Planet ISKCON

[Talk at Manama, Bahrain]

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[Seminar at ISKCON, Bahrain]

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[Vyasa-puja celebration at Manama, Bahrain]

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[Seminar at ISKCON, Manama, Bahrain]

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[Seminar at ISKCON, Manama, Bahrain]

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There are between 25 to 30 Rathayatra parades held every year in Indonesia, even though it is a predominantly Muslim country. This is because devotees work with local committees in different areas and enter as a cultural participant.

Bali is a little different because it is mainly Hindu, but besides our own big Rathayatra in July, we usually work in with other groups. Smaller carts are used for these types of events.

When I last visited there was a yoga group function in Krathalangu Park, which is a cultural place in the centre of Denpasar. Part of the activity was a parade and, of course, the devotees entered one of our Ratha carts as a special added attraction.

Srimati Jahnavi Dasi ACBSP, the author of “Letters to My Oldest Friend by Janavi Held”, which won a prestigious literary prize, departed this world yesterday afternoon. She surely lives on in her beautiful, devotional poems and artwork!
Read more: https://goo.gl/82ajCB

On Tour in Nepal (15 min video)
Titiksava Karunika Das: Somewhere in Nepal…..December 1, 2018, Dharan, Ratha Yatra.
Good time by chanting Hare Krishna!

Children's Rathayatra in Surabaya, Indonesia in August 2018.

Balance is a key component of the bhakti practice  - the art of remembering Krishna and our relationship with him. When our life goes to the extremes - it can overwhelm us and move us away from that remembrance.

Our "Paramahamster" comic strip follows an enthusiastic devotee as he navigates a 9 - 5 work day in the corporate world. Please check back weekly for new episodes!

*MARATHON MEDICINE*
By Janananda Gosvami. Well, feeling a bit slow and down in old age. Digestion problems, sleep probs, things ain’t what they used to be in ISKCON either and I got no taste for chanting and hearing. Where’s the movement going so many ask.

SOWETO FOREVER !! (2 videos)
Devotees from Iskcon Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa in the fire of chanting and dancing.
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Kirtan In South Africa! (Album of photos)
Indradyumna Swami: “I am so glad to hear that you would like if we could open one branch of our International Society for Krishna Consciousness there in Cape Town, South Africa. That would be very nice. So if you can arrange for our reception, we may go there immediately, and even I may go on my way back from India and establish one center there [ in South Africa ]. Undoubtedly this movement is very sublime and anyone who takes to it becomes happy.”
[ Srila Prabhupada letter, July 3, 1971 ]
Find them here: https://goo.gl/tHZvsz

Pure devotional service (video)
Srimad Bhagavatam Class by H.H.Bhakti Charu Swami at ISKCON Vrindavan, Dec 6, 2018.

What can we really offer to Lord Krishna? (video)
Lecture by HH Kadamba Kanana Swami at Kendra Namahatta, South Africa.

NEW VRINDABAN DAYS

As New Vrindaban celebrates its 50th anniversary (1968 to 2018), I wrote this series of articles for the Brijabasi Spirit in an attempt to give the reader not only an “understanding,” but more importantly a “taste,” of what life in early New Vrindaban was like – through the stories of one devotee’s personal journey.

The title of the series, “New Vrindaban Days,” is in tribute to the wonderful book “Vrindaban Days: Memories of an Indian Holy Town” written by Howard Wheeler, Hayagriva Dasa. He was one of Srila Prabhupada’s first disciples, a co-founder of New Vrindaban, and, a great writer. As with Hayagriva’s book, this series focuses on a period of time in the 1970’s.

I would also like to acknowledge and thank Chaitanya Mangala Dasa, for spending untold hours assisting me in refining my writing for your reading pleasure.

I have been asked to describe certain aspects of early New Vrindaban Community life such as the nature of the austerities, what it was like for a new person coming here, cooking, anecdotes about particular devotees, etc.
I attempt to tell these stories in some semblance of a chronological order, beginning with my first meeting with devotees in 1968, leading to my arrival in New Vrindaban in late 1973 and carrying through to the official opening of Srila Prabhupada’s Palace in 1979.

This article describes some of my experiences from 1974, the first year I lived in New Vrindaban.

