Planet ISKCON

Answer Podcast

Answer Podcast Hindi

Transcription by: Srimati Tanvi Tayal Mataji (Noida)

प्रश्र: हम अपने भीतर सत्वगुण को कैसे बढ़ाऐं जब हम जानते हैं कि हम तीनों गुणों के हाथों में कठपुतलियाँ हैं?

उत्तर: हम इन गुणों की कठपुतलियाँ हैं, इसका अर्थ यह है कि हम इन गुणों से पूरी तरह स्वतंत्र नहीं हैं। किन्तु हमारे पास थोड़ी बहुत स्वतंत्रता है जिस से हम यह निर्धारित कर सकते हैं कि हमें किस गुण से प्रभावित होना है। इसका अर्थ यह है कि माना कि हम कठपुतली हैं किन्तु हम किस गुण की कठपुतली बनना चाहते हैं इसका निर्णय हमारे हाथ में है।

हमें यह समझना चाहिए कि हमारे पास एक नियमित दायरे में असीमित स्वतंत्रता है। जैसे एक गाय को रस्सी के द्वारा खूँटे से बांध दिया जाए तो उस रस्सी की लम्बाई के अंदर उस गाय के पास चलने फिरने, उठने बैठने की असीमित स्वतंत्रता होती है। किन्तु उस नियमित दायरे के बाहर हमारी स्वतंत्रता असीमित नहीं है। उदाहरणार्थ, जैसे हम पक्षियों की भाँति उड़ नही सकते क्योंकि हमारे पक्षियों की तरह पँख नहीं हैं।

हमें अपने भीतर उन प्रवृत्तियों की ओर ध्यान देना है जिनपर निर्णय लेना हमारे हाथ में है। संभव है कि इन प्रवृत्तियों में से किन्हीं को हम न बदल पाऐं। उदाहरणार्थ, हम किसी प्रख्यात गायक की तरह गाना न गा पाऐं। किन्तु हमारे भीतर कई मनोवैज्ञानिक प्रवृत्तियाँ ऐसी हैं जिनकी मात्रा को कम या अधिक करना हमारे अधिकार क्षेत्र में है। जैसे कुछ लोग अधिक आलसी होते हैं ओर कुछ कम। इस प्रकार की प्रवित्तियों को हम बदल सकते हैं। कैसे? अपने विचारों ओर अपने बाहरी वातावरण को बदल कर। जैसे एक व्यक्ति देर से उठता है और इस कारण वह अपने अध्यात्मिक नियमों का उचित ढंस से पालन नहीं कर पाता। यदि ऐसा व्यक्ति ऐसे वातावरण में रहे जहाँ सभी लोग देर से उठते हों तो इससे तमोगुण और उत्तजित होगा। किन्तु यदि वही व्यक्ति ऐसे लोगों के साथ सोता है जहाँ सब लोग सवेरे जल्दी उठ जाते हों तो इन सभी लोगों के सात्विक गुणों का प्रभाव उस पर भी पड़ेगा। यह एक बड़ा सीधा-सादा उदहारण है जिसको विस्तार कई अन्य परिस्थितियों पर किया जा सकता है। यदि हम ऐसी परिस्थितियों का चुनाव करें जो एक किसी गुण विशेष में स्थित हों तो हम उन गुणों को अपने भीतर बढ़ा सकते हैं।

यदि हम अपने भीतर किसी विशेष प्रकार के विचारों को घुसने की अनुमति देते रहें तो हम उन विचारों से सम्बंधित गुणों का विकास करेंगे। उदाहरणार्थ, अत्यधिक रजोगुणी पुस्तकें पढ़ना, अत्यधिक समाचार पत्र पढ़ना और फिल्में इत्यादि देखना, इन सब से रजोगुण बढ़ेगा। किन्तु इसके विपरीत यदि हम अध्यात्मिक पुस्तकें अथवा सात्विक साहित्य पढ़ते हैं तो उससे हमारे भीतर सत्व गुण बढ़ेगा।
खाली समय में हम किन बातों पर चिन्तन करते हैं उससे भी हम अपने भीतर गुणों को प्रभावित कर सकते हैं। सात्विक विचारों पर चिन्तन से सत्व बढ़ता है किन्तु रजोगुणी विचारों के चुनाव से रजोगुण बढ़ेगा। हमारे चिंतन के चुनाव द्वारा भी हम अपने भीतर के गुण निर्धारित करते हैं।

भूतकाल में हमारी आदतों के कारण कई परिस्थितियों में हमारा चुनाव एक निश्चित ढर्रे पर होता है। इन आदतों को बदलने के लिए संभव है कि हमें एक बड़ा प्रयास करने की आवश्यकता हो किन्तु यह सम्भव है। हमें डटे रहना होगा। अपने लिए बाहरी और भीतरी परिस्थितियों का चुनाव कर हम अपने गुणों को निर्धारित कर सकते हैं।

ये छोटे-छोटे निर्णय होते हैं जो हम अपने दैनिक जीवन में ले सकते हैं किन्तु लम्बे समय में इनका प्रभाव बहुत गहरा हो सकता है। इन निर्णयों के उचित चुनाव द्वारा हम अपने जीवन को एक नई ऊँचाई पर ले जा सकते हैं।

End of transcription.

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 3 May 2021, Simhachalam, Germany, Srimad Bhagavatam 3.19.27)

One of Prabhupada’s intimate followers after Prabhupada’s departure had a period where it was difficult to connect. For many devotees after Prabhupada left, it was not so easy. Those disciples of Prabhupada who had his association and who were there during his time, were there during the difficult period when Prabhupada left and ISKCON went into the hands of new leaders. As a result, many withdrew. So as they withdrew, the standard of Krsna consciousness also went down a little bit, or externally the practices of Krsna consciousness at least did. But the connection of Krsna within the heart did not disappear so easily. Even if a devotee, after a prolonged practice, is now interrupting his practice, Krsna still remains in his heart. Once that faith that Krsna is the Supreme Lord is there, once the credit of all the service is there, then Srila Prabhupada says in the Srimad Bhagavatam that one is rasa-graha. Rasa-graha means that one has the taste of transcendental mellows. So therefore, one cannot just turn away from Krsna and Krsna does not turn away from that devotee. Neither does the spiritual master. So the devotee in particular that I am speaking about was Upendra. Upendra was such a close servant of Prabhupada in the early days. When Upendra died after having not such a good period, then at the end of his life he sat up in bed and said, “Prabhupada you have come.” He saw Prabhupada in the end! So the amount of mercy that we accrue in this movement is truly extraordinary.

The article " Truly extraordinary! " was published on KKSBlog.

Here we are showing you the final stage of completing the Vijaya murti: painting. You can see how the colors blend in very well with each other.

Ambhoda mataji has refined the blending of colors and already displayed her talents in the painting of the Jaya murti. Our next update report will be the completion of Vijaya.

 

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Krishna says to Arjuna …

“O Partha! In my heart I always chant the names of those who with faith or contempt chant My name.”

[ Adi Purana quoted in Hari-bhakti-vilasa 11.464 ]

sraddhaya helaya nama ratanti mama jantavah
tesam nama sada partha vartate hrdaye mama

 

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10219969482530367&set=a.3707173840886

From Mahadeva:

I am just looking for a single honest soul that can say that he has got this joy and is unaffected by whatsoever happening around him ? What kind of attitude is expected – to be oblivious.

Answer Podcast

Answer Podcast Hindi

Transcription by: Sriman Amit and Srimati Nidhi Agrawal (Noida)

प्रश्न – अपने और दूसरों के जीवन के दुखों को देखकर भी क्या आनंदपूर्वक भक्ति की जा सकती है?

उत्तर – यदि भक्त इस जगत के दुखों को अनदेखा करते तो भौतिक जगत से उन्हें कोई लेना देना ही नहीं होता अपितु वे भौतिक संसार से संबंध समाप्त करके वृंदावन या मथुरा में जाकर बसते और केवल अपनी मुक्ति के बारे में सोचते। ऐसा अवसर श्रील प्रभुपाद जी के जीवन में भी आया था लेकिन उन्होने सत्तर वर्ष की अवस्था में भी भक्ति की राजधनी वृंदावन को त्यागकर अधोगति की राजधानी न्यूयार्क को चुना, क्योंकि उनमें दया और करुणा थी। अन्यों के दुख को देखकर उन्हें दुख होता था और वे उन्हें दुख की परिस्थिति से निकालना चाहते थे। अन्यों के दुख से अप्रभावित रहना एक उन्नत भक्त के लक्षण नहीं है। अन्यों के दुख को अनदेखा करने का तो प्रश्न ही नहीं उठता।

अन्यों की सहायता करने की इच्छा प्रशंसनीय है, किन्तु यह सहायता कैसे करनी है, उसका ज्ञान और क्षमता न होने पर इसका परिणाम विपरीत भी हो सकता है। उदाहरण के लिए जैसे कोई व्यक्ति डूब रहा होता है तो वह डूबने वाले की सहायता तब तक नहीं कर सकता जब वह स्वयं तैरना न जानता हो। यदि सहायता करने वाला स्वयं बँधा हो तो वह किसी अन्य बँधे हुए व्यक्ति को बंधनमुक्त कैसे करा सकता है। यदि सहायता करने वाला स्वयं रोगी हो तो वह किसी अन्य रोगी की सहायता नहीं कर सकता। ये तीनों उदाहरण दिखाते हैं कि यदि हमें सही मायनों में अन्यों की सहायता करनी है तो अपने अंदर आध्यात्मिक विकास और विश्वास होना चाहिए। उदाहरणार्थ, यदि मैं रोग से संक्रमित हूँ और उसका उपचार स्वयं नहीं ले रहा हूँ पर अन्यों पर उसे लागू कर रहा हूँ तो मैं स्वयं और सहायता लेने वाले, दोनों को रोग से संक्रमित कर सकता हूँ।
इस भौतिक जगत के दुख अधिकतर स्वप्रेरित हैं। इसका उदाहरण हैं नशीले पदार्थों एंव इन्द्रिय सुखों का व्यसन। इन व्यसनों से उत्पन्न दुख तो हमें स्पष्ट दिखाई देते हैं। वास्तव में हमारे समस्त दुखों का कारण हमारे इस जन्म के या फिर पूर्व जन्म के कर्म होते हैं।

इस भौतिक जगत में सभी जीव दुखी हैं। महारानी कुंती ने श्रीमद्भागवतम् में जीव के दुखी रहने के तीन कारण बताए हैं – अविद्या काम कर्मभिः (भागवतम् 1.8.35)। अविद्या के कारण जीव इस ज्ञान से अनभिज्ञ रहता है कि वास्तविक सुख की प्राप्ति कहाँ से होती है। इससे काम उत्पन्न होता है और भौतिक सुख भोगने की कामना के फलस्वरूप हम जो कर्म करते है उससे कर्मबंधन में फँस जाते हैं और फिर भौतिक जगत में पीड़ा भोगते रहते हैं।

महारानी कुंती समस्त दुखों और पीड़ाओं से बचने का उपाय बताती हैं – श्रवणस्मरणार्हाणि – श्रीकृष्ण के बारे में श्रवण और स्मरण करें। इससे हमें उत्तम रस का अनुभव होगा, हमारा अन्तःकरण शुद्ध होगा तथा हमें भवबंधन से मुक्ति मिलेगी। अध्यात्म के सभी मार्ग श्रीकृष्ण की भक्ति पर जाकर संपन्न होते हैं। भक्ति में हम अपनी साधाना और सेवा साथ-साथ कर सकते हैं। अधिकतर सेवा कृष्णभावना के प्रचार पर आधारित है। साधना द्वारा हमें उत्तम रस की अनुभुति होगी जिसे हम श्रीकृष्ण के संदेश का प्रचार करके हम अन्यों के साथ बाँट सकते हैं। श्रीकृष्ण की भक्ति एक औषधि की भाँति है। कृष्णभक्त अपने अनुभव का प्रचार करके अन्यों के दुख को दूर कर सकते हैं। यदि किसी ने भक्ति का स्वंय अनुभव नहीं किया है, तो वह अन्यों को इसका अनुभव कैसे करा सकता है?

अन्यों के दुखों को दूर करने के लिये पहले स्वयं कृष्णभक्ति के आनंद का अनुभव करना आवश्यक है। जब हम किसी कृष्णभक्त से जुड़ जाते है तब उसके माध्यम से हम श्रीकृष्ण से जुड़ जाते हैं। इससे हम अपने जीवन में एक ऐसे हाथ का अनुभव करते हैं जो हमें भवसागर से खींचकर बाहर निकाल रहा हो। जब कोई हमारा एक हाथ पकड़कर हमें बाहर खींच रहा हो तब हम अपना दूसरा हाथ अन्यों की ओर बढ़ाकर उन्हें भी भवसागर से बाहर निकाल सकते हैं। जब हम किसी उपचार का प्रयोग करके ठीक हो जाऐं या हो रहे हों तभी हम अन्यों को उस उपचार के बारे में बताकर उसकी सहायता कर सकते हैं। जैसे एक व्यक्ति स्वयं बंधनमुक्त हो जाए तभी वह अन्यों को बंधनमुक्त होने में सहायता कर सकता है।

सारांश में यह प्रश्न ही नहीं उठता की हम अन्यों के दुख को अनदेखा करें। लेकिन यदि उस पीड़ा के बारे में हमें कोई ज्ञान नहीं हो तो हम उसका उपचार भी नहीं कर सकते हैं। एक भक्त होने के नाते हमें स्वंय तो भक्ति के मार्ग का अनुसरण करके आनंद का अनुभव करना चाहिए लेकिन साथ ही साथ उस उपचार का प्रचार करके अन्यों की पीड़ा को भी दूर करना चाहिए।

End of transcription.

