeper. So that balance between being a part of an institution and so you don’t you don’t start outsourcing it completely. But at the same time, you do need that community spirit. At the same time, you do need that pace for internal growth, and how those two can tie in together is what actually makes it really healthy. In fact, his holiness, Radhanath Swami, had once told me in a brief conversation, and I think this was also when I had a little child.

And all of a sudden, I felt everybody was just moving ahead, and my life came to a complete that formal moment when you feel like you’re moving moving out. You’re like you’re you’re tied in within a little child, which you absolutely love. Within a few moments, it’s like you’re communicating with an individual that is not communicating back with you. For a very long period of time till the child actually starts to express and reciprocate and you’re just, like, giving on the giving, giving, giving, giving end night and day. And along with the hormones going up and down, you come to a point in a feeling that everyone is moving ahead, and you your life is just like you’re not making any progress.

And at that time, I think I expressed something to Radhanath Swami, and he said something beautiful. He said, you need to be like an eagle. He said, if you learn the art of balancing have you noticed how an eagle flies? He doesn’t fly. He glides.

And he said, if you wanna fly high and for an extended period of time, then you need to learn the art of balance. So there were moments where you could drop everything and just run and do and take inspiration from every single nook in corner. Now is the time that you use for your internal growth. At read. Develop this wonderful relationship with the soul that Krishna has put onto your care.

And it it was just something so beautiful that the art of balancing is such an important aspect of even our own spiritual journey that you’ve been emphasizing here. Thank you for reminding us that. Thank you for clearing that. And it was in reference to balance. I like to use the acronym one for this.

The one who is thinking that the institution is the only way. And that is the other is never the way. If you are a part of the institution, you can never be spiritual. You just need caught in existence. What is oh, and he is the it’s efficient to me.

Now it’s efficient to me. Come up with this from Yeah. I think he just came up with it. Have the the affect whatever what you want to use for it. But I find that, all the extremes have to be avoided.

And each individual will need to find their way to relate with the institution. How close, how far your example of having a maybe is a very good example, I would say. Institutional conceptions of spiritual growth will not be able to accommodate this at all. Because by its very nature, an institution is a tangible thing. And while it’s a tangible thing, it will always look for tangible things Yes.

As markers or atmospheres of success and growth. True. Yes. So that’s just the way an institution will work. Somebody is a serious practitioner.

What is the parameter? Okay. How often do you come to the temple? How regular is your dentist? How much is the responsibility you are taking in the temple?

Or Mhmm. Would have okay how many rounds are you chanting? Or we have our specific parameters. They are important in their own way. At the same time, there are real life.

It’s not just filled with tangible. When you sing, even with daily life, you cannot use tangibles. People think money is the source of all happiness. Money is a very tangible thing. But then it’s important, but life is much more about things that are not so tangible.

So if we consider Krishna consciousness is the expansion of our consciousness outside of ourselves to take care of someone else, ultimately to care for Krishna. So recently, my brother had a baby and his baby was a COVID baby, so there’s nobody to help. And I’ve seen my brother change in the three years, three, four years since he had a baby, the amount of responsibility and selflessness and maturity that he has developed, it’s remarkable. And in general, if we consider the point of the expansion of consciousness, then caring for other human being, that actually expands our consciousness. And if we are already in a devotional frame of mind, then while we are caring for other human being, we’ll be doing that caring in a devotional way with prayer, with the service attitude.

But this is not something which can be tangibly measured. So within the institutional infrastructure, if we consider one of the limbs of Bhakti, that is. Sharing one’s heart and confidence and hearing others share their heart and confidence. This is not something which can be institutionally mandated or evaluated. The other two parameters, we could say Giving gifts, giving food.

As hospitality, that culture of caring. That’s something too much so tangible. It can be more easily done, and we can also tell you do this. But that’s why I have found that within an institution, there are two kinds of leaders. There are project builders, and there are community builders.

Mhmm. And you require almost a opposite profile for these two things. There are very few leaders who can actually do both. Project builders are those who will build the infrastructure. They will have huge temples.

They will have huge more distribution. They will have huge farm communities. So they will so that is project building, and that’s very important. But community building is more about sitting down with people, connecting with their hearts. So in my understanding, if you look at life, the ten years when he was traveling, that’s more like project building.

And the late in eighteen years when he was in Poree, he was actually community building. He was there, just entering into the hearts of his intimate associates. And even those who are from Vrindavan, they would come and meet him, Rupa Goswami, Swami, all the Goswamis. In one sense, Mahaprabhu, we could have said he could have preached so much by traveling. Could reach so many more people.

He was reaching to the hearts of those whom he had already reached. And so both are required. The problem is community building, it’s the results are become tangible after a long time. It takes a long time for the effort results to crystallize into something which is tangibly measurable or visible. So I think that’s the main danger of the institution that the institution may start devaluing the intangibles because they are not measurable.

And that’s when the if the intangibles are too devalued, then that institution will become more and more materialistic rather than remaining a spiritual institutional purpose. So I was just saying that, yes, I’ve seen greatest leaps made by new parents like you were saying, and we were even we were sharing our experience by parents and new mothers when they have to hit a pause in the institutional phase of their life and go deep. And I think even I have made a lot of personal progress when I couldn’t do any more services. I could only establish a relationship with my daughter and really in the quiet moments of my time, just go deep. Just, introspect where am I heading.

It’s been fifteen years I’ve been chanting. So just measuring my progress, not in the tangible sense, but really internally knowing what is it that I’m heading towards. What’s my goal? Was it what’s what is really that I want between me and the supreme? So I really resonate with that, that institution definitely holds a play.

And I on the flip side, I also wanted to ask you, Prabhu, that, yes, we talk about the the community, the association aspect that an institution provides. But also, like, going back when we started when we just started talking, Gayatri was mentioning that there’s a student and he says, why do I be a part of a movement and not just be a person of my own? But if we also go astray the other end, that just I’m just an individual. I’m just a spiritual person. We can be whimsical.

Right? Like, a spiritual organization helps in preserving the tradition, the I’m passing down the teachings. Isn’t that true, or can that be done in a personal aspect as well? Yeah. One of the things which I have found is that rather than considering a spiritual organization to be one homogeneous unit.

Mhmm. We can see that it is a network of many heterogeneous units with a harmonious purpose. That means that when I travel across the world, I noticed that each temple has its own mood, its own emphasis. The temple the project is made in the image of the leader, whether it’s the president, whether it’s the spiritual master, whether it’s a previous leader whose shadow is still extending over the project. The so the way Hishla Prabhupada made the moment was also quite decentralized.

We have the GBC, but he wanted each temple to have a lot of autonomy by which they could grow based on their initiative. So just as we could have various physical temples, which are autonomous in their own way and which will each of them have their own mood. So I feel similarly, devotees also need to have a network of like minded devotees. And this is not just a psychological, it’s a devotional principle. That we want association, which is of the same category.

Those like minded devote. So Yeah. Why I’m a little more analytical intellectual. So I find that I look forward to the association of people who are similarly intellectual. We get into the technicalities of things, and we delight in those technicality.

And although, generally, my role is answering questions, but even when I’m answering a question on someone, my mind is questioning my answer. And even if the audience doesn’t question the answer, I’m questioning it. Mhmm. See, I need to think about this. Maybe this point needs to be addressed.

So I have a lot of questions, and I voice them with my intellectual friends. And then we see, okay. How will we answer this? Do we have some scriptural references? Do we have some traditional perspectives?

Do we have any contemporary insights? So each one of us will need to find that like minded association also. Say somebody is into music, then they may wanna go deep into music. The general devotee community may not want to go that much deep into music. This year, this couple of days ago, I was talking with one young girl.

Young means young adult now. So she was saying that she’s trained in music. And in the community, it is that everybody should allow to do Kirtan, but everybody can’t do Kirtan. So she’s she was telling me that for me, when I find Kirtan is a tension between the spiritual joy and the musical annoyance. That’s a classic example.

I mean, I totally can relate to that. It’s so beautiful. Actually, there was someone mentioning the other day that it was a Hindi joke, but I’m gonna say it anyway. A very famous singer, he was actually sharing with Gaurang Prabhu. He said that he said, you make the lord.

You torture the lord the most by putting anyone before him to sing. Everyone that comes to your temple, you put him before the lord to sing. That will be resonates. But, yeah, that is definitely so true that devotee is actually feeling. But I think she’ll be able to tolerate what is happening in the temple if she has that support group where she can do a little deep dive into her interests connected to Krishna’s spirituality.

So I would say the same thing would apply to something like a mother also. Those who are young mothers, they they have some sort of community of those who are in the similar phase or gone through a similar phase. From the institution’s perspective, what you are doing at that time may not be very valuable because it’s important. It may not be valued immediately, but there is a lot of depth of immersion of consciousness that can come while doing that particular service. And that’s why like minded association is, I feel, an underemphasized principle.

Let’s talk about association, but we need to talk about like minded association. And when we have that, then the institution will not seem that supplicating for individual. So going back to the answer to the starting question, we just need to find like minded mentors, like minded friends, like minded community. Now it may not be an entire community. Nowadays, it’s social media on WhatsApp and other places.

We can form our own communities also, like minded people. But at least a few friends. The spirituality is definitely about developing our personal relationship with Krishna. At the same time, it is very difficult to two things, I find. One is to maintain the motivation all alone Because Krishna is not visible for us, we cannot directly interact with them.

And anytime the nature of the world is that in this world, Krishna is invisible and my eyes are visible. So because of that, alone to maintain our motivation is difficult. And even if somebody is strong enough, maybe they have done a lot of spirituality in their previous life because of it, they have the motivation. But still, spiritually, growth can become a very lonely thing. If we are serious about growing spiritually, then often the values we live by are different from or even somewhat opposite to the values the mainstream society is going to live by.

So then whom are we going to talk with? Whom are we gonna share our heart? Just saying that spirituality is just a personal thing. I don’t need an institution. Fair enough.

But you may not need an institution. You need what the institution offers. And the institution offers a community to us. It offers a association. So that’s why If one has like minded association, then the individual in the guidance of like minded devotees can decide how strongly they identify with which aspect of this.

But the ins We all have, you could say, a social identity, but we also have a psychological identification. That means, say, now we are all Indians over here. Mhmm. When we were in India, we probably didn’t we’re not so conscious we are Indians. No.

We are just India. That’s that’s that’s identity, but psychologically, we will not think about it. It’s only when the cricket match is going on and Pakistan and that India. That time we think I will. Yes.

But when we come to America, then we are consciously reminded. Yeah. Oh, I’m Indian over here. And we may even become American citizens. But still, we are ethnically Indian.

There is a social identity and a psychological identification. And these two are different things. So Mhmm. The social identity so each of us has different roles. So for example, I’m a monk, and most people see me personally as a monk.

But that’s a very small part of my personal psychological identity. I see myself more as a author, a thinker, a teacher. That I happen to be a monk. Second, it’s a minor thinker. So so we have a social identification.

We have a social identity, and we have a psychological identification. So the social identity may come to some extent because you join an general institution. Or we are a part of the we take a way of the resources provided by the institution. How much psychologically we identify with it and with which aspects of it we identify, that’s something which each individual needs to decide. And they need the space to decide that.

At the same time, they need also the guidance to be able to decide that. That’s why like minded association is very important. Such a beautiful thing and such a simple way you have decoded it, I feel. And the very fact that you said that we don’t have to look at an institution as one huge body. It’s actually support groups, different support groups that have come together.

And even so beautifully, you explained that every temple or every community that you go to when you’ve traveled to different parts within one institution can have different flavors because of who’s leading, what their what their mood of service is. And that is all variety. That is all variety, and we can find our own safe space. And we could have few different you I was listening to one relationship podcast recently, and he was actually mentioning he said that when you have one partner, if you’re going to feel and think that you wanna do everything with just this one person, you’re going to feel incomplete because that one person has his own need and his has his own liking. But at the same time, if there is major portion of shared responsibilities of certain things that you like to do together, and there’s going to be certain things that you like to do with someone else.

Like, you go with a friend if you like to listen to some music, and your partner is really not interested in music. But you want to develop this real deep taste and you’re feeling like, oh, you know what? He’s got different interests and I’ve got different interests. Let’s just end this. No.

Because one person is not competent to fulfill all your needs and similarly for the other person. So when we find our different support groups for our different needs, at the same time, it helps us become loyal in a way that when I say loyal to the practice of spirituality, loyal to continuing with this journey with support from wherever we need it. And I think you really elaborated that so beautifully. Completely decoded it for me. I don’t know how you feel, Ananga, but it was just I am I’m, like, going over with so many things, like community, like, our institution is not the source.

Like, initially, when I started out out as a devoting, I’m like, yeah. It’s everything. And it is everything because it’s giving me all the resources that I need to move forward. So I love that analogy, Prabhu, that I love that the wordplay that you do, that institution is not the source. It’s the resource.

And just one one thing that came up to my mind was on service. Like, when we do our services and, initially, we start out on doing a lot of service, the institution driven services, and we try to measure our growth according to that. But how many services are we doing? Are we going to the temple doing the services? But then when the shift comes to personal growth, purifying the heart, then those services those kind of services, we balance it out with going deeper.

So when someone really asks, like, how do I measure my spiritual progress? How do I measure that I’m really purifying my heart? Institutional Seva might not be just enough equal equal to your spiritual growth. How do we measure our growth? How do we measure our progress?

Really then, like, taking into consideration that we talk talked about tangible plus the intangible. So how does someone in their loan time measure their intangible progress as well? I I’m not sure whether there’s any clear answer. I can always give a scriptural answer that there is the we could say the answer is that how much are we attached to Krishna and how much are we attached from That when we experience Krishna through the practice of, then that experience is so enriching that we no longer feel grieving for other experiences. That would be a broad parameter of spiritual growth that our attraction to Krishna increases.

This is what I want to experience more and more. Other things, they don’t matter so much. So this is more like a philosophical parameters for spiritual advancement. Now beyond the spiritual paradigm we could say now, which is parent doesn’t no long definitely important. But this is quite abstract or rather not abstract.

It is intangible. You can see it in vertical ways, so then there’ll be institutional parameter for spiritual growth. So I generally respect to parameters. I as you may notice, I like acronyms. I think in terms of acronyms.

The acronym I have for this is a simple wisdom. There are spiritual parameters. I mean, then there are institutional parameters. So institutional parameters could be how much service the person is doing, how many rounds somebody is chanting, how often does the person come to the temple, how do they come for the morning program, do they themselves do a morning program, in their community where they are. So there are institutional parameters.

And, generally, the institutional parameters have centered on three things. How many temples are built, how many books are distributed, and how many devotees are made. Now these they are important parameters. I wouldn’t say they are an exhaustive list of parameters, And every institution may also change based on time, place, and candidate. What is their emphasis at that particular time in the growth of the community and the growth of the project over there.

But the institution will have its parameters. And the final is we have to have our personal parameter. The personal does not mean that you’re divorced from the the this will give us some institutional or the spiritual, but each of us has certain challenges we are facing. And sometimes it may happen that, of course, there is this whole phenomena of spiritual bypassing where we use God to stay away from God. That means I feel very angry with some sibling, with a spouse, with some other community member.

And instead of dealing with that anger, I chant 64 round. I chant one twenty eight rounds. So we just come for mediation. I’ll spend this one hour in mediation. I’ll chant eight rounds.

And 10 rounds I’ll chant. That’ll lead to much more spiritual growth. This is a very reductionistic way of con you’re considering spiritual growth. Maybe Krishna is speaking to you something through your anger. Mhmm.

Is it that Krishna is accessible only to the holy name and not to anything else at all? So we have to have personal parameters also. Personal means, what the person takes as important as well as what is specific the person. Others may realize that person may not realize immediately. So personal parameters means if you see when was asked what what how do we know your disciples and apply to all his followers?

He said that they are perfect gentlemen and ladies. Now what that means is person should be well behaved. Person should be cultured. Person should be somebody which others would like to be with. So if we consider the twelfth chapter from text 13 to 20 in the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna is talking about qualities that endure and devotee to him.

And when he’s talking about these, not one of these qualities is associated with the devotional activity. Krishna does not say somebody who passed on Ekadashi, somebody who chants 16 rounds before taking a sip of water. Somebody every day. None of these. Krishna is talking about.

Talking mostly about behavioral qualities rather than devotional activities. Why? Because these are also important. Mhmm. And sometimes they may get devalued.

And this does not mean devotional activities are not important. Of course, they’re important. But at the same time, this change also needs to be Is the person becoming kinder? Is the person becoming less judgmental? Is the person becoming more are they becoming more resilient in terms of facing criticism or facing reversals?

The quality that I described are very universally appealing. So I think each one of us need to see. We want to become grow spiritually. We wanna become better devotees, but we also need to become better human beings. We’re better I wanna become better person.

And what does that mean for me? And how much is my spirituality helping me to do that? Or how much am I doing that with my spiritual path? That’s why all these three parameters, the spiritual parameters, the parameters, and the personal parameters will need to be considered. I think I have the big sip of wisdom here that you just forget.

Thank you very much. It was enlightening. That is so beautiful. Actually, I was reading in the book, and he talks about he says that spiritual life is all about transformation. So what becomes significant, you once you’re practicing spiritual life, you realize what is really important and what can just be background.

What’s the focus of your spiritual journey, and what is just a painting, a detail in the background. And that could vary for individual to a certain extent. And he really mentioned he gives us example about a good test is when you’re squeezed. You put into some trying situation. You have this wonderful example.

He said, if you squeeze an orange, what are you going to get? You’re gonna get orange juice. You cannot expect the leachie juice or a mango juice. You’re gonna get orange juice. So in trying circumstances, when we are really put into difficult situations, when we are tested, at that time, we kind of realize what we’ve been cultivating within our hearts.

If we’re at a slight provocation, we’re only getting angry. If we’re getting frustrated, we’re getting dejected. If we’re becoming depressed, uninspired, then that’s what we’ve been cultivating throughout. He said, so every time we’re squeezed, we wanna check for the quality of the nectar that’s coming out. If it’s orange juice, if it’s mango juice.