Advaitacharya Dasa

CHAPTER NINE: The Death of the Vedic Civilization

I was initially slated to work the horses temporarily but it has become increasingly obvious that I will not be going back to my former service in the woodshed.

There are three teams of horses in the Bahulaban horse barn with the best of them being the beautiful young Belgian team of Tom and John. They are young, smart, and strong and worked regularly by Kasyapa. Next are the older team of white horses named Prince and Molly, behind which Romaharsana has generally held the reins. Things in the barn are kept interesting by the fact that Prince is not a gelding. For those not familiar with equine jargon this means that Prince is still fully equipped as a stud horse for breeding. When removing Prince from his stall you must be sure not to let him have a clear view of the back side of Molly’s…stall. If a mistake is made, Prince goes crazy.

As a new driver I am being trained on a younger and less efficient team named Ranchor and Saibya. Ranchor is dark brown while Saibya is a lighter, reddish color. The Bahulaban horse barn is a simple shed covered with corrugated steel containing four stalls. It is located across the state road from the Bahulaban temple, north east about fifty yards further down the road.

The designated horse drivers, Kasyapa and I, are in the barn early in the morning seven days a week cleaning the stalls, giving the horses fresh hay and grain, marching them one at a time through the mud for a drink at the creek, brushing and cleaning them, and then putting them into their harnesses. Scattered around the small meadow the barn is located on, are various pieces of vintage horse drawn farming equipment: an old blue box wagon, a low to the ground wood sled, a large flatbed hay wagon, a rusty dung covered manure spreader, etc.

On one side of the barn is the tack room where the harnesses, bridles, and other equipment are kept and repaired when necessary. I have to quickly learn all kinds of implements that I am completely unfamiliar with. What is a singletree? What is a doubletree? What is the difference between a cultivator and a plow? What is a bridle, a bit, and a curry brush? This Brooklyn boy is being countrified.

Driving the horses allows me to come in contact with all the different aspects of the community. Everybody, every department, and every one of the three farms has something for the horses to do. There are no vehicles to do any heavy moving. Everything is done with the horses. I bring wood to the woodshed, manure to the gardens, haul away trash to different dump sites, transport young apple trees to be planted with Bhakta Mark (soon to be Madhava Ghosh), and even empty the outhouses.

I will save the description of this activity for another article. One may ask, why would a description of emptying the outhouse might deserve placement in another article? I will only say that the issue of “sewage” in the primitive setting of New Vrindaban, housing over 100 people with no proper sanitation system, was, for many “board meetings,” the number one topic of discussion.

Speaking of dung, the cowherd boys are milking 16 cows twice a day in the original barn of the Coffield farm that is now Bahulaban and the amount of cow dung produced daily is daunting. It is practically impossible to spread the manure on the fields in the winter using the horse drawn spreader so the entire task is done by hand. The barn sits up the hill approximately 30 or 40 feet above the state road. On the road side of the barn there is a 3 ft. x 3 ft. open doorway out of which the cowherd boys shovel dung directly down onto the hillside. The dung pile is so large that the cowherd boys and the horse boys affectionately refer to it as “Govardung Hill.”

In order to get the horses close enough to the hill to remove any of the dung, I must bring the horses and wagon through a huge puddle of mud and then down a short, steep access road and bring the team to a sharp stop on the hill standing almost knee deep in mud. When the horses are able to come to a stop I, along with whatever other new bhakta has been assigned to work with me, must jump off into the dung hill with pitchforks to fill the wagon.

Anyone familiar with the nature of keeping barn animals knows that when we talk of cleaning cow dung out of stalls we are talking not only of pure dung but a dense mixture of dung and straw the cows sleep on. As “Govardung hill” settles in for the winter, the mixture becomes compressed, moldy, and starts decomposing. It must be dug out with pitchforks in layers as if peeling a huge, black, onion. After the wagon has been filled with a ton or so, the two of us must take it to a field somewhere and use the pitchforks to toss it off of the wagon while the horses continue to walk slowly along. All this in the dead of winter.

As new bhaktas arrive they are often assigned to work with me for a couple of days, giving me an opportunity to form what will become lifelong friendships with devotees like Bhakta Carlos (Nityodita Das), Bhakta Terry (Tapahpunja Das), Bhakta Mike (Manonatha Das), Bhakta Tony (Tejomaya Das), Bhakta Kevin (Kholavecha Sridhara Das), Bhakta Kurt (Sarvasaksi Das), and many others.

