Saturday, August 16, 2008

travel journal#4.15: Polish Woodstock 2008

Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 4, No. 15
By Krishna-kripa das
(August 2008, part one)
Polish Woodstock 2008
(Sent from near Kolobrzeg, Poland on 8/17/08)

Where I Am and What I Am Doing

We assisted Indradyumna Swami and his team at a spiritual cultural festival at the site of Przystanek Woodstock, the largest European outdoor rock concert, during the period from July 30 to August 3. Here I share some impressions from this year's event and do not attempt to describe it completely. My web pages from previous years, 2001, 2002, and 2003, give an overall impression the whole event. I also advise reading Indradyumna Swami's journal on Woodstock when it comes out at http://www.traveling-preacher.com/ for it is more comprehensive. I only participate in a small part of the festivities, and I only have time to describe some of what I experienced.

Ratha-yatra



We had Ratha-yatra every day at the Poland Woodstock festival.

Some punks were very eager to sweep the street before Lord Jagannatha and successfully competed with the devotees for the service. When they got the chance, they were so enthusiastic the nearby devotees became covered with dust. Some pulled the ropes of the cart with full strength, minimizing the contribution of the devotees in comparison. Some continued for three hours, from beginning to end. They were less in number but were actually doing the job of pulling the cart.


Many people smiled to view Lord Jagannatha, Lord Baladeva, and
Lady Subhadra, on Their carts and their dancing devotees in front.

Govinda Dasa from Scotland and Hare Krishna Dasa from Italy, seen here playing accordions, were among the visiting kirtana leaders.

The devotee musicians, like Jagannatha Misra Prabhu on the whompers, Syama Rasa Prabhu on the djembe, and Bhakta Tom on the gong, were really fired up.

The dancing in front of the Ratha-yatra was a great joy for the devotees and the Woodstock attendees, and to see it as an observer was a joy as well.


Many, many people danced with us.


Indradyumna Swami himself was one of the liveliest dancers.


Just see the people smiling and dancing!


Indradyumna Swami and B. B. Govinda Swami dance with the Woodstock folks, some quite outlandishly dressed, like the guy with the mask looking at B. B. Govinda Swami.
The young ladies also delighted in dancing with the devotees before Lord Jagannatha's cart.
One girl with dredlocks, wearing a long, shining, golden dress, danced with upraised arms with great pleasure before Lord Jagannatha. She came up to me, in the middle of our first Ratha-yatra, saying she remembered me from my chanting at the train station after Woodstock last year. I dredged my memory and then it occurred to me. One of the hundred or two hundred people, either lining the platform or sitting on the train, and hearing our mini harinama was one girl, who I recalled because as she danced with us, she twirled her longest dredlock, which was so long it touched the ground behind her. Like our martial artist, Dina Dayal Prabhu, who twirls his sword, to the front, the left, the right, and back, she did the same with her longest dredlock. This year, that girl, conspicuous by her long, shining, golden dress, danced in every single Ratha-yatra for at least half an hour, smiling brightly the whole time. After the last Ratha-yatra, I asked the town of her residence, and gave her our invitation to our center in the nearby city of Wroclaw, telling her she can come there and dance with us every week. Perhaps she will for she seemed to have gotten a higher taste.
The participation of the both devotees and the Woodstock attendees in the Ratha-yatra has great spiritual value. Srila Prabhupada writes in The Nectar of Devotion, "In the Brahmanda Purana it is said, 'A person who sees the Lord's Ratha-yatra car festival and then stands up to receive the Lord can purge all kinds of sinful results from his body.' . . . A similar statement is there in the Bhavishya Purana, in which it is said, 'Even if born of a lowly family, a person who follows the Ratha-yatra car when the Deities pass in front or from behind will surely be elevated to the position of achieving equal opulence with Vishnu [the Supreme Lord].'" Elsewhere in the book it is stated: "In the Bhavishya Purana it is said, 'In such a ceremony, if even a candala [dog-eater], simply out of curiosity, sees the Lord on the cart, he becomes counted as one of the associates of Vishnu.'"
Many videos on You Tube show scenes from the Krishna presence at Woodstock, and by searching for "Woodstock 2008 Krishna" you will encounter them. Just after two or so minutes into it, this particular video shows a lot of the lively dancing at the Ratha-yatra.
Bhakti Marg Swami's Spontaneous Kirtana
With the Woodstock Folk


