Diary of a Traveling
Sadhaka, Vol. 9, No. 14
By Krishna-kripa das
(July 2013, part two)
By Krishna-kripa das
(July 2013, part two)
London, Plymouth,
Lithuania, Poland
(Sent from Trutnov, Czech Republic, on August 16, 2013)
(Sent from Trutnov, Czech Republic, on August 16, 2013)
Where I
Went and What I Did
After the harinama and evening program in
Sheffield, I went to London to do harinamas for a couple days, and
go to with Parasurama Prabhu to the Plymouth Ratha-yatra on Saturday, July 20.
On Sunday, I flew from Gatwick to Kaunas for the Baltic Summer Festival, a new
Hare Krishna festival for me, where I could see, hear, serve, and inquire from
my siksa guru, Niranjana Swami, and hear great lectures and kirtanas by
other senior devotees. Then I traveled with the Nitai Gauranga Traveling Harinama
Party for three days in Poland, before taking an overnight train to
Kostrzyn for my thirteenth Polish Woodstock festival.
I have very exciting quotes from my personal
reading of Srila Prabhupada’s books, and wonderful realizations from the senior
devotees at the Baltic Summer Festival, such as Bhakti
Caitanya Swami, Niranjana Swami, Bhakti Visrambha Madhava Swami, Dhirasanta
Prabhu, and Sankarsana Prabhu. In particular, Niranjana Swami shares some
details about his becoming a devotee that I never heard before, as does
Dhirasanta Prabhu, and Bhakti Visrambha Madhava Swami does a good job of
answering questions put to him. I have a beautiful selection by Satsvarupa Dasa
Goswami discussing Srila Prabhupada’s prayer to Krishna, “Make me dance, make me dance, O Lord, make me
dance as You like.” I had not heard Sankarsana Prabhu since he became a guru,
and it was pleasing to hear his powerful conviction and logical presentation of
the philosophy. Also I have notes from some of the lectures by Ananda Caitanya
Prabhu from the traveling harinama party.
Thanks to Manorama Prabhu for the photo of the Plymouth bhajanas. Thanks to Rukmini for the picture of Ananda Seva Prabhu and I in Soho Square and thanks to the devotees who took pictures of me at the Baltic Summer festival, namely, Mathura Lilapriya dd, Ruslan Golubev, and Vladimiras Maksimkinas. Thanks to Patrycja Siva for the pictures of Bialystok, and the Sri Harinam Mandir Traveling Temple for their picture and video of our harinama in Warsaw.
Thanks to Manorama Prabhu for the photo of the Plymouth bhajanas. Thanks to Rukmini for the picture of Ananda Seva Prabhu and I in Soho Square and thanks to the devotees who took pictures of me at the Baltic Summer festival, namely, Mathura Lilapriya dd, Ruslan Golubev, and Vladimiras Maksimkinas. Thanks to Patrycja Siva for the pictures of Bialystok, and the Sri Harinam Mandir Traveling Temple for their picture and video of our harinama in Warsaw.
Plymouth
Ratha-yatra
When I knew I was flying out of London to
Lithuania on Sunday, I decided to see come a day earlier and go with Parasurama
Prabhu to the Plymouth Ratha-yatra. The name Plymouth, is famous in America
because of the Pilgrims, and I had been to Plymouth, Massachusetts, but never
before to the original Plymouth from which it got its name. I heard that
Manorama Prabhu and his youth party, many from America, would come and it would
be nice to see them, having traveled with them to Mexico one winter. Thus I
planned to go to Plymouth Ratha-yatra, and return to London the next day to fly
to Lithuania, while the others went on to do Ratha-yatra in Glastonbury.
In fact as it turned out, two days before the
Plymouth Ratha-yatra, in London at our Soho temple, I encountered some of my
Vaishnava youth friends, and my friend from Gainesville, Ananda Seva who
surprised me by joining them for their tour. We went to the evening arati and
took prasadam in Soho Square park together.
The weather was warm and sunny in Plymouth for
the Ratha-yatra, and when I got there Amala Harinama was leading a great kirtana,
followed by a devotee girl I recalled from Dallas, who also did a good job
singing. At one point, Syamananda Prabhu, my brahmacari friend from
Ireland, who lives at Radhadesh, and who joined the youth tour to assist with
drama and cooking, in a characteristic humorous mood, began drumming a kitchen
pot in time with the music.
Several of the devotee girls danced nicely in
front of the stage, attracting people.
One of the girls engaging some of the children in the audience in dancing with her.
One older Plymouth woman, with her arm in a
sling, danced with the kirtana for quite sometime. The whole Ratha-yatra
route was within a pedestrian mall that was mostly closed to traffic. It was
not so long in distance, but we stopped several place for a while, and it was
crowded with people.
Manorama Prabhu played the bass during the procession, something you do not usually see, and was a nice addition to the kirtana.
I was happy to see my friend Ananda Seva Prabhu (in the center below) happily engaged in the Ratha-yatra procession. He has been working a lot recently and had missed such opportunities.
Some girls began following the procession and clapping to
the music.
Later they joined with the devotee ladies in
dancing in a circle.
One boy danced with us when we were stationary.
Then later got some friends together and danced
in front of the Ratha-yatra procession.
I felt the program, which ended by 4 p.m., was much too short. I am accustomed to New York City, where the post-Ratha-yatra festival goes to 7 p.m. In London, it is also short, ending at 5 p.m. but this was even shorter. Still a lot of mercy was flowing, and I was glad that my friends and I got to go.
13th
Annual Baltic Summer Festival in Lithuania
This year for the first time I came to the
Baltic Summer Festival in Lithuania. How it happened is a long story. Recently
I have been trying to regularly see Niranjana Swami and hear him speak and get
guidance from him. He advised me to move into the New York temple during the
time I had taken off from college 34 years ago. I was so attached to traveling
with my friends to the West Coast, he said I was the hardest person he ever
convinced to move in the temple and that he had to pray to Krishna. Thus I have
concluded that he is a natural guru, someone who is a link between me and
Krishna, as that is shown by his practical behavior. Some people have advised
me to take sannyasa, the renounced order of life, and in order to do
that I would need a sannyasa guru. He would be a logical person, as he
is very exemplary in his own sannyasa, and has proved his ability to
connect me with Krishna and increase my devotional service. Usually I would see
him at the Ukraine festival, which I fell in love with, but now as he is
encouraging me to help with Rama Raya Prabhu’s harinama in Manhattan, I
have to return to the U.S.A. in September to have time to honor my commitments
there. Thus I would miss seeing him in September in Ukraine, and knowing that
he comes to this festival in Lithuania, I decided to come here. I have known
several Lithuanian devotees in my life, especially from the Polish festival
tour, and each year I meet more. Just within the last year, I got to meet
Lithuanian devotees in London, Dublin, Newcastle, and at the kirtana-mela in
Germany. Previously the Lithuanian festival would conflict with the Polish
Woodstock festival, which I attended every year, but now that it is earlier,
that is not a problem. Last year I made travel arrangements for my friend,
Dhruva Prabhu, who traveled with me previous summers, to come to the Baltic
festival. So Lithuania and this festival have been more and more on my mind
each year, and thus I finally decided to come.
