Planet ISKCON

Once, on his guru maharaja’s disappearance day, Srila Prabhupada said, “On the absolute platform, there is no difference between the appearance and the disappearance of the spiritual master. Both are beautiful, just like the sunrise and the sunset.” So, although we feel separation, within that separation our remembrance of Srila Prabhupada is heightened, and thus we experience the beauty of his presence—in separation.

To straightaway speak about Srila Prabhupada’s departure feels abrupt to me, because it is a painful topic; but remembering Srila Prabhupada’s words that the disappearance is also beautiful, I wanted to share with you a lesson I learned from his departure.

A few days before he was to leave us, Srila Prabhupada expressed a desire to travel by bullock cart to different holy places in India. His Holiness Lokanath Swami had been traveling by bullock cart to different places of pilgrimage, and Srila Prabhupada was very enlivened when Lokanath Swami reported to him in Vrindavan. Prabhupada said that he too would like to go on pilgrimage on a bullock cart. He asked Lokanath Swami to arrange it, and Lokanath Swami was enthusiastic, having been encouraged by Prabhupada in such a direct way. He immediately went to organize the cart and make all the arrangements. Govardhana-puja was to take place in a couple of days, and Prabhupada said that he would begin his pilgrimage by traveling on a bullock cart to Govardhana Hill to celebrate Govardhana-puja with the Vraja-vasis.

At that time, Srila Prabhupada was bedridden and emaciated. He was unable to eat, and he was able only to sip a little liquid. So he was very gaunt and weak, with almost no energy. He would just lie on his bed, and sometimes, with great difficulty, he would speak softly, often so faintly that only those very close to him could hear his words.

There were many devotees in the room when Srila Prabhupada had his exchange with Lokanath Swami. And immediately after the discussion ended and devotees went outside, they began to express two strong, heartfelt opinions about what Srila Prabhupada should do—and, more than that, how we as disciples should relate to Srila Prabhupada and serve him.

One group, which included Lokanath Swami and other esteemed, senior disciples, such as Hamsaduta Prabhu and Baradraj Prabhu, felt that we should just do what the spiritual master orders. We shouldn’t question his order; we should just execute it. And some of the other disciples, many of whom had been attending to Prabhupada’s personal care, felt that Prabhupada’s health would not sustain his travels on a bullock cart and that, because he was so emaciated (he had practically no flesh on his bones), it would be very painful for him to go. Even if they padded the cart with a mattress, it would still be a basic bullock cart, and the roads in Vraja were very rough, so the movement of the cart would jostle Prabhupada and he would feel pain. Some devotees feared that he might even give up his body on the way. So, they did not want him to be subjected to what they foresaw as certain pain—and perhaps the dire consequence of death.

But this second position was very difficult to maintain under the circumstances, because Srila Prabhupada was so emphatic. “Let me travel to all the tirtha-sthanas,” he had said—to all the holy places. And whatever objections devotees had raised against the proposal, he had countered. “One-day experiment,” he had pleaded. “Rest assured. I will not die in one day.” When even Prabhupada’s kaviraja had predicted that with all the jostling on the bullock cart, Prabhupada would not survive more than two hours, Prabhupada had replied, “But I think I shall be cured.” Still, Tamal Krishna Goswami, Bhakti Charu Swami, Bhaktisvarupa Damodara Maharaja, Bhavananda Maharaja, and others felt strongly that this “experiment” would have dire consequences. But how to convince Prabhupada?

So, the controversy continued. When Prabhupada said, “I think I shall be cured,” Hamsaduta and others took it that he was supporting their position. But the other side took it differently: “What does it mean that he is going to be cured? It means that he is going to leave his body and get a spiritual body. That’s how he is going to get cured.” Each party was seeing things in a particular way that supported their particular point of view.

Finally, things came to the stage where the bullock cart was waiting outside the gates of the Krishna-Balaram Mandir. Everything was being readied. And for the devotees who were in the mood that Srila Prabhupada should stay, it must have been like when the residents of Vrindavan saw Akrura getting the chariot ready to take Krishna to Mathura.

The evening before the planned parikrama, Srila Prabhupada was lying on his bed (many of you have seen his bed in his house in Vrindavan). Bhakti Charu Swami was in the room, and Srila Prabhupada’s godbrother Akincana Krishna dasa Babaji Maharaja was there for a visit. Babaji Maharaja was a very advanced devotee; Srila Prabhupada had said that he was a paramahamsa. He was always engaged in hari-nama, absorbed in hari-nama, and he was always blissful. And he and Prabhupada had an extraordinarily affectionate relationship.

So, Bhakti Charu thought, “Let me appeal to Babaji Maharaja. If he asks Prabhupada not to go, then Prabhupada may listen.” And when he explained the situation to Babaji Maharaja, Maharaja declared, “Then he shouldn’t go.”

“So, do you all jointly request me not to go?” Srila Prabhupada asked when Maharaja had conveyed his conclusion. “Ji,” Maharaja confirmed.

“We were getting so upset,” Tamal Krishna agreed. “Two devotees told me this road is so bad that if you go on it, you’re going to be jolted back and forth. The road is terrible. I just can’t understand, Srila Prabhupada, why it has to be tomorrow that we have to go. If anybody wants you to travel, I do. But why do we have to go when you’re in this condition? I can’t understand it.”

“All right,” Srila Prabhupada said. “I will not go.”

“Thank you, Srila Prabhupada,” said Bhavananda. “I was in too much anxiety.”

“No, no, I cannot put you in anxiety. I shall do what you like.”

“Actually, Srila Prabhupada,” said Tamal Krishna, “we’re so attached to you that you practically drive us to madness sometimes. Tonight we were becoming mad.”

“No, I shall not do that,” Prabhupada said. And to Babaji Maharaja he added, “Just see how much they love me . . . Left hand, right hand. I cannot refuse.”

“The way you deal with us simply deepens our attachment every moment,” Tamal Krishna said.

And Prabhupada replied, “It is my duty.”

For the devotees in the room, it was a jubilant occasion that Prabhupada had agreed to wait. As Tamal Krishna Goswami had said, “We will take you on tirtha-yatra, to all the places. Just get a little stronger.” But when the news reached the other group, they were upset: “This is not our duty as disciples, to try to prevail upon our spiritual master. Our duty is to execute his will. He said that he wants to go by bullock cart to Govardhana, and our duty is to arrange for what he wants. Our duty is not to advise him or prevail upon him according to our perception.” The controversy continued until the end—the anniversary of which is today.

Prabhupada spent his last three days with his disciples at the Krishna-Balaram Mandir, and the last day he didn’t speak. His only words were in the morning, when the kaviraja asked him to drink some juice and he replied, “Meri kuch iccha nahin”: “I have no desire.” After that, Prabhupada didn’t speak. He was in a completely internal state of consciousness, and the devotees surrounded him with kirtan. For the last few hours, in the afternoon, the leaders opened up the doors to everyone. Young, old, children, men, women—all were allowed to be in the room with Srila Prabhupada and to reciprocate love with him. Then, at about 7:26 p.m., his tongue and mouth moved—“Hare Krishna”—and he left.

As for the controversy, it continued; even after Prabhupada left, the feelings still ran strong on both sides. And I still couldn’t determine who was right. There were devotees senior to me on both sides—devotees whom I respected and had served. Personally, I may have been closer to some of the ones engaged in Srila Prabhupada’s personal service, but still I wasn’t sure who was right, and it was on my mind.

It was my habit, or practice, to chant japa in Srila Prabhupada’s rooms (though not when he was there), and after he departed, I did that. I was in his room chanting japa, and behind his bed was an area with his bookshelves. So, I found a little corner there and was chanting japa, when somehow my eyes fell upon the new volume of Srimad-Bhagavatam that had just arrived—the Tenth Canto, Volume Two. It had been delivered into Srila Prabhupada’s hands in his last days. When the devotees had presented the book to Srila Prabhupada and he was looking at the pictures, everyone could see the love in his eyes. Tamal Krishna Goswami had remarked, “How much love for Krishna Prabhupada has,” as evident from the way Prabhupada had been looking at the pictures of Krishna. So, I saw the book. It had gold embossing, made especially for Srila Prabhupada. I opened it up, and it happened to open to Chapter Nine: “Mother Yasoda Binds Krsna.” I read a few verses and purports, and then I came to a verse that, to me, answered the question:

TEXT 19

evam sandarsita hy anga
  harina bhrtya-vasyata
sva-vasenapi krsnena
  yasyedam sesvaram vase

TRANSLATION

O Maharaja Pariksit, this entire universe, with its great, exalted demigods like Lord Siva, Lord Brahma, and Lord Indra, is under the control of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Yet the Supreme Lord has one transcendental attribute: He comes under the control of His devotees. This was now exhibited by Krsna in this pastime.

COMMENT

The pastime is encapsulated in the previous verse:

TEXT 18

sva-matuh svinna-gatraya
  visrasta-kabara-srajah
drstva parisramam krsnah
  krpayasit sva-bandhane

TRANSLATION

Because of Mother Yasoda’s hard labor, her whole body became covered with perspiration, and the flowers and comb were falling from her hair. When child Krsna saw His mother thus fatigued, He became merciful to her and agreed to be bound.

COMMENT

When I read these verses, I thought, “This is what happened.” The spiritual master is the transparent medium through which Krishna manifests Himself. Of course, in vraja-bhakti the relationship with Krishna is different. In Vraja, Krishna exhibits nara-lila, humanlike pastimes, in which there is complete intimacy and freedom between the devotees and the Lord. In the relationship between the disciples and spiritual master, there is always an element of awe and reverence—and duty. Still, duty is meant to lead to love. And Srila Prabhupada did say to Babaji Maharaja, “Just see how much they love me.”

One month earlier, there had been another incident. Srila Prabhupada had stopped drinking. Previously, he had said that when his father had wanted to leave his body, he had stopped drinking, and that this was a bona fide way to give up one’s body when the time came. Prabhupada didn’t make any announcement or anything; he just stopped drinking.

Upendra dasa, a very sweet devotee who was Srila Prabhupada’s servant at the time, innocently said to him, “Prabhupada, you have to drink. If you don’t drink, you will become dehydrated. And Prabhupada said, “Oh, you want me to drink? Call the GBC.” That decision—whether Prabhupada should drink or not—was no small matter.

So, Abhirama informed the GBC, and the GBC and senior devotees came into the room. Prabhupada said, “If I want to survive, of course I’ll have to take something. But my survival means so many inconveniences. Therefore I have decided to die peacefully.”