So I think trying situations are difficult. Circumstances that we had put through actually give us an insight of the growth that we’ve made. That’s the interesting. Well, you’re my contact. Recently, I was standing from one place to another, and I only travel deep fruits.

It is a long flight. So somebody gave me some apple, and then I tried to chew it, and it turned out to be potato. That That’s not true. Genetically change. Oh my god.

So then it took like it happened. I don’t know how that happened. How this happened so hard to to the. So so one food can be put on another fruit, but when you squeeze it and you chew it with content, at that time, actually, what is the real thing comes out? Yeah.

And that’s that’s that that Radha also likes to code operator. One’s greatness is seen, and one’s capacity to all great provoking situations. Mhmm. I’m just also thinking about Yeah. That’s the important thing.

Now within an institutional parameter, this will not be really seen so much. But it’s so important for not just one individual to not just blow off the handle, but also for a community to, not overreact to whatever incidental problem that come inevitably. So that’s a good example of the transformation being in terms of when we are squeezed. Wow. Yeah.

There was another thing that This can be taken to another extreme. I was in one country, and then they had a very strict leader. And that leader would intentionally squeeze people. He said, I want to push you through a hole so small. Only your soul will go, and none of your ego will go through it.

So I don’t think That’s nonsense. I don’t think that’s an approach to an activity. No. So squeezing is something which your life will do. We should not be doing it to each other.

Yeah. Perfect. That is so true. Actually, I was having a conversation with, one of my teenage boys was kinda trying to work out his plan of how prevalent specifically was trying to work out his plan of how he wants to do his medical, what he really wants to do, what classes he needs to take. And I was just reflecting.

I said, if I’m really serious, this boy is trying to get a medical degree, and he’s figuring out what he really needs to do. He needs to do two classes of that, five classes of this, how he can and he’s organizing his life and his brain and his activities to align with his goal. And it just hit me that if I’m really serious about spiritual life, am I really sitting down and chalking out a plan that this is where I want to be five years from now. And what can I really do to facilitate and enhance my experience in in spiritual life to and how many times do we really take the time to sit down and chalk this whole thing out to at least a certain degree? Like, okay.

I’m really intellectually, like, for you, you’re really intellectually involved. You need that mental dynamics and figuring out things. So if it wasn’t for writing books, I’m thinking you’d probably be lost. That’s activity that your mind really needs would not be fulfilled. And similarly, for me, if I’m thinking that I really have deep interest in music and learning music, but just the way my life has been.

I’ve tried to do different things, or I have a need and my skill set for organization. How can I use those talents? Literally sitting down and figuring out and I think that makes a very holistic journey when you try to take all your aspirate favorable aspirations and carve out a path for spirituality for yourself in the support of an institution as a resource. Oh, man. I’ve really enjoyed this conversation, and I’ve learned so much.

Yeah. I’m. I’m just mesmerized by your ability to come up with these acronyms and meaningful acronyms. And, actually, like, what I felt was a question. And I was thinking when Anang was asking this question, how are you going to answer this?

It was okay. And the way you kind of decoded it with the spiritual perspective, the background or the historic perspective, and then your individual take an approach through your realizations. That’s another thing I think a spiritually elevated person is able to do is share his or her realizations. Because when you’re put through situations is when you come up with these wonderful realizations. That’s true.

It touches one’s heart because they’re genuine, and they come for a space of deep realizations, come from a space of experience. So I really enjoyed this conversation. I’m sure our viewers will too. I want to point out that Chetanya Chiran Prabhu has a whole series of question answers that can be found on his channel, his podcast. Spiritualscientist.com.

There’s definitely a link in the chat as well down below. Yeah. We’ll link it in our description. And, thank you so much again for joining us, Chaitanya. Many people were willing to.

I think it was you there. Answered most of my questions. It answered a lot of my questions, so thank you so much for this illuminating talk. Happy to your service. Only at the end of my talks, I do a summary.

Would you like me to do a summary here? Yes, please. Please. So, basically, I think our broad topic was how much or can or should spirituality be institutionalized? Or can we should we need to be a part of the institution to be spiritual?

Today from moment. So then I talk about from my personal perspective how I joined the institution, but after the honeymoon phase, I realized I needed my space. The philosophical perspective, it is that it’s a personal relationship. At the same time, it should be done in association, like a trickle of water flowing toward the ocean. But then that water can be diverted, especially in a very strong.

There has to be vigilance that the now the individual intention is very important to get into the water and stay in the water. And that’s why the institution is more like a resource for the spiritual growth rather than the source of spiritual growth. And when it is relating with the institution, it’s important not to see the institution simply as a one homogeneous entity, but as a set of support groups with each temple or each set of interested people. People with particular interest finding their own community. That that is a philosophical principle of Sanjayati or Sandra.

And then we won’t feel so suffocated. So they could be too extreme in the approach to the institution and talk about electronic one. This is the only way. You cannot be spiritual without institution. In other ways, if you are institutionalized, you get so caught in the power structure that it’s never the way, but rather it’s efficient and effective way.

But how it will be efficient and effective for us, each one of us has to take the responsibility for finding that. And so in institution, in in itself, it needs to be a tangible thing, and that’s why it will have tangible parameters for growth and success. And personal relationship often has intangible parameters. That’s why each individual will have to find the combination of tangible and intangible that works for them according to their nature, their culture, and their particular role in life. And that’s why, again, in like minded association, we find that out.

You know, how much the social identity of being a part of institution translates into psychological identification, their institution. That is something which each individual will need to decide. And for that, we can have the parameters for spiritual growth kept in mind. So, ultimately, that’s on the end of the according to that, spiritual parameter is we we didn’t Krishna and we wanted to feel that so much more that other experiences no longer allure us. So spiritual attachment and material attachment.

And then the institutional parameters will be in terms of how many books distributed, how many people became devotees, how many temples were paid. It will be for individual component, how much funds are raised, how many people cultivated or whatever. Those are important parameters, but each of us needs personal parameters in terms of becoming a better human being, a better person. And we have our issues that we know and others know. And sometimes we may use spiritual bypassing to get away from those issues.

But each one has to individually grow. That’s what 12.132. Rita is not about devotional activities that India went to Krishna. Personal qualities and behavior that India’s went to Krishna. And then finally concluded that the institution is something which we all need for our spiritual growth.

But at the same time, rather than, I mean, mandating, this is the way you have to be in the institution. It’s rather we see we don’t outsource the responsibility of our spiritual advancement to the institution, but rather we take the responsibility. And then from the institution, the association, the support systems, the inspiration, individually, you can grow spiritually, but the motivation may go down. And even if the motivation does not go down, the reciprocation we’re not we are social creatures. The reciprocation may be lost.

So Srila Prabhupad had that in his region when he didn’t call it the international institution of. He wanted to be a society. So there’ll be project builder. There’ll be community builders. And each one of us, according to our particular nature, will find like minded association in a particular ethos, and that’s where we can flourish in our.

Thank you so much. We love your summaries, Fantastic, It’s amazing how you’ve literally summarized everything we spoke about and Yeah. Crucial important points. That’s what happens when you have a brain like that. Yes.

So I only have a good short term memory, not a very good long term memory. That was fantastic. Thank you so much, Prabhu, for your deep Thank you. Gratitude practice. All the very best for your podcast, and Thank you.

I think you we also have a good vibe with each other, and I think we will we’re good if we can continue this podcast, invite more guests, and connect more and more people. I think what talks are more like a vertical way of sharing Krishna consciousness. Podcast become more like a lateral or a horizontal way of yes. It’s osmosis of sharing Krishna consciousness, and we knew that very much. All the very best for your initial.

For the encouragement, Thank you. Thank you so much, Great. Thank you.

The post Is Spirituality Meant to Be Personal or Institutional_ _ A Conversation That Unpacks It All appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Today on the sacred occasion of the Sajid Prathy, I will speak on the topic of Krishna’s or God’s love for us and our love for us. Specifically, I’ll talk about the topic of does God care? There’s so many things that go wrong in the world. So many things go wrong in our own lives. And when such things happen, it’s natural to get this question.

That even if we accept that godliness, does god care? And, lord Nasumvadev, he is god in whatever manifestations, conceptions of god are there across the world. For god, the same are there, you know, the angriest manifestations. So the lord is anger, is actually a demonstration that he cares. So, generally, we get angry about things that we care about.

And his his very anger, the very form that he’s manifesting all of anger, that indicates that he cares, that he cares deeply. So the lord in his form of Nasimadev is half man. He’s half loyal. He’s half man, half loyal, and full god. He’s fully manifesting divinity, especially in the divine man, Matter of divine power and divine, specifically, anger.

So I have recently written a small book on the Bhagavad Gita. It is prayers inspired good. Can all of you see this? Yes. So we will read something from this book and how it relates to the theme of how the Lord gains and what does it mean.

So basically in this book, I have taken verses from the Bhagavad Gita and use them as inspirations for offering prayers to the Lord. The Gita is not just a source of wisdom. The Gita is not different from Krishna. The Gita’s verses are like mantras. They are also like Krishna.

So you can offer prayers inspired on those verses. So I’ll take one such one such verse, and then we talk about the lord’s so basically, in this book, there’s one beautiful picture of deity of Krishna on each page. Then there is one prayer which is like a spiritual or emotional affirmation. Then there’s the Gita words, and then the translation of the Gita words in a poetic form, so that you can feel a more emotional connect with Krishna and with the words of the Gita. After all, the Gita is a song.

But sometimes the philosophy of the Gita, we may forget it is a song. And then there is a prayer offered based on that. So I will talk about this. So let’s so I’ll read something out. Do we have a second mic by any chance?

Second mic for people to ask your lead or something. Can you just set one up? No. That’s okay. No.

That’s okay. So anyway so you can repeat after me. You just repeat. My dear lord, let your smiling amid my suffering strengthen my faith Not weaken it. Not appeal it.

No. This is the context of the Bhagavad Gita. Krishna is just beginning to speak to Arjuna. Krishna starts speaking on two point eleven. This is two point ten.

So those of you comfort with Sanskrit can decide the words after me. The lord of the senses spoke with a gentle grace. A knowing smile played upon his divine face. Between the armies standing calm and bright, he so laced Arjuna was lamenting his bride. So this is Krishna and Arjuna in The Philippines.

And the key point in this verse is that the contrast. Arjuna is crying, Arjuna is in tears, And Krishna is smiling. So, yes, it can appear that we are facing so many challenges in life, and does Krishna care? Now we may have some challenges. If you look at the story of Prahlad and Narasimha, Prahlad faced far more challenges than what he faced.

It was not just challenges, it was threats threats to his life. And if you see, Prahlad could have had the reason to ask this question even more than us in many ways. Because for him, significantly, our problems may come from many sources. Generally, when we face problems in life, the problems are broadly because of three factors. The problem will come because of just the nature of the world.

Nature of the world means that if we live in a place which is very cold, and it complains so cold, it’s so cold, it’s so cold. Rather than say what you’re saying is so old, so old, so old. You get used to it. That’s how it is. Sometimes the problems may come because of the nature or more precisely, it could nature or behavior of people.

That sometimes there are people who trouble us, people who hurt us. So nature of the world that draws broadly in the very context is called as Adi Dalitl. Just the nature of the world. Then there is, nature of people or the behavior of people. So there could be mosquitoes which bite us, and there could be human beings who bite.

There are mosquitoes, there’s and then there’s mother-in-law. So we have problems coming from people around us. The nature of people or the behavior of people. And then, the third source of problem is the nature or behavior of ourselves. This is sometimes a hard thing to swallow.

But many times, if you see the problem that have come in our life, they have come because of our own actions. Sometimes we get angry over trivial things. Sometimes we end up indulging in things we should not be indulging. Sometimes we make some rash moves, and then we get into trouble. So these are broadly, they are are the ethnic.

So now when the sufferings come in life, naturally, we may turn to his god. Please help me. Please help me, oh lord. So when sufferings come because of the nature of the world, that’s one thing. We just have to okay.

I’ll do with it. Now in the case of Prahlad so this boy has talked with him afterwards. I don’t know what it was typical, teenage and all of a sudden is is going through that phase. The hormones are growing. One is trying to lead deal with peer pressure, trying to find one’s place in life.

It’s a difficult phase. I once I did I have done some writing seminars, attended some, I have conducted some also. So many times people say that, I would like to write, but I don’t have ideas. Where do you get ideas to write? Some people have too many ideas, but they don’t have the patience to translate the ideas into reality.

So this is a so one of the answers I give is if you have survived teenage, you have enough stories to tell for a lifetime. Especially if you have survived teenage in a culture that is radically different from our traditional culture, our family culture. This is a very tough period. So there are just a grow pains that are there. But if we consider the situation of Prahlad, his pains, we could say, among these three, which are the category of the pains you say?

Was it because of nature of the world? Nature of people, nature of others, his own behavior? Which was it? People. Sorry.

Second people. Second people. Kill him. And this is about to happen. It is probably for a child who’s growing up.

It’s the most psychological scarring thing that can be imagined. The person who’s supposed to be a protector, now sometimes the parents are just negligent. That itself is a problem. But if the parent is violent, now it is violent maybe because of okay. We drink alcohol, and we have alcohol abuse, these domestic violence, something like that.

That’s terrible. But disease, it is not, like, anger that is causing come from somewhere else, and this was the child gets caught in the crossfire. It is anger directing the child itself. And it’s knowingly, it’s not just like a rush of temper. We’ll talk about why it is not.

It it can be enormously scarring for a person, for a child who is growing up. The very person who’s supposed to be a protector is out to destroy me. So what kind of world is this? What kind of God will be there who would allow such a thing to happen in the world? So he could easily ever ask this question.

And now why was his father angry with him? Because of his devotion. So he could say that Prahlad Purra said that it is not because of the nature of the world that the problem is coming, it my prob the problems are solely because of my devotion to you. Isn’t it? It’s all not all, but the main thing Hiranyakashipu wanted was that, Prahlad, you stop worshiping Vishnu.

He considered the worshiping you to be like a disease. He says, this is a terrible thing. Stop it right away. See, for us, most of the times, we consider the relationship if we are practicing devotion. And our situation in the world.

So whatever situation you are going to do, if we practice devotion, we expect that the devotion should improve our situation. Now that in many ways, we should be expected to improve. We may in the past, it was more of a karma kanda when God, that oh, father, thou art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Give us our daily bread. So people in the past, we look for physical needs, physical improvement, to all in daily rains so that any harvest and bounty.

And now people may turn towards God, not so much for physical needs, but more for psychological needs. Oh, god. Please give me peace of mind. One of the most common reasons that we ask people, why do you come to a temple? It is not many people come because of the love for god.

Nothing wrong with it. It’s to appreciate whatever reason you come. You come for peace of mind. And that’s also improvement. It’s a big improvement.

You know, it’s, it’s very you can’t just buy peace of mind with a pen. So we expect that our devotion should improve our worldly situation. Now in the case of Prahlad, his devotion itself is the cause of the worsening of his worldly situation. Now when this happens, you know, we practice bhakti. You know, Shiva Prabhupada use a very wonderful, definition of Krishna consciousness.

It’s how he says he asked, how will you know that we are Krishna conscious? So he says, if you come in from the temple, come in the temple, come in from the deity. And if you feel that deity is asking us, Krishna is asking us, what are you doing for me? What are you doing for me? We are all meant to be of loving service to the lord.

So, naturally, the lord will ask, what are your self serving doing? So if we have that mood, if we feel that, that Krishna is asking, what are you doing for me? That is Krishna consciousness. Now many times when people come to a temple, their question is God, what are you doing for me? I have this problem, I have this problem, and I did this pooja, and I did this stuff.

It’s time for you. It’s time for you to pay up now. Come on. Do something. So normally, we expect our devotion to improve our situation.

And if even the situation does not improve, we get agitated. We start thinking, should I even be worshiping god? The question will come out, does god will kill you? So problems are coming and problems are coming because of our devotion itself. And shouldn’t the lord be protecting us?

It’s a it’s it’s it’s a obligation of the lord. You should protect me. Why is he not protecting me? Because the question comes, does the lord care? So Prabhala could naturally have asked this question.

And it is natural for any person when they practice in the bhakti to get the question. So let’s look a little bit at the prayer order. So do we have another mic? Nah. It’s gonna take some time.

No. I’m not touching on that. So maybe someone has a mic in their throat. Somebody will hear you loudly. Oh, please.

Can you read the first Python? Oh my lord. Many are the times when I feel lost and lonely, confronted with the perplexities of life. At those times when nothing I do seems to be working, I cannot help but wonder, do you, oh lord, know my plight? Yes.

So now we will theoretically know that Krishna is permissioned. Krishna knows everything. But does Krishna know my situation right now? And Krishna knows that he came for the situation. So Prahlad is being threatened.

He he was practicing his devotion, and he was not even trying to impose his devotion with his father. It was only for his father to ask some questions. That’s the time he would speak. He wanted to learn in your school, and he would speak sublimely sweet points. And those sublimely sweet points would drive his father into a wild rage.

So and his father, it’s like the the story that we undergoes, we will go over the story and especially focusing on the climax and on the simulated audience. So how things evolve at that particular time. So essentially, we see the descent into into depravity, into brutality. Redekishi po is a brutal person, but even everybody, no matter how bad they are, they have some boundaries. That, say, if somebody’s a criminal, they say I want to rob, but, you know, I don’t want to hurt anyone.

Or even somebody’s also robbed, they say, I don’t I don’t wanna kill anyone. You know, somebody’s a killer. Okay? I will kill, but I am not going to be treated. So, everybody has certain boundaries.

So, initially, when Hiranyakrishnan sees that his son is, is talking about bhakti, He Hirad Dinushbo has defined his life by being anti God. He’s not just an atheist, he’s a anti theist. Antitheist. His purpose of life okay, he thinks that Vishnu is so scared of him, Vishnu has disappeared. So I can’t find Vishnu anywhere.

