Saturday, August 25, 2012

Travel Journal#8.14: Ireland, Paris, Switzerland

Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 8, No. 14
By Krishna-kripa das
(July 2012, part two
)
Ireland, Paris, Switzerland
(Sent from New Shantipur Farm, Czarnów, Poland, on August 25, 2012)

Where I Went and What I Did

After chanting in Dublin and Belfast, Ananta Nitai and I went to Govindadvipa to chant at a couple towns near our Krishna island, namely Enniskillen, Northern Island, and Cavan, Ireland, with Bhagavata Dasi, who has great enthusiasm for sharing Krishna. Then we returned to Dublin for the 12-hour harinama that we organized for that coming Saturday. After a few more days of harinama in Dublin, I went to chant for three days with my friends in Paris. Then I went to Langenthal, Switzerland, for the Saturday feast program, and to Zurich for the Sunday Jhulan Yatra festival and harinama on Monday. Then off to Berlin enroute to Kostrzyn, Poland, for my twelfth year at the Polish Woodstock festival which I describe in my next journal.

I share insights from a variety of Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami’s books, which are quoted in his online journal, Viraha Bhavan, which I regularly proofread, from Gour Govinda Swami’s disciple, Madhavananda Prabhu, who was visiting Paris, from Bhakti-sastri teacher, Adi Purusa Prabhu, who was visiting Zurich, and from my harinama partners in Dublin and Paris. I also include the experience of a man I met on a bus who met the Hare Krishna devotees at a festival.

Harinamas in Ireland

Invited by Bhagavata Dasi, Ananta Nitai Prabhu and I went to Govindadvipa to do harinamas in two nearby towns, Enniskillen, in Northern Ireland, and Cavan, in the Republic.

In Enniskillen, devotees chant in a little pedestrian area in the center of the town. The people were more appreciative and more charitable in general than the people in Cavan the next day. Bhagavata Dasi had some small books we gave all those who gave a donation, no matter how small. We did, however, encounter one macabre surprise, a fight between two women, perhaps in their twenties or thirties, no more than three meters in front of where we were chanting. One knocked the other down on the ground and was shouting and punching her out, to the horror of her son, who was standing, helpless, nearby. The one on the ground ended up with a bloody nose. No one intervened in the fight, other than a man who said a few words to no avail. The woman who was knocked down had her belongings scattered, and some people helped her pick them up, including the women who punched her out, who found her cell phone a little ways away and returned it to her. Five policemen came and interrogated the aggressive lady. It was truly a bizarre scene. I was singing and playing the harmonium at the time, so I just kept on chanting, as it was not clear what else I could really do. No one seemed to have a better idea. For me, it was just another example of how degrading humanity is becoming?that one woman would beat up another and that no one would try to intervene and prevent injury.

In Cavan the next day we had another great location in the center of the town where we chanted another three hours. The temple president, Gopal Acarya Prabhu, and his family encouraged us by coming out for the first hour or so. The best part was a young man coming up to the devotees, looking for Bhagavad-gita, and giving twenty euros. Otherwise, except for a few smiles, there was not a great response.

Twelve-Hour Harinama in Dublin

The previous week, Ananta Nitai Prabhu suggested that we might do a twenty-four hour harinama in Dublin. Thinking back on how I always have to take a break for three hours to get some rest during the twenty-four hour kirtanas, I suggested we start with a twelve-hour harinama. We settled on a week from Saturday, specifically, Saturday, July 21, and Premarnava Prabhu advertised it on Facebook, and we told all our harinama friends. I was most impressed by the participation of Ananta Nitai Prabhu himself, who participated for at least eleven hours, and the participation of a couple of devotee ladies from out of town, who we had chanted with during our brief tour of Ireland. Bhagavata Dasi took the bus two hours each way from Govindadvipa and chanted for four and half hours. Anet took the train one hour each way from her home and amazingly distributed books during the harinama for ten hours. Her only comment at the end, before returning home, was “When is the next one?” Premarnava Prabhu also put in five hours, and Robert came extra early for the regular Saturday evening harinama to participate. One break dancer enjoyed dancing with us in the afternoon, and group of young boys and one young lady really got into the dancing in the evening.


A couple of girls from Seattle girl happened to encounter our harinama at least twice during the day, and their smiles of joy inspired me to talk with them. One said that seeing the harinama was the best part of her Dublin trip. I encouraged them to visit our temple in Seattle, when they return home, for the local Sunday feast program there. I participated myself in our twelve-hour harinama for over eleven hours. Not realizing the strength of the Irish sun in that chilly land, I got the worst sunburn this year. I learned some strategies for my increasing participation. Just have a small lunch so you do not become tired and need to take rest, and do not drink so much you have to always take a bathroom break. I reported our harinama successes to my authority in the UK and Ireland, Janananda Goswami, who encouraged me to return to Ireland again after I come back to the UK from Europe in late September.

Metroyoga in Paris

I was happy to join my friends, Chandrasekhara Acharya Prabhu, Gadadhara Priya Prabhu, and Bhaktin Sara, in chanting on the metros in Paris again, a program called Metroyoga. Recently Chandrasekhara Acharya has written a nice article for Back to Godhead describing the program. You always meet some people who really appreciate the chanting and the presentation, and that makes it all worth it.

Langenthal, Switzerland

There is a growing community of devotees in Langenthal, Switzerland, about an hour from Zurich, in the German-speaking part of the country. They have a larger temple room than most of our temples in Europe. There were a lot of devotees there who had enthusiasm for the kirtana at their weekly Saturday feast program. At Langenthal three householder families have a prasadam business by which they maintain themselves.

Zurich

I was in Zurich for the Jhulan Yatra (Radha Krishna swing festival) on Sunday and harinama by the lake on Monday. Special features of the Zurich Jhulan Yatra are that the swing is suspended over a pool of water, and to satisfy both the Tamil-speaking congregation, largely from Sri Lanka, and the local German-speaking congregation, the festival is held twice, so I got to swing Radha-Krishna two times. This festival is observed in our temples with Radha Krishna deities for the five days before and including Lord Balarama’s appearance day, but in recent years I had not been in a temple where it was held, so it was a treat to be there in Zurich and to swing Radha and Krishna twice in one day. The Gaudiya Vaishnava sampradaya stresses service to the divine couple, Radha and Krishna, and this swing festival of Theirs gives everyone in the congregation a little experience of that. For that reason, it is one of my favorite festivals.

I felt indebted to temple president, Krishna Prema Rupa Prabhu, who kindly organized a nearly two-hour harinama on Monday with ten devotees down along the lake in Zurich. There was a lot of enthusiasm among the devotees. We even went further around the lake than they ever do, through a small region where they do not have permission to chant, to the other side of the lake where it is again permitted. We passed out many temple invitations, both to the Sunday feast and the upcoming Janmastami festival. One woman came up to me asking about devotees’ summer festival, and I gave her an invitation for the Janmastami event. Apparently there the devotees celebrate Janmastami so nicely people in the city look forward to it each year.

I took a night train from Zurich to Berlin on the way to the Polish Woodstock. Although it was over eleven hours, it was only $43, a rare deal from the Swiss train company, SBB.

Insights

Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami:

Emerson says, “Beware what you set your heart upon, for it will surely be yours.”

Make war on Maya in your life.

O Ugra Lion-Man,
Your black body,Your
stance of ready-to-fight,
massive black head
plainly silver teeth and
10 arms and hands I can
almost see them all?
be real for me,
I don’t fear You because
You are our protector against
evil. Therefore I ask You
please come alive?and
tear out form the roots
my anarthas.

And life ebbs out like from a slightly leaking pot.