Answer Podcast

Answer Podcast Hindi

Answer: First of all Lord Ram did not banish or abandon Sita. If we have to use the word banish clearly in the sense in which it is used for Lord Ram when He was banished by Kaikeyi’s arrangement, then He had to go into the forest in the jungle where He had to fend for Himself and they had no ready home over there, they had no one to take care of themselves. So first thing that Lord Ram did not banish Sita like that. She was still within His kingdom under the care of Valmiki and Valmiki was under the care of Lord Ram directly he was in His kingdom and Lord Ram is the supersoul in the heart of all living beings and He is the supersoul in the heart of Valmiki also and Valmiki Rishi by his foresight he understood what was happening and he told the female hemits that were there in his hemitage to take care of Sita just like there own daughter. So in that sense Sita was certainly not banished the way Lord Ram was banished. So banish is too harsh a word and it is not proper to use it in this context. Now still the question remains why did Lord Ram send Her out of His palace when there was no fault on His side. So there are three different factors involved over here. There is the principle that this is not just from Vedic culture but this is also in European _________, it was there Caesar’s wife should be above suspicion. Srila Prabhupada would quote that the idea is that actually for a king to be able to effectively rule the people, the king himself has to be exemplary and that exemplariness has to manifest expression all walks of his life. So one of the exemplariness of the king is detachment. Now what kind of detachment is expected from the king. Although the king has the best opulences that anybody else has in the kingdom, but still the king is expected to use these opulences for the sake of dharma and for the sake of dharma he has to be ready to sacrifice those opulences. So for example when there is a sacrifice, the king is supposed to use the wealth that he has for performing sacrifice and while performing sacrifice the king is meant to give profuse charity to the priests who are there and the priests are not just official priests, the sages who are there, they are meant to be devotee to god entirely. So the idea is that the king has to be an ideal exemplar of dharma. So as a part of being exemplar of dharma one is that in the Vedic culture it is understood that family attachments are obstacles on the spiritual path. At a particular stage in a person’s life family attachments are important in the sense that they are also a part of a person’s duty so that the person can make spiritual progress but at the same time those duties if they diverted or diversed from the spiritual perspective then they just become material and taking care of ones family members is to some extent done even in the non human species also. So there is certainly nothing spiritual about that. So Lord Ram when he came to the world, He wanted to exemplify the dharma in the most extraordinary way. So that he did by showing that he had no attachment to His wife. So now if Lord Ram had really any attachment then He would have married some other wife later. He did not do that. It was not that He was personally concerned with His enjoyment. Some people say that for the sake of His own reputation, He gave up His wife. But at best a reputation can give a person only material pleasure so if material pleasure was all that was His interest and if reputation was all that was His interest then He could always have preserved the reputation by having some other wife, but he never did that. So at the time of there marriage, He had promised Sita that He would take a ekapathni vrta, He would not accept any other wives and His fidelity to Sita is seen through His keeping that vrta and further if we see although when yagnas are to be performed, the husband and wife have to sit together. Now although there was no one who could substitute for Sita unless Lord Ram married and there was pressure on Him that if you have to perform the yagna ashwameda kratu dikshita Rama, He had to perform ashwameda and other yagnas, so for that He had to have a queen with Him, so then He made images of Sita, golden image of Sita and that image was what sat with Him. So if we are looking at it, there are two aspects there is attachment and then there is responsibilty. Detachment does not mean irresponsibility and attachment is not necessarily irresponsibility. So if Lord Ram had been irresponsible or as the word here in the question uses immoral, then He would have just not cared for Sita at all, if Sita had just been a means for His reputation and because She was a spot on His reputation, He would have given Her up. Then He could just have abandoned Her entirely. He would not even have told Lakshmana  to take Her to Valimiki’s ashram. He would just have told Her get out of my palace but He carefully arranged for Lakshman to have Her taken to the hermitage of Valmiki and again He did not marry anyone else even when there is obligations required it to some extent. So of course when the sages saw that they just told them that the yagna can be performed with the image also and He did that. The fact that He went to the extreme of doing that indicates that he was not irresponsible or immoral just concerned about worldly pleasure through reputation or enjoyment. Lord Ram himself was very principled. So what He is exhibiting through sending Sita away from His palace is not irresponsibility or immorality but detachment and exemplary conduct. So detachment means that as far as setting up the dharma is concerned one is not ready to compromise at all. One is ready to sacrifice any pleasure that is required for the setting up of dharma. So this is from Lord Ram’s perspective. Now we might argue that actually if Sita had been at fault then all this might have been ok, but Sita was not at fault if there is just a rumour somewhere then why take a rumour so seriously. He could just have confronted those people who where having those rumours and corrected them and infact that was Lakshman’s impulse. He felt that I want to who is saying this, I will go and set them straight but Lord Ram knew that the point here was not to set to silence one voice or to correct one misconception. The point here was to represent a principle and the principle was that the king should be spotless. So spotless that even rumours are not possible about such a person. Now in today’s socio politically _______ what to speak of rumours, even when evidences are there, even at that time the administrators, the politicians, the kings don’t care and they continue to hold on to there post and to do there irreligious, corrupt and immoral activities. So it’s very difficult for us to comprehend this level of morality. None the less this was what Lord Ram exemplified. So Lord Ram had a conflict in between His duty as a family member, as a husband and duty as a king and He did His duty as a king by exemplifying detachment and He did His duty as a husband by ensuring that Sita was cared for although She was not cared for directly in His palace by Him but She was cared in His kingdom through His representatives, sages who were there and elderly hermits that were there in the sage’s hermitage. So now the most agonising and to some extent emotionally difficult to accept this is from Sita’s perspective. So you could say what was Sita’s fault that She had already gone through the agni pariksha and She had already proven Her chastity, first of all She had maintained Her chastity despite all the allurements of Ravana. Both Ravana had threatened Her as well as tempted Her. So She maintained her chastity despite it all and then She proved Her chastity by going through the agni pariksha and then even after that She had undergo the mortification of being rejected by Lord Ram. So certainly this is very heart rending and firstly we have to understand that the whole Ramayan, every scripture there is a story line, there is philosophy and there is a rasa. There is a emotional experience that that scripture suppose to offer and that emotional experience is purifying, uplifting and eventually liberating. So in the Ramayan the primary emotional experience that is offered is called as karuna rasam. Karuna rasam is not exactly compassion but we can’t have compassion for the Lord or His associates but the idea is that normally compassion is invoked when we see somebody else suffering. So seeing the Lord suffering and the Lord gracefully accepting that suffering that inspires attraction to the Lord within us and that emotion which arises is purifying. So the whole purpose of the Ramayan is primarily to give, it is written _____ rishi is called as the adhi kavi and is called as the adhi kavya, the first poetry. So it is meant to promote that feeling and that is actually promoted first through Lord Ram’s exile, although Lord Ram just as Sita when She was sent to the forest She was utterly faultless. Similarly when Lord Ram himself was sent to the forest, He was utterly faultless. Now there was just some circumstance by which Dasharatha was bound and Lord Ram had to be sent to the forest. So similarly there was some circumstance by which Lord Ram was bound and Sita had to be sent to the forest. So we may say that there are differences in the situation that Lord Ram could have rejected the rumours but then we could also say Dasharatha could have rejected His word to Kaikeyi. Dasharath maharaj was king, Lord Ram was king also but the important principle over there is that there is something deeper being communicated over here. The communication is that even the Lord when he descends to the world to perform His pastimes, He has to some extent suffer and the way He accepts suffering with grace is what is meant to be taught for all time to come. So that is the lesson.So if we are going to blame then Lord Ram could have blamed Dasharatha maharaj which he did not do and similarly Sita did not blame Lord Ram. She understood why He had done it and although it pained her immensely just as it pained Lord Ram to go to the forest and not be there in the kingdom with His parents and with the citizens but He accepted it, similarly Sita also accepted it. So now is this meant to become a stereo type or a model for everyone, obviously not. The principle of sacrifice is something which is exemplary but the idea that somebody creates suffering upon somebody else to invoke that spirit of sacrifice is a perverse understanding. So it is not that the Ramayan recommends that step mothers conspire to send their stepsons into exile nor does the Ramayan recommend that, pregnant wives be abandoned. Every scripture if you don’t understand it in it’s proper context and purpose distorted lessons can be taken from it and this may unfortunately happened sometimes but that is not at all the intent of the Ramayan. The intent of the Ramayan is to first of all stimulate within us intense emotional attraction towards the Lord and His consort by seeing how They are suffering and secondly through Their suffering They exemplify to us how we can gracefully accept suffering when it comes in our way. But the idea that we should impose suffering upon others is a complete perversion and if that has happened, that is unfortunate and that is regrettable and the vaishnava acharyas especially in the Sri sampradaya, they have actually taught that Lord Ram’s exiling mother Sita was to invoke this karunya rasa, Jiva goswami also talks about it and from the rasa point of view there is a higher experience also that love in separation is higher than love in union in the sense that the emotions become intensified. They say that “the heart grows fonder in the absence of the beloved”. So Lord Ram wanted to give Sita that highest experience of love in separation and for that purpose this happened. So overall we can understand this at multiple levels, at the first level from the administrative point of view as a king Lord Ram had to set the example of complete detachment so that He could exemplify dharmic detachment for His citizens and He did that but on the other hand Lord Ram as a husband was not irresponsible, He arranged for the care of His pregnant wife, then from the still higher perspective of the Ramayan, it exemplifies to us how even the Lord undergoes suffering with grace and inspires us to accept whatever suffering we undergo in our lives because of our past karma to also accept it gracefully. It also increases emotional attraction towards the Lord in our hearts and lastly it enables Sita and Ram to taste the supreme rasa of love in separation which is the highest emotional experience between lovers.

Thank You.

 
Transcription in hindi

Transcribed by – Niramala Shorewala Mataji (Kaithal)

प्रश्न- क्या भगवान राम का सीतादेवी का त्याग करना अनैतिक नहीं था? क्या किसी अफवाह की कारण किसी पति को अपनी पत्नी का त्याग करना चाहिए? क्या एक पति होने के नाते श्रीराम का यह एक अनुत्तरदायी व दोषपूर्ण कृत्य नहीं है?

उत्तर- श्रीराम ने माता सीता का न तो बहिष्कार किया था और नहीं त्याग। अगर हम देश निकाला का सही अर्थ देखें तो जैसे भगवान राम को चौदह साल के वनवास के लिए भेजा गया था, जहाँ वन में उनके पास न घर था न ही कुछ और साधन, श्रीराम ने माता सीता को इस प्रकार का देश निकाला नहीं किया था। सीतादेवी उनके राज्य में वाल्मीकि आश्रम में उन्हीं की देखरेख में थीं। श्रीराम सभी प्राणियों के हृदय में परमात्मा रूप में स्थित हैं। वे वाल्मीकि मुनि के हृदय में भी स्थित थे। वाल्मीकि मुनि त्रिकालदर्शी थे। वे समझ गए थे कि क्या हो रहा है और उन्होंने अपने आश्रम में रहने वाली स्त्री सन्यासिनों को कह दिया था कि सीता देवी की देखरेख एक पुत्री की तरह होनी चाहिए। इस दृष्टिकोण से श्रीराम ने सीतादेवी को देश निकाला नहीं दिया था।

फिर भी इस संदर्भ में यह प्रश्न रहता है कि श्रीराम ने सीतादेवी को अपने महल से बाहर क्यों किया जबकि सीतादेवी का इसमें कोई दोष नहीं था।

इस विषय के आंकलन में हम तीन पक्षों के दृष्टिकोणों पर विचार करके करेंगे – (i) श्रीराम का दृष्टिकोण (ii) सामाजिक दृष्टिकोण (iii) शास्त्रों का दृष्टिकोण।

श्रीराम का दृष्टिकोण – वैदिक संस्कृति में ही नहीं यूरोपीय संस्कृति में भी ये मान्यता है कि राज्य की पटरानी को पूर्णतया संदेहरहित होना चाहिए। एक राजा को अनुकरणीय होना चाहिए और इस बात का प्रदर्शन उसके जीवन के हर स्तर पर दिखना चाहिए। राजा के अनेक गुणों में से एक है वैराग्य। पूरे राज्य में राजा के पास सर्वश्रेष्ठ ऐश्वर्य होता है किंतु राजा उसका उपयोग धर्म की रक्षा के लिए करता है। उदाहरणार्थ, धार्मिक कार्यों में राजा अपनी संपत्ति का ब्राह्मणों में भरपूर दान करता है।

राजा धर्म का प्रतिनिधि होता है। वैदिक संस्कृति के अनुसार अत्यधिक पारिवारिक आसक्ति आध्यात्मिक जीवन में एक बाधा बन जाता है। गृहस्थ जीवन में पारिवारिक संबंधों का महत्व होता है क्योंकि ये व्यक्ति के कर्तव्य निर्वाह का भाग होते हैं। कर्तव्यों का निर्वाह आध्यात्मिक विकास के लिए आवश्यक है। किन्तु यदि यही पारिवारिक संबंध उसे अध्यात्मिक प्रगति से दूर ले जा रहे हैं तो वे भौतिक हो जाते हैं। देखा जाए तो इस प्रकार परिवार जनों की देखरेख पशु पक्षी भी करते हैं, तो इसमें विशेष रूप से आध्यात्मिक कुछ नहीं। जब श्रीराम धरती पर अवतरित हुए तो उन्हें धर्म पालन का सर्वोच्च आदर्श स्थापित करना था। सीतादेवी का त्याग करके उन्होंने सिद्ध किया कि वे अपनी पत्नी के प्रति अनावश्यक आसक्त नहीं थे। यदि वे आसक्त होते तो बाद में किसी अन्य स्त्री से विवाह अवश्य करते।

कुछ लोग कहते हैं कि श्रीराम ने अपने मान सम्मान को बचाने के लिए सीतादेवी का त्याग किया। यदि ऐसा होता तो वे अश्वमेध यज्ञ में अपना मान बढ़ाने के लिए दूसरा विवाह कर सकते थे। यज्ञ करने के लिए उन्हें एक रानी की आवश्यकता थी और उनपर ऋषि मुनियों द्वारा दूसरे विवाह के लिए दबाव भी था। किन्तु उन्होंने दूसरा विवाह नहीं किया। वे अपने एकपत्नी व्रत पर अडिग रहे और सीतादेवी के प्रति अपनी निष्ठा का परिचय दिया। यहाँ दो पक्ष हैं एक है आसक्ति दूसरा वैराग्य। वैराग्य का अर्थ अनुत्तरदायी और आसक्ति का अर्थ उत्तरदायी नहीं होता है। यदि श्रीराम उत्तरदायी नहीं होते तो सीतादेवी के बारे में बिल्कुल चिंता नहीं करते। यदि सीता देवी केवल एक मान सम्मान का प्रश्न होतीं तो श्रीराम उनका पूर्णतया त्याग कर सकते थे। वे सरलता से उन्हें महल से बाहर निकाल सकते थे। किंतु उन्होंने श्रीलक्ष्मण को आदेश देकर सीतादेवी को वाल्मिकी आश्रम तक पहुंचाया। इन बातों से साफ पता लगता है कि श्रीराम अनुत्तरदायी व अनैतिक नहीं थे। उन्हें अपने मान सम्मान व भौतिक सुख से कोई लगाव न था। वे सिद्धांत के पक्के थे। सीतादेवी को महल से भेजकर उन्होंने वैराग्य और धर्मपालन का सर्वश्रेष्ठ उदाहरण प्रस्तुत किया। धर्म पालन के लिए वे कुछ भी त्याग करने के लिए तैयार थे।

अब हम यह आंकलन कर सकते हैं कि यदि सीतादेवी का दोष होता तब ये त्याग उचित था किंतु किसी अफवाह के कारण ये किया गया। क्या किसी अफवाह को इतनी गंभीरता से लिया जाना चाहिए?
सामाजिक दृष्टिकोण – श्रीराम अफवाह फैलाने वालों से बात करके उनकी शंका दूर कर सकते थे जैसा कि इस अफवाह को सुनकर श्रीलक्ष्मण ने तुरंत कहा था कि ऐसा कौन कह रहा है। श्रीराम जानते थे कि वास्तविक समाधान किसी एक आवाज को दबाना नहीं था। वास्तविक समाधान इस सिद्धांत की स्थापना था कि एक राजा को नितांत निष्कलंक होना चाहिए। निष्कलंक इतना कि उसके बारे में लेषमात्र भी संदेह न हो। वर्तमान समय के नेता अफवाहों की बात तो दूर ठोस सबूत होने पर भी नहीं मानते और पदों पर बने रहते हैं। ऐसी स्थिति में हमें श्रीराम की उच्चकोटि की नैतिकता को समझने में कठिनाई हो सकती है। सीतादेवी का त्याग कर उन्होंने अपने राजधर्म का पालन किया तथा सीतादेवी को वाल्मीकि आश्रम में भेजकर अपने पति धर्म का पालन किया।

शास्त्रों का दृष्टिकोण – सीतादेवी के लिए इस निर्णय को स्वीकार करना अत्यंत दुखदायी था। इसमें सीतादेवी का क्या दोष? सीतादेवी ने अग्नि परीक्षा देकर अपनी पवित्रता का प्रमाण पहले ही दे दिया था। रावण के फुसलाने और धमकाने पर भी उन्होंने अपनी पवित्रता पर आँच नहीं आने दी। इस पर भी श्रीराम ने उनका त्याग किया। यह अत्यंत दुखदायी है। हमें यहाँ समझना चाहिए कि शास्त्रों की कथाओं में तीन पक्ष होते हैं – (i) कथा (ii) दर्शन (iii) रस। शास्त्र की कथाऐं हमें भावनात्मक अनुभव प्रदान करती हैं। यह भावनात्मक अनुभव हमारा शुद्धिकरण करता है, हमारी चेतना को ऊपर उठाता है और अंततः हमें मुक्ति प्रदान करता है।

रामायण हमें मुख्य रूप से करुण रस प्रदान करती है। जब हम श्रीराम को देखते हैं कि वे कैसे समभाव और शालीनता से अपने दुखों को स्वीकार करते हैं तो यह रस हमें भगवान राम के प्रति आकर्षित होने के लिए प्रेरित करता है। इनसे जो भावनाऐं उभरती हैं वे हमें शुद्ध करती हैं। वाल्मीकि ऋषि को आदि कवि कहा जाता है। रामायण का मुख्य उद्देश्य है इन भावनाओं का पाठक में संचार करना। सर्वप्रथम यह भावना श्रीराम के वनवास की कथा से आती हैं। जैसे जब सीतादेवी का त्याग किया गया तब वे निर्दोष थीं, वैसे ही जब श्रीराम को वनवास भेजा गया तब श्रीराम भी दोष रहित थे। परिस्थितियों के कारण महाराज दशरथ वचनबद्ध थे और श्रीराम को फलस्वरूप वनवास जाना पड़ा, ठीक उसी प्रकार परिस्थितियों के कारण श्रीराम बंधे हुए थे और सीतादेवी को वाल्मीकि आश्रम जाना पड़ा।

यहाँ हम कह सकते हैं कि दोनों परिस्थितियों में अंतर था। श्रीराम अफवाहों को सुनकर अनसुना कर सकते थे। तो फिर हम यह भी कह सकते हैं कि महाराज दशरथ कैकेई की मांगों को ठुकरा सकते थे। लेकिन महत्वपूर्ण बात यह है कि इन दोनों परिस्थितियों में एक महत्वपूर्ण बात यह है कि जब भगवान धरती पर अवतरित होते हैं और लीला करते हैं तो उन्हें भी दुख सहन करना पड़ता है। इन दुखों को वे शालीनता व सहजता से स्वीकार करते हैं। यह सीख देना ही इस कथा का मूल उद्देश्य है। यदि दोष ही देना था तो श्रीराम महाराज दशरथ को दोष दे सकते थे और सीतादेवी श्रीराम को दोष दे सकती थीं। किंतु दोनों ने ही ऐसा नहीं किया। सीतादेवी को अतिशय दुख हुआ कि श्रीराम ने उनका त्याग किया किन्तु वे समझ सकती थीं कि किन परिस्थितियों ने श्रीराम ने ऐसा किया। ऐसे ही श्रीराम को भी वनवास का दुख हुआ किंतु उन्होंने स्वीकार किया क्योंकि वे समझते थे कि किन परिस्थितियों में ऐसा हुआ।

तो क्या हम सभी को ऐसे त्याग का अनुसरण करना चाहिए?

नहीं, ऐसा नहीं कह सकते। त्याग का सिद्धांत अनुकरणीय और कठोर है। किंतु यह विचारधारा कि कोई जानबूझकर किसी को दुखी करे जिससे किसी दूसरे व्यक्ति में त्याग की भावना उत्पन्न हो तो यह एक दोषपूर्ण और आधारहीन समझ है। रामायण इस बात की अनुमोदन नहीं करती कि माँऐं अपने सौतेले पुत्रों को वनवास भेजें। रामायण यह अनुमोदन भी नहीं करती कि गर्भवती पत्नी को त्याग दिया जाए। किंतु यदि हम शास्त्रों को सही ढंग से न समझें तो हम उनकी शिक्षा का त्रुटिपूर्ण अर्थ लगा लेते हैं। रामायण का उद्देश्य है कि करुण रस के माध्यम से हमारे भीतर भगवान के प्रति आकर्षण की भावना उत्पन्न हो। श्री संप्रदाय के आचार्यों और श्रील जीव गोस्वामी ने भी यह बताया है कि श्रीराम का सीतादेवी का त्याग करना करुण रस में है। रस के दृष्टिकोण से यह एक उच्च अनुभव है। मिलन से विरह का प्रेम उच्च स्तर पर है क्योंकि इसमें भावनाएँ और तीव्र हो जाती है। ऐसा कहा जाता है कि विरह में हृदय प्रेमी की स्मृति में मग्न हो जाता है। तो श्रीराम को सीतादेवी को इस उच्च कोटि का अनुभव कराना था, इसी कारण ऐसा हुआ।

सामान्यतः इस घटना को हम अलग-अलग स्तर पर समझ सकते हैं । पहले स्तर पर भगवान राम को धर्मपालन का उद्देश्य स्थापित करना था। फिर चाहे उन्हें अपनी पत्नी का त्याग ही क्यों न करना पड़े। इससे उनके वैराग्य की भावना का पता लगता है। दूसरा वे अनुत्तरदायी नहीं थे। श्रीराम ने सीता देवी का त्याग नहीं किया उन्होंने अपनी पत्नी सीता की वाल्मिकी आश्रम में व्यवस्था की थी। एक ऊंचे स्तर पर भगवान राम हमें अपने उदाहरण से दिखाते हैं कि कैसे उन्होंने स्वयं भी दुख का अनुभव किया और कितनी शालीनता से इन परिस्थितियों का सामना किया। हमें भी अपने जीवन में आए दुखों का सामना इसी प्रकार करना चाहिए। अंततः यह घटना भगवान राम और माता सीता को कारुण्य रस अर्थात विरह में प्रेम का उच्च अनुभव कराती है।

 
End of transcription.