If I find him, I’ll destroy him. But till I can’t destroy him, I will destroy all signs of worship of him. And that’s why he sends his demons to destroy all the sacred releases, all the Yedges Thales. Right? Yedges over here.

So, watching that again, remembering this past in this past, what he said is, destroy all the signs of worship of him. That and, like, eight people he either he has a great ego, and people who have a lot of ego, what happens, the one thing they cannot tolerate is being ignored. You have a person who has a lot of ego, and they come to a particular place, and nobody notices them. They are enraged. So he now he has a lot of ego.

He wants to throw around his weight and dominate people, so he thinks Vishnu is like that. So he thinks that if I stop the worship of Vishnu, if I completely end the worship of Vishnu, then Vishnu, because of his ego, will come out from wherever he is. And then I can catch him and I can kill him. That’s why he stops all the worship. And then, his situation is he stops the worship of Vishnu practically all over the universe, and then he finds that very worship of Vishnu which is stopped all over the universe, that worship is happening in his own home.

So this is infuriating for him. And he thinks that, so, he thinks, okay, my child is a small child. So, so, normally, what we try to do is that if we like someone, then even if they do something bad, we try to give them the benefit of the doubt. And that’s how it should be, that if we like someone and, say, they eat too much food. Maybe we have prepared meal for four people and they eat the meal of three people.

And then one person has to provide the remaining three people have to share one person meal, or maybe they have a special dessert and they eat too much of the dessert. Then if we dislike that person, we’ll say, so put a clatter. No sense control. But if we like that person, we’ll say, oh, maybe maybe he was very hungry. Maybe he didn’t do that there was limited food.

We’ll try to give them the benefit of the doubt. So generally, what happens, we try to find the blade somewhere else. So like that, Viratne Krishna says, okay, my son is nice, but maybe some of these Vaishnavas have somehow come and infected him. So although he has tried to remove all devotion, but he still know that some people still are practicing Bhakti. So he first warns his students, his teachers, you should watch out.

You should not let my children, my child associate with bad people. So for him devotees are bad people. Not associate. Not let them associate. And then he lets them off with the warning.

Second time it happens. Again, Prahlad said the same thing. This time he’s angrier. This knocks Prahlad down. Oh.

And then there is the there is the there is the there is the there is the there is the there is the the the the sequence is described actually differently. This could refer to how different Kalpas things happen. But the point is that slowly, he starts recognizing. First he gets he get he blames the Vaishnav also coming. Then he blames his teachers, his students’ teachers.

You are not taken care of. And then finally, he says, this child this child is the problem. And then, there is a difference between anger and danger. So anger generally is hot headed. When we are angry about something, it arises from the circumstances and it stays for some time.

Anger is hot headed. But what Hiranyakashipu exhibits is not anger. It is hate. Hate is cold blooded. It is not just one moment of anger.

I said, oh, this Palla needs to be killed. We always speak like that. I’ll kill you if you do this. One devotees suddenly showed me, that the child had run run away, and then the child came back. And then I was talking with the child, and it was just a small misunderstanding.

The child had just taken too seriously. The parents so the parent, the father showed me a small clipping, and they were laughing. So there’s a there’s a mother. Her daughter is running away, and she’s a Christian now. She’s praying to God.

Oh, God. Please let her be please let my child be safe, and let her come home safely so that I can kill her. So that idea here is that sometimes you may use the word, I’ll kill you. So that’s it’s a very non literal sense. It’s an expression of anger.

But in this case, it was real. He said that, you know, if a part of the body gets infected, then we need to cut off the part, otherwise everything will get infected. So he said like that, prala deshnik abhikamit. And therefore, I need to kiss him. So see, here, what he’s doing is, sometimes when we do something bad, we might just do it in a rage.

So when anger comes up, anger just sidelines our intelligence. Sidelines means this put pushes aside. But when aid comes, aid doesn’t sideline the intelligence. Aid recruits the intelligence. Recruit the intelligence means we use our intelligence to make a plan how to do it and how to justify it or something.

This is where we rationalize. And if you heard the word rationalize? So when we rationalize, what happens? We tell rational lies. When we rationalize, we get rational lives.

So he’s justifying the killing of his own son by saying this is like a disease, that the disease has to be removed. So then, it tries to kill, I was talking earlier about boundaries. Even bad people have some boundaries. One of my friends is awarded for a jail. So he says, even more prisoners.

If the prisoners come to jail because of some child abuse, even prisoners don’t like children. Then the child those are child abusers are kept in some kept in some they’re kept in seclusion, solid confinement. Otherwise, prisoners will harm the person there. So everybody has boundaries. So even Hirany Kishipu has some boundaries initially.

He thinks this is my son. I cannot kill him. So he tells others to do the dirty work. He says, he has assistance. You kill him.

Now they all try to kill him, but none of them succeed. And often, this is seen as a miracle. And yes, it is. That the miracle is he’s thrown down a mountain and nothing happens to him. He’s kept at a burning fire.

He is bitten by snakes. He’s put in the path of tramp feeding elephants, and none of those efforts, they endure. So that is a miracle. However, if you look at the Vaishnav Achera’s commentaries, we look at the Maghdi tradition’s commentary, That is not the biggest miracle. See, miracles are basically broadly, they could be of two kinds.

One is things that happen to us. Things that happen to us. To us means that something happens. So here, he’s threatened, and he’s he’s no power for lunges, a small five year old boy. And the five year old boy, how can he defend against anyone?

He’s scared. He survives. So that’s a miracle. But if you look at the Bhakti tradition’s commentary, it is the bigger miracle is not his safety. That his safety is definitely miracle.

But the bigger miracle is the things that happen through us. That the bigger miracle is his his purity, his determination, his devotion. The technical word is fidelity. Fidelity is faithfulness. That despite all this happening, his devotion is not cheap.

And that is the bigger miracle. When Srila Prabhupada would sometimes be asked, how many can he perform some miracles? And Prabhupada would often point to his some of his disciples, and he would say, these are my miracles. But what is the miracle over here? The biggest miracle that matters is the change of the human heart.

There can be many miracles that you can have. Somebody can make somebody can make an object disappear, somebody can make an object appear. Many different kind of miracles can happen, and they have some manner. But the biggest miracle is the change of the human heart. The change of the heart means what?

From a person’s heart is directed towards selfishness, towards ego, towards dominating others, and that person becomes selfless, gentle, caring. That’s the change of heart. That’s the miracle which will actually make bring real happiness in our hearts, and and that’s the miracle that will bring happiness in the world. So the miracle from the Bhakti tradition is not just that Prahlad survived all these attacks. That is true.

It’s also that Prahlad’s devotions are vital. Prahlad’s fidelity to the lord, his faithfulness to the lord was unshaken. Not even once did he have second thoughts that I should worship the lord of god. And that is the glory of Shiv Prabhupada also. Shiv Prabhupada came to America.

In many ways, everything that could go wrong went wrong. You know, if some people believe a lot in faith and some people believe in science, you know, okay, this is educated, then God wants me to do this is educated, then God wants to do that. Now, sometimes that science can tell us something, but if you look at the science of what happened, there’s so many signs for Prabhupada. Right on his journey, he got a heart attack. Hey.

This is why God doesn’t want me to do this. And then after that, everywhere he went, he went he went in Pennsylvania. People the host treated him like a curiosity object, not a spiritual teacher. He wanted to hear it from him. And he got to He seemed very interested in becoming a devotee.

And Prabhupada noted to one of his his patrons in India, his Bangladesh in India, saying that he may well, become the first American Vaishnava. And then what happened, this person went on he took he had a he used to take drugs before he had a, drug and relapse, and he went crazy and came to attack robot. And there was no miraculous nazimuddin coming like that teleported robot. Robot is to view the peace. And when left, it was not just a physical threat that he survived.

No. It is much more the amount of demoralization that supported that time. And the person who is supposed to become a devotee, that person flips and becomes crazy and attacks. Naturally, he could have raised the question, could have asked the question, well, is this mission gonna work, ma’am? These people have a change?

No. The fact that Bhopal did not give up his mission, that itself is a miracle. Even if Bhopal had not succeeded, the fact that Bhopal built hundred day temples and owe 70 boats and inspired millions of people to become devotees, that is definitely miraculous. But the fact that Shri Prabhupada’s devotion survived all their deaths, that is also miraculous. So Pradhan’s devotion surviving is a miracle.

And when the threats come in our life, will that question come, does God care? So when the whole world seems to be screaming to us, no, He doesn’t care. Now, if God had been caring, why would Prabhupada subject to such a danger? Why would Prabhupada have his prospector, his pride will turn against him and ready to attack him? So when the world’s is world’s evidence seems to be screaming to us, no one doesn’t care.

At that time, are we ready to turn away from the world? Are we ready to hear a source beyond the world? So that is what Parnell wants to read. Let’s look at the next paragraph. Would anyone else like to read?

Sure. Yes, please. Yeah. If you if you do know is that the one you want me to read it? Yes, please.

Yes. If you do know my suffering, then why do you not step forward to stop it? If instead of stepping forward to help me, I came to know that in those moments, you were smiling while I was suffering. Oh, Lord. How would I be able to maintain my devotion to you?

Thank you. So, basically, here, Arjuna is suffering and Krishna is smiling. So if we come to know that when we are going through something terrible, terrible situation, then the lord is smiling. Can you even get it? How can you be smiling with the situation?

If somebody goes to a therapist and the person is breaking down and the therapist is smiling, you know, probably the client will sue the therapist for emotional wounds, emotional injury. Isn’t it? How do the child smile, mister Chaim? So the so at such times, you know, when the world’s evidence doesn’t seem to support an emotion, there’s a time we need to look beyond the world. We need to look at scriptures.

We look at the times in scriptures when there is an interaction between the peoples and the law. Because Krishna has arranged this world in such a way that the evidence of the world will always be mixed. That sometimes the evidence of the world will strengthen our faith in God. And sometimes the evidence of the world will question our faith in God. Why?

Because this world is made for those souls who do not want to acknowledge anything to do with God. And when I was introduced to Bhakti Yoga thirty years ago, I started, actually, I was introduced to Bhakti my childhood, but I was reintroduced to the philosophical language in Bhakti, to Shiva Prabhupada’s teachings. So I started to get really into this I started sharing about it with all my friends, relatives. So uncles told me, I have a very good relationship with God. I have not seen him ever go to the temple or doing the other person.

What do you mean by good relationship? He says, our relationship is mutual non interference. He’s happy there. I’m happy here. So some people say that I don’t have anything to do with God.

I don’t need God for anything. So for people that, and this God care, I don’t care if God cares or not. This we can be apathetic towards it. But for those who are a bit emotionally minded, so so people may come to such conclusions because the world’s evidence will never be completely unambiguous. So that is saying that believers need no reasons, non believers accept no reasons.

So the word is such that believers, those who have faith, they will have experiences from within their hearts and confirm their devotion for them. And those who are non believers, they will come up with some explanations for somehow that actually just take explanation how the system is going. So that’s how things will work. So that’s why we cannot rely on our hands alone for the evidence of god’s presence, god’s strength, god’s love. But in history, there are some times when this veil of Maya rings, and then the Lord appears.

And the Lord’s love manifests in the world. And those are the times that we need to dwell on. Those are the times which should become the homes for our heart, the homes for our thoughts. And it is by remembering those incidents that we gain strength, we gain perspective. Now, hybrid tradition has such concept of founding stories.

So for example, the Jewish tradition, the journey of the people to the chosen land, That’s the story that it derives straight from. In our tradition, it is a Rama and the Mahabal, it is a Mahabotam. Why? Because in daily history, we may not see God’s hands all the time. But there are some times in history when God’s hand is seen.

And those who are to be devoted, they need to be able to remember those times. And that’s how our beings are staying under nature. So can we go to the next part? Yes. Oh, like, today?

Any other lady? Question, please? Yes, please. What is this? Bless me.

Bless me. Bless me to remember, oh lord, that you are never smiling because I am suffering. It is through my suffering that I’m becoming more open So Krishna is not suffering, smiling because we are suffering. Krishna is smiling because, say, a a if there’s a doctor. And sometimes the doctors, they can they can observe someone, and they can say, oh, you know, you got this corrugates, you got this disease, you got this disease.

But the patient is in denial. I don’t have any disease. So then, the if the disease symptoms are more so slightly, and that’s when the patient comes to doctor. Please, I need your help. So the doctor smiles not because the patient is okay, but because the patient has come to a place where we will get cured.

So it is that when we are going through difficulties, it is not that Krishna doesn’t know our difficulties. We can read this once again. Okay. If we you my lord. You know my pain.

You know my pain. You feel my pain. You feel my pain. And you want to heal my pain. And you want to heal my pain.

And you want to heal my pain. So the lord is dead, not just somewhere up there, high in the sky, far away. The lord is in here with us in our own hearts at the bottom. So he knows what we are doing. And if he’s not intervening, that that there’s a reason for that.

Now what is that reason? We’ll talk about that, and I’ll conclude. So this last part will take two hours. But not really. So basically, now what we’ll talk about is this one graph which is four quadrant diagram which explains this concept.

That is love and then is anger. Now, love and anger, can both of them go together? There are four possibilities, you know. If there is no love at all and there is no anger, then there is simply apathy. You know, I don’t care for you, and because I don’t care for you, I don’t care what you do also.

Once I’ve tried to do mediation between two people, and one of them said, I know you are handling it to other person. No. I’m not handling it. Anger is an expensive emotion, and I have decided you are not worth it. If somebody starts a mediation like that, that mediation is not very likely to be successful.

But, if we don’t care for a person at all, it’s apathy. Now if there is no love and there is anger, then that is envy. So there is love no love at all. There is eight. The opposite of love would be eight.

Especially with anger, then that is n o d. Now as far as Krishna is concerned, Krishna is never in this category. Krishna always loves everything. So we are talking not from our love perspective. We are talking about the lord’s love.

We are talking about the does the lord care? Does the lord care? So this I can tell you your application. I’m the beneficiary of all living beings. We’ll talk shortly about how.

He’s a beneficial, even of inner negation. Otherwise, I didn’t even know. Now now if there is love and there is no hint, no. That is the sweet expressions of love are there. So when we are in someone who cares for us, selling these cool sweet ambiance.

Now we could talk about romantic love, where there’s a lot of, emotions and hormones and all that. But and there is not not those hormonal kind of infatuation, but here, there’s a deep sense of ease that is there. You call it serenity. Wherein there is love, and there is nothing to agitate them on. We’re just being we are happy with being with that person.

So that is serenity. And there are times when there is love and desire, and that actually shows the intensity of the love. So now love can be seen in both ways, through the absence of anger and through the presence of anger. Say for example, somebody has done something which hurts us a lot. But because we care for that person, we don’t yell at the person.

We try to stay calm. That shows love. Normally, we’ll get very angry when we yell at the person, but because that person is very important for us, we try to stay calm. So that’s one aspect. Now suppose somebody is an suppose a child is child is done something Now scolding should never be the only expression of love.

Then what happened when love is not seen at heart? But the thing is that it is only because I care for you that I’m happy. Good. So sometimes you’ll be angry with the child, you say, for I’m gonna have some mischief or if somebody’s hurting our child. You know, we’ll be angry with that person.

That would also be a sign of doubt. The point is that in the world, when Krishna’s love is there, Krishna when a devotee is going to suffer him, it is not that Krishna does not care. So most of the times, that love is seen through the serenity of Krishna. Most of the times what happens is Krishna is serenely. Now now we talk about Krishna is serene, and there are a few times in history Krishna is peaceful.

That does it mean Krishna doesn’t care? Well, not exactly. Krishna cares, and Krishna shows his care by enabling us to also experience serenity even in the middle of the end, even in the middle of the peak. So this is the amazing thing of bhakti that in bhakti, we say, what is God doing for me? Does God care?

By bhakti, it’s not just emotion, it’s not how much we dance in kliptuls. It is not art how much we roll in ecstasy. A bhakti is actually how much is our heart centered How much do our thoughts find their own in Krishna? Our thoughts’ own is in Krishna. What does it mean?

See, we may for various jobs, we may go to various places, but Yeah. You can. Yeah. Various, jobs, we may go to various places, but as soon as the job is done, we come back home. So like that, we may have to think of various things in the world, but as soon as the things are dilated, our thoughts come back to you.

So for us, when we practice bhakti, what happens is almost mystical, there’s an internal effect of bhakti and there’s an external effect of bhakti. The internal effect of bhakti will be that we will find that we are peaceful even in chaos. That if we start practicing Bhakti, how do we know Krishna is carrying the external problems are there? But in the past, those problems would have shaken us, shattered us. Now I start practicing bhakti.

Those problems would seem to affect us so much. And that is Krishna acting from within our heart to calm us. Now Krishna can do that. Krishna will do that, but we need to turn towards him. We need to fix our mind.

We need to remember him. And that’s what I said is the miracle. So was Lord Rasimhadev not helping for Allah till all the time when he was being prosecuted? Yes. Dharana Simadev was there.

And it was because of the Lord’s presence in Prahlad’s heart that Prahlad could stay calm. Prahlad was not affected. So this is something which like, earlier I said, people feel peaceful when they come to the temple. How does that happen? Actually, we’re coming closer to the presence of Krishna.

So essentially, when we grow spiritually, when we habituate ourselves with remembering Krishna, regularly we practice bhakti, we come to temple, we do our mantra jamba, we do our kija, what happens? Initially for us, the world is very big, and Krishna is very small. And in fact, this is what Indra says in his prayers. He says, we used to worship you before, but this Hernikashi was terrorizing us, and that’s why we have to stop worshiping. But now we have removed this terror of Hiranyakashipu, we’ll start worshiping you.

That means since worship was quite condition the conditions are not good, I don’t worship. So the void is very big, the worldly conditions are very big. But as we grow spiritually, as we become advanced devotees, the world becomes small and Krishna becomes big for us. So this was the situation of Indra, and this was the situation of Brah Lad. And so although there was a huge threat for Prahlad, for him the world was small.

Kriya Krishna was pleased with him and he was worshiping Krishna. So if the world is big, then what happens? The world’s ups and downs, they also become very big. Sometimes our mind makes them even more big. But if the world is small, then the world’s ups and downs also become very small.

