Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Travel Journal#7.12: North England

 Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 7, No. 12
By Krishna-kripa das
(June 2011, part two)
North England

(Sent from Oslo, Norway, on July 13, 2011)


Where I Was and What I Did


The second half of June was such a busy time for me, I get exhausted just thinking about it. I traveled in the North of England with Janananda Goswami, Adi Karta Prabhu, and Isvara Prabhu to several nama-hatta and home programs in Leeds, Sheffield, York, and Nottingham, and ending with a city festival the devotees put on in Leicester. Each day we did harinama for a couple of hours in a different city. After the city festival in Leicester, I returned to London for the Saturday night harinama and the Crawley Ratha-yatra the next day. Then I spent a day at the Manor, giving the morning and evening classes, and leaving that night to do harinama and prasadam distribution for six hours, from midnight to 6:00 a.m. at the Stonehenge Solstice festival attended by about 30,000 people. After a couple days of harinama in London, I went to the University of Leeds to attend and present a paper at an academic conference called “Empowerment and the Sacred” organized by Premanjali dd, a Ph.D. candidate and disciple of B. B. Govinda Swami. Then I traveled with a book distribution party from Scotland and lectured on faith and empirical evidence in science and religion at our nama-hattas in Leeds, Sheffield, and Preston, after doing harinama during the day, sometimes alone and sometimes with others.


I share lots of realizations from recorded lectures by Srila Prabhupada and Bhakti Tirtha Swami and from classes by Janananda Goswami, Adi Karta Prabhu, and Isvara Prabhu. I also share excerpts from Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami's latest book, Prabhupada Smaranam. I tell about some results of the Gouranga campaign in Scotland and the North of England, and about a youthful devotee with a lot of energy who served at the Soho temple for two years.


Itinerary


Scandinavian Ratha-yatras: July 8–16
Croatian Harinama Tour: July 19–30
Poland Woodstock: August 1–7
Berlin: August 8–10
Belfast: August 11-18
Trutnov Open Air Festival (Czech Woodstock): August 18–21
Leipzig?: August 22–23 (Janmastami, Vyasa Puja)
Polish tour: August 24–28
Kirtana-mela, Leipzig: August 29–September 4
Lvov, Ukraine?: September 6
Kharkov, Ukraine: September 7–8
Ukraine Festival: September 9–15
Boston Ratha-yatra and Prabhupada festival: September 17–18
New York: September 19–23?
Philadelphia Ratha-yatra: September 24–25
Albany: September 26–30?
Arizona, Nevada, Florida: October–December


Traveling with Janananda Goswami and His Party



It was nice going on harinama in a different city each day. Janananda Goswami is able to encourage people, especially young people, to participate by chanting and dancing, and that makes it all the more lively. In Nottingham, one girl danced with our party at five separate points in our harinama. During our journey it was inspiring to hear the realizations of all the senior devotees in the party. It was also refreshing to hear Adi Karta Prabhu leading a few harinamas.


Stonehenge Solstice Festival



Our party, mostly of devotees from the Bhaktivedanta Manor, led by Parasurama Prabhu, and including Maha-Vishnu Swami, distributed prasadam and chanted from midnight to 6:00 a.m. This year differed from last in that we had a Ratha-yatra from roughly 1 a.m to 3 a.m. I never remember as a Hare Krishna devotee doing Ratha-yatra at that time of night before. Maha-Vishnu Swami had an accordion with the text of the Hare Krishna illuminated so others could see and chant along and many did. Others read the mantra from the side of the cart and also chanted along. Some attenders were very happy to see the Hare Krishnas as their festival, although at least one wondered why the Hare Krishnas were at a Druid festival.


Empowerment and the Sacred


I never planned to present a paper at an academic conference as I do not really feel academically qualified, however, I find I often end up doing things I never planned on doing and this was another. My friend Bhakti Rasa Prabhu, from Newcastle, who is getting a degree from a Wales university, invited me to attend a conference he was attending called “Empowerment and the Sacred” and possibly present a paper. Premanjali dd, an organizer of the conference, knew me from my speaking at the Leeds nama-hatta last year and was eager to have more devotees present papers at the multidisciplinary conference she was co-organizing, along with Lori, her friend. Just the title “Empowerment and the Sacred” filled me with thoughts of how Krishna empowers people in general, and especially how he empowered Srila Prabhupada, and so I agreed to do it. I wrote about Srila Prabhupada and how his personal empowerment and his empowerment of his disciples could be seen from the point of view of Bhagavad-gita, saints in the tradition, and scholars of religion, and what theists can learn from these examples about becoming empowered themselves. It was a challenge, but I found it spiritually uplifting to glorify Srila Prabhupada, Krishna, and their devotees in that way. Kim Knott, a local scholar, who had written books and papers on the Hare Krishna movement and is favorable to it, thought my presentation was acceptable for an academic conference, although obviously more like that of a practitioner than an academic. She felt I could have made the people more ready for the final Powerpoint slide showing a list of qualities and activities leading to empowerment, and I could see her point. She indicated that some kinds of conferences are more suitable for practitioners to share their views and such a multidisciplinary conference as this was among the more favorable. Ironically at those conferences solely attended by religion scholars, one is less inclined to find appreciation for the views of those who practice the religions! I asked her if she would be willing to determine whether such a presentation as mine would be accepted at particular conference, and she agreed. I also asked Premanjali dd to look out for suitable conferences for me to present something. So I may in fact end up presenting papers at other academic conferences in the future.


Notes I took on the conference which relate to religion and may be of interest to devotees:


Kim Knott (University of Leeds)
Keynote address:


Britain is becoming respiritualized.


One poll says two-thirds of people say religion has an important role to play in life, but also two-thirds say religion is more divisive than race.


People are more spiritual than religious, and people are less inclined to institutional religion. Religion is returning, but with many varieties and with variety both within and between groups.


Kim Knott sees three divisions regarding religion: religious, secular, post-secular, and she argues there is no neutral point from which to view all three.


Interesting definition of sacred, Veikko Anttonen, 2000, 280-81:


The sacred is special quality in individual and collective systems of meaning. In religious thinking it has been used as an attribute of situations and circumstances which have some reference to the culture-specific conception of the category of God, or, in non-theological contexts, to some supreme principle . . . [secular sacred things have to do with love, freedom, and other valued ideas]”


Post-secular includes those who value humanistic values like equality but want to add the mystical like some satanists, or geographers who want to include the idea of the sacred in their field. The term post-secular is become more and more popular and even councils [what they call the local government bodies in England] are using the term.


Phrases like “unholy alliances” signal something worthy of investigation.


Religion, Education, and Empowerment—A Conversation Between the Baroness Professor Haleh Afshar, Dr. Robert Beckford and Shaunaka Rishi Das:


Baroness Haleh Afshar:


Religion is not necessarily developed by education.


Some people are so devout, that because of tight frameworks imposed by their others or themselves, they cannot see beyond their particular vision.


When women began studying the Koran, we found women are entitled to wages for housework and for suckling their baby, and that marriage was meant to be a contract. So in fact, we found Moslems were feminists but did not realize it.


Dr. Robert Beckford:


We should teach about religious leaders who actually changed something.


Shaunaka Rsi Dasa:


I had to go through an interreligious dialog within myself, going from a Irish Catholic to becoming a Vaishnava Hindu.


I find we use God and soul in completely different ways, so we have not had a real dialog in England with those of Eastern traditions.


Because of my Irish Catholic background, I was able to help the dialog between the Hindus and the Oxford theologians, and some Hindus appreciated I was just the person who was needed to do it.


Dr. Robert Beckford:


I like to read Jesus as someone simultaneously reforming a corrupt religion and someone fighting against the impediments toward spirituality presented by the Roman Empire.


Shaunaka Rsi Dasa:


Rg Veda has an idea of cosmic order which is common to Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain traditions.


Locke came up with the idea of private and public space—secularism. This was an experiment and one that is not necessarily successful.


Lack of education in religion breeds fundamentalism, both theistic and atheistic, and that is not good.