I thought this is so strange. The blue-faced murti of a calm Nrsimha holding Laksmi on His lap. India, and a religion of strange forms. Is it not that way? Unless you are born and raised here (or you live here many years and become Indian-religionized) it remains alien to you. But you have one thing?your surrender to Prabhupada. And he expertly teaches and induces you to accept Krsna consciousness in a scientific nonsectarian way. Except for him, even Gaudiya Vaisnavism remains strange gods, alien words, hard to believe miracles. . . .

Srila Prabhupada followed his guru life and soul yet made his own way in America, innovated, etc. Can you?

Don’t want to die “off” or die having not fulfilled what you could have become if you dared. Let everyone live out the best he or she can become.

How do you develop selfless service for
the guru?” she asks. I’m at a loss to
answer precisely because
I don’t know it myself!

I am in lap of Gaura-Nitai [being in Mayapura]. Please I ask Them, please shape me and give good meaning to my visit.

I can occupy myself splendidly if people would just leave me alone.

But you have seen Lord Nrsimha
and can call His names,
please protect me from demons,
please kill my own demons
in the heart.

A day here is worth
millions somewhere else says
Navadvipa Mahatmya.
Bumpkin returns to the
West with stars in eyes
and plan. He’ll be a
Prabhupada Gauranga man.

Tell them. . . . I love you, I love this, but I also love to be alone?it’s hard work but very rewarding in a quiet and deep way.

O Lord, I thank You, it’s You who arrange this, who guide me to do it. Now may I do it purely.

Well life and death are somewhat the same and they are definitely related. When you are aware of death then you live in a certain way, a better way. The certainty of death, and thinking about it, turns your life more serious. It doesn’t mean you live in a deathlike way. You can still be very much in the moment, and so to speak, enjoy it all, but you’re aware that it’s really over soon, and you live in a way to improve your next life. So you see what I mean, how death and life are connected?

Yesterday you were complaining a little that there has been so much talk in your life about people dying, especially devotees in Vrndavana. But partly it’s just your own fear and avoidance of death that makes you not want to hear all of this. And the positive way to take it is to be aware of death as you live. That doesn’t spoil everything in the present moment, but it rather infuses it with a certain energetic fervent quality. If you can drive out sense gratification and serve Krsna then you are successful.

Tomorrow we’ll try a new strategy of just completely closing the windows because the bugs are coming right through the screens. I’ve never seen any place where they have such multitudes of insects. Prabhupada talks about it in some of his lectures, how in Mayapur during the night these creatures are born and live and die in one night and how in the morning you see heaps and heaps of bodies. Sometimes when I heard the lecture I felt perhaps he was exaggerating when he said that there were thousands and thousands of bugs and heaps and heaps of bodies in the morning and that you could sweep them away. But now I see it’s true. Why don’t I take Prabhupada literally true on face value all the time? Just it’s a matter of time before you find out that what he says is true.

from My Letters from Srila Prabhupada, Volume 3, I am Never Displeased with Any Member:

I was recently speaking with one devotee who told me that her fifteen-year-old daughter is so fixed on becoming a devotee that she even thought of running away from home and joining an ISKCON temple (her mother wants her to stay home and finish school). Despite the horrors that so many of us suffered, there’s another side: Living in a temple really helped us become devotees, solidly fixed in sadhana.

We shared living space, bathrooms, food, cooking duties, trouble, anxiety and the triumph of having received such a letter from Prabhupada. We worshiped together and felt the bliss of collective peak experience that comes from working hard for Krishna. Our lives were so different from anything we could have imagined them to be. We weren’t living abstract ideas of unity and community as were the hippies in their cynicism. Prabhupada had given us the real thing. Prabhupada was the center. It wasn’t always easy?and I’m aware that I’m stressing the good side?but we were all devotees, disciples, together. There was no question that we could do other than we did if we were sincere. Putting aside the old ISKCON debate, we should be mature enough to just try and feel the essence of something Prabhupada gave us and which many of us are so fortunate to have taken part in, even if things have changed. We joined the spiritual world.”

from Srila Prabhupapa Samadhi Diary:

O Prabhupada, may we live in you until we die; may we serve in this life and the next. May we study your words and repeat them with joy and conviction. May we know Krishna and Radha through you.”

Dhruva Prabhu:

The Sanskrit verses of the scripture purify us so it is good to chant them repeatedly.

Prabhupada was very liberal and said it does not matter what religion you follow but that you must follow strictly whatever religion you choose. Just like you have to learn math, but which math book you use is up to you.

If we love someone, we must remember that person and we must do something for that person, and so it is with Krishna.

The greatest gift is love of God.

In America the greatest worry is “will my money run out before I die?”

The beauty of Krishna consciousness is the giver and the receiver both benefit.

A saint is not recognized in his own town. The great example is Prabhupada who had so much difficulty preaching Krishna consciousness in India but became very successful in the West.

In the material world if someone praises you, you praise them, “You must be so intelligent to realize how intelligent I am.”

Our preaching is successful if one comes to appreciate different features of Krishna consciousness, the harinama, the prasadam, and the books.

I have been on many harinamas, but the ones that Indradyumna Swami has in Poland are the most amazing. The devotees are all dressed very nicely and play the instruments very nicely. People are very attracted, and you can see it.

In India the children see the mother and father as God because mother and father maintain them as God maintains them.

It is no wonder we fall several times a day, but we must recognize we have fallen, and continue chanting.

We do not see our big faults, but we are very expert in finding innumerable insignificant faults in others.

Ananta Nitai Prabhu:

I always liked harinama, congregational chanting in public, but it was not until I read what Aindra Prabhu wrote that I understood its great importance.

We cannot judge devotees externally. Externals do not represent the internal mood of the devotee, but it is the internal mood that Krishna reciprocates with.

Krishna’s statements in the Gita are enacted in His pastimes.

Tribhuvananatha Prabhu said, referring to the spiritually ignorant, a husband and wife love each other’s false egos at best.

I could chant four rounds a day, and I resigned my self to that, thinking I would never chant anymore than four. I heard that the association of devotees was valuable, so I took a week off from work and attended the temple morning program with fourteen devotees every day. By the fourth day, I was chanting sixteen rounds, and I have been chanting sixteen rounds a day ever since. That was thirteen years ago. Thus I practically can see the power of the association of devotees in my own life.

Mayesvara Prabhu:

Hridayananda Maharaja says just by seeing the smile of the empowered preacher of Krishna consciousness you can understand you are not your body.

comment by me: That reminds me of this description given by Srila Prabhupada in a purport about Kardama Muni, “Pure devotees are so absorbed in thought Krishna that they have no other engagement; although they may seem to think or act otherwise, they are always thinking of Krishna. The smile of such a Krishna conscious person is so attractive that simply by smiling he wins so many admirers, disciples and followers.” (SB 3.22.21)

Madhavananda Prabhu:

In America there was a poll showing that 60%–70% of the people who believe in God do not believe in religion. There is a popular book called How I Left Religion and Found God.

People have not found satisfaction through sectarian religion because they have missed the essence of religion, unmotivated, uninterrupted service to God.

Krishna explains that religion is meant to be practically experienced and to be happily performed. (Bg. 9.2)

Srila Prabhupada said, “Our only business is to get people to chant Hare Krishna.” We do not want anything in exchange. Elsewhere he explained, “Our only business is to make people happy.” He also explained that we are nonsectarian society with members coming from many different religions and that members of ISKCON may retain their own religious faiths.

In Zurich there are many streams but you cannot hear their sweet sounds during the day because of all the cars and buses. In the same way, we cannot hear the soul because of the radio of our minds.

There are saints in every religion who cry for the Lord, and the Lord hears their cries.