So that’s how, as devotees, if we practice Bakfi regularly, we’ll find that our resilience will increase, that life will still batter us with problems, but we won’t be that affected by the problems. The problems will not shake and shatter us to that degree because we will have a correction with our lord. And that, the lord is the bigger reality. The lord has a bigger plan. So when we understand Krishna is the bigger reality, Krishna the world is smaller, Krishna will take care of things in the world that he knows.

When a devotee if he has the devotional vision, what happens is, I understand that my vision is a finite vision. And this finite vision is not the final vision. The finite vision is not the final vision. So right now, within my finite experience, I may not be seeing Krishna intervening and helping you. But this is not the final mission.

There are times when Krishna is helping the past. There are times when Krishna will help me in the future. Right now, let me not make my present experience the basis of all my decisions. So Krishna, when he doesn’t seem to be active, he doesn’t seem to be doing anything. He doesn’t seem to be concerned.

He’s still active, and he’s giving us strength and certainty from within. Krishna says, if you become conscious of me, you will pass over the obstacles of the world. What does that mean? The world along with its ob along with its obstacles will become smaller. And by my connection with you, you will come big enough to go over those problems.

So Krishna’s now is seen by the peace that we experience when we go through the difficulties. When you’ve seen that I have both here. So in 2000 I was in 11, I was once really chanting in one of the temples in India. And when I was chanting, I didn’t notice, it was somewhere at those time, I I would not use crutches. I used to wear a brace.

And I had a brace and a walking stick. So I was walking, and I didn’t notice that there was a little water over there somewhere. And my leg went by the water, and I slipped. I slipped, and I completely fell. And this leg was already very limp because of, polio, and I had osteoporosis and other things.

And when I fell, it was a minor fall, but a severe fracture. Yes. Several hours of surgery had to be done. And I have an old friend who’s named Eastwick. He said to me, he wrote the name and said that he was saying, you were in the temple of God.

You were chanting the news of God. And at that time, you had an accident. So what is the use of your worshiping God? So, actually, that was one of the most transformative experiences for me. I I fell at a terrible pain.

I tried to chat, but I just couldn’t focus on the chat. See, Bhakti is not mechanical. So, one month, what the way I connect with Krishna the most is through the Bhagavad Gita. Reciting the Bhagavad Gita as well says, remembering the Bhagavad Gita as well says, contemplating. Bhagavad Gita also, they’re not just then then I stopped chatting again.

The pain just came back. And initially, we thought it was not a very big fall. We thought it was a problem. But, the pain kept persisting. Then we went to, doctor.

The doctor’s immediate So now I was reciting the Vedas verses and experienced so much relief. Now I now I was chanting the Vedas verses, not out of devotion to Krishna, but out of wanting to avoid the pain. I hope one day I’ll chant my devotion. But the point was, and I told him this, see that same same experience which is from an atheistic perspective will be, what’s the point of worshiping God? In the temple of God, while chanting the ring of God, you fell down and you had accident.

But that same experience from an external perspective and internal perspective, is the inner part. Now, that was one of the experiences that convinced me about the reality of Krishna consciousness to elevate oneself, elevate us above our body situation. That doesn’t mean we get ourselves into pain unnecessarily. It’s not that we put ourselves in pain and say, let us see if I can remove it, so I can go walk. We’re not like that.

But the point is that Krishna may not seem to be intervening, but Krishna is intervening. So, Pabrila, the fact that Krishna was there was what enabled him to stay fixed in his devotion. And there are times when Krishna manifests his anger. So finally, when Hiranyakrishiko decided enough is enough, what happened? He sent his son back to school and said, let’s see.

Maybe this is just a phase that he can go through. Some people think maybe practice Bakhtin’s an impatuation. They go away. So maybe this is a space. So but then what happened was his teachers came back and said, k, the oh, his instead of his face going away, all our students are going away.

He has infected all our students. Everyone has become a rego kid. Now his father said, now I will take matters in my own hands. He wanted to not just kill Prahlad himself, he first wanted to kill Prahlad’s spirit. And therefore, he said, where is your Vishnu?

You claim to worship him, Dhanu Gharazi, saying he’s everywhere? Is he here in this pillar? Which the problem with the world is that often the foolish people are super confident. And the bigger problem with the world is that the wise people are super doubtful. So atheists are confident there is no God.

And theists are worried, will God heal the world heal the world? So, Girindika, she was super confident, she slammed the pillar. That form that had never been seen before, that form was seen. Namrogam Namah Anushan, nor animal, nor human beings. I I’m getting away with it.

The Lord’s anger was such that he would have immediately heard Pernani Kishipo part. But he was waiting. He was waiting till it was sunset. And when it was sunset, Hiranyakashiva thought, you know, see, in this particular battle, Hiranyakashiva was smaller. Normally, the odds are against the devotees.

But in the simudhi manifested, he manifested in a giant form. To the place between the inside and outside of the room. And there, just now he was dragging him along and he was just trying to get out. Now Viranya Kashipu had wanted to break the spirit of Pranayama, and the Simadev broke the spirit of Niranayama. Because for Hirany Kashipu, he said, I am so powerful, I can control everyone.

And the Lord came in, but before he came there, he was completely dominated. It’s like, you know, sometimes through boxer, somebody, I’m a champion boxer. And there, one boxer catches the other boxer in one deadly group. Another boxer So Yes. Operation successful.

Patient initiated. So now, lord, but But he was very angry, but that anger was not towards the soul of. And it was Prahlad also, he he saw his father being killed. He did not he did not bring joy. Oh, you tried to kill me.

Now you have been killed. And nor did he feel remorse. Oh, my father has been killed. Dad, what is his emotion? His emotion was concerned.

Because there would be joy. But you try to now you try to challenge me, my devotion. That’s what that will do. Sometimes, some devotees get pleasure in some bad happening to those who are opposed to God. And God is not getting that joy.

And at the same time, his emotion, people will think because of me my father was killed. His emotion are not all self centered. The emotion was centered around his father’s. He said, he did a pray to him, Narsimhadev, And what did the Lord say? That actually that 40 generations of a devotee’s family are all unified because the person becomes a devotee.

So for the Lord, although he was angry with Hiranyakashibu, that anger was not a venom. Hiranyakashibu thought The Lord smiling joyfully on him. The Lord listening profusely. The Lord seeping him on his lap. The Lord putting his hand on his head.

Then the Lord getting up and putting Prahlad on the throne is you who will be the ruler. It still remains small. The Lord will remain big. So there are times in our life when we will see Krishna’s hand in our life. We’ll see things happen in such a way, yeah, this this couldn’t have happened without Krishna.

There is synchronicity, there is what’s called serendipity. Things don’t happen. And there are things like that have happened in this group. So when those happen, we gain conviction from those witness that actually, Krishna is there and Krishna cares. And because Krishna cares, that is why he is he it’s not that he cared at that time, he doesn’t care now.

He always cares. So let me remember your smile, Hamid, by suffering, as a sign of your confidence and competence that you can tackle in any and every problem no matter how gigantic it seems to you. So last sentence, would I Yes. Not that the Lord doesn’t care. If we are suffering and the Lord seems to be smiling, that doesn’t mean he does not make an animus.

He doesn’t care. It just means the lord is having some plan. He’s taking his time. He is capable. The lord could have been killed in a negative way.

The lord let this time pass so that the world would know the glory of the beloved. Sometimes it is seen through the cheap actions that happen in the world, many times it is seen through the actual changes that happen within our heart. In how our heart stays steady in the love of our Lord. So let’s summarize. I talked about three main points.

I talked about how we understand that lords love as does Krishna care? Does the lord care? That was the topic. When we were discussing this, normally, when we practice bhakti, you know, we have a certain expectation. What is God doing for me?

When we go through life, we practice devotion, and we expect it to improve our worldly situation. And that’s a reasonable expectation. How sometimes, instead of improving the worldly situation, what happens is, our situation may worsen. And at that time, how do we process that? So if we look at the world itself, the world’s evidence can sometimes strengthen our faith, because some things happen which can strengthen our faith.

But many things can happen in the world which can weaken our faith. So that’s why we cannot rely on the world for our faith. Then what what do we do? We turn towards scripture. And there we discuss the divine dynamic that there is a dynamic of love and anger.

So the Lord is never up having apathy there. There’s no love and no anger. The Lord never has enmity towards anyone. So these two are not true at all. And what is true?

That the Lord when his love is there, but there doesn’t seem to be any anger, there doesn’t seem to be any concern, that is where the Lord gives us serenity. The Lord helps us to experience an almost mystical calm, even when the world is a turbulent place. So this is where what happens? We are here and initially the world is big and God is small for us. But eventually what happens?

The as we grow spiritually eventually what happens is that the world becomes for us, the world becomes small, and Krishna becomes big for us. So this is the situation of. This is a a serious devotee. This is the situation of Indra who represents more of a materialistic kind of a devotee. So now this serenity comes because Krishna has become bigger than the world.

And we see the last part. So when there is there are times when Krishna experiences expresses intensity. Intensity is where the Lord’s love becomes manifested in this world. So the lila that is performed over here, this lila and such lila’s will not only lila, these should become the home for our thoughts. It is by remembering these things, these past times that the lord intervened, that the lord protected devotees.

The lord’s protection became manifest at a material level. Like, Billy, he was in Jain Ropad in Jain Ropad in Jain Ropad in Jain Ropad in Jain Ropad in Jain Ropad in Jain Ropad in Jain Ropad in Jain Ropad in Jain Ropad in Jain Ropad in Jain Ropad in Jain Ropad in Jain Ropad in Jain Ropad in Jain Ropad in Jain Ropad in Jain Ropad in Jain Ropad in Jain Ropad in Jain Ropad in Jain, is not the final vision. So we, with faith, with patience, we wait. We keep maintaining our devotion to the Lord and that devotion will be vindicated. Yes.

So Prahlad was glorified. The Lord had a bigger plan, but it did not intervene in particular time. So maybe the Lord will intervene in this time. And the miracles that the Lord does, the miracles can sometimes be external where the situation just changes dramatically, where the miracle can also be internal where we can be peaceful even amid the chaos. External miracle is the chaos just disappears, the trouble disappears.

The external miracle is that the trouble may remain, but we don’t really trouble. We may have it with trouble, but, you know, we live with pain rather than pain, rather than envy, because we now live with our Lord. So let us pray, Lord Rasamade, that, my dear Lord, the day you have demonstrated your Prahlaj’s love for you and your love for Daliyah, let this Prahlaj become the home for my heart. Let me remember that this historical evidence of your love for for those who are devoted to you, and let that remembrance sustain in times when I feel the glory. When I feel the problems are overwhelming.

Let me remember you, oh lord, and find serenity and shelter in strength in that remembrance.

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By Praghosa Dasa Yes a picture paints a thousands words and all but instantly conveys the message its creator intended. Whereas reading a thousand words takes a little longer! However best of all is when pictures and words are combined together and that is why this year we are enhancing Srila Prabhupada’s Vyasa Puja book
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Dear ISKCON Devotees, Please accept our humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. The ISKCON Governing Body Commission (GBC) has noted the Supreme Court of India’s judgment dated 16 May 2025 in the long-standing property dispute between ISKCON Mumbai and ISKCON Bengaluru. ISKCON Mumbai is the official legal entity registered by ISKCON’s Founder-Acharya His Divine
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It was wonderful to again visit Jagannatha Gauranga temple, which is one of our six major temples in Bali. The devotees have worked hard to worship the deities nicely and build up the facilities for programs and festivals.

Besides the local devotees, there are quite a number of devotees from overseas who come through from Europe, Russia, America, and Australia etc. I gave the Sunday morning Srimad Bhagavatam class and many attended.

A Glorious Departure: A Tribute to His Grace Paradhyeya Prabhu (ACBSP) The Vaishnava community recently witnessed the transcendental departure of His Grace Paradhyeya Prabhu (ACBSP), who left his body yesterday May, 31 at 9:20 PM in Sacramento, California. A beloved and dedicated disciple of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, His Grace Paradhyeya Prabhu’s
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Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 21, No. 21
By Krishna Kripa Das
(Week 21: May 21–May 27, 2025)
New York City and Washington, D.C.
(Sent from Baltimore, Maryland, on May 31, 2025)

Where I Went and What I Did

For the twenty-first week of 2025, I spent the first six days at ISKCON NYC in Brooklyn, serving Rama Raya Prabhu’s NYC Harinam program by chanting Hare Krishna and distributing Ratha-yatra flyers for three or four hours each day from Wednesday through Monday, except for Sunday, when I did harinama with a party of congregational devotees from Bhaktivedanta Manor who are touring the United States. On Sunday we chanted from the Bhakti Center to Tompkins Square Park, then through Chinatown, and over the Brooklyn Bridge. Then we chanted on the subway to the Brooklyn temple. On Tuesday, I traveled to Washington, D.C., and I chanted with Sankarsana Prabhu in front of the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History there. Many people from all over the country and all over the world visit that museum so it is a great venue to share your message. I saw the new temple in Potomac for the first time, and I was impressed with its cleanliness and its magnitude.

I share quotes from Srila Prabhupada’s four main books: Bhagavad-gita, Srimad-Bhagavatam, Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, and The Nectar of Devotion. I share notes on classes by Jayadvaita Swami and Anuttama (the GBC), Arcita, Radhe Shyam, and Aditya Prabhus. I share comments Vasudeva Prabhu made during an initiation talk by Jayadvaita Swami.

Thanks to the Indian couple from Sacramento for their kind donation while visiting ISKCON NYC. Thanks to Ahaituki Prema Prabhu for his videos and photos of NYC Harinam. Thanks to the Potomac devotees for their hospitality.

Itinerary

May 7–June 16: NYC Harinam
– May 31: Baltimore Ratha-yatra
June 17–August 19: Paris
– June 22: Paris Ratha-yatra
– June 28: Antwerp Ratha-yatra
– June 29: Rotterdam Ratha-yatra
– July 11: Amsterdam harinama
– July 12: Amsterdam Ratha-yatra
– July 13: Holland harinama
August 20: London harinama
August 21–22: Liverpool harinamas
August 23: Liverpool Ratha-yatra
August 24: Manchester harinama?
August 25: London harinama and flight to New York

Chanting Hare Krishna in New York City

I chant Hare Krishna in Times Square subway station (https://youtube.com/shorts/GHwQc4AAMUM?feature=share):

Yasoda Dulal Prabhu chants Hare Krishna in Times Square subway station (https://youtu.be/Kcm5qEolydM):

Rama Raya Prabhu chants Hare Krishna in Times Square subway station (https://youtu.be/SJmLvA3uLpo):

Jagaddhatri Devi Dasi chants Hare Krishna in Fulton Street subway station in Manhattan (https://youtu.be/MTlcyXrvlqw):

Madhurya Rasa Devi Dasi chants Hare Krishna at Fulton Street subway station (https://youtu.be/FnAcGYKwOio):

Yasoda Dulal Prabhu chants Hare Krishna in Fulton Street subway station (https://youtu.be/4RYHex61Ses):

Yasoda Dulal Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at Jackson Heights / Roosevelt Avenue, and passersby dance (https://youtu.be/jcXEHYzVauM):

Rama Raya Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at Jackson Heights / Roosevelt Avenue, and passersby dance (https://youtu.be/mvo4jW7EEGs):

GBC Anuttama Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at Columbus Circle (https://youtu.be/Zpl4VVYyYkA):

Jai Nitai Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at the Bhakti Center (https://youtu.be/F5jlFqoRdJM):

Maha Nrsingha Prabhu from Bhaktivedanta Manor chants Hare Krishna in the Lower East Side of Manhattan (https://youtu.be/YcyafWb6ZNU):

Lila Manjari from Bhaktivedanta Manor chants Hare Krishna on the Brooklyn Bridge (https://youtu.be/a4H8m-K9kXc):

Monday was warm and dry so our NYC Harinam party was back in Washington Square Park. Here I chant Hare Krishna there (https://youtube.com/shorts/dqRTL5sw32k):

Chanting Hare Krishna in Washington, D.C.

Several years ago I promised my godbrother, Sankarsana Prabhu, I would chant with him three days a year in Washington, D.C., across from the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.

Sankarsana chants there several days a week when weather permits, usually from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. When he was chanting I would chant the response, play the shakers, and dance. I would also offer shakers to people who seemed to appreciate our music and give “On Chanting Hare Krishna” to people who were more interested. I told several Indians about our Potomac temple.

Here Sankarsana Prabhu plays the keytar and chants Hare Krishna by the Museum of Natural History in Washington (https://youtu.be/Fvvn0BVwZQ4):

Here he chants another tune (https://youtu.be/vzXCS5n4JG0):

A few people played the shakers and accepted “On Chanting Hare Krishna.” Some gave donations and accepted books.

Insights

Srila Prabhupada:

From Bhagavad-gita 18.75, purport:

“One has to understand Krishna not directly but through the medium of the spiritual master. The spiritual master is the transparent medium, although it is true that the experience is still direct. This is the mystery of the disciplic succession. When the spiritual master is bona fide, then one can hear Bhagavad-gita directly, as Arjuna heard it.”

From Bhagavad-gita 18.76, purport:

“The result of Krishna consciousness is that one becomes increasingly enlightened, and he enjoys life with a thrill, not only for some time, but at every moment.”

From Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.8.4:

“Persons who hear Srimad-Bhagavatam regularly and are always taking the matter very seriously will have the Personality of Godhead Sri Krishna manifested in their hearts within a short time.”

From Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.8.37, purport:

“That is the nature of a devotee. He may desire material gain, but he accepts it only if Krishna offers it.”

From Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, Adi 4.30, purport:

“The reason the Lord displays the rasa-lila is essentially to induce all the fallen souls to give up their diseased morality and religiosity, and to attract them to the kingdom of God to enjoy the reality. A person who actually understands what the rasa-lila is will certainly hate to indulge in mundane sex life. For the realized soul, hearing the Lord’s rasa-lila through the proper channel will result in complete abstinence from material sexual pleasure.”

From Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, Adi 4.147–148:

“The beauty of Krishna has one natural strength: it thrills the hearts of all men and women, beginning with Lord Krishna Himself. All minds are attracted by hearing His sweet voice and flute, or by seeing His beauty. Even Lord Krishna Himself makes efforts to taste that sweetness.”

From Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, Adi 4.153:

“The gopis saw their beloved Krishna at Kurukshetra after a long separation. They secured and embraced Him in their hearts through their eyes, and they attained a joy so intense that not even perfect yogis can attain it. The gopis cursed the creator for creating eyelids that interfered with their vision.”

From The Nectar of Devotion, Chapter 39:

“In the Eleventh Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam, Third Chapter, verse 32, it is stated that when devotees are engaged in the discharge of bhakti-yoga, sometimes they cry from thinking of Krishna, sometimes they laugh, sometimes they become jubilant, and sometimes they talk in very uncommon ways. Sometimes they dance, sometimes they sing, sometimes they are actually engaged in the service of the Lord, and sometimes they sit down silently as if absorbed in trance.”

“Similarly, in the Seventh Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam, Chapter Seven, verse 34, Prahlada Maharaja says to his friends, ‘My dear friends, as soon as pure devotees of Lord Krishna hear of the transcendental pastimes of the Lord, who is the eternal reservoir of pastimes, or hear about His transcendental qualities, they become overpowered with jubilation. Ecstatic symptoms are manifested in their bodies. They shed tears, talk falteringly, glorify the Lord in a loud voice and chant and dance in ecstasy. These ecstasies are always there, but sometimes they overcome all limits, and the symptoms become manifest to all.’”

From The Nectar of Devotion, Chapter 41:

“The Lord, Hari, whose bodily hue is like the indranila jewel, whose smiling is as beautiful as the kunda flower, whose silk dress is as yellow as golden autumn foliage, whose chest is beautified with garlands of flowers and who is always playing upon His flute—this enemy of the Agha demon is always attracting our hearts by wandering about Vrndavana.”

Jayadvaita Swami:

From a class on Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, Adi 4.29:

In a well-run organization, employees do not have to be told “Do this. Do that.” They automatically know what they should do, and they do it. Similarly Krishna’s yogamaya automatically makes arrangements to enhance the loving dealings between Krishna and His devotees.

The great love of the Vaikuntha residents is expressed through their adoration.

The highest stage of love is present in spontaneous dealings. For these to take place, the devotees have to forget that Krishna is supreme and they are subordinate.

In Vrindavan there is no respect, just love.

The loving dealings of the gopis and Krishna are expressions of the gopis affection for Krishna and Krishna’s reciprocation. They have nothing to do with mundane sexuality.

One achieves spontaneous love by following regulative principles not by transgressing regulative principles.

Q: How to go to Vaikuntha?
A: Follow the regulative principles. And then to go to Goloka, after perfecting that, and go on to spontaneous love.

If Krishna had to worry about setting the stage and directing the show, He could not just enjoy the relationships, so yogamaya does all that for Him.

Comment by Janmastami Prabhu: When I sell people books, I say, “This book tells how to achieve the highest level of pleasure possible for a human being.”

Srila Prabhupada said we do not have to make up anything. We just have to tell them what is in the books.

From an initiation lecture at the Bhakti Center on May 24, 2025:

Srila Prabhupada said many times that initiation means to begin.

Of course, hearing the holy names and reading the books, are always good.

Bhajana-kriya means we take up the recommended process. This includes accepting a bona fide spiritual master.

He is good to hear the kirtans and lectures, but at a certain point we must become serious about spiritual life, because the human life is meant for spiritual realization.

My career is important for the time being, but it is not eternally important.

If we have missed the spiritual focus of human life, we have missed human life, as most people are doing.

When we want to understand spiritual truth, we need to accept a spiritual master.

People have so many theories, but they remain morose because they do not have that knowledge that satisfies the soul.

One who serious about ultimate benefit should approach a guru and inquire about that ultimate benefit.

The two qualifications of the guru: (1) he has heard from a guru in the succession about spirit and (2) fixed in devotional service.

The bona fide spiritual master repeats the words of Krishna.

Srila Prabhupada said his qualification was that he did not add or subtract anything. He just presented what he heard.

Faith is not just a sentiment but practical activity. That practical activity is engagement in devotional service.

I asked Srila Prabhupada, “How does the spiritual master know if the disciple is making advancement?”
Srila Prabhupada replied, “Everyone can know. The face is the index of the mind. If one is happily engaged in devotional service one can see.”

The answers aren’t free. In one sense they are free, anyone can read the books. But to realize the knowledge of the books, you have render service.

Surrender to Krishna does not mean I sign a paper, “Krishna, from now on I am yours.” We actually have to act for Krishna.

How are we going to advance by saying “no” to our spiritual master?

The commitment to the spiritual master beyond all other commitments.

Srila Prabhupada asked a disciple, “What is the position of the disciple?” 
He replied, “Servant.”
Srila Prabhupada corrected him, “Menial servant.”

Srila Prabhupada once indicated that Narada Muni is dragging us back to Godhead through the disciplic succession.

Our business is to carry out the orders we have received, and to depend on Krishna, whether there is success or failure.

Being a spiritual master is not an independent enterprise.

We do not expect to be like Srila Prabhupada, but we can follow.

Srila Prabhupada used to chant on the initiates beads on the spot.

One who is rasananda appreciates all the rasas that Krishna enjoys, whatever his own position is.

From a talk on “Sadhus and Surgeons” at the Bhakti Center on May 25, 2025:

Srila Prabhupada would say strong words are sometimes needed to awaken a sleeping man.

The duty of the spiritual master is to speak the truth not to confirm our illusions.

Mr. Sethi recalls his first meeting with Srila Prabhupada. Prabhupada asked him what he was doing. Mr. Sethi said he was working and maintaining his family. Srila Prabhupada said, “What is the difference between you and a pig? A pig is also working and maintaining his family.” Mr. Sethi accepted it and became a staunch follower of Srila Prabhupada.

A man could not understand why Srila Prabhupada called some person a rascal that the man thought was a saint. Srila Prabhupada took a blue book off the shelf and read the translation of Bhagavad-gita 9.34, and he praised the accuracy of the translation. Then he read the purport, “It is not Krishna that you must surrender to, but the unborn, beginningless within Krishna.” Then Srila Prabhupada concluded, “Therefore they are all rascals.”

Surrender means it is all yours. I can take a little just to meet my needs.

We are claiming this is my land, but it is not my land, either individually or corporately.

Do not do business with the Lord – this is for me, this is for you. It is all Krishna’s.

A women who also attended the uptown swamis’ classes said, “Swamiji, isn’t it true that we are all one.”

Srila Prabhupada said, “No. Just like in the body. There are nine holes. Can you put the food into this one or that one? No, you have to put the food in the mouth.”

The Vaishnavas ask the question, “If everything is one as you say, where does the variety come from?”
The Mayavadis reply, “The varieties come from maya (illusion). When the illusion is removed, you will see everything is one.”
The Vaishnavas respond, “Then you have two, (1) the oneness and (2) the illusion. You no longer only have only one.”

The Republicans and Democrats are mortal enemies, but if America is attacked they band together to defend the country. We have our differences, but we can unite for a common cause. If we understand Krishna is our common center of interest, then we can be united. That’s why the chanting is so important, that it awakens our understanding of our common interest in Krishna.

From a question and answer session with devotees from London at the Bhakti Center on May 24, 2025:

Q: Ideas for the future.
A: Pay attention to people. Despite our programs and programs, we can benefit people one person at a time by paying attention to them. Programs with small groups can be helpful. Groups may be according to interest, location, or demographics. You need a separate group for the Western people. In Zurich, they have two Sunday feasts, one for the Tamil people in the morning and for the Swiss in the late afternoon. Kirtan, provacan, and prasadam are the substance of all our programs.

If you chant Hare Krishna, you will live without education. However, if you live without Krishna consciousness, you will never really live.

We may want to keep doing our service until we are 83, but it is a valuable service to teach others. By staying in our position, we are keeping others from gaining the opportunity.

Srila Prabhupada once told me, “Continue your prescribed duties and train others.”

Anuttama Prabhu:

From a class on Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.8.37 at ISKCON NYC on May 25, 2025:

When Dhruva Maharaja was unable to accept the brahminical instruction of Narada Muni, Narada did not abandon the attempt to instruct him, rather Narada instructed him in a different way. We can learn from this example when we are instructing others.

Dhruva Maharaja, like Hiranyakasipu, wanted a kingdom greater than Brahma, but Dhruva Maharaja only wanted to achieve that position by honest means whereas Hiranyakasipu wanted that kingdom by any means honest or dishonest.

We cannot have a super narrow definition of bhakti if we are to engage everyone in the world in it.

We shouldn’t think for someone to be a serious devotee they have to be like us. People have a different natures. We have to encourage the people to engage their talents for Krishna.

We have to help people try to fit into the Krishna movement.

The world is full of people who think they are special, and who are willing to push people out of the way. If we become like that, our movement will not spread, and we ourselves will not be satisfied.

Welcoming everyone in does not mean lowering our standards.

Sometimes people are too fanatical about their own traditions. One young Jewish man said he heard a rabbi say if you are not Jewish there is no difference between you and an inanimate object.

Comment by Arcita Prabhu: Some people think we pushed editing on Srila Prabhupada, but the editing was Srila Prabhupada’s idea. When Prabhupada met Howard Wheeler and learned he was an English professor, he immediately engaged him in editing his books because he wanted his books to be accepted by educated English speakers.

From a class on Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.8.38 at ISKCON NYC on May 26, 2025:

In the Bhagavatam we see how devotees deal with issues very much like the issues that confront us, and how the Lord protects them in different ways.

We wouldn’t be here if we did not have some glimpses of Krishna working in our lives.

Our happiness is not real because it is not lasting.

Seeing the books in a rich Indian family’s library, I realized that rich people have a whole level of anxiety that I do not have.

There was an orphanage where the babies were dying at a greater rate than average although they were fed and clothed, etc. There was an independent investigation, and it turned out the babies were never held, and they were literally dying because of that.

I know many friends in their sixties who are rebuilding their relationships with their children because they did not understand how to give their children both Krishna consciousness and other care they expected.

We should think, “I have been given so much mercy. I should show others some mercy.”

Sudharma Dasi was a great manager who worked well with both women and men. I asked her how she was able to do that. She said, “I ask the women how they feel about things, and I ask the men what they think about things.”

Arcita Prabhu:

Even before their spiritual-master disciple relationship began, Dhruva had a relationship with Narada. Dhruva’s father is Uttanapada Prabhu, whose father was Syamabhuva Manu, whose father was Brahma. Narada is also a son of Brahma, so Narada is the great uncle of Dhruva.

Maya has everyone in her grip, and they do not even know they are in her grip.

In one culture, before constructing a building they would carefully relocate all the earthworms.

We are dependent on Krishna for supplying the sun, the rain, etc.

We want everyone and everything around us to be perfect because we come from a perfect world. But we should understand we are not in a perfect world now, so we have to be tolerant.

We may think that we are a ksatriya because we have isvara-bhava, the desire to control, but actually everyone, even a two-year-old kid has the desire to control.

Srila Prabhupada told Yamuna if she did not teach others how to cook she would become envious.

Krishna consciousness is very simple. Wherever God-given talents you have, engage in God’s service.

If everyone in ISKCON did what they wanted to do, how would things go on?

Radhe Shyam Prabhu:

If you have Krishna, you have everything, but if you have everything, you do not have Krishna.

Just as the parents take care of all their child’s needs, the Lord takes care of all the needs of one who surrenders to Him.

Material life is like a game in which you cannot win and you cannot stop playing.

Srila Prabhupada gave people practical ways they could engage their talents in Krishna’s service in addition to giving them spiritual knowledge. We should also do like this.

Srila Prabhupada engaged Haridas, who was formerly a thief and accustomed to stay awake at night, in chasing away the dogs that barked at night and made his dictation tapes difficult to hear.

Both the Pandavas and Kauravas were eternal associates of the Lord. The Mahabharata War was arranged by Krishna to show the different results of pious and impious action.

Vasudeva Prabhu:

Regarding the second offense is considered an offense both to consider the demigods to be completely distinct from the Supreme Lord and also to consider them to be identical with the Supreme Lord. They are His eternal servants.

Inattentiveness is an offense whether dealing with the name, the guru, or the Vaishnavas. We must consider the exalted nature of them all.

Aditya Devi Dasi:

Dhruva telling Narada that he could not follow his instruction to tolerate material dualities like a brahmana would is like Arjuna telling Krishna he could not follow his instructions on astanga-yoga.

Krishna gives us personal instructions in the heart just to inspire us. Although others may not understand their significance, they could be life changing for us.

Some qualities are expected to be attained by all four varnas: Truthfulness, nonviolence, charity, celibacy, absence of malice, to service God, to be a follower the king, to follow the scripture, being equipoised, forbearance, to follow one’s duties, to have faith in God.

We have to be humble to apply ourselves to the process of purification.

Some of the queens of Krishna, who wanted to worship Krishna in the deity form, became sannyasis who worshiped the Krishna deity in Udupi.

In Udupi brahmanas by looking how a boy plays, eats, and sleeps and by analyzing his astrological chart determine which boys are suitable to be trained as sannyasis.

When I was a new devotee in Scotland all the devotees in the center I joined in had been around for twenty years. They were kind to me and engaged me in different services.

The householders in Vrindavan give rotis to the brahmacaris who go begging. They are happy to do so because they consider it is a benefit for them.

In the temple, it is best if the leaders can identify the skills of the devotees so they can be happily engaged.

Everyone was on a book distribution marathon in another part of the country when I joined so at mangala-arati it was just the pujari and me. He said sharply, “I will sing one line, and you repeat.” I did not know the language and had never sung before, but I understood it was important, so I did it. From that the devotees decided I was a singer, and encouraged me to sing and every opporunity, and I became part of a kirtan group that performed in different cities in Scotland.

Training is why we are here and have these brick and mortar buildings.

-----

The author of Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, Krishnadas Kaviraja, eloquently and succinctly defines the difference between lust and love:

atmendriya-priti-vañcha — tare bali ‘kama’

krishnendriya-priti-iccha dhare ‘prema’ nama

“The desire to gratify one’s own senses is kama [lust], but the desire to please the senses of Lord Kṛṣṇa is prema [love].” (Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, Adi 4.165)

In the beginning we desire only to gratify our senses, but at the end we hope to desire only to gratify Lord Krishna’s senses. May we steadily progress from the platform of lust to the platform of love by the mercy of the Lord and His devotees.

By Vijaya Das

Mayapur, Mumbai-Juhu, and Vrindavan were the top three large temples. London Soho, Ahmedabad and Bhopal were the top three medium temples. Atlanta Krishna Life, Surat and Chandigarh were the top small temples and Baltimore, Kishinev and Porto Alegre were the top maha-small temples this month. Over 465,000 literatures were distributed this month and even Pope Leo XIV got in on the action as shown below! Continue reading "WSN April 2025 – World Sankirtan Newsletter
→ Dandavats"

From her childhood Princess Sachi devi, the daughter of King Naresh Narayana of Bengal, showed unalloyed devotion to Lord Sri Krishna. She even refused to marry on account of her genuine attachment to Krishna. After her father’s demise she ruled the kingdom. But she soon renounced it to find a bona fide spiritual master.

Princess Sachi devi met Shri Haridasa Pandit, a leading guru in Vrindavana, and began performing devout bhajana to Govindaji. Although she became frail from under-eating, she would always sleep on the Yamuna’s sandy bank, and rise before sunrise to clean Govindaji’s Temple.

Daily she would hear Bhagavata-katha, see Govindaji’s arotika, circumambulate Radha-Shyamasundara’s lila sthanas (pastime places) such as Vamishivata, Seva Kunja, Nidhu vana, Rasa Sthali.

Receiving encouragement from Shri Haridasa Pandit, Sachi devi completely dropped her false ego, put on rags, and went house-to-house in Vraja begging alms. The Vrajavasis were astonished by her severe renunciation. Taking her guru’s suggestion, she went to Radha-Kunda to associate with Shri Lakshmipriya devi dasi, a dear disciple of Shri Haridasa.

Following Thakura Haridasa’s perfect example, Lakshmipriya devi daily chanted 300,000 names (192 rounds) of Krishna. Everyday the two ladies would circumambulate Govardhana Hill and worship Krishna.

On her guru’s order, Sachi devi went to the home of Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya in Jagannatha Puri. Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya and most of Lord Gauranga-sundara’s eternal associates had already returned to Goloka Vrindavana.

Sachi devi restored Sarvabhauma’s house, and established first-class worship of Shri Shyama Raya, a Deity given to her by a Jaipur brahmana. Everyday she lectured on Shrimad Bhagavatam. Her classes became popular attracting eager listeners from miles around. Many people, including brahmanas and King Mukunda Deva, took initiation from Sachi devi.

On the day of Ganga Sagara Mela, Sachi devi, who was residing in Jagannatha Puri, desired to bathe in the Ganges. That night the Ganges flowed from the lotus feet of Lord Jagannatha and came to Sachi’s ashrama. Entering Ganga Devi’s waters, Sachi floated to the lotus feet of Jagannatha Swami inside the Temple.

After unlocking the doors the next morning the pujaris were surprised to find her inside the temple. Thinking she was a thief, they immeditately put Sachi devi in jail. Seeing this mistake, Lord Jagannatha appeared simultaneously in a dream to both the Puri King and the head pujari. The Lord ordered them to release Sachi devi dasi and take initiation from her.