Source: Bhaktivedanta College

Virtual parikramas, story dramas, kirtan, games, quizzes, crafts, and much more! July 12th - 16th 4:00pm-5:30pm IST. Register here: https://iskconchildren.com/2021/07/01/jai-jagannath-camp/

Happiness…. The most sought-after experience that human society is striving to achieve, is still an underestimated and untapped experience beyond the reach of the majority.  Many believe they have reached that state of happiness, but have they? It was a nice sunny tropical afternoon. On my daily commute back home, I was looking out through […]

The post Is Happiness Really All Relative? appeared first on ISKCON News.

The most sought-after experience that human society is striving to achieve, is still an underestimated and untapped experience beyond the reach of the majority.  Many believe they have reached that state of happiness, but have they?

After a successful school year of keeping all students safe during the Covid-19 pandemic, the TKG Academy in Dallas, Texas held a graduation ceremony on May 27^th that felt “triumphant,” according to Vice Principal Gopi Gita Dasi. During the event, three students who had attended TKG Academy since preschool graduated from Twelfth Grade, while the rest of the school’s thirty-three students received end-of-year certificates.

An online “Sravana Festival,” with a series of Zoom talks by illustrious guests about the pastimes of Lord Jagannath and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, is setting the mood for the upcoming Ratha Yatra celebrations at the ISKCON temple in Plainfield, New Jersey and on the Atlantic City boardwalk.

Srivasa Pandit is one of the members of the Panca-tattva: sri-krsna-caitanya prabhu-nityananda sri-advaita gadadhara srivasa. Vedic authorities state that in the current Age of Kali, Krishna came as Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Balarama came as Sri Nityananda Prabhu. Similarly, Maha-vishnu appeared as Advaita Acharya, Srimati Radharani as Gadadhara Pandit, and Narada Muni as Srivasa Pandit.

panca-tattvatmakam krsnam
  bhakta-rupa-svarupakam
bhaktavataram bhaktakhyam
  namami bhakta-saktikam

“I offer my obeisances unto the Supreme Lord, Krsna, who is nondifferent from His features as a devotee, devotional incarnation, devotional manifestation, pure devotee, and devotional energy.” (Cc Adi 1.14)

Panca-tattvatmakam: The Panca-tattva comprise one truth on the absolute platform. Lord Chaitanya is bhakta-rupa, Krishna in the form of a devotee. Lord Nityananda is svarupakam, the expansion of a devotee. Advaita Acharya is bhaktavataram, the avatar of a devotee. Srivasa Thakura is bhakta, a devotee. And Gadadhara Pandit is bhakta-saktikam, the energy of the Supreme Lord who supplies energy to the devotees—the devotional energy, Srimati Radharani.

In the Adi-lila of Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Srila Krishnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami describes the tree of Lord Chaitanya. The tree itself is Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and at the same time Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is the gardener who tends to the tree. This tree, like any tree, has a trunk, limbs, and branches. The limbs and branches and leaves are devotees—the devotees of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Srila Krishnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami says that he is listing such devotees for his own purification, just to glorify them, and that he cannot distinguish between who is higher and who is lower. He wants to glorify them all. And Srila Prabhupada remarks that this is the attitude of a pure devotee. A pure devotee respects all devotees. He does not distinguish that some should be respected and some not. He respects them all.

Srila Prabhupada also mentions that ISKCON too is a branch of the Chaitanya tree. In reality, Prabhupada himself is a most important branch of the Chaitanya tree, but in his humility he says that ISKCON is a branch. So all the devotees in ISKCON, who are attached to ISKCON, are leaves on the Chaitanya tree. And we should respect and honor them all.

After giving us this introduction to the Chaitanya tree, Srila Krishnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami begins to describe specific devotees, and the first he describes is Srivasa Thakura. For our purification, we shall read now the first verses of Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila, Chapter Ten, “The Trunk, Branches, and Subbranches of the Caitanya Tree.” And then we shall discuss more about Srivasa Thakura.

TEXT 1

sri-caitanya-padambhoja-
  madhupebhyo namo namah
kathancid asrayad yesam
  svapi tad-gandha-bhag bhavet

TRANSLATION

Let me repeatedly offer my respectful obeisances unto the beelike devotees who always taste the honey of the lotus feet of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. If even a doggish nondevotee somehow takes shelter of such devotees, he enjoys the aroma of the lotus flower.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

The example of a dog is very significant in this connection. A dog naturally does not become a devotee at any time, but still it is sometimes found that a dog of a devotee gradually becomes a devotee also. We have actually seen that a dog has no respect even for the tulasi plant. Indeed, a dog is especially inclined to pass urine on the tulasi plant. Therefore the dog is the number one nondevotee. But Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s sankirtana movement is so strong that even a doglike nondevotee can gradually become a devotee by the association of a devotee of Lord Caitanya. Srila Sivananda Sena, a great householder devotee of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, attracted a dog on the street while going to Jagannatha Puri. The dog began to follow him and ultimately went to see Caitanya Mahaprabhu and was liberated. Similarly, cats and dogs in the household of Srivasa Thakura were also liberated. Cats and dogs and other animals are not expected to become devotees, but in the association of a pure devotee they are also delivered.

COMMENT by Giriraj Swami

This is an important verse to begin the description of the Chaitanya tree. The tree describes the devotees, and here Krishnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami glorifies the power of the devotees: by their power, even a doglike nondevotee can become a devotee and taste the nectar at the lotus feet of the Lord.

In six days we shall observe Jagannatha Ratha-yatra, and that date is also the disappearance day of Srila Svarupa Damodara Gosvami and Srila Sivananda Sena. Every year, Sivananda Sena would take a party of devotees from Bengal to Orissa for the Ratha-yatra, and one year a dog joined them. Sivananda Sena was so merciful that he accepted the dog as part of his party, so much so that when they had to cross a river by boat, he paid the boatman extra to take the dog.

One day, when Sivananda Sena had to attend to some work, his servant forgot to feed the dog. And when Sivananda came and inquired, “Did you feed the dog?” he discovered that it had not been given its meals. Sivananda Sena immediately sent ten men to find the dog, but they could not find it. And Sivananda Sena felt so sorry that he fasted.

The next day too they did not see the dog, but when they reached Puri they saw it sitting a little distance from Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, who was throwing it remnants of green coconut pulp and requesting it to chant the holy names “Hari,” “Krishna,” and “Rama.” Sivananda Sena, out of his humility, offered obeisances to the dog, feeling that he had been an offender, because he had neglected to serve it properly. The following day, however, no one saw the dog, for it had been liberated and gone back home, back to Godhead, by the mercy of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and the holy names.

This is the strength of the mercy of a pure devotee. By the mercy of such a devotee, one gets the association of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and the mercy of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu—the opportunity to chant the holy names of Krishna—and in the end goes back home, back to Godhead.

TEXT 2

jaya jaya sri-krsna-caitanya-nityananda
jayadvaitacandra jaya gaura-bhakta-vrnda

TRANSLATION

All glories to Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Lord Nityananda! All glories to Advaita Prabhu, and all glories to the devotees of Lord Caitanya, headed by Srivasa!

TEXTS 3–6

The description of Lord Caitanya as the gardener and the tree is inconceivable. Now hear with attention about the branches of this tree.

The associates of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu were many, but none of them should be considered lower or higher. This cannot be ascertained.

All the great personalities in the line of Lord Caitanya enumerated these devotees, but they could not distinguish between the greater and the lesser.

I offer my obeisances unto them as a token of respect. I request them not to consider my offenses.

TEXT 7

vande sri-krsna-caitanya-
  premamara-taroh priyan
sakha-rupan bhakta-ganan
  krsna-prema-phala-pradan

TRANSLATION

I offer my obeisances to all the dear devotees of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, the eternal tree of love of Godhead. I offer my respects to all the branches of the tree, the devotees of the Lord who distribute the fruit of love of Godhead.

TEXT 8

srivasa pandita, ara sri-rama pandita
dui bhai—dui sakha, jagate vidita

TRANSLATION

The two brothers Srivasa Pandita and Sri Rama Pandita started two branches that are well known in the world.

PURPORT

In the Gaura-ganoddesa-dipika (90), Srivasa Pandita (Srivasa Thakura) is described as an incarnation of Narada Muni, and Sri Rama Pandita, his younger brother, is said to be an incarnation of Parvata Muni, a great friend of Narada’s. Srivasa Pandit’s wife, Malini, is celebrated as an incarnation of the nurse Ambika, who fed Lord Krsna with her breast milk, and as already noted, his niece Narayani, the mother of Thakura Vrndavana dasa, the author of Sri Caitanya-bhagavata, was the sister of Ambika in krsna-lila. We also understand from the description of Sri Caitanya-bhagavata that after Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s acceptance of the sannyasa order, Srivasa Pandita left Navadvipa, possibly because of feelings of separation, and domiciled at Kumarahatta.

COMMENT

Sivananda Sena resided at Kumarahatta, and Srivasa Thakura came to live near him. Later, Vasudeva Datta also took up residence there.

Kumarahatta is a very important place. It is the birthplace of Isvara Puri, whom Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu accepted as His guru. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu went there on pilgrimage and visited His guru’s birthplace, and He took dirt from the ground there and kept it in His cloth, and every day He would eat a little bit of it. Sri Caitanya-bhagavata (Adi-khanda 17.98–103) describes:

“The Supreme Lord, Sri Caitanya, personally visited the birthplace of Isvara Puri. The Lord said, ‘I offer My obeisances to the village of Kumarahatta, where Sri Isvara Puri appeared.’ He cried profusely at that place and spoke nothing other than the name of Isvara Puri. He took some dust from the birthplace of Isvara Puri and tied it in His cloth. The Lord said, ‘The dust from the birthplace of Isvara Puri is My life, wealth, and living force.’ The Lord exhibited such affection for Isvara Puri, because He takes pleasure in increasing the glories of His devotees. Even today devotees take dirt from the same place.”

It is said that, following the example of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, every disciple should visit the birthplace of his spiritual master. Last November, His Holiness Radhanath Swami and I visited Srila Prabhupada’s birthplace in Calcutta. Srila Prabhupada took birth under a jackfruit tree, and we visited the tree. We also saw the Deities and temple that his mother would visit. I imagined how she would pray to that Deity of Krishna for the child in her womb and how after the child’s birth she and all the relatives would pray for his well-being.

TEXT 9

sripati, srinidhi—tanra dui sahodara
cari bhaira dasa-dasi, grha-parikara

TRANSLATION

Their two brothers were named Sripati and Srinidhi. These four brothers and their servants and maidservants are considered one big branch.

TEXT 10

dui sakhara upasakhaya tan-sabara ganana
yanra grhe mahaprabhura sada sankirtana

TRANSLATION

There is no counting the subbranches of these two branches. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu held congregational chanting daily at the house of Srivasa Pandit.

COMMENT

This sankirtana that Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu performed at Srivasa-angana is significant. There is a parallel between the pastimes of Sri Krishna Chaitanya and the pastimes of Krishna, and the nocturnal kirtan at Srivasa-angana in gaura-lila corresponds to the rasa-lila in Krishna’s pastimes. It was the highest ecstasy.

To enable Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and His confidential devotees to enter deeply into the kirtan and relish its mellows without disturbance, Srivasa Thakura would lock the door to his house. Only the most confidential devotees were allowed. Srila Prabhupada comments that to spread Krishna consciousness, when we have large-scale congregational chanting of the holy name we keep our doors open for everyone to participate, and that by the grace of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu this policy has brought good results. But the special kirtans held at Srivasa Thakura’s residence at night were reserved for only the most intimate devotees, so that they could freely experience and manifest their ecstasy, which they could do only in the association of devotees. A pure devotee will not do that if there are outsiders.

Srila Prabhupada’s disciple Gargamuni dasa once told Prabhupada that sometimes he felt like crying in the kirtan. Prabhupada replied, “That’s all right, because you are chanting with devotees and they will understand.” Otherwise, devotees don’t manifest such symptoms of ecstasy.

TEXT 11

cari bhai sa-vamse kare caitanyera seva
gauracandra vina nahi jane devi-deva

TRANSLATION

These four brothers and their family members fully engaged in the service of Lord Caitanya. They knew no other god or goddess.

PURPORT

Srila Narottama dasa Thakura has said, anya-devasraya nai, tomare kahinu bhai, ei bhakti parama-karana: if one wants to become a pure, staunch devotee, one should not take shelter of any of the demigods or -goddesses. . . .

COMMENT

This is an important point, especially for Hindus who are used to worshipping gods and goddesses. Sometimes even after such people come to the association of devotees and hear the philosophy of Krishna consciousness and to some extent understand it, they are reluctant to give up their worship of demigods. They may think, “Our ancestors worshiped demigods, so how can we stop?” Sometimes their deities have been passed down through generations in their family, and they are afraid that they will displease their ancestors or deities if they stop the worship—that Lord Shiva or Durga or whoever will be displeased. But according to the Bhagavad-gita, one should not worship gods and goddesses. Rather, one should take full shelter of the Supreme Lord Krishna, and if one does so, the demigods too will be pleased. Lord Krishna states,

ye ’py anya-devata-bhakta
  yajante sraddhayanvitah
te ’pi mam eva kaunteya
  yajanty avidhi-purvakam

“Those who are devotees of other gods and who worship them with faith actually worship only Me, O son of Kunti, but they do so in a wrong way.” (Gita 9.23)

sarva-dharman parityajya
  mam ekam saranam vraja
aham tvam sarva-papebhyo
  moksayisyami ma sucah

“Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions. Do not fear.” (Gita 18.66)

To engage fully in the service of Krishna or Krishna Chaitanya and to know no other god or goddess is an important qualification. Krishnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami could have mentioned many other qualities of Srivasa Thakura and his family, but he specifically mentioned that they had full faith in Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and did not worship any devas or devis.

Five thousand years ago, Lord Krishna exhibited the pastime of lifting Govardhana Hill. The residents of Vrindavan were used to worshipping Indra, who is the king of heaven and demigod in charge of rainfall. Lord Krishna told them to take the paraphernalia they had gathered for the indra-yajna and use it instead to worship Govardhana Hill, the cows, and the brahmans. And because the Vraja-vasis had simple faith in Lord Krishna, they did what He said.

Due to some false pride and illusion, Indra became angry when his worship was stopped. But what was the result? Although Indra became angry and sent torrents of rain to inundate Vrindavan, Lord Krishna lifted Govardhana Hill and held it up as an umbrella to give shelter to all the residents of Vrindavan. And the result was that they were able to be with Krishna continuously for one week, 24/7. Every day, under ordinary circumstances, they would be with Him for some time but then they would be separated. In the early morning, for example, Krishna and Balarama would be with Their mother and father, but then They would go out to the fields to tend to the cows and Their parents would be separated from Them. Almost all of the residents of the Vrindavan village would be separated from Them during the day; only the cowherd boys would be with Them. But in the late afternoon, when Krishna came back from the pasturing grounds, He would again enter His home and be with Nanda and Yasoda and others there, and He would be separated from the cowherd boys. Then in the middle of the night He would sneak out to meet the gopis, and then He would sneak back before His mother would come to wake Him up in the morning. And then he would be separated from the young gopis.

When Krishna returned from the pasturing grounds in the late afternoon and the gopis gazed at Him, they would curse the creator, Brahma, for creating eyelids. Even the momentary blinking of their eyes, that momentary separation from the sight of Krishna, felt like yugas, like many thousands of years, because they had such intense attachment (anuraga) for Him. And so the gopis prayed to Krishna,

 atati yad bhavan ahni kananam
  truti yugayate tvam apasyatam
kutila-kuntalam sri-mukham ca te
  jada udiksatam paksma-krd drsam

“When You go off to the forest during the day, a tiny fraction of a second becomes like a millennium for us because we cannot see You. And even when we can eagerly look upon Your beautiful face, so lovely with its adornment of curly locks, our pleasure is hindered by our eyelids, which were fashioned by the foolish creator.” (SB 10.31.15)

So, there was constant meeting and separation, and the separation was terrible for the Vraja-vasis, because they had such deep love for Krishna. But during the govardhana-lila the Vraja-vasis could be with Krishna continuously. The gopis, the elder cowherd men and ladies, the cowherd boys, the servants, and the animals all got to be with Krishna continuously. So by giving up their worship of Indra and following Krishna’s instruction to worship Govardhana Hill (which is nondifferent from Krishna) they did not lose. Rather, they gained continuous, close association with Krishna. So if we give up the worship of demigods or goddesses and take fully to the service of Krishna, we will not lose. Rather, we will gain in the most wonderful way.

Because, during the kirtans at his house, Srivasa Thakura would lock the doors, some people became angry. The Caitanya-caritamrta describes that, being excluded, some of these nonbelievers (pasandis) burned with envy and plotted against Srivasa Thakura. The leader of the nonbelievers was a brahman named Gopala Capala, and he assembled paraphernalia for the worship of the goddess Bhavani (Durga) and placed it outside Srivasa Thakura’s door to defame him, because generally the worshippers of the goddess Bhavani, Durga, or Kali, are considered lower class. They drink wine and eat meat. For a Vaishnava, such things are anathema. So Gopala Capala wanted to defame Srivasa Thakura, and alongside the paraphernalia for the worship he placed a pot of wine.

In the morning, when Srivasa Thakura opened the door and saw all the paraphernalia, he immediately called for the respectable gentlemen of the neighborhood. He told them, “Just see, here is the paraphernalia for the worship of Bhavani.” There was a banana leaf and some rice and red sandalwood paste—and the jug of wine. He said, “Every night I worship the goddess Bhavani. Now all you respectable gentlemen can understand my actual position—who I really am—and you can take whatever action you deem fit.”

Of course, the respectable brahmans and other members of the higher castes could understand what had happened, that some envious person had wanted to defame Srivasa Thakura and desecrate his house. So they called for a sweeper, a hadi, to dispose of all those untouchable things and purify the place by mopping it with a mixture of water and cow dung.

Three day later, Gopala Capala was afflicted with leprosy. Blood oozed from sores all over his body, and he was attacked by germs and insects. The position of a devotee is such that anyone who offends any devotee suffers. And that is also the Lord’s mercy. By punishing the offender, He simultaneously protects His devotees from being offended further and prevents the offender from committing more offenses. He helps the offender realize his mistake and make progress in spiritual life. So Gopala Capala was burning with leprosy, suffering unbearable pain.