In addition I get the rare opportunity to engage in what might only be referred to as special and unique. Since the original Vrindaban farm is inaccessible by motorized vehicle, I must take all supplies that are needed for survival every week or two. In the middle of the day I arrive to find the only brahmacari who spends his day in this isolated homestead. He is the caretaker of the Deities Sri Sri Radha Vrindaban Nath, Radhanath Das (later to become Radhanath Swami). He is thrilled to have someone different visiting the farm and we sit together taking lunch prasadam and exchanging stories. The visit often culminates in the two of us sitting together singing bhajans which echo through the hills and trees. Another lifelong friendship ensues.

On one visit to the Vrindaban farm, I have unusual cargo. Radhanath’s father has come to visit from Chicago. There is no other way for him to get to Vrindaban so I am charged with taking him there. It is still winter and we get there using the old blue wagon, which is coated with a thick layer of frozen, crusty cow manure. We find an old blanket to cover him with and share a crowded seat on a bale of hay over the three mile bumpy road.
When we arrive he is stunned to see the simple and austere conditions his son is living in. It doesn’t seem that it can get any worse until he asks Radhanath where the rest room facilities are. When Radhanath explains the devotees take a shovel out to the nearby woods his father decides he will hold it in.

When his father is ready to depart, after only a brief encounter with his son, he asks Radhanath if there is anything he needs. When Radhanath explains he has everything he needs, his father breaks down and begins to cry. Being an eyewitness to the extreme deprivation Radhanath is living in, he is still crying as he boards our shared hay bale. We sit silently together for the somber ride down through the stark, winter woods.

For a time the women’s ashram is moved to Madhuban and I am charged with transporting the ladies up and down the road in a recently purchased stagecoach. Kirtanananda Swami has been making his trips on Sunday night to the Vrindaban brahmacari farm in the manure wagon until we purchase an Amish buggy and I begin taking him up the road in style.

The highlight of my horse driving career comes when Srila Prabhupada visits New Vrindaban in July of 1974 and I contrive a plan so that I will stand out and be recognized by him.

His Divine Grace is staying up the road in a recently purchased house in an area called “Guruban,” near his Palace construction site. Each day he must be picked up in a vehicle and brought to Bahulaban so he can give the morning lecture. While all the devotees are wearing their temple clothes waiting to greet him I instead, don my work clothes and proceed to the horse barn.

The day before I stacked the flat bed wagon four layers high with bales of hay. The entire load amounted to the size of a 24 foot box truck. Although there is no call to bring hay anywhere, my idea is I would be atop the load, driving the wagon and the two steeds right toward Srila Prabhupada’s car as he approaches Bahulaban.

My hope is he would surely see me like a charioteer from the battlefield of Kurukshetra, standing high, holding the reigns, muscles tightly flexed, controlling the two large horses. In that way, he would recognize me as one of New Vrindaban’s hardest working devotees.

I harness the horses and drive the load onto the road and head directly for where I know Srila Prabhupada would soon be coming. After traveling no more than 500 yards the car carrying Srila Prabhupada comes into view and is headed right at me. I stand tall, imagining my sikha blowing in the wind, and my tilak glowing in the morning sun. As the car passes below me I lower my eyes to look directly at Srila Prabhupada who is gazing up at me through the side window of his car. Success!

After he passed, I turn the wagon around and bring it back to the barn. I unhook the horses, run to the temple, don my temple garb, and attended the lecture. No one being the wiser.

When the lecture ended Srila Prabhupada was driven back to his quarters by Kirtanananda Swami and I proceeded to the Swami’s cabin to wait to hear any other pastimes that might have occurred with Prabhupada at his house.

I took a seat against the wall across from the Swami’s desk and chatted with the other devotees until he arrived, about an hour later. The Swami sat on the floor behind his desk answering questions about whatever had transpired with Srila Prabhupada. After about a half hour he suddenly recalled something and addressed me directly.

“Bhakta Emil, Srila Prabhupada saw you driving the horse wagon up the road!”

I responded incredulously, acting as if I hardly knew what he was talking about, while in reality I was hanging on every word, waiting for the praise I am 100% sure is coming.