From then on she became famous as Gangamata Gosvamini:

The ISKCON Los Angeles New Dvaraka Temple stands as one of the most significant spiritual and cultural landmarks in Southern California, representing over five decades of devotional service and community engagement. Established in 1970 by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada, this temple has served as a cornerstone of the International Society for
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Opening Ceremony & Pranams to HDG Srila Prabhupada. Senior Disciples Discuss Prabhupada’s Letters. Prabhupada’s first disciples on video talk about their personal letters from Prabhupada.Maha HariNam Sankirtan Bus to Santa Monica/Venice Beach. Prabhupada Movies/Memories/Footage View this post on Instagram A post shared by ISKCON LA | New Dvaraka (@iskconla)
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Twelve days before his departure, Srila Prabhupada was asked about ISKCON’s future leadership. Expressing concern, a guest asked if a single successor would lead. Prabhupada clarified that no one person would succeed him—instead, all should become gurus and collectively carry forward the mission, as instructed by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Source: https://vanisource.org/wiki/771102_-_Conversation_B_-_Vrndavana 771102 – Conversation B –
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Apple Records threw a party for Radha Krsna Temple, the day before the release of their debut single Hare Krishna Mantra. The single had been produced by George Harrison, and he played harmonium and bass guitar on the recording. It was released as Apple 15, with Prayer Of The Spiritual Masters as its b-side. Harrison
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“HH Mukunda Swami recounts receiving a letter from an unknown sender in Italy, which contained color negatives of a photo of the London Deities dressed in the red and green outfit that the devotees were eager to use as the cover for the upcoming ‘Radha Krsna Temple’ album release.”
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Is karma caused by the action itself or by the thought behind the action?

Both are important. In the broad analysis of Dharma, the right thing to do, as we see in the Mahabharata, in the various deliberations, three factors are seen to be of relevance. The first is what we do, or the content of the action. The second is why we do it, or the intent of the action. And the third is what results from our action, or the effect of the action. These three can be summarized by the acronym ICE: Intent, Content, and Effect. And just as ICE can stop the flow of water, similarly, these three can be used to stop the impulsiveness of our actions and bring a greater degree of reflectiveness in our actions.

For example, if somebody kills someone, killing is bad, but if somebody kills accidentally while trying to defend themselves, then the intent may completely overshadow the actual content of the action, and that person may not be considered culpable at all. On the other hand, if someone acted to kill someone, then, depending on whether that was an impulsive action or a calculative action, it could be manslaughter or murder. What applies in general in normal law also applies with respect to karma. The principle of karma is logical; it is not diabolical, waiting to catch and trap us for factors that we do not know or are not in our control.

In general, the principle of karma is that we need to be reflective and responsible about our actions. So rather than getting caught too much in this or that, in terms of what will lead to greater culpability with respect to karma, we can focus more on the principle that if we are reflective and responsible, trying to act in the mood of service, to do our part in a larger whole, which ultimately means to do our part in a mode of service to the supreme whole that is Krishna, then we will be best situated to create an auspicious future for ourselves, irrespective of the technicalities of the specific choices that we may make during the course of our life.

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Hare Krishna. Join us for our annual "Krishna Mela" celebration at Sri Sri Radha Giridhari temple (ISKCON Auckland) on Sunday 10th August 2025 from 11am - 4pm in anticipation of our upcoming Sri Krishna Janmastami Mahotsav. All are welcome!

Does a soldier who drops a bomb on the enemies during wartime get karma? Is it better for the soldier to drop the bomb on an empty area so that there are no casualties?

Life is tough. One reason it is tough is because bad things happen to us. But another bigger reason is that sometimes bad things have to be done by us. That is what Krishna tells Arjuna in the section from 1846 to 1848, that all endeavours are covered by fault, just as fire is covered by smoke. Sarvaarambhahi doshena dhume naguniribavrata.

That’s why one has to accept the material world in its fullness, as it is, without any illusions that it will be a happy place or even that it will be a place where we will be able to live always happily and virtuously, in terms of the actions that we do. Even good people at times have to do bad actions, at least actions that are going to have some bad consequences, even if those are not the primary consequences which they intend to do when they take up those actions.

So the rightness and wrongness of actions can be decided broadly by three factors: the intent with which we do it, the content of what we are doing, and the effect that it results. So sometimes an action may have an effect that is unfortunate, but if that is not the intended effect, but is a by, or as military terminology puts it, collateral damage, then that should be minimized as much as possible. If it cannot be avoided, that does not mean the duty itself is to be abandoned.

While war is terrible, sometimes war is the only way to prevent something far more terrible from happening. And if someone has chosen the profession of becoming a soldier, then fighting and killing is what they are trained to do, and that is what they are expected to do, and are paid to do, and they can do it better than civilians. If somebody has strong moral reservations about fighting and the violence involved in fighting itself, then they should not be a part of the military profession.

We all have our dharma, and one way of understanding dharma is harmonious belonging, that we belong to a larger whole, and we need to belong harmoniously, in the sense that we need to do our part, that is expected from us, in the whole, and the whole needs to do its part. So if we drive on the road, we need to follow the rules of road traffic, and the authorities overseeing the road transport system should ensure that there are no dangerous potholes or other inordinate dangers that come to us, even when we are driving safely.

Similarly, with respect to military dharma, there will be two parts. That individuals, in terms of the soldiers in the defense forces, have proved their part of fighting, as and when they are called up to do. Now the collective, here the military authorities, and the political authorities who are leading the country, have the responsibility to do their part, which means that they do not send soldiers on unnecessary wars, they carefully try their best to settle disputes by means other than war.

If a soldier feels that a war is being fought for ulterior motives of the political aggrandizement of the particular leaders in charge, and not for the good of the country, or the good of humanity, then a soldier can be a conscientious objector. But those are exceptional situations, and generally, the soldiers need to neither be seen to be abandoning the army in the time of need, nor be actually doing that.

When Arjuna protested about the duty of fighting the war, and claimed to be a conscientious objector to the war, meaning that his conscience did not let him fight the war, Krishna educated him about how the war was for a righteous cause. However, if a soldier has taken the salary from the government during peace time, and then suddenly, during war time, decides not to do what the army strategy requires them to do, because of a desire to avoid causing violence, then the soldier will be failing in their duty.

As far as one will get karma or not, we can get our karma in various ways. We can get karma by doing something that harms others. But we can get karma by failing to do what we are expected to do also. So rather than worrying too much about which activity will cause how much karma, we need to understand the underlying principle that karma, the whole purpose of karma, is accountability, which should lead one to thoughtful, responsible action. All actions will involve some karmic complications.

When doctors give antibiotics to patients, you could say that the doctor is being a systematic, cold-blooded murderer of all the germs that will be killed by the antibiotics. But that is for saving the life of the patient, or improving the quality of life of the patient, and that is considered to be a greater good in that context. The philosophy of karma is meant to encourage thoughtfulness and responsibility and accountability, not paranoia or paralysis or irresponsibility.

The post Will a soldier who drops bombs on the enemy during war time get karma for those actions? Would it be better for the soldier to drop the bombs on empty fields rather than on the enemies directly? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) Dallas temple stands as a remarkable testament to spiritual dedication, community service, and cultural preservation in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. For over five decades, this vibrant community centered around the sacred deities Sri Sri Radha Kalachandji has flourished into a multifaceted organization that seamlessly blends ancient Vedic traditions
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Sri Baladeva Vidyabhusana appeared in the 1600’s near Remuna, Orissa. In his youth, he mastered Sanskrit grammar, poetry, and logic. After carefully studying the commentaries of Sankara and Madhva he took initiation in the Tattva-vadi disciplic succession of Sripad Madhvacarya. Baladeva Vidyabhusana became a dig vijaya pandit and began visiting the holy places. Wherever he went he defeated the local sages, scholars, and sannyasis.

In Jagannatha Puri, he learned the super-excellent philosophy of Sri Krishna Chaitanya from Sri Radha-Damodara Goswami and took initiation after converting to Gaudiya Vaishnavism. In Vrndavan, he studied Srimad Bhagavatam under Srila Vishvanatha Cakravarti Thakura and worshiped Radha-Syamasundara.

In 1706 A.D. Vishvanatha Cakravarti Thakura sent him to Gulta (near Jaipur, Rajasthan) to uphold the credibility of Mahaprabhu’s movement. The local Ramanandis (a branch of Sri Vaishnavas) were claiming that the Bengali Vaishnavas had no right to worship Govinda because they had no commentary on the Vedanta-sutra.

Lord Govinda Himself directly revealed the Govinda-bhasya (a Vaishnava commentary on Vedanta) to Baladeva Vidyabhusana. Using it, Baladeva solidly established Gaudiya Vaishnavism as an independent philosophy. He also reinstated the Bengali Vaishnavas in Govinda’s service in Jaipura. Govinda-bhasya is the only bhakti commentary on Vedanta-sutra.

Sri Baladeva Vidyabhusana was a niskincana-parama bhagavata, fully-renounced topmost Devotee of Lord Krishna. According to Sri Bhaktivinoda Thakura in Navadvipa-dhama mahatyam, in Chaitanya lila Baladeva Vidyabhusana is Sri Gopinatha Acarya, the brother-in-law of Sri Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya. In Vraja he serves as Sri Radha’s eternal maidservant Ratnavali Devi.

**Festival of India: A Traveling Celebration of Culture, Devotion, and Joy** The Festival of India, also known as Harinam Festivals Inc., is a vibrant traveling cultural celebration that has brought the spiritual essence of Vedic India to cities across North America since 1979. Organized with heartfelt devotion, this festival transforms public spaces—parks, city centers, university
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In an era of immense transformation, ISKCON North America is boldly stepping into the future with a dynamic and inspiring vision that blends spiritual depth with organizational excellence. The “Future Forward” initiative, recently re-launched through a compelling long-format broadcast hosted by Braja Bihari Das and featuring Jai Krishna Das, outlines a clear and courageous roadmap
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A grand and vibrant celebration of the Sri Jagannatha Ratha Yatra took place in the heart of Rome, drawing hundreds of devotees and visitors to the iconic Piazza del Popolo. Organized by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), the festival featured a majestic procession of the chariots carrying Lord Jagannatha, Lord Balabhadra, and Subhadra
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Gita Nagari Retreat 2025 – Krsna in Vraja At the heart of the Gita Nagari Retreat 2025 was a powerful, evocative journey through the soul of Bhakti: a meditation on Krsna in Vraja, culminating in an impassioned exploration of the Ras Lila – the sacred dance of divine love between Krsna and the gopis of
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In the heart of New York City, where the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) was officially founded in July 1966, an inspiring spiritual resurgence is underway. The birthplace of the global Hare Krishna movement is undergoing a remarkable transformation—honoring its past while boldly shaping its future. This sacred site carries the legacy of A.C.
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In late May 2025, Orlando’s Rosen Shingle Creek resort has been humming with devotional music and joyous celebration as thousands of Hare Krishna devotees convene for the 12th annual Sadhu Sanga Kirtan Retreat, organized by HH Indradyumna Swami. This year’s gathering is bigger than ever, easily eclipsing past editions. For context, the 2024 retreat in
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If we are to desire Krishna and give up all other desires, what can we do when we are not even aware of what we actually desire? How can we cultivate the desire for Krishna? And how do we deal with the feeling that we have done so many things because of which we don’t even desire Krishna? We don’t even deserve Krishna. Isn’t it presumptuous to expect Krishna to appear before us? To answer these are thoughtful and earnest questions. Desires are themselves complex and multi-layered.

And the approach to desire management can be put in three categories. There are some desires which we work on, there are some desires we work with and there are some desires we work for. So work on means that we create boundaries, we try to purify ourselves so that we can rid ourselves of those desires.

These could be self-destructive, addictive desires for anti-devotional indulgences. There are some desires we work with. That means we have a need for our basic subsistence and a certain level of social acceptance and respect that we need.

These are desires that are not anti-devotional even if they are not directly devotional. They could be eventually used for a devotional purpose. So we work with those desires.

And there are some desires that we work for. That means those desires drive our life. So these are our devotional desires and our desires for serving Krishna according to our particular nature.

In as direct a way as is possible for us. So yes, we are not always aware of our desires. But to whatever extent we are aware of our desires, to that extent we can either choose to work on them, work with them or work for them.

And gradually as we come to Satva Guna, the mode of goodness, and as we do some practices that consciously bring us to the mode of goodness such as journaling, we can become more aware of our desires. And then we can decide which approach to take toward which desires. And how do we cultivate particular desires? Generally, desires grow by action and association.

When we do some action in pursuit of some desire, that action itself creates impressions inside us. Even if we don’t succeed in fulfilling that desire, just that very action creates some impressions. If we succeed in fulfilling that desire to even a partial degree, that creates further impressions inside us.

So, it’s like how does a person become addicted to something? It is by indulging in that pleasure repeatedly. That what was a casual indulgence, a casual pleasure, becomes an irresistible craving and addictive desire with time. And the second happens by association.

The kind of people we associate with and the kind of thoughts that our mind associates with, the kind of images that we associate with mentally by letting them replay and be highlighted in our inner world, that also stimulates and strengthens certain desires. That’s why the principle of actually doing some devotional service in relationship with the desire that we have and associating with devotees externally and with the devotional places and especially remembering Krishna and Krishna-related external and internal, will strengthen our desires. So we can make some solutions to strengthen the desire to connect with Krishna in a particular manifestation, which may be His holy name, or His deity in a particular form, or even a particular place, or a particular book, or a particular devotee and the way they conduct themselves and they present the wisdom of bhakti, and reveal Krishna to us.

And thirdly, regarding me not feeling that we deserve to see Krishna, that is definitely a good feeling to have. It shows humility. At the same time, bhakti has two distinct emotions.

There is humility and there is intensity. Shrila Prabhupada explains that a devotee always desires to see Krishna, but a devotee does not demand to see Krishna. So Arjuna also expresses this sentiment when he asks for the darshan of the universal form of Krishna in the 11th chapter.

He says, If it is possible for me to see it, please show this to me. So, certainly if we don’t desire Krishna at all, then where is our devotion? And certainly if we demand to see Krishna, again, where is our devotion? So having a strong desire to see Krishna, while also having a strong readiness to submit and subordinate our desire to Krishna’s desire and plans, is the essential dynamic of bhakti. Eventually when we get the darshan of Krishna, that will not be because we deserve it, but because simply Krishna is pleased with our desiring and our endeavouring as a way of expressing that desire.

The revelation of Krishna will ultimately be mercy, which is causeless, not in the sense that it has no cause, but in the sense that whatever cause might be considered to have been there is too less to actually make us qualified to receive His darshan. Nonetheless, it is by our endeavouring externally and by our desiring internally that we show Krishna, that we want Him, and that’s how eventually we get to see Him, by His mercy.

The post How can we desire to see Krishna when we don’t even know what we actually desire and we don’t feel qualified to see Krishna? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

ISKCON UK stands as a transformative force within the global Hare Krishna movement, serving as both a pioneering foundation and a contemporary model for spiritual innovation worldwide. From its historic establishment in London over five decades ago to its current role as a vibrant spiritual community, ISKCON UK has consistently demonstrated how cultural adaptation, educational
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The transformation of vegetarianism from a niche dietary choice to a mainstream culinary movement owes much to the pioneering efforts of ISKCON’s Govinda’s restaurants, which have served as cultural ambassadors for plant-based cuisine across six continents for nearly five decades. Beginning with humble roots in 1979 London, these spiritually-inspired establishments have evolved into a global
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Melbourne, 1970s — What started as a casual errand to buy marijuana ended in a life-altering spiritual journey for one young man in Melbourne. As part of a typical day of street outreach, a devotee of the Hare Krishna movement set up near Flinders Street Station, creatively attracting passersby with incense and cheerful conversation. His
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Today is Srila Vrindavan dasa Thakura’s appearance day. Sri Caitanya-caritamrta (Adi 11.55) states, “Srila Vyasadeva described the pastimes of Krsna in Srimad-Bhagavatam. The Vyasa of the pastimes of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu was Vrndavana dasa.” In his purport Srila Prabhupada elaborates: “Srila Vrndavana dasa Thakura was an incarnation of Vedavyasa and also a friendly cowherd boy named Kusumapida in krsna-lila. In other words, the author of Sri Caitanya-bhagavata, Srila Vrndavana dasa Thakura, the son of Srivasa Thakura’s niece Narayani, was a combined incarnation of Vedavyasa and the cowherd boy Kusumapida.” Srila Vrndavana dasa Thakura was the last initiated disciple of Sri Nityananda Prabhu.

In Sri Caitanya-caritamrta (Adi 8.33–40, 42, 44) Srila Krishnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami glorifies Srila Vrindavan dasa Thakura and his book Sri Caitanya-bhagavata (then called Sri Caitanya-mangala): “O fools, just read Sri Caitanya-mangala! By reading this book you can understand all the glories of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Thakura Vrndavana dasa has composed Sri Caitanya-mangala. Hearing this book annihilates all misfortune. By reading Sri Caitanya-mangala one can understand all the glories and truths of Lord Caitanya and Nityananda and come to the ultimate conclusion of devotional service to Lord Krsna. In Sri Caitanya-mangala [later known as Sri Caitanya-bhagavata] Srila Vrndavana dasa Thakura has given the conclusion and essence of devotional service by quoting the authoritative statements of Srimad-Bhagavatam. If even a great atheist hears Sri Caitanya-mangala, he immediately becomes a great devotee. The subject matter of this book is so sublime that it appears that Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu has personally spoken through the writings of Sri Vrndavana dasa Thakura. I offer millions of obeisances unto the lotus feet of Vrndavana dasa Thakura. No one else could write such a wonderful book for the deliverance of all fallen souls. What a wonderful description he has given of the pastimes of Lord Caitanya! Anyone in the three worlds who hears it is purified. Srila Vrndavana dasa Thakura has written Sri Caitanya-mangala and therein described in all respects the pastimes of Lord Caitanya.”

In his purport to text 45 Srila Prabhupada writes, “Sri Vrndavana dasa Thakura’s Sri Caitanya-bhagavata was originally entitled Sri Caitanya-mangala, but when Srila Locana dasa Thakura later wrote another book named Sri Caitanya-mangala, Srila Vrndavana dasa Thakura changed the name of his own book, which is now therefore known as Sri Caitanya-bhagavata. The life of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is very elaborately described in the Caitanya-bhagavata, and Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami has already informed us that in his Sri Caitanya-caritamrta he has described whatever Vrndavana dasa Thakura has not mentioned. This acceptance of Sri Caitanya-bhagavata by Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami indicates his acceptance of the disciplic succession. A writer of transcendental literature never tries to surpass the previous acaryas.”