One day when Chaitanya Mahaprabhu passed nearby, Gopala Capala appealed to Him, “You are an incarnation of God. You have come to deliver the fallen souls. I am very fallen and wretched. So please deliver me.” Of course, it is true that Lord Chaitanya came to deliver the fallen souls, but He really came to deliver them from material existence altogether—not from any particular condition—by distributing the holy name and krsna-prema. Srila Narottama dasa Thakura prayed,

golokera prema-dhana, hari-nama-sankirtana,
  rati na janmilo kene taya
samsara-visanale, diva-nisi hiya jvale
  judaite na koinu upaya

“The treasure of divine love in Goloka Vrndavana has descended as the congregational chanting of Lord Hari’s holy names. Why did my attraction for that chanting never come about? Day and night my heart burns in the fire of the poison of worldliness, and I have not accepted the means for relieving it.”

vrajendra-nandana yei, saci-suta hoilo sei,
  balarama hoilo nitai
dina-hina yata chilo, hari-name uddharilo,
  tara saksi jagai-madhai

 “Lord Krsna, the son of the King of Vraja, became the son of Saci, and Balarama became Nitai. The holy name delivered all those souls who were lowly and wretched. The two sinners Jagai and Madhai are evidence of this.”

Lord Chaitanya brought chanting of the holy name—the treasure of krsna-prema—and delivered all who were sinful and fallen, even Jagai and Madhai. Although this Gopala Capala was very sinful and insulting, he had one good quality: he was simple. He accepted Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu as the Supreme Personality of Godhead and had faith that He could deliver him. So he appealed to Mahaprabhu, and Mahaprabhu called him a sinner and told him, “Because of your sins, you are suffering.” And that is a fact: whatever suffering we experience in this world is due to our sins. The Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu explains that suffering is due to sin and that sin is due to ignorance. Thus the only way to really become free from suffering is to become free from sin and ignorance—in other words, to become enlightened in transcendental knowledge, engage in devotional service, and ultimately go back to Godhead.

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu told him, “You are envious of pure devotees. That is the worst sin. I shall not deliver you. Rather, I shall see you bitten by these germs for millions of years. For your offense against Srivasa Thakura, you will fall into hellish conditions for millions of lifetimes. He is My pure devotee.” After some time, Gopala Capala actually took shelter of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and the Lord mercifully instructed him, “If you approach Srivasa Thakura and get his mercy—and if you do not commit such sins again—you will be freed from the effects of your offenses.”

That is the only way to be relieved from vaisnava-aparadha. It is the recommended way and the fastest way—to go to the Vaishnava you have offended, throw yourself at his feet, and beg for forgiveness. Gopala Capala did that. He took shelter of the lotus feet of Srivasa Thakura, and by Srivasa’s mercy he was freed from all sinful reactions.

Then there was another person, a brahmachari who practiced austerities and ate only milk and fruits. Repeatedly, daily, he begged Srivasa Pandit, “Please allow me to witness the sankirtana in your house at night. I will be ever grateful to you.” He begged and pleaded, and finally Srivasa Pandit relented: “I know you are a good soul. You are a strict brahmachari and eat only fruit and milk. I think you are eligible to see the Lord’s dancing, but you will have to remain hidden, because the Lord has ordered that no one be allowed in the house.”

Srivasa Pandit secretly brought the brahmachari inside the house and hid him. During the kirtan, Lord Chaitanya and His other associates chanted and danced, but they did not experience their usual ecstasy. Soon the Lord remarked, “Today I do not feel the same ecstasy while dancing. Perhaps someone is hiding inside the house. Please tell the truth.”

Srivasa Pandit became afraid and said, “My Lord, I assure you that there are no nonbelievers in the house—only a brahmachari, a qualified, sinless brahman who eats only milk and fruits. He had a strong desire to see You dance. Still, You are right, my Lord. He is hiding here.”

The Lord became furious and said, “Take him out of this house immediately. What is his qualification to see My dancing? How can one develop devotion to Me simply by drinking milk?”

“Just by drinking milk no one can attain Me,” the Lord declared. “A person may be a renunciant without mundane attachment, but if he does not surrender to Me I do not accept him. On the other hand, even a low-caste dog-eater who takes full shelter of Me I accept.”

By now the brahmachari was trembling with fear, and he came out of hiding. Still, he thought, “I was so fortune to see the Lord dance. And now I am receiving the appropriate punishment.” He accepted the Lord’s chastisement as mercy. And the Lord, understanding the brahmachari’s heart, blessed him. He told him, “Do not try to attain power through penances and austerities. Rather, render loving service unto the Supreme Lord Krishna. That is the highest activity.” And the Lord placed His lotus feet on the brahmachari’s head.

Another brahman came to witness the kirtan at Srivasa-angana, but because the door was locked, he could not enter, and he returned home disappointed. The next day he met Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, broke his brahman’s thread, and cursed Him: “You will never enjoy material happiness.” When Lord Chaitanya heard this curse, He felt great jubilation. He took it as a blessing: “I will be free of material enjoyment.”

Even the cats and dogs in Srivasa Thakura’s house were delivered. In Caitanya-bhagavata, after Caitanya Mahaprabhu heard Srivasa Thakura speak with great faith and love for Nityananda Prabhu, He blessed him, “Everyone in your household, including your pet dogs and cats, will find complete shelter in My devotional service.”

Srivasa Thakura had a Muslim tailor. (We also have a Muslim tailor, Abdul, at our Juhu temple, and he sews our cloth.) This tailor stayed near Srivasa-angana and used to sew garments for Srivasa Thakura and his family. One day the tailor saw Chaitanya Mahaprabhu dancing. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu chanted and danced in ecstasy not only in His private kirtans but in other places, on other occasions, as well, and the tailor, seeing the Lord’s dancing, became enchanted. Lord Chaitanya understood the tailor’s mind and mercifully showed him His original form as Krishna. Then the tailor began to shout, “Dekhinu! Dekhinu!”—I have seen! I have seen! In ecstatic love, he danced with Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and he became a first-class Vaishnava and prominent devotee of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

Anyone who takes shelter of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu can be delivered. It does not matter if one is a brahman, a brahmachari, a milk-drinker, a meat-eater, or a Muslim. These are not qualifications or disqualifications. Anyone who takes shelter of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu or, better yet, His devotee (the tailor was a servant of Srivasa Pandit) can get the mercy of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and obtain love for Krishna.

In His ecstatic mood, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu asked Srivasa Thakura, “Please bring My flute,” because He was in the mood of Krishna. But Srivasa replied, “The gopis have stolen it.” When Chaitanya Mahaprabhu heard this, He became ecstatic. He said, “Please say more. Please say more.” Srivasa Thakura began to describe the mellows of Krishna’s Vrindavan pastimes, and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said, “Please say more. Please say more.” Then Srivasa Thakura described more—how Krishna played on His flute and the gopis wandered in the Vrindavan forest, and how Krishna celebrated the rasa dance and played in the Yamuna. “Please say more. Please say more.” Srivasa spoke more and more about the mellows and pastimes of Krishna in Vrindavan, especially the rasa-lila. Thus the two of them passed the entire night, and when morning came, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu embraced Srivasa Thakura and Srivasa was satisfied.

These are some of the earlier pastimes, when Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu resided in Navadvipa. Eventually Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu took sannyasa, left Navadvipa, and settled in Jagannatha Puri, and Srivasa Thakura, in separation from Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, moved to Kumarahatta.

Every year, Sivananda Sena would lead a party of devotees from Bengal to Orissa to meet Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, participate in the Ratha-yatra, and stay with Him for caturmasya, the four months of the rainy season. One year, Srivasa Thakura observed the Hera-pancami festival with Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Svarupa Damodara Gosvami. Hera-pancami is a very special festival. Two weeks before Ratha-yatra is Snana-yatra, the public bathing of Lord Jagannatha, after which Lord Jagannatha retires to His private quarters and for two weeks does not see His devotees. It is said that He catches a cold from the Snana-yatra, and so for two weeks His wife Lakshmi, the goddess of fortune, serves Him faithfully, giving Him special drinks and infusions, represented by fruit juice, to help Him recover and feel better.

After two weeks, Lord Jagannatha, feeling separation from His other devotees, takes permission from Lakshmi to go out. Really, He wants to meet and reciprocate with His devotees in Vrindavan. So, in the Ratha-yatra, He proceeds on His chariot from Nilacala, which is like Dvaraka (or Kurukshetra), down the road to Sundaracala, to the Gundica temple, which is considered to be Vrindavan.

The day before the Ratha-yatra is Gundica-marjana, during which Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and His devotees clean the Gundica temple to make it fit to receive the Lord. And the next day is the Ratha-yatra procession. Then, for about eight days, Lord Jagannatha stays in the Gundica temple. But after four or five days, Lakshmi becomes impatient: “Where is my husband? He said He was just going out for a ride. Where is He? He should be back.” Restless and angry, she takes her maidservants and travels to Sundaracala in her own procession. At the gate of the Gundica temple, she sends her maidservants to arrest the principal servants of Lord Jagannatha, which they do. They bind the servants around the waist and make them fall down at her lotus feet. And they berate the servants, making them the butt of jokes and loose language.

During this pastime, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Svarupa Damodara Gosvami, and Srivasa Thakura had a discussion. Srivasa Thakura, as the incarnation of Narada Muni, a great devotee of Lord Narayana in Vaikuntha, became ecstatic seeing the opulence of the goddess of fortune, the eternal consort of Lord Narayana. He told Svarupa Damodara, “Just see how opulent my goddess of fortune is. Vrindavan’s opulence consists of a few flowers and twigs, some minerals from the hills, and a few peacock feathers. When Jagannatha was in Vrindavan, Lakshmi wondered, ‘Why did Lord Jagannatha give up so much opulence and go to Vrindavan?’ Then, to make Him a laughingstock, she decorated herself and brought her maidservants to deride Him and His servants. Finally, His servants submitted to her and promised to bring Lord Jagannatha before her the very next day, and the goddess of fortune, being pacified, returned to her apartment.” Thus Srivasa Thakura joked with Svarupa Damodara, as described in Sri Caitanya-caritamrta (Madhya 14. 213–215):

amara laksmira sampad—vakya-agocara

“ ‘Just see! My goddess of fortune is opulent beyond all description.

dugdha auti’ dadhi mathe tomara gopi-gane
amara thakurani vaise ratna-simhasane

“ ‘Your gopis are engaged in boiling milk and churning yogurt, but my mistress, the goddess of fortune, sits on a throne made of jewels and gems.’

arada-prakrti srivasa kare parihasa
suni’ hase mahaprabhura yata nija-dasa

“Srivasa Thakura, who was enjoying the mood of Narada Muni, thus made jokes. Hearing him, all the personal servants of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu began to smile.”

Then Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Himself spoke.

prabhu kahe,—srivasa, tomate narada-svabhava
aisvarya-bhave tomate, isvara-prabhava

“Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu told Srivasa Thakura, ‘My dear Srivasa, your nature is exactly like that of Narada Muni. The Supreme Personality of Godhead’s opulence is having a direct influence upon you.

inho damodara-svarupa-suddha-vrajavasi
aisvarya na jane inho suddha-preme bhasi’

“ ‘Svarupa Damodara is a pure devotee of Vrndavana. He does not even know what opulence is, for he is simply absorbed in pure devotional service.’ ” (Cc Madhya 14.216–217)

Then Svarupa Damodara Gosvami, who is an incarnation of the gopi Lalita-devi, one of Srimati Radharani’s most confidential girlfriends, glorified Vrindavan’s opulence. He said that the natural opulence of Vrindavan is like an ocean and that the opulence of Dvaraka and Vaikuntha cannot be compared even to a drop of that ocean. He said that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, full in all opulences, and that His opulences are fully manifest only in Vrindavan. He paraphrased and elaborated upon a verse from Sri Brahma-samhita (5.29):

cintamani-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vrksa-
  laksavrtesu surabhir abhipalayantam
laksmi-sahasra-sata-sambhrama-sevyamanam
  govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami

“I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, the first progenitor, who is tending the cows, yielding all desire, in abodes built with spiritual gems, surrounded by millions of purpose trees, always served with great reverence and affection by hundreds of thousands of laksmis, or gopis.” Govinda, Krishna, the cowherd boy, is served by hundreds of thousands of laksmis in the form of gopis. In fact, these gopis are considered super laksmis. The laksmis in Vaikuntha are only expansions of these gopis. In Vrindavan, the houses and land are made of cintamani stones; the trees are kalpa-vrksas, wish-fulfilling desire trees; and the cows are surabhis, who deliver oceans of nectar-like milk.

Svarupa Damodara then quoted a related verse by Bilvamangala Thakura, to glorify the opulence of the gopis and Vrindavan:

cintamanis carana-bhusanam angananam
  srngara-puspa-taravas taravah suranam
vrndavane vraja-dhanam nanu kama-dhenu-
  vrndani ceti sukha-sindhur aho vibhutih

“The anklets on the damsels of Vraja-bhumi are made of cintamani stone. The trees are wish-fulfilling trees, and they produce flowers with which the gopis decorate themselves. There are also wish-fulfilling cows, which deliver unlimited quantities of milk. These cows constitute the wealth of Vrndavana. Thus Vrndavana’s opulence is blissfully exhibited.” (Brs 2.1.173, Cc Madhya 14, 228)

And he quoted another verse from Sri Brahma-samhita (5.29):

sriyah kantah kantah parama-purusah kalpa-taravo
  druma bhumis cintamani-gana-mayi toyam amrtam
katha ganam natyam gamanam api vamsi priya-sakhi
  cid-anandam jyotih param api tad asvadyam api ca

“The damsels of Vrndavana, the gopis, are super goddesses of fortune. The enjoyer in Vrndavana is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna. The trees there are all wish-fulfilling trees, and the land is made of transcendental touchstone. The water is all nectar, the talking is singing, the walking is dancing, and the constant companion of Krsna is His flute. The effulgence of transcendental bliss is experienced everywhere. Therefore Vrndavana-dhama is the only relishable abode.” (Bs 5.56, Cc Madhya 14.227)

Actually, the opulence of Vrindavan is greater than that of Vaikuntha. But the special quality of Vrindavan is that its opulence is covered by an exquisite sweetness that is so powerful that the pure devotees in Vrindavan forget that Krishna is God. In Vaikuntha the devotees are aware of the Lord’s opulence and worship Him with awe and veneration. They act as His servants (dasya-rasa) or at most as reverential friends (gaurava-sakhya-rasa); there is no sense of equality with the Lord. But in Vrindavan the devotees are able to enjoy ecstatic, intimate relationships with Krishna, with full freedom, because they forget that He is God.

If the residents of Vrindavan were conscious that Krishna is God, the cowherd boys could never play with Him as equals like they do. Sometimes Krishna and the cowherd boys compete in sport, and if Krishna loses He has to carry the other boy on His shoulders. This is unheard of in Vaikuntha; if someone got up on Lord Narayana’s shoulders, he would immediately be expelled. And Krishna’s parents, Nanda and Yasoda, and others in the parental mood, such as Ambika, feel that Krishna is dependent on them. Ambika is Krishna’s nurse in Vrindavan; she suckles Krishna. And Malini, Srivasa Thakura’s wife, is her incarnation. So she has that maternal mood. Such devotees, in vatsalya-rasa, feel that they have to take care of Krishna. The cowherd boys feel that they are Krishna’s equals, His friends, and the elders feel like they are Krishna’s parents and guardians, that Krishna is dependent on their care and protection.

In fact, Krishna is providing everything for everyone. Nityo nityanam cetanas cetananam: He is the singular eternal one among so many eternal beings, and He is the singular conscious entity among so many conscious entities. Eko bahunam yo vidadhati kaman: He is the one, singular, eternal conscious being who is providing all the necessities and fulfilling all the desires of the many, plural, eternal conscious beings. He is providing for everyone, but still Mother Yasoda is thinking, “He is my son. If I don’t feed Him, He will starve.” She can think that way because her attachment for Him as a mother for her son is stronger than her awareness of His divine opulence. Most of the time, she forgets; she is not even conscious that He is the Lord. And most of the time, the residents of Vrindavan forget.

Sometimes Krishna enacts deeds that remind them of His godly opulence, such as when He lifted Govardhana Hill. After He did so, the elder cowherd men were confused and approached Nanda Maharaja: “Your Krishna is no ordinary boy. He lifted a great mountain and held it on one finger for seven days. And as a mere infant, He sucked out the life of the powerful demoness Putana. And He killed many powerful demons and performed many wonderful feats. He is no ordinary person. He might be a demigod—or even Lord Narayana Himself.” They weren’t sure. “Still,” they continued, “we have constant affection for your son, and He has natural attraction for us.” They were bewildered. But when they thought of Krishna’s humanlike pastimes, they became overwhelmed with parental affection. They thought of all the times He had become frightened, the times He had felt hungry, the times He had done mischief. And they remembered how He had become happy when they had coddled Him and sad or angry when they had neglected Him. Thinking of Krishna’s childlike, humanlike behavior (nara-lila), they became overwhelmed with parental affection and forgot His divine opulence.

Once, Mother Yasoda looked into Krishna’s mouth. Krishna and Balarama were playing with Their friends, and all the boys joined with Balarama to complain to Mother Yasoda that Krishna had eaten earth. Sometimes, when children are at a certain age, they put anything into their mouths. Krishna said, “No, Mother. They are lying.” Yasoda replied, “But even Your brother Balarama says that You ate dirt.” Krishna said, “He is lying, too. But if you have any doubt, you can look.” “All right. Open Your mouth. I will see.”

So Krishna opened His mouth, and Mother Yasoda looked inside, and there she saw the entire cosmic manifestation. She saw all moving and nonmoving entities, all directions, the material elements, the sky and stars and planetary systems. She saw the living entities, the modes of nature, time, and karma. She saw everything. She even saw herself and the land of Vraja. And she was struck with doubt and wonder. Was she dreaming, or hallucinating, or being mystified by some illusion of the material nature, perhaps created by the demigods? Or was she having a vision caused by her son’s mystic power? “All right,” she said. “Close Your mouth. Just don’t do it again.” Even then, she still thought of Krishna as her son. Although Krishna is always full in all opulences, His display of opulence does not diminish His pure devotees’ love for Him—as a son or a friend or a beloved. That is vraja-bhakti.