If you go to seek a job and when asked your qualification, you say you have none or that you are the most useless person in the world, will you get a job? No. But in spiritual life, it is different.

Having straw in your teeth, both indicates that you are not going to protest nor are you going to cry with your mouth but with your heart.

Narottama Dasa Thakura prays to the Lord, “You are famous as the savior of the most fallen, but if you do not save me, you will have to change your name.”

We have to cry in such a way that it is clear to Krishna that no toys He may give us will satisfy us; nothing will satisfy us except Him.

Sadhus say smaranam means maranam. Remembrance of God means death to all our material desires.

Krishna explains to Arjuna that only those who chant his name, crying from their souls, are dear Him.

All the great religions of the world are based on great saintly persons but later on their so-called followers became more interested in business.

bhakti-yoga bhakti-yoga bhakti-yoga dana
bhakti sei krishna-nama smarane krandana

Visvanatha Cakravati Thakura states that bhakti-yoga is the greatest charity, and bhakti-yoga means chanting the holy name of the Lord with remembrance and with crying.

Ramachandra Dev, was King of Jagannatha Puri, but he was defeated by a Muslim general. After thirteen months and fifteen days in prison, the general offered to release him and allow him to be king again, only he would have to become a Muslim and marry a Muslim woman. Seeing that as the only opportunity to continue his service to Jagannatha, he accepted the condition. All his other wives rejected him, and left him, along with their children. His friends also rejected him. He went to the Puri temple, but the priests would not even let him in, although he was the king of Puri, because he had a Muslim wife. Every night after the temple closed, Ramachandra Dev would go outside it and cry. When he was so aggrieved and he was about to end his life, the Lord appeared and said, “Do not cry.” Then the Lord manifested the Patita-pavana deity outside the temple so the king could see him.

When Ramachandra Dev cried for Krishna, Jagannatha (Krishna) cried for him.

Lord Jagannatha is the form of the greatest ecstasy.

In Orissa there Muslims who help build and pull the Ratha-yatra.

They say in Orissa, “The name of Rama is like a laddu, and the name of Krishna is like ghee, and the name of Hare is like sweetened condensed milk, and you mix them and drink it. That is the Hare Krishna mantra.

Q: How do I cry for Krishna?
A: Associate with people who are crying for Krishna.

Gour Govinda Swami explained there are two secrets for success:
1. Every day say some prayers to Lord Nityananda.
2. Pray for other people.

There are three kinds of mercy:
1. Mercy for the body.
2. Mercy for the mind.3. Mercy for the soul.

The Deity Govindaji in Jaipur appears effulgent because of all the devotees of the city love Him so much.

It is important to respect the leaders, otherwise progress is difficult.

There is a cartoon with a group of executives sitting at a table, with one at the head. The chief executive had an ax above his head and swords in his side. The chief executive is asking who wants to be the next chief executive.

If we expect people to be able to follow the varnasrama rules and regulations and we reject them if they do not, then we will become irrelevant.

Bhaktivinoda Thakura explains the dress of a Vaishnava is a way we can use the body to progress spiritually. However, if we think that such external features are required, and we disrespect real Vaishnavas who do not follow them, we become sectarian.

There is verse where is it said if you address Krishna before Radha, you get the reaction for killing a brahmana. That because it is so distasteful to Krishna.

In Mahabharata, it is said that the mother is ten times more respectable than the father.

India has the lowest divorce rate in the world.

Adi Purusa Prabhu:

Sankhya, analytical knowledge, is like a kaleidoscope. It is very attractive on the outside, but if you look inside you will find nothing of value.
One should not criticize people. One should not even criticize things because they are Krishna’s things.

A Vaishnava never chastises anyone except his students and disciples, and then only in a loving way.

There is one devotee who is a software engineer. He is so patient, kind, and respectful, all the workers in the company want him as a supervisor.

The biggest sacrifice is to give up your false ego.

If we accept that we do not have to be in the superior position, then that will help us in conflicts with other people.

Once I was arguing and arguing with another devotee. At one point, it occurred to me, I should try to understand how he was seeing things. Much to my surprise, as soon as I starting thinking in this way, the other devotee said, “Now I can understand what you are saying.”

Krishna allows each of us the right to be wrong. If we allow others the right to be wrong, that is a sign of respect. Everyone has a right to their opinion, even if it is not good for them.

Sacinandana Swami explained that our body belongs to Krishna, and therefore, we should loving take of it for Krishna’s service.

Who is the doer? In summary, the soul is responsible but dependent, and the Supersoul and material nature are neutral doers.

Every religion teaches there is a higher reality which is indestructible.

I came to Krishna consciousness because I wanted to find a method so I could experience a higher reality.

Previously I was a Buddhist, but I wondered what was after nirvana and never got clear answer.

We are entitled to eternity, bliss, and knowledge, but now we have turned away, so we have reconnect.

The highest pleasure is experienced in loving relationships by giving love.

Da Vinci depicted God as an old man, perhaps 60 or 70 years old. Why not a million years old? Because he is all-powerful he can stop aging. But if you could stop aging, would you choose to be 60 or 70 years old? No, you would choose to remain youthful. And so it is with Krishna. He is an eternal youth. Krishna is the original cool teenager.

At one point the Vatican removed some references to God as the supreme judge and giver of punishment.

In Vrndavana only the priests can swing Radha-Krishna. Srila Prabhupada has given us very special mercy to allow even visitors to the temple to participate in this pastime by swinging the Lord.

The eight gopis are associated with the eight directions.

By hearing about Krishna’s pure pastimes of love we connect with Him, and we remember these when we pull Radha Krishna on the swing.

Bhakti is pure if the goal is to serve Krishna with love, and that we do bhakti only to attain this goal. In addition, one must understand Krishna in truth, and engage in the nine kinds of devotional service.

My siksa guru, Niranjana Swami, has given me the best guidance in my life as a devotee. He explains the key to bhakti is intention. One simply has to act with the desire to please Krishna. If you feel unconnected to Krishna, try adjusting your intention, and you will see it makes all the difference.

Dave [a carpenter from Dublin I met on the bus from Beauvais Airport to Paris]:

I saw the Hare Krishnas in Dublin. Once I spent two hours in a Krishna tent at a festival. It just felt like 40 minutes. Many tunes of the same song, Hare Krishna, and they played in my mind for days after. [I gave him the card for the Sunday feast and Tuesday evening kirtana program in Dublin.]

-----

naham tisthami vaikunthe
yoginam hrdayesu va
tatra tisthami narada
yatra gayanti mad-bhaktah

[Lord Krishna to Narada:] I am not in Vaikuntha [the spiritual world] nor in the hearts of the yogis. I remain where My devotees engage in glorifying My activities. (Padma Purana, quoted in Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.21.41, purport)

Monday, August 20, 2012

Travel Journal#8.13: The North of England, Dublin, and Belfast

Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 8, No. 13
By Krishna-kripa das
(July 2012, part one)
The North of England, Dublin, and Belfast
(Sent from New Shantipur Farm, Czarnów, Poland, on August 20, 2012)

Where I Went and What I Did

The first week of July I spent in Newcastle doing harinama with Sri Gadadhara Prabhu, and sometimes joined by Prema Sankirtana Prabhu, and once also with photographer, Bhakta Lauris. As usual, sometimes we chanted in Newcastle itself and sometimes in neighboring regions. Next we went to the monthly Manchester harinama, the second Sunday of the month. GBC of the UK Praghosa Prabhu was there, and I got to tell him about my new program of working in his region in the summers under the direction of Janananda Goswami. Brahmacaris from the Bhaktivedanta Manor were visiting and did harinamas with us in Manchester on Monday and Leeds on Tuesday. Wednesday was a wild day traveling from Leeds to Manchester to help with a program for elementary students, and then going to Sheffield for the afternoon harinama and evening program, and then taking a train to Birmingham to catch a bus to Dublin. I spent a few days in Dublin and Belfast chanting three hours almost every day with my new harinama partner, a disciple of Maha-Vishnu Swami, Ananta Nitai Prabhu.