I was an Irish Hindu and that was a problem for some of the Oxford wallas, and it still is, and to see that was disturbing for me.


We all live in a world of advantages and disadvantages, and we have to make disadvantages into advantages.


We have to show how a religious man can think broadly.


Baroness Haleh Afshar:


I find the Moslem men to be the most narrow, and among them, most narrow are the Moslem religious leaders.


Although people love to talk about wives submitting to husbands, in Islam, there is only submission to God.


If you have interesting ideas, universities are a great place, while people are still questioning.


Shaunaka Rsi Dasa:


I will accept both ideas of education within and outside the university, because I am Hindu, and we can see either or.


Knowledge is nonsectarian.


Thinking outside the box naturally disturbs people who think inside the box. It is important to ask challenging questions. It does not mean to undermine the faith of those who think in the box, but to develop their faith.


Dr. Robert Beckford:


I would consider myself a failure if I was not in trouble. I think theologians are meant to cause trouble.


Haleh Afshar:


Every Muslim man thinks he has the right to beat his wife, but if you look at the text as it is, it says if you have a disagreement, you should work it out, and if you can't work it out, you should live separately, and if that does not solve it, you can strike. Strike does not mean in the sense of hitting, but in the going on strike and withholding services.


Shaunaka Rsi Dasa:


In the west there is a differenc between philosophy and religion, and in India philosophy and religion go together. Thus in the western academies, although India has been independent for 60 years, there is real inability to really communicate with those of Indian thought.


Haleh Afshar:


Matters of faith need to be be discussed.


Shaunaka Rishi (Oxford Centre of Hindu Studies) 


The Educational Needs of the Hindu Community in the UK:


There are samprayada schools, like the ISKCON school and the Swami Narayana school.


The ISKCON Avanti school has branches in Harrow, Leicester, East London, and a secondary school.


The Oxford Center for Hindu Studies (OCHS) is the only one of its kind in the world, because it brings multiple disciplines and theology in one place.


Starting the OCHS, I found Hindus do not have an interest in academic study of their own tradition, and it was difficult to convince them of the need for it and to get support.


The ISKCON Avanti school had difficulty finding qualified practicing Hindus to be teachers. They had to go beyond ISKCON, and even beyond Hindus to find teachers.


87% of British-born Hindus between 14 and 17 said their greatest fear was how to teach their children about their tradition.


Lack of education about their own tradition is becoming a concern for Hindus.


In the 1830s British began missionary activities and other countries followed suit.


At one point in the past, according to a poll, 37% of people in Ireland said all Hare Krishnas should be driven out of Ireland.


I encountered two amazing instances of blindness:


  1. A Hindu man whose son wanted to marry a white Irish Catholic girl who was speaking words of lamentation to me about that while I was standing there with my wife, also from a white Irish Catholic background.


  2. The Belfast man asking if I was a Catholic from Ireland because of my accent, although I was dressed as a Hare Krishna monk.


Integration means you do not lose your voice. Assimilation means you blend in with everyone else.


I see that of the people graduating from the OCHS many are vocational scholars


Robert Ivermee (University of Kent)
The Religious and the Secular: Bengali Muslims and the Calcutta Madrasa:


One solution to the problem of the absence of religion is to have neutrality of religion where each religion has some time in addition to the secular subjects.


Professor Neil Whitehead (University of Madison)
Divine Hunger—The Cannibal War-Machine:


There is a relationship between the free market economy and violence and war. War is used as an image and we have “war on cancer,” “war on hunger,” “war for freedom,” etc.


Cry “Havoc!” and let slip the dogs of war.”—Shakesheare


The divinity of kings was replaced by the divine free market economy.


There is a cannibal war machine exploiting indigenous people and using violence to take their natural resources, and thus increasing its own profit and sensual enjoyment.


The Kingdome of God is gotten by violence...”—Hobbes, Leviathan XV


The cannibal war machine now does not even require the state. It is beyond national interest.


U.S. military energy consumption is 524 trillion BTU and is 10 times that of China and 30 times that of Africa.


The new world order is violent. The cannibal war machine profits from creating disorder and using war to reestablish it.


I will say it was pretty depressing to write this.


To speak about things that nobody wants to speak about is a duty of the academics, who have a long term culture memory.


Unveiling the war machine is the beginning of fighting against it. Like any other human problem, recognizing it is the beginning of solving it.


It is not that war machines have not existed and have not gone out of being because they become unprofitable.


Understanding how we look from the point of others is the beginning of understanding what is going on.


To change the situation, we are going to have to get people to give up things we do not need, and that will be difficult.


Academia is part of the war machine, and now anthropologists are being recruited for military purposes, at salaries far more than universities can offer.


Laura Desfor Edles (California State University, USA)
What is Sacred? The Symbolic Landscape of Christianity in the United States Today:


The religious right is so powerful in the U.S. because of financial resources and because of the ignorance of the American masses.


Sociologists point out that the U.S. is the most religious of industrial nations, but at the same time, has the least knowledge of religion.


Still, progressive Christian groups are rising in America. They consider the election of Obama, who they consider as one of their own, a great victory.


Progressive Christians have symbolic difficulties.


Any evangelical will say “Yes” to the question “Is Christ the only way?” and thus Larry Falwell thinks Jim Wallis, a progressive Christian, is not a Christian at all, because he will not say “Yes” to that question.


Progressive Christians value one's individual spiritual journey.


The religious right acts as if they own the title Christian, and thus some progressive Christians prefer to call themselves progressive spiritualists.


Progressive Christians honor the search and questioning, while the right honors boldly accepting the Bible as infallible.


The progressive Christians have a bumper sticker, “Able to think and pray.”


Some of the progressive Christians say, “Jesus did not turn anyone away, and neither will we.”


Jana Weiss (University of Munster)
Civil Religion as a Rhetorical Instrument of Empowerment: The Martin Luther King Day in the United States:


There is an idea of civil religion in which Martin Luther King is a modern prophet.


Civil religion can empower minority groups.


If George Washington symbolizes the creation of the Union and Abraham Lincoln its preservation, Martin Luther King symbolizes the continuing effort to confer its benefits on every citizen.” (New York Times, January 15, 1986).


Civil rights and King have been integrated into the civil religion.


Although Reagan signed the proclamation to establish the King holiday, he previous opposed such an idea, thus there was a cartoon showing him to be lamenting while he signed the bill.


The idea of civil religion can be traced to some of the French enlightenment philosophers.


Lindsay Driediger-Murphy (University of Oxford)
Divine Commands, or Commanding the Divine? Religion and Empowerment in the Roman Republic:


Romans used divination, interpreting divine omens, signs, etc. before acting in political decisions.


People who took the signs to heart could think that because they got the signs had the gods on their side.


There is a case when a Roman leader did not march on his enemies, following certain signs of divination, and was later vindicated when it was revealed that he would have been ambushed had he continued to march toward them.


Persons lost and regained power through submission toward gods.


It is because you conduct yourselves as less than the gods, you rule.”


Scholars tend to talk about rituals that were practiced rather than the actually beliefs of the performers and that is something that needs to be addressed more.


Philip Lockley (Oxford University)

Awaiting or Making the Millenium’: Visionary Rituals, Agency and Socialism in Industrial England:

I have it in my power to take active measure in furthering or attempting to further, the cause of human redemption. It is by human agency it can be done. We are fellow-workers together with God.” James Smith, “The Redemption of Man”


Luis Guilherme (University of Abersystwyth, Wales)
Can there be Empowerment without the Sacred?:


Neitzche saw the end of a transcendental God. Now we have so many small gods, rock stars, athletes.


MÃ¥ns Broo (Ã…bo Akademi University)
Constructing Sacred Practice Yoga in Turku, Finland:


Some see yoga as the search for wellness.


Yoga teachers universally value the philosophy of yoga, most having tried to read Patanjali's yoga sutras, but most preferring popular contemporary yoga writers.


Some say yoga gives freedom from competitiveness.


