From material detachment to spiritual attachment – Ignorance, Tolerance, Transcendence, Immanence
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Sri Rama-vijaya-dasami
Giriraj Swami

Today marks Sri Rama-vijaya-dasami (Dasara, or Dussehra), the day on which Lord Ramachandra vanquished the powerful tyrant Ravana. As described in Srimad-Bhagavatam (2.7.25):

“When Ravana was engaged in the battle, the trunk of the elephant which carried the king of heaven, Indra, broke in pieces, having collided with the chest of Ravana, and the scattered broken parts illuminated all directions. Ravana therefore felt proud of his prowess and began to loiter in the midst of the fighting soldiers, thinking himself the conqueror of all directions. But his laughter, overtaken by joy, along with his very air of life, suddenly ceased with the tingling sound of the bow of Ramacandra, the Personality of Godhead.”

Srila Prabhupada comments, “However powerful a living being may be, when he is condemned by God no one can save him, and, similarly, however weak one may be, if he is protected by the Lord no one can annihilate him.”

Ravana is the personification of lust and envy, which can disturb the execution of pure devotional service.

May Lord Sri Ramachandra and His devotees protect us all.

Hare Krishna.

Yours in service,
Giriraj Swami

Taking shelter of Krsna
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(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 2011, New Ekachakra, Slovakia, Lecture)

One can never take Krsna for granted. One should never think, “I’ve done so much service… so much! You know in my days, we used to go out on sankirtan and we used to distribute so many books, so many books that one man could not lift them! In the past, we did so much service, and that’s why in the present we don’t have to do anything!”

If we do think like this then immediately, maya is here!

Kṛṣṇa-bahirmukha hañā bhoga vāñchā kare, nikaṭa-stha māyā tāre jāpaṭiyā dhare, Jagadananda Pandita in the Prema Vivarta says, “Maya is waiting nearby and as soon as we show a little interest, by just looking with interest in the material energy, maya is not waiting for us to fall down… she will slap us DOWN!”

So, we must take shelter of Krsna, again and again, and we always have to conquer Krsna, again and again, through devotional service.

Gita 14.08 The mode of ignorance begins with not knowing and leads to false knowing
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Bhagavad-gita verse-by-verse podcast

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Govinda’s Asrama Kirtan
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Tuesday night kirtans at Govinda’s Asrama in Darlinghurst draws a wide variety of people from young to old. There are many regulars but about a third are newcomers.

I haven’t attended for over 6 months but was fortunate recently to head up the second half with ecstatic chanting. Everyone was enthusiastic and at the end, to everyone’s delight, a sumptuous dinner was served.

Why I Became a Vegan
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Was I drinking milk meant for a calf? Would Krishna accept my offering of milk when the cows were raped, killed and slaughtered? Did he, being God need such dairy? If a calf had to be killed so that I may have milk, would I kill it myself? I felt like I was in the ring with Mohammad Ali, knocked out in the first round.

Gita 14.07 Passion is composed of attachment, gives rise to craving and binds us to work
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Bhagavad-gita verse-by-verse podcast

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Jagat Pavani Gaura Ganga Mandir!
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On the occassion of 6th anniversary of Ganga Puja, Mayapur Ganga Puja Committee organised a grand Ganga Puja, Arti, Kirtan, Lecture and Mahaprasad distribution at the new temple of JAGAT PAVANI GAUR GANGA MANDIR  on the banks of Ganges at Mayapur. HG Prem Caitanya das of Ganga Puja Seva Committee recalls the inauguration of Ganga […]

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Seeing ourselves clearly through others’ eyes
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Sometimes you can’t see yourself clearly until you see yourself through the eyes of others.

– Ellen DeGeneres


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When we want to know how we look, we need a mirror. Similarly, when we want to understand ourselves better, we need an appropriate mirror. One such mirror is others who know us well.

Of course, just anyone who knows us well can’t act as a useful mirror – they need to be intelligent and benevolent. That is, they need to be perceptive enough to see our potentials and our blind spots, and they need to be favorably disposed, wanting to help us. From our social circle, we need to carefully shortlist such people, or we may need to expand our social circle till we find such people. And once we have identified such intelligent and benevolent friends, we need to cherish and nourish our relationship with them.