“Everything is in the hands of Krishna,” said Tamal Krishna. And that had been the mood, coming from Srila Prabhupada: everything depended on Krishna. Many times Prabhupada had said that he would accept whatever Krishna desired. If Krishna allowed him to stay, he would stay. And if Krishna wanted him to go, he would go. Previously, a disciple had asked him, “You said that your guru maharaja left early because he was disgusted. Is that the case with you?”

“No,” Srila Prabhupada had replied. “No. If Krishna allows me to stay in your association, I will be most happy to stay in your association.”

Now, however, Srila Prabhupada opened his eyes and said, “Krishna wants me to do as I like. The choice is mine. He has given me full freedom.” This was a different mood—a completely different answer. And it gave—and gives—us a glimpse into the intimate reciprocation between Prabhupada and Krishna.

So, we all went out into the anteroom and discussed. Kirtanananda Swami’s point was most clear and lucid and intelligent. “If Krishna has given Prabhupada the choice and Prabhupada is giving us the choice,” he said, “then we should ask Prabhupada to stay.” Everyone agreed: “Yes, we should ask him to stay.” Then a devotee said, “But all the GBC men aren’t here.” And Brahmananda retorted, “Come on. What GBC is going to say that they don’t want Prabhupada to stay?” So, it was decided, unanimously. We would go back into Prabhupada’s room and tell him that we wanted him to stay; Kirtanananda Swami would be the spokesman.

When we went back into the room, Prabhupada was lying quietly on his bed. As soon as we finished offering obeisances, Kirtanananda broke down and started sobbing. He couldn’t speak. Brahmananda, sitting behind him, rubbed his back to soothe him. Then Kirtanananda managed, “Srila Prabhupada, if Krishna has given you the choice, then don’t go! We need you!” Srila Prabhupada asked, “Is this your joint opinion? Have you discussed?” “Yes, we have all met together. We want you to remain and lead the movement and finish the Srimad-Bhagavatam.”

Prabhupada was silent for what seemed like an eternity. Then he yawned and said, “All right.” Just like that. He agreed to stay in such a nonchalant way. All the devotees were jubilant. Within ourselves, we were rejoicing: “Prabhupada is going to stay! Prabhupada’s going to stay! He is not going to leave us. He is going to finish Srimad-Bhagavatam. He is going to lead the movement.”

And Prabhupada said, “This is real affection.”

So, when I read this verse from the Tenth Canto, I thought of these two incidents and put them together. In both cases, when the disciples had expressed themselves—“We want you to stay,” “We want you to get healthy”—Prabhupada had said, “This is real love,” “Just see how much they love me.” So, I think that all the disciples in this controversy were acting on the basis of their realization of their devotion for Srila Prabhupada, but I believe that what Prabhupada really was doing was drawing out our loving sentiments—beyond our just following the order. Following the order is a given; there is no question. We have to follow the order of the spiritual master. To disobey the order of the spiritual master is an offense against the holy name. It is a basic principle of spiritual life. So, we are not talking about disobeying the order of the spiritual master; we are talking about developing loving feelings for the spiritual master and expressing them to him. When Srila Prabhupada brought us to that stage in those two incidents, he commented, “This is real love,” “Just see how much they love me.”

Relating the verse from the Tenth Canto to what Srila Prabhupada did with us, there’s also a parallel between the damodara-lila and that principle of spontaneous love. Every night during the month of Damodara, we recite the Damodarastaka, including verse three:

itidrk sva-lilabhir ananda-kunde
  sva-ghosam nimajjantam akhyapayantam
tadiyesita-jnesu bhaktair jitatvam
  punah prematas tam satavrtti vande

“By such pastimes He is drowning the inhabitants of Gokula in pools of ecstasy and revealing to those devotees who are absorbed in knowledge of His supreme majesty and opulence that He is only conquered by devotees whose pure love is imbued with intimacy and is free from all conceptions of awe and reverence. To this Supreme Lord, Sri Damodara, whose belly is bound not with ropes but with His devotee’s pure love, I offer my humble obeisances.”

The damodara-lila shows pure, spontaneous love’s special power to conquer the Lord. The Lord comes under the control of such pure love. In the same way, Srila Prabhupada—not exactly that he came under the control of our love, but I would say that he brought that love out from deep within the recesses of our hearts, and then he reciprocated with us by coming under our control, by agreeing to our requests.

So, this is a very deep pastime of Srila Prabhupada’s. Among the disciples who were around him at the end, it was understood that he was the perfect acharya—he had taught us by his own example how to live in Krishna consciousness, and now he was teaching us how to die in Krishna consciousness. That was the general idea in those months and weeks, that he was showing us how to retire to a holy place and how to be absorbed in hearing the holy names of the Lord, and how up until the end, even in his delicate condition, he was trying to push forward the mission and was translating and dictating purports to Srimad-Bhagavatam—until the very end. In that way, he was showing us how to die in Krishna consciousness. But within that final lesson he also brought us to this more intimate level of exchange where we could express to him our heart’s deepest desires even in spite of the barriers that I would say he deliberately put up. He deliberately put up the barriers, but then he inspired us to break through them to reach out to him and express our love for him and ask him to stay with us.

Even though Srila Prabhupada has now left that body, we still have that choice: Do we want him to stay with us or not? And I remember that at that time, although we had been going along in the mood that whatever Krishna wanted was all right, when we understood what really should have been in our hearts—that we wanted him to stay—we thought, “Maybe we want to be the controllers, to be the enjoyers.” So, there is always that question: Do we want the kingdom of God without God, without God’s representative, or do we want the kingdom of God with God, with His representative, as their humble servants? And so I pray to Srila Prabhupada that I will always remember this lesson and always pray and act in such a way that he will be pleased to stay with each of us individually and all of us collectively—and bind us to his lotus feet eternally.

Hare Krishna.

[A talk by Giriraj Swami on Srila Prabhupada’s disappearance day, November 14, 2007, Mayapur]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 21, No. 42
By Krishna Kripa Das
(Week 42: October 15–21, 2025)
Stuyvesant Falls, Schenectady
(Sent from Stuyvesant Falls on October 25, 2025)

Where I Went and What I Did

The forty-second week of 2025, I lived at Viraha Bhavan, the ashram of Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami, my Guru Maharaja, in Stuyvesant Falls, New York. I helped his caretakers with different services like cleaning the kitchen, waking up the deities and uploading dictation tapes. I also did some personal service for Guru Maharaja. On Thursday, I tried doing a half-hour harinama on the porch, an extra activity for me I’d never done before at Viraha Bhavan. On Sunday afternoon I attended the feast program at ISKCON Schenectady, where I gave a lecture on Bhagavad-gita 8.14, and talked about how Krishna is easily attained by those who already remember him.

While at Viraha Bhavan, I would chant the “Gurvastakam,” Hare Krishna, and the Nrsimhadeva prayers each morning before the amazing Gaura-Nitāi deities, who came from Ekachakra, as Krsna dasi did the arati. We would also do the tulasi arati and kirtan. In the evening I would chant the “Gaura Arati” song, Hare Krishna, and the Nrsimhadeva prayers almost always by myself, and several of us would chant “Damodarastakam” together.

I share quotes from Srila Prabhupada’s The Nectar of Devotion and Krishna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead. I share quotes from Caitanya-bhagavata by Vrindavana Dasa Thakura and from its commentary by Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura.

Thank again to Shreyakari Devi Dasi and ISKCON Schenectady for their kind donation and for the video of me chanting at their program and the photo of me playing the drum.

Itinerary

September 12–October 31: serve Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami
October 31–January 3, 2026: NYC Harinam
January 4, 2026: Miami Ratha-yatra?

Chanting Hare Krishna in Upstate New York

I asked Satsvarupa Dāsa Goswami one day if he thought it would be OK if I played harmonium on the porch. He said, “Did someone tell you couldn’t? I do not see why not?”

On Thursday I chanted on the porch with the harmonium for half an hour. It reminded me of 2020 when I did chanted on the porch of ISKCON Tallahassee three hours a day for three months because of the lockdown.

On Friday Damodara Priya, who has a better voice than me, was gardening, so I had someone to sing the response, and it was more ecstatic.

I chanted Hare Krishna at the beginning of ISKCON Schenectady Sunday program (https://youtube.com/shorts/UqCHSVCjc9Q?feature=share):

Later I played the drum while Radha Dyuti Devi Dasi chanted the tulasi kirtan.

Photos

My guru told me one day that the breakfast cereal was too bland. I recall Yashoda Devi Dasi, who worked for the BBT, made a great breakfast cereal in San Diego over 30 years ago, and she told me using salt and butter were her secrets. The next day I put 1/8 of teaspoon of salt and a tablespoon of ghee in it, and my guru told me twice how good it was!

I learned recently that if you keep the avocado pit in the guacamole, it keeps it from spoiling.

Maple yogurt with walnuts is an awesome dessert.

Insights

Srila Prabhupada:

From The Nectar of Devotion, Chapter 49:

“There is another statement as follows: ‘Please look at this devotee of the Lord who is dancing just from remembering the lotus feet of Krishna. Simply by observing his dance you will lose all interest in even the most beautiful women!’”

From Krishna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Chapter 72:

“Although Jarasandha was killed, neither Krishna nor the two Pandava brothers made a claim to the throne. Their purpose in killing Jarasandha was to stop him from creating a disturbance to the proper discharge of world peace. A demon always creates disturbances, whereas a demigod always tries to keep peace in the world. The mission of Lord Krishna is to protect the righteous and kill the demons who disturb a peaceful situation. Therefore Lord Krishna immediately called for the son of Jarasandha, whose name was Sahadeva, and with due ritualistic ceremonies the Lord asked him to occupy the seat of his father and reign over the kingdom peacefully. Lord Krishna is the master of the whole cosmic creation, and He wants everyone to live peacefully and execute Krishna consciousness. After installing Sahadeva on the throne, He released all the kings and princes who had been imprisoned unnecessarily by Jarasandha.”