By and by, the practice makes you feel lighter, and you identify yourself less with the physical body.—realization of a yoga practitioner


Among modern America college students, more value personal identity rather than social identity as in the past.


Yoga practitioners do not usually proselytize yoga among their nonyogi friends.


Some yoga people accept many teachers, and often they have no single authority.


Yogis seek and report satisfaction through their practice.


Belief may or not be there, but the practice is the key thing for the yoga practitioners.


Suzanne Owen (Leeds Trinity University College)
‘From Secular to Religious? Druidry and the Charity Commission Decision:


The Druids became registered with the England and Wales Charity Commission as a religion, although they had no supreme being, and had to settle on 'nature' as the supreme being to fulfill that requirement.


There is a movement to unify all the pagan groups so that they will be seen as a larger movement.


Tehri Utrainen (Abo Akademi University, Finland)
Angelically Resources: Young Finnish Women working with Michael and Co:


In Finland, among many women, many of them belonging to the Lutheran Church, there is an interest in cultivating relationships with angels, which often alienates them from their contemporaries.


You can find parking places and lost objects with angels, gain clarity of emotions, cut unbeneficial emotional ties, meditate, get guidance, and go on trance journeys.


Some people come to depend completely on these angels.


All these women had suffered from depression, a very deep loneliness, in the past, and they find companionship with the angels.


They find new friends, giving up old ones, who cannot appreciate their interest in angels.


Tina Eftekhar (University of York)
Iranian Women’s Empowerment in “Inter-Universal Mysticism”:


Over the last thirty years there is a growing “Inter-Universal Mysticism” movement within Islam in Iran which involves getting aligned through intuition with Mohammed. People find they gain confidence, become motivated, and attain peace of mind through the path. In particular, women within Islam who are frustrated by restrictions placed upon them find liberation and empowerment through the “Inter-Universal Mysticism.”


The ladies who become empowered through the practice do not become feminists but come to see in terms of human beings and not in terms of gender.


Roy Ward (University of Leeds)
Jack Kerouac’s “Wake-Up” and the Creation of Beat Buddhism:


There is an Avalokitsvara, a bodhisattva with 1000 arms which manifest to express his compassion.


Krishna-kripa das
‘Evidence of Empowerment in the Hare Krishna Movement:


Krishna tells in the Gita how he provides what His devotee lacks and preserves what he has. Founder-acarya of ISKCON, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, came to the west without funding or followers, and no plan to attain these other than presenting his chanting of Hare Krishna, and lectures and literature on Krishna and His instructions, and yet he was blessed with followers who funded and helped him expand a worldwide, yet very complete, transplant of traditional Krishna bhakti in an alien culture, amazing religion scholars such as Harvey Cox and Tom Hopkins. Prabhupada credited his success to faith in his guru and the holy name. One Godbrother also praised his faith in the holy name. Prabhupada's prayers on coming to America reveal his great humility. Scholars praise his determination and devotion. Also amazing was his ability to empower people to take on tasks they never dreamed of doing in the service of Krishna, which astounded Tom Hopkins. After giving examples of empowerment of his disciples I conclude with a list of qualities leading to empowerment in a theistic context: humility, determination, devotion, prayer to the Lord for empowerment, faith in one's spiritual preceptor, and faith in the holy name of the Lord.


North England Nama-hattas


Two weeks after attending the Leeds and Sheffield nama-hatta programs with Janananda Goswami I went back as the speaker and talked about faith and empirical evidence in science and religion. I found in both of the cities one lady had come for the first time two weeks before and then came each week for the next two weeks. It is nice to see new people becoming regulars at the programs. One of the leaders of the Sheffield program loves the chanting, and I told her about the monthly harinama in nearby Manchester which she did not know about but was ecstatic to hear about. I traveled with the book distributing brahmacaris in their van, and I got an increased appreciation of their austerities for Srila Prabhupada's mission by doing so.


Insight from Lectures


Srila Prabhupada:


This present government encourages liquor, but Maharaja Yudhisthira's government would not do so. That is the difference. One drop of wine makes a place impure. Here they put things in to alcohol to sterilize them but according to the Vedic understanding that makes them more impure.


Only the holy name can purify the sinful situation. No other yajna will be effective.


Even just drinking water or grinding spices so many living entities are killed, and thus five kinds of sacrifice are recommended to counteract this. But in this age, simply by chanting Hare Krishna we become purified.


When the king hangs a murderer, he is helping him atone, otherwise he will be slaughtered in the next life.


In this world people have propensities for meat eating, intoxication, and sex life, but the Vedic way is to restrict them. Sex life is restricted by marriage. Restriction is needed for meat eating, intoxication, and sex life because they are bad. There is law you cannot brew liquor at home but not that you cannot cook chapatis.


Human life is meant for purification of existence. Due to impure consciousness we have to transmigrate from one body to another. All purification methods are based on cleansing the heart.


The scientists cannot understand this movement because they cannot perceive the soul.


If we understand the repetition of birth and death is a disease, we can take the cure of the tapasya. The Krishna consciousness movement is for creating tapasvis, who can purify themselves from having to continue transmigration.


The yajnas showed the power of Vedic mantra by immediately giving the sacrificed animals new bodies.


Only the sankirtana yajna is recommended in this age. Everyone can join it.


Bhakti Tirtha Swami [from a video lectures]:


Srila Prabhupada did not think small, and he did not want us to think small. If we think small, we are denying the unlimited potency of the Lord.


I am more in awe of what Srila Prabhupada has given as the years go on. If our appreciation is not increasing, we are cheating. We are committing offenses that block our progressive advancement.


Lack of gratitude is a great obstacle. If we are telling Krishna, due to ingratitude, “You are supposed to be merciful to the your devotees, but somehow you missed me.” He is not like to give us more mercy.


Lord Caitanya is standing there in Mayapur with His huge arms, as if he is overseeing the universe, which He is.


Prabhupada wanted life-size deities so we would take them to be more real.


By inviting the Lord, we are showing the Lord we are serious about the relationship.


By inviting the Panca-tattva, we have to upgrade our relationship. As the Panca-tattva manifests more and more each day during the installation festival, we are getting more and more ready to receive the Lord. The more we think of doing our service for the pleasure of the deity, the more the community is brought together. The deity is a great way to access the spiritual world.


The little building with a few attendants known as the embassy can enable or block our entry into a whole country. Similarly treating the temple and its residents properly we can attain the spiritual world.


There are some monks in Ukraine who were buried alive in small rooms to focus on their devotional practice with just their rosary. In many cases after they left their bodies, their bodies did not decompose because of their advanced spiritual state. If our sannyasa vow was like that, I never would have volunteered.


When we have darsana, Krishna is looking to see if we have become like the residents of Vrndavana, and are thus ready to come back to the spiritual world.


We should consider what we have to do to change our consciousness now that the deity has come. We should see everything at the temple to be the property of the deity.


Every religion is being studied closer as so much terrorism has been there in the name of religion.


The biggest demons were not those who do sins without regret, but those like Ravana and Putana, who directly attack devotees and the Lord and subvert their plans.


Janananda Swami:


Difficult situations we go through with others can really bring us together. I was in Christchurch, and after the earthquake people who never talked to each other were helping each other.


The material world is a reflection of the spiritual realm, and we can learn something of the spiritual world from this world.


Ignorance is a cause of distress.


There is some comparative relief in this world but not complete satisfaction.


Because we have a relationship with the material world, we are affected by it.


All of us have gifts to offer, and to offer gifts to God is the perfection of giving.


Srila Prabhupada gives the example of the father, who gives a chocolate bar to his son, and the son offers a piece of it back to the father, to illustrate the principles of giving to God.


By giving the gift the holy name brings us together, and it purifies us.


We have different bodies and minds and we judge each other according to this, but in actuality from the spiritual point of view, we are equal.


Realization of spiritual truth cannot be realized on our own. We need God's grace.


That we have a body and food to eat is Krishna's mercy.