At the Kaunas airport I was greeted by my friend
Lauris from Newcastle, who is originally from Lithuania, and also by some
devotees the organizers had sent to get me, so I had a choice of rides. I went
with Lauris, partially because he brought prasadam for me and also
because I knew him better. During the festival, Lauris helped me out with
transportation and connection to the internet, and I lent him my computer when
his wireless did not work. I look forward to seeing the many pictures and the
video he is making of the festival.
The festival is in Harmony Park, just south of
Kaunas, perhaps an hour from the airport. This Harmony Park is run by people
with religious ideas who want to facilitate people from all religions in an
effort to create good will between different religious groups. Both the Hare
Krishna devotees and those who run Harmony Park share a desire to benefit the
world spiritually and have much mutual respect. This is the second year the
festival has been at this location. The festival is four and a half days long,
and for those willing to sleep in a common room on a mat, it is only 36 euros,
plus an optional donation. I saw Kasturi Manjari from Lithuania, who has done
the treasury for years on the Polish festival tour, handling the registration.
At registration they asked if I wanted to do voluntary service, and I felt bad
because I do so little service in general, so I said yes. I asked if I could
serve meals to the senior devotees who were doing the presentations, and they
said the person who usually did that service could not come and it would be a
great help. Many of the presenters are from American and England, and I have
friendly relationships with them, as I am almost their age and have been around
for thirty years. Included among them, of course, is Niranjana Swami, who I
especially wanted to see. Others I know included Bhakti Bringa Govinda Swami,
Bhakti Caitanya Swami, Bhakti Visrambha Madhava Swami, Dhirashanta Prabhu, and
Sankarshan Prabhu. There were also Bhakti Ananta Krishna Swami from Russia, who
I have met before but do not know very well, and Bhakta Sharan Shanta Swami
from Lithuania, who I met for the first time. One lady named Jamuna Pavani d.d.
was in charge of cooking meals for the presenters. In particular, B. B. Govinda
Swami was always very attentive to thank the ladies in the kitchen every day
for the nice meals. Another benefit of serving the presenters is you get a
greater variety of prasadam yourself. The downside is you have less time
to catch up on your sleep, and you have to remain tired or sleep during the
some of the presentations, the kirtanas, or the morning program.
I tended to compare the Baltic festival with the
Ukraine festival which I am more familiar with. The Baltic festival has a one-hour
chanting session before lunch in addition to the three hours of chanting in the
evening which I thought was a pleasant break from hearing lectures. One devotee
made the point that the evening kirtana in Lithuania begins sitting
down, a feature he liked, while people stand up the whole time in Ukraine. It
was amusing to me that I had not noticed that difference because I dance the
whole time anyway in both places! In Ukraine the altar is elevated so it is
easier to see the deities, and I told a few people about this in Lithuania so
they might consider that change in the future. In Lithuania the festival is
smaller so you can get to know the people better. The campus is spread out, and
many devotees volunteered as drivers for a free taxi service to drive devotees
from their residences to the temple hall and back. One devotee named Anton
always seemed to be at the right place to give me rides, and he regularly gave
me a ride to serve the presenters their breakfast. Sometimes in Ukraine, there
have been long distances between some residences and the temple hall, and a
taxi service would be a nice addition there. Recently there would be six
different venues and four time periods in Ukraine so there were a lot more
seminars to choose from. Generally, there was just the single venue in
Lithuania. Apparently they do not schedule who leads the evening arati in
Lithuania, and I developed a desire to do it. I stood near the front, and when
no one else volunteered, they asked me to lead it.
Some of the devotees said they really liked it.
And they let me lead it the next day too.
Below, Gundica Prabhu (in white below), who I knew from
the Polish festival tour and who I saw last year at the Cardiff Ratha-yatra,
swings around with another devotee in the kirtana.
They had some special events for children at the
festival. One was an oxcart ride that they seemed to really enjoy. One girl,
riding a skateboard, grabbed the cart, and had it pull her.
I was the mrdanga player on the kids
Ratha-yatra at the Baltic Summer Festival 2013. What an anomaly! I encouraged a
boy to take over, but he declined. I did not know who to ask.
I asked Niranjana Swami, but he also declined,
asking if I needed to stop. I replied no, but I just know one beat. He said I
was doing OK, and so I played the drum the whole time.
Since much of my purpose was to associate with
Niranjana Swami, and he has fewer managerial commitments in Lithuania, the
devotees in general get much more of his association there. Since he told me to
spend more time in fewer places, the timing of the Lithuanian festival is better
for me as it is closer to the time of the other festivals I attend in Eastern
Europe, so I lose less time from my UK presence. Thus I may well come back to
the Baltic Summer Festival next year. Below under “Insights” you can see the
many notes I took on the lectures there.
I talked to Niranjana Swami about his
instruction to me that I go to just two or three places and encourage the
devotees there, and the extent I progressed in that direction. I asked if by
two or three places he meant temples or regions. For example, when I am in
Newcastle, I go to York, Leeds, Sheffield, Manchester, Liverpool, and Bolton,
all about two or three hours away, and when I am in Gainesville, I go to
Tallahassee, Jacksonville, and Tampa, all a couple of hours away. He said that
was quite alright as long as I was regularly seeing the same people and trying
to develop relationships with them and benefit them. We also talked about an
issue that came up last year regarding friendship in devotional service. I was
reflecting that I have very few people who have the same interests as me and
the same lifestyle as me and who I am friends with, although I have many
acquaintances who I appreciate all over the world. Some devotees say one should
spend 20% of the time with those you are learning from, 20% of the time with
those you are teaching, and 60% of the time with your peers, and I felt I was
really lacking in that. I mentioned how one devotee suggested I solve this
problem by getting married and another suggested I solve it by becoming a siksa
guru and developing spiritual relationships with people. Niranjana Swami
said since I said I am more or less happy being a brahmacari and feel no
great necessity to get married, I might focus more on developing friendships
with the men in the regions where I stay, and that was his also intention when
he advised me to go fewer places and stay longer, and so that is my direction
for this year.
