Is touching the digital Bhagavatam in our phone equivalent to touching the book Bhagavatam?
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In future, when physical books are replaced by digital books, how will we distribute books?
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How do we differentiate between accepting the presence of our inclinations and pandering to them?
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As we advance, will our physical needs go down to Raghunatha Dasa Goswami’s level?
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To change vision, change intention by study and association
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[Bhagavatam class at ISKCON, Chowpatty, Mumbai, India]

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Podcast Summary

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No worries, mate!
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(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 01 October 2013, Melbourne, Australia, Srimad Bhagavatam 2.3.1)

aditiviMany things are considered justified in the name of sankirtan. You know, in the name of sankirtan, you can do any damn thing! I wouldn’t think so.

I think that even in the name of sankirtan, sankirtan devotees should be careful and should avoid unnecessary suffering to other living beings. We should be strict about what we eat, we should read the E-numbers and if they’re the wrong ones, we should not eat it.

(Australian accent) “Anyway, who cares about these things! Can’t be fanatic. You know, it’s the sankirtan movement, Lord Caitanya is very merciful. It’s alright! No worries. She’ll be right”. (This is a reference to an Australian slang/idiom which basically means “everything will be okay”)

I’m not so sure if “she’ll be right”. Yes, I have my doubts about it.

A Facelift for Prabhupada’s Palace of Gold – May/June 2016 Back To Godhead
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A Facelift for Prabhupada’s Palace of Gold

Back to Godhead May/June 2016

By Satyaraja Dasa

In the 1970s a dedicated group of devotees cooperated to build it; now a new group is determined to restore it to its former glory.

(Archival research by Chaitanya Mangala Dasa)

In the summer of 1965 His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada left India with a specific mission: his teacher, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, had bestowed upon him the loving task of bringing the profound spiritual wisdom of Krishna consciousness to the Western world.

Arriving in New York City that fall, Srila Prabhupada naturally felt deep separation from Vrindavan, the sacred land of Lord Krishna where he had lived for many years. There he contemplated his mission and the methods he would employ to transplant ancient Vedic wisdom in Occidental soil. While on his way to America by sea, Prabhupada particularly felt separation from the major deities of Vrindavan, “My Lords, Govindaji, Gopinath, and Radha Damodar,” as he noted in his diary.

He soon opened his first temple on the Lower East Side of New York, and then temples in San Francisco, Montreal, Los Angeles, and London. In all these temples, deities of Krishna would grace lavish altars, assuaging his feelings of separation.

It is no wonder, then, that in 1968 when two early disciples, Kirtanananda Swami and Hayagriva Dasa, bought a farm in West Virginia – a peaceful, rustic environment that Prabhupada would name “New Vrindaban” – he quickly asked them to establish seven Krishna temples, reminiscent of Vrindavan’s seven major temples. Prabhupada wanted New Vrindaban to be a place of pilgrimage in the West.

“New Vrindaban should be taken up very seriously,” he wrote to Hayagriva, “because actually I want to develop a replica of Old Vrindaban. I have got ambition to construct there 7 temples as follows: 1. Radha Madan Mohan, 2. Radha Govinda, 3. Radha Gopinatha, 4. Radha Damodara, 5. Radha Raman, 6. Radha Gokulananda, 7. Radha Syamasundara.”

After visiting New Vrindaban, Prabhupada said he wanted to make it his new home. He felt comfortable there and saw it as a genuine holy place, a manifestation of the eternal Vrindavana, the spiritual world. In June 1969 he wrote to his disciple Dayananda Dasa, “I have decided that I shall spend four months in New Vrindaban and eight months in Los Angeles. That will be my regular program.”

In numerous letters, lectures, and public conversations, Prabhupada outlined the basic concept for New Vrindaban: “simple living and high thinking,” an agrarian, close-to-the-earth, Krishna conscious way of life. New Vrindaban would be a place for cow protection and for training ideal bra hmanas.

Soon after his enthusiastic disciples started conceiving the first temple complex, Bhagavatananda Dasa, a sculptor who would eventually develop the talents of a structural engineer, suggested they first build a house for Srila Prabhupada. After all, the core of devotional life is service to the spiritual master. The proposed structure would be a place where Prabhupada could translate India’s sacred texts while appreciating the country atmosphere and the association of his dedicated disciples.