It is not that God wants us to suffer. But when one breaks the rules he suffers. The suffering can be a learning experience that will help us. God does not want to punish us for the sake of punishment. We do not want to just relieve people from their suffering, but we want to relieve them from the cause of suffering. A prison is not meant to be like a Hilton Hotel for it is meant to rectify.


The weekly Leeds program got seven new guests. Organizer Raghunatha Bhatta Prabhu explains that the two-hour harinama in the city center, ending one hour before the program, during which they distribute invitations with a catchy topic, is their strategy for popularizing the program, and it works. Each week they get at least one or two new guests, but this week was exceptional.


It is a sin to identify with the body. We think, “How's that? I am not doing any harm thinking I am my body.” But actually the misidentification with body causes lust, greed, and anger, and compels us to do so many sinful activities.


I like drama because our situation in this material world is just like that of someone playing a role in a drama.


There is a casino in Melbourne, Australia, in which an average of one person commits suicide each day from gambling losses. This is madness.


When I was young I was one of 250,000 people who came to see Mick Jagger at Hyde Park, and we each had to pay five pounds to get in, which was a lot in those days. Then we heard him, this hero of ours, singing about how he has not got no satisfaction. I felt like I got ripped off.


Our frustration in this world is because we cannot experience the unending knowledge and happiness our soul seeks.


One magazine predicted in 1955 that the biggest problem in 1995 would be boredom because machines would take over the work people previously had to do. In reality, people are working longer hours in 1995. In 1955 the ladies generally did not always have to work, but now husband and wife have to work just to survive.


We are impressed with the beauty of others, and say, “I love your eyes” but if the eyes were plucked out and given to us, we would be disgusted. In this way, we can see material beauty is an illusion.


Comment by Adi Karta Prabhu: Alfred Ford's aunt had a tracheotomy because of cancer, yet she was so addicted to smoking she continued to smoke cigarettes through the hole in her throat.


Even while living in this world, by spiritual practice we can experience the happiness we are looking for.


Q: Why is a dog satisfied with its lot in life and a human not?
A: All our senses are agitated by their different objects, and so we are not satisfied


There was a man who was swept up in the tsunami off Indonesia and survived. Then a year later, he slipped and fell face down in a puddle of water and drowned. Thus our karma follows us and is inconceivable.


If we consider everything to be Krishna's and think how to engage it in His service, our anomalies will decrease.


The Muslims in England really like the harinamas. They will dance with you and have their pictures taken with you. The Muslim section of Oxford Street, just before the Marble Arch, is the best place for positive response to harinama on the whole street.


The greatest benediction is to connect people with Krishna consciousness.


If you have great wealth and you do not share it or if you have medicine for a disease and you do not make it available, you are a great miser. Similarly if you have spiritual knowledge to end all one's miseries and bless one with eternal life and you do not distribute it, you are a great miser.


My father would watch TV till 11:00 p.m. every night, and exclaim, “All rubbish!” and turn it off, and the next night do the very same thing.


Many people had heard of the chanting of Hare Krishna, but they have not heard suddha-nama. But Srila Prabhupada has given us the pure holy name.


Good things take some time, and so it is with developing love of God.


The greatest happiness is, somehow or other, to share Krishna consciousness with others. Isn't it? Maybe we do not do it as much as we did, but we remember it is the best thing we've done.


Because we are part of Krishna, if we please Krishna by sharing knowledge of Him, He will be pleased, and we will be pleased.


I have a friend who is a psychologist. He tells his patients who are depressed to outstretch their hands over their heads and then be as miserable as they can. He finds they they smile and break out of their unhappiness.


In a letter to Dayananda Prabhu, Srila Prabhupada told us to pray like this, “My dear Krishna please remind me to chant Your holy name. Please do not put me into forgetfulness.”


If the devotees want you to go back to Godhead, what can Krishna do? He promises to fulfill the desires of devotee.


Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami:


from Prabhupada Smaranam, manuscript:



This is a picture of night sankirtana in downtown Boston in 1970. The Broadway musical “Hair” was showing at the theater in Boston. “Hair” was a musical about what hippie life was like in the 1960s and the very last scene ended with the entire cast singing the Hare Krishna mantra. The devotees took the opportunity to stand right outside the theatre and chant Hare Krishna to the exiting theatre goers who had just heard “Hare Krishna” sung in the theatre. The devotees would distribute handfuls of burning incense and hold out conch shells asking for donations. The crowd was in a good mood having just heard the Hare Krishna mantra and when they saw the nontheatrical authentic version of Hare Krishna chanters it warmed them up. Devotees would usually collect forty of fifty dollars within a few minutes and thoroughly enjoy themselves chanting in such a heart-warming atmosphere.


He [Prabhupada] has emphasized book distribution, but Jiva Gosvami said Deity worship is also necessary for purification. Prabhupada has purified the world with Deity worship.” (p. 197)


When I received initiation, Prabhupada said in his speech that the daksina or obligation that the disciple owed the guru was to preach Krishna consciousness on his behalf.” (p. 212)


Before he [Prabhupada] came to America he visited the prisons in India and gave lectures to the inmates trying to reform them.” (p. 231)


from Journal and Poems, Book I (January-June 1985), “Beyond Dogmatics” quoted in Vihara Bhavan #324, “OLD FRIENDS”:


To say that no one can have absolute knowledge is to become an absolutist oneself.”


from Japa Transformations, quoted in Vihara Bhavan #352, “Selections from Published Books”:


I remember Prahladananda Swami’s three tips on chanting: (1) Hear the syllables carefully; (2) Have faith you are reciprocating with the Divine Couple; and (3) enjoy the chanting.”


Adi Karta Prabhu:


The scientists cannot explain how the pyramids were constructed but they still maintain that man thousands of years was very primitive.


The problems with the teachings of Jesus is that because he did not write any books and because there was no recording equipment we do not know exactly what they were. Some teachings were written down fifty years later.


How could you love someone who sent billions of people to hell forever? It is an absurd idea. We understand if one even once calls out the name of Krishna, he can be freed from more sins than he can commit in one lifetime.


Most people do not know what love is. They just try to benefit the body. If I build a hospital and your life is extended twenty years, you are still going to eventually die, and you still do not know where you will go.


People are interested in personalities, movie stars, rock stars, athletes, etc. And therefore they should be attracted to Krishna, the supreme personality.


In forty-five years a survey states 40,000 churches will close in England, but although Krishna appeared five thousands years ago, Krishna temples are still being opened.


The goal of all religions is love of God, but the advantage of the Vedic tradition is there is so much knowledge of God that it becomes easier to love Him.


Janananda Goswami met a Native American scholar and descendent of the Sioux tribe on an airplane. In conversation the man described their history was they they came from India 20,000 years ago. There is an eagle on the top of the totem pole, and it is analogous to the Garuda stamba of India.


Janananda Goswami said one of the teenagers who saw us dancing on harinama in Belfast asked, “What are you guys on?”, thinking we had found a better drug than he had ever seen.


We should be convinced that this knowledge is perfect and is what will give the most benefit to this world.


Western culture is not based on spiritual principles.


If you take the chanting of Hare Krishna very seriously, you will realize material pleasure is insignificant.


We may say everyone should preach, but unless you experience pleasure from your spiritual practice, you will not feel inclined to preach. And if you do not take your spiritual practice seriously, you will not feel pleasure from doing it.


Which is more important you or your Frerari? You are of course, no one would be so foolish to think his car is more important than himself. But we do foolish think the body is more important our spiritual self. This is foolishness.

We do not need liquor to be happy, we are naturally happy.


from a conversation:


70% of Christians believe that Christianity is not the only way, and 40% of Baptists believe that Christianity is not the only way. One black Baptist minister taught his congregation namaste, the Indian greeting, saying it meant “I offer my respects to you” and that it expressed a superior mood of respect to American greetings.


Isvara Dasa:


If you fall in love with someone, you want to tell everyone about that person, and so it is with Krishna.


These young kids we saw in Nottingham today have the propensity to become devotees. They may look a bit grungy, but then again we looked grungy, back in the 70s when we joined this movement.