And he writes in his purport to text 48, “The subject matter of this book is so sublime that it appears that Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu has personally spoken through the writings of Sri Vrndavana dasa Thakura”—Srila Prabhupada explains, “The secret in a devotee’s writing is that when he writes about the pastimes of the Lord, the Lord helps him; he does not write himself. As stated in the Bhagavad-gita (10.10), dadami buddhi-yogam tam yena mam upayanti te. Since a devotee writes in service to the Lord, the Lord from within gives him so much intelligence that he sits down near the Lord and goes on writing books. Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami confirms that what Vrndavana dasa Thakura wrote was actually spoken by Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and that Vrndavana dasa simply repeated it.”

How blessed we are to receive knowledge of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu through our glorious parampara—and to be engaged in their service.

Hare Krishna.

Yours in service,
Giriraj Swami

If we have daughters and don’t have a son to do the last rites after we depart, what happens? In general, in the broad Vedic tradition, there is the path of karma kanda. Now, we consider karma kanda primarily to be rituals for material gain, but karma kanda has also been broadly the path of rituals. And then there is, in our understanding, the path of bhakti.

In the history of the tradition, how much the path of bhakti adopts the rituals of the broad Vedic tradition. Now, the Vedic tradition was generally a Vedic tradition of karma kanda, although not only karma kanda. So, that has been a matter of not necessarily a complete standard all the time.

Generally, the bhakti tradition emerged as an internal reform against the excessive ritualism and the caste hierarchy and other kind of over-centralization of power by the brahmanas in the Vedic tradition. But over a period of time, as the bhakti tradition itself became popular, became influential, then it also started adopting certain rituals. So, Gopal Bhatta Goswami, for example, in our tradition, has written a certain Vaishnav version of many of the Smartha rituals.

Now, in the bhakti tradition, the remembrance of Krishna is what is considered a primary. And there are some acharyas, there is one acharya in the Sri Vaishnav tradition who deliberately decided to leave his life outside a dham. He said he wanted to demonstrate that the bhakti is self-independent and you don’t need to depart from your body in a dham because by bhakti you can be delivered wherever you are.

Similarly, in the Gita, Krishna talks about, in the 8th chapter, about the timings of departure. If you depart at this time, and if you depart at another time, one is you will go to Brahman, go to spiritual level of reality, other is you will go to Chandra and come back. But then he says, Don’t worry about this.

Focus on remembering me and you will get the ultimate destination. So, now in our current state, in our moment, depending on the previous culture and the previous Shraddha of devotees, there is a wide range over whether the rituals of the Vedic tradition are adopted and to what degree they are adopted by devotees. So, that’s with respect to the specifics of the rituals.

Now, my understanding is that ultimately the destination of a soul is determined not so much by who does what after that soul has departed. Primarily, each soul is an individual. Each soul has to take individual responsibility for their spiritual growth and even their karmic trajectory also.

So, primarily, it’s our own consciousness at the time of our departure that will determine our destination. Now, secondarily, the rituals that are to be performed, they are meant for multiple purposes. One is, of course, if the punya of that soul is adequate, then the punya that is done by the relatives, that helps the soul to get a better destination.

The other is that through those rituals, those who are survivors also get a sense of service and closure. So, it is also a means for healing for them that the person who has departed, we did something for that person after they have departed. So, now, whether women can perform certain rituals, if you see, this is a very volatile and disputed subject within the Indian tradition.

Some people say that women’s role was much, much more inclusive in the original Upanishadic and Vedic texts, but it became much more restricted during the Islamic times. Some people say that it is Manu Samhita which restricted the roles. But my point is that there are some traditions which, very few traditions, which actually now allow women also to perform certain rituals like in the last rites.

Most do not. But either way, from the bhakti perspective, who gets to perform the last rites is not that important. Most important thing is that we try to cultivate Krishna Consciousness and if we feel that it is important, then we can assign someone also.

Somebody who is like a nephew or somebody within the community with whom we have a relationship like a son. That person can be told to do rituals. Sometimes the son-in-law also does rituals like that.

So the point is that Krishna is Bhavagrahi and our destination does not depend exactly on who performs what rituals. It depends on our consciousness primarily.

The post If we have only daughters and no sons to perform our last rites after death, what will be our destination? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 21, No. 20

By Krishna Kripa Das

(Week 20: May 14–May 20, 2025)

New York City

(Sent from New York City on May 24, 2025)

Where I Went and What I Did

For the twentieth week of 2025, I remained at ISKCON NYC in Brooklyn, serving Rama Raya Prabhu’s NYC Harinam program by chanting Hare Krishna and distributing Ratha-yatra flyers for three or four hours each day from Monday through Saturday. Saturday was special as we got permission to chant at Father Duffy Square which is in the middle of Times Square, and thus many additional people from all over the world got to hear the holy names and purchase transcendental literature. Many also enjoyed playing the shakers and dancing with us. Sunday was also special as I attended the Bronx Ratha-yatra, I sponsored mango lassi and palak paneer for the devotees’ lunch in honor of my mother’s passing away last year, and I attended a Lower East Side harinama organized by Pandava Bhandava and Tulasi Prabhus of Bulgaria.

I share quotes from Srila Prabhupada’s Srimad-Bhagavatam and The Nectar of Devotion. I share quotes from Sri Caitanya-bhagavata by Vrindavana Dasa Thakura and its commentary by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati. I share notes on classes by Jayadvaita Swami, Mukunda Datta Prabhu, Bhakti Dhira Damodara Swami, and Janmastami, Rama Raya, Gauranga, and Tulasi Prabhus.

Thanks to Prema Manjari Devi Dasi for making the mango lassi and palak paneer on the anniversary of my mother’s passing away. Thanks to Jayananda Prabhu for arranging for that. Thanks to Ahaituka Prema Prabhu for the photos and videos of me on NYC Harinam.

Itinerary

May 7–June 15: NYC Harinam  
– May 27–29: Washington, D.C., harinamas with Sankarsana Prabhu 
– May 29–30: Baltimore harinamas to promote Ratha-yatra 
– May 31: Baltimore Ratha-yatra
mid June–mid August: Paris? 
– June 22: Paris Ratha-yatra? 
– July 11: Amsterdam harinama? 
– July 12: Amsterdam Ratha-yatra? 
– July 13: Holland harinama?

Chanting Hare Krishna in New York City

One day when we were chanting Hare Krishna in the Times Square subway station above the downtown A train, some students from Stony Brook College in New York City did some filming for a movie they were doing about a visitor’s first day in New York.

After our harinama, Vraja Mohan Prabhu suggested that Jaya Radhe Devi Dasi gave the deities’ garland decorating our mantra sign to the young woman starring in the film, and so she did, along with invitations to the temple and the Ratha-yatra and “On Chanting Hare Krishna.”

Tulasi Prabhu chants Hare Krishna in Times Square subway station (https://youtu.be/SzR9LCE7YRY):

On the subway on the way to our Times Square Kirtan Festival I met a guy named Kelly from the hard-core scene. He was with Krishna Fest from 1992 to 1996, visited the Potomac temple, and knew Gunagrahi Swami and all the Krishna hard-core bands, including singers Raghunath Prabhu of Shelter and Vraja Kisora Prabhu of 108. I asked on Facebook, “Do any of you remember him?”

Jai Nitai Holzman replied, “Oh yeah, I know Kelly! From Woodbridge. Always super fond of him. I don’t know that he ever actually joined up, although he may have for a time. Super sweet.”

Radhika Devi Dasi chants Hare Krishna at Times Square Kirtan Festival, and two women play shakers and dance (https://youtube.com/shorts/3Rq7rsBJRQQ):

Tulasi Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at the Times Square Kirtan Festival (https://youtu.be/rAx5rFohOBs):

Braja Sakhi Devi Dasi chants Hare Krishna at Times Square Kirtan Festival, and passersby play shakers (https://youtu.be/YmKtcN3RDE8):

While Braja Sakhi Devi Dasi chanted, other people also danced (https://youtube.com/shorts/BvGFYFONda8?feature=share):

Hadai Prana Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at Times Square Kirtan Festival, and many dance (https://youtu.be/nyqOpk6oy-k):

Rama Raya Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at Times Square Kirtan Festival, a woman plays shakers, and many dance (https://youtu.be/_e_csQxnblU):

Bhusara Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at the start of the Bronx Ratha-yatra kirtan (https://youtu.be/cBTJOcZ9YRY):

Two entries before our Ratha-yatra float in The Bronx Day Parade was the Elite Dance Nation of Aspira (a Latino youth organization) consisting of both the Explosion and Baile Cafe dance teams from Soundview Academy for Culture and Scholarship in The Bronx. Some of the girls got a little ajñata sukriti dancing to the sound of Bhusara Prabhu’s Hare Krishna kirtan before Lord Jagannath on His cart (https://youtu.be/bJ9RxJfNEls):

Sundar Shyam Rupa Prabhu chants Hare Krishna in the Bronx Ratha-yatra (https://youtu.be/2mI_TxkFTGo):

Hari Chakra Prabhu chants Hare Krishna in the Bronx Ratha-yatra (https://youtu.be/1F-0Ny55Z6k):

Saci Devi Dasi chants Hare Krishna in the Bronx Ratha-yatra (https://youtu.be/ThyIZYHwHgk):

Saci also engaged different devotees in leading the Hare Krishna chant in the Bronx Ratha-yatra (https://youtu.be/VcavvURKNAU):

When the parade was underway the whole team of Elite Dance Nation girls danced ahead of our party to their own music. I wonder if they unknowing get spiritual benefit for that dancing before Lord Jagannath (https://youtu.be/poBBspIe0y8):

Pandava Prabhu chants Hare Krishna on the Lower East Side with the Russian sanga after their Sunday program (https://youtu.be/LCkclAihlxs):

Tulasi Prabhu chants Hare Krishna in front of Matchless Gifts with the Russian sanga at the end of their Lower East Side harinama (https://youtu.be/Fe5-8NnniaY):

Abhay and friends chant Hare Krishna at ISKCON NYC Sunday Feast Gaura Arati Kirtan (https://youtu.be/3CVOFGMUY8w):

Nityananda Chandra Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at Battery Park (https://youtu.be/0upRitIPC3M):

Rama Raya Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at Battery Park, and a cab driver stops to film it (https://youtu.be/mq8KD6b4upM):

Later another cab driver took a video from within his car (https://youtu.be/vIp6fJrZY7A):

Gokulendra Prabhu chants Hare Krishna in Union Square, and a passerby dances (https://youtu.be/ScKw4nnLlyQ):

I chant Hare Krishna in Union Square (https://youtube.com/shorts/GPQ_SykwCpM?feature=share):

Pandava Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at Union Square (https://youtu.be/GdMP2GJJjLQ):

Narayana Prabhu chants Hare Krishna in Union Square (https://youtu.be/FRr5tPBuMxY):

Rama Raya Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at Union Square, and a Indian mother and son play shakers and dance (https://youtu.be/Go_jWaW9M8E):

Later as Rama Raya Prabhu sang, another passerby played shakers and danced (https://youtube.com/shorts/LJPvuymEErc):

Photos

My mother, Pat Beetle, passed away on May 28, 2024, near Albany, New York, which corresponds to the sixth day of the moon on the lunar calendar, occurring about a week after Nrsimha Caturdasi, or May 18 this year. 

In the Vedic culture people offer Krishna prasadam, food offered to the Supreme Lord, to departed relatives so they attain a spiritual destination. 

I sponsored mango lassi and palak paneer, favorites of my mother, for the devotees’ lunch in Brooklyn. 

Prema Manjari Devi Dasi, the Sunday lunch cook, made the palak paneer with greens she picked from her garden in the morning. I invited those who came to lunch to pray that my mother attains the shelter of the Supreme Lord. I request all who read this to do the same.

Insights

Srila Prabhupada:

From Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.7.11–12:

“As the moon reflected on water appears to the seer to tremble due to being associated with the quality of the water, so the self associated with matter appears to have the qualities of matter. But that misconception of self-identity can be diminished gradually by the mercy of the Personality of Godhead, Vasudeva, through the process of devotional service to the Lord in the mode of detachment.”

From Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.7.12, purport:

“If one wants to acquire the mercy of the Lord, one has to associate with pure devotees. Such association alone can, by degrees, release one from the quivering elements.”

From Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.7.13, purport:

“We have to treat the senses to cure them of the material disease, not stop them from acting, as suggested by the impersonalist. In the Bhagavad-gita (2.59) it is said that one ceases all material activities only when satisfied by contact with a better engagement. Consciousness is active by nature and cannot be stopped from working. Artificially stopping a mischievous child is not the real remedy. The child must be given some better engagement so that he will automatically stop causing mischief. In the same way, the mischievous activities of the senses can be stopped only by better engagement in relation with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. When the eyes are engaged in seeing the beautiful form of the Lord, the tongue is engaged in tasting prasadam, or remnants of foodstuff offered to the Lord, the ears are engaged in hearing His glories, the hands are engaged in cleaning the temple of the Lord, the legs are engaged in visiting His temples—or in other words when all the senses are engaged in transcendental variegatedness—then only can the transcendental senses become fully satisfied and eternally free from material engagement.”

From Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.7.14:

“Simply by chanting and hearing of the transcendental name, form, etc., of the Personality of Godhead, Sri Krishna, one can achieve the cessation of unlimited miserable conditions.”

From Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.7.16:

“Disturbances to the conditioned soul have no other basis than the movement of the external energy of the Lord.”

From Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.7.17:

“Both the lowest of fools and he who is transcendental to all intelligence enjoy happiness, whereas persons between them suffer the material pangs.”

From Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.7.18:

“But, my dear sir, I am obliged to you because now I can understand that this material manifestation is without substance although it appears real. I am confident that by serving your feet I will be able to give up the false idea.”

From Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.8.34:

“Every man should act like this: when he meets a person more qualified than himself, he should be very pleased; when he meets someone less qualified than himself, he should be compassionate toward him; and when he meets someone equal to himself, he should make friendship with him. In this way one is never affected by the threefold miseries of this material world.”

From Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.8.36, purport:

“It is said that the heart or mind is just like an earthen pot: once broken, it cannot be repaired by any means.”

From The Nectar of Devotion, Introduction:

“The author of Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu, Srila Rupa Gosvami, very humbly submits that he is just trying to spread Krishna consciousness all over the world, although he humbly thinks himself unfit for this work. That should be the attitude of all preachers of the Krishna consciousness movement, following in the footsteps of Srila Rupa Gosvami. We should never think of ourselves as great preachers, but should always consider that we are simply instrumental to the previous acaryas, and simply by following in their footsteps we may be able to do something for the benefit of suffering humanity.”

Vrindavana Dasa Thakura:

From Caitanya-bhagavata, Madhya 17.2:

“The topics of Madhya-kandha are like drops of nectar. By hearing these topics one's atheistic mentality is vanquished.”

From Caitanya-bhagavata, Madhya 17.16–17:

“The Lord said, ‘Today I have talked to some atheists. Therefore let us have so that My misery will be destroyed.’ As Mahaprabhu, the Lord of Vaikuntha, danced, all His servants surrounded Him and sang.”

From Caitanya-bhagavata, Madhya 17.27:

“Krishna increases the glories of His devotees in all respects. They are able to sell Him wherever they want.”

From Caitanya-bhagavata, Madhya 17.29:

“Gauracandra increases the glories of His devotees in various ways. Who can understand His mercy and punishment?”

Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura:

From Caitanya-bhagavata, Madhya 17, Chapter Summary:

“After returning home Mahaprabhu expressed to the devotees His unhappiness due to conversing with the atheists. In order to remove that unhappiness the Lord began to dance and chant with His associates.”

“Gaurasundara declared that it is useless to maintain a body that is devoid of love of God. Thus, with a desire to give up His body, He jumped into the Ganges. Nityananda and Haridasa, however, pulled the Lord out of the Ganges.”

From Caitanya-bhagavata, Madhya 17.5, commentary:

“Manifesting His own ingenuity over such so-called learned persons who were filled with false-ego, Sri Gaurasundara instilled fear in the atheists who were envious of Vishnu. They thus realized the insignificance of their own knowledge and were defeated by the strength of Mahaprabhu's knowledge. Therefore the mundane scholars realized their own weakness and accepted Him as the conqueror of the proud.”

From Caitanya-bhagavata, Madhya 17.95, commentary:

“In the Mahopanisad it is stated: sa brahmana srjati, sa rudrena vilapayati—“The Supreme Lord creates progeny through Brahma and annihilates them through Rudra.” In the Vamana Purana it is stated: matsyadi rupi posayati nrsimho rudra samsthitah vilapayed viriñci-stha srjyate visnur avyayah “The inexhaustible Lord Vishnu maintains through His various forms like Matsya, annihilates through Nrsimha and Rudra, and creates through Brahma.”

From Caitanya-bhagavata, Madhya 17.109, commentary:

“If someone without understanding of the Vaishnavas' activities and symptoms takes the side of one Vaishnava and criticizes another, then he does not see the Vaishnavas but sees only their external state.”

From Caitanya-bhagavata, Madhya 17.113, commentary:

“Living entities have no position more relishable than the service of Sri Caitanyadeva, who is the only authority for creation, maintenance, and annihilation of the cosmic manifestation. All other positions are temporary, full of ignorance, and distressful.”

Jayadvaita Swami:

In the Vedic civilization, vows were not taken lightly, initiation vows, marriage vows, etc. If one vowed to do something he would do it. He would not try to find some loophole.

If you cannot keep a vow that means that you have no determination or you are not serious.

On a morning walk in Boston, someone who had been regularly attending the temple and Srila Prabhupada’s lectures, inquired from Srila Prabhupada if he could be initiated. Srila Prabhupada replied, “First you should know the philosophy. If today you come on sentiment, tomorrow you will leave on sentiment.”