After his classes, Niranjana Swami would hand
out cookies to the attendees. It reminded me of darsanas of gurus in the
old days of ISKCON. It was a pleasant exchange and everyone enjoyed it. Gregory
from Tampa, who is developing an interest in Krishna consciousness, is sitting to the
left of Niranjana Swami in the picture below, and I am waiting impatiently in
back for the line to get shorter.
Sri Harinam Mandir Traveling Temple
Once again I joined the Nitai Gauranga traveling
harinama party, now known on Facebook as “Sri Harinam Mandir Traveling
Temple.” I went through Poland like last year, but this time for three days going
south from Lithuania instead of for one day going east from Germany. We stopped
to have lunch in rural Poland.
We chanted to a medium-sized crowd in Bialystok
for almost an hour and a half, with some people smiling, taking pictures, and
moving with the music. Afterward we attended a public program the devotees
organized. The schedule was half an hour kirtana, half an hour lecture,
and an hour of kirtana. The second kirtana was so powerful with
over twenty devotees from the tour plus the local devotees.
One old man, who did the Catholic sign of the
cross when he entered, really got into the dancing. Here he dances with Ananda
Caitanya Prabhu, a Lithuanian devotee, who intelligently learned Polish and
could thus give lectures there.
Other new people also got into it. It was
beautiful to see.
The feast had at least eight preparations and
maybe more. It was in a public hall with free wireless internet so I could
catch up on all my proofreading during the lecture which I could not understand
as it was in Polish.
The best day as far as the harinama was
concerned when we chanted in Warsaw for 3½ hours, mostly in a section called
Stare Miasto (Old Town).
At one point a group of people was watching us and taking pictures.
The devotees took a video of our Warsaw harinama (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jOPA5uj3Yg&feature=share&list=UUu2zlFjbb8HMP9MhounuI_g):
The last day we drove to Krakow, but we left late and the devotees stopped to go swimming, so we did not get there until 6:00 p.m. I had booked a train to go to the Woodstock for 6:30 p.m., thinking that we would chant no later than from 3 to 6 p.m. in Krakow, so I missed the harinama altogether. It would have been better if I did harinama in Warsaw with Krishna-kirtana Prabhu and any other devotees we could find, and taken a train from there.
At one point a group of people was watching us and taking pictures.
The devotees took a video of our Warsaw harinama (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jOPA5uj3Yg&feature=share&list=UUu2zlFjbb8HMP9MhounuI_g):
The last day we drove to Krakow, but we left late and the devotees stopped to go swimming, so we did not get there until 6:00 p.m. I had booked a train to go to the Woodstock for 6:30 p.m., thinking that we would chant no later than from 3 to 6 p.m. in Krakow, so I missed the harinama altogether. It would have been better if I did harinama in Warsaw with Krishna-kirtana Prabhu and any other devotees we could find, and taken a train from there.
Also traveling with the harinama tour was
Gregory from Tampa, who is also in his fifties, and is interested in spiritual
topics and appreciates the activities of the Hare Krishnas in Europe as being
more progressive than the Christian church. He is married to a Lithuanian lady,
and ended up coming to the Baltic Summer Festival and traveling with the harinama
brahmacaris while his wife visited her all her relatives in Lithuania. I
told him of some of our upcoming activities in Florida like Janmastami in
Alachua and the Jacksonville Beach Ratha-yatra and hope to encounter him again
there.
Other than dancing a bit and giving an
insignificant donation of 5 British pounds, I was not able to contribute much
to the party. No one specifically asked me to lead a kirtana or give a
lecture so I just let those who were most ambitious do it. I am sure if I had known
Russian, the language of the party, or Polish, the language of the country we
were in, I would have had more opportunities. Still it was an chance to
cultivate humility, or at least, to acknowledge my lack of it, and more
positively, a chance to allow the younger people to play these roles and in
that way encourage them. One devotee did ask me for my blessings that he could
always be happy in Krishna consciousness, as I appeared to be so. I just told
him the verse by Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami, “Things that are very difficult to
do become easy to execute if one somehow or other simply remembers Lord
Caitanya Mahaprabhu. But if one does not remember Him, even easy things become
very difficult. To this Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu I offer my respectful obeisances.”
(Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, Adi-lila 14.1) I also said that if he
always remained in the association of devotees, it was just a matter of time
before he attained the perfection of spiritual life. Krishna consciousness can
deliver the most sinful of all sinners (Bg. 4.36), we just have to continue to
practice it with faith. The secret is to never give up trying.
The best part of the tour for me, in addition to
the Warsaw harinama, was seeing a lot of new devotees are getting a
taste for sharing the holy name with the public in general. And that is a good
sign for the future of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s movement. Ananda Vardhana
Prabhu is to be commended for providing such a wonderful facility to encourage
the devotees to share the holy name in a big way.
Insights
Srila Prabhupada:
from Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, Madhya
4.87, purport:
“Our installation of Deities in America and in the
wealthy countries of Europe should be carried out in terms of Sri Madhavendra
Puri’s activities. All the servitors of the Deity must be strictly qualified as
brahmanas and, specifically, must engage in the Vaishnava custom of
offering as much prasadam as possible and distributing it to the devotees who visit
the temple to see the Lord.”
from Sri
Caitanya-caritamrita, Madhya 4.93, purport:
“The Krishna consciousness movement vigorously approves
this practice of preparing food, offering it to the Deity and distributing it
to the general population. This activity should be extended universally to stop sinful eating
habits as well as other behavior befitting only demons. A demoniac civilization
will never bring peace within the world. Since eating is the first necessity in
human society, those engaged in solving the problems of preparing and
distributing food should take lessons from Madhavendra Puri and execute the
Annakuöa ceremony. When the people take to eating only prasadam offered to the Deity, all the demons will be turned into
Vaishnavas. When the people are Krishna conscious, naturally the government
will be so also. A Krishna conscious man is always a very liberal well-wisher
of everyone. When such men head the government, the people will certainly be
sinless. They will no longer be disturbing demons. It is then and then only
that a peaceful condition can prevail in society.”