From Krishna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Chapter 80:

“King Pariksit was hearing the narrations of the pastimes of Lord Krishna and Lord Balarama from Sukadeva Gosvami. These pastimes are all transcendentally pleasurable to hear, and Maharaja Pariksit addressed Sukadeva Gosvami as follows: ‘My dear lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna, is the bestower of both liberation and love of God simultaneously. Anyone who becomes a devotee of the Lord automatically attains liberation without having to make a separate attempt. Because the Lord is unlimited, His pastimes and activities for creating, maintaining and destroying the whole cosmic manifestation are also unlimited. I therefore wish to hear about other pastimes of His which you may not have described as yet. My dear master, the conditioned souls within this material world are frustrated by searching out the pleasure of happiness derived from sense gratification. Such desires for material enjoyment are always piercing the hearts of conditioned souls. But I am actually experiencing how the transcendental topics of Lord Krishna’s pastimes can relieve one from being affected by such material activities of sense gratification. I think that no intelligent person can reject this method of hearing the transcendental pastimes of the Lord again and again; simply by hearing, one can remain always steeped in transcendental pleasure. Thus one will not be attracted by material sense gratification.’”

From Krishna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Chapter 82:

[Vasudeva, the father of Krishna, said to his sister, Kunti:] “We should always remember that we are all only toys in the hands of providence. Everyone is under the control of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.”

“Seeing Lord Krishna present on the spot, all the visitors felt transcendental pleasure and became very peaceful.”

“As far as the gopis of Vṛndavana were concerned, from the very beginning of their lives they did not know anything beyond Krishna. Krishna and Balarama were their life and soul. The gopis were so attached to Krishna that they could not tolerate not seeing Him even momentarily when their eyelids blinked and impeded their vision. They condemned Brahma, the creator of the body, because he foolishly made eyelids which blinked and checked their seeing Krishna. Because they had been separated from Krishna for so many years, the gopis, having come along with Nanda Maharaja and Mother Yasoda, felt intense ecstasy upon seeing Krishna. No one can even imagine how eager the gopis were to see Krishna again. As soon as Krishna became visible to them, they took Him inside their hearts through their eyes and embraced Him to their full satisfaction. Even though they were embracing Krishna only mentally, they became so ecstatic and overwhelmed with joy that for the time being they completely forgot themselves. The ecstatic trance they achieved simply by mentally embracing Krishna is impossible to achieve even for great yogis constantly engaged in meditation on the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Krishna could understand that the gopis were rapt in ecstasy by embracing Him in their minds, and therefore, since He is present in everyone’s heart, He reciprocated the embracing from within.”

[Lord Krishna said to the gopis:] “Fortunately, you have developed loving affection for Me, which is the only way to achieve the transcendental position of association with Me. Any living entity who develops such unalloyed devotional affection for Me certainly at the end goes back home, back to Godhead. In other words, unalloyed devotional service and affection for Me are the cause of supreme liberation.”

From Krishna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Chapter 85:

“Lord Krishna intended for Vasudeva to see everything with the vision of a maha-bhagavata, a first-class devotee, who sees that all living entities are part and parcel of the Supreme Lord and that the Supreme Lord is situated in everyone’s heart. In fact, every living entity has a spiritual identity, but in contact with material existence one becomes influenced by the material modes of nature. He becomes covered by the concept of bodily life, forgetting that his spirit soul is of the same quality as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. One mistakenly considers one individual to be different from another simply because of their material bodily coverings. Because of differences between bodies, the spirit soul appears before us differently.

“Lord Krishna then gave a nice example in terms of the five material elements. The total material elements, namely the sky, air, fire, water and earth, are present in everything in the material world, whether in an earthen pot or in a mountain or in the trees or in an earring. These five elements are present in everything, in different proportions and quantities. A mountain is a gigantic form of the combination of these five elements, and a small earthen pot is made of the same elements, but in a smaller quantity. Therefore all material items, although in different shapes or different quantities, are of the same ingredients. Similarly, the living entities – beginning from Lord Krishna and including millions of Vishnu forms, and also the living entities in different forms, from Lord Brahma down to the small ant – are all of the same spiritual quality. Some are great in quantity, and some are small, but qualitatively they are of the same nature. It is therefore confirmed in the Upanisads that Krishna, or the Supreme Lord, is the chief among all living entities and that He maintains them and supplies them with all necessities of life. Anyone who knows this philosophy is in perfect knowledge. The Vedic version tat tvam asi, ‘Thou art the same,’ means not that everyone is God but that everyone is qualitatively of the same nature as God.”

From Krishna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Chapter 87:

“‘Dear Lord,’ the personified Vedas continued, ‘the devotee who wants to elevate himself simply by the process of devotional activities, especially by hearing and chanting, very soon comes out of the clutches of the dualities of material existence. By this simple process of penance and austerity, the Supersoul within the devotee’s heart is very pleased and gives the devotee directions so that he may go back home, back to Godhead.’ It is stated in the Bhagavad-gita that one who engages all his activities and senses in the devotional service of the Lord becomes completely peaceful because the Supersoul is satisfied with him; thus the devotee becomes transcendental to all dualities, such as heat and cold, honor and dishonor. Being freed from all dualities, he feels transcendental bliss, and he no longer suffers cares and anxieties due to material existence. The Bhagavad-gita confirms that the devotee always absorbed in Krishna consciousness has no anxieties for his maintenance or protection. Being constantly absorbed in Krishna consciousness, he ultimately achieves the highest perfection. While in material existence, he lives very peacefully and blissfully, without cares and anxieties, and after quitting this body he goes back home, back to Godhead. The Lord confirms in the Bhagavad-gita, ‘My supreme abode is a transcendental place from which, having gone, one never returns to this material world. Anyone who attains the supreme perfection, being engaged in My personal devotional service in the eternal abode, reaches the highest perfection of human life and does not have to come back to the miserable material world.’”

“Sridhara Svami, the great commentator on Srimad-Bhagavatam, has composed a nice verse in this regard, the meaning of which is as follows: ‘My dear Lord, I am eternally a part of You, but I have been entrapped by the material potencies, which are also an emanation from You. As the cause of all causes, You have entered my body as the Supersoul, and I have the prerogative of enjoying the supreme blissful life of knowledge along with You. Therefore, my dear Lord, please order me to render You loving service so that I can again be brought to my original position of transcendental bliss.’”

“Those who have tasted the nectar of devotion by relishing the transcendental vibration of chanting Your glories – Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare – do not care for any other spiritual bliss or for material comforts, which appear to the pure devotee as less important than the straw in the street.”

“The personified Vedas continued, ‘Dear Lord, when a person is able to purify his mind, senses and intelligence by engaging himself in devotional service in full Krishna consciousness, his mind becomes his friend. Otherwise, his mind is always his enemy. When the mind is engaged in the devotional service of the Lord, it becomes the intimate friend of the living entity because the mind can then think of the Supreme Lord always. Your Lordship is eternally dear to the living entity, so when the mind is engaged in thought of You one immediately feels the great satisfaction for which he has been hankering life after life.’”

“Women such as the gopis were attached to Krishna, being captivated by His beauty, and their mental concentration on Krishna was provoked by lust. They wanted to be embraced by the arms of Krishna, which resemble the beautiful round shape of a snake. Similarly, we, the Vedic hymns, simply concentrate our minds on the lotus feet of Your Lordship. Women like the gopis concentrate upon You under the dictation of lust, and we concentrate upon Your lotus feet to go back home, back to Godhead. Your enemies also concentrate upon You, thinking always of how to kill You, and yogis undertake great penances and austerities just to attain Your impersonal effulgence. All these different persons, although concentrating their minds in different ways, achieve spiritual perfection according to their different perspectives because You, O Lord, are equal to all Your devotees.”

“The living entities are therefore called jivatma, and the Supreme Lord is called Paramatma. Both the Paramatma and the jivatma are within this material world, and therefore this material world has a purpose other than sense gratification. The conception of a life of sense gratification is illusion, but the conception of service by the jivatma to the Paramatma, even in this material world, is not at all illusory. A Krishna conscious person is fully aware of this fact, and thus he does not take this material world to be false but acts in the reality of transcendental service. The devotee therefore sees everything in this material world as an opportunity to serve the Lord. He does not reject anything as material but dovetails everything in the service of the Lord. Thus a devotee is always in the transcendental position, and everything he uses becomes spiritually purified by being used in the Lord’s service.”

“The Krishna consciousness movement therefore issues a supreme call to all kinds of religionists, asking them with great authority to join this movement, by which one can learn how to love God and thus surpass all formulas and formalities of scriptural injunction. A person who cannot overcome the jurisdiction of stereotyped religious principles is compared to an animal chained up by its master. The purpose of all religion is to understand God and develop one’s dormant love of Godhead. If one simply sticks to the religious formulas and formalities but does not become elevated to the position of love of God, he is considered to be a chained animal.”

“The personified Vedas continued to pray. ‘Dear Lord,’ they said, ‘from all Vedic information it is understood that You are the supreme controller and all living entities are controlled. Both the Lord and the living entities are called nitya, eternal, and so are qualitatively one, yet the singular nitya, or the Supreme Lord, is the controller, whereas the plural nityas are controlled. The individual controlled living entity resides within the body, and the supreme controller, as Supersoul, is also present there, but the Supersoul controls the individual soul. That is the verdict of the Vedas. If the individual soul were not controlled by the Supersoul, then how could one explain the Vedic version that a living entity transmigrates from one body to another and enjoys or suffers the effects of his past deeds, sometimes being promoted to a higher standard of life and sometimes being degraded to a lower standard? Thus the conditioned souls are not only under the control of the Supreme Lord but are also conditioned by the control of the material nature. This relationship of the living entities with the Supreme Lord as the controlled and the controller definitely proves that although the Supersoul is all-pervasive, the individual living entities are never all-pervasive. If the individual souls were all-pervasive, there would be no question of their being controlled. The theory that the Supersoul and the individual soul are equal is therefore a polluted conclusion, and no sensible person accepts it; rather, one should try to understand the distinctions between the supreme eternal and the subordinate eternals.’”

Vrindavana Dasa Thakura:

From Sri Caitanya-bhagavata, Madhya 21.18:

“Anyone who discriminates between Me, My servant, and the book Bhagavatam is certainly destroyed.”

From Sri Caitanya-bhagavata, Madhya 21.22:

“One who thinks, ‘I understand Srimad Bhagavatam,’ does not actually know the conclusion of Srimad Bhagavatam.”

From Sri Caitanya-bhagavata, Madhya 21.45–48:

“As the drunkards followed the Lord in jubilation, some clapped their hands and danced while chanting the name of Hari. The drunkards joyfully danced and sang, ‘Hari bol! Hari bol! Jaya Narayana!’ The drunkards made a great commotion while chanting the name of Hari. Such is the result of seeing Vishnu and the Vaishnavas. While seeing the activities of the drunkards, Visvambhara laughed and Srivasa cried in ecstasy.”