The Building Blocks of Devotion

The original plans for Prabhupada’s New Vrindaban dwelling took shape on a napkin, casually drawn by Kirtanananda Swami in 1972. But as construction proceeded, the design became more and more ambitious. It was as if Krishna Himself took over the project. The devotees were inexperienced and unpaid, since they saw their work as devotional service to Lord Krishna, and they had to face the harsh Appalachian winters. But Prabhupada’s home began to exceed their wildest expectations. While “on the job,” the devotees learned to make and use cement, cut marble and crystal, work with semi-precious stones, carve teakwood, fabricate stained glass, and apply gold leaf. Driven by an intense desire to please Srila Prabhupada, they evolved the concept of a simple home into one for an ornate palace.

Much to the surprise of experts in architecture, construction, and related fields, the New Vrindaban novices gradually created an abiding monument that would be the envy of professionals. The devotees made prodigious use of marble, teak, onyx, and 22-karat gold leaf. With its mirrored ceilings, impeccable stained-glass artwork, and polished mosaic floors, the palace looked like a modern spaceship from ancient India that somehow landed in West Virginia. As if the central structure was not enough, the devotees surrounded it with exquisitely crafted terraces, turrets, manicured lawns, and, compliments of Lord Krishna, incomparable vistas.

Remembering the Builders

Though many devotees labored incessantly, whether working onsite or raising funds, the following dedicated souls were particularly instrumental.

Varshana Swami (then Kashyapa Dasa) sculpted the terraces, walkways, roadways, rose garden, pond, and causeway out of a rugged and raw Appalachian ridge. He supervised blasting crews and operated heavy equipment for over eighteen hours a day. His dedication was indispensable in setting the groundwork for the efforts to come.

Sanatha Devi Dasi conducted much of the initial research and supervised the early design and construction. She had studied structural engineering at Pratt Institute in New York City, but had no idea she would be using her skills in Krishna’s service. She created blueprints and coordinated the efforts of marble layers, stained-glass fitters, plumbers, electricians, casters, and cement layers, all crucial to the early stages of construction.

Kuladri Dasa, New Vrindaban’s temple president at the time, was a significant part of the original team. He oversaw the design, coordinated the various departments, and put the final touches of gold leaf on the main structure.

Nityodita Dasa rose to the challenge not only by mixing and laying cement by hand, a time-consuming chore that was new to him, but by learning how to cut marble and polish the end results like a pro.

Bhagavatananda Dasa was the structural engineer and sculptor. He supervised the construction of the 300-ton dome and sculpted the mood-inducing peacocks, elephants, and ornaments, as well as the embellished walls and columns.

Sudhanu Dasa went to India to learn carving, a talent he brought back to the Palace and taught to others.

Several devotees contributed their skills in the beaux arts, adding to the palace’s elegance: Narendra Dasa, assisted by apprentices, did a good portion of the glass work, including cutting and fashioning thousands of scraps of fine glass into intricately framed windows and novel stained-glass showpieces. Ishani Devi Dasi designed and hand crafted the magnificent chandeliers peppering the Palace, along with the jewelry decorating the deities and the Palace icons of Srila Prabhupada. Muralidhara Dasa and Vishnu Dasa created beautiful oil paintings of Krishna’s pastimes. From the vaulted ceiling of the temple room to the large portrait of Srila Prabhupada on the temple wall, all are masterworks that artfully enhance an already extraordinary visage.

Others, like Soma Dasa, offered numerous talents to the mix: brick and marble laying, concrete work and woodwork, mold making, casting, and so on. Soma was present when Prabhupada came to visit New Vrindaban in the summer of 1974, partly to see how his “home” was coming along. When one devotee asked if the structure should be illuminated with embedded jewels, like Lord Krishna’s palace, Srila Prabhupada pointed his cane at the men and women who had been working so hard on the Palace: “These devotees are my jewels.” Endearingly, he also thanked Soma, leaving his disciple with a treasured memory.