We take shelter of one who taken shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

It is not good enough to accept a guru approved by the institution. You have to do the work and see if he is qualified.

We have to be ready to serve the guru life after life.

Do we ever find in sastra that my real guru is my guru’s guru?

The guru has to see if the potential disciple is a real candidate, not flim flam.

From a Tuesday night Bhagavad-gita introductory class in ISKCON NYC:

The only difference is in material life one works for himself and in spiritual life one works for Krishna.

If you cannot follow the rules for bhakti-yoga, then do some service. That will be counted.

I inquired from Srila Prabhupada about the different options Krishna gives in Bhagavad-gita 12.8–12. He said the hierarchy of the options is less important than the fact that they will all ultimately lead to the culmination.

When I read at first an impersonalist translation of Bhagavad-gita it seemed very profound, but I could not see how it could really be practiced.

Because it is hard to conceive of the impersonal feature of God, the impersonalists often worship some deity temporarily with the hope of realizing an impersonal truth they conceive of as being above it.

The impersonalists are more advanced than the materialists because they understand (1) they are spirit, (2) sense gratification will not satisfy them, and (3) maintaining attachment to sense gratification will oblige them to accept other material bodies.

If everything is one, where does all the variety come from. They say the variety comes from maya. But then you have two. You no longer have one. That is a problem.

We must appreciate someone like Mr. Sethi, who just wanted to serve Srila Prabhupada. Although he did not follow all the principles of bhakti-yoga, by serving a pure devotee you can attain all perfection.

Mukunda Datta Prabhu:

We have no choice but to accept what the Lord desires to give to us. Thus it is intelligent to be satisfied with that.

These verses deal with satisfaction: SB 1.16.26, SB 5.9.1, etc.

There are five kinds of irreligion or kaitava-dharma: 
Sin, vidharma  
Another’s dharma, para-dharma 
Pretentious dharma, dharma-abhasa 
Metaphorical dharma, upama-dharma 
Deliberate cheating, chala-dharma

Isvara-gati can mean either (1) the goal of the Lord or (2) the goal that the Lord desires us to attain.

Karma and dharma are practically defined the same, as rituals to get certain results.

Westerners come to the Krishna consciousness movement easily and also leave easily. Indians, on the other hand, do not come easily, but when they do come, they generally stick with it.

In our tradition, theism is not defined by belief in God but by acceptance of the authority of Vedas.

The brahmana has given up material attachments, and so the happiness of the soul can shine through.

Radharani and Her friends have to put up with Krishna too. We can take shelter of them, like we do in Vrindavan, because they are softer.

Why do devotees suffer?

Comment by Janmastami Prabhu: Srila Prabhupada indicates Krishna manages a devotee’s karma to detach him from material enjoyment.

Other answers given are: The Lord’s will, and the devotees’ will. Sometimes demigods put impediments in the path of devotees.

Bhakti Dhira Damodara Swami:

Lord Caitanya is Krishna Himself, but He acts as a devotee of Krishna, and He wants to be treated as such in order to perform His pastimes.

Lord Caitanya does not rub his face on the walls all night in Vaikuntha.

Lord Caitanya taught how one can systematically progress by chanting the holy name of Lord Krishna.

It was the experience of Rupa Goswami that when he chanted Hare Krishna all his senses were chanting and dancing in ecstasy. The name would manifest everything.

In the beginning, we have to put all our attention on chanting Hare Krishna. We cannot jump to the pure stage. We have to become purified.

It is Lord Caitanya’s mission that people become purified by chanting the holy name.

Q (Narada Muni Prabhu): What is the importance of sambandha-jnana in attaining the pure chanting? 
A: We must have a bona fide guru and be a bona fide disciple. Then we will attain success as have many people in the past.

Q (Govinda Prabhu): If we all chant the same holy name why is the result different? 
A: It depends on the recipient. As wet wood in a fire has to dry out first in order to burn, some people require additional purification due to their previous activities to come to the same point.

Q (Govinda Prabhu): Why does it take so long to become purified? 
A: Because we are so stubborn. We are not tired of suffering yet. The problem is that we do not want to be in the mode of goodness. The fault is not with the name or with Krishna, but with ourselves.

Janmastami Prabhu:

Bhaktivinoda Thakura considers one situated on the madhyama platform, as described in Srimad-Bhagavatam, to be in pure devotional service.

I developed a devotional self-assessment technique so you can see how far you have progressed from kanistha to madhyama. I used it while teaching The Nectar of Devotion 18 times.

Vaiyasaki Prabhu in the mid to late 1980s interviewed 500 Prabhupada disciples who stopped practicing and found practically all of them had a common issue. They could not apply Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.14.8 in their lives: “My dear Lord, one who earnestly waits for You to bestow Your causeless mercy upon him, all the while patiently suffering the reactions of his past misdeeds and offering You respectful obeisances with his heart, words and body, is surely eligible for liberation, for it has become his rightful claim.”

Srila Prabhupada told Giriraj that Krishna manages your sinful reactions so that you advance.

Some gurus fell down because of abusive dealings with godbrothers.

The most important duty of the GBC men given by Srila Prabhupada is to make sure everyone in the temples in their zones attends the full morning program.

We just have to dedicate our lives to spreading Lord Caitanya’s movement to attain success.

Rama Raya Prabhu:

Dhruva Maharaja’s motivation to engage in devotional service was not even mixed. It was purely material.

A man who was a thief, murderer, and dacoit, while running from the police, passed an assembly of people hearing Krishna-katha from a pure devotee. Later someone asked him if he knew where the Krishna-katha recitation was going on, and he pointed him in the right direction. That person who was desirious of hearing Krishna-katha ended up taking it seriously and became a pure devotee. When the criminal died, he was taken to Yamaraja for punishment, but because he assisted a person in his devotional service he was freed from his sinful reactions and ultimately he also attained the spiritual kingdom.

Krishna will ultimately purify everyone so we should not seek revenge.

Who can remember their previous lives? What value is there then in revenge?

If we are unjustly accused, we should not be disturbed. We should think that Krishna will make the truth known in due course.

Gauranga Prabhu:

Even in transcendental ecstasy, Lord Caitanya was counting his number of rounds.

The root cause of hopelessness is thinking “I am the doer.” To understand that Krishna is the controller is the cause of all hope.

There are political responses and emotional responses to challenging situations, but the devotional response is highlighted in the many pastimes of the Srimad-Bhagavatam.

Srila Prabhupada said the best way to serve the family is to become a devotee of Krishna.

My family was objecting to my becoming a devotee. I organized a sat-sanga with about a hundered relatives in Chennai. I had a friend speak about Prahlada Maharaja and tell about how he delivered 21 generations of his family by his devotional service. He concluded by saying because Gauranga Das has becoming a devotee all of you will attain Vaikuntha, and not only that 20 more generations. They were very happy. One said, “Don’t stop chanting. If you have any difficulties, let me know.”

Dhruva was honest in his intentions and he was intense in his efforts, and thus he attained the audience of Lord Vishnu.

One Indian business man was introduced by Srila Prabhupada as a member of the wealthy Birla family.
The man said, “You came to the US with 40 rupees, and now you have property all over the world worth over 40 crores (400,000,000) of rupees. You are the real businessman.”
Srila Prabhupada invited him, “Please join my business.”
The man replied, “Not now.”

A sadhaka should make choices for progress rather than perfection.

There is a difference between emotions from the mental platform and pure devotional emotions.

Arjuna lost his son for real, but because he was protected by Krishna from lamentation, he was able continue fighting enthusiastically in the battle. Dronacarya, however, just thought that his son died, but he became completely dysfunctional as a warrior.

Opportunities are always coming, but Krishna, as Paramatma points them out to us.

Tulasi Prabhu:

Sometimes when I would meet Kadamba Kanana Swami and bow down, he would chant “tulasi krishna preyasi namah namah.” Then he would say, “You are very dear to Krishna because you are named “Tulasi.’”

Krishna lifted Govardhan with His left hand as a joke as the left hand is usually considered weaker.

One Srila Prabhupada disciple explained the reason for Srila Prabhupada’s great worldwide success, “Because Srila Prabhupada gave everything he had to Krishna, Krishna reciprocated.”

-----

People not connected to the Vedic culture are often addicted to things not recommended for spiritual aspirants like meat eating, intoxication, gambling, and illicit sex. Still the devotees of the Lord are so powerful by their mercy such addicts can be freed from material attachments and become attached to the soul’s dharma of devotional service to the Supreme Lord. My guru, Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami, said after hearing a single lecture by Srila Prabhupada at 26 Second Avenue, he was able to give up intoxication and illicit sex.

This famous verse from Srimad-Bhagavatam reveals this truth:

kirata-hunandhra-pulinda-pulkasa

abhīra-sumbha yavanah khasadayah
ye ’nye ca papa yad-apasrayasrayah
sudhyanti tasmai prabhavishnave namah

“Kiratas, Hunas, Andhras, Pulindas, Pulkasas, Abhiras, Sumbhas, Yavanas, members of the Khasa races and even others addicted to sinful acts can be purified by taking shelter of the devotees of the Lord, due to His being the supreme power. I beg to offer my respectful obeisances unto Him.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.4.18)

Chelmsford, 18th May 2025 The town renowned as the birthplace of radio experienced a new kind of transmission this weekend—the transcendental sound of the Holy Names of the Lord—as Chelmsford celebrated its first ever Jagannatha Rath Yatra. This historic and spiritually uplifting event brought together vibrant colours, melodious kirtan, rich culture, and deep devotion, marking
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So, it is said that whenever anything happens to us, that’s because of our own past karma and the people whom we encounter in this life are basically people who we have had some interactions with in the previous lives. So when something bad happens to us, should we consider that it is our karmic debt being neutralized and we should tolerate it? And when does it cross a line and when we should stop tolerating? Answer, we can look at scripture itself for learning this. We see that Lord Ram accepted it when he was exiled and he said, it is probably destiny that Kaikeyi has turned against me like this.

But when Sita was abducted, he didn’t accept that as destiny. He didn’t say it is her karma or my karma. So why? Because the focus was on dharma, on duty.

He said, it is dharma to my father. I was ready to ascend the throne and as a duty to my father, I will go to the forest. So his decision was not based on what was whose karma in the past.

It was based on his understanding of what is his dharma now and how best can he perform that dharma. So when Sita Devi was abducted, naturally it is his dharma as a husband to protect her and he practically moved heaven and earth to rescue her. So the key is that we need to be dharma-centered, not karma-centered.

So, I would say there are three different degrees over here. In general, what is the right thing to do is not so easy to know, but we consider what is it that we are doing, that is the content of our action, why we are doing it, the intent of the action and what is the result of it, that is the effect. These three factors, the Mahabharata, many discussions on ethics are based on this, content, intent and effect.

So now, in terms of content, we could say that if somebody’s actions are interrupting or disrupting our dharma, our capacity to do our dharma, then we need to do what we can to protect ourselves. So, now we could say that Lord Ramakuda said even being a king was his dharma and Kaikeyi was disrupting that. But then he looked at intent over there.

He said the intent, she is not a bad person, but she is going through a bad phase, she is being misled and he still had hope that the family would be brought together or family harmony would be restored. And he felt that if he tried to rebel against his father at that particular time, as Lakshman was recommending, the effect would be that his family would be torn apart. So he considered the content, he could have said, he decided that content was, I want to stick to my duty and my duty is, I want to keep the family of my father and my family together.

So he accepted that, but in the case of Ravan, there was no doubt about his intent. Ravan was known to be a demon who had violated many women in the past and he had just continued a dark pattern with Sita. So therefore, even then with Ravan also, he gave him a chance that if he returns Sita, he won’t have to fight a war, but he didn’t listen.

So then he had to fight. So, with respect to the Pandavas, when they fought, it was not just to gain a kingdom. Of course, as Kshatriyas, they needed a kingdom.

They could have lived in the forest also further, they wanted to, but there was a principle over here that somebody who has by vicious means grabbed a kingdom should not be allowed to flourish. And such a person would only continue to do vicious things if that person was not challenged and checked. So therefore, it is important for him to be checked.

Now my understanding is that if our dharma is being stopped, then we need to do something to correct it. So, for example, if somebody insults us in office, we might say, okay, you know, these things happen. There are some bad elements always there.

Now, if somebody bullies our child at school, what do we do at that time? Should we tell our child, oh, it’s your own karma, deal with it? Well, it depends again, you know. If it is an individual case of one particular child bullying, then we might decide that we train our child to stand up for himself or herself, or we take it to the authorities, we correct it. But suppose we are in a particular place where there is some kind of racism, and that’s just the way it is, hopefully things will change in the future, but now it’s something unavoidable.

Then we have to train our child to become strong, to face it, because that’s how they will grow. So, in general, wherever immediate explanations are available and immediate solutions are available, we need to focus on those immediate explanations and solutions. Karma is used to make sense of things that don’t make sense in terms of immediate causes.

So, Ram had done nothing to anger Kaikeyi, and her behavior towards him could not make sense in immediate terms. So, that’s where he invoked destiny as an explanation. Say, if I’m feeling cold right now, should I just say, oh, this cold is my karma? Or I can say, can you just adjust the AC temperature a little bit? If it can be adjusted, if there’s an immediate cause and immediate solution, just go over there and finish the whole cycle.

But say, if I have come to Canada over here, and the weather here is cold, then I may decide that it is my duty that I am here as a speaker, and I have to tolerate certain things. But tolerate doesn’t mean that I don’t try to get warm clothes. So, I think once we start going into what is whose karma, we will just get caught in paralysis by analysis.

So, we focus on what is our dharma, and how best can we do our dharma. So, yes, I think inside a family, there will always be some people who will not be very pleasant to us. And that’s the flip side of being a part of, say, a large family or extended family.

Then some hurtful words are spoken. They can be tolerated. But if there is regular abusive language and tactics being used, then we have to create some boundaries.

It is not so much to get back at the other person, it is to focus on doing our own dharma. That we have our family responsibility, we have social responsibility, we have professional responsibilities, and we need to be able to do that. So, the purpose of life is not going to be fulfilled simply by exhausting our past karma.

The purpose of life will be fulfilled by executing our present dharma. It is, We should be humble and be tolerant. But for what? So that we can glorify Krishna constantly.

But say, if somebody is abusive behavior or hurtful behavior such that, that is consuming our mind and then we are not able to chant, we are not able to practice bhakti, our mind is getting so disturbed by that. Then, at that time you may say, I am being tolerant, it is my own past karma. But the point is, life success does not come by enduring past karma.

Okay, there is some negative, we exhaust the negative. But we need to do some positive so that we can develop our attraction towards Krishna and go towards Krishna. Even if we don’t go towards Krishna, we want to create a brighter future for ourselves, we have to do something positive also.

So, if our capacity to do something positive is being obstructed, then we have to do something to address it. If someone is a very talented cricketer, but they are in a particular area, where because of the community they belong to, caste, politics or whatever is there, they are never going to get a chance to play over there. And should that person say that, oh, it’s my own karma and stay over there? God has given you talent, it’s your dharma to do justice to the talent.

And go to some other city, join some other club where there will be more fair opportunity and move ahead. That’s why tolerate is definitely one option and there are many times when tolerate is the best way. We as a society are becoming quite intolerant in the sense of not intolerant towards other people in the religious intolerance, but in terms of our capacity to deal with provoking situations, to overreact to them.

We are tending to do that. So, tolerance is an important virtue. But tolerance is only one of the options at our command.

The post Should we keep tolerating all present suffering by seeing it as a result of our past Karma? appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

# ISKCON Marks a Milestone in Child Protection with New CPOC Website ISKCON’s founder Srila Prabhupada is shown in archival images lovingly offering prasadam to children — an embodiment of his enduring compassion and care for the innocent. Today, that legacy is being powerfully realized in a bold new initiative: the launch of ISKCON’s Child
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The International Society for Krishna Consciousness has orchestrated one of the most remarkable spiritual transformations of the digital age, leveraging social media platforms to spread ancient Vedic wisdom to millions worldwide. Through strategic digital outreach, ISKCON has successfully bridged the gap between timeless spiritual teachings and contemporary global challenges, creating a movement that transcends geographical
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Hare Krishna! Join us for the auspicious Snana Yatra festival at ISKCON Auckland on Sunday, June 15, 2025, starting from 11:00am. This annual festival celebrates the divine abhishek (bathing) ceremony of Sri Jagannatha, Baladeva, and Subhadra. All are welcome to participate. Program will conclude with a prasadam feast.

+ Stay back afterwards and witness a special Hati-Vesha Darshan of their Lordships.

Hare Krishna! Join us for the joyous Panihati Cida Dahi Festival at ISKCON Auckland on Sunday, June 8, 2025, starting from 11:00 am. This annual festival commemorates the historic meeting between Lord Nityananda and Raghunatha dasa Goswami at Panihati, West Bengal.

For the festival program please see the poster.

We look forward to your association!

The mother of Srila Vrindavana dasa Thakura’s was Sri Narayani devi, the niece of Srivasa pandita. In his Sri Caitanya Bhagavata, Vrndavana dasa has described how his mother attained the affectionate fervour of Sri Gaurasundara.

Vrindavana dasa was born four years after Mahaprabhu took sannyasa. When Mahaprabhu disappeared he couldn’t have been more than twenty years old. He was initiated by Sri Nityananda Prabhu and was apparently the last disciple whom Sri Nityananda accepted.

He accompanied Sri Jahnava Mata to the Kheturi maha-mahotsava. Sri Krsna dasa Kaviraja Gosvami has glorified Vrindavana dasa Thakura as the Veda Vyasa of the pastimes of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

Vrindavana dasa Thakura’s Sripat, where his worshipful Deities of Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai are still residing, is at Denur. Denur can be reached by bus from Navadvipa.

Hare Krishna. Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada! Devotees long utilized social media platforms like Facebook to share live stream videos of spiritual teachings, kirtans, and events, connecting devotees worldwide with the wisdom of revered Gurus such as HH Kadamba Kanana Swami, HH Gopal Krishna Maharaj, HH Bhakti Charu Swami, and
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