From Sri Caitanya-bhagavata, Madhya 21.22:

“Krishna appears in this world in four forms—Srimad Bhagavatam, tulasi, Ganga, and the devotees.”

Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura:

From his commentary on Sri Caitanya-bhagavata, Madhya 21.45:

“Some of the drunkards joyfully folded their hands, danced, and chanted the names of Hari as they followed Gaurasundara. Having received the association of the Lord and His devotees, the drunkards also became intoxicated in the mellows of devotional service to Hari.”

-----

This verse from Bhagavad-gita is not often quoted, but it does make a very important point:

tattva-vit tu maha-baho

guna-karma-vibhagayoh
guna gunesu vartanta
iti matva na sajjate

“One who is in knowledge of the Absolute Truth, O mighty-armed, does not engage himself in the senses and sense gratification, knowing well the differences between work in devotion and work for fruitive results.” (Bhagavad-gita 3.28)

One who really understands that the end result of engaging devotional service is a life of eternal bliss, and knowledge and the result of sense enjoyment is continued material existence, with its inevitable miseries, exclusively and continuously engages in the devotional service of the Lord and ultimately becomes situated on the spiritual plane of eternity, knowledge, and bliss. We wish everyone all success in this endeavor in this very life.

“The spirit of Govardhan Puja”, The deeper meaning and mood behind the celebration of Govardhan Puja, explained by Radhanath Swami himself. Kartik Yatra 2025: a devotional pilgrimage during the sacred Kartik month celebrated with deep spiritual practices like kirtan (chanting), kathas (spiritual discourses), and parikrama (holy walks). The spirit of Govardhan Puja – Iskcon Chowpatty
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The disappearance day of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (the founder-acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness) allows us to meditate on his pastimes and his teachings. Srila Prabhupada had this to say about the disappearance of vaisnavas:

“As Lord Krishna’s appearance and disappearance are all spiritual, transcendental, they are not ordinary things, similarly Lord Krishna’s devotee, His representative, who is sent to this material world for preaching the glories of Lord Krishna’s. Therefore, according to Vaisnava principles, the appearance and disappearance of a Vaisnava are considered all auspicious.” 

Srila Prabhupada was a pure devotee of the Lord who appeared to realise Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s prediction. Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is described as the most merciful of all incarnations. He had predicted that the Holy Name would be chanted in every town and village of the world.

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur had sent some of his sannyasa disciples to realise Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s prediction. Still, they returned without much success and some thought that although Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had predicted this, it would not come true because of Kali Yuga. However, Srila Prabhupada had complete faith in the instruction of his spiritual master, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur. Srila Prabhupada was the empowered personality who appeared to fulfil Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s prediction.

Even when He was physically not too well, he did not stop his preaching. In his last days, when he was in Vrindavana, he was so weak that he could not even sit down. He could barely speak, but he had a devotee read out Srimad Bhagavatam verses and another devotee read the commentary of the acharyas. Srila Prabhupada was whispering the translation and purport. This shows us how compassionate Srila Prabhupada was and how determined he was to save humanity.

A spiritual discourse or storytelling session centered around the teachings, life, and legacy of A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the founder of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). If you’re drawn to spiritual storytelling, devotional wisdom, or the legacy of Srila Prabhupada, this video is likely rich with heartfelt reflections and teachings. Srila Prabhupada’s
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Translation The Emperor Svāyambhuva Manu, the son of Lord Brahmā, who is well known for his righteous acts, has his seat in Brahmāvarta and rules over the earth with its seven oceans. Purport Sometimes it is stated that Brahmāvarta is a part of Kurukṣetra or that Kurukṣetra itself is situated in Brahmāvarta, because the demigods
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Kartik Deep Daan Sri Dham Mayapur Day-17 #DamodarMonth Mayapur.TV Devotional engagement from the community, with over 1,000 reactions, 108 comments, and 30 shares.
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The post Healthy relationships through dharma-bhakti balance | Emotionally Healthy Spirituality – 3 Gita 3.26 appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

The post Hindi – Bhagavad Gita Overview Chapter 3 || Chaitanya Charan appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Diwali is not just a festival of lights; it’s a festival of insights.

 Each day in this sacred season carries its own spiritual message—

 guiding us from outer celebration to inner illumination.

Below are six reflections, one for each of Diwali’s sacred days,

 inviting us to rediscover how every light outside

 can awaken the divine light within.

Naraka Chaturdashi Special — During the dawn, darkness goes down

Before the night of lights we call Diwali

comes the dawn of delight—

when divine light triumphed over demoniac might.

Naraka Chaturdashi marks the dawn

when Krishna ended Narakasura’s reign

and freed sixteen thousand captive princesses.

That morning, we bathe before sunrise

and light lamps early—

a reminder that this day celebrates

the mighty victory of light over darkness.

Bathing is meant to clean dirt, 

not just from our body

but also from our heart.

By remembering the Lord while bathing,

we pray to wash away demonic desires

and free the divine longings within—

so they may unite us with our Lord,

just as the devoted princesses did

after the fall of Naraka.

On this sacred dawn, let us pray

that the supreme light of divine love

illuminate and elevate our heart

toward our Lord—

to seek, see, and savor

the One who is our eternal home.

A Lamp for the Ayodhya Inside You

Diwali celebrates Lord Rama’s 

victorious return to Ayodhya.

That event is historical—

but it can also be personal.

Ayodhya isn’t just a place on the map;

it’s also the space within us

that feels bereft of the Lord’s presence—

not because he is absent,

but because we are forgetful.

As we light lamps around our homes,

let’s also light a lamp within our hearts:

the lamp of devotion.

Even if our devotion is small,

he can make it shine bright.

The Bhagavad Gita (10.11) assures

that he removes the darkness within

for those who seek his light.

So this Diwali,

let’s not just clean houses—

let’s cleanse hearts.

Let’s not just burst crackers—

let’s burst the ego.

Let’s welcome guests, yes—

but more importantly,

let’s welcome God.

When the outer lamps

remind us of the light

of our Lord’s love,

then while we celebrate

Rama’s homecoming to Ayodhya,

we’ll also celebrate

our own homecoming—

to the Lord who’s always waiting

in the temple of our heart.

Lakshmi Puja Reflection — From Riches to Enrichment

Lakshmi Puja is the day we prepare our homes to welcome the Goddess of Fortune.

Yet the blessing she most wishes to give us

is not the wealth that fills our homes,

but the wealth that fulfills our hearts.

So many in this world are wealthy yet unhappy.

Their unhappiness is not because of wealth itself,

but because wealth has displaced,

from the center of their heart,

the true source of happiness:

the Lord of the Goddess of Fortune.

As long as that inner displacement remains,

no amount of outer attainment can fill the void.

When we cultivate devotion,

we restore our heart’s alignment with the Lord,

and therein find the enrichment that endures.

As we perform Lakshmi Puja,

let us not focus merely on the prosperity

that graces our homes,

but on the devotion that awakens in our hearts—

for that is the richest blessing

the Goddess of Fortune can bestow.

Bali Pratipadā Reflection — The Wonder of Surrender

When the Lord appeared as Vāmana

and asked Bali for just three steps of land,

Bali agreed — and lost everything.

Yet wonder of wonders: 

he responded to this seeming deception

with unswerving devotion.

How could he do that?

Because his surrender sprang 

not from helplessness

but from faithfulness.

He was sure that the Lord was his well-wisher

and he waited for the Lord’s plan to manifest.

And it did — he not only regained a flourishing kingdom

but, far more importantly,

he gained the Lord’s perennial proximity:

the Lord became his doorkeeper and protector.

In moments when our gains 

seem to have turned into losses, 

let us open our hearts to 

the wonder of surrender. 

Then we too will discover the sweet truth: 

the greatest fulfillment lies

not in gaining everything in this world,

but in giving everything to our Lord.

Govardhan Puja reflection — The courage to say no to the ego 

On this day, Krishna urged the residents of Vrindavan to worship Govardhan instead of Indra. Enraged, Indra unleashed storms to destroy the Vrajavasis.

This Indra-mentality—the ego—resides within us all. As long as we keep worshiping it, feeding it whatever it demands, we can’t align with our Lord. The ego starves our virtue, our devotion, indeed our entire nobler side.

Let us learn from the Vrajavasis—may our devotional side gain the courage to stop appeasing our ego. Though it may retaliate, Krishna will protect us from its bullying.

And in protecting, he may use the unlikeliest of instruments—like Govardhan Hill itself. When we feel the pain of our ego being refused and rejected, let us never become hopeless but always remain faithful—waiting to see how Krishna protects us, in his own inimitable and intimate way.

When we say no to appeasement and yes to alignment, our heart will relish the supreme enrichment.

Bhai Dooj reflection The Sanctity of Bonds

On this day, Yama, the god of death, visits his sister Yamuna.

She welcomes him with love, and he blesses all

who honor their sacred bonds.

Bhai Dooj celebrates the bond between brother and sister—

but its message goes much deeper. 

It is about the sanctity of bonds—

about how relationships are meant 

to refine our love, not restrict it.

This festival reminds us

that we belong to something greater than ourselves.

That belonging begins with family,

expands to community, to country, to humanity,

and ultimately to divinity.

Bhakti isn’t about rejecting these human bonds—

it’s about recognizing their purpose.

Every bond that gives us a sense of belonging

is meant to raise our awareness

toward the ultimate bond—

the bond with the divine,

the only one that endures and fulfills.

So as we mark Bhaiduji,

sharing sweets and affection,

let’s cherish our immediate bonds

while deepening our ultimate bond—

for when divine love prevails,

even death as Yama bows in reverence.

Conclusion:

These six days of Diwali aren’t merely about ritual—they’re about revival:

 reviving light over darkness, devotion over distraction,

 and surrender over self-centeredness.

May the lamp we light this Diwali

 not only brighten our homes,

 but also awaken the light of devotion in our hearts.

The post A Diwali Deep Dive – Significance of the Six Festivals appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

The three brothers, Sri Vasudeva Ghosa, Sri Madhava Ghosa and Sri Govinda Ghosa were very expert singers. Sri Nityananda Prabhu Himself would dance as they sang. [C.B. Antya 5.259]

According to some, their maternal uncle’s house was in the village of Buron (or Burangi) in Sylhet (Srihatta). Their father later took up residence at Kumarahatta. After residing there for some time, the three brothers came to live at Navad­vipa.

They were born in the family of uttara-radhiya Kayasthas, and were very intimate associates of Sri Sri Nitai-Gauranga. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur states that they are immediate expansions of Srimati Radhika’s body.