from Srimad-Bhagatavam 6.7.14, purport:
“Even if one does not accept Lord Krishna as the Supreme
Personality of Godhead, His instructions are so exalted and beneficial for
humanity that if one follows His instructions one will be saved.
from Srimad-Bhagatavam 6.7.38, purport:
“The word purah means
‘family,’ and hita means ‘benefit.’ Thus the word purohita indicates that the priest is the well-wisher of the
family. Another meaning of the word purah is ‘first.’ A priest’s first duty is to see that his disciples
benefit spiritually and materially by all means. Then he is satisfied. A priest
should never be interested in performing Vedic rituals for his personal
benefit.”
from The Nectar of Devotion, Chapter 30:
“Even if devotees are illusioned
by some ghastly scene or by any accidental occurrence, they never forget
Krishna. Even in the greatest danger they can remember Krishna. This is the
benefit of Krishna consciousness: even at the time of death, when all the
functions
of the body become dislocated,
the devotee can remember Krishna in his innermost consciousness, and this saves
him from falling down into material existence. In this way Krishna
consciousness immediately takes one from the material platform to the spiritual
world.”
“There is an authoritative
statement in the Garuda Purana about mystic yogis who are under
the direct shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead: ‘In all three stages
of
their consciousness—namely
wakefulness, dreaming and deep sleep—the devotees are absorbed in thought of
the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore, in their complete absorption in
thought of Krishna, they do not sleep.’”
from Sri
Caitanya-caritamrita, Madhya 4.111, purport:
“Diksha actually means
initiating a disciple withtranscendental knowledge by which he becomes freed
from all material contamination.”
from Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.25.25,
purport:
“Simply by theoretical knowledge or study one cannot make
any appreciable advancement. One must give up the association of materialistic
persons and seek the association of devotees because without the association of
devotees one cannot understand the activities of the Lord.”
from Srimad-Bhagatavam
5.12.13, purport:
“This Krishna consciousness movement was started to
engage people twenty-four hours daily in the service of the Lord and in His
glorification. The students in this institution engage in the cultivation of
Krishna consciousness from five in the morning to ten at night. They actually
have no opportunity to waste their time unnecessarily by discussing politics,
sociology and current events. These will go their own way. A devotee is
concerned only with serving Krishna positively and seriously.”
from Srimad-Bhagatavam 6.8.33, purport:
“As a fire, although existing in one place, can expand
its light and heat everywhere, so the omnipotent Lord, the Supreme Personality
of Godhead, although situated in His spiritual abode, expands Himself
everywhere, in both the material and spiritual worlds, by His various
energies.”
from Sri
Caitanya-caritamrita, Madhya 4.133, purport:
“Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu therefore never publicly
discussed Krishna’s dealings with the gopis. He used to discuss these dealings only with three
confidential friends. He never discussed rasa-lila publicly, as the professional reciters do, although they
do not understand Krishna or the nature of the audience. However, Sri Caitanya
Mahaprabhu encouraged the public chanting ofthe holy name on a huge scale for
as many hours as possible.”
“One who is engaged in unalloyed devotional service to
the Lord is already situated in the spiritual world (brahma-bhuyaya kalpate). In all circumstances, his
activities and dealings with Krishna are transcendental and thus not
understandable by mundane moralists. It is therefore better not to discuss such
activities among mundane people. It is better to give them the Hare Krishna maha-mantra so that they will be gradually purified and then come to
understand the transcendental activities of Krishna.”
from The Nectar of Devotion, Chapter 34:
“No one, while remaining on the material platform, should
discuss these different descriptions of bhava and anubhava by
quoting different statements of transcendental literatures. Such manifestations
are displays of the transcendental pleasure potency of the Lord. One should
simply try to understand that on the spiritual platform there are many
varieties of reciprocal love. Such loving exchanges should never be considered
to be material. In the Mahabharata, Udyama-parva, it is warned that
things which are inconceivable should not be subjected to arguments. Actually,
the transactions of the spiritual world are inconceivable to us in our present
state of life. Great liberated souls like Rupa Gosvami and others have tried to
give us some hints of transcendental activities in the spiritual world, but on
the whole these transactions will remain inconceivable to us at the present
moment. Understanding the exchanges of transcendental loving service with
Krishna is possible only when one is actually in touch with the pleasure potency
of the Supreme Lord.”
from The Nectar of Devotion, Chapter 36:
“One devotee says, ‘My dear
Lord, Your transcendental qualities attract even the liberated souls and carry
them to the assembly of devotees where Your glories are constantly chanted.
Even great sages who are accustomed to living in solitary places are also
attracted by the songs of Your glory. And, observing all Your transcendental
qualities, I have also become attracted and have decided to dedicate my life to
Your loving service.’”
“A person who offers respect even
to the ants engaged in the service of the Lord becomes eternally happy, so what
is there to say of one who offers Krishna direct service?”
from Srimad-Bhagatavam 6.9.35 purport:
“In Bhagavad-gita Krishna
says that He descends to this material world for two purposes, namely paritranaya sadhunam vinasaya
ca duskritam [Bg.
4.8]—to relieve the devotees and kill demons or nondevotees. These two kinds of
action are the same for the Absolute Truth. When the Lord comes to punish the
demons, He bestows His favor upon them, and similarly when He delivers His
devotees and gives them relief, He also bestows His favor. Thus the Lord
bestows His favor equally upon the conditioned souls. When a conditioned soul
gives relief to others he acts piously, and when he gives trouble to others he
acts impiously, but the Lord is neither pious nor impious; He is always full in
His spiritual potency, by which He shows equal mercy to the punishable and the protectable. The Lord is apapa-viddham; He is never contaminated by the reactions of so-called
sinful activities. When Krishna was present on this earth, He killed many
inimical nondevotees, but they all received sarupya; in other words, they returned to their original spiritual
bodies. One who does not know the Lord's position says that God is unkind to
him but merciful to others. Actually the Lord says in Bhagavad-gita (9.29), samo ’ham sarva-bhutesu na me dvesyo ’sti na priyah. ‘I am equal to everyone. No one is My enemy, and no one is
My friend.’ But He also says, ye bhajanti tu mam bhaktya mayi te teshu capy aham: ‘If one becomes My devotee and fully surrenders unto Me, I
give him special attention.’”
from Srimad-Bhagatavam
6.9.36, purport:
“In Vrindavana, the damsels of Vrajabhumi enjoy transcendental
bliss in the company of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna, and they
feel the same transcendental bliss in separation when Krishna and Balarama
leave Vrindavana for Mathura. There is no question of material pains or
pleasures for either the Supreme Personality of Godhead or His pure devotees,
although they are sometimes superficially said to be distressed or happy. One
who is atmarama is blissful in both ways.”
from Srimad-Bhagatavam 6.9.39:
“Therefore, O killer of the
Madhu demon, incessant transcendental bliss flows in the minds of those who
have even once tasted but a drop of the nectar from the ocean of Your glories.