The last two days of the Woodstock, Bhakti Marg Swami decided to do kirtana in the evening in the interior of our village, on the opposite side from our stage. Without arrangement of stage or amplication, he just sat with them, reminding us of Srila Prabhupada chanting under the tree in Tompkins Square Park in the early days, surrounded by the hippies. Some people around Bhakti Marg Swami were sitting eating, some resting, and some intoxicated. The first day he engaged Bhakta Tom as a djembe player, but the second he started just clapping his hands and chanting and gradually attendees and some devotees gathered to participate, some of both groups bringing instruments. The Woodstock attendees really got into the down home kirtana, and jumped up and down, dancing with great enthusiasm. He chose simple tunes that made it easy to learn and chant along with the mantra, and they responded. I as well as others passed many mantra cards to the people, who were in many ways more lively than those dancing in our kirtana tent. The inspired people would drag their friends into the middle and encourage them to participate as well to their mutual delight. That Bhakti Marg Swami was willing to sit down in the midst of the people really won their hearts and inspired them to participate. When Indradyumna Swami and B. B. Govinda Swami began their chanting on the stage, Bhakti Marg Swami slowly walked in that direction, surrounded by his group, and upon arriving at the main tent, humbly requested those following him to dance in front of the stage to the kirtana of the Maharajas, and thus ended his kirtana.

Bhakti Marg Swami also produced a Bhagavad-gita drama that was shown on our stage, both at the Woodstock and the rest of the summer tour, and which makes many of Krishna's main teachings in that book come alive. The devotees all hope he can return next year, and share his enthusiasm with us.

Notable Impressions

For me, what made Woodstock most rewarding this year was connecting interested people with Krishna programs in their local areas. Trisama Prabhu, who has been involved in nama-hatta for many years, gave me a list of all temples and nama-hatta contacts in Poland. I was able to connect about thirteen people, in five regions in Poland, with local groups, so they can continue their devotional association, most essential for spiritual progress, if they are ambitious enough to do so.

The Polish devotees who know English are engaged in many important services, and so none were on hand in the kirtana tent to translate Adi Karta Prabhu’s brief talk about the chanting. Thus he asked for a translator from the audience, and one young lady volunteered. She spoke quite confidently and accurately as far as I could tell. Eager to indentify someone who knew English, and thus someone who I could talk to, I spoke with her afterward. She is majoring in linguistics and had recently taken a course on interpretation. By Krishna's grace, she was just a suitable person to play the role of a translator! She is from Krakow, the city in Poland famous for its university and student population. I told her we have periodic programs there, with singing, food, and philosophy, and she took down the contact information of our local nama-hatta devotee.

Giving out mantra cards to those watching and participating in the kirtanas was a great joy for me. Some people showed their happiness in receiving the cards by smiles, gestures, and with exclamations, and some by eagering showing them to their friends, who then also wanted them. Some exclaimed "Text!" as if a long cherished desire had been fulfilled. A few were so happy they wanted to embrace us. I thank Indradyumna Swami who kindly had the forsight to print 17,000 such cards of which we may have distributed 4,000, and to Jayatam Jaya Sila Prabhu who designed them. We are primarily distributing the holy name in this Hare Krishna movement, and I was happy to assist in this.

Giving out invitations for our festival of spiritual food and entertainment was also rewarding. It is nice to promote an event you believe in and which others appreciate. Practically 90% of the people would take the invitations. Even the final evening, when there were only four hours remaining, still 70% of the people would take the invitations, one time seven people in a row did. I passed out the invitations in a very graceful way with a smile and often a hearty "Zapraszamy" ("We invite you"). And people reciprocated accepting them sometimes gracefully, sometimes with folded hands, and often with a smile. Sometimes they would have a grim or neutral expression on their faces, which would break out in a smile, and they would reach out and take one.