All three of them composed very sweet songs describing the lilas of Sri Gaurasundar and Sri Krsna. They have particularly described the childhood pastimes of Gaura Hari, His sankirtana pastimes and acceptance of sannyasa, as well as descriptions of the beauty of Sri Nityananda prabhu.

Vasudeva and Madhava were sent with Nityananda to preach in Bengal. Govinda stayed for some time with Mahaprabhu at Nilacal.

Every year they would come to Puri to see Mahaprabhu and perform kirtana during Ratha-yatra. Later in life they took up residences at different places. Sri Govinda lived in Agradvip, Sri Madhava in Dainhat and Sri Vasudeva in Tamluk.

According to Gaur-ganoddesa-dipika, Sri Govinda, Sri Madhava and Sri Vasudeva were in Vraja-lila as Kalavati, Rasollasa and Guntinga (Guntungi) Sakhis.

idaṁ te mukhāmbhojam atyanta-nīlair

Your lotus face of sapphire hue,
Outshines the sky’s deep shade of blue.
Its smile so soft, its glance so sweet,
Make heavenly beauty fall at your feet.

(Damodarashtakam — Verse 5, Line 1)

My dear Lord, your beauty is beyond description, yet my limited words find their perfection when I attempt what can never be fully done. Still, you accept my attempt, and that very effort, when offered in devotion, pleases you and purifies me, enabling me to relish your beauty even if I can never express it completely.

O butter thief of Vrindavan, your face glows brighter than the full moon mirrored in the Yamuna’s flow. Your eyes—wide and wondering—are twin lotuses that dart about, avoiding your mother’s loving glare. Your cheeks, round as ripe fruit, bear no dust, though your feet raise clouds of it as you run through the courtyard, dodging your mother. Your lips, soft as petal edges, curl into a smile that melts creation’s pride; yet now they tremble, wordlessly pleading to calm your mother’s loving ire.

O beloved Lord, let my heart become that courtyard where you forever play—so I may savor your love within and share it without, for all time to come.

The post May your form play forever in the courtyard of my heart appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

At the recent national ISKCON strategic planning meetings in Melbourne (11-12 October), leaders set a goal to increase book distribution across Australia by 20% in 2025 compared to 2024. ISKCON Brisbane has already achieved this target – with more than 2 months still remaining in the year! For those unfamiliar with our book distribution mission:
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Who would have had the power to render ecstatic devotional service that follows in the footsteps of the damsels of Vraja? Indeed, the clever expertise of the Vraja-gopis is a prerequisite for entering the supremely sweet forest of Vrinda Devi. Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with
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By Mahavana Das Report on the “Purposeful Leadership” Seminar by His Grace Gauranga Darshan Das In an era when leadership is often equated with power, wealth, and visibility, His Grace Gauranga Darshan Das presented a refreshing vision at the seminar titled “Purposeful Leadership: Purpose Must Lead, Profits Shall Follow.” The event was organized by the
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By Padsevan Bhakta Das The UDGAAR Mega Youth Festival 2025 saw over 15,000 young participants unite in India’s largest ever addiction awareness pledge—earning a coveted Guinness World Record. The festival, organized by ISKCON India Youth Council- North Wing (IIYC) in collaboration with Northern India Divisional Council (NIDC), and was hosted by ISKCON Greater Delhi, was
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sadā me manasy āvirāstāṁ kim anyaiḥ

May this fair form within me stay,
Through all of life, by night and day.
What need have I for boons apart,
When you reside within my heart?

(Damodarashtakam — Verse 4, Line 4)

My dear Lord, my mind is restless, constantly spinning from one object to another. To stop its spinning, please help me change what fuels its spin—its conceptions of gain and loss, pleasure and pain, desirable and undesirable. What it calls gain—or even great gain—may be trivial, and what seems small may be truly sublime.

Bless me, O merciful Lord, with the intelligence to realize that my mind’s valuations often oppose reality—seeing worth where there is none and missing it where it truly lies. Empower me to change my mind’s valuations through the purificatory practices of bhakti.

During my bhakti practice, O Almighty Lord, let me take inspiration from the spiritual experiences of the great saints. When I behold or even read about saints rejoicing in the immense ecstasy of their intimate absorption in your immeasurable beauty, may I receive even a drop of that joy. And may such glimpses inspire me—and more importantly, my mind—to become a pilgrim: firm and faithful on my journey toward you.

Till finally, O Lord of my heart, my restless mind finds rest forever in your glory, your beauty, your love. Indeed, you become the home for my mind.

The post Let my mind, a wanderer, become a pilgrim appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Over the last few days, Mahārāja has been experiencing episodes of bloody sputum and increased oxygen requirement due to the presence of thick mucus plugs in the lungs, along with a few episodes of fever. With regular medications, nebulizations, and intense chest physiotherapy, the lung condition improves temporarily but tends to get congested again. To
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UDGAAR 2025 wasn’t just an event, it was an awakening and transformation. Now, it’s time to carry that light forward. Let’s take a pledge to stand together for Nasha Mukt Bharat! UDGAAR 2025 Highlights | The Festival Of Culture & Wellness | 12th October | IGI Stadium, Delhi
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Kartik Deep Daan Sri Dham Mayapur Day-15 #DamodarMonth Mayapur.TV
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We are waiting for the results of our National Strategic Planning workshop from the weekend before last. We spent two very productive days with most of the members of the ISKCON Australia National Council working on a broad strategic plan and on the Sunday focused on a Communications and Marketing plan. It was a lot
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Iskcon Vrindavan – Goverdhan Puja 2025 – Sringar Darshan Iskcon vrindavan added photos to the album: Goverdhan Puja 2025 – Sringar Darshan Iskcon vrindavan
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Iskcon Seattle-Govardhan Puja(October 21st 2025) Darshan pictures Govardhan Puja(October 21st 2025) Darshan pictures Iskcon Seattle
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We shall read from Srimad-Bhagavatam, Canto Two, Chapter Seven: “Scheduled Incarnations.”

TEXT 32

gopair makhe pratihate vraja-viplavaya
  deve ’bhivarsati pasun krpaya riraksuh
dhartocchilindhram iva sapta-dinani sapta-
  varso mahidhram anaghaika-kare salilam

TRANSLATION

When the cowherd men of Vrndavana, under instruction of Krsna, stopped offering sacrifice to the heavenly king, Indra, the whole tract of land known as Vraja was threatened with being washed away by constant heavy rains for seven days. Lord Krsna, out of His causeless mercy upon the inhabitants of Vraja, held up the hill known as Govardhana with one hand only, although He was only seven years old. He did this to protect the animals from the onslaught of water.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

Children play with an umbrella generally known as a frog’s umbrella, and Lord Krsna, when He was only seven years old, could snatch the great hill known as the Govardhana Parvata in Vrndavana and hold it for seven days continuously with one hand, just to protect the animals and the inhabitants of Vrndavana from the wrath of Indra, the heavenly king, who had been denied sacrificial offerings by the inhabitants of Vraja-bhumi.

COMMENT by Giriraj Swami

Lord Krishna was playing the part of a young boy. Here the Bhagavatam says salilam, playfully: just as a small child picks up a frog’s umbrella (a mushroom shaped like an umbrella) and plays with it, so Lord Krishna picked up Govardhana Hill and held it like an umbrella to shelter the residents of Vrindavan from the torrential rains of Indra.

PURPORT (continued)

Factually there is no need of offering sacrifices to the demigods for their services if one is engaged in the service of the Supreme Lord. Sacrifices recommended in the Vedic literature for satisfaction of the demigods are a sort of inducement to the sacrificers to realize the existence of higher authorities. The demigods are engaged by the Lord as controlling deities of material affairs, and according to the Bhagavad-gita, when a demigod is worshiped the process is accepted as the indirect method for worshiping the Supreme Lord. But when the Supreme Lord is worshiped directly there is no need of worshiping the demigods or offering them sacrifices as recommended in particular circumstances. Lord Krsna therefore advised the inhabitants of Vraja-bhumi not to offer any sacrifices to the heavenly king Indra.

COMMENT

Many of you know the story: Nanda Maharaja and the other men of Vrindavan were collecting the paraphernalia to perform the Indra-yajna, and when the child Krishna saw the men so engaged, He asked His father, “Dear father, kindly explain to Me the purpose for which you are gathering this paraphernalia. Is this ritualistic performance based on scriptural injunctions, or is it simply customary? What is to be gained by this performance?” Srila Prabhupada tells us the implication of Krishna’s inquiry: We should not engage in rituals simply because our parents or grandparents did—without any gain. Although we may have had forefathers who worshipped demigods, Lord Krishna here suggests that there is no need for us to continue such worship. Therefore, Krishna advised the residents of Vrindavan to stop the sacrifice to King Indra.

So, in principle, we should not engage in ritualistic performances without any result. There should be some positive benefit from our activities, as there is with devotional service, which, according to both the Bhagavad-gita and practical experience, is joyfully performed. Pratyaksavagamam dharmyam su-sukham kartum avyayam: “It gives direct perception of the self by realization, and it is joyfully performed.” (Gita 9.2)

The Bhagavad-gita also explains that worship offered to demigods is actually meant for Lord Krishna but is avidhi-purvakam: it is offered indirectly, improperly, to the demigods.

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)Lord Krishna, by His own example, showed us that we need not worship the demigods.

The question may be raised that if there is no need to worship demigods, why are sacrifices to demigods recommended in the Vedas? The answer is that although there is no need to worship the demigods when we worship the Supreme Lord, the fact is that the demigods are superior to ordinary human beings. They are entrusted with the management of different affairs within the universe. So, for those without knowledge of Krishna, sacrifices to demigods are recommended so that the performers at least acknowledge their debt to and their dependence on superior authorities.

Srila Prabhupada has compared the demigods to ministers in the cabinet of a king, and Lord Krishna to the king. The ministers are actually servants of the king and are obliged to do their jobs as directed by the king. So, if we satisfy the king, we need not satisfy the demigods separately. If the king wants to grant us some favor, the ministers are obliged to execute his order. And even if we approach some minister for some favor, if the king is against it, the minister has no authority or power to grant it.

Srila Prabhupada has also given the example that if you pay your taxes to the central government, you don’t have to go separately to the various offices to bribe them. When you pay your taxes to the central government, your money is automatically distributed among the different departments of the state. You don’t have to pay each department separately, and as a tax-paying citizen you’re entitled to all benefits.