I share a couple quotes from Krishnadasa Kaviraja Goswami about the most sacred place in the world, and Srila Prabhupada’s explanation for why certain activities are considered sinful. I include insights from Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami from a variety of his books. Yadunandana Swami came to Dublin and shared some insights which I include. The question of remembering Krishna at the time of death and the potential problem of Alzheimer’s disease generated an interesting discussion and devotees share some real life stories about that. GBC Praghosa Prabhu at the Manchester Sunday Feast glorified Srila Prabhupada and encouraged us to follow his example. My harinama partners also share some interesting realizations in their classes.

I apologize for the lack of photos to illustrate this issue. My camera died, and I was not enthusiastic enough to ask the devotee photographers for the pictures they took at the time. I tried writing some of them by email later, asking for pictures, but no one responded.

More Harinamas in The North of England

We chanted in Sunderland and three boys, perhaps ten or twelve or so, amazed us by trying to chant and for dancing with us for fifteen minutes. One was especially fired up. Later Sri Gadadhara Prabhu sold a Bhagavad-gita to a couple girls who reminded us of the hippie era by their dress and behavior. They maintained themselves by face painting and Tarot card reading. They joined our harinama and chanted and danced so in such a lively way as we passed through the streets and malls of Sunderland, it was as though they were brahmacarinis from one of our ashrams.

In Manchester we had such a fired up harinama that two or three young Muslim ladies danced right in the middle of one of two facing lines of dancing devotees who were repeatedly coming together, jumping, and moving apart. Although Muslim ladies are often attracted, usually they just smile, take pictures, or dance with their friends a little distant from our party, but this time they were right in the thick of it. At the same time, a couple of visiting Italian girls, also danced in one of the lines of dancing devotees at one end. One man from Kuwait was watching when the Muslim ladies danced and spoke disapprovingly about them to me, saying they were from Pakistan and were setting a bad example for Muslim ladies. His comment seemed a little humorous to me, perhaps because I had not encountered such internal disagreements among the Muslims before.

Sutapa Prabhu and a van load of devotees from Bhaktivedanta Manor were visiting the Manchester area, and we did an amazing four hours of harinama in downtown Manchester on Monday and then harinama for a couple of hours in Leeds on Tuesday before the evening program there. Having all the extra devotees made the kirtana at the Leeds program very lively. As a result of a good experience, Sutapa Prabhu is considering coming to The North of England with some of his party more often to assist the outreach up there.

Manchester Program for School Students

Tribhangananda Prabhu does programs for school children who come to the temple to learn about Hinduism. He makes it really interactive for them by having them dress up as avatars, demigods and demigoddess, and having them hold dolls of different Hindu deities, and pass them around the room. Then he talks about the qualities and activities of each deity. I was surprised that some of the students remembered details of the Ramayana from their Hinduism class at school and were able to identify some of the personalities from it. Sri Gadadhara Prabhu and I played a brief role by leading kirtana for the kids and demonstrating the musical instruments. The kids and their teachers all get prasadam afterward. You could see that both the students and the teachers liked the program. It was impressive to me that the teachers expressed appreciation that my friend and I had taken time out of our lives just to sing for them. As it was, by running and taking two buses, I made it to the train station just two minutes before my train to Sheffield, but my friend, who was less determined, missed his flight to Czech.

Sheffield Harinama and Program

I like Sheffield because you can always count on some of the local devotees to come on harinama. Kay, the leader, and her daughter Radha, are almost always there. Another young man is very steady as well. Radha was scheduled to work but asked for the rest of the afternoon off because it was a slow day, and her boss gave it to her. Mark, who had not been coming around for awhile, saw me when I was chanting alone in the beginning, and he passed out flyers for me. When the others came, he continued with the harinama, and later came to the program. Four girls danced as they walked by the harinama, and then again when they passed by in the other direction. While Radha was singing, she encouraged three girls who were friends to participate. First the girls danced, and then they chanted, and they had a great time. At the program a new lady from India who heard about our ISKCON program from a student at the university, and who knew the devotees from Bangalore, came, stayed the whole time, bought some beads and made a vow to chant one round a day. Steven from Ghana, a regular at that program, and a taxi driver, gave me a complimentary ride to the train. As I reached the train to Sheffield, just two minutes before its departure, which caused me too much anxiety, this time we got there seven minutes early.

Dublin Harinamas

Premarnava and Ananta Nitai Prabhu have a regular program of going out every day on harinama for an hour or an hour and a half, sometimes joined by Mayesvara Prabhu, and so it was great to have their association. Ananta Nitai, in particular, did not mind increasing to three hours almost every day. We chanted in Dublin a couple of days, once assisted by Yadunandana Swami who was visiting and Mayesvara Prabhu, a regular.

Belfast Harinamas

Ananta Nitai Prabhu and I went to the usual Belfast harinama stop after arriving from Dublin by bus, as we had invited the temple devotees to join us there. Soon Bhaktin Annete, who loves distributing books on harinama, appeared and later Satya Rupa Devi, a disciple of Srila Prabhupada who had moved to Ireland from Australia since I visited last year.

The next day we decided to do harinama before the Sunday feast for two and a half hours. This time, Shyama Mayi Devi, a regular on last year’s harinamas who had chanted with our Mayapur harinama party this spring, came out along with Annete. The advantage to pre-Sunday feast harinamas is that the interested people you meet can come back to the temple for the program, and this time it actually happened. A man, perhaps in his forties or fifties, who seemed to be on a spiritual search, came back with us by bus to the temple for the Sunday lecture, kirtana, and feast. I decided to sit with him during the feast, as no one else seemed very interested in talking to him. I asked what he thought of the philosophy, and he said he liked it. Because of his interest, I suggested that Ananta Nitai Prabhu might try to sell him a book. And so he did, not one, but four, and the man gave a 60 pound donation, almost $100. I saw it as Krishna encouraging us in our humble attempts to do outreach.

Monday, another enthusiastic devotee lady, Rukmamati Devi, who is a full-time pujari, joined the harinama, along with one of the other ladies, and Shyama Mayi joined us on Tuesday. I suggested to the four ladies who had come out on harinama over the four days we were there that they arrange their service schedules so they could go out on harinama two or three times a week, as they all were very happy to be chanting in the streets again, and I hope they do.

Next we went to Govindadvipa to chant with Bhagavata Dasi, a very enthusiastic devotee lady who is somewhere around sixty years in age, but still loves to go chanting in the towns near our temple there.

Insights

Krishnadasa Kaviraja Goswami [from Govinda-lilamrita]:

Describing the arena of Lord Krishna’s rasa dance:

Beneath a kalpa-druma tree [desire tree] is a palace wherein Lord Krishna’s jeweled throne is situated in a sacred place, and where the Agama-sastra explains the Lord has multitudes of pastimes with the gopis. It is also said that in this monarch of all places that by seeing Lord Govinda one would attain the qualities of Radharani and Her gopi friends with great joy.”

[Glorifying the names of Krishna is performed by the gopis, Krishna’s greatest devotees:]
By playing on His flute Lord Krishna announced His desire to enjoy the rasa dance. The gopis responded by singing various songs glorifying Lord Krishna’s names. These songs greatly pleased the Lord.”

Srila Prabhupada:

from a lecture in Bombay, February 24, 1974:

Why are meat-eating, illicit sex, intoxication, and gambling considered sinful? Because they force the soul to accept another body, which is the source of misery.

Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami:

from Prabhupada Meditations IV:

?It has been almost fourteen years since Prabhupada left us. We are getting older physically, but we are still spiritual infants. We have so much to learn. We pray to Prabhupada for better vision. Arjuna prayed for the eyes to see the Universal Form; we need the eyes to see what is in Prabhupada’s books. We need to understand the deeper meanings of Krishna consciousness. This doesn’t mean that Prabhupada didn’t give us everything. It only means that we have failed to recognize it.”

from his journal, Viraha Bhavan, for July 16, 2012:

It’s
nice when sadhus
dance so beautifully, like
Lord Caitanya did.
It enhances the performance
of sankirtana and induces
onlookers to appreciate and
even participate.

from Karttika Papers:

This is Mayapura where
you can commit offenses.
Everything you do is blessed
The Two Brothers Reign.
They bring you to gopi-bhava.

Prabhupada said, “Death is not
wonderful. Life is wonderful. And
this is life, Krsna consciousness.”

We need to take a break from the arduous duties and just hear the pastimes of Krsna.

from Journal and Poems, Volume One:

?In 1977 when Prabhupada was quite ill, he attended a big pandal in Bombay. He had to be carried onto the stage and the audience could see that he was physically diminished. Yet Prabhupada never preached more powerfully. At one of those programs, a man asked, ‘What about health?’ Prabhupada replied, ‘What is health? You’re going to die, so how can you be considered healthy?’ So one of the things I seem to be gaining during this recuperation period is the deepening realization that I’m going to die. I’m trying to recoup a little strength so that I can go on for many more years, but there’s no question of reversing the incurable process of aging unto death. Although this truth should be commonly understood, many have not realized it.

from Vrindavana Writing:

I want to taste the nectar so I can become like a maddened bee and remain always in the lotus of Your confidential pastimes. O Lord, I do not know anything but the spiritual masters who guide me are enticing me toward the goal. I’m not happy to be chanting and hearing without feeling the ecstasy of attraction for You. I am ashamed that this is my condition. I beg You to please relieve me of that shame.

Dear Lord, if there are obstacles to be removed before You grant me this request, then I further request that You show me those obstacles and teach me to surmount them. Give me the courage and intelligence to overcome a weak heart.

If You think I require more time to ripen before You will find me an enjoyable and attractive servant in Your pastimes, then I only ask to be allowed to associate in this world with devotees who have a deep affection for Srimati Radharani. Please allow me to serve those devotees life after life and to learn from them how to return to Her lotus feet.”

Yadunandana Swami:

The Srimad-Bhagavatam is the most glorious scripture because of its focus on describing the birth and activities of the Lord. Of its 335 chapters, the 90 chapters comprising the Tenth Canto deal with the pastimes of Krishna and the Eleventh Canto of over 30 chapters deals the legacy and final instructions of Krishna.

A teacher of nonviolent communications teaches we must know our own needs, and the needs of the others and then figure out how to connect with others, knowing this. The pleasure comes from connecting with others. Our first business in spiritual realization is sambandha, understanding our connection with and connecting with Krishna.

Now there is talk of a God particle. This means that the scientists directly or indirectly conscious of God. The function of the particle is to sustain matter, and that is one of God’s attributes.

One of Ramanujacarya’s gurus had the power to ask the Deity a question and have the Deity reply with an answer.  Someone asked him to ask the Deity, “What happens if your devotee cannot remember you at the time of death?” The Deity replied, “If the devotee does not remember Me at the time of death, I will remember my devotee.”

comment by Ananta Nitai Prabhu: My mother had Alzheimer’s disease, and at a certain point, she would just repeat what anyone said. I just chanted the Hare Krishna mantra, two words at a time, and she would repeat them, until she would say, “O stop!” Then I would try one more mantra, and when she would not complain, I would continue. After I while she would say, “O stop!” again. Then I would try one more mantra, and she would again not complain, so I would continue. This went on until she was too tired to say anything. Later my sister said she would sometimes hear my mother chanting the entire Hare Krishna mantra. This was amazing to me as usually someone with that condition  cannot remember anything, so I think this is evidence of Krishna giving her some special mercy.

comment by Mayesvara Prabhu: One devotee in Dublin had Alzheimer’s disease. Once he was in a large store, and he got separated from his wife, and he could not remember his own name nor who he had come with to have the store authorities make an announcement. He got the idea to say the Hare Krishna into microphone so his caretaker would understand what happened. Later when his wife could not longer take care of him, he lived in a home with others who required assistance. Many people in that situation in the same home were angry and bitter but he was peaceful and appeared effulgent. His wife would bring him prasadam and garlands from the Deities, and she wiped his face with Ganges water.

comment by me: Malati Prabhu told in a morning class of a devotee seamstress in New Vrindavana, who after a long absence due to Alzheimer’s disease, again took darsana of the Lord, for whom she had made outfits for years. Malati said, “I was surprised to see her absorption in the Deities. She saw me looking at her, and turned to me, saying, ‘You may try to forget Krishna, but Krishna will not forget you.’”

Most of us have both divine and demoniac qualities.

Divine means to follow the instructions of God given in the scriptures.

The life of the soul in the material world is a dilemma. And spiritual life is also a dilemma.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               When we are preaching, we should consider where we are at, and preach what we have realized. It is important to be balanced and consistence. We must communicate Krishna’s message without hypocrisy.

Today is a birthday party. Devotees are special souls, and it is good to take advantage of such opportunities to glorify them. We wish the devotee a long life in Krishna consciousness.

Praghosa Prabhu (GBC UK):

In the spiritual world the bliss is every increasing yet we decided to come to the place of misery, the material world.

There was nothing in Prabhupada’s life that was separated from his mission.

Past the age of retirement, Prabhupada left India to share this knowledge with the world. He had no doubts about his mission. He knew people were suffering, and he wanted to help them.

If we do not have faith that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, we cannot convince others. Therefore, Prabhupada challenged his leaders, “Are you convinced?”

There are so many words for suffering because it is a constant for everyone in this material world.

None of us are really comfortable in our bodies.

Nature programs are very popular yet if you think about it, all you see the different animals doing is four things, eating, sleeping, mating, and defending.

Radhanatha Swami’s father has 200 channels on his TV, but he is not satisfied as it is difficult to remember which had the best program.

Tell all your friends about Krishna in a way that makes them more attracted to Krishna.

The only reciprocation Prabhupada wanted is that we pass what he gave us.

Ananta Nitai Prabhu:

I always liked harinama, the congregational chanting in public, but it was not until I read what Aindra Prabhu wrote that I understood its great importance.

We cannot judge devotees externally. Externals do not represent the internal mood of the devotee, but it is the internal mood that Krishna reciprocates with.

Krishna’s statements in the Gita are enacted in His pastimes.

Tribhuvanatha Prabhu said, for the spiritually ignorant, a husband and wife love each other’s false ego at best.

Conditioned souls identify either with their bodies or their minds. Fearfulness arises from either identifying ourselves with our body or our mind. When we come in contact with the Lord, this fearfulness is annihilated.

The essence of life is to transcend death and that is the knowledge this Hare Krishna movement is giving.

The more pious we are, the less fearful of death we become, and the more sinful we are the more afraid of death we become.

The more selfless you become, the less you worry about the source of miseries which are in relationship the body.

There was a Christian Bible-Belt family who had a kid at an early age who remembered details of a previous life as a fighter pilot. He listed names and details of different aircraft. The family researched it to disprove the idea of reincarnation, but they became convinced of it.

Scientists describe the body functioning in terms of chemical reactions only, but can you show me a chemical reaction that is aware of itself?