Do we need others for understanding ourselves? Can’t we understand ourselves through introspection? Yes, we can. By observing ourselves, especially in situations that foster emotions of comfort and in situations that trigger emotions of discomfort, we can better understand our strengths and our limitations.

However, when our mind is attached to something and agitated because of an opportunity or threat related with that thing, we can’t easily calm it by our own efforts. The ruffled mind makes our inner world like a turbulent pond that we can’t see through. Amidst such inner murkiness, introspection becomes not only difficult but also dangerous. Our mind becomes a distorter of our vision instead of a channel for our vision. The more we try to think about that thing, the more our mind misleads us towards misperceptions and mistakes. Pertinently, the Bhagavad-gita (06.05) cautions that our mind can act as our enemy.

In such situations of attachment and agitation, we need trustworthy others who can look at things objectively. For issues in which we are too emotionally invested and others are not, they can give us a healthy balancing perspective that we can’t get by introspection. This is one critical role played by spiritual friends. When they can understand our mind and can help us to understand our mind, they serve as vital mirrors and invaluable mentors.

According to modern psychology too, accountability partners are especially important in fostering self-awareness and facilitating self-improvement, especially for addicts whose minds often sabotage introspection with rationalization.

Additionally, others can also act as sounding boards, wherein we test our ideas and get feedback. By thus better appreciating the strengths as well as the limitations of our ideas, we can process them appropriately, by rejecting, refining or developing them.

In spiritual circles, introspection and association are both considered important for fostering growth. The Bhagavad-gita (17.16) recommends silence as an austerity of speech. Simultaneously, it stresses that devotees joyfully enlighten each other through spiritual discussions (10.09).

Our spiritual friends are mirrors who help us see both the best within us as well as the worst within us. They help us understand our essential spirituality, our dormant divinity as eternal parts of the supreme divinity, and our capacity to unleash that potential. And they help us to see the conditionings and contaminations that we keep hidden so deep in our inner closet that we try to deny their existence not just to the world but even to ourselves. The opportunities coming from our higher side and the threats coming from our lower side – both of these we can process better by opening ourselves to heart-to-heart communication with our spiritual friends.

By seeing ourselves through their eyes, we feel inspired to purge out our worst and to bring out our best.

 

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Vyasa-puja Celebration, September 24, Carpinteria
Giriraj Swami

“Srila Prabhupada wrote to one disciple, ‘You cannot survive without my mercy, and I cannot survive without your mercy. It is reciprocal. This mutual dependance is based on love—Krishna consciousness.'”

——————
Special thanks to Gaudacandra Prabhu for the beautiful photographs.

Devotees’ appreciations (right-click, save as to download)

1.Balaram Chandra das
2. Sarvatma das
3. Yudhisthira das
4. Radha Priya dasi
5. Sri Murti dasi
6. Balarama das
7. Krsangi dasi
8. Gaudacandra das
9. Sri Vallabha das
10. Rajani Priya dasi
11. Siddhi-lalasa dasi
12. Varsabhanavi dasi
13. Syamananda das
14. Apsara Kund
15. Abhay Charan
16. Purusottama Ksetra das
17. Revati dasi
18. Bhakta Rob
19. Vrajesvari dasi
20. Shyam Gopal das
21. Gandharvika Haulkhory
22. Tulsi Manjari dasi
23. Parvata Muni das
24. Sita dasi
25. Giridhari Priya das
26. Lavanga Manjari dasi
27. Aditi dasi
28. Visnupriya dasi
29. Hari Bhakta das
30. Adilakshmi Nanduri
31. Shyama Chandra das
32. Bhaktin Vivian
33. Radhika Bhuckory

Kirtan by Giriraj Swami
Vyasa-puja Address by Giriraj Swami

Tuesday, September 26th, 2017
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Toronto, Ontario

From Chasing Rhinos

After an evening walk through Belfour Park, I sat down to the excellent book, Chasing Rhinos With the Swami.  Here’s an excerpt when the first monks from America arrived in London after meeting with the Beatles.