For roughly seven years, the New Vrindaban devotees worked through grueling winters and scorching summers, spending hour after hour on scaffolds, in dry fields, in inhospitable work areas – without caring for bodily comforts. Indeed, they gave everything they had so they could offer a great tribute to their spiritual master. The Palace is an ultimate gift of love to Srila Prabhupada.

Much to the devotees’ dismay, Prabhupada passed away in November of 1977, and was thus unable to see the completion of his Palace. But because his dedicated disciples viewed their endeavor as a spiritual offering to their teacher, his physical departure did not dissuade or discourage them from completing it. In fact, they became even more determined to create an enduring monument – a memorial.

From Home to Memorial

A month before he passed away, Prabhupada reiterated how important the Palace was to him. He several times expressed his desire to get his strength back so he could visit his home away from home.

“If I survive,” he told some disciples as he lay in bed, “I have a strong desire to go and live there. It will be a great pleasure.” Then, perhaps dismissing the likelihood of recovery, he said, “Let us see to which palace I am going.”

The Palace is Srila Prabhupada’s most significant smriti samadhi (memorial shrine) in the West. His first samadhi is in Vrindavan, where his bodily remains are interred. In Mayapur is his pushpa (flower) samadhi, containing flower garlands he wore on his last day. In the New Vrindaban Palace some of his personal items are preserved.

In 2006 ISKCON’s Governing Body Commission (GBC) resolved to formally recognize Prabhupada’s Palace as a “Shrine and Memorial” on a par with those in Vrindavan and Mayapur. “Srila Prabhupada’s Palace, New Vrindaban, West Virginia, USA,” the resolution states, “[is hereby] given official recognition as a Shrine and Memorial and included in the Law Book 2.3.2 Shrines and Memorials.” By housing worshipable memorabilia belonging to Srila Prabhupada, the Palace functions as a smriti samadhi in the truest sense of the phrase – anyone who visits will be naturally compelled to remember and appreciate Srila Prabhupada. His presence can be deeply felt there.

This fact gives additional meaning to Prabhupada’s poignant words spoken in 1976, while visiting the Palace a year before his passing: “I’m already living here and always will be.”

From Memorial to Palace

Prabhupada’s Palace of Gold officially opened on Sunday, September 2, 1979. The Palace lent credibility and gravitas to New Vrindaban, especially for tourists, most of whom had not previously taken the devotee community seriously. While the people and the philosophy behind the Palace might have remained somewhat inscrutable for most, many could now see that the Hare Krishna movement was something to be reckoned with. Here was a phenomenon that people could understand – a magnificent structure unique in its styling and formidable in its opulence. A sight to behold. Something to tell their children about. “Who could have created this great wonder?”

The Palace was clearly exceptional. Yogeshvara Dasa expressed this well in a July 1981 Back to Godhead article:

In its design the Palace is unique. While most churches and cathedrals reflect orthodox motifs of their culture, the Palace is a blending of Eastern and Western styles, as if to say that service to God is the universal principle of all religions. While the Eastern roots of the Krishna consciousness movement can be seen in the intricate latticework, peacock windows, and traditional marble patterns, the movement’s presence in the West is reflected in castlelike railings, cathedral-inspired arches, and bright color combinations.

In the end, the Palace was everything the devotees had hoped it would be. A commentator for The Today Show said, “You won’t believe your eyes.” Prabhupada would have been proud: Visitors came from all over the world to see what the New York Times dubbed “The Taj Mahal of the West.” At its height in the 1980s, the Palace welcomed hundreds of thousands of visitors a year. These were glory days for New Vrindaban.

The Palace Today

But during the 1980s and early 1990s a series of crimes and spiritual deviations plagued the community. The Palace fell into disrepair. Today, large pieces of the outer wall have deteriorated, sections of wrought iron have rusted irreparably, and parts of the concrete structure are crumbling away. Over the years, devotees repaired and re-painted, but there were limits to what they could do.

Today, Palace manager Vrajadhama Dasa works closely with the Marshall County Tourist Board, and the Palace still receives fifteen to twenty thousand tourists annually. But this is a far cry from the Palace in its heyday. The devotees realize that something needs to be done.