“He did?” I peeped.

“Yes. When he saw you he said, ’This is the death of Vedic civilization.’“

As my heart sank, all eyes turned to me.

“The death of Vedic civilization?” I asked feebly.

“Yes, he said using horses and tractors means the oxen are not being engaged and therefore wouldn’t be protected. Vedic civilization depends on protecting the cows.”

My scheme had resulted not in Prabhupada recognizing me as one of Krishna’s best devotees. Instead, his seeing me prompted him to mention me in the same breath as the death of the Vedic civilization.

Oh well, I guess it could have been worse. At least he didn’t refer to me in the same sentence describing what it meant to be a sahajiya.

At least not this time…

—————————————————————————————-

Chapter 1: Every Journey Begins With a Single Step

Chapter 2: Srila Prabhupada – Jaya Radha Madhava

Chapter 3: Captured by the Beauty of Sri Sri Radha Vrindaban Chandra

Chapter 4: Fired Up – We Depend On Sri Sri Radha Vrindaban Chandra

Chapter 5: The New Vrindaban Landscape – January 1974

Chapter 6: In The Woods

Chapter 7: Prasadam

Chapter 8: Propaganda

Stay tuned for Chapter 10: The Pits

The next monthly installment will be posted January 2019!

Answer Podcast

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Preaching program in London (Album of photos)
On 29th November 2018, Sivarama Swami spoke with 120 students at London’s City, University of London. After an engaging interview about his life and practices, he took several questions from the audience and lead a Mantra-meditation experience. The evening ended with a tasty vegetarian meal for everyone!
Find them here: https://goo.gl/Q5ppHY

The complete Mahabharata narrated by Nirantara Das.
Listen or download the narration of the complete Mahabharata by the spiritual trainer, Bhakti yoga instructor, and Musician Sriman Nirantara das, ACBSP.

Kartik Parikrama- Javat to Ter Kadamba and Vrindakund (Album of photos)
This was everyone’s favorite parikrama this Karttika, going to Javat and walking to Ter Kadamba on one of Braja’s last dusty paths! Then lunch at Vrinda Kunda!
Find them here: https://goo.gl/bDs86g

The Bhagavata Purana: Selected Readings.
Krishna Ksetra Swami: Prof. Ravi M. Gupta poses holding the book we co-authored: The Bhāgavata Purāṇa: Selected Readings. This is at the recent American Academy of Religion annual conference in Denver (a conference which some 8000 members attend). This photo is at the Columbia University Press booth, one of ca. 200 publishers of academic books on religion who display their books at the conference. What’s interesting is that Columbia has featured our book, setting a stack of them out in front. The note in front of the stack of our books says “Free with examination copy request”, which means the scholars were invited to take a copy of the book free if they fill out a form which encourages them to consider using the book in one of the courses they teach, which means their students would be required to purchase the book.

New marathon nectar (Album of photos)
Satyanarayana Das: And… from the West Coast (USA)… new marathon nectar from Prema Sankirtan Prabhu with (1) Hussein and Sara (“Princess” in Arabic) visiting from Iraq, all smiles while taking (donating for) the full set of Arabic books (2) a Cypress College (LA) student from Palestine gratefully obtains the Arabic POY and Gita (3) a super positive tourist and pro-photog from Jordan holds up her new POY and Gita (4) a martial artist couple visiting from Syria take the Arabic Gita & then two small English books. Plus four more photos of some really sweet, appreciative students and tourists eagerly displaying their new books….
But wait!
We’re excited to end this post with three photos from a new book distributor to the area, Dhira Lalita Prabhu, who tell us that he especially loves distributing Arabic books on university campuses…
All Glories to you All!

“The Hare Krishna Maha-mantra: Our Ultimate Benefactor” (Back to Godhead, Vol. 53, No. 2)
Satyaraja Das: “‘Hare’ can refer to both Hari, or Krishna, the Supreme Lord, and Radha, known as Mother Hara. When perceived in the latter sense, common in the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition, it is an address to God’s energy, specifically His spiritual pleasure potency (hladini-shakti), who is also known as His female manifestation: Radhika. The word hari also means “thief.” In relation to Radha and Krishna, it refers to Their stealing of each other’s hearts, and the hearts of all living beings.”