Such exalted devotees forget the tiny reflection of so-called material
happiness produced from the material senses of sight and sound. Free from all
desires, such devotees are the real friends of all living entities. Offering
their minds unto You and enjoying transcendental bliss, they are expert in
achieving the real goal of life. O Lord, You are the soul and dear
friend of such devotees, who never need return to this material world. How
could they give up engagement in Your devotional service?”
from Srimad-Bhagatavam 6.9.40, purport:
“The difference between sakama and akama devotees
is that when sakama devotees, like the demigods, fall into difficulty, they
approach the Supreme Personality of Godhead for relief, whereas akama devotees, even in the greatest danger, never disturb the
Lord for material benefits. Even if an akama devotee is suffering, he thinks this is due to his past impious
activities and agrees to suffer the consequences. He never disturbs the Lord.”
from Srimad-Bhagatavam 6.9.42, purport.:
“The Lord is present everywhere and knows the necessities
of His devotees; consequently there is no need to disturb Him by asking Him for
material benefits.”
from Srimad-Bhagatavam 6.9.47, purport:
“Impersonalists cannot be purified, for they do not offer
personal prayers to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Even though they
sometimes offer prayers, the prayers are not directed toward the Supreme
Person. Impersonalists sometimes show their incomplete knowledge by addressing the Lord as being nameless. They
always offer prayers indirectly, saying, ‘You
are this, You are that,’ but they do not know to whom they are praying. A
devotee, however, always offers personal prayers. A devotee says, govindam adi-purusam tam aham
bhajami: ‘I offer my respectful obeisances unto Govinda, unto
Krishna.’ That is the way to offer prayers. If one continues to offer such
personal prayers to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he is eligible to
become a pure devotee and return home, back to Godhead.’”
from The Nectar of
Devotion, Chapter 37:
“One of the devotees of Lord
Krishna once addressed Him in this manner: ‘My dear Lord, although You are not
a professional dancer, by Your dancing You have so astonished us that we can
understand that You are personally the master of all dancing. Certainly You
must have learned this dancing art directly from the goddess of love.’”
from Srimad-Bhagatavam
6.10.6, purport:
“At the present moment the entire world is in a dangerous
position under the spell of a godless civilization. The Krishna consciousness
movement needs many exalted, learned persons who will sacrifice their lives to
revive God consciousness throughout the world. We therefore invite all men and
women advanced in knowledge to join the Krishna consciousness movement and
sacrifice their lives for the great cause of reviving the God consciousness of human society.”
from Srimad-Bhagatavam
6.10.12, purport:
“The bhakti-yogi always
thinks of Krishna, and therefore at the time of death he can very easily
transfer himself to Krishnaloka, without even perceiving the pains of death.”
Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami:
from his journal, Viraha Bhavan, “Poem for July 17”:
Sometimes Prabhupada
says Deity
worship is for neophytes
and sometimes he says it is essential. It is essential to me
to fix my mind on Radha and Krishna. Prabhupada says
the Deities are nondifferent from the original Lord.
I worship Them
in faith and pleasure
drinking in Their nectarean darsana.
The madhurya rasa They represent
is the highest thing there
is, and I want it in my life.
I’m grateful They
accept my simple incense
and reside with me in my bhajana-kutira.
worship is for neophytes
and sometimes he says it is essential. It is essential to me
to fix my mind on Radha and Krishna. Prabhupada says
the Deities are nondifferent from the original Lord.
I worship Them
in faith and pleasure
drinking in Their nectarean darsana.
The madhurya rasa They represent
is the highest thing there
is, and I want it in my life.
I’m grateful They
accept my simple incense
and reside with me in my bhajana-kutira.
from Prabhupada Meditations, Vol. IV:
“1.7
“Make me dance
“One of my favorite lines from the few poems that Prabhupada wrote is,
‘Make me dance, make me dance, O Lord, make me dance as You like.’ Prabhupada
declared himself a puppet in the hands of Krishna, and he asked Krishna to
please fulfill the actual meaning of the name Bhaktivedanta. That poem wasn’t
written as the musings of a reclusive scholar. It was written onboard the
Jaladuta, a freighter with one Indian-style passenger cabin. The one passenger,
Bhaktivedanta Swami, had no money, yet he was striking out for America. The
poem was written by a preacher, who, although fearless, appeared to be
momentarily overcome by his first sight of an American city. Even Lord Krishna
hesitated when He faced the Aghasura demon. Srila Prabhupada didn’t hesitate in
his purpose or waver in his determination, but he realized and admitted his
helpless situation to Krishna, his friend.
“Prabhupada was always turning to Krishna, but it is natural for a
devotee to turn even more to Krishna when he is in a difficult situation. Nanda
Maharaja also did this. When Nanda Maharaja was returning from Mathura, he
began to fear that something may have happened to Krishna, his baby in Gokula,
so he began to think of Krishna very intensely and chant the holy names.
Similarly, Prabhupada’s Krishna consciousness was intensified on that
boat-crossing as he suffered heart attacks and seasickness. He expressed
himself intimately to his spiritual master and to Krishna in poems.
“The cry, ‘Please make me dance,’ is from the heart. Just as a poor man
cries out, ‘Give me money,’ so the preacher who is faced with the tremendous
task of preaching to foreigners, to people who have demoniac habits, also cries
out, ‘Please make me dance. Please fulfill the purport of my name: devotion and
knowledge.’ It took an extraordinary combination of devotion and knowledge to
make even the slightest impression on these proud and dirty-minded Americans
whom Prabhupada saw that day with his first glimpse of Boston, Massachusetts.
“How would he do it? Prabhupada found the clue in the Srimad-Bhagavatam. In his poem, he
selected several verses describing in a systematic way the Lord’s working
within the heart of every conditioned soul for his betterment. This takes
place, according to Srimad-Bhagavatam,
when one hears the glories of Krishna. The modes of nature which grip each
person’s heart is then broken up, and liberation is possible. By recalling
these verses, Prabhupada took heart for the task of preaching in America. He
gathered his determination just before officially entering the country through
immigration in New York City when the boat docked at its final destination.