An ambitious multi-year and multi-million dollar renewal effort is in the works, with an enthusiasm that rivals the Palace’s initial construction. The Palace Restoration Committee, established in 2010, is focusing first on the outside Palace wall, and then will move on to the Palace and the grounds.

Gopisha Dasa, project manager for Palace restoration, says, “I was absolutely overwhelmed when I first saw the Palace. It was so beautiful. But what was most exciting to me was the spirit of cooperation, to see so many devotees working together for the pleasure of Srila Prabhupada. That same spirit is alive again, and it will facilitate, even mandate, the Palace’s new incarnation. In fact, it is now a priority to improve the entrance way and front steps by 2016 as an offering to Srila Prabhupada for the fiftieth anniversary of ISKCON.”

In 2012, CNN selected the Palace as one of the eight must-see religious sites in America.* This is no doubt a portent of things to come.

Let go of the burden of hate
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I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.

– Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

Suppose a person is carrying a huge boulder on their back. When asked why they are carrying it, they reply, “I want to throw it on my enemy’s head.” If their enemy lives far away and carrying that boulder that far is likely to break their own back, then they will end up hurting themselves far more than their enemy.

We wouldn’t usually burden our back thus, yet we frequently burden our heart thus. When someone hurts us badly, we often let ourselves become filled with resentment and anger towards them. Anger, when built up, becomes hate. And hate burdens our heart – it crushes our higher aspirations, reducing our world to a colorless, joyless desert wherein nothing matters except taking revenge against our offender. Worse still, hate sticks to our heart. Even if we take revenge, we find to our dismay that hate has become a habit. Some other wrong done by someone soon becomes our new object of hate, again and again and yet again.

How can we free ourselves from this burden? By choosing love instead of hate as our driving emotion. Choosing love doesn’t necessarily mean that we have to love those who have hurt us – that often requires a level of saintliness we may not yet have. Still, at our level, we can choose love by focusing consciously and conscientiously on the things we love. By meditating on the contributions we wish to make in the areas we love, we can direct our intentions more positively. By remembering that life is too short to be wasted in hating anyone, no matter how hateful their actions, we can get the determination to fight against hate instead of for hate.

The Bhagavad-gita offers a vision of life that makes choosing love easier. It explains that we all are souls, eternal parts of the all-attractive supreme, Krishna (15.07). We are meant to find lasting satisfaction by learning to expand our love from the temporary to the eternal. Our love expands when we direct it towards Krishna through the time-honored practice of bhakti-yoga. Such practice helps us experience Krishna’s love for us and relish security and satisfaction therein. Being thus bolstered, we feel inspired to reciprocate by offering him our love through constructive service according to our talents and interests. Hateful people with their malicious agendas can mar some specific paths in our life, but they can never mar our life’s ultimate purpose of linking with Krishna in love. If we focus on loving Krishna and expressing our love for him through practical service in our particular vocations, then we can always find a way to serve, no matter what who does.

Of course, some people may act so unconscionably that they need to be corrected. For example, the Mahabharata depicts how the vicious Kauravas were unrepentantly atrocious. After all attempts have been exhausted, the Bhagavad-gita asks Arjuna to fight for punishing them (11.33). Yet it asks him to do so without any animosity towards them (11.55).

When guided by bhakti wisdom, even if we pursue corrective action against wrongdoers, we do so not out of hate, but in a mood of service. We aim to protect our service from the wrongdoers’ shenanigans; we aim to prevent them from hurting others as they have hurt us; and we aim to ultimately help them by stopping them from incurring further grievous karmic reactions by their hateful actions.

When we choose to act out of love for Krishna, not hate for anyone, our powerful emotional energy no longer works against us by locking our consciousness in the object of our hate. Instead, it works for us by freeing our consciousness to conceive and achieve constructive things in a mood of service.