One reason people like dogs because the dogs will not reject them.

comment by Annete: I see that when I am distributing books that some people are so glad to talk to me just because they are so lonely. Sometimes they take a book just because they are happy I talked to them.

comment by Guru Das from the Manor in another Srimad-Bhagavatam class: One’s mind wanders in proportion to one’s lack of desire to surrender to Krishna.

Nrsimha Tirtha Prabhu:

At the ceremony when the child is first offered grains, Narottama Thakura Dasa, as baby, refused to eat the grains because they were not offered to Krishna.

Lord Nityananda Prabhu, the original guru, took Narottama Thakura Dasa, as a youth, to the Padma River, to receive the love of God that Lord Caitanya had deposited there for him.

Narottama Thakura installed the deities in Khettari so the devotees there would make steady advancement by regularly serving the Lord.

Bhugarbha Goswami would chant within the earth, in a cave or underground, to make sure no one would disturb him, and that is why he is called Bhugarbha.

The pure devotees think they are fallen, but that motivates them to do more devotional service.

The acaryas, the great spiritual teachers, are looking for their faults in order to correct themselves, and that is expressed in their songs.

Sri Gadadhara Prabhu:

When we do our work for Krishna, it becomes an art.

Krishna consciousness is simple. Do your work for the gratification of Krishna’s senses not your own.

One householder devotee said, “Do not talk about love until you have been married for 15 years,” the purport being that without staying together and serving each other for a long time, through happiness and distress, there is no question of love.

Srila Prabhupada explained nonviolence as working for the spiritual benefit of everyone, but unless we engage in devotional service, we cannot do this. So not to engage in devotional service is actually violence.

Aindra Prabhu said simplicity is to follow whatever the Lord tells us from within.

-----

prthivite ache yata nagaradi grama
sarvatra pracara haibe mora nama

[Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu said:] “In every town and village, the chanting of My name will be heard.” (Caitanya-bhagavata, Antya 4.126)

Friday, August 10, 2012

Travel Journal#8.12: London Ratha-yatra, Stonehenge, and More

Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 8, No. 12
By Krishna-kripa das
(June 2012, part two
)
London Ratha-yatra, Stonehenge, and More
(Sent from Málaga, Spain, on Janmastami, August 10, 2012)

Where I Where and What I Did

London Ratha-yatra was wonderful as usual with a great parade, super prasadam, and various booths and a stage show that attracted people from all over the world. The next couple days, I did harinama in London, along with Sri Gadadhara and Trevor Prabhus, a couple new devotees I had been serving with in Newcastle. Next these friends and I joined with Parasurama Prabhu and his crew to go to Stonehenge for the annual solstice festival, joined by one attendee from the London Ratha-yatra I invited to come. Many people heard the holy name and took prasadam there on that cold, windy, and wet night. Then my little sankirtana party returned to London for a few more days of harinama. Trevor flew to Czech Republic, and on the way back to Newcastle, Sri Gadadhara, my remaining sankirtana partner, and I stopped in Leeds for their monthly Sunday feast. There the congregation pleasantly surprised me by joining us for an hour of harinama after the program. While waiting for the bus back to Newcastle the next morning, I took a break and chanted for a few minutes on the crowded sidewalks where the Olympic torch bearer was passing through Leeds. The final few days of the month we did harinama in Newcastle and nearby localities.

In the “Insights” section I include a great quote about spiritual pleasure from The Nectar of Devotion, and notes on a beautiful class given by Srila Prabhupada on Bhaktivinoda Thakura. It seems Candramauli Swami is making even better points in his lectures as the years go by. Hrdayananda Goswami makes wonderful observations about Srila Prabhupada and his intense desire that we all share the knowledge he gave us. Niranjana Swami shares observations about the simplicity of brahmacari life. Prahladananda Swami challenges materialistic science. Isana Gaura Prabhu speaks valuable words about bhakti, the holy name, and the Lord Krishna’s conversation with Uddhava, known as “Uddhava Gita.”

London Ratha-yatra



London Ratha-yatra was held on a beautiful day, such a relief from last year’s which was drenched with continuous rain. I talked to many people from a variety of countries. One young lady said she spent time with the devotees in Berlin recently and had attended Govinda’s restaurant in Soho when she previously lived in London. I told her about our program of chanting and food distribution on the Stonehenge solstice festival in a few days, and amazingly enough, she decided to come.

I loved the prasadam, especially the srikand. I had seconds or thirds, I cannot remember! Parasurama Prabhu who is in charge of the feast is determined to make a good impression on the public with great prasadam. The last kirtana on the stage was lively, and the audience was appreciating, including a couple of Scottish girls who were really charmed by it. Mahavishnu Swami did a harinama back to the Soho temple after the festival at Trafalgar Square.

Many people took great photos of London Ratha-yatra. I do not have time to look through them and choose the best, but I can share links to their galleries with you so you may look at them. Click on the picture or links below, to see the galleries:

Darshana Photo Art: London Ratha Yatra 2012

On YouTube there are many videos of London Ratha-yatra, if you want to get an idea of what it is like:

Stonehenge Solstice Festival

Parasurama Prabhu, who does transcendental food distribution in London on a daily basis, brings food and a chanting party to the Stonehenge solstice festival each year. These activities go on usually from midnight to six or seven in the morning on the day of the summer solstice, June 21. If the weather is good, which it wasn’t this year, he even has a Ratha-yatra for two hours, from one to three. This year was the worst weather in the three years I have gone. It started raining not long after we started our walking harinama to the stone, and it did not let for some time. We all got soaked. I did not bring any socks, fearing they would get soaked, but in retrospect I think wet socks would have been better than no socks, as my feet would have been warmer. There was a little shelter from the rain where we were serving the spiritual food, but I was so wet that the cold wind made me suffer so much I took shelter of the van and Giridhari Prabhu’s sleeping bag from four to six just to stay warm, out of fear of getting sick, and I missed the height of the event. Sri Gadadhara and Trevor Prabhus, the two newer devotees who were traveling with me, were able, along with three others, somehow or other, to continue chanting the whole time up to the stones and then back, and they said many people were happy to see them and to sing and dance with them as usual. Someone took the following video of them and posted it on YouTube:


One blogger, Ross Merritt, commented on the devotees, “The hardcore, Hare Krishna types were there as usual, who for some reason were singing their mantra in the tune of ‘When the Saints Go Marching In’! They must be trying to reach out to a new fan base!”

One young lady named Paola, originally from Italy, who I met at the London Ratha-yatra, came with us to Stonehenge. She did not get as wet as we did because she did not go on the initial chanting party, helping to distribute food instead. Despite the bad weather, she had a positive experience, meeting the devotees, distributing prasadam, and helping the Indian ladies cook at the Manor before we left for Stonehenge. She told Parasurama Prabhu she would help him distribute prasadam in London sometimes.