I have corresponded with one girl, Paulina, since she came to our festival in Kolobrzeg in 2006. She visited our Krishna village this Woodstock on the first full day. Later she came by the kirtana tent when I was leading kirtana, and more competent lead singers had deserted to the Ratha-yatra. I was happy to see that she sang along, smiling. I kept the same tune going as I know you can lose people by leaving a gap between tunes or singers, and the crowd built up from two or three to twenty or thirty, including a few dancers. When a couple good lead singers arrived, I ended and asked Paulina to translate a few words for me about the mantra. I knew she was not confident of her English, and would be reluctant, but I thought it would be a good thing anyway. I explained how the mantra was composed of God’s names, and God is not different from His names. God is full of happiness, and by associating with Him in the form of the holy name, you can become happy. She is from near Wroclaw, and I gave her an invitation to that temple which I obtained from our book tent. She promised to come.

For me, Woodstock meant meeting old friends and making new ones.

Besides those I spoke of, on our first harinama, I met a boy I spoke to in the bus from the Ukraine border when I had taken Gour Mohan to Lvov in the beginning of July. He had told me he knew us from Woodstock and said he would see us there, which he did. Had he not shown me the train station, I would not have made the train, scheduled to leave two minutes after I boarded it.

I saw also Izabela, a resident of Kostrzyn, who I also knew from 2006. She was eager to come again for Krishna prasadam.

One girl from near Wroclaw spoke to me during the Ananda Maya (the successor of Village of Peace and 18 Days) concert. We talked about the spiritual Village of Peace songs we both liked. She bought a book from our Wroclaw center a month ago. I told her of our four-day nama-hatta Janmastami festival near Jelenie Gora, and she wondered if she could set her tent up there at our farm, and I promised to send her information about it.

I met a couple girls from north Germany. One knew English well, having lived in Canada three months. She had done charitable work in Tamil Nadu for three months, enjoyed India, and had spiritual aspirations. I told her about our temples in Vrindavana and Mayapur, and gave her the web page addresses for our German and English web sites.

Many people liked the prasadam, which was better than previous years. Even the day after, we served out the leftovers to some very grateful people. I invited one boy from Berlin to next weekend’s Ratha-yatra there.

I thanked the ambassador to India for his great lecture in Kolobrzeg. I mentioned the translation of the Gita verse he spoke on. I said I liked the fact than he showed how the Gita can practically benefit our lives. He says he will retire in a year, although his term lasts three. I reminded him that Vedic culture teaches retirement for the purpose of spiritual development.

 
The kirtana tent was special this year because the dancing had reached another level. The kind of dance where the people form a chain and go up and around and back, in and out, and all around, abounded. It seemed there were fifty or even seventy people in the one, two, or occasionally three, such winding chains of people. Half were devotees and half were on the way. To see the happy smiles of all involved was joyous. Some of the people happily chanted as well. This kind of dancing went on for three hours nonstop, and I could not believe the endurance of the people.

Credit goes to B. B. Govinda Swami, and his traveling musicians, and Indradyumna Swami for the lively chanting, all motivating the late night dancing. B. B. Govinda would start very slow and bring the kirtana to a lively speed, and then start slow once again. Once eleven-year-old Mallika, Indradyumna Swami’s brother’s step daughter, lead the tune B. B. Govinda Swami and his excellent female singer had been chanting. Her chanting there, standing on the stage, with a microphone, was charming, and people loved it.
Sometimes people would watch from the outside, then start moving with the music, and finally rush into the tent and join in. Others, with previously generated enthusiasm, would come running from a distance. Sometimes mothers would dance with their children, or they would encourage their children to dance.