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If because of physical pain we can’t come for the morning program, are we listening to our mind?
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Gita 14.11 Inner illumination helps us to separate observation from evaluation
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Seminar By Bhakti Charu Swami – 10 Aspects Of Srimad Bhagavatam
Bhakti Charu Swami

Recently Bhakti Charu Swami Maharaj gave seminar on the “Ten aspects of Srimad Bhagavatam” in New Vrindavan last weekend for the Festival of Inspiration. Maharaj gave a wonderful and very systematic presentation on the ten aspects of Bhagavatam and through the seminar established Srimad Bhagavatam...

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Dealing with addiction
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Hare KrishnaBy Dina Krishna Das

We all have attachments in this material world. The secret of success is to dovetail these attachments to Krishna. This is easy said, than done. However, if you have access to a mature devotee, then the doors of detachment will start to open into the garden of Bhakti. We have five senses which are controlled by the mind, anyone of these senses can be captured by the illusory nature we live in. When one goes through a phase of addiction, it is a way to escape from the realities of life. We can see in the UK that binge drinking is a major problem for the local councils to handle. Thousands upon thousands of young men and women are heavily intoxicating their bodies during the evening within the pubs. Why? Because it is a source of pleasure, it is a way to relax; it is a way to forget the problems of life. This material world is full of miseries as Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita. Even if you are rich, famous, intelligent, etc, there will always be suffering. Continue reading "Dealing with addiction
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“Tiger or President – Full of Anxiety”
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Hare KrishnaBy His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Just like here in this planet we have got presidents in each country. So now there are so many presidents. Formerly even on this planet there was one president. They are trying to be united. The United Nation organization, they want to unite. For the last twenty years the United Nations are trying to unite, but the result is we are disunited. Continue reading "“Tiger or President – Full of Anxiety”
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Jaipur Yatra ~ City of Victory
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Hare KrishnaBy Chandan Yatra Das

One time, Jiva Gosvami heard a flute playing, and then Damodar called out and said, “Jiva! Come; I am playing the flute for you.” And Jiva Gosvami came to the altar and there he saw Damodar dancing! The Deity of Damodar was dancing - His three fold bending form playing upon His flute beautiful, sweet music for the pleasure of His devotee. Jiva Gosvami saw the beautiful form of Damodar, whose eyes were like lotus flowers. His head was decorated with a peacock feather, a garland of beautiful forest flowers was around His neck, and lovely ornaments decorated His body. He was dancing and singing, playing sweet, sweet melodies on His flute for His devotee. Jiva Gosvami fell unconscious in ecstasy, and when he came back to consciousness, he could only cry in ecstatic love. These were some of the pastimes that Sri Jiva Gosvami performed with Sri Damodar, who is worshiped here. Continue reading "Jaipur Yatra ~ City of Victory
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To be satisfied
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(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 19 May 2017, Radhadesh, Belgium, Srimad Bhagavatam 8.1.8)

The Bhagavad-gita says that there is austerity of the body, austerity of speech and austerity of the mind. One of the austerities of the mind is to be satisfied. This is interesting. How is it an austerity to be satisfied?

It means that when everything is proper, when all the proper arrangements are made and when things are favourable in spiritual life, then one has to stop his mind from still finding fault. One just has to be satisfied! This is the austerity of the mind – to be satisfied. This is a big thing, this is our biggest austerity.

Srila Prabhupada already made the Hare Krsna movement and that makes everything right. Now our problem is that we just have to be satisfied while we are in it. This is the biggest austerity, bigger than standing on one leg in the forest!

For the love of wisdom
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Philosophy – from the Greek words:

philo – love of, affinity for;

sophos – wisdom.

Philosophy – the love of wisdom

Wisdom – from the Old Norse visdomr – the ability to think and act utilising knowledge, experience, understanding, discernment, insight and common sense – coupled with just judgment as to action.

Philosophy means the love of wisdom, the ability to separate truth from error, reality from illusion, and the subsequent discernment as to correct action. Professional philosophers use the word in specific ways according to which type of reality and illusion they are talking about.

A philosophical discussion on values in human behaviour such as what is right and wrong, or what actions are blameworthy or praiseworthy is known as Ethics.

When philosophy deals with the question of value in arts, such as whether something is beautiful or tasteless, it is known as Aesthetics.  The philosophy of art is concerned with judgements of sense, taste, the emotions that art generates within the beholder, and standards of beauty. Both of these examinations of truth pertaining to values come under the umbrella term Axiology.