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14 Krishna Conscious Affirmations with Evidence.
How could your life change if you choose to think this way?
1. My human life is sacred and I am responsible to honor it in that way.
“The human body, which can award all benefit in life, is automatically obtained by the laws of nature, although it is a very rare achievement. This human body can be compared to a perfectly constructed boat having the spiritual master as the captain and the instructions of the Personality of Godhead as favorable winds impelling it on its course. Considering all these advantages, a human being who does not utilize his human life to cross the ocean of material existence must be considered the killer of his own soul.” -SB 11.20.17

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December is a very special month. It is the month when all the ISKCON devotees, armed with sankirtan weapon, march in all the streets, knock at every door to distribute the most valuable treasure of books of Srila Prabhupada. They are determined to bestow all auspiciousness to every living entity, so that they have a […]

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By Giriraj Swami

In the West this is the holiday season, with Christmas and Hanukkah both coming up. As Srila Prabhupada explained, the Lord comes to this world to enlighten people with transcendental knowledge. Sometimes He comes personally, and sometimes He sends His son or His prophet or His representative, but they all come with the same message. They may speak in different languages according to the circumstances and the audience, but the essence of the message is the same: God is great; we are but small parts and parcels of God, meant to serve Him with love; we have come from God and are meant to return to Him. Continue reading "Happy Holidays
→ Dandavats"

Answer Podcast

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In the West this is the holiday season, with Christmas and Hanukkah both coming up. As Srila Prabhupada explained, the Lord comes to this world to enlighten people with transcendental knowledge. Sometimes He comes personally, and sometimes He sends His son or His prophet or His representative, but they all come with the same message. They may speak in different languages according to the circumstances and the audience, but the essence of the message is the same: God is great; we are but small parts and parcels of God, meant to serve Him with love; we have come from God and are meant to return to Him.

One of Srila Prabhupada’s purports in the Bhagavad-gita As It Is contains a statement that relates to the holidays people in the West are about to celebrate:

“The avatara, or incarnation of Godhead, descends from the kingdom of God for material manifestation. And the particular form of the Personality of Godhead who so descends is called an incarnation, or avatara. Such incarnations are situated in the spiritual world, the kingdom of God. When they descend to the material creation, they assume the name avatara.’ [Cc Madhya 20.263­–264] There are various kinds of avatars, such as purusavataras, gunavataras, lilavataras, sakty-avesa avataras, manvantara-avataras, and yugavataras—all appearing on schedule all over the universe. But Lord Krsna is the primeval Lord, the fountainhead of all avataras. Lord Sri Krsna descends for the specific purpose of mitigating the anxieties of the pure devotees, who are very anxious to see Him in His original Vrndavana pastimes.” (Gita 4.8 purport)

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, Srila Prabhupada’s spiritual master, said that Jesus Christ was a saktyavesa-avatara; he accepted that Jesus Christ descended to the earth from above. That is avatara. And saktyavesa means one who carries the power of the Lord. Thus, he accepted that Jesus Christ descended to earth with the power of the Lord to preach the message of Godhead. And Jesus Christ preached more or less the same message as Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad-gita. Sometimes people would ask Srila Prabhupada about Jesus, and Srila Prabhupada would reply, “In the Bible Jesus said that he was the son of God, and in the Bhagavad-gita Lord Krishna says that He is the father of all living entities, so there is no contradiction.”

Jesus Christ filled the role of a spiritual master, or guru. The spiritual master teaches the science of Godhead, and when a disciple surrenders to a spiritual master, the spiritual master accepts the disciple’s sinful reactions. Jesus Christ performed the same functions in relation to his followers or disciples; he taught them about God, and he accepted their sinful reactions. Sometimes Christians quote Jesus as having said, “There is no way to the Father except through me.” This statement is a little controversial in learned circles—there is some question whether the attribution is authentic or not. But in any case, Srila Prabhupada took the truth in these words to be that one cannot approach the Lord directly; one can approach the Lord only through the Lord’s representative, the spiritual master.

As far as the idea that Jesus Christ accepted the sins, or sinful reactions, of his followers, Srila Prabhupada expressed one concern: The followers should refrain from sin. They should consider, Oh, if I sin, my spiritual master will have to suffer!” Christians in particular may consider, “Because I have sinned, my spiritual master had to suffer! So I should not commit sin any longer.” That should be the basic sense. They should not think, “Oh, poor Jesus suffered for me, but now I can go on sinning.”