Although outwardly he may have appeared to be an immigrant, lost in the
foreignness of a new country, inwardly he had gained resolve, as expressed in
his poem. He was already fully surrendered to the task and awaiting Krishna to
direct his steps.
“‘Make me dance!’ This is not only a desperate cry; there seems to be
celebration in his voice. He wants to dance in ecstasy for Krishna! He wants to
be Krishna’s puppet. Lord Krishna did make Prabhupada dance in America. We saw
his stately kirtana steps in the
storefront at 26 Second Avenue and his dancing in Tompkins Square Park, his
‘Swami step’ before the students at Stanford University and in Golden Gate Park
in San Francisco, at Ohio State University, and in public halls in London. He
danced along with the energetic steps of his disciples in the hand-to-hand
rings of bounding hippies at Golden Gate Park. Actually, all the dancing during
ISKCON kirtanas was but a response to
Prabhupada’s hand gesture inviting them, ‘Get up and dance!’
“Also, if we think of the word dance in a broader sense, as ecstatic,
spontaneous celebration, as movement with rhythm and grace, then we can see
that Krishna made Prabhupada dance in many ways. His writing is a dance of the
spirit liberated from matter. His expressions were filled with lightheartedness
or with the heaviness of guru that only a pure devotee can deliver. Krishnadasa
Kaviraja also used the image of dancing when referring to his writing. He said
that his words were like dolls under the puppet master, and that they had
danced to their full satisfaction throughout the chapters of Caitanya-caritamrta.
“It is also significant that Prabhupada referred to his work as a
‘movement.’ This doesn’t refer to political agitation with lobbying and marches
on the Capitol; it refers to the dancing in kirtana
in the streets, and the movement of gathering numbers of disciples all over
the world to create a favorable eddy against the current of Kali-yuga
disasters. Prabhupada’s movement is like the dance of a young cowherd boy upon
the many, many hoods of the poisonous serpent. Prabhupada is still engaged in
his movement, still dancing for you and me, and waiting for us to join the
dance. To hold back during this dance means to miss the whole purpose of human
existence. Prabhupada is gesturing, ‘Get up and dance, just surrender to
Krishna, do as I am doing. Do the “Swami step” back to the spiritual world with
me.” Let us take courage in Prabhupada’s words, ‘If You have brought me here to
dance, then please make me dance as You like.’”
Bhakti Caitanya Swami:
The advanced devotee can be in any extreme
condition of material existence and be unaffected.
I have written a book on Govardhana Hill
subtitled The Hill that Fulfills All Desires.
When Krishna invited Radha to come with Him to
the material world, He said, “I am going there. Don’t you want to come with
Me?”
Radha said, “Well if Vrindavan is not there, if
the river Yamuna is not there, and particularly if Govardhan is not there, I am
not going, even if You are there.”
Mathura is only 15 km from Vrndavana, but
Vrndavana is so transcendentally wonderful that its residents did not even
consider going the 3 or 4 hour walk to Mathura to see Krishna because it would
mean leaving their beloved Vrindavan.
While Govardhan Hill is present and the Ganges
is present, Kali-yuga will never really set in.
The story of Pulasta Muni cursing Govardhana
Hill to diminish in size is in the Puranas. Rupa Goswami said that
Radharani was sad in separation from Krishna and that Govardhana Hill is
becoming reduced in height out of sympathy for Her.
Devotees do not wear peacock feathers.
Govardhana is glorified both as a form of
Krishna and the best devotee of Krishna.
All the forms of the Lord other than Krishna
worship Lord Krishna because They all know that it is more blissful to be a
devotee of Lord Krishna than to be God Himself!
Krishna was greatly blissful being served so
nicely by His devotees, but then He observed that His devotees were happier
serving Him than He was being served by them. In fact, some gopis were
ten times happier than Krishna, other gopis were a hundred times
happier, Lalita was a thousand times happier than Krishna, and Srimati
Radharani was ten million times happier than Krishna. Krishna considered, “This
is not fair. I want to taste this happiness.” Thus He appeared as His own
devotee.
Govardhana Hill’s grasses are like hairs on his
body standing up in ecstasy, and the rivulets of water the tears of ecstasy
from his eyes.
Generally snakes like sandalwood trees, but the
sandalwood trees on Govardhana Hill have no snakes. If a snake does come,
Govardhana arranges that it is not poisonous. If a poisonous snake does come,
Govardhana arranges that the poison has no effect. These are some of the
services Govardhana Hill personally performs.
All the rocks on Govardhana Hill are
transcendental gem stones, like diamonds, rubies, emeralds, sapphires, and
crystals.
Visvanatha Cakravarti tells a pastime in which
Radha is avoiding Krishna because She did not appreciate His behavior.
Govardhana Hill manifested a cobra which frightened Radharani so much, she
turned around and embraced Krishna for protection. She was looking over
Krishna’s shoulder, away from the snake, and the snake winked at Krishna, and
Krishna gestured approvingly.
I like to talk about the lectures that Srila
Prabhupada gave on Queen Kunti’s prayers during the beginning of 1973. I did
not hear the lectures in person, but I received a recording of one of them soon
afterward.
Keshava Prabhu, who passed away recently, was a
real friend to me in the beginning of my devotional service. Whenever I would
visit the temple, he would invite me to his office and talk with me like a
friend. I was a very long-haired hippie, and I always wondered why he would
take such interest in me. Ultimately it was because of him I joined the temple.
He knew I had a lot of attachments, and he knew what those attachments were,
but he would not talk about them. He would be my friend and talk about Srila
Prabhupada. Later I heard Vishnujana Swami chant Hare Krishna, and I decided
that was it, I would join the temple.
Keshava Prabhu encouraged me to move into New
Vrindavan. The reason was that he knew I was attached to my dog, and that it
would be possible for me to keep my dog there. When I got there, I said I came
to stay, and I had my dog. They said that was fine. When I asked about
arrangements for feeding my dog, they that they did not feed dogs in New
Vrindavan. The dogs know how to take of themselves. There was one three-legged
dog there, and even he successfully obtained his own food. Thus my conception
that my dog was completely dependent on me was destroyed.