In this discussion with Srivasa Pandit, Svarupa Damodara glorified the opulence of Vrindavan, but that opulence is covered by the sweetness of these intimate relationships, in which the devotees forget that Krishna is God and to reciprocate with His devotees’ love, Krishna also forgets that He is God. When Mother Yasoda threatens Krishna with a stick and Krishna becomes afraid, He is not pretending. He actually feels like a child, and He feels afraid. In her prayers Queen Kunti remarks that she sees the image of Krishna with Mother Yasoda standing with ropes to bind Him: Krishna is crying, and His tears are washing the mascara around His eyes. The same Krishna who is feared by fear personified is afraid of Mother Yasoda. And thinking of this contradiction, Kunti becomes bewildered.

gopy adade tvayi krtagasi dama tavad
  ya te dasasru-kalilanjana-sambhramaksam
vaktram niniya bhaya-bhavanaya sthitasya
  sa mam vimohayati bhir api yad bibheti

“My dear Krsna, Yasoda took up a rope to bind You when You committed an offense, and Your perturbed eyes overflooded with tears, which washed the mascara from Your eyes. And You were afraid, though fear personified is afraid of You. This sight is bewildering to me.” (SB 1.8.31)

These are elevated, transcendental topics, not easy to understand. Although we may have theoretical knowledge, we still tend to identify with the body and act on the bodily platform—“I” and “mine.” And these topics are on the spiritual platform. Still, hearing these topics is part of the process of purification. By offenseless hearing of the Lord’s activities, even without complete understanding, we can become attracted and purified. And we want to be attracted, to desire to serve in Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s pastimes, and ultimately in Krishna’s pastimes. We do not want to remain bound to temporary, material affairs and engrossed in ephemeral, mundane relationships.

One night, during the kirtan at Srivasa-angana, a calamity took place. One of Srivasa Pandit’s sons, who had been ill, died. Naturally, Srivasa’s wife, Malini, and others were distraught, but Srivasa said, “Keep quiet. We must not disturb Mahaprabhu’s kirtan.” So nobody cried or said anything. After the kirtan was over, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (who is God and knows everything) said, “There must have been some calamity here.” When Srivasa told Him, “My son died,” Sri Chaitanya replied, “Why did you not tell Me earlier?” He went to the place where the son was lying dead and asked him, “Why are you leaving Srivasa Thakura’s home?” The son replied, “I stayed here as long as my destiny allowed. Now that the time is over, I must proceed to my next destination, according to Your order. I am Your eternal servant, a dependent living being, and I move by Your desire.”

By this exchange between Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Srivasa Pandit’s dead son, everyone in the household was enlightened with spiritual knowledge. There was no cause for lamentation. They realized the knowledge of the Bhagavad-gita (2.13):

dehino ’smin yatha dehe
  kaumaram yauvanam jara
tatha dehantara-praptir
  dhiras tatra na muhyati

“As the embodied soul continuously passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. A sober person is not bewildered by such a change.” Actually, everyone changes his or her body even in the same lifetime. Just as one has a baby’s body, then a youth’s body, and eventually an old person’s body, similarly, at the time of death, one accepts another body. And dhiras tatra na muhyati: the sober are not bewildered by such a change.

The body is like dress. Just as one discards old and useless garment and puts on a new one, similarly, when the body is old and useless, the soul leaves it and takes on a new body.

vasamsi jirnani yatha vihaya
  navani grhnati naro ’parani
tatha sarirani vihaya jirnany
  anyani samyati navani dehi

“As a person puts on new garments, giving up old ones, the soul similarly accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones.” (Gita 2.22)

Ultimately, everything is under the control of the Lord, and all the more so in the case of devotees. Everything and everyone is under the control of the Lord, and these principles were manifested in the exchange between the dead son of Srivasa Pandit and his eternal Lord and master, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

Then Chaitanya Mahaprabhu told Srivasa Pandit (and Malini), “You have lost one son, but Nitai and I are your eternal sons. And We shall never leave you.” Malini is Ambika in krsna-lila, so she is in the mood of a mother, or nurse. But whoever we may be, if we just surrender to Krishna and offer everything to Him, we will not lose. Rather, we will gain unlimitedly. Srivasa and Malini lost one son, who was encaged in a temporary, miserable body, but they gained two sons who are eternal.

Srila Prabhupada advises that instead of being absorbed in these temporary relationships that last only as long as the body (at most), we should, rather, develop our relationship with Krishna, or Sri Krishna Chaitanya, which is eternal, blissful, and full of knowledge. This relationship develops by offenseless chanting and hearing of the holy names and pastimes of the Lord. Offenseless, attentive chanting cleanses the dust from the mirror of the mind (ceto-darpana-marjanam), and thus one is able to realize one’s constitutional position as an eternal servant of Krishna, an eternal servant of Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. One still does one’s duties in the world—that is another thing—but one gives one’s heart to Krishna, to one’s relationship with Krishna, and realizes eternal, blissful, spiritual love.

jnane prayasam udapasya namanta eva
  jivanti san-mukharitam bhavadiya-vartam
sthane sthitah sruti-gatam tanu-van-manobhir
  ye prayaso ’jita jito ’py asi tais tri-lokyam

[Lord Brahma said to Krishna,] “Those who, even while remaining situated in their established social positions, throw away the process of speculative knowledge and with their body, words, and mind offer all respects to descriptions of Your personality and activities, dedicating their lives to these narrations, which are vibrated by You personally and by Your pure devotees, certainly conquer Your Lordship, although You are otherwise unconquerable by anyone within the three worlds.” (SB 10.14.3)

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu noticed that Srivasa Thakura never went to earn anything for his family’s maintenance. So one day He asked, “Srivasa, I see that you never go anywhere. How will you maintain your family?” Srivasa replied, “I do not want to go anywhere.” Mahaprabhu said, “But you have a big family. What will happen to them?” “Whatever is destined will come,” he replied. “If that is your mentality,” Mahaprabhu said, “then you should take sannyasa.” “I am not ready for sannyasa,” Srivasa objected. “I do not have the power to take sannyasa.” “Then how will you maintain your family?” Mahaprabhu asked. “These days, if you do not make some effort, nothing will come. Then what will you do?” Srivasa clapped his hands thrice and said, “One. Two. Three.” Mahaprabhu asked, “What does that mean?” Srivasa Thakura replied, “If for three days no food comes and I have to fast, I will tie a rock around my neck and drown myself in the Ganges.”

When Chaitanya Mahaprabhu heard this He became agitated and roared, “Srivasa, what are you saying? Why should you fast three times? Have you forgotten My words in the Bhagavad-gita (9.22)—ananyas cintayanto mam ye janah paryupasate/ tesam nityabhiyuktanam yoga-ksemam vahamy aham: ‘Those who always worship Me with exclusive devotion, meditating on My transcendental form—to them I carry what they lack, and I preserve what they have’? Not even once will you be lacking. Even if the goddess of fortune herself becomes poverty-stricken—even if she becomes a beggar—your house will never know want. I will personally bring whatever you need.”

Of course, what the Lord says in the Gita is true—though such constant concentration on Krishna is not so easy. But if one does come to the stage of always meditating on Krishna without deviation, the Lord will arrange whatever one needs. In that stage, one depends completely on the mercy of the Lord. Ye yatha mam prapadyante tams tathaiva bhajamy aham—as people surrender to Krishna, He rewards them accordingly. If one thinks, “I will make my own arrangement,” the Lord will think, “All right, he’s making his own arrangement, so I need not worry about him.” The Lord reciprocates according to our degree of surrender.

It could be said that previously the culture was more conducive to a brahminical way of life, and that is true, but still, what Lord Chaitanya said is also true.

There is a famous story of a brahman who was reading the Bhagavad-gita, and when he came to the verse in which Krishna says, “To those who concentrate on Me exclusively, I preserve what they have and carry what they lack (yoga-ksemam vahamy aham),” he thought, “Well, no. Krishna might send it through somebody, but He will not come personally.” (Chaitanya Mahaprabhu told Srivasa Thakura, “I will come personally if need be.”)

ananyas cintayanto mam
  ye janah paryupasate
tesam nityabhiyuktanam
  yoga-ksemam vahamy aham

“Those who always worship Me with exclusive devotion, meditating on My transcendental form—to them I carry what they lack, and I preserve what they have.” (Gita 9.22)

When the brahman came to the words vahamy aham, “I carry,” he scratched them out with red ink. He did not believe that Krishna would personally carry what the devotee requires.

Later, the brahman went out to beg alms. There are different ways by which brahmans maintain themselves, and one is to go out and beg alms. So, while the brahman was gone, a young boy came to the house with a rod across his shoulders, and suspended from the ends of the rod were baskets full of rice, dal, flour, ghee, and vegetables—everything one needed to prepare a feast. It was such a heavy load that the boy could hardly carry it. He barely managed to reach the door. The lady of the house, the brahmani, asked, “Who are you?” He said, “Your husband sent me. I have brought all these ingredients for you. He will be coming soon. Please cook a nice feast for him. He will be hungry.” She cooked a big feast and invited the boy to stay. But the boy replied, “No, if I take too long, your husband becomes angry with me, so I have to go.” And when he turned to leave, she saw slashes on his back—wound marks—which were red with blood.

Eventually the husband returned, dejected. He said, “I tried all day, and not one person gave me anything. I did not get even one grain of rice. Today we shall have to fast.” She said, “No, you sent that boy with so many provisions. I have already cooked a big feast.” “No, I didn’t send any boy.” “You did. He brought all these ingredients. But when I asked him to stay, he said that if he delayed, you would become angry with him. He already had wounds from you on his back.”

The brahman thought of the Bhagavad-gita. He looked in his copy to where he had cut the words vahamy aham, and he saw that the red ink was gone. Then he knew: “That boy was Krishna.” The Bhagavad-gita is the Lord Himself. By cutting those words in the Gita, he had cut the body of the Lord. And he understood that Krishna, true to His word, had come personally and carried what His devotee lacked (yoga-ksemam vahamy aham).

That is a high level of Krishna consciousness—to always be absorbed in Krishna, without deviation—but that is our goal. And the more we have faith in Krishna, the more we will be able to chant and hear about Him with exclusive attention. We won’t be distracted, worrying, “From where will the money come? How will we pay the bills?”—or whatever—so many anxieties. As we develop more faith in Krishna, we are able to surrender more, to Krishna and to the process of bhakti-yoga, to chanting and hearing the holy name and glories of the Lord and serving the Lord’s devotees. We are confident that Krishna will take care of us.

Devotees never go hungry. Once, many years ago, I asked a senior disciple of Srila Prabhupada, “Krishna consciousness is so nice—just chanting, dancing, feasting, and philosophy, with no anxiety. Is there any austerity?” And he replied, “The austerity is that there is too much to eat. To honor the prasada and to please the devotees, we may have to eat more than we want.”

We have much to learn from the example of Srivasa Thakura, from his dealings with Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and His devotees. And we have much to learn from all the members of the Panca-tattva, and from all the devotees of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu—from the branches, subbranches, and leaves of the Chaitanya tree, including the present members of ISKCON, Srila Prabhupada’s spiritual family and transcendental household.

Sri Srivasa Thakura ki jaya!
Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!
Gaura-bhakta-vrnda ki jaya!
Nitai-gaura-premanande hari-haribol!

[A talk by Giriraj Swami on  Srivasa Pandit’s disappearance day, June 28, 2008, Moorpark, California]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Mousetrap for Darwin: Michael J. Behe Answers His Critics

By Michael J Behe

In 1996 Darwin’s Black Box thrust Lehigh University biochemist Michael Behe into the national spotlight. The book, and his subsequent two, sparked a firestorm of criticism, and his responses appeared in everything from the New York Times to science blogs and the journal Science.

His replies, along with a handful of brand-new essays, are now collected in A Mousetrap for Darwin. In engaging his critics, Behe extends his argument that much recent evidence, from the study of evolving microbes to mutations in dogs and polar bears, shows that blind evolution cannot build the complex machinery essential to life. Rather, evolution works principally by breaking things for short-term benefit. It can’t construct anything fundamentally new. What can? Behe’s money is on intelligent design.

 
Author: By Michael J. Behe
Published: November 17, 2020
Book/File size: 4430 KB / 560 pages
Formats: Kindle, Hardcover, Paperback

 
BUY ON AMAZON  

  Residents of India will have to search for this book on www.amazon.in

 

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Visit the TOVP Vedic Science Essays section on our website to read short and interesting essays by prominent ISKCON authors and scholars on several topics relating to relevant current topics.

On the Main Menu of the TOVP website hover above the Vedic Science tab, and when the scroll down menu appears click on Vedic Science Essays. Subjects include the following by authors such as Michael A. Cremo (Drutakarma Das), Richard L. Thompson (Sadaputa Das), Ashish Dalela (Rsiraja Das), Stephen Knapp (Sri Nandanandana Das) and Steven J. Rosen (Satyaraja Das):

• Cosmology & Astronomy
• Evolution
• Creationism
• Consciousness
• Spiritual Science
• God & Science
• Karma & Reincarnation
• Vedic Philosophy
• East Meets West
• Forbidden Archeology

 

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According to Sri Gaura Gannoddesha Dipika, Srivasa Pandita is none other than the incarnation of Narada Muni, who had appeared to assist Sri Caitanya, his beloved Lord, enact the heart melting pastimes of Navadvipa. 

Srivasa pandita and his family members had originally hailed from Srihatta (Sylhet,currently situated in Bangladesh) and later moved over to reside at Navadvipa. Srivasa Pandita had appeared in this world about 30 years before the birth of Lord Caitanya. He is one of the members of the panca-tattva.

Sriram pandita, Srivasa’s younger brother, was the incarnation of Parvata Muni, a close friend of sage Narada. Srimati Malini Devi, the wife of Srivasa pandita, was previously the nurse Ambika in Krishna lila, who used to feed little Krishna, with her own breast milk. Malini devi was an intimate friend and companion of Saci mata, and regularly shared her advice on how to raise up mischievous Nimai.

Later, after Lord Gaurasundara had accepted His sannyasa initiation and moved over to Jagannatha Puri, Srivasa pandita together with his family, being unable to bear the mournful separation from their beloved Lord, shifted to a place called Halisahar, located on the other side of the Ganges. His worshipable Gaura-Nitai deities are till this day being served at a place called Chinsurah, where one can obtain their mesmerizing darsana.

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The 11th day of Krishna Paksha (Moon’s waning Phase) in the month Ashada (June – July) is observed as Yogini Ekadasi. It is considered a very auspicious and rewarding day to fulfill one’s wishes and destroy all the sins of a lifetime. This day is also known as Ashadi Ekadasi, and observing vrata (vow) on this day is equivalent to feeding 88,000 pious brahmins/priests.

As Gaudiya Vaishnavas, our main aim during ekadasi is to decrease bodily demands so we can spend more time in seva, especially hearing and chanting about the Lord. It’s recommended to chant extra rounds and stay up all night chanting and hearing the Lord’s glories.

It is also auspicious to donate to Vaishnavas and Lord Krishna’s service on ekadasi and we invite our readers to consider this occasion to donate towards either the new Pankajanghri Das Seva Campaign to complete Lord Nrsimha’s Wing in the TOVP, or sponsor an abhisheka for the installation of the new Prabhupada murti in the TOVP in October.

Below are links to both campaign pages on the TOVP website:

Prabhupada Murti Abhisheka
Pankajanghri Das Seva

 

Yogini Ekadasi

from the Brahma-vaivarta Purana

Yudhisthira Maharaj said, “Oh Supreme Lord, I have heard the glories of the Nirjala Ekadasi, which occurs during the light fortnight of the month of Jyeshtha (May – June). Now I wish to hear from You about the suddha Ekadasi that occurs during the dark fortnight of the month of Ashadha (June – July). Kindly describe to me all about it in detail, Oh killer of the Madhu demon (Madhusudana).”

The Supreme Lord, Sri Krishna, then replied, “Oh king, I shall indeed tell you about the best of all fasting days, the Ekadasi that comes during the dark part of the month of Ashadha. Famous as Yogini Ekadasi, it removes all kinds of sinful reactions and awards supreme liberation.

“Oh best of kings, this Ekadasi delivers people who are drowning in the vast ocean of material existence and transports them to the shore of the spiritual world.
In all the three worlds, it is the chief of all sacred fasting days. I shall now reveal this truth to you by narrating a history recounted in the Puranas.

“The king of Alakapuri – Kuvera, the treasurer of the devas – was a steadfast devotee of lord Shiva. He employed a servant named Hemamali as his personal gardener. Hemamali, a Yaksha like Kuvera, was very lustfully attracted to his gorgeous wife, Swarupavatii, who had large, enchanting eyes.

“Hemamali’s daily duty was to visit Manasarovara Lake and bring back flowers for his master, Kuvera, with which he would use them in the puja offerings to lord Shiva. One day, after picking the flowers, Hemamali went to his wife instead of returning directly to his master and fulfilling his duty by bringing the flowers for the puja. Absorbed in loving affairs of a bodily nature with his wife, he forgot to return to the abode of Kuvera.

“Oh king, while Hemamali was enjoying with his wife, Kuvera had begun the worship of lord Shiva as normal in his palace and soon discovered that there were no flowers ready to be offered in the midday puja. The lack of such an important item (upachara) angered the great Koshad-yaksha (treasurer of the devas) even more, and he asked a Yaksha messenger, ‘Why has dirty-hearted Hemamali not come with the daily offering of flowers? Go find out the exact reason and report back to me in person with your findings.’ The Yaksha returned and told Kuvera, ‘Oh dear lord, Hemamali has become lost in freely enjoying coitus with his wife.’

“Kuvera became extremely angry when he heard this and at once summoned lowly Hemamali before him. Knowing that he had been remiss and dawdling in his duty and exposed as meditating on his wife’s body, Hemamali approached his master in great fear. The gardener first paid his obeisances and then stood before his lord, whose eyes had become red with anger and whose lips trembled in rage.
So enraged, Kuvera cried out to Hemamali, ‘Oh you sinful rascal! Oh destroyer of religious principles! You are a walking offense to the devas! I therefore curse you to suffer from white leprosy and to become separated from your beloved wife! Only great suffering is deservedly yours! Oh lowborn fool, leave this place immediately and betake yourself to the lower planets to suffer!’

“And so Hemamali fell at once from grace in Alakapuri and became ill with the terrible affliction of white leprosy. He awoke in a dense and fearful forest, where there was nothing to eat or drink. Thus he passed his days in misery, unable to sleep at night due to pain. He suffered in both winter and summer season, but because he continued to worship lord Shiva himself with faith, his consciousness remained purely fixed and steady. Although implicated by great sin and its attendant reactions, he remembered his past life because of his piety.

“After wandering for some time here and there, over mountains and across plains, Hemamali eventually came upon the vast expanse of the Himalayan mountain ranges. There he had the wonderful good fortune to come in contact with the great saintly soul Markandeya Rishi, the best of ascetics, whose duration of life it is said, extends to seven of the days of Brahma.