So, we accept Jesus as a saktyavesa-avatara, as an incarnation of Krishna. Christmas should be a time when we remember the teachings of Jesus Christ, the mercy of Jesus Christ, and the sacrifice he made for us. And we should resolve to be better followers, better servants of God and God’s representatives, and of all humankind and all living beings.

Hanukkah, in the Jewish tradition, is also an important festival celebrated at this time of year. It is a winter festival, and winter is a dark season, when the sun sets early and rises late. Hanukkah is the festival of light. Historically, the ancient temple in Jerusalem was seized and desecrated, but eventually, with great courage and sacrifice, the Jewish heroes, the Maccabees, won it back. They wanted to clean and purify the temple to make it fit for worship of the Lord, and their worship included a flame that was sustained by sanctified oil, to be maintained at all times. But when the Maccabees regained the temple, they found only one flask of the priestly oil, enough to burn for only one day. Still, they lit the great temple lamp, the menorah, and, according to the story, the oil burned for eight days, until they could get more. So, the miracle of Hanukkah is that the purified oil, which was sufficient to last only one day, burned for eight days, time enough to obtain more.

Figuratively, the temple is the heart. Cleaning the temple means cleaning one’s heart of the many dirty things that accumulate there by material association. That dirt includes false identification with the body and material desires for the gratification of the body’s senses and mind independent of God’s sanction and God’s service. And figuratively, the light is transcendental knowledge, or consciousness of God, which illuminates the heart and dispels the darkness of ignorance.

Just as the year has its cycles, we also pass through phases. We wish we could always be fully God conscious, but practically we may find cycles in our spiritual life, periods of increased devotion to God interspersed with periods of increased preoccupation with other matters. And the Hanukkah festival, the lighting of the candle or burning of the lamp, means brightening our hearts with God consciousness, with Krishna consciousness—cleaning the temple of the heart and rekindling the light of God consciousness, devotion to God, within the heart.

But we require help with such devotional activities, because alone each of us is quite weak. In the face of the material world, in the face of maya, we are weak and feeble, and we need the support and help of other devotees. If one person alone had to clean the temple, he or she would have a very hard job. But when all the devotees clean the temple together, the job becomes much easier.

The most complete science of God consciousness is presented in Srimad-Bhagavatam, which nicely explains the process of cleansing the heart:

srnvatam sva-kathah krsnah
   punya-sravana-kirtanah
hrdy antah stho hy abhadrani
   vidhunoti suhrt satam

 “Sri Krsna, the Personality of Godhead, who is the Paramatma [Supersoul] in everyone’s heart and the benefactor of the truthful devotee, cleanses desire for material enjoyment from the heart of the devotee who has developed the urge to hear His messages, which are in themselves virtuous when properly heard and chanted.” (SB 1.2.17)

The Bhagavatam says that hearing topics of Krishna, of God—just as we are sitting here and listening to Krishna’s message—is itself a pious activity, a form of devotional service. We have only to open our ears to the message of Godhead and we become pious (srnvatam sva-kathah krsnah punya-sravana kirtanah). Then, hrdy antah stho hy abhadrani: the inauspicious things in the heart—we could say the dirty things in the heart, our evil thoughts and selfish desires—become cleansed. How? Vidhunoti suhrt satam: The Lord Himself helps the truthful devotee to clean the dirt, because the Lord Himself is already there in the heart. He is already there, but because the heart is covered by material contamination, we cannot perceive the Lord’s presence; we cannot hear His voice. However, when we show our eagerness to hear the Lord’s message through our ears, the Lord within reciprocates. He helps cleanse the dirty things from the heart so that we can hear Him there, guiding us. And when we surrender to the Lord and make sacrifices for Him, He supplies unlimited fuel for maintaining our heart’s flame of devotion.

Satam means “truthful devotee.” The truthful devotee is honest in his or her endeavors in Krishna consciousness. One who is dishonest will make a show of piety or religiousness, but behind the show he will have other interests. He will harbor other ambitions. But the truthful devotee actually wants to understand the science of God and to serve the Lord and all living beings. Though he may be weak, if he is honest in his endeavors to listen to the messages of Godhead and apply the principles in life, even if he is incapable of executing the orders perfectly, still he is considered satam, a truthful devotee. And the Lord within the heart, who acts as the well-wishing friend of the truthful devotee, will cleanse the heart of the dirty things that have accumulated there.