Here Lord Krishna is acting on the principles of the Bhagavad-gita, in the role of a small child. He stopped the worship of the demigod Indra and ordered that the paraphernalia be used for the worship of the cows, the brahmans, and Govardhana Hill, which is actually the Supreme Lord Krishna Himself. As revealed later in the govardhana-lila, although Krishna, playing the part of a seven-year-old boy, accompanied the Vraja-vasis around Govardhana Hill in worship, He also expanded Himself into a separate, gigantic form and declared, “I am Govardhana Mountain.” Thus, together with the people of Vraja, the original, small Krishna bowed down to this form of Govardhana Hill, who was Lord Krishna Himself.

After Lord Krishna advised the inhabitants of Vraja-bhumi not to offer any sacrifices to Indra, the heavenly king, Indra, not knowing the position of Lord Krishna in Vraja-bhumi, became angry with the inhabitants of Vraja-bhumi and tried to avenge what he considered to be their offense to him. He ordered the Samvartaka clouds, the clouds used at the time of partial devastation to inundate the universe, to flood Vrindavan. We can just imagine: here is a simple cowherd community in Vraja, and King Indra was so blinded by pride that he summoned the clouds used to inundate the universe to attack this little community of cowherds, cows, and calves.

PURPORT (continued)

But competent as the Lord was, He saved the inhabitants and animals of Vraja-bhumi by His personal energy and proved definitely that anyone directly engaged as a devotee of the Supreme Lord need not satisfy any other demigods, however great, even to the level of Brahma or Siva.

COMMENT

The Fourth Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam states:

yatha taror mula-nisecanena
  trpyanti tat-skandha-bhujopasakhah
pranopaharac ca yathendriyanam
  tathaiva sarvarhanam acyutejya

“As pouring water on the root of the tree benefits the trunk, branches, twigs and leaves, and as supplying food to the stomach nourishes the senses and limbs of the body, so worshiping the Supreme Personality of Godhead through devotional service automatically satisfies the demigods, who are parts of that Supreme Personality.” (SB 4.31.14) Yet here in the govardhana-lila we find that although the Vraja-vasis worshipped the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna, still the demigod Indra was not satisfied. In fact, he was most dissatisfied. Why? Because of his false pride. Govardhana Hill was being worshipped with paraphernalia meant for him. And because he was blinded by ignorance, he could not understand that the little cowherd boy Krishna was the Supreme Personality of Godhead and his eternal master. And certainly, he could not understand that Govardhana Hill was the same Supreme Personality. But demigods are not supposed to be proud—or ignorant. They are supposed to be faithful servants of Krishna. Thus, to break the false pride of Indra and bring him back to his original consciousness, Lord Krishna enacted the govardhana-lila.

The scriptures describe that for a moment Krishna thought that maybe He should just kill Indra but then decided that no, He should bestow mercy upon him, crush his false pride, and bring him back to his original position of service to Him. And so, Krishna playfully lifted up Govardhana Hill. Any of you who have visited Vrindavan know that Govardhana Hill is quite long—at least eight kilometers—no toy for an ordinary person. But it was like a toy for Lord Krishna, and He lifted it and held it over His head with the tip of His little finger. The scriptures say that Krishna wanted to prove that He could defeat the mighty power of Indra with the tip of the little finger of His left hand. That was all He needed to dispose of the king of heaven. Eventually, after seven days, Indra came to his senses and realized that he, not the Vraja-vasis, was the one who had committed the offense, and so he withdrew the Samvartaka clouds and came to Vraja-bhumi to beg for forgiveness from Lord Krishna. And then he worshipped Lord Krishna.

As part of the worship of Govardhana Hill, Lord Krishna ordered the Vraja-vasis to prepare all sorts of foodstuffs, which they did, and they offered them to Govardhana Hill, and Govardhana ate them all. Later today we’ll have the celebration in which we offer, as the Vraja-vasis did, all sorts of preparations to Govardhana Hill, and He will eat them all. But out of His kindness, He will again return them to us to honor as maha-prasada.

PURPORT (concluded)

Thus this incident definitely proved without a doubt that Lord Krsna is the Personality of Godhead and that He was so in all circumstances, as a child on the lap of His mother, as a boy seven years old, and as an old man of a hundred and twenty-five years of age. In either case He was never on the level of the ordinary man, and even in His advanced age He appeared a young boy sixteen years old. These are the particular features of the transcendental body of the Lord.

COMMENT

There are impersonalists who try by yoga or meditation to become God, but Krishna is not that kind of a god. He did not have to become God by yoga or meditation; He was always God. From His very appearance in the prison of Kamsa, when He manifested His four-armed form as Vishnu, He was God. When He was a three-month-old baby and killed the great demoness Putana, He was God. When He was a seven-year-old boy and lifted Govardhana Hill, He was God. And when He spoke the Bhagavad-gita to Arjuna, He was God. Even at that time, although by material calculation He was a great-grandfather and more than ninety years old, because His body never ages or deteriorates, He appeared like a youth of sixteen. Krishna’s body is spiritual and not subject to disease, old age, or death, as are the bodies of ordinary conditioned souls. After Krishna’s body matured to the point of appearing like a youth’s, it never grew older. That proves that Krishna had a spiritual body. We never see a picture of Krishna as an old man with gray hair and wrinkles, walking with a cane. He always looks like a handsome young man.

One more note about Krishna’s appearance and activities. We know from Krishna’s statement in the Bhagavad-gita, paritranaya sadhunam vinasaya ca duskrtam (4.8), that He appears to deliver the devotees and to annihilate the miscreants. But actually, He does not have to come personally to destroy the miscreants; He has many agents to do so. The real reason He comes is to give pleasure to His devotees, and the special feature of the govardhana-lila is that Krishna gave His association—and the greatest pleasure—to all of the residents of Vrindavan continuously for seven days. Usually the residents of Vrindavan were with Krishna for only so many hours every day. For example, in the afternoon, when Krishna would return from the pasturing grounds and enter His home and have dinner with Nanda Baba, He would give His association to Nanda and Yasoda and others in their household. And then He would take rest. But while He was taking rest at home, the cowherd boys were in separation from Him, eagerly anticipating, “Oh, when can we be with Krishna again? Oh, we have to wait until morning when we all take the cows to pasture.” So, they were in separation. And in the morning, when Krishna went into the pasturing grounds with the cowherd boys, Nanda and Yasoda and the residents of the village of Vrindavan were in separation.

The young damsels too were almost always in separation, except on special occasions when they would secretly meet Govinda at midday or in the dead of night. The young gopis could never gaze directly at Krishna except at their trysts, when they engaged in transcendental amorous pastimes.

So, the devotees were always alternating between meeting and separation. Yet for the seven days of the govardhana-lila, all the inhabitants—the servants, the friends, the elders, and even the young damsels—could be with Krishna continuously. Thus, while the govardhana-lila achieved the purpose of crushing the false pride of Indra, it also achieved the purpose of satisfying the devotees, who hankered to have Krishna’s association without cessation.

So, here is another special feature of Govardhana Hill. Because of differences in rasa, Krishna could not reciprocate openly with certain devotees in the presence of other devotees. In the govardhana-lila, however, He could reciprocate with each and every devotee no matter what relationship they had, in the presence of all the other devotees. Therefore, Govardhana Hill is very special, because Govardhana is witness to Krishna’s pastimes in all different mellows.

We can learn from this pastime that whatever onslaughts of material nature come upon us, if we take shelter of Krishna we can be protected and at the same time have all our desires for transcendental love and bliss satisfied in Krishna consciousness.

Hare Krishna.

Are there any questions or comments?

Devotee: You mentioned that Krishna comes especially for the devotees, to bestow His association upon them and give them pleasure—not for the purpose of killing the demons. So, the special demons killed by Krishna were not happy to be killed by Krishna? Can you comment?

Giriraj Swami: Krishna achieves many purposes with one action. Although His primary purpose is to please the devotees, His secondary purpose is to kill the demons, and He does both simultaneously. Actually, Krishna does not kill the demons personally; Vishnu within Krishna kills them. If His only purpose were to kill the demons, He would not appear personally. He really appears to pacify His devotees, though simultaneously He also kills demons.

Devotee: Lord Indra is such an elevated soul. How is it possible that he could not see Lord Krishna in the little seven-year-old boy? What stopped him from seeing that?

Giriraj Swami: Indra was proud, and vraja-lila is very special. In such nara-lila, humanlike pastimes, Krishna appears just like an ordinary human. Suppose, for example, if someone who held a high position in China—say, the president of China, whose face is not familiar to us—were to come here in disguise. We would not recognize him, because he would look just like everyone else. So, Krishna looked like everyone else. He looked like all the other cowherd boys; there was nothing special about Him. What distinguished Him was His potency. The head of a country is also a human being. There is nothing about his physical features that distinguishes him from others. What distinguishes him is his potency. He has the whole military under his command. He may be sitting here just like any of us, but if we order, “Declare war! Invade!” nothing will happen, and if he orders, “Declare war and invade!” it happens. That is the difference. He has potency that we do not have, but still he looks the same. Because Indra was already proud and was not really interested to know more—he just wanted to be worshipped as usual—his vision was superficial: “They are just a cowherd community, and Krishna is just a small child. He is so puffed up that he thinks he can stop my worship, and these adults are so foolish and so enamored of this boy that they follow his advice.” He thought that there was something really wrong, because that is how it looked. Therefore, sastra-caksuh: we should see the Lord through the eyes of scripture.

Devotee: Krishna came to earth to show favor to the human beings, but what about the demigods? The demigods also came to earth to participate in Krishna’s pastimes, but then we have this incident with Indra and another incident with Brahma, when they became bewildered.

Giriraj Swami: The demigods, although very powerful, can be covered by illusion just like any of us. We can be covered. We can chant Hare Krishna and feel great enthusiasm, and then later stop chanting. We are the same person, but something has happened. One day we were enthusiastically chanting and dancing, and the next day we were out in the material world. So, what happened? We got covered, and maybe puffed up. “Pride cometh before a fall.” That is what we have heard, and that is what we have experienced. Therefore Krishna mercifully displays some of His potency so that they realize His position as Supreme Lord and their own position as His eternal servants.

Sometimes when Krishna would return from the pasturing grounds with His cowherd friends, the demigods would come and shower flowers.

vatsalo vraja-gavam yad aga-dhro
  vandyamana-caranah pathi vrddhaih
krtsna-go-dhanam upohya dinante
  gita-venur anugedita-kirtih

“Out of great affection for the cows of Vraja, Krsna became the lifter of Govardhana Hill. At the end of the day, having rounded up all His own cows, He plays a song on His flute, while exalted demigods standing along the path worship His lotus feet and the cowherd boys accompanying Him chant His glories.” (SB 10.35.22)

So, the demigods also get to witness and worship Krishna in His pastimes. And although the cowherd boys would see the demigods worship Him, still they would not think of Krishna as God. They would think of Him as their dearest friend.