“Markandeya Rishi was seated peacefully at his ashrama, looking as effulgent as a second Brahma. Hemamali, feeling very sinful, stood at a distance from the magnificent sage and offered his humble obeisances and choice prayers. Always interested in the welfare of others, Markandeya Rishi saw the leper and called him near, “Oh you, what sort of sinful deeds have you done to earn this dreadful affliction?’

“Hearing this, Hemamali painfully and ashamedly replied, ‘Dear sir, I am a Yaksha servant of lord Kuvera, and my name is Hemamali. It was my daily service to pick the flowers from the Manasarovara lake for my master’s worship of lord Shiva, but one day I was negligent and was late in returning with the offering because I had become overwhelmed with lusty passion for enjoying bodily pleasures with my wife. When my master discovered why I was late, he cursed me in great anger to be as I am before you. Thus, I am now bereft of my home, my wife, and my service. But fortunately, I have come upon you, and now I hope to receive from you an auspicious benediction, for I know that devotees such as you are as merciful as the Supreme Lord (Bhakta Vatsala) and always carry the interest of others uppermost in their hearts. That is their – your nature. Oh best of sages, please help me!’

“Softhearted Markandeya Rishi replied, ‘Because you have told me the truth, I shall tell you about a fast day that will benefit you greatly. If you fast on the Ekadasi that comes during the dark fortnight of the month of Ashadha, you will surely be freed of this terrible curse.’ Hemamali fell to the ground in complete gratitude and offered him his humble obeisances again and again. But Markandeya Rishi stood there and lifted poor Hemamali to his feet, filling him with inexpressible happiness.

“Thus, as the sage had instructed him, Hemamali dutifully observed the Ekadasi fast, and by its influence he again became a handsome Yaksha. Then he returned home, where he lived very happily with his wife.”

Lord Sri Krishna concluded, “So, you can readily see, Oh Yudhishthira, that fasting on Yogini Ekadasi is very powerful and auspicious. Whatever merit one obtains by feeding eighty-eight thousand brahmins is also obtained simply by observing a strict fast on Yogini Ekadasi. For one who fasts on this sacred Ekadasi, she (Ekadasi Devi), destroys heaps of past sinful reactions and makes him most pious. Oh King, thus I have explained to you the purity of Yogini Ekadasi.”

Thus ends the narration of the glories of Ashadha-krishna Ekadasii, or Yogini Ekadasi, from the Brahma-vaivarta Purana.

This article has been used courtesy of ISKCON Desire Tree).

 

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Hare Krishna dear Devotees, Please accept our humble obeisances All glories to Srila Prabhupada Srila Prabodhananda Sarasvati reveals the secret of Navadvipa-dhama in his Navadvipa Satakam (verse 78): aradhitam nava-vanam vraja-kananam te naradhitam nava-vanam vraja eva dure aradhito dvija-suto vraja-nagaras te naradhito dvija-suto na taveha krsnah “If you worship the nine islands of Navadvipa, you […]

The post Live Address from H.H Jayapataka Swami 2nd July 2021! appeared first on Mayapur.com.

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Ramsden Park, Toronto

 

Congratulations

 

Our maintenance guy, who hails from Croatia, placed his phone close to my face and with a beaming face said, “Look Maharaja, at the message that just came to me.”

 

So, I read the message that came from the immigration department starting with, “Congratulations… you are a Canadian citizen.” This no doubt was a great cause for joy for him and the feeling is shared by his wife, Michaela, who was not actually present at that moment over lunch. Vallabha Hari (with his first name legally, Vladimir) also has a daughter with the same status. It may be a citizenship that carries with it a certain level of respect, but it is not a freeing position of moksha or nirvana. We are all entrapped in a body and are highly attached to bodily identity.

 

It is our guru, Prabhupada, who writes in the introduction to the Bhagavad-gita, “One who wants to become free, who wants to become liberated, must first of all learn that he/she is not this material body. Mukti, or liberation, means freedom from material consciousness.”

 

Anyway, I was happy for the family, which is probably toasting on soft drinks this evening. There is a lot to rejoice about. I’m alive. I’ve got a human birth. I practice spirituality. I’m working towards freedom and the ultimate love with the Supreme.

 

Vallabha is already one of the happiest people I know because he moves with that higher consciousness.

 

May the Source by with you!

2 km

 

The TOVP Book of Devotion is now officially going into production in preparation for offering to Srila Prabhupada. With over 9,000 names of TOVP donors, this will be the most magnificent, one-of-a-kind book presented to His Divine Grace in the history of ISKCON.

Since the deadline of Gaura Purnima, March 28, the TOVP Book Team of Rishab das and Mitravinda devi dasi, along with Madhusevita and Haladhara prabhus on the publishing side, have been busy going through several drafts making corrections and refining the presentation. The final draft was finally approved on the Disappearance Day of Shyamananda Prabhu and the book has now officially gone into production for printing.

But this is no ordinary book by any means. Here are some of the special features of this ornate, jewel-like publication, being produced by the makers of the largest Bhagavad Gita in the world at ISKCON Delhi:

• 15″ (38cm) x 20.5″ (52cm) in size
• 55 lbs./ 25 kg in weight
• 4.6″ (11.4cm) thick
• 500 gold-leafed pages
• Silver/Gold bas-relief on the cover
• Printed on handmade Free-life Merida paper
• Special illuminated text
• Printed in Milan, Italy

Madhusevita das, the Publisher and manager of the project describes the next phases of production:

Internal Work

a) Creation of digital “blueprints” of every page
b) Final approval of the pages by the TOVP Book Team
c) Separate printing of each and every single page (a work that few could do perfectly)
d) Gold-embossing of every page
e) Stitching of the book-block (all 500 pages)

Book Cover Work

a) Creation of the cover ‘case’ before adding the pages (leaves), bas-relief and spine plaques
b) Fixing of the bas-relief and the plaques on the cover and spine
c) Adding the book-block to the cover
The estimated production completion is by the end of August. We pray that everything goes smoothly. The photos below show Madhusevita and Haladhara prabhus with Mr. Loce, the printer, at his office while checking sample printings of the TOVP Book.

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This article was originally published in Atlantis Rising magazine in 2003 in my column, Notes from the Forbidden Archeologist.

In February of 2002, I was on a lecture tour of South India. At universities and other educational and cultural institutions in several cities, I was giving talks about the archeological evidence for extreme human antiquity documented in my book Forbidden Archeology. This evidence is consistent with accounts of a very ancient human presence on earth, found in the Vedas, the ancient Sanskrit writings of India. The talks were therefore popular with many Indian scholars and the general public.

In Chennai (as the city of Madras, the capital of the state of Tamil Nadu, is now called), I had a couple of days off. On one of these free days, the tour organizers arranged for me to go to the ancient hilltop temple of Tirupati, visited by more people each year than any other temple in India. On another free day, I went to Kanchipuram, another important pilgrimage town in the state of Tamil Nadu. There I visited several ancient temples, such as the Varadaraja temple.

While in Kanchipuram, I met an Indian archeologist who was curious about my work. I told him that I was not only interested in the extreme antiquity of the human race but also in the history of the Vedic culture in India. With that in mind, I showed him the following passage from the commentary of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada on the Chaitanya Charitamrita, a sixteenth century biography of the avatar Chaitanya Mahaprabhu: “It is said that in the year 289 of the Age of Kali, the Alvar of the name Tondaradippadi was born. . . . He . . . prepared the third boundary wall of the Ranganatha temple.” That bit of information has some bearing on the question of the antiquity of Vedic culture in India. To show how this is true requires a little background about the Ranganatha temple and the Vedic time system.

The Ranganatha temple, also in the state of Tamil Nadu, is the largest temple complex in India. It is situated on a large island in the middle of the Kaveri River. The central temple building is surrounded by seven extensive boundary walls. According to some, the seven boundary walls represent the seven material coverings of the eternal self (the atma). And the path a pilgrim takes through the gates of the seven walls therefore represents a progressive process of spiritual realization.

According to the Vedic cosmological calendar, time proceeds in cycles of ages called yugas. There are four yugas in each cycle: a Satya Yuga, a Dvapara Yuga, a Treta Yuga, and a Kali Yuga. A cycle of four yugas lasts 4,320,000 years. A thousand such yuga cycles comprise a day of Brahma. According to the traditional calendar, we are now in the Kali Yuga of the current yuga cycle. The Kali Yuga began 5,105 years ago, in the year 3,102 BC according to our Western calendar. So, year 289 of the Kali Yuga corresponds to the Western year 2,813 BC. This means that the South India alvar (or saint) Tondaradippadi was born 4,816 years ago. If he built the third boundary wall of the Ranganatha temple during his lifetime, that means that this Vedic temple had been standing even before that. In other words, the Ranganatha temple has existed for at least five thousand years.

This contradicts the standard Western account of the antiquity of Vedic culture in India. According to the standard Western account, the Vedic culture goes back no further than 3,500 years in India. So, if it can be shown that the third boundary wall at Ranganatha really does date back to between 4,700 and 4,800 years ago that would give support to the great antiquity of Vedic culture in India, attested to in the Vedic literature.

The attribution of relatively recent dates to various non-Western civilizations is quite common. For example, according to standard Western accounts, the origin of the Mesopotamian civilizations goes back about six or seven thousand years. But there are Babylonian king lists that go back 432,000 years. Similarly, the traditional histories of Egypt and China go back much further in time than the standard Western histories now tell us, and the calendars of the Mayan civilization cover vast spans of time, millions of years.

The age of the Ranganatha temple could go back much further than five thousand years. The main deity worshiped in the Ranganatha temple is a reclining form of Vishnu. According to the traditional histories this deity was originally worshiped on the planet of the demigod Brahma, called Brahmaloka. It was transferred to our earth during the reign of the Vedic king Ikshvaku, who ruled from the city of Ayodhya tens of millions of years ago. During the time of the avatar Rama, the deity was taken by vimana (flying machine) for the purpose of transporting it to the island kingdom of Lanka in the south. But along the way, the vimana landed in South India. According to the conditions of transport, if the deity touched the ground before its final destination, it would remain there and would go no further. So the deity remained in the place where it landed, and a local king built a temple to accommodate the deity.

How long ago was that temple built? The construction of the temple occurred during the time of the avatar Rama, who lived toward the beginning of the Treta Yuga. The Treta Yuga of the current yuga cycle began about 2,155,000 years ago and ended about 840,000 years ago. That would mean the temple was constructed about 2 million years ago. However, there are some authorities who say that Rama appeared in the Treta Yuga of the fourth yuga cycle before the present one. If that is true, then the temple may have been constructed almost 20 million years ago.

That original temple, according to traditional sources, was later lost and covered by sand and jungle. In more recent times, over five thousand years ago, a local king uncovered the deity and began the construction of the current temple. On the roof of the central temple building, just above the place where the deity rests inside, there is a gold covered cupola. This cupola is called in Sanskrit vimana, perhaps a reference to the aircraft (vimana) by which the deity (with its interplanetary history) was transported to its present location. And the third boundary wall around the central temple building housing the deity was constructed by Tondaradippadi, who was born in 2,813 BC.

So, my immediate purpose is to show that the Ranganatha temple is at least five thousand years old, and that the third boundary wall is slightly younger than that. To that end I visited the Ranganatha temple complex with my Indian archeologist friend in February of this year. A European archeology graduate student who is also interested in the antiquity of the Ranganatha temple also accompanied us. Our goal was to see if there were any places along the third boundary wall that might be suitable for excavation. Our concern was that all the spaces in this inner part of the sacred temple complex might be either covered with construction or too much trafficked by the millions of pilgrims who visit the temple complex each year.

We entered through the main gate in the seventh, or outer wall, of the temple complex, and then we proceeded through the gates to the sixth, fifth, and fourth walls. Coming to the third wall, we noticed that there were some places that were out of the way of the pilgrims and were not covered by stone paving. We especially noted that on the west side of the third boundary wall was a garden area blocked off to the public. We concluded that it would be possible to do excavations in that area. Having determined this, we went to the temple offices, and began the process of getting the proper permissions from the trust that administers the temple complex. My archeologist friend will also seek needed permission from the Archeological Survey of India. One reason I am hopeful that the permissions will be granted is that the official archeological guide book to the Ranganatha temple, published by the temple trust itself, recommends that further excavations be made to determine the true age of the temple. If all goes well, I shall return to the Ranganatha temple this coming December to begin the excavation work. The idea will be to see if the present temple is built upon older foundations. Excavations might also reveal Vedic artifacts connected in strata five thousand years and older. It may also be possible that part of the current structure is quite old. If such parts can be identified, there are also possibilities for dating them. For example, the mortar between the stones could contain organic materials that could be dated by the radiocarbon method.

For me, the traditional literary sources provide sufficient proof of the great antiquity of the Ranganatha temple. But for those who do not give much credence to this source of historical information, new archeological evidence might help them come to a better understanding of the temple’s true age.

Postscript:
Regarding the Shri Rangam temple excavation, the Indian archeologist got the approval of the Shri Rangam temple trust, but the Archeological Survey of India, the government agency in charge of all archeological work in India, did not approve the project.

Michael A. Cremo is author, with Richard Thompson, of the underground classic Forbidden Archeology: The Hidden History of the Human Race.

You can purchase The Hidden History of the Human Race and other books by Michael A. Cremo HERE.

Srila Prabhupada emphasized that management and preaching go together. “Good management follows preaching like a shadow,” he wrote, “and the best thing is that the managers should always be preaching.”

At a certain stage in India during Srila Prabhupada’s presence, Tamal Krishna Goswami, who was the GBC for India, wanted to leave and go to the West to preach. At first Srila Prabhupada was reluctant, because he depended on Tamal Krishna Goswami to manage activities in India, but eventually Prabhupada concluded that a brief change might be beneficial, and said, “Yes, we can always pay a manager, but preaching is a matter of realization.” He stressed how important preaching was to the movement. “Without it,” he said, “ISKCON will become rubbish. The management will be at our fingertips if the devotees simply follow the rules, chant, and take prasada.”

In his purport to Bhagavad-gita (12.10), Srila Prabhupada writes, “Every endeavor requires land, capital, organization and labor. Just as in business one requires a place to stay, some capital to use, some labor and some organization to expand, so the same is required in the service of Krsna.”

And Srila Prabhupada said that although we do not want to waste any of those elements, the one element we cannot afford to waste is the labor or the manpower. In other words, we have to take very good care of the devotees and make sure they are engaged.

Srila Prabhupada often said that the first duty of a manager—or the government—is to see that everyone is engaged in service, even if dealing with some of the devotees is difficult. Once, when Srila Prabhupada wanted his disciple Nara Narayan to take charge of the garden in Juhu, he wrote me, “You can have the gardeners decorate the whole land with flowers and if possible some fruits also.” And a week later he added that he wanted Nara Narayan to take charge of the gardening. “Sometimes he may be difficult to live with,” Prabhupada acknowledged, “but good manager means he is able to satisfy everyone and live in cooperative manner with all the devotees, and if you manage things nicely he can do tremendous work. Practically no one has more energy than Vishwakarma” [the demigod architect and master builder after whom Prabhupada had nicknamed Nara Narayan].” So, yes, Prabhupada often said that the first duty of the leader, or manager, or government, was to see that everyone was engaged (and Nara Narayan was one example).

Three days after his directions to me about the gardening, Srila Prabhupada wrote again, chiding me and instructing me how to manage and engage the devotees. He knew our natures, and he was simultaneously engaging and training us all. “I have received reports from Mahamsa and Cyavana,” he wrote, “and it appears they are doing nicely. Some of the men, however, are complaining that they have no sufficient engagement. Two girls have already left Bombay, and their complaint was that they had no sufficient engagement. Similarly, I have received letters from Puranjana, Vardhana, and Atmarama, and either they are not willing to work according to direction or, otherwise, how do they complain there is no sufficient engagement? I think that there is more than sufficient engagement for everyone. We have got so much to do.”

Srila Prabhupada, in his letter, is simultaneously instructing me and instructing the devotees. To the devotees he is saying, “I think there is more than sufficient engagement for everyone. We have so much to do.” And then to me, he’s saying, “We have to deal with so many men with different personalities. So kindly utilize their energies and at the same time keep them satisfied. That is leadership.” So, he is instructing me, guiding me, with this very important instruction. And he addresses the devotees: “If one man is appointed as leader, all must follow him and be obedient. ‘Obedience is the first law of discipline.’ They are pointing out irregularities, but they themselves are not doing their duty, so they are pointing out the irregularities in others. They came to serve; now they don’t want to serve, so there is some excuse. Oh, irregularity, let me go away. The workers should not suggest irregularities.”

Srila Prabhupada reminded us of our greater mission, our higher responsibility: to reclaim the fallen souls on behalf of Krishna. We were always inspired to try to work cooperatively to please Srila Prabhupada, because he had given us such an important mission. In his letter he wrote, “So actually we have taken a very responsible task on behalf of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. At the present moment, to speak the truth, the whole population of the world are demons and animals. It may be a very strong aspersion on the people of the world, but that is the fact. But still, because they are part and parcel of the Supreme Lord, so originally they were pure, and therefore it is the mission of Krishna to get back His parts and parcels to home, exactly like a father likes to get back his son at home because this son had gone out of home for false happiness. But the people are so mad, they are talking so many nonsense things—nonsense philosophy, nonsense science—and our task is to meet all of them and at the same time pacify them in their lunatic condition. So I am sure you are a very good soul to act on behalf of Krishna, and do it nicely. Krishna will give you the proper intelligence. He is sitting in your heart. Simply, He wants to see us working sincerely.”

Srila Prabhupada put everything in the light of Krishna consciousness, that whatever service we were doing was meant to further the mission of Krishna, to get all the fallen conditioned souls back home, back to Godhead. To fulfill that mission, we should be prepared to go beyond our expected limitations, and Srila Prabhupada inspired us to do so.

So, I was affected by the criticism of the devotees, and there was also criticism from Prabhupada in relation to some neglect of the Deities. In his letter to me, he wrote, “This is a most abominable affair.” He was so angry. And it really affected me, and I tried to summon all my courage and strength and write a proper reply, but I had to mention that I was struggling, and Prabhupada wrote back a very nice letter in which he explained his criticism, and his letter pacified me. Understanding my heart, in his next letter Prabhupada explained his service in such a way that I could appreciate his criticism, which was clearly meant for my benefit. “Actually,” he wrote, “it is the duty of the spiritual master to find fault with his students so that they may make progress, not that he should always be praising them. So if you find some criticism, kindly accept it in that spirit. I am only interested in that you along with all my other students should become Krishna conscious.”