Again we see how important association is, because the process for cleansing the heart is hearing the messages of Godhead, and only in the association of devotees can we receive the messages properly. Through our hearing and then chanting and repeating what we have heard, the heart becomes cleansed by the grace of the Lord. Ceto-darpana-marjanam: By chanting the holy names of God and by hearing the transcendental glories of God, the heart becomes cleansed and the light of Krishna consciousness there burns more brightly. It spreads throughout the entire body and then emerges—through the skin, through the eyes, through all the different sense organs. Especially, it comes out through the mouth in the form of transcendental sound, which comes from the heart. The messages that one has received through the ears and that have entered the heart come out again through the mouth and spread light, enlightenment, throughout the world.

So, tonight we greatly appreciate the efforts of Mother Urvasi, for she works so hard to create a situation where we all can come together and speak about God, hear about God, and remember God. Holy days are special occasions when we can get together and remember the Lord’s appearance, or the appearance or disappearance of great devotees, or great events that have taken place in the service of the Lord. And when we get together and hear about the Lord and the great devotees of the Lord and the great service and miracles that have taken place in relation to the Lord, we become purified. And we become enlightened and engladdened.

Peace on earth and goodwill toward humanity actually can be achieved through God consciousness. The Bhagavad-gita explains how we can achieve peace: we must first make peace with God. If we reestablish our relationship with God and experience God’s peace and friendship, then we can have real peace and friendship amongst ourselves and help each other in our relationships with Him.

Srila Prabhupada said, “God consciousness is there. You have begun these Christmas holidays in your country. Throughout the whole month of December, you’ll observe nice festivities. Why? It began with God consciousness. Jesus Christ came to give you God consciousness, and in relation to him these festivities are going on. It may have degraded into another form, but the beginning was God consciousness. Now we may have lost it. But people cannot be happy without reviving God consciousness. It may be named differently—‘Krishna consciousness’—but that means God consciousness. That is the necessity. We want to love somebody. Our love will be perfected when we love Krishna, or God. We are teaching that. Try to love God, and if you love God, if you love Krishna, then automatically you love everybody. That is the perfection of love.”

Are there any questions?

Guest: I want to ask how you feel about a belief I am entertaining, namely that Jesus was a spiritual master because he had attained a spiritual level of consciousness or ascendancy through releasing his ego attachments and becoming transparent to God, and that statements attributed to him such as “No one can come to the Father but through me” and “I am the way, the truth, and the light” could be referring to the way that he had attained his level of spiritual mastery. That is, such statements may be indicating that one cannot come to the Father in any other way but to release ego attachments and create this transparency to God. I realize that you were referring to the need for a spiritual master to assist one in achieving a level of spiritual ascendance, but could Jesus have been saying, “This is the way—the way I’ve done it”?

Giriraj Swami: What you say could be true. In fact, Srila Prabhupada used to describe the spiritual master as transparent. To be transparent, we have to purify ourselves of all material dross, and the subtlest level of material contamination is false ego. We cannot be transparent unless we become free from false ego. However, we do not accept the idea of the impersonalists that we give up our ego to merge and become one with God. Rather, we accept the instruction of the Bhagavad-gita, of Jesus Christ and other theists, to give up the false ego, the misconception that “I am the body, I am the Lord, I am the controller, I am the proprietor, I am the enjoyer” in favor of the real ego, the true understanding that “I am the eternal servant of God.” Certainly the spiritual master is the eternal servant of God, or Krishna, so he can properly represent Him and direct others to Him. And certainly the process of giving up the false ego in favor of the real ego, the process of devotional service, is the only process that will bring us to God, that will enable us to fully realize we are eternal servants of God rather than illusory masters of the world.

Hare Krishna.

[Adapted from a talk by Giriraj Swami, December 17, 2000, Ojai, California]

Made by Emmy award-winning producer Robyn Symon.

Song by Bhaktivinode Thakura, performed by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Video by ISKCON Desire Tree.

A video by ISKCON Desire Tree.