At that time when I heard this Srila Prabhupada
lecture in 1973 on Queen Kunti’s teachings, it was striking to me that he said,
“In the beginning when one comes to Krishna consciousness there will be so many
disturbances. That is maya testing us to see if we want to serve Krishna
or if we want to disturb Krishna.” I experienced that in my life at that time
as I was moving into the temple. And thus I was thinking there would be more
tests. But I found everything to be wonderful for several weeks, until it
became increasingly hard for me to get up for mangala-arati. One devotee
who was formerly in the military would wake me up and remind me that we should
accept Krishna’s orders in a military fashion. After a while, it was so
difficult, one morning I slammed my hand on the floor, and said, “I cannot do
it.” And then I remembered Srila Prabhupada’s words about maya testing
us, and I realized that I could not do it on my own, but by Srila Prabhupada’s
mercy I could do it. And that experience of being saved by Srila Prabhupada’s
words was not a one time experience. It has happened many times since.
Srila Prabhupada explains that we cannot expect
an ocean voyage to be without disturbances by the waves, and similarly one
cannot expect a very peaceful life in this material world.
Bhaktivinoda Thakura said, “The spiritual master
is meant to protect the faith of his dependents.”
Narada Muni told Yudhisthira that to become
detached from this world a householder should hear repeatedly the pastimes of
the incarnations of the Supreme Lord from a self-realized soul. In the purport
to the verse describing this, Srila Prabhupada writes how Bhagavad-gita and
Srimad-Bhagavatam can and should be heard again and again.
Srila Prabhupada describes that Queen Kunti,
because of her natural humility, presented herself as being without the
qualification to understand Krishna while at the same time showing herself to
be the greatest transcendentalist by taking complete shelter of Krishna.
Without humility one will not become a suitable
receptacle for Krishna’s mercy. And Krishna’s mercy is the only means for
success.
In Brhad-Bhagavatamrita, all of the
devotees Narada approached argued in favor of their own disqualifications for
achieving Krishna’s mercy. However, they all were in fact recipients of
Krishna’s mercy, and their humility was their qualification to achieve it.
Someone asked me, “How do we know when someone
is giving something to us, whether it is Krishna giving us something.” I asked
him if he had been asking people for it. If he had not been asking, and only
Krishna knew his desire, and someone gave it to him, then Krishna was giving it
to him.
Krishna does not say if we give give Him
something, he will give us even more in return. He says He will accept it.
Because Srila Prabhupada asked for things only
for Krishna’s service, he had such potency that people would actually give him
what he asked for.
Srila Prabhupada saved me, and he is always
saving me again and again. Every time I read his books, I see how he is saving
me.
Read Srila Prabhupada’s books again and again,
and go back to Godhead.
These verses selected for this selection Srimad-Bhagavatam
3.25.23–27 are very essential, and I often quote from them.
Because of the devotees faith in their bright
future through hearing the pastimes of the Lord they can tolerate the temporary
miseries of the world. On a higher level, they forget the miseries though
absorption in Krishna. Even in the beginning occasionally we are so absorbed we
can experience this. Thus we must seek out the association of devotees who are
engaged in hearing and chanting these topics.
This process of hearing and chanting of Krishna
is easiest because the Lord and the devotees of the Lord are already willing to
help us and because we understand that their mercy is the cause of our success.
We do not have to depend on our own efforts.
Anyone who associates with the holy name
associates with Krishna directly.
Just as the process of eating is very easy and
we experience we gain strength and experience satisfaction, similarly the
process of hearing and chanting the glories of the Lord in the association with
devotees is easy and brings us spiritual strength and satisfaction. Let us
easily nourish ourselves spiritually in this way.
Lord Caitanya advised that one string the “trnad
api” verse on the garland of the holy name and wear it constantly.
When we live with constant expectations from
others, we will always be disturbed, and thus one strategy to be peaceful is to
not to expect anything from others.
Because a Vaishnava gets his nourishment from
within, he can give without expecting anything in return.
Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura says that Krishna
does not consider it a burden to personally arrange for His devotee’s
maintenance, and a devotee should never think that he is a disturbance to
Krishna by depending on Him to take of Him. Krishna likes taking care of His
devotees.
Arjunacarya was such a poor brahmana,
that between he and his wife, they had only one good piece of cloth. When one
went out of the house, he or she would wear the good cloth, and the other would
stay home wearing the torn cloth.
It was a not a disturbance to Krishna to take of
his devotee’s needs, but that His devotee Arjunacarya did not believe that He
would take care of His devotee’s needs was a disturbance to Him.
A devotee thinks, “If Krishna does not give me
something, I must not need it, and if Krishna supplies something then I should
use it in his service.”
A person who wants to give Krishna consciousness
to others has unlimited service.
Bhaktisiddhanta Saravati Thakura said “trnad
api” verse, which stresses perfect tolerance and humility, is the siddha
pranali (the means to attain perfection) for Gaudiya Vaishnavas. Srila
Prabhupada has given us this siddha pranali. We do not have to look for siddha
pranali elsewhere. And not only has Srila Prabhupada given it, but he is a
most brilliant example of it.
Srila Prabhupada explains that if we chant and
follow the prohibitions against sinful activities we will pass Maya’s tests,
otherwise she will capture us.
One who is not disturbed is a paramahamsa, a
devotee on the highest level.
Jiva Goswami asked the question to Lord
Nityananda, “How is it that so many people are there in the dhama who
are not in pure Krishna consciousness?” Lord Nityananda Prabhu explained that
the dhama has a covering that keeps out hypocritically devoted (dharma-dvaji),
who are devoid of humility but who think they are qualified to live in the dhama.
Bhaktisiddhanta Saravati Thakura said a preacher
is useless if he cannot respect others. If a devotee cannot even respect
devotees, how can he preach to the nondevotees?
‘One who thinks himself lower than the grass,
who is more tolerant than a tree, and who does not expect personal honor but is
always prepared to give all respect to others can very easily always chant the
holy name of the Lord.’ (Lord Caitanya’s Siksastakam 3)
Bhakti Visrambha Madhava Swami:
Q: Why might a Vaishnava remain angry if we
apologize for offending them?
A: They may not think we are sincere in our
apology. They may be worried that we may maintain that offensive mentality and
offend others.
Q: In the beginning we may feel some pleasure
from devotional service, but we learn we are not supposed to perform devotional
service for our own enjoyment. What to do?