Other Harinamas in England

Croydon:

I heard there was going to be a weekend warrior program in Croydon the Saturday after the London Ratha-yatra to advertise the Croydon Ratha-yatra the following day. Those programs usually involve chanting, book distribution, and talking to people about spiritual topics, so I generally like to go to them. Jai Nitai Prabhu, temple president of our Soho temple encouraged me to go to the one in Croydon, although I would have preferred to help my friend Giridhari Prabhu do a similar program in Ilford to advertise their spiritual cultural program to be held the following Thursday. It turns out neither of the two new devotees traveling with me wanted to go, no one else from the temple wanted to go. And when I got there, I found that no one else was there. I had gotten the number of the local contact person, so I explained that I was there and was determined to play my harmonium for three hours and chant, and if they supplied invitations for the next day’s Ratha-yatra I would gladly distribute them, and so they did. While I was chanting, waiting for the invitations, one jovial, black man came up to me, saying he wanted to give a donation. Noticing I had no receptacle for donations, he suggested if I get a bowl to put donations in, I would collect more money. I just wanted to chant and did not want to go shopping for a bowl. So, noticing there was a 99 pence store across the way, I suggested he might purchase a bowl for me as a donation. And so he did, placing the bowl before me with his penny in change being my first donation. By the end of the three hours, I collected over 27 pounds ($42) , more than covering the 8 pounds it cost me to get there and back. Some people, both Indians and Englishmen, simply seeing me chanting came up and asked about the Ratha-yatra, and others were happy to learn of the event for the first time. An Indian man from the Croydon congregation stopped by and helped by distributing the invitations as I sang for half an hour or so. As Janananda Goswami paid for my trip to London and the London temple paid for my trip to Croydon, I did not need to collect for my expenses, and so I gave all the money to the temple, and they used it to sponsor books for distribution. I learned from this experience that if you are determined to do your service despite all impediments, that Krishna definitely reciprocates.

Leeds:

After the monthly Sunday feast in Leeds, England, seven members of the congregation greatly inspired me by joining me and my friend Sri Gadadhara in chanting all around the center of the city for an hour. It was wonderful to see the devotees’ spiritual enthusiasm generated from the Sunday program utilized in sharing Krishna with others. We passed out many invitations to their weekly Tuesday evening program during the harinama. The post-feast program harinama reminded me of Kharkov, Ukraine, where devotees do two hours of chanting through the streets of their city after their weekly Sunday feast. When you think about it, for many devotees, especially those in the congregation, their greatest participation in devotional service to the Lord for the whole week comes from the weekly programs and so they are most appreciative of the value of Krishna consciousness in their life at this time. Therefore, it is actually the best time for them to engage in an activity like harinama, which involves sharing one’s enthusiasm for Krishna consciousness with others.

The next morning I took a break from waiting for my bus to Newcastle to play harmonium and chant Hare Krishna for a few minutes for a crowd watching the Olympic torch bearer run through the streets of Leeds. I followed the torch bearer for a block, along with several others. As I passed, one uniformed man smiled and shouted with confidence, “Gouranga!” I smiled back. I had heard that devotees from Scotland put up posters for years in Scotland, and perhaps The North of England as well, which said “Chant Gouranga!” Apparently this man took it seriously, and he was one of few who knew that the Hare Krishna’s were behind this “Chant Gouranga” campaign.

Newcastle area:

Soon after we returned to Newcastle, one day a boy named David joined us, chanting with us for a few minutes near the monument. Sri Gadadhara told me that while I was traveling to Manchester, David had met the harinama in Newcastle and come to the Sunday program. He was happy to meet the devotees again, and said he would again come by the temple.

On Thursday we did a one and a half hour harinama in Chester Le Street, near Newcastle. The sky grew dark, and it started to rain, so we left quickly. Later Prema Sankirtana Prabhu saw this video of the town posted on the internet.


Seeing the video reminded me of this verse, yajñat bhavati parjanyo, rains are produced by performance of yajña [sacrifice] (Bg. 3.14).

After narrowly escaping the inundation at Chester Le Street, we went to Sunderland, and chanted for another half hour without disturbance by the rain. It was only in the evening when we returned to Newcastle and saw many abandoned cars stuck on the roads and lakes of water covering the pavement that we realized the magnitude of the storm Krishna had protected us from, while at the same time facilitating our
sankirtana.

Insights

Srila Prabhupada:

from The Nectar of Devotion:

Without relishing some sort of mellow or loving mood in one’s activities, no one can continue to perform such activities. Similarly, in the transcendental life of Krishna consciousness in devotional service there must be some mellow or specific taste from the service. Generally this mellow is experienced by chanting, hearing, worshiping in the temple and being engaged in the service of the Lord. So when a person feels transcendental bliss, this is called ‘relishing the mellow.’ (The Nectar of Devotion, p. 152)

from a lecture on Bhaktivinoda Thakura:

Just as there is a material genealogical succession, there is a spiritual succession.

The Vedic injunction is not to acquire knowledge by speculation. That is useless. It is simply a waste of time. For thousands of years you can speculate, and you will never know God. You must approach a guru.

Although Bhaktivinoda Thakura was a grihastha (married man], he was guru. It does not matter about one’s material position. It does not matter. Anyone who knows the science can become guru.

Spiritual life means reducing eating, sleeping, mating, and defending. One should not sleep more than five to six hours. Sleeping is not a very important thing. Even some politicians sleep no more than two hours. Bhaktivinoda Thakura would rise at midnight.

Bhaktivinoda wrote a hundred books, sent books to foreign countries, gave instruction about developing Mayapur, and discovered Lord Caitanya’s birthplace.

Everyone should be educated in spiritual knowledge. There is a need for acaryas, spiritual teachers.

Prasadam is less available at the Jagannatha temple than formerly as the present administrators do not appreciate the value of it. Previously there were no restaurants since people could always get prasadam at the temples.

The rascal Bisika Sena said to Bhaktivinoda, “Jagannath is made of wood. I am directly the Supreme Lord Vishnu.” Thus Bhaktivinoda Thakura became angry, and understanding he was a cheater, had him arrested.
As you approach an important man through his secretary, you must approach God through a guru.

You cannot just study scriptures. There are different scriptures. The Bible was spoken in a desert region to people who were not very advanced. There was so much killing. They even tried to kill Lord Jesus Christ.

Just as a medical book is available in the market, but you have to study in the medical college. You cannot say. “I have read all the medical books you should recognize me as a doctor.” In the same way, you cannot just read the scriptures and understand God. You need a guru.

Bhaktivinoda Thakura wrote many important books such as Caitanya Siksamrita and Jaiva Dharma.

We are honoring Bhaktivinoda Thakura today so that we may get his blessings. Simply by the blessings of the acaryas, the great spiritual teachers, we get the mercy of the Lord.

We should try to become servant of the servant. We should not approach the Lord directly.

If one says he is God. He is a false guru.

Our Krishna consciousness is very bona fide because we say what Krishna says.

Anyone who is inquisitive to understand the highest knowledge requires a guru.

First-class knowledge is to know I am the eternal servant of Krishna and to engage in Krishna’s service. Second-class knowledge aspires for liberation and third-class knowledge is knowledge of how to be comfortable in this world, like the animals have.

We are to educate people of this opportunity to attain spiritual perfection in this human form of life. Unfortunately in the schools and universities people do not have the opportunity to study this science.

a Prabhupada memory:

Janananda Goswami drove Srila Prabhupada to Bhaktivedanta Manor. During the trip Srila Prabhupada merely asked one question, “How are the cows?” This indicates how important cows are to a pure devotee of Krishna.

Candramauli Swami:

A person born in a family of doctors cannot claim to be a doctor on the strength of that birth without going to medical school, becoming certified, and actually practicing medicine. In the same way, one cannot be considered a brahmana simply by being born in a family of brahmanas.

After Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura spoke so expertly about the qualities of the brahmana and the qualities of a Vaishnava and the relationship between them that the caste brahmanas realized there was nothing they could say to establish their erroneous viewpoint, they left the assembly.

It is not enough to eat pradasam, but one should also avoid eating food that is not prasadam.

Simply defeating someone is not preaching. Changing someone’s heart is preaching.

A devotee may avoid hostile people, but he does not consider them to be enemies.

Success can be more dangerous than reverses because one can become proud of success and commit offenses and make other mistakes.

A devotee is steady. He does not take a break from devotional service for variety’s sake, thinking, “When I return to devotional service, it will be fresh again.”

In 1976 because people with second initiation were leaving, Srila Prabhupada said that one must take the Bhakti-sastri course before accepting second initiation (brahmana initiation). We are just beginning to implement that now.