If you want to be part of ISKCON, you have to be a preacher.


Rama Carana Prabhu:


Rohini was the mother of the serpents, Kadru, in a previous life.


As soon as you are quiet, you find Krishna starts speaking to you from within, and because people do not like it, they keep themselves busy so they do not have to worry about Krishna speaking to them.


Mohammed gave basic moral instructions, even including you should not sleep with your mother or your sister, and it was too much some people and so he was chased into the mountains and was almost killed.


Krishna-kripa das [meditations]:


To Hare Krishna book distributors TLC means Teachings of Lord Caitanya, while to the people in general, it means “tender loving care.” In actually Lord Caitanya's teachings are His tender loving care for all the living entities who are His children, indicating how they can attain love of God, the ultimate goal of life, and the supreme spiritual pleasure.


British road sign: “Tiredness can kill. Take a break.”


Caitanya Vallabha Prabhu:


One couple wanted Gouranga engraved on their wedding rings because they liked the sound of it.


I told one lady I met to say “Gouranga,” and she said, “I always do.” I was surprised, and she explained “Whenever I see it written on a bridge, I always shout “Gouranga” until I get to the other side of the bridge.”


Bhakta John Prabhu:


I was working in Tesco, and a fellow asked to see my tattoo of the letters “GOURANGA.” After I showed it to that one person, the whole day all the other Tesco workers came up to me, wanting to see it themselves.


Ganesh [Nepali devotee living in York, England]:


I prefer Nepal to England. In England there is more facility, but no time to use it!


Notes on Goodbye Party for Ambika dd:


Ambika dd, a young devotee, left the Soho London ashram after two years to returning to the country she came from, and devotees spoke words of farewell.


Ambika dd found Krishna consciousness at age fourteen.


After a cold rainy Ratha-yatra she stayed up all night chanting with the devotees on Nirjala Ekadasi and then went to the whole morning program.


Akarsani Radha dd said, “One Muslim man was being very heavy with Ambika, but I was busy talking to someone else so I could not help her. After I finished talking, I look over and saw she was being very heavy with the Muslim man. Then man went away. I asked her if the man was very difficult to deal with. She said yes, but he was going to the ATM to get money to buy Bhagavad-gita because I insisted that he read it. And so he did.”


-----


ananyas-cintayanto mam
ye janah paryupasate
tesam nityabhiyuktanam
yoga ksemam vahamy aham


But those who fully worship Me with exclusive devotion, meditating on My transcendental form—to them I carry what they lack, and I preserve what they have.” (Bhagavad-gita 9.22)

Sunday, July 03, 2011

Travel Journal#7.11: Belfast and London


Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 7, No. 11
By Krishna-kripa das
(June 2011, part one)
Belfast, London
(Sent from Newcastle, England, on July 3, 2011)

Where I Was and What I Did


My friend and godbrother, Caitanya-candrodaya Prabhu, became temple president of Belfast, and invited me there to do harinama. I went for the two weeks between the Birmingham 24-hour kirtana and the London Ratha-yatra. We did harinama for between two and three hours with from three to six people every day except Sunday. Janananda Goswami's attendance on the final day of my visit made it extra special as he got many young people to participate by dancing. London Ratha-yatra was very wet but very wonderful, with a great Ekadasi feast include a curd vegetable preparation and shrikhand. On harinama the next day on Oxford Street, four high school students joyfully danced with us for several blocks. In the evening, book distribution minister, Vijaya Prabhu, gave a brahmacari class to the Radha-Londonisvara's brahmacari ashram residents.


I heard great lectures by Prahladananda Swami and Janananda Goswami, and Mother Narayani gave a seminar on the prayers of Queen Kunti with lots of stories, references to Srila Prabhpada's teachings, and valuable realizations.


Itinerary


Newcastle: July 2–4
London: July 5-6
Scandinavian Ratha-yatras: July 8–16
Prague Ratha-yatra?: July 17
Croatian Harinama Tour: July 18–31
Poland Woodstock: August 1–7
Berlin: August 8–10
Belfast: August 11-18
Trutnov Open Air Festival (Czech Woodstock): August 18–21
Leipzig?: August 22–23 (Janmastami, Vyasa Puja)
Polish tour: August 24–28
Kirtana-mela, Leipzig: August 29–September 4
Lvov, Ukraine?: September 6
Kharkov, Ukraine: September 7–8
Ukraine Festival: September 9–15
Boston Ratha-yatra and Prabhupada festival: September 17–18
New York: September 19–23?
Philadelphia Ratha-yatra: September 24–25
Albany: September 26–30?
Arizona, Nevada, Florida: October–December


Belfast Harinama


We mostly did sitting down harinamas in Belfast. I was so happy to have so many people go chanting with me each day. Bhagavata dasi loves to sing and has an nice amplifier and so she was a great asset. Gauranga Prabhu is the proprietor of a cloth business, and was able take time out to join us and play the mrdanga almost every day. Alan moved into the ashram for a week of spiritual recharging and also came out. Syama-mayi and Nitai Sacinandana Prabhu's also came out when their scheduled permitted.


One time an atheist came by and challenged the devotees in different ways, including blaspheme. After I while I decided to follow the instruction given in The Nectar of Devotion, to leave that place, and that solved the problem. A couple devotees even saw good in that atheist:


Mother Narayani: I am sure he thinks about God more than a lot of theists.


Mother Annete: He was a very heavy duty atheist, but he could not stop himself from dancing on harinama.


On the first Saturday, we did a standing up harinama in a section where some young people were hanging out. One little guy took pleasure in doing different genuine and imaginary yoga postures in the middle of our kirtana party.




On the second Saturday, Janananda Goswami came along with Prema Sankirtana Prabhu, his disciple, mrganda player, and dancing assistant. There were many groups of young people roaming the streets and hanging out hither and thither, and Janananda Goswami engaged them in chanting and dancing. One group of them ran a block to rejoin us after we had left them and gone on. One boy who smelled of alcohol, picked Janananda Goswami up off of the ground while swinging him around. The young people really loved dancing with the devotees.



We did a 24-hour kirtana in Belfast, but there were far fewer people than Birmingham, and I could not chant my japa during the early morning hours because I had to play the instruments and nor could I chant japa later in the morning when I completed my three hour nap and shower because I had to sing. Thus it disturbed my regulated live more than the Birmingham one, and I will have to make sure it does not happen like that again. On the bright side, one devotee lady got a lot more appreciation of the name and form of the Lord as a result of the twenty-four hours of chanting, and some devotees who drove two hours from Dublin to take part in it were happy they made the trip.


There was an anniversary of the opening of a Hindu Laksmi-Narayana temple and Gauranga Prabhu got us invited to chant. They promised us fifteen minutes but the priest told us to stop after seven. Still I mentioned that Krishna says in the Gita that the most confidential knowledge is to think of Him, become His devotees, worship Him, and bow down before Him. I said these temples are valuable because they give us the opportunity to do these activities that Krishna recommends. Gauranga Prabhu said because I was a white American quoting Krishna in Bhagavad-gita, the leaders were impressed and said I could come back and give a lecture.


London Ratha-yatra


The most amazing thing about the London Ratha-yatra was the devotees were so absorbed in chanting and dancing that although it was rainy and cold, everyone had a wonderful time anyway. You could really see how it was a transcendental affair.


The deities were protected from the rain by a plastic screen in front of them. The devotees brought the plastic each year, but this was the first year they used it the entire time.



The meditation booth at Trafalgar Sqaure was decorated attractively with giant japa beads.



As I experienced for the second year, the London Ratha-yatra feast is really great, with curd subji, halava, and shrikhand, all thanks to Parasurama Prabhu and his assistants.


Kadamba Kanana Swami gave a great talk on our little stage at the event. Devotees from Scotland did some dramas.