People of all ages took the mantra cards, with few indifferent to them. One girl claimed I offered her a card five times, but it was very hard to remember the faces, and some people I thought I may have given them to, took them like it was the first time.
I saw one boy on several occasions at our different functions. Towards the end of the festival he had a Bhagavad-gita and a blue bead bag. He lamented during our final kirtana that he would be separated from us. I encouraged him that we have periodic programs in many areas, and he said that the devotees told him about the one near him. I asked if his school or work would prevent him from coming, and he said no but his parents would. Still he is fortunate to get Gita and the holy name, and I tried to encourage him as best I could.

B. B. Govinda Swami and Indradyumna Swami did kirtana on our main stage the final night.


The dancing was especially wonderful.

While I helped clean up the festival the day after, a middle-aged woman questioned me in Polish. I referred her to a Polish devotee who often does questions and answers. I noticed a hour later, they were still talking. Some people like that lady were quite inquisitive.

All in all, many, many tens of thousands of people came in touch with Krishna in a favorable way those four days, thus they progressed spiritually. We thank Indradyumna Swami and the selfless devotees working under his directions for their tireless service to make it all possible, and Srila Prabhupada for engaging us all in these auspicious activities.

Bliss at the Train Station the Day After

Remembering our last year’s harinama at the train station, and seeing how the one girl with the dredlocks who had seen us then, participated in all our Ratha-yatras this year, I tried to get a few friends to chant at the train station where a few hundred people would be waiting for trains back home. Everyone was too busy taking down the festival or too tired. One said he would come if I arranged a car, which I failed to do—the fifteen-minute walk being unthinkable. I decided at 9:00 p.m. to go myself with some karatalas and mantra cards. On the way out I found a huge bucket of halava in the parking lot, and recalled how one devotee distributed some at the train station after our harinama last year. When I went into the kitchen to get a smaller bucket it to transfer it to, I saw Radhe Govinda Prabhu. "O great, a surrendered soul!" I thought. I was in bliss because I knew Radhe Govinda liked adventure, sharing Krishna consciousness, and wasn’t afraid to stay up late. I explained that I wanted to distribute some halava at the train station. He said it was a one-man job, and I could do it alone. I replied that that was true, but I did not have the mental strength to deal with the groups of people, some of whom are drunk and some of whom tease you and make life difficult, and I wanted the association of another devotee. He could appreciate that, so we went together, getting there around 10:00 p.m. There were groups of people there, and some were quite eager to get the free halava and most accepted the complimentary mantra cards as well.

One person taking the halava, Dorian Dec, who spoke English, said he had come to our camp and really appreciated our kitchen. He also asked about the mantra, and we explained the meaning of each word. He wanted to hear it, and I took out my karatalas and we all chanted together briefly. He asked about many things and he talked with us, especially with Radhe Govinda, for two hours, until his train left. Sometimes while he was talking with Radhe Govinda, I would chant and distribute halava to others. Dorian said he had come to one of our Baltic coast festivals in 1999 and seen a drama. He thought for a few seconds, and then exclaimed "Ramacandro!" a line from the play, saying it with the same intonation and feeling that the actor does. He then remembered the evil multiheaded Ravana. Radhe Govinda smiled and said, "That was me. I was there in 1999, and I played Ravana." Dorian also remembered the demoness who lost her ears and nose. I was amazed that someone would recall so many details from a play he saw nine years before, beginning with the all-auspicious name of Lord Ramacandra. Dorian also had me write his name in Sanskrit, and he took another cup of halava for his several-hour journey home, as did a couple other people. Dorian lives in Opole, about an hour from Wroclaw by train. I gave him an invitation for our Wroclaw temple. He and we were very happy about our meeting.

While we were talking with Dorian, a boy with a djembe came up to us, introducing himself as the person Indradyumna Swami had danced with on Ratha-yatra two years ago. He had also come and danced in this year’s Ratha-yatra, and devotees told me he was much improved in appearance. He mentioned he lost his meditation beads, but we did not have any extras. Had I been less spaced out, I could have got his address so we could send him some. It is nice how Krishna keeps sending us people with previous relationships with devotees when we go out.