To tell a half-truth to protect a person from being hurt is not considered lying.

Suffering is a state of consciousness. It is a question of how one perceives a situation that makes it a cause of suffering.

According to Manu-samhita, a businessman is not supposed to make more than 25% profit.

The some of twelve qualities of a brahmana:

jnanam satyam ca damah srutam ca
hy amatsaryam hris titiksanasuya
yajnas ca danam ca dhrtih samas ca
maha-vrata dvadasa brahmanasya

  1. knowledgable
  2. truthful
  3. sense controlled
  4. has heard from authority
  5. without enemies
  6. modest
  7. tolerant
  8. performs yajnas (sacrifices)
  9. charitable
  10. steadiness
  11. peaceful
  12. celibate

Hridayananda Dasa Goswami [from a lecture given at the LA Prabhupada Festival]:

Srila Prabhupada would introduce himself as the founder-acarya of ISKCON.

In every venue and in every forum in which Prabhupada spoke, he quoted Lord Caitanya’s verse ordering everyone to become a guru. In discussing it he would regularly explain that become a guru was simple—one simply had to repeat what Krishna has said. He did not make a distinction between diksa [initiating] and siksa [instructing] gurus.

The greatest guru of all was Lord Caitanya, and he was a siksa guru and not a diksa guru.

Only to businessmen did Prabhupada suggest that they did not have to become diksa gurus immediately.

Prabhupada’s fear was not that we would become gurus but that we would not become gurus.

The good news is: In Srila Prabhupada’s most important role, as founder-acarya of ISKCON, Gaura-Nitai’s emissary, we all have equal access to him.

Krishna explains in Bhagavad-gita 18.68–69: “Those who explain this secret among the devoted, having rendered the highest service, will attain Me. No one is more dear to me, nor will there ever be one more dear.”

Everyone has to find what he can do in his life to spread this knowedge. That is Prabhupada’s desire.

I never saw Srila Prabhupada when he was doing anything other than trying to spread Krishna consciousness. Ever since he met his guru that was his focus.

There cannot be a movement made up of people who are not individually moving.” We have to be advancing. We must do japa or kirtana each day in such a way that we are advancing. When have group of advancing people with increasing enthusiasm, you get unstoppable irresistible force which is Prabhupada’s Hare Krishna movement.

When we are inviting people to our temple, we are in effect telling them their life is not complete without taking up this practice.

If we are moving ourselves, and not stagnating, then we have the right to ask other people to move.

You can drive yourself crazy worrying about your own desires, or you can stop the nonsense and put Srila Prabhupada’s desires in the center of you life, and if you do that,
Prabhupada will empower you to convince others to do that.

[If you would like to hear the Hridayananda Maharaja lecture yourself, you can find it at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlboYozGo5k&feature=em-share_video_user ]

from a letter to his disciple Ali Krishna Devi Dasi: “The quality of our lives cannot exceed the quality of our japa.

Niranjana Swami:

from a lecture to Chowpatty brahmacaris:

If we are satisfied with the simplicity of Krishna consciousness, then we are very fortunate.

If we are satisfied with just what Srila Prabhupada gave us that is very good.

Real renunciation means attachment to these simple activities of Krishna consciousness.

Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura said in the age of Kali, brahmacaris will remain brahmacaris because household life is too difficult. But that is not a reason to be a brahmacari. If you are meditating on the potential difficulties of household life, you will not be able to relish the simple activities of devotional service as a brahmacari and you will not be satisfied.

Prahladananda Swami:

The purport of all this literature is to convince us that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and then to understand that we are His eternal servants.

For Krishna to hold up Govardhan Hill for a week is not difficult. In Bhagavad-gita 15.13, Krishna says He enters each planet and keeps them in orbit.

Brahma-samhita describes how the sun moves in its orbit by the grace of Govinda.

In my college someone got a grant for $80,000 back in the 1960s to research why spiders build webs. They came to the conclusion that the purpose was to catch flies.

Any wild speculation can be considered in academia except the idea that behind everything is a supreme person.

No one has been able to create a machine that produces its own parts. Imagine a lawn mower that could take grass and produce blades!

Imagine if scientists could produce male Rolls Royces and female Rolls Royces that could get together and produce little Rolls Royces that grow up to become big ones?

If people are really trying to be scientific they should at least consider the possibility the there could be a supreme person beyond everything.

If you tell a big enough lie, long enough, people will accept it. This has happened in the case of materialistic science.

Srila Prabhupada would challenge people who say the universe came by chance, “What do you spend so much time studying? What not sit at home and by chance you might get a Ph.D.? Why work so many hours? What not sit at home and by chance you might get your paycheck?”

Krishna’s plan is to take everyone back to the spiritual kingdom, and our plan is to stay material world as long as possible.

Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami:

from Shack Notes:

Srila Prabhupada sometimes spoke of his disciples as experiencing advanced states of Krishna consciousness by chanting and dancing and serving without fatigue or remuneration. ‘It is not material, it is not ordinary.’ He especially liked to inform audiences in India about ‘these American and European boys and girls’ who were fully absorbed in Krishna consciousness. We should not reject this estimation but live up to it.”

Govardhan Dasi [commenting on a lecture]:

In the class I was teaching at public school where I work, I asked students to do a poster for or against vegetarianism. Although the students were all meat eaters, all but two did pro-vegetarian posters.

Dayananda Swami:

Because Nrsimha Tirtha Prabhu [who is getting brahmana initiation] has the quality of humility, he has been able to take instruction and therefore progress quickly. I see he has taken a lot of responsibility in last couple of years.

Isana Gaura Prabhu:

If you are attracted to devotees, that means you are a devotee.

The four syllables Gauranga are exactly the same as “Hare Krishna.”

Lord Caitanya, having tasted the ecstasy of love of Krishna and seeing the people in general bereft of such ecstasy, felt the desire to share it with them.

Just chanting the Hare Krishna will give us liberation, and chanting with affection will give us love of God.

from a seminar on “Uddhava Gita”:

To absorb ourselves in Krishna we have to renounce material nature.

One has potency if he practices what he preaches.

Bharata, the son of Rsabha, was considered advanced because he rejected the material world.

The nine yogendras, masters of yoga, worked vigorously although already perfect. King Nimi asked each of the nine a different question.

The top of the universe is light and warm and the bottom is dark, cold, and wet.

The yaksas do not like to give out money so they are engaged in treasury work.

Sacrifices should be performed according to the direction of a brahmana. In the Hare Krishna movement that brahmana is Srila Prabhupada.

The fear is inside you. You do not realize it, but if someone entered this room with a gun, it would arise, just like that. Only by worshiping the Supreme Lord can you become free from this fear.

The heavenly beings can tone down their effulgence so it is not blinding.

So many instructions are there in Gita and in the Bhagavatam, and we have the personal examples of Lord Caitanya and His pure devotee, Srila Prabhupada. Our behavior is perfect if we follow these.

It is stated if one commits offenses he has no taste to chant and dance in kirtana.

Rama Nrsimha Prabhu [from a conversation]:

Like Parasurama says, “You can do your time [in prison] or you can do community service.” In the same way, instead of doing your karma, you can do devotional service.

Srinivasa Dasa:

Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityananda Prabhu came to destroy five kinds of ignorance:
1. identification with body
2. thinking sense pleasure is the standard of happiness
3. lamentation
4. identification with the material
5. to consider there is something beyond the Absolute Truth

-----

ataeva ami ajna dilun sabakare
yahan tahan prema-phala deha’ yare tare

[Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu said:] “Therefore I order every man within this universe to accept this Krishna consciousness movement and distribute it everywhere.” (Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, Adi-lila 9.36)