Insights from the Prayers of Queen Kunti:
From a Seminar by Mother Narayani


Mother Narayani did five lectures on Queen Kunti's prayers, an hour and a half each. She made lots of nice points:


Srnvan supathan vicarana paro bhaktya


Srnvan – hearing


Supathan – chanting, studying


Vicarana paro – meditating – applying to your life


Bhaktya – with devotion


Kunti was not a scholar or sage, but a mother and a wife of a great king, but she had bhakti and that is what attracted Krishna.


Kunti is the original single mother.


Gita and Bhagavatam have some common beginning. Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.1.2 is like Bhagavad-gita 18.66 in that they both kick out cheating religion. Also Krishna is driving Arjuna’s chariot in Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.7, as He does in the Gita.


Verse 18:


Kunti is seeing Krishna as Brahman, paramatma, and Bhagavan.


Kunti sees Krishna both as the Supreme Personality of Godhead and as her nephew, unlike the residents of Vraja, who just see Him as their friend and relative.


The impersonalists may pray that the Lord is my father and mother, but if you ask them the details, they will describe He is just some force.


Is seeing Krishna as prasadam seeing Him within or without? Actually first we see Him without and then later within!


One can offer to Krishna individual activities we perform like taking a shower or climbing the stairs.


Verse 19:


We cannot see Krishna because Krishna is transcendental, we are covered by a curtain, and we are fools.


What are the aspects of foolishness? Not seeing Krishna beyond everything, because we are trying to enjoy this world, because we are in the prison house of maya.


Dullness, distraction, indifference are the three causes of inattentive chanting according to Bhaktivinoda Thakura.


If one remembers Lord Caitanya, difficult things become easy.


Verse 20:


Before going on a trip it is auspicious to take permission from one’s superiors, and thus Krishna came to see Kunti to take the dust from her feet before leaving for Dvaraka. That Krishna is coming to Kunti and not to the sages shows her greatness. That what she is saying is recorded in Srimad-Bhagavatam also testifies to her greatness.


Srila Prabhupada wrote me in my initiation lecture, “chant the holy name, follow the regulative principles, read and study all the books, do deity worship, go out an sankirtana, and engage in devotional service twenty-four hours a day.”


In a second letter he stressed that “sincerity, enthusiasm, cooperation for are keys to success in devotional service.”


You cannot cooperate unless you are humble.


When the roots of humility go deeper the tree of bhakti grows taller.—Bhurijana Prabhu


When I was teaching Srimad-Bhagavatam, I would read a verse and then chant a round to get inspiration to teach it.


Srila Prabhupada said that 'impossible' is a word in a fool’s dictionary, and we believed him. I have some experience of this. Once Srila Prabhupada’s servant Pradyumna, who knew I knew how to type, asked if I wanted to go to Mayapur with Srila Prabhupada. I said yes. He said you just have to learn how to transliterate Bengali. I spent two hours learning how to transliterate Bengali, and I went to Mayapur, and I transliterated from the scripture, Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila, Chapter 13-17, the Lord’s Navadvipa pastimes, as Srila Prabhupada would read them in Bengali.


Srila Prabhupada said, “If you associate with Govinda, you will enjoy your senses abundantly. And it will not be in a gross way but a spiritual way.”


Verse 22:


Srila Prabhupada said because Kunti was His aunt she began viewing His middle, but we should view Him from the feet.


Srila Prabhupada: If you think of Krishna as having lotuslike features as described in this verse, you can meditate on Krishna’s beauty your whole life.


Srila Prabhupada: Without hearing and chanting it is impossible to become a spiritual leader.


Verse 23:


Krishna likes to be to the hero and protect his devotees.


Govinda Dasi was suffering with a fever. Noticing her symptoms, Srila Prabhupada said, “Krishna is checking off your account.” Krishna reduces the karmic reaction of the devotees.


The Pandavas came out better after each danger. After Bhima was fed a poisoned cake and thrown in the river, he was bitten by snakes who neutralized the poison and invited him to Nagaloka, and offered him a feast and a beverage that gave him 10,000 times greater strength. How did they come out better while living in the forest? They saved Duryodhana from the Gandharvas, showing their superiority. They also got the association of Krishna and the sages.


One Buddhist lady was harassing the devotees in Sydney, and people from the city council said, “They are good people. Stop bothering them.” Forty years earlier, the city officers themselves had harassed the devotees.


Srila Prabhupada said, “As soon as you think you are comfortable in this world, you are spiritually fallen.”


As when we are attacked by a dog, we have to call for the owner of the dog to call him off, when we are attacked by maya, we have to call out to Krishna, the owner of maya.


Narada was amazed that although the Pandavas lost their kingdom, their wife was insulted, and they were banished to the forest, their devotion to Krishna only increased.


Verse 25:


Think before you pray. One devotee who followed Kunti’s example of praying for calamities because they inspired her to take shelter of Krishna broke one bone after another. I told her of one temple where they prayed for calamities and ended up cracking up their sankirtana van, and thus had to discontinue the prayer.


Kunti’s opulence was her distress. If you are with Krishna, hell becomes heaven. If you are without Krishna, heaven become hell.


When asked by a disciple if Krishna is always testing us, Srila Prabhupada responded, “If you want a responsible post, you require a test. For the bum or vagabond, there is no test.”


Faith means you are meant for giving some service to Krishna as directed by the spiritual master, and that must be kept up despite all difficulty.


One man challenged that Arjuna was not a pure devotee because he lamented his son’s being killed on the battlefield when Krishna had advised against lamenting in Bhagavad-gita. Srila Prabhupada disagreed, explaining that because Arjuna kept on with his duty of fighting despite lamenting his son’s death, he was obedient to Krishna.


In India there is so much cell phone radiation that the coconuts are diseased.


Verse 26:


We are attracted by the material nature and then we are devoured by it.


Both the great ascetic Gaura Kisora Dasa Babaji and Bhaktisiddhanta Saravati Thakura were akincana, or without possessions. Although Bhaktisiddhanta Saravati Thakura had many possessions they were all used in Krishna’s service.


Someone once asked Srila Prabhupada where he lived, and he said, “I live in a 747 jet.”


Verse 27:


Visaya is visa. Sense enjoyment is a kind of “visa” (poison).


Srila Prabhupada said when I lost everything, I approached Krishna saying, “Now I am yours.”


When you preach, you realize the whole world is your family.


I was at a doctor/psychic who saw I was attacked by 28 demons, 3 ghosts, and several parasites. She also saw Srila Prabupada, and behind him a lot of demoniac energy. “Yes,” I said, “Srila Prabhupada is holding back that demoniac energy.”


Q: I find in the beginning it is difficult to completely depend on Krishna.
A: Yes, of course, you do not know Him.


Crow story: The crow saw Yamaraja, the Lord of death, and he was smiling. The crow was worried and begged Garuda to take him to a far region of the universe. He did that, but when Garuda set him down, a cat immediately pounced on him and killed him. When the crow went to Yamaraja, he said that he saw him smiling at another place. “Yes,” Yamaraja replied, “I was smiling in wonder about how you would get to the place where you were supposed to die.”


Krishna tells Arjuna, “For one who chants my name even neglectfully, I keep his name in My heart.”—Adi Purana


If you are very accepting, everything is mercy.


Srila Prabhupada said those cent percent engaged in the Lord’s service are the full recipients of the Lord’s mercy.


In Sweden, at 3:30 a.m. I looked up the time to break Ekadasi, but it was too late. That time had come already.


Krishna told Brahma that his prayers, his austerity, and firm faith in Him were the evidence of His causeless mercy. (Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.9.38)


Srila Prabhupada said, “Voluntary endeavor is the only qualification for spiritual perfection.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.9.38, purport)


We have one problem: how to accept Krishna.


The demons sent to Vrndavana were like toys for Krishna to play with. A toy duck, a toy snake, a toy donkey, etc.


Krishna likes to favor the monkeys because they helped Him when He had appeared as Lord Rama.