Prabhupada’s words and sincere desire acted upon my heart and influenced me to improve my efforts, and I reported to him about some of the progress I—we—had made. In his next letter he expressed his appreciation for my efforts and reinforced his earlier statements about management, encouraging me to continue in the same spirit: “I am glad to hear your explanation of how the men are being engaged there in Bombay. That will be the test of your management, how well the men are satisfied by their engagements. I am very glad to hear that Nara Narayan is doing so much work and that Puranjana has decided to remain there. He has decided rightly.”

Seeing things from the perspective of shastra and reminding us of our higher goals and the means to attain them, through parampara, in his next letter Prabhupada wrote, “Yes, by Krishna’s grace we have a very responsible task before us, so combinedly we should do it nicely so that everything goes on systematically. Rupa Goswami says that the things are enthusiasm, patience, conviction, acting according to the sastra and guru, and always keeping oneself in the society of devotees, and this makes our devotional service successful. So our serious students should follow Rupa Goswami’s advice.”

Srila Prabhupada hadn’t yet translated Rupa Gosvami’s Upadesamrta, and here he was basically repeating what Rupa Gosvami says in Upadesamrta: utsahan niscayad dhairyat tat-tat-karma-pravartanat. So, you could say that part of Prabhupada’s management was to keep us Krishna conscious, and so, at the same time that he was giving us instructions on management, he was also giving us instructions on how to maintain our Krishna consciousness, because everything in ISKCON pretty much depends on Krishna consciousness.

Srila Prabhupada knew my mind. This incident goes back to maybe 1974 in Juhu. I was very attracted to the Six Gosvamis of Vrindavan, and I imagined that one day I would be like them, roaming the forests of Vrindavan, chanting “Krishna! Krishna!” But Prabhupada was concerned that his property be managed properly, and one evening he spoke to me about it. “Raghunatha dasa managed his father’s estate just like an expert businessman,” he told me. “Similarly, you should also manage your father’s estate”—meaning his, my spiritual father’s, estate. “Raghunatha dasa managed his father’s estate just like an expert businessman,” he told me. “Similarly, you should also manage your father’s estate. Then you go to Vrindavan and become a gosvami.”

So, maybe a year or two later, we applied for permission to build the temple in Juhu and the police commissioner wrote a letter refusing permission on the grounds that “the bhajan singing, which had been complained about in the past, is likely to be a nuisance in the future as well.” So, this drew fire from Srila Prabhupada. He was so upset and angry.

In Vrindavan during the Mayapur-Vrindavan festival, Srila Prabhupada received this news and asked all the devotees in Vrindavan for the festival to come to Bombay to protest the refusal. So we began to organize preaching programs, but most of the devotees who came from Vrindavan would be back at the temple during the day. And Prabhupada was concerned about how the devotees would be engaged. Again, the first duty of the manager, or the leader, is to see that devotees are engaged. Prabhupada was concerned about how the devotees would be engaged, and he asked his managers what the devotees would do. We replied that we would have a program in the temple all day long, alternating readings, kirtans, and discussions about Krishna consciousness. “Very good,” he approved.

After a few days, Prabhupada asked how the program in the temple was going, whether the devotees were enjoying chanting and reading and hearing.

“Well, frankly, Srila Prabhupada,” Tamal Krishna had to inform him, “most of the devotees aren’t coming, and the ones who do come—most of them fall asleep.”

“All right,” Prabhupada replied, “if they are all sudras, let them work in the garden—but everyone must be engaged. You tell the devotees that if they are actually brahmans, they should sit in the temple and be engaged in kirtan and krsna-katha, and if they are not brahmans, if they are sudras, they can work in the garden. But nobody can remain idle; nobody can sleep.”

Vishnujana was in charge of the temple program, and he was a very charismatic figure and led beautiful kirtans. Still, and in spite of Prabhupada’s words, the devotees didn’t come—or work in the garden. One day Vishnujana told them, “Prabhupada is not pleased that we are all so lazy. We should be doing something. He says that if you just sit around, you’ll get sick.”

After two weeks, the Australian devotees became restless and asked me to approach Prabhupada on their behalf. There was little engagement for them in Bombay, they said, and they would have a lot of work to prepare for Prabhupada’s imminent visit to their country.

When I passed along their request to leave, Prabhupada had me deliver them a stern reply: “What is the question of ‘no engagement’? There are so many opportunities to read and chant. Don’t be impatient wanting to go here and there.” So, there is always engagement. We can always chant and hear. And do other service as well.

Now, I wish to address the important point of cooperation that Srila Prabhupada emphasized, especially toward the end. In Vrindavan Prabhupada told the devotees, as Tamal Krishna recorded in his diary, “Your love for me will be tested how after my departure you maintain this institution. We have glamor, and people are feeling our weight. This should be maintained. Not like Gaudiya Matha: After Guru Maharaja’s departure, so many ‘acharyas’ came up.” Later, Tamal Krishna told Satsvarupa that Prabhupada had said, “Your love for me will be shown by how much you cooperate to keep this institution together after I am gone’’—the same message.

And Bhakti Charu Swami recalled, “When Srila Prabhupada was in Vrindavan during his last days, Tamal Krishna would read him the letters that devotees wrote to Srila Prabhupada, and His Divine Grace would dictate his replies, and sometimes he would also make comments. One devotee had written that he wanted to offer his longevity to Srila Prabhupada so that Prabhupada could continue to be with us on the planet. It was a very sweet letter, steeped with emotion. However, Srila Prabhupada reacted in what seemed to me a rather unusual way and commented that our real love for him would be shown by how we cooperate with each other to maintain his mission. . . . That incident left a very deep impression in my heart, and I became aware that the best way to show my love for Srila Prabhupada is through my cooperation with the devotees of ISKCON who are serving His Divine Grace so sincerely to continue his mission.”

Prabhupada had made the same point in a letter in 1973: “The test of our actual dedication and sincerity to serve the spiritual master will be in this mutual cooperative spirit to push on this movement and not make factions and deviate.”

This reminds me of a very beautiful purport in Srimad-Bhagavatam (7.5.12), in which Srila Prabhupada describes the mood of service and appreciation among devotees, as it should be:

“Everyone should be friendly for the service of the Lord. Everyone should praise another’s service to the Lord and not be proud of his own service. This is the way of Vaisnava thinking, Vaikuntha thinking. There may be rivalries and apparent competition between servants in performing service, but in the Vaikuntha planets the service of another servant is appreciated, not condemned. This is Vaikuntha competition. There is no question of enmity between servants. Everyone should be allowed to render service to the Lord to the best of his ability, and everyone should appreciate the service of others. Such are the activities of Vaikuntha. Since everyone is a servant, everyone is on the same platform and is allowed to serve the Lord according to his ability. As confirmed in Bhagavad-gita (15.15), sarvasya caham hrdi sannivisto mattah smrtir jnanam apohanam ca: the Lord is situated in everyone’s heart, giving dictation according to the attitude of the servant.  . . . As the Lord says in Bhagavad-gita (10.10):

tesam satata-yuktanam
  bhajatam priti-purvakam
dadami buddhi-yogam tam
  yena mam upayanti te

‘To those who are constantly devoted and worship Me with love, I give the understanding by which they can come to Me.’ Everyone is actually a servant, not an enemy or friend, and everyone is working under different directions from the Lord, who directs each living entity according to his mentality.”

So, that should be our mood amongst ourselves: “Everyone should be friendly for the service of the Lord. Everyone should praise another’s service to the Lord and not be proud of his own service. This is the way of Vaisnava thinking.”

Also in Vrindavan, Srila Prabhupada had for years directed the managers that the temple bell should be rung every hour on the hour and every half hour. So during his final weeks, when the time came for the temple bell to ring but Srila Prabhupada didn’t hear it, he said, “This is my concern, that such a huge, huge establishment, if not properly, regularly, managed, then everything will be finished.” He had been insisting for years that the temple authorities arrange for the regular ringing of the bell and considered it a test of their management.

So, when Prabhupada said, “This is my concern, that such a huge, huge establishment, if not properly, regularly, managed, then everything will be finished,” Tamal Krishna responded, “I don’t think that’s going to happen. We’re too much indebted to you to allow what you have established to become spoiled.”

And Prabhupada replied, “Please see to that.”

In relation to temple construction, after Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura constructed a big marble temple in Bhag Bazaar, his disciples fought and quarreled over who would occupy which room, which I take to mean who would have what position, and at Radha-kunda, Srila Prabhupada’s spiritual master, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, told him, “If I could take the marble from the temple and sell it and print books, that would be better. If you ever get money, print books.”

So, in Juhu, Srila Prabhupada had us build a big temple, and in a talk in Mayapur in 1974 he had explained his purpose in constructing such big temples—and his concern that we use them in the proper mood: “We have got this nice, grand building. If we think, ‘This is my building,’ then there will be mishap. My guru maharaja personally told me, ‘When we were living in a rented house, if we could collect two hundred or three hundred rupees we were living very nicely at Ultadanga. But since we have been given this marble palace, there is friction between our men: “Who will occupy this room? Who will occupy that room? Who will be proprietor of room?” ’ Everyone was planning in a different way. . . . If we forget our position—if we become pound-shilling men, property men—then Krishna will be lost, because Krishna is akincana-gocara, easily approached by those who have no material possessions. Therefore we should always remember that we possess this nice house not for our comfort, but so people will come, because they are not accustomed to uncomfortable living conditions. If we would have invited people, ‘Come and sit down on this ground,’ there would have been no possibility. Therefore we must keep Krishna’s temple very nice so that people will come, and we shall preach. That is the philosophy—not that because we have got this nice house, therefore we should be very much attached. Attachment must be there, but for Krishna’s service. The temple must be very clean. The establishment must be very nice. What for? For attracting devotees. This is the purpose. Not for our personal benefit.”

Hare Krishna. Are there any questions or comments?

Devotee (1): Tamal Krishna Goswami desired to go and preach, and Prabhupada accepted the concept that managers could be hired and that it was okay for him to preach. At the same time, you also shared your experience that you had a desire to live like the Six Gosvamis but that Prabhupada wanted you to manage the estate. So, what do we learn . . . why withdraw from the management to preach? Is one easier than the other? Can a devotee do both?

Giriraj Swami: Different devotees have different natures and propensities and inclinations; for one devotee preaching might be easier, and for another devotee managing might be easier. Personally, I was more inclined to preach; although I did have some strong points as a manager, I didn’t really consider myself to be a manager as such. But Srila Prabhupada wanted me to manage, so I surrendered, because our duty is to obey the spiritual master and please the spiritual master.

Tamal Krishna Goswami, he could do both—preach and manage—and as I mentioned, Srila Prabhupada was relying on him in the management in India. But Tamal Krishna Goswami wanted a break, and although at first Srila Prabhupada was reluctant to agree, in the end he did give him permission. The result was that Tamal Krishna Goswami returned to America, where he began the Radha-Damodar Travelling Sankirtan Party, which was very successful.

The first time back in America that Srila Prabhupada met Tamal Krishna Goswami, in Los Angeles, Prabhupada was still a little annoyed that Tamal Krishna had left his service as GBC in India and asked him, “How is your preaching going?” “It is going well.” And Prabhupada said, “Preaching means there should be some result. What’s the result?”

Meanwhile, as Tamal Krishna Goswami had arranged, seven new devotees who had joined the Radha-Damodar temple were waiting downstairs, all shaved up and nicely dressed in dhotis and kurtas. So, when Prabhupada said, “Where’s the result?” Tamal Krishna Goswami called them all up, and Prabhupada was happy—there was some result.

Devotee (1): Thank you, Maharaja. Isn’t there sometimes a conflict when we are trying to make sure that devotees are happy based on their nature but also dealing with situations that arise day to day?

Giriraj Swami: There are two factors—the devotee’s nature or propensity, and the requirement of service—and sometimes a service requires that a devotee act in a way that’s not according to his nature. Of course, his highest nature is to be surrendered, so in that sense it is according to his nature. But the situation may require that he do service that is not according to his material nature. Srila Prabhupada often would say, “Do the needful.” We have to be able to do the needful. So, yes, as authorities we can take advantage of devotees’ propensities, but we are not bound to engage a devotee according to his propensity, because some other service may be required of that devotee.

Devotee (2): You said that if devotees simply follow the rules and chant and take prasada, then management will be at our fingertips. So, I was just wondering on that point—does that mean that management becomes effortless or just sort of happens by Krishna’s grace? And do you have any experience, can you share some experiences, of how that happened for you or others you know?

Giriraj Swami: I’ll share an experience, and the experience itself might address the other questions you asked. At one stage in Juhu, Srila Prabhupada had a very staunch devotee named Mr. P. L. Sethi, and Mr. Sethi belonged to a group that did twelve-hour akhanda kirtan, unbroken Hare Krishna kirtan, every Sunday. These devotees had a teacher, or guru, in Vrindavan, and they would do this twelve-hour continuous kirtan and then, for an hour or so, sing songs from Vraja.

One day, Mr. Sethi had the idea that instead of meeting at one of the grihastha’s homes, the group could meet at our temple. So, they did—they did the twelve-hour Hare Krishna kirtan and then one hour of Vraja songs—and Srila Prabhupada loved it. The next day he called me and said, “That was wonderful. We should invite them all to stay at Hare Krishna Land, and we will maintain them. All they have to do is twelve-hour kirtan every day.

I thought, They have families, they have jobs, and their children have studies—I didn’t see how it would work. Then, Prabhupada said, “All right, then our men should do twelve hours continuous kirtan every day.” I said, “Srila Prabhupada, we are trying to build this temple here. If we do twelve hours kirtan every day, how will it work?” And then finally Srila Prabhupada said, “All right. Then on Sunday twelve hours.” By then it was such a relief, going from twelve hours every day and maintaining all those families, to twelve hours on Sundays. I thought, “Oh, well, yes, we can do that.”

Afterwards, Tamal Krishna Goswami said that Srila Prabhupada had done transcendental bargaining with me. If Prabhupada had started with twelve hours a day on Sunday, I might have said, “Oh, twelve hours—that’s too much! Maybe three hours.” But because he started twelve hours a day every day, when he came to twelve hours a day for one day, on Sundays, I thought, “Oh, what a relief. Yes, we can do that.”

What I found as the manager, as temple president, was that all the problems that came up would be solved in the kirtan. Either the devotees who came to me with the problems would realize that there was no problem after all, or Krishna would make some arrangement to solve the problem. So if someone came to me on Monday or Tuesday, yes, I tried to deal with their problem, but by Wednesday, because I knew the kirtan was coming, I would say, “All right, well give me a few days to think about it.” And almost invariably, every time, the problem was solved by the kirtan—either the devotee had realized that there wasn’t a problem, or Krishna had made some arrangement.

Devotee (2): I was thinking that there are devotees who are very nice devotees—they are regulated and have good sadhana and sweet temperaments—but if you make one of them the temple president, then the management might not be so meticulously done.

Giriraj Swami: Yes, the person should know how to manage, and some people are natural managers. It is not an absolute rule that if you chant and read and take prasada, you will be a good manager, but I think that it’s pretty sure that if you don’t chant and read and take prasada, you won’t be a good manager.

Devotee (3): Maharaja, you quoted Srila Prabhupada as saying that our love for him will be shown by how much we cooperate. How do we deal with disagreement, when we disagree with somebody else and have reasons, but we have to cooperate? How do we reconcile the two?

Giriraj Swami: We had a farm in Hyderabad, and the three disciples whom Srila Prabhupada put in charge of the project were very strong willed and independent and they often did not agree. Srila Prabhupada told them, “You sit together, you fight like cats and dogs, and then, when you agree, you go ahead.”

So, yes, sometimes we have to . . . I don’t know if compromise is the right word, but yes, sometimes we may have to sacrifice a lesser principle for a higher principle. Cooperation is a high principle.

Shortly after Srila Prabhupada left, one of my godbrothers came to Juhu and was demanding money from me because Prabhupada had left me in charge of some of his funds. Within my heart I was quite sure that Prabhupada would not want the money to be used in the way my godbrother was intending, but the devotee was so attached to the idea of getting the money to use for that purpose, that I apprehended that if I didn’t give it to him, it would cause a terrible strain on our relationship. So I made the decision to give him the money, even though I felt that Prabhupada wouldn’t have really wanted the money used for that purpose. I thought having a cooperative mood amongst us disciples of Srila Prabhupada was a higher priority than saving some of the money, and I never regretted my decision.

We often have to prioritize; it depends on the situation. In some cases, we can’t compromise. I know there have been cases when a godbrother really wanted me to go along with something but I was sure that Prabhupada wouldn’t agree, and I didn’t go along with it, even if it upset the other devotee. But in the first case, I felt that it was better to give him the money and maintain the cooperative spirit.

Devotee (4): Hare Krishna, Maharaja. You made the point about how preaching and management follow one another, and you also emphasized the point of caring for devotees, that everyone should feel cared for, even if they are difficult. So, preaching can take us to far corners of the earth or different places where there is nothing in terms of a program. And caring for newer devotees can be very time-consuming. So, between these two things, sometimes we might find ourselves without too much pure association, which may only be possible on a phone call or going to Vrindavan once a year, or something like that. So, what is too little association, and how can preachers and managers make sure that they have the right amount of association?

Giriraj Swami: There was a period in ISKCON’s history when there was a lot of chaos. It was after the falldown of some of the zonal acharyas, and senior devotees were struggling just to keep their areas intact. I was in Mauritius and South Africa. I was not getting peer association, and I was feeling deprived of it. But then I got a chance to go to Dallas and associate with Tamal Krishna Goswami. Once, we were talking about association and he said, “You have to go out of your way to get it.” And then he said, “With all of my association with Srila Prabhupada and my three initiations from him, I still feel I need siksa-gurus.” And then he listed a number of people whom he considered to be his siksa-gurus. I felt that what he said was really true—that we need that association and, as he said, that we have to go out of our way to get it, because we don’t want to allow ourselves to become weak. If we become weak, then the people who are depending on us will suffer.

Devotee (5): In the early days the majority of the devotees were out there preaching; now we see a lot less of that. Is that due to the psycho-physical nature, or how can we get more into that spirit?

Giriraj Swami: Everyone should preach. Preaching is our life. Once, after a long day in Bombay, I came back to Juhu and said to Srila Prabhupada, “I really like preaching.” And Prabhupada replied, “Not ‘I “like” preaching,’ but ‘preaching is my life.’ ” Everyone should preach; whatever their capacity is, they should preach. There’s preaching to new people, and there’s also preaching to devotees. As Srila Prabhupada said, it is more important to maintain a devotee than to make a new devotee. Preaching means glorifying Krishna and the process of devotional service, so yes, everyone should preach in their own way.