To go from spending fifteen hours a day sharing Krishna consciousness with people, as we had for four days, down to none was too much. Our little two-hour outing helped fill the void. I recall how Srila Prabhupada said in a letter to his press workers, that he liked all the devotees, even those involved in his most sacred book production, to go out on sankirtana at least an hour a day and share Krishna consciousness with others.

Woodstock Impact


One evening as our summer tour drew to a close, I congratulated one new mataji, Isvari Dasi, on her initiation by Kavicandra Swami. To inspire her I told her how Kavicandra Swami once suddenly told me as I entered the temple room in San Diego fifteen years ago, "We must desire that these people become Krishna conscious. So many people became Krishna conscious simply because Srila Prabhupada desired it so." It was such a powerful point it stuck in my mind for so many years.

She told me she first met the devotees a year or so ago when she had come to Woodstock. She saw me in our questions and answers tent. She recalled how I said I wore devotional clothes even while going to the post office and the bank and that it was not a problem. She remembered I showed my bead bag and beads and demonstrated how to chant. After the Woodstock, she got some cloth and made bead bags for her and her husband, bought some beads at a store, and took up chanting Hare Krishna. This year her family spent a lot of time helping out on the tour, and she ultimately took initiation. We always wonder about the results of all our endeavor in putting on the Woodstock and the summer tour. When we see people, like Isvari and her husband, taking Krishna consciousness seriously. We realize it is all worth it.

tava kathamritam tapta-jivanam
kavibhir iditam kalmasapaham
sravana-mangalam srimad atatam
bhuvi grnanti ye bhuri-da janah

"[The gopis said to Krishna:] The nectar of Your words and the descriptions of Your activities are the life and soul of those suffering in this material world. These narrations, transmitted by learned sages, eradicate one's sinful reactions and bestow good fortune upon whoever hears them.These narrations are broadcast all over the world and are filled with spiritual power. Certainly those who spread the message of Godhead are most munificent." (SB 10.31.9)

Tuesday, August 05, 2008

travel journal#4.14: Polish Festival Tour - Last Half of July

Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 4, No. 14
By Krishna-kripa das
(July 2008, part two)
Polish Festival Tour
(Sent from near Kolobrzeg, Poland on 8/5/08)

Where I Am and What I Am Doing

I lived in a school with 200 devotees, half an hour from Poland's Baltic Sea coast. We did three hours of harinama and had a four and a half hour festival six days a week at different towns along the coast. Then on July 26, we went to Kostrzyn, a Polish city about an hour east of Berlin, to set up a spiritual cultural festival at the site of Przystanek Woodstock, the largest European outdoor rock concert.

A Prabhupada Story

Mother Sitala tells that in 1976 when Srila Prabhupada came to visit New Mayapur, where she resided, there were many difficulties there. There were difficulties in personal dealings between devotees, problems at the gurukula, a financial strain, etc. One day during his visit, Prabhupada toured the property followed by his disciples. He sat down and the devotees surrounded him. Srila Prabhupada then said to the devotees, "Krsna consciousness is so nice, what is the problem to execute it? What is the difficulty?" Sitala looked around, and she saw all the devotees smiling at Srila Prabhupada. A little anxious, she thought, "No one is telling Srila Prabhupada about the problems. Perhaps I should." Then she went through all the problems in her mind, one by one, concluding that each was not significant enough to bother Srila Prabhupada with. When she came to the end of them, she began to smile too. Looking around at all the devotees beaming at him, Srila Prabhupada said, smiling, "Yes, when we are Krishna conscious, there is no problem." For him there were no problems, and at least for the moment, there were no problems for the devotees sitting there in Srila Prabhupada's presence.

Devotional Notes

Notes from Indradyuma Swami's classes at the festivals:

God gave human beings extra intelligent above the animals not for science and technology but for God realization.

Just as when a student fails final exam, he has to take the course over again, the soul has to take another birth if he doesn't realizes his relationship with God.

There must be a balance between the spiritual and material, but now we are emphasizing the material too much. We destroy the environment because we act out of greed, not out of need. The solution is to lead a spiritual, more natural, way of life.