There is a difference between Krishna’s two mayas, energies—yoga-maya and maha-maya. Yoga-maya partially reveals the Lord and partially conceals Him, so the residents of Vrindavan love Krishna but are unaware that He is God. They just love Him spontaneously. In Vaikuntha the devotees love the Lord but are aware that He is God. And the conditioned souls covered by maha-maya forget that Krishna is God and sometimes forget God altogether. Their eternal love for Him is covered. Generally, demigods are also conditioned souls. Consequently, influenced by illusion, they can also forget that Krishna is God and need to be reminded.

Of course, one could say that the pastimes are there to instruct us, and they do manifest eternal principles. So, we should learn from them, become Krishna conscious, and go back home, back to Godhead, to serve Lord Krishna and His associates in love.

Sri Giri Govardhana ki jaya!
Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!

[A talk by Giriraj Swami on Govardhana-puja, October 26, 2003, Houston]

idaṁ te vapur nātha gopāla-bālam

O Lord, this form of child divine,
The cowherd boy so fair, so fine.
Your charm no mind can e’er withstand,
It melts the heart at love’s command.

(Damodarashtakam — Verse 4, Line 3)

My dear Lord, O cowherd of Vṛndāvana, your entire form—from lotus-feet to moonlike face—is the very abode of all beauty.

Your feet, O all-merciful Lord, bear many enchanting marks—the lotus, the flag, the goad. May my heart find shelter in their dust. With soles soft and moon-bright-nailed, your steps—sometimes gentle, sometimes eager—sanctify the paths of your courtyard. Your ankles sing with tinkling bells as you walk, and your calves gleam like rain-ripened blue clouds heavy with compassion.

Your slender waist is wrapped in yellow silk that sways like sunlight upon a storm-dark sky. Upon your chest shines the Kaustubha gem, yet even that jewel bows before the forest-flower garland, radiant with the boundless love of Mother Yaśodā who placed it there.

Your face is the supreme stimulator of devotion. Curling locks frame your moon-bright cheeks, while the peacock feather crowns you, monarch of love. Your eyes—lotus petals glistening with play—glance upon the cows and gopas, stealing every heart they meet.

O youthful Lord of Gokula, may my restless mind roam no more. Let my eyes ever behold and my heart ever hold your form—simple yet supreme, the source and soul of all beauty.

The post May I behold with my eyes and hold within your heart your all-attractive form appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

Here is another explanation of the bewilderment created by the pastimes of the Supreme Lord. The Supreme Lord is the Supreme in all circumstances, as already explained. Here is a specific example of the Lord’s being the Supreme and at the same time a plaything in the presence of His pure devotee. The Lord’s pure
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By Indradyumna Swami

Yesterday we had our program in a scenic forest at Harihara Kshetra. Thereafter we went to nearby Nrsimha Palli, the sacred place where Lord Nrsimhadeva washed His hands after slaying the demon Hiranyakasipu. A self-manifested deity of Lord Nrsimhadeva dating back to the Satya-yuga is worshipped there. We heard some enlivening katha and had a most ecstatic kirtan! Continue reading "A scenic forest at Harihara Kshetra. (photos)
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We wish you all a happy Diwali. Diwali, or Dipavali, marks the end of the year, and by the year’s end we want to pay our debts and rectify our relationships—and then try to do better the next year.

The Vedic literatures inform us that in the present age, Kali-yuga, the recommended process for self-realization, or God realization, is the chanting of the holy names of the Lord. Lord Krishna appeared about five thousand years ago and spoke the Bhagavad-gita, and at the end of the Gita (18.66), He instructed:

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

“Give up all varieties of religiousness and just surrender unto Me. I will deliver you from all sins. Do not fear.”

But how do we surrender to Krishna—practically? It is a big question. Therefore, Krishna Himself came again about five hundred years ago as Sri Krishna Chaitanya and showed us how to serve Krishna and develop love for Krishna, especially in the present age of Kali. He quoted one verse from the Brhan-naradiya Purana (3.8.126):

harer nama harer nama
  harer namaiva kevalam
kalau nasty eva nasty eva
  nasty eva gatir anyatha

“One should chant the holy names, chant the holy names, chant the holy names of Lord Hari. There is no other way, no other way, no other way for success in the present age of Kali.”

Lord Chaitanya Himself demonstrated how to chant the holy names. Actually, there are two methods: In japa, one chants softly but loud enough that at least one can hear oneself. Our acharyas have recommended that we chant on beads, japa-mala. I suggest that as a New Year’s resolution you all begin to chant at least one mala (round) every day, and that those who are already chanting try to increase. Suppose someone is chanting two malas every day. In the New Year that person can decide to do four malas, or whatever he or she can manage. One mala will take five to ten minutes. So, that is japa.

The other method is kirtan. Kirtan means loud chanting, all together, usually with musical instruments such as mridanga, kartals, and sometimes harmonium. That collective chanting of the holy names of God is very effective in the present age of Kali.

What does chanting do? As Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu explains, ceto-darpana-marjanam: chanting cleanses the dirt from the mirror of the mind. If you want to know what you look like, you have to view yourself in a mirror. But if the mirror is covered with dust, you cannot see. So, we have to cleanse the dust from the mirror of the mind; then we can know who we are. In ignorance, we may think that we’re the body. We may think that we’re black or white or red or yellow; man or woman; American, Russian, Chinese, or African. We have so many designations based on our falsely identifying with the body. But ceto-darpana-marjanam—when we clear the dust from the mirror of the mind by chanting, we can actually see who we are: not the body but the soul within the body. The soul is not black or white or male or female or Russian or Chinese. The soul is pure spirit, part and parcel of God, the Supreme Spirit, Krishna.

So, chanting will cleanse all the dirt from the mind, from the heart. But how does chanting work? A verse from the Padma Purana (quoted as Cc Madhya 17.133) explains:

nama cintamanih krsnas
  caitanya-rasa-vigrahah
purnah suddho nitya-mukto
  ’bhinnatvan nama-naminoh

“The holy name of Krsna is transcendentally blissful. It bestows all spiritual benedictions, for it is Krsna Himself, the reservoir of all pleasure. Krsna’s name is complete, and it is the form of all transcendental mellows. It is not a material name under any condition, and it is no less powerful than Krsna Himself. Since Krsna’s name is not contaminated by the material qualities, there is no question of its being involved with maya. Krsna’s name is always liberated and spiritual; it is never conditioned by the laws of material nature. This is because the name of Krsna and Krsna Himself are identical.”

The holy name of Krishna is Krishna Himself. Abhinnatvat nama naminoh: there is no difference between the name and the person who has the name. In the material world, the relative world, there is a difference between the name, or word, and the object. For example, if I am in the desert dying of thirst and chant “water, water, water, water,” my thirst will not be quenched, because the word water and the substance water are different. But in the spiritual world, the absolute world, the name of the thing and the thing are the same. So, when we chant the holy name of Krishna, Krishna is actually present, dancing on our tongue. Thus, because Krishna is all pure, when we associate with Him by chanting His holy name, we become purified (ceto-darpana-marjanam). And when we become purified—when we become Krishna conscious—we automatically develop all good qualities.

At present we have qualities that are good, and we have other qualities that are not so good. Often, at the end of the year people make resolutions for the new year—how they will improve. It may be that one will try to not lose one’s temper, or try to not overeat. We make so many resolutions, but after some time we may fail in our determination because of weakness in the heart. The one resolution that will eventually help us develop all good qualities and keep our other, secondary resolutions is the resolution to chant the holy names of God.

Diwali also commemorates the return of Lord Ramachandra to Ayodhya. You all know the history of how Rama was banished from His kingdom into the forest. In the forest Ravana kidnapped Sita and took her to Lanka. Then Rama and Laksmana searched for Sita. They made alliances with many monkey warriors, and eventually They came to the southern tip of India. They built a bridge across to Lanka, and eventually Rama killed Ravana, which is commemorated by Dasara, or Rama-vijaya-dasami. Then Mother Sita was tested in fire, and she emerged pure. And Rama, Laksmana, and Sita, accompanied by other associates, returned to Ayodhya. To prepare for the Lord’s arrival, the residents of Ayodhya placed lamps on the rooftops and balconies and celebrated His return. And Lord Ramachandra was installed on the throne.

We too want to welcome Lord Rama (Lord Krishna) into our hearts. And just as, before we install a Deity, we clean the temple so that it is a fit place for the Lord to reside, similarly we each want to welcome Lord Ramachandra into our heart, to install Him on the throne in our heart. But to make our heart a proper, fit place for Him, we have to cleanse it. Therefore, on the auspicious occasion of Diwali, we chant the holy names of Rama and Krishna—Hare Krishna, Hare Rama—so ceto-darpana-marjanam: the heart is cleansed. Then we can welcome Lord Rama into our hearts and install Him on the throne of our hearts and celebrate His presence.

So, this should be our resolution: to purify our hearts so that the Lord will have a proper place to sit there. And who could be more fortunate a person than he who has Lord Rama, or Krishna, with him?

There are many Ramayanas, histories of Ramachandra, but the most authorized in Sanskrit is the Valmiki Ramayana. Consistent with that version, the Ninth Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam also contains a short Ramayana. And at the end of the Bhagavatam’s Ramayana, there is a statement that during the reign of Lord Ramachandra all of the citizens were peaceful and happy, just like in Satya-yuga. There are four ages that repeat in cycles, like the seasons. Satya-yuga is the best of the ages, the golden age. Then come Treta-yuga, Dvapara-yuga, and Kali-yuga. The Bhagavatam describes that during the rule of Lord Ramachandra all of the citizens were religious and completely happy, healthy, and peaceful, just like during Satya-yuga, although it was actually Treta-yuga. Srila Prabhupada comments that by God consciousness, Krishna consciousness, one can invoke Satya-yuga, or Rama-rajya, even in Kali-yuga. Therefore, the same Krishna who appeared in Treta-yuga as Lord Ramachandra appeared in Kali-yuga as Lord Chaitanya to introduce the chanting of the holy names—Hare Krishna and Hare Rama.