“We had gone to the BBC-TV studios in London to videotape a pantomime of Radha Krishna Temple singing the Hare Krishna mantra, lip syncing the words to our record.  Top of the Pops broadcast every Thursday night for thirty minutes and, with twelve million viewers, it was the most watched show in Britain.  We didn’t have a TV set but on the very night Prabhupada arrived in England, the Radha Krishna Temple appeared on Top of the Pops as the third of seven acts.  On the same show were Crosby, Stills and Nash doing “Marrakesh Express’ and Bobby Gentry doing, ‘I’ll Never Fall In Love Again,’  George (Harrison) contacted the show and told us later that it was one of the highlights of his life to be sitting at home and watching the Krishnas on Top of the Pops.  He got a kick out of converting a gang of outlandish looking monks into rock stars.

Early the next morning, September 12, Prabhupada dives into his new surroundings.  Walking the magnificent grounds, through prized rhododendron thickets still in bloom, he points his cane at flowers and trees and things around us and makes flowing philosophical statements like, “Just see all these statues of so-called famous men.  Now they are covered with weeds, and no one remembers their names.”  The donkey, John keeps in a meadow, also became a topic for Prabhupada’s wise and often hilarious comments.”

May the Source be with you!

4 km

Monday, September 25th, 2017
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Toronto, Ontario

What People Said!

I have written before about people’s interesting reactions to the robes I wear when out in public, walking along the street.  Early this morning, I received some new responses.

It started with a man, quite intoxicated, on Bloor Street.  “Hey, are you with the circus?”

Then on Yonge Street, which becomes rajasically(passionately) vibrant, especially on a sticky, hot evening like tonight, when just about everyone’s out and about, “Oh monkeeeey!” said the woman and then apologetically retracted, “I mean monk.”  There’s a question of whether or not she’d had a few.

I do take pride in wearing my monastic clothes.  From all that I’ve read, our guru, Srila Prabhupada, held a fearless countenance as he walked the streets of New York.  He carried himself like “an aristocrat.”  Hayagriva, his first student, had said that of him after their first meeting.  I believe Prabhupada wanted us (his students) to dress smartly and not necessarily like an avadhuta, one who is uncaring about attire and behavior, yet renounced.

As I walk on Yonge, I have to keep in mind, upon recalling my early years on the street in a dhoti (lower garment), that if you walk over a subway vent, when the train underneath goes by, the hot wind suddenly shoots up.  It can be embarrassing when clad in a dhoti.

The finishing steps of my early night walk on Yonge were met with nods from several people.  One young fellow in T-shirt and shorts looked at my clothes from afar and as he got closer said, “Yah wanna trade suits?  I like it.”

May the Source be with you!
7 km

Sunday, September 24th, 2017
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Fort Erie, Ontario

Back to Kilometres

One good friend of mine, or shall I say, someone I know who’s a good friend to many, lives on the Canadian side of the border near the Peace Bridge in Fort Erie.  His name is Murali Krsna, aka Mark Griffis, and he has his home situated right on Lake Erie.  I looked him up and popped in for a visit, before proceeding on to Toronto.

The boys and I shared some time, prasadam and a swim with Murali and his life partner, Pundarik.  Murali wasn’t aware of my U.S. walk, what to speak of my completing it.  Now he is, and the congratulations came.  The swim was a thanks and this walking body of mine found it welcoming.

I credit Murali for being a walking companion back in ’96 when he and his son, Tyler, and friend, Malcolm, took to walking with me along the Niagara River.  It was a longwalk.  I managed to make it an 82 kilometre day on that celebratory one called Radhastami, in honour of the consort of Krishna and ‘ultimate’ Goddess.  There’s always a need for cheerleaders and walking buddies can make the best ones.

This final drive from Niagara to Toronto actually marked the official finish of the U.S. walking project.  It was a sweet gesture that the homebase community arranged two fabulous cakes after my talk from verse 2.16 of the Gita.  The ingredients were sugar and spice and everything nice, and the icing was creamy, with a dark outline of the U.S. of A. and footsteps in carob running across the nation from east to west.

I believe the entire community caught a piece of the action—that is, a piece of one of the cakes.  The author of the masterpiece was Systyna.

Thank you all.

“Om Tat Sat.  Thanks an awful lot!”  As Murali would say.

May the Source be with you!
6 km