Bhagavad-gita is like a unabridged spiritual dictionary.

From an Indradyumna Swami ista-gosthis:

Before the marriage ceremony of three couples, the wind was so heavy it tore the decorative flap from one side of the stage. The sky was also cloudy. Amazingly enough, however, by the time of the marriage, the wind stopped and the sun even came out. Indradyumna Swami told us that on the stage, during the marriage ceremony, he mentioned that he would like to thank a very special person without whom the marriage ceremony would not have been able to happen, and that person is God. The people in the audience became thoughtful and glanced toward the heavens. Maharaja remarked that he likes Poland because the people actually appreciate such remarks.

Nothing can replace purity. We have our schemes for preaching and our financial programs, but without purity we have nothing. Why? Because we are simply instruments. For millions of years we have been engaged in sense enjoyment, and for just a few years, we have been practicing Krishna consciousness, so how can this movement be going on because of us. No, it is by the strong desire of Srila Prabhupada, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, Bhaktivinoda Thakura, and the previous acaryas that this movement is going on. We are the instruments, and if we do not remain fit instruments by maintaining our purity, how can there be success?

We are always happy because we are sharing Krishna consciousness with others. Not that because it is not sunny, we are not happy.

Notes from Indradyumna Swami's class on Srimad-Bhagavatam 6.2.45-46:

The holy name of the Lord is an incarnation of the Lord, and so the holy name has the same three purposes as other incarnations: to protect the pious, to reform the impious, and to reestablish the principles of religion.

Ajamila was especially sinful since as a brahmana advanced in knowledge, he still acted sinfully.

Wisdom from Bhaktivaibhava Swami:

It may feel artificial sometimes in our present state, but it is the quality of the soul to always glorify Krishna and the Vaishnavas, and to always render services.

Everyone is looking for Krishna, but they do not know it.

There is nothing more important than this sankirtana process.

Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati explained in a lecture in Puri that when Ajamila called Narayana, his son's name, he soon realized that his son could not save him. Then he remembered the original Narayana, and Lord Narayana sent His servants, the Vishnudutas to protect Ajamila.

A lawyer was taken by Yamaraja at the time of death. As the lawyer used to argue his cases, he protested, "How is it you are taking me? You have given me no warning. Warnings are always given before one is arrested for an offense."
Yamaraja asked him, "How many teeth do you have?"
The lawyer replied, "Two."
Yamaraja asked him, "What color is your hair?"
The lawyer replied, "White."
In this way, Yamaraja asked him about different symptoms of old age all of which the lawyer admitted to having. Finally Yamaraja concluded, "You say I have given you no warning, but I have given you so many warnings!"
In this way we are warned about impending death and should take spiritual life seriously.
Q: What is the most important instruction on chanting?
A: We must hear our chanting. Srila Prabhupada said than you can not artificially think of Krishna's pastimes while you chant, but by hearing the chanting you will become purified, and you will spontaneously remember Krishna's pastimes.

If we have faith but no taste, we may not continue for long. By the blessings of the devotees, we can get this taste, and so we should always associate with the devotees in such a way that we will get their blessings.

Q: How can I surrender to Krishna?
A: Chant Hare Krishna. Krishna is His name. But we think, "That is too easy," and we look elsewhere.

The word "medhi" refers to the pole that the oxen walk around. Thus a grhamedhi is one who walks around in circles with his home in the center, not breaking out of the orbit of familial activities to pursue spiritual life.

Notes from Bhagavatam classes:

Trisama Prabhu, a veteran of the Polish tour, recounted an incident when Pankajangrhi Prabhu joined the tour for three weeks, a few years ago. The devotees who had to stay back at the base to do service and could not attend the festivals requested to have a meeting with Pankajangrhi Prabhu. When he addressed them, tears came to his eyes, and he said, "What qualifications do I have to address you. You are doing the best thing." He continued, "We must remember the most important thing is service. Without that, nothing would go on." The mood changed, and the devotees forgot their fatigue and began to glorify Lord Krishna. 