So, if we take up the chanting of the holy names, we can not only invoke the presence of Lord Rama within our hearts, welcome Lord Rama into our hearts, but we can also recreate the situation of Satya-yuga, the situation of Rama-rajya. Sometimes Srila Prabhupada remarked, “People want the kingdom of God without God.” But we cannot have the kingdom of God without God. We cannot have Rama-rajya without Rama. But if we invoke the presence of God, of Krishna, by chanting His holy names, we can have the same experience of Satya-yuga in Kali-yuga. We can have the same experience of Rama-rajya when, as described in the Bhagavatam, Rama loved all of the citizens just like a father loves his children, and all of the citizens loved Lord Rama and obeyed Him just like children love and obey their father. By Krishna consciousness, we can have the same situation even today. And if on this Diwali you can take a vow, make a resolution, to chant every day in the next year—and in all the years to come—that will bring you all auspiciousness.

We pray that the Lord will bless all of you in the year to come, and that you will also take the blessing of chanting into the New Year.

Hare Krishna.

[A talk by Giriraj Swami on Diwali, October 25, 2003, Houston]

The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna, advised the cowherd men to stop the Indra-yajna and begin the Govardhana-puja in order to chastise Indra, who was very much puffed up at being the supreme controller of the heavenly planets.

The honest and simple cowherd men, headed by Nanda Maharaja, accepted Krishna’s proposal and executed in detail everything He advised. They performed Govardhana worship and circumambulation of the hill.

The cowherd men inquired from Krishna how He wanted the Govardhana Puja performed, and Krishna gave them the following directions.

“Prepare very nice foods of all descriptions from the grains and ghee collected for the yajna. Prepare rice, dhal, then halava, pakora, puri and all kinds of milk preparations, such as sweet rice, rabri, sweetballs, sandesa, rasagulla and laddu, and invite the learned brahmanas who can chant the Vedic hymns and offer oblations to the fire.

The brahmanas should be given all kinds of grains in charity. Then decorate all the cows and feed them well. After performing this, give money in charity to the brahmanas. As far as the lower animals are concerned, such as the dogs, and the lower grades of people, such as the candalas, or the fifth class of men, who are considered untouchable, they also may be given sumptuous prasadam.

After nice grasses have been given to the cows, the sacrifice known as Govardhana-puja may immediately begin. This sacrifice will very much satisfy Me.”

The sacrifice known as Govardhana-puja is observed in the Krishna consciousness movement. Lord Caitanya has recommended that since Krishna is worshipable, so His land—Vrindavana and Govardhana Hill—is also worshipable.

To confirm this statement, Lord Krishna said that Govardhana-puja is as good as worship of Him. From that day, Govardhana-puja has been going on and is known as Annakuta. In all the temples of Vrindavana or outside of Vrindavana, huge quantities of food are prepared in this ceremony and are very sumptuously distributed to the general population. 

na cānyaṁ vṛṇe ’haṁ vareṣād apīha

From you who are the best among those who bless,
Other than your love, I seek nothing less.
For all I wish, O Lord divine,
Is that pure love for you be mine.

(Damodarashtakam — Verse 4, Line 2)

My dear Lord, devotion begins with selecting you as the supreme object of desire. Through this and many lifetimes, I have chased countless things—none have ever fulfilled me as you can. Please help me realize that there is nothing beyond you that can truly satisfy my soul.

O omnipotent Lord, choosing you as my heart’s most desirable is not like choosing a favorite food or a passing fascination. To love you means I must elevate all my other desires; I cannot call you my favorite and still cling to favorites that are impure or anti-devotional. Please bless me so that all my desires become purified by your uplifting mercy.

O supreme shelter, at life’s final moment, all my desires must converge on you alone. In this life, while serving you, some desires may flow toward the many things and people connected with your service. Yet when life draws to its close, let me fix my whole heart solely on you—the one whom I must remember to return home.

O my constant companion, may I thus use the power of desire you have given me, to give all of my desire to you.

The post Desiring you, O Lord, means selecting, elevating, and concentrating desire appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

By Vanamala dd

The window rolled down and without saying hi, I said: "Do you have one of these?" Showing the stack Although he was on the phone, he said "No. How much?" Me: "$25" Him: "I've no cash" Me: "I have eftpos" Him: "Ok" and tapped his card to my eftpos machine and I passed him the books and smiled and drove away. Continue reading "On the front lines we experience the Mystical Magic of Krsna!
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By Iskcon Vrindavan

Deep Daan Day – 11 was celebrated as part of the Kartik Month observances at ISKCON Vrindavan, with 70 new photos shared from the event. Continue reading "Deep Daan Day – 11 – Kartik Month at ISKCON Vrindavan – 17.10.2 (photos)
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By Sulalita Devi Dasi

Happy Diwali Everyone! Here's a fresh longread about channeling the inner tiny spider in service to the Supreme Lord, overcoming any limitations, finding eternal self-worth and ultimately entering the limitless devotion following in the footsteps of Hanuman. So do we all start as spiders and later become Hanumans by working very hard? Or do some of us accept the fate of a spider for this lifetime? How to thrive within the limits set by objective reality? Is there anything that overpowers our limitations? What is true self worth? When do our personal limitations not matter? What is the limitless potential of our spirit? We shall unfold these questions step by step. Continue reading "“Personal Limitations Don’t Matter, Here’s Why”
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Guru Prasad Swami’s early contribution in ISKCON Costa Rica centered on administrative services and distributing BBT publications beginning in 1975 in the USA and from 1976-1978 in Central America. He became the temple president of Costa Rica temple in 1978, and then began traveling around Latin America, opening new temples, establishing worship centers and collaborating
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By ascribing to himself the degraded status of a demoniac birth, Bali Mahārāja denied any spiritual qualification for being visited by Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma. What to speak of demons like himself, Bali thought, even advanced renunciants on the paths of jñāna and yoga fail to please the Lord when they do not give up their
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varaṁ deva mokṣaṁ na mokṣāvadhiṁ vā

O Lord, I seek not liberation’s shore,
Nor the endless bliss in paradise’s store.
I ask not for gifts that glitter or gleam,
But love for you—that’s my only dream.

(Damodarashtakam — Verse 4, Line 1)

My dear Lord, love for you, my Lord, is a mystery—one that few care to unravel. Why anyone would turn from the glittering promises of this visible world to seek an invisible Lord is a mystery to most of humanity. For much of my life, I too have belonged to that mystified humanity, bewildered by the appeal of divinity.

When I did turn toward you, O all-accommodating Lord, it was not for you but from you—to gain something from you. And that, alas, is where much of religious humanity also resides. Yet your pure devotees reveal that bhakti means loving you simply because loving you is wonderful—because you are wonderful. Indeed, anyone who loves you becomes wonderful too.

Yet, O all-attractive Lord, as long as I am captivated by worldly things, pure love for you without seeking anything from you remains a mystery. But in the rare moments when you have mercifully given me a drop of the supreme sweetness that flows from relishing your supreme attractiveness, that mystery dissolves—the mystery of why the saints choose you is replaced by the mystery of why I would ever choose anything else. Thus the mystery of your love is solved—by your love itself, which reveals your incomparable and irresistible beauty.

O omnipotent Lord, may your loving mercy make those sublime memories rule my heart, driving it toward you, unhesitantly, undistractedly, and unrestrictedly.

The post May the mystery of your love be solved by your love appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

In this verse, King Bali offers heartfelt obeisances to Lord Krishna, recognizing Him as: Ananta – the unlimited and infinite Lord Bṛhat – the greatest of all beings Vedhase – the creator of the universe Disseminator of Sāṅkhya and Yoga – the source of spiritual knowledge and mystic practices Brahman and Paramātmā – the Absolute
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Where do you take shelter when life moves in such a way that you can’t manage it? Is it within your money? Is it with some friends? Or is it some telephone service where you ask for advice — some coaching firm? Where do you take shelter? In Vrindavan, we learn to take exclusive shelter
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punaḥ prematastaṁ śatāvṛtti vande

Again and again with love I bow,
To him whom all the saints avow.
A hundred times my heart does bend,
To him my praise shall never end.

(Damodarashtakam — Verse 3, Line 4)

My dear Lord, love is never a one-and-done thing; it is an ever-ongoing offering. When I am very happy to see someone, I may greet or embrace them again and again. Similarly, saintly devotees, feeling joy on seeing your lovableness manifest in your love-filled pastimes, offer their respects by bowing down repeatedly—again and again, hundreds upon hundreds of times.

O all-attractive Lord, at present I barely feel even a drop of devotion in my heart for you. When I perform devotional rituals, they are only occasionally expressions of my devotion and most often expressions of my deliberation. I do intellectually value you as the supreme reality, and I do understand that my life will be most meaningful and joyful when it is centred on loving you. Still, such is my plight that the ocean of emotion seems oceans away from my heart, filled as it is with emotions for worldly things.

In my demanding journey toward purification, O merciful Lord, may I be inspired by the saintly devotees’ expressions of overflowing emotion. Grant me the conviction that if I just keep expressing my tiny, drop-like devotion through acts of worship and service, your undeserved yet unfailing mercy will one day expand my drop-like devotion into an ocean of devotion—an ocean in which I may delight myself and invite others to delight as well.

The post Let me act on my drop-like devotion and aspire for the ocean of devotion appeared first on The Spiritual Scientist.

The TOVP Management is pleased to announce that the TOVP Grand Opening is now scheduled to open in coordination with the 50th disappearance anniversary of His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada during a three-month-long celebration beginning on November 1, 2027.

In conjunction with this arrangement and to support the ongoing intense work required to achieve this historic goal and offer the TOVP to Srila Prabhupada as a worldwide offering from all of ISKCON, we have launched the Prabhupada 50 Campaign. This is a two-year marathon beginning on Srila Prabhupada’s disappearance day, October 25, 2025, until his 50th disappearance day on November 1, 2027, and is our most important fundraising campaign to date. Ambarisa prabhu has announced that he will match $10 million during this campaign!

A very special sponsorship gift has been created for donors: a replica of Srila Prabhupada’s personal KRISHNA ring representing our eternal engagement of seva to the Lord. It comes in a beautiful and ornate box, and can be displayed on your home altar.

This is truly a remarkable, once-in-many-lifetimes opportunity to establish our seva to Srila Prabhupada and Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and also make a profound difference in the re-spiritualization of the entire humanity.

Visit the Prabhupada 50 Campaign page and sponsor a ring for yourself and all your family members without delay, and help push on TOVP construction so we all can offer Srila Prabhupada, our acharyas and Lord Caitanya this magnificent temple, the new home of our beloved Mayapur deities.

Sponsor the eternal seva engagement ring today!

 

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