An attempt by the philosopher to codify the rules of rational thought is known as Logic. Logicians explore the structure of arguments that preserve truth or allow the optimal extraction of knowledge from evidence. Logic is one of the primary tools philosophers use in their inquiries; the precision of logic helps them to cope with the subtlety of philosophical problems and the often misleading nature of conversational language.

To be a logical philosopher means to not be swayed by emotionally appealing arguments to the detriment of the actual truth. For anything to be accepted as truth, the philosopher first has to ask the question: “Is it logical for me to accept this proposition?”

The study of methods to establish the truth separate from human error and to therefore understand how to verify evidence is known as Epistemology. This type of philosopher studies knowledge itself, the origin and structure of knowledge, and the limits of human knowledge. The main enquiry is to ask how we really know what we say we know, or “What kind of evidence do I need to accept this as true?”

When we have fully examined how we get to know reality, and turn our attention to the nature of existence itself, we will be in the territory of Metaphysics. Metaphysics is the study of the nature of things. Metaphysicians ask what kinds of things exist, and what they are like. They reason about such things as whether or not people have free will, in what sense abstract objects can be said to exist, what is the brain/mind/self and the nature of consciousness, and whether or not there is an ultimate reality or God.

‘Indian Philosophy’

If philosophy is the pure human spirit of enquiry into what is real, true, good or beautiful, then it cannot be divided up by geography or history. And yet in ordinary conversation we do speak of Greek philosophy or 20th century philosophers. We also speak of Catholic or Jewish philosophy, as if it was an entirely separate category of search for truth, involving only those of a particular faith group.

In reality, all attempts to discern reality as separate from illusion are one, whoever is making the effort and wherever they are situated in the world or whatever point in history. Conventional speech alone presses us to define a philosophy in a particular way.

The philosophical rigour of great thinkers in India was already well established centuries before the likes of Aristotle and Socrates. They did not refer to themselves as Hindu philosophers, merely deep thinkers who grappled with the main questions of existence. Their capability for abstract thought was immense. They may not be well known to the West, but their conclusions are every bit as logical, although expressed in the ancient language of Sanskrit rather than Greek, German or English.

One great mediaeval philosopher by the name of Madhva was a logician. When he wrote his philosophical commentary to the Vedanta Sutra, there were already twenty-one other historical commentaries on the same text. In developing his logic, Madhva reasoned that since knowledge meant both an object and a subject, a knower and a known, there must be an individual reality and a universal reality, not merely a unitary reality. He put forward the concept that the universe was real and that the individual self within the universe was real. That there are a multiplicity of selves and a singular universe inferred some relation between the selves, and the selves and the universe. He reasoned that there must be an independent principle, a super-consciousness, to which all the individual expressions of consciousness must be connected:

“The fact of knowledge is indisputable. As there can be no knowledge without a knower, a known or knowable object, the reality of the knower and the objects of knowledge must be accepted. Even though we make mistakes, the possibility of knowledge has still to be admitted.”

sri-jayatirtha

The great logical philosopher Jayatirtha

His student, Jayatirtha, wrote in his book of logic, the Tattvasankhyana Tika:

“The independent principle is that which does not depend on any other for its own nature and existence, self-awareness or for becoming an object of knowledge to the selves and for the free and unfettered exercise of its own powers”

The philosophical enquiries of the Indian philosophers led them into an area of knowledge which today we would term Theology, the study of theos or God. Although theology is considered today to be a separate discipline from philosophy, one more interested in sectarian religious dogma than scientific examination of the truth, the ancient Indian philosophers saw no such hard distinction. They simply saw that their line of enquiry into the ultimate reality led them to the very reasonable conclusion that there existed an independent reality that had unlimited awareness and volition, and the infinitesimal consciousness of the limitless number of individuals was somehow connected and given sustenance by this one entity.

But if this was true, and to understand that truth was to be situated in wisdom, the next step would be to act in the light of that Truth. And a modern thinker would say that this is the point at which philosophy ends and something called religion begins.