My Godsister Radha Kunda dd was distributing books in Jagannatha Puri, and the whole morning she did not sell even one book. One shopkeeper noticed and advised her to go to Patita-pavana Jagannatha, who is situated outside the door of the temple, and chastise Him. She could not do it, so the shop keeper himself went to Jagannatha and said, “This poor lady has spent the whole morning trying to sell Your books, and You are not helping her.” The rest of the day, she sold many books.


The love of the Vrndavana residents is so great they cannot see Krishna as God.


Q: When are you depending on Krishna, and when are you being irresponsible?
A: If you do not do your duty and expect Krishna to do everything, then you are irresponsible. You do your duty and depend on Krishna for the result.


Formerly Malaysia was famous for sandalwood, but now it is famous for rubber.


Krishna is greater than Devaki because all universes are within Krishna, but Krishna, with all the universes, is within Devaki.


Krishna glorifies His devotees above Himself. The truthfulness of Arjuna and Yudhisthira exceeds that Krishna. Hanuman could jump the ocean, but Rama used a bridge.


45% of America’s wealth is in the hands of 5% of its people.


Avidya, kama karmabhih . . . Due to ignorance we have to work hard to fulfill material desires. By hearing and by worship, we conquer this.


Even just seeing the Deity is enough.


There was a bull who came to a Bhagavat saptaha to both morning and evening classes two years in a row.


If you make a bad offense, you can come back as the pet animal of a devotee.


One devotee lady had a cat that would always wake her up for mangala arati and japa. One day the cat got her attention, and she followed the cat into the room of the deity. Then the cat lay down before the deity and left her body.


Sometimes Prabhupada appeared to us as if projected from another dimension.


In the beginning the devotees would say, “You can see Krishna face to face.” They gave the impression that state was just a few months away.


Homework: Try to do what you are doing just to please Krishna.


St. Thomas: Pray as if everything depends on God, and work as if everything depends on you.


Krishna does not only come to relieve the burden of the earth but to relieve us from our self-created burdens.


Separation is also more intense, because Krishna is experienced as everywhere.


Srila Prabhupada, commenting on Kunti’s description of the opulence of her kingdom due to Krishna’s blessings, said, “She did not say the slaughterhouses were flourishing.”


Krishna’s glance creates devotional desires, and Krishna’s smile maintains are devotional desires.


Comment by Bhagavata Dasi: You have to give the children full opportunity to engage in devotional service, but you cannot force them to become devotees.


We had to find Krishna, so our children also have find Krishna.


Srila Prabhupada said when we love Krishna our detachment will become complete.


Srila Prabhupada said, “If you like family life, then you should ask, ‘Where can I have eternal family?’”


Sumati dd was greeted at the temple the first time she came by a angelic lady who said, “Welcome home. This is your father [pointing to Srila Prabhupada’s picture]. This is your grandfather [pointing to Bhaktisiddhana Sarasvati Thakura’s picture]. Here are your brothers and sisters [pointing to the devotees]. You can stay here eternally. Just go home and get your toothbrush.” She went home and thought about that and came back with her toothbrush, telling the president she wanted to stay. He asked her if she could follow the four rules, and she said she thought so, even though she had been a chain smoker until that very moment.


At a retirement dinner, someone praised Badrinarayana Prabhu’s father for retiring at 67, and he said, “My son was more intelligent, because he retired and joined the Hare Krishna at age 17.”


Anything negative can be a learning experience for us.


Notes on a Brahmacari Class in London by Vijaya Prabhu


Iron is naturally attracted to iron but when it becomes rusty there is practically no attraction. Similarly we have a natural attraction to Krishna, but in our conditioned state it is not there. If we can remove the rust, the attraction again becomes manifest.


Srila Prabhupada says we should not look for happiness in the material world where happiness is a myth.


Once I was on japa walk in Gainesville at 3:30 a.m. one morning. One woman was returning from a party in her evening gown. She was yelling, “I hate men. Every last one of them.” Then she saw me, and said, “Who is that? Oh, it is Hare Krishna. But it is a man! I hate Hare Krishna men too!”


The brahmacari:


  1. hears Vedas


  2. gives knowledge


  3. collects for guru


Grhastha life disadvantages:


  1. you are dealing with another mind, at least, and one more mind for each child


  2. to raise a child for a devotee is like $75,000 to $100,000


  3. there is a lot of suffering, any married person will tell you


  4. Srila Prabhupada said it is extra luggage.


The best teacher is experience, and a fool learns by no other.


The body appears attractive because of the presence of the soul. The soul is attractive because it is part of Krishna.


There was a brahmacari who wanted to get married. Srila Prabhupada told him he did not think he would be happy if he got married. He persisted, and Srila Prabhupada again told him he did not think it would make him happy. The man got married anyway, and he suffered miserably. His conversation with Srila Prabhupada had been recorded, and if any brahmacari wanted to get married, the ashram leader would play him the tape of the conversation.


Srila Prabhupada said that anyone who has a material body has sex desire, so that is not a reason to get married.


If you want to remain brahmacari tell your authorities to not even tell you if a girl wants to marry you.


In one devotee family in Canada, the mother disappeared mysteriously, and it was not understood what happened for a few years. Later an undercover policeman had a relationship with the daughter in the family, and asked the girl what happened to her mother and she said her brother killed her. He was arrested and jailed. He served 12 years in jail, came out and became the leader of the Mafia in Canada. So when you get married you do not know what kind of kids you will get.


On airplanes Radha Govinda Maharaja puts a cadar over his head so he does not see movies.


Srila Prabhupada said, “The words of Krishna are ever fresh. You can read Srimad-Bhagavatam and Bhagavad-gita thousands of times and never get tired of it.”


I never go to astrologers.


I read three hours a day.


If you have good association with other brahmacaris you will not feel lonely and be tempted to seek friendship with a woman.


Comments by Krishna-kripa das:


[Because I have also practiced brahmacarya for sometime, I offered some comments in the course of Vijaya Prabhu's class.]


I was engaged to a girl after being brahmacari for ten years. Before that I used to think that if it was too hard to be brahmacari, I would just get married. After that difficult experience, however, I would think that if it is too hard to be brahmacari, I will just try harder.


If you want to be brahmacari, you have to desire to be brahmacari more than any woman desires to marry you, otherwise Krishna may fulfill her desire and not yours.


If you go to the evening program of kirtana and class you will not feel lonely in the evening and become tempted to allay that feeling of emptiness in your life with the association of the opposite sex.


Insight from Lectures


Srila Prabhupada [from a purport]:


From this verse we have good information of how the castes are qualified according to quality and work. Rsabhadeva, a king, was certainly a ksatriya. He had a hundred sons, and out of these, ten were engaged as ksatriyas and ruled the planet. Nine sons became good preachers of Srimad-Bhagavatam (maha-bhagavatas), and this indicates that they were above the position of brahmanas. The other eighty-one sons became highly qualified brahmanas. These are some practical examples of how one can become fit for a certain type of activity by qualification, not by birth. All the sons of Maharaja Rsabhadeva were ksatriyas by birth, but by quality some of them became ks?atriyas, and some became brahman?as. Nine became preachers of Srimad-Bhagavatam (bhagavata-dharma-darsanah?), which means that they were above the categories of ks?atriya and brahman?a.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.4.13, purport)


Janananda Goswami:


The deities are behind everything, but it is not that we blame Them for everything.


What to speak of seeing the source of the material world, we cannot even see the source of a tree, for once the tree becomes manifest, the seed is not longer visible.


On the Richter scale, 1 unit more means the earthquake is 10 times powerful.


At the Christchurch memorial service, practically everyone did not have a clue. Only the Jew said we should consider the spiritual the side of life, but none of the other religious leaders said anything enlightening. Almost all the churches were smashed.


People do not take responsibility for their situation. People blame their parents or their next door neighbors. In ISKCON we blame the GBC, the sannyasis, etc. I was a sincere soul but these people exploited me . . .


Our part of our being “the doer” is desiring.


A third of the people moved away from Christchurch.


In New Zealand cow slaughter is one of the biggest industries.


On sankirtana outside the city of Christchurch, I asked one lady about the damage there. She said they only had tremors there. When I asked what she thought about the quake. She said with all the crazy things that people do around here it is not a wonder that it happened.