Devotee (6): You talked about caring, and everyone can care, but those who are really in a position to care for others are the leaders. And then we also talked about Prabhupada’s statement: “Your love for me will be shown by how you cooperate.” Sometimes there is a possibility of conflict, and a leader will say, “Your love for Prabhupada will be shown by how much you cooperate with me as a leader.” So, it can be kind of weighted to one side. I don’t know if you can elaborate on that.

Giriraj Swami: The way I took Srila Prabhupada’s statement is that he meant cooperate with each other, give-and-take for his sake and for the sake of ISKCON. The word cooperate can mean “cooperate with me,” or “do what I say,” and our cooperating with each other can mean that, like in my example of the senior devotee who wanted money, but I think generally it means that we work together, co-operate—operate together, conjointly.

But it is true, Prabhupada did want us to follow our authorities. We might not agree with them, we might not think they are right, but we do have to follow them. Srila Prabhupada gave the example that you’re riding in a car and someone else is the driver and you think you know a better way to reach the destination than the driver does. You can tell the driver, “It’s better we go this way,” but ultimately, because you are not in the driver’s seat, you have to go along with what the driver decides. Still, you can within yourself hold the idea that your way was better.

Srila Prabhupada was saying that you can make your suggestion to an authority, but because they are the authority, ultimately they make the decision. But even if they don’t agree with you, you can still maintain the thought within yourself that your idea was better; that’s not an offense. You can still think that your idea was better. But you have to go along with the authority, because he is in the driver’s seat.

Anyway, that’s the general principle; it might not fit every case. Prabhupada said that disciple means discipline. There has to be some authority.

Devotee (7): Hare Krishna, Maharaja. Could you maybe share some practical examples of times in Bombay when there were devotees who had problems but then once the kirtan happened, they just completely forgot about those problems or considered them not to be problems anymore?

Giriraj Swami: I can’t remember offhand, because that was forty-five years ago, but I do remember the principle, and I do remember the experience, and I also remember Srila Prabhupada complaining that . . . I think maybe Mr. Sethi told Prabhupada that some of the devotees were leaving the kirtan; they weren’t staying in the kirtan. And Prabhupada complained to his servant, Upendra, “Why can’t my disciples stay in the kirtan like these householders? All my disciples can do is eat and sleep.”

Devotee (7): Were the congregation devotees actually staying for the twelve hours, for the entire kirtan?

Giriraj Swami: Yes. The Radha Madhava Prema Sudha Sankirtana Mandala. Not suddha, which means “pure,” but sudha, which means “nectar.” The Radha Madhava Prema Sudha Sankirtana Mandala people were very special devotees. There was one lady who would sing the Vraja songs after the twelve hours of kirtan, and she sang so beautifully. She would sing, “Jaya Radhe, Jaya Radhe Radhe, Jaya Radhe, Jaya Sri Radhe.” Mr. Sethi said that when she was singing, Srila Prabhupada had tears streaming down his cheeks.

Devotee (8): Can you comment a little about how in management sometimes we get a little tired or frustrated? Maybe we’ve worked a little too hard or pushed a little too much, and we need to take time out for ourselves, we need some recreation, we need some alone time, without feeling guilty about it. Can you maybe explain your realization or anything you saw from Srila Prabhupada in this regard as far as charging up instead of a continuous day-to-day week in, week out, which can cause burnout? Can you share any thoughts on our mental and physical health?

Giriraj Swami: Balance is very important. We always have to keep a balance. And what constitutes the proper balance at one time may not be the proper balance at another time. I know that when I was the temple president and had to deal with a lot in Juhu, I was very protective of my japa, my morning program and my japa.

When Lokanath Swami came to the temple for the first time and wanted to meet me, I think someone gave him the message—maybe I told them to give him the message—that I was busy and couldn’t meet him immediately, that he would have to wait. And then he found out that my business was that I was chanting japa. At first he thought it was odd, but then he came to appreciate it.

To maintain a balance in your life so you don’t get burned out, I mentioned japa, but it could be reading, it could be kirtan—whatever will nourish you and make you feel strong in your service. We don’t want to burn the candle at both ends.

Just a sort of a humorous point related to balance: Once, His Holiness Indradyumna Swami and I were invited to a couple’s home in South Africa for prasada, and they were very tricky in the way they served the prasada, because we would think we had come to the end, and then they’d bring out more. Then we’d think, “Okay, that’s it; we’ll have a little more.” And then they’d bring out something else. I was starting to feel uncomfortable. Then Indradyumna Swami said to me, “As Krishna says in the Bhagavad-gita, one should not eat too much or eat too little. Today we’re focusing on not eating too little!”

Devotee (9): For devotees in leadership positions, there are higher expectations for them to perform and serve, and rightly so. And different devotees have their own understanding and ideas and perspectives about how a leader should be, or how that leader should express and show care, or how they should manage, or what they should be interested in. I personally experienced that, that everyone has their own wishes and desires and expectations for me and I don’t meet them, and I am faced with my limitedness—I’m limited.

So, when it comes to performing at a certain level and doing outreach, managing, devotee care, self-care, balance at home, that’s a lot, and I find that people are dissatisfied with me. So, how do I overcome that? Is it just that I stay humble, or is there something, or some understanding, that helps?

Giriraj Swami: People often don’t remember what you say to them, and they often don’t remember what you do, but people do remember how they feel with you. Personally, I’ve always been happy with your husband and you in terms of my experience with you. I think these devotees should count their blessings and be happy that they have your husband and you.

You can’t be all things to all people. It is not realistic. And I think of an instruction that His Holiness Radhanath Swami gave to His Grace Vaisesika Prabhu, that the best thing he can do as the temple president is to be happy.

Devotee (10): My question is about obedience being the first law of discipline, and we’ve also studied in class that bhakti is individual, spontaneous, and voluntary. It could seem like two opposite ends of a spectrum when dealing with devotees. Can you help us see how they can be reconciled? Because obedience is a word that not everybody likes, and if you bring it up, it’s kind of like a red flag. Everyone wants individual, spontaneous, and voluntary, and everyone wants to have that independence, and then if you are a manager you get questioned. So what are you doing? Not managing; facilitating. I’m sure there’s a connection, but I am not able to see it. Can you elaborate a bit?

Giriraj Swami: If the situation allows, we can encourage devotees to do what they want for Krishna, but if a devotee is needed to do something that the devotee doesn’t particularly want to do, but the devotee is needed, then they should be ready to do the needful, as Srila Prabhupada said. And if you think it is appropriate, you can apologize and say, “I know that this particular type of service doesn’t suit you, but the situation is such that we need someone to do it, and you are the only one who can do it. I am sorry that I have to ask you to do this, but under the circumstances I have no choice.” And I think the devotee would appreciate your care and concern and be willing to do the needful.

Devotee (11): You talked about how, by performing kirtan and bhajan, management can go on, and then we have that well-known conversation when you were serving Srila Prabhupada and Srila Prabhupada asked you, “How will this movement go on?” You said, “By chanting and following the principles.” And Srila Prabhupada thought and said, “By intelligence and organization.” So how can we blend those two statements together?

Giriraj Swami: When Srila Prabhupada asked me, that was in his last days; I think it was November 11, just three days before he left. “Do you think this movement will go on after I leave?” I said, “As long as the devotees are sincere and chant their rounds and follow the regulative principles, it will go on.” And then, as you quoted, Srila Prabhupada said, “Organization—intelligence and organization.” Reflecting on what Srila Prabhupada said, I understood that, yes, we do have to be sincere and chant our rounds and follow the regulative principles—that’s a must—but we can do that for our own benefit. If we really want to spread Krishna consciousness, we have to be intelligent and organized. And so what I got from Srila Prabhupada’s answer is that yes, we do have to be sincere and chant our rounds and follow the regulative principles, but we also have to think of others and spread Krishna consciousness, and to do that, we have to be intelligent and organized. So, I don’t think the two are contradictory; they are complementary.

Devotee (12): We are coming to the end of this GBC College zonal supervisor course, and many of us will be encouraged to take up these responsibilities, which means that we’ll have a zone and different temples within the zone, and we’ll need to go and work with the temple presidents and managers there. But it may be that we don’t really know, that we are not familiar with the goings on at those temples and don’t have personal relationships with the managers there or even know the temple presidents. And they don’t know us, either.

So, can you give us some tips on how to establish relationships with the leaders we will be supervising as zonal supervisors and how to build trust, how to win their trust so that we can work with them nicely? Because we don’t want them to think, “Oh, here comes a big, freshly trained person. They are going to try and take over and tell us what to do.” We don’t want it to be like that, especially because it may be that the temple presidents and leaders are senior to us, at least in terms of time in the movement. So, how to develop that trust so that we can have a working cooperative relationship?

Giriraj Swami: What would your role, or your duty, be?

Devotee (12): Our training is for zonal supervisor, so we’re sort of in between the temple presidents and the GBC for whatever our particular zone is.

Giriraj Swami: And how will you get assigned to a particular temple?

Devotees (13): The GBCs will nominate us, and the entire GBC body will approve our appointment, and we will be assisting the GBC.

Giriraj Swami: Okay. Well, what comes to mind is that when the Parsis—Zoroastrians from Persia—came in a boat to India and wanted to land in Gujarat, in response to their request, the king there sent a cup filled to the brim with milk, meaning, “We are already full. We don’t have any room for you.” And the Parsis very intelligently added sugar to the milk and sent it back, to say, “We’re not going to displace you, but we’ll make everything sweet and better for you.”

So, I think you can approach the temples in the mood of a servant, of a servant of the servant, and just say, “Yes, I am here to serve you, to assist you.” Srila Prabhupada said that GBC doesn’t mean to control a center; it just means to see that things are going on nicely. Just say that you’re there to serve them, that if there’s anything you can do to help, you would be happy to do so. And you can say, “If I see something, I’m duty bound to point it out, but I won’t try to enforce anything on you; I’m just here to support you.”

Host: Thank you very much, Maharaja, for your excellent lecture—so instructional, and imbued with your devotion and your experience. We are grateful that you gave us so much of your time.

Giriraj Swami: It’s a pleasure.

Hare Krishna.

[Discussion with the NA GBC College, June 9, 2021, via Zoom]

Niagara Falls, Ontario

 

An Affirmation of K. Consciousness

 

Last night, when I walked in the Cabbagetown area of Toronto, an Asian woman standing in front of her residence, a high-rise building, noticed me and instantly asked her question.

 

“What religion?”

 

“Hare Krishna!”

 

“Oh! From India!” she concluded. We chatted.

 

My answer was simple; there’s a lot included in those two words, “Hare Krishna.” There’s a whole culture, philosophy and way of being. Today, I came to affirm what that means in a practical way.

 

Madhava, Govinda, Sarthak and I headed for Niagara Falls. It would be Madhava’s first time seeing the splendour of it, but first we stopped at the beach of Port Dalhousie for the sun and the water; to take care of ourselves – the body, mind and heart. We then proceeded along the magnificent gorge till we hit the Falls. To see them puts one in awe, reverence and gratitude – traits or signs of a Hare Krishna.

 

Lastly, we proceeded to the juncture of the Chippewa and Niagara Rivers, to King’s Bridge Park, to gain sangha or the company of other bhakti-yogis. We ate. We sang. We talked. These are major practices of Krishna devotees. The centre of all such activities is Krishna and that’s what makes our lives somewhat distinctive. It is about the growth of the spirit, where we downplay self-centeredness – always a work in progress.

 

May the Source be with you!

 

High Park, Toronto

 

Groove in the Green

 

High Park is actually a beautiful space, but like most natural settings they have their drawbacks. This park is appealing, but there is a slight problem with the gypsy moth caterpillars. I’ve never known a forest without tics, mosquitoes, flies and the like. Avoiding natures creatures altogether by sticking yourself in a room all day in front of a screen is probably a worse scenario. Better to build up some strength, resistance, and immunity if you can. That’s the problem with city slickers who do not touch nature.

 

At least one caterpillar came to our kirtan spot, in a rustic pavilion, to enjoy our temple groove. Our Billy from Philly (now Tilly for Toronto) set the pace for chanting and then some ecstatic dance beats to the mantra. Oh, it was fun and it was pure, in a sense. Our group was not in a Saturday Night fever mode. We were in singing and dancing for our soul and at the same time drawing other souls to our little powwow.

 

Billy is particularly good at attracting people to the mantrascene and, before COVID, was conducting an actual temple groove, which certain orthodoxy may not understand. I say, “Let the dogs bark.” If a program lifts the consciousness of the crowd, let it reign supreme.

 

Tomorrow I’m looking forward to the kirtan in Niagara Falls for more of the same.

 

May the Source be with you!

6 km

 

Greektown, Toronto

 

In Greek Hood

 

A kind devotee by the name of Radha-Gopinath dropped me off to the home of a master wood carver to discuss with him a carving, out of basswood, of an eight-foot Radha and Krishna. The end product will be installed in one of our upcoming project facilities.

 

Here’s what I found interesting, my new-made artist friend spent eight years training to be a Christian priest. During that educational experience, he became acquainted with the sacred text Bhagavad-gita and to this day (he must be pushing 70 in age) he still holds the dialogue between Krishna and Arjuna as a powerful message. My friend was born and raised in Southern Ontario, as I was. He started his vocation of woodcarving when he was 30.

 

In any event, he, I, and his wife, hit it off really well and after discussing the features of Krishna in a home-made 8-foot form (with a bit more masculine-looking elements than the usual female-like), I began walking back towards the ashram and found a good rest-spot at Logan and Danforth, within Greektown. It’s a neat little corner, a parkette of sorts, with a statue of Alexander the [Butcher]. A brass band was playing and a fine couple from Oakville came to deliver lunch. I thank Kasyapa and Panchami for the excellent veggie burgers; a change from the usual fare. Actually, avocado, asparagus and pineapple are good for the joints, which accompanied the burgers. There was more to my day, which included a car blessing.

 

May the Source be with you!

3 km

 

I wanted to inform you of the passing away of HG Manu das Prabhu, he was initiated in London in 1971. He spent his life serving Prabhupada's mission, and spent most of his later years in Vrindavan. He would visit his family for a few months in a year but he always said his real home was Vrindavan.Read More...

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In the Gaura-gaṇoddeśa-dīpikā (71) it is stated that Vakreśvara Paṇḍita was an incarnation of Aniruddha, one of the quadruple expansions of Viṣṇu (Vāsudeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Aniruddha and Pradyumna).

He could dance wonderfully for seventy-two continuous hours. When Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu played in dramatic performances in the house of Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita, Vakreśvara Paṇḍita was one of the chief dancers, and he danced continuously for that length of time. Śrī Govinda dāsa, an Oriyā devotee of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, has described the life of Vakreśvara Paṇḍita in his book Gaura-kṛṣṇodaya.

There are many disciples of Vakreśvara Paṇḍita in Orissa, and they are known as Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas although they are Oriyās. Among these disciples are Śrī Gopālaguru and his disciple Śrī Dhyānacandra Gosvāmī.

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(Kadamba Kanana, Swami, 25 June 2021, Split, Croatia, Zoom Meeting)

Tamal Krishna Goswami was such a brilliant person. He had a sharp brain and he was just such a general. He just knew what was the right thing to do and he was a leader in this way. He could just point and say, “Well I looked at all the options and clearly this is the way.” And everyone would say, “Yes, that makes sense.” So he was just so amazing in that way and pretty brilliant. Tamal Krishna Goswami was such a powerful man that he was Prabhupada’s man to develop things and do the impossible. Anything impossible to be done, Tamal Krishna Goswami was the man. So Tamal Krishna Goswami just took this movement forward with huge strides and did so many things that no one else could have done.

But Tamal Krishna Goswami at the same time was also very much with the devotees. He could just join in a kirtan with the devotees and have fun. He was not like the ‘big guru’. He was 1 of the 11 but he was ready to just be with the devotees by just walking up and down in a kirtan. As we were all just running up and down, Tamal Krishna Goswami was also running and swaying with us in the kirtan. Tamal Krishna Goswami would always engage with everybody.

These devotees, they were especially sent to help Prabhupada to do the impossible. Therefore, we should appreciate that here we are dealing with very special and powerful devotees – devotees like Tamal Krishna Goswami, Brahmananda and Guru Kripa – all these devotees were incredibly special.

The article " Especially sent to help Prabhupada " was published on KKSBlog.

By Rasanand Das

As conditioned souls within this material world, people who are averse to God, lament and aggrieved when they suffer but devotees of the Lord worships him with full faith and devotion and take these sufferings as gifts of the Lord and they understand that these sufferings are temporary and external. Sufferings are gifts of the Lord for a devotee, which apparently seems bitter but in reality its blessings of the Lord. Queen Kunti prays to the Lord in Srimad Bhagavatam (1.8.25) as: I wish that all those calamities would happen again and again so that we could see You again and again, for seeing You means that we will no longer see repeated births and deaths. Continue reading "Sufferings: Apparently bitter but in reality blessings
→ Dandavats"

By Ravindra-svarupa dasa

Fifty centuries ago, during a fierce war, Lord Krishna and one of His pure devotees achieved a unique intimacy. In the midst of the great battle, surrounded by the clash of arms, the pounding of hooves, the rattle of trappings, the shouts of warriors, and the screams of wounded men and beasts, where the dust churned up by the horses dimmed the sun and blood turned the earth to mud, Krishna suddenly stopped the chariot and sprang to the ground. Raising the wheel of a disabled chariot over His head, the Lord raced toward the great general Bhishmadeva like a lion charging an elephant. Just moments before, wave after wave of lethal arrows from Bhishmadeva’s bow had crashed relentlessly down upon Arjuna’s chariot. In amazement, the other warriors had seen the figures of Arjuna and his driver Sri Krishna completely disappear behind the curtains of the general’s arrows. It had been certain that Arjuna was about to fall before the fury of the attack. Continue reading "Encounter at Kurukshetra
→ Dandavats"

The appropriate time to glorify a special soul is ‘always’. It has been more than a month that our beloved Pankajanghri prabhu has left this planet. His memories and contributions towards the TOVP are eternally etched in our hearts and in the walls of this iconic building.

The TOVP Team members in the Design and Construction areas had a lot of interactions with His Grace Pankajanghri prabhu. They have shared some of those treasures in this compilation.

Click here to read the entire offering in your browser or download a copy to your desktop for offline reading.

 

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