Festival Experiences

One day on the harinama at Miedzyzdroje, I saw a girl perhaps ten or twelve years old running as fast as she could down a side street toward the middle of our chanting party. When she reached the party, she immediately joined us behind the group of ladies at the beginning and began to copy their dancing movements with great accuracy. After two or three blocks then she disappeared and returned in five minutes with a smaller girl about half her size, and the two of them walked behind the last row of women in the beginning of the party following their dance. I wondered whether she had remembered us from a previous year, but I did not know enough Polish ask her. I wished I had a movie camera to capture her enthusiasm.

Ewa, one inspiring and aspiring disciple of Indradyumna Swami engaged a friend of hers, named Aleksandra, who lives in Niechorze, one of the towns where we have festivals, in translating her Polish to English so she could speak with me. I later asked Aleksandra how long she had come to the festivals and what she likes most about them. She said she has been coming to them for fifteen years, and that she likes everything about them. When I pressed her further, she mentioned the food and the kirtana were special favorites. Two years ago she won a sari in the evening dance contest. Out of curiosity, I asked her age, and she said seventeen—she had remembered coming to our festivals since she was two! Later I saw her in the vegetarian cooking lesson booth. She is developing a desire to learn vegetarian cooking, and she helped us clean up our cooking tent at the end of the evening.

I was very impressed with Bhaktivaibhava Swami's handling of questions in the questions and answers tent, and I felt I learned a lot I could use in my own attempts to present the philosophy of Krishna consciousness:

This mission of human life is to develop a higher consciousness. "Higher" means moving toward the eternal. The soul is eternal. The body is temporary. Thus reincarnation must exist. It is not a belief but a necessity, if we accept the soul is eternal.

Everything here is temporary. It is like a film we see for half and hour and then it is over. Why does the pattern of three colors on the white screen stir up emotions in us? It is because the images are reflections of the world around us. Similarly this world is an attraction because it is a reflection of the spiritual world.

Happiness in this world is based on agitating the senses, and then pacifying that agitation.

The foremost cause of developing the desire for liberation is association with persons already practicing the process of liberation.

What we require now is knowledge, not just another speculative theory. Knowledge is satisfying.

You can have so many doubts, therefore, we have a practice that yields realizations to clear the doubts.

Q: Do you have tolerance of other religions?
A: Yes. Veda means truth. We accept the truth wherever we see it in other religions, but we cannot accept when untruth is promoted as truth.
 
Q: Do you have Satan?
A: Not as a separate competitor to God, but as God's illusory energy who separates us from God.
 
Theistic graffiti:
Nietzsche: "God is dead.
God: "Nietzsche is dead."

Explosions never create order. Otherwise you could to a big business: first set off an explosion, then wait for the pieces to fall into place, forming a house, and sell it, making a lot of money.

To create cells, which are highly complex, and the bodies formed of them, which are still more complex, is so complicated that we cannot believe that anyone can possess such a brain. But God actually has such a brain.

Q: Why is it so difficult to follow a program of self-improvement?
A: Habits are so deeply rooted. Seeing successful examples around us can give us faith that self-improvement is possible. We cannot give up if success is not immediate. We should be like a child learning to walk, who does not remain sprawled out on the floor when he falls, but tries again and again, finally attaining success.

The aura is the effulgence of the prana.

When we say, "We are not the body", it does not mean that the Hare Krishnas hate bodies. Just like if I say, "you are not your car." I am just trying to stress that you are more important than your car. Similarly, the soul is more important than the body.
 
---
 
satam prasangan mama virya-samvido
bhavanti hrt-karṇa-rasayanaḥ kathah
taj-josanad asv apavarga-vartmani
sraddha ratir bhaktir anukramisyati

In the association of pure devotees, discussion of the pastimes and activities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is very pleasing and satisfying to the ear and the heart. By cultivating such knowledge one gradually becomes advanced on the path of liberation, and thereafter he is freed, and his attraction becomes fixed. Then real devotion and devotional service begin (SB 3.25.25)