Just two days before the quake, the daughter of the head pujari of the Christchurch temple had a dream with the deities encouraging the devotees to go on harinama sankirtana, and coming off the altar to lead them.


The verse the morning of the quake was in the Sixth Canto was about depending on the Lord, but the purport talked about Lord sometimes burying Himself underground.


I took it as the Lord encouraging us to go rural and do farming, which is what goes on in that part of the world. Srila Prabhupada wanted the householders to live on farms, and the preachers to live in the cities.


Lord Caitanya’s movement is to chant and dance, take prasadam, take rest, and then chant and dance again.


It is Lord Nityananda’s mercy that anyone who takes the sankirtana a little seriously can experience ecstasy. Seeds are planted in the heart that will never, never die.


The last time I was at Falls Road in Belfast was in 1976, and we chanted for five minutes and we were pelted with rocks. In those times, we did sankirtana in front of Woolworths, and once we came back the next day and found the store was no longer there; they had blown it up.


Baladeva Vidyabhusana was the incarnation of Gopinatha Acarya in the Caitanya-lila.


Gangamata Goswamini had a desire to swim in the Ganges at Ganga Sagara Mela, and the Ganges flowed into her ashram at Puri and carried her to the lotus feet of Lord Jagannatha inside His temple.


Lord Caitanya was careful in choosing the lead singer and lead dancer in his sankirtana parties.


What goes on in our mind has no more to do with us than all the conversations we hear on the street or all the items in the shops, so we can use the harassment of our mind to take shelter of Krishna.


The mind is like a mirror and our business is to fill this mirror with Krishna consciousness thoughts and memories.


Comment by Gauranga SDG: We have to burn our coal-like anarthas [unwanted desires] by the fire of our devotional service.


Prahladananda Swami:


Everyone has friends; even ass demons have friends. Of course, they were not very high-grade friends, but they were loyal.


Krishna has warned about making comic books about Krishna's pastimes because people will tend to think of them as mythological.


When we hear Krishna and Balarama threw the ass demons into the tree one after another, we can visualize this in our minds. This is transcendental meditation, and it is recommended in The Nectar of Devotion.


Meditation on the pastimes on the Lord is more difficult, so it is recommended we loudly chant the holy name. By chanting the holy name, meditating on the sound vibration with attention and devotion, eventually we will feel Krishna's presence. Devotion is the key.


As far as the Tenth Canto is concerned we are supposed to at least appreciate these are the pastimes of the Supreme Lord. We may not be able to blindly accept the pastimes in the Srimad-Bhagavatam, but at least we should not blindly reject them. They are extraordinary, but because they are the pastimes of the all-powerful Supreme Lord, that it not surprising.


For the nondevotees, Krishna gives them the remembrance of their material desires and causes them to forget Himself. For the devotees, He gives remembrance of Himself and frees them from material desire. In this way, He is equal to everyone, giving them what they want, but he speaks Bhagavad-gita to inform the people about the best way to desire. When you offer someone a Bhagavad-gita and they reject it, they are not rejecting you, although it may seem like that. Ultimately they are rejecting Krishna.


When Krishna wants to enjoy swimming in the water, He just accepts the form of a fish, rather than getting snorkel equipment, etc.


Srila Prabhupada once said regarding the deity worship, “It is not that Krishna accepts the halava just because you put extra raisins in it.”


Srila Prabhupada said, “What is the value of what we have to Krishna? It is insignificant. All we have is our devotion. Say to Krishna, 'I am a very fallen person, but I have brought this gift. Please accept it.' Don't be puffed out. Always remember you are dealing with Krishna.”


Try at least to act as if Krishna is great, with appropriate reverence.


Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami [from Japa Transformations]:


Only a fool neglects the attempt to break his loneliness by reaching for You, Sri-Sri Radha-Krishna, Sri-Sri Gaura Nitai, and Srila Prabhupada and all the acaryas in disciplic succession.”


Mother Narayani dd:


From a Sunday Feast lecture:


Other sacrifices are not recommended in this age, just the sacrifice of the congregational chanting of the holy name.


Lord Rama did a fire sacrifice that lasted for 13,000 years without interruption.


In Mayapur for the deity installation they did a fire sacrifice and the congregational chanting of the holy name, and the devotees felt so much ecstasy from chanting that they realized that the chanting was the real installation ceremony.


Lord Caitanya set the example of not establishing deities or temples but just teaching the congregational chanting of the holy name.


Some places we cannot have deities, such as China and some Moslem countries, and in New Zealand, due to an earthquake, we lost our deities, but the chanting goes on.


Due to the suffering of this age, people can intensely cry out the holy name, and so it is actually the best age.


Chanting Hare Krishna is the best process for spiritual realization. In Moscow there was some proof of this. One man would visit all the different spiritual groups in the city and would chant all the different mantras or songs, including visiting the Hare Krishna temple and chanting the Hare Krishna mantra. Once the temple president got a call from a hospital saying one of our members was dying. The president was confused because everyone seemed to be present, but he sent a kirtana party to the hospital just in case. There was the man who used to go to all the different spiritual groups. He had just died the moment before. All the brain and heart waves went to zero. The devotees decided to chant anyway, and the lines on the machine connected to the man’s body began to show activity. Then the man sat up in his bed, and said, “Now I understand why chanting the Hare Krishna is the best process.” Then he lay back in the bed, and left his body.


Concentration on the chanting and avoiding the offenses are the more important ways to improve our chanting.


Before you sleep make the determination to improve your chanting.


In one temple in Badarikasrama there is a grain of rice from Satya-yuga which is one and a half feet long.


From her collection of poems, Garden of Devotion: [Some excerpts of poems I typeset as prose to save space.]


Just as a mother runs into a burning house to save her own children, not thinking of her own safety, so Srila Prabhupada ran into the blazing fire of American materialistic life, not caring for his own safety to rescue his children, to rescue us.”—from “Compassion” (p. 33)


The opposite sex
Was my distraction.
Now Krishna’s sweet face
Is my attraction.”—from “I Will Always Follow You” (p. 38)


Nanda told me she sometimes has to depend on Krishna just to raise her arm and put it into her bead bag, or to go to the bathroom. On her own strength, she cannot do it. So she has realized how she is helpless, how Krishna is taking complete care of her. When will I feel such utter dependence on Krishna?”—from “Depending on Krishna” (p. 37)


My dear mind, please see how Krishna is waiting for you. Don’t be disrespectful, don’t be late. There is nothing more important than hearing the holy name. Leaving everything aside, just hear His name.”—from “To Possess Krishna” (p. 60)


Your name is full of knowledge, I must have faith that everything is there. No need to look elsewhere. Just hear You holy name.”—from “Cleaning the Mind” (p. 64)


Gauranga Prabhu (SDG) [from a conversation]:


One guru in Punjab told his follower that if he gave him all his properties he would be able to see God in a specified amount of time, so the disciple signed over all his property to the guru. When that time had come and gone and the disciple had not seen God, he requested his guru to return the property, but the guru would not. The follower took the guru to court and the guru lost and had to return the property.


Caitanya-candrodaya Prabhu:


The advanced devotee is as good as the Bhagavatam and can be considered a walking Bhagavatam.


The purpose of the Krishna consciousness movement is to give people a chance to hear from the book Bhagavata and the person bhagavata.


Bhagavatam is alive in Srila Prabhupada and his devotees.


Become liberated and stay liberated.


On the Radha-Damodara traveling party the devotees that read the books in addition to distributing them remained in devotional service.


If you want a person to become a devotee you have to immerse them completely in devotional service to they get that experience.


-----


tvayi me 'nanya-vis?aya
matir madhu-pate 'sakr?t
ratim udvahatad addha
gangevaugham udanvati

[Queen Kunti prayed, ]'O Lord of Madhu, as the Ganges forever flows to the sea without hindrance, let my attraction be constantly drawn unto You without being diverted to anyone else.'” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.8.42)