A: Devotional service gives pleasure but
devotees do not want that pleasure if it stops their service. If it does not
get in the way of our service, it can be accepted. Krishna reciprocates with us
according our relationship with Him. Everyone wants to hug Krishna, but does
Krishna want to hug us? Vishnujana Swami told me, “We do not enjoy prasadam we
honor prasadam.” Bhaktisiddhanta Saravati Thakura said we do not eat prasadam,
prasadam eats us, and we do not see Lord Jagannatha, Lord Jagannatha sees
us.
Q: Why do we love some devotees we serve with
and hate other devotees we serve with? What to do about this?
A: Everyone in this world is better than
someone, and someone is better than him. We should always see what the people
are good at. Raghunatha Goswami would not criticize a devotee. He considered if
there was really someone wrong with person, Krishna would deal with it. Who was
he to judge the devotee?
Although it is best to be attentive while chanting
still the holy name will deliver one who even chants inattentively.
It is not what service you are going to do, but
what mentality you are going to do it in.
Krishna and Balarama are thieves of hearts, and
our business is help Them steal.
The gopis complained that Krishna and
Balarama did not take as much pleasure when they gave Them items as when They
stole them, because They took pleasure in the stealing.
Srila Prabhupada once said, “If you are greedy
to present Krishna with something, Krishna is greedy to take it.” But what to
we have to give Krishna who owns everything. Only our minute independence to
choose to think of Him.
Q: I got some tulasi seeds from you, she
grew for a while and died. What should I do?
A: Do not give up. Just because a mother has a
miscarriage, she does not give up trying to have a baby. Try to positive and
learn from your experience. It takes tulasi a while to die. See want you
can do to keep it from happening again. Take a picture of her, and show it
someone from the local nursery. Look it up on Google. You can find everything
there.
Q: Can we worship a picture of tulasi?
A: Would a young lady be satisfied having a
picture of a child or would she want a real child?
Q: Does Krishna interfere with our free will?
A: Generally no but sometimes yes. If Krishna
sees you really want to be independent, He will let you go. The devotee prays
to Krishna, “Do what you want, but drag me to lotus feet.”
You can ask your questions a hundred times to
superiors, your equals, and your subordinates. Greed means I want the answer
yesterday.
When it comes to Krishna’s service or Tulasi’s
service, do not flinch, they are not poor and can afford it.
The standard for home worship is basically to do
everything with love. There is a standard of worship with five items, ten
items, twelve items, and sixteen items. The bathing enters at twelve items.
Determine a standard you can follow. Love the deities, and They will love you
back more than you can love Them.
Tulasi gives knowledge to one who seeks it. Just
like you can ask your mother anything.
We are made of nothing but the mercy of the
devotees, and therefore we must be compassionate to others, so others get a
similar chance.
Bhaktivinoda Thakura advises to do good to
others and to not worry about your own happiness. Being in the association of
devotees, we will automatically be happy.
When you decide to serve the internal potency of
the Lord, the external energy goes for free.
We should associate with devotees and abandon
materialistic association.
We hanker for our relationship with Krishna
despite the fact that it is difficult to attain.
When will Krishna faint, thinking of our love
for Him. We have a long way to go.
We should induce devotees to participate in harinama
by preparing prasadam and packaging it, distributing it, and getting
their kids to distribute it. You have to have a heart of stone not to take a
sweet from a kid. If people are not going to temple, the temple will come to
them.
Bhaktisiddhanta Saravati Thakura explains diksa
involves long term siksa that transforms one’s heart so one
spontaneously kicks out undesirable habits.
One vanaprastha godsister of mine
distributes books in Vrndavana. I asked her daughter if she was going to go to
UK to visit her children, and she replied, “All the kids know if they want to
see mother, they have to go to Vrndavana.”
Wherever Tulasi Devi is, all the pilgrimage places are at her root.
We should be really affectionate to the managers
who are making all the arrangements for the festival.
Lord Caitanya described three levels of
Vaishnavas:
1. One who likes to chant the holy names of the
Lord, and is thus the best person in the group.2. One who has taken initiation and is serving the deity and the Vaishnavas.
3. One who is so absorbed in Krishna consciousness, he is no longer conscious of this material world.
Dhirasanta Prabhu:
Srila Prabhupada once said, “If you chant your
sixteen rounds before 10 a.m., you will have no anxiety throughout the day.”
Has anybody every chanted sixteen rounds in the
evening? And then all day, you are worried you have sixteen rounds to chant.
A biology teacher poured golf balls into a
container up to the top and asked his students if it was full. They said yes,
but then he took pebbles, and poured them in so they filled in the space
between the golf balls, and again asked the students if it was full. Then sand,
then water. It was an analogy for ordering priorities. If he put the water in
first, he could have added nothing else. Thus we have to put our chanting as
our first priority.
The holy name is a gift, the gift of Radha and
Krishna, who are not different from Their names. Japa is the opportunity
to develop a sacred relationship with Radha Krishna.
Sometimes we act like japa is like a
horse race, and say with relief afterward, “Sixteen rounds ki, jaya!”
Srila Prabhupada said, “If we chant sixteen rounds
and follow the four rules, and we help Lord Caitanya spread his mission, we
will go back to Godhead at the end of this life.”
We can chant this mantra. “I am allowed to
chant. I like chant. I want to chant. I love to chant.”
All the problems we have as devotees can be
eliminated by our chanting of sixteen rounds.
I chant fast so there is no room for the mind to
wander.
The holy name is better than mango lassi.
from a Bhagavatam class:
Srila Prabhupada said Krishna consciousness is
simply but we bring our complicated mind filled with misconceptions from many
births.
In the practice of devotional service we have a
lot of work to overcome the past, but the process does work.
When I was a new devotee I had one attachment,
rock music. In my brahmacari cabinet I kept a recording of my favorite
group, Pink Floyd, and I would play it to take a break from devotional service. I would distribute
books outside music shops so I could hear my favorite songs from time to time.
Then Krishna tricked me. The record shop played, “Govindam adi purusam tam
aham bhajami”—the Radha Krishna temple album, and I realized what kind of
music I should be listening to.
When Srila Prabhupada came to London he gave a
series of classes on the Bhagavad-gita. He could see the British were
very proud, so he systematically described all the atrocities of the British
government against the Indians. They built the first slaughter houses in India.
They introduced the drinking of tea and the smoking of bidi (a kind of
cigarette). When Gandhi protested the British selling their cloth to Indians at
high prices, and encouraged the Indians to produce their own cloth, British
officers would cut the thumbs off ladies they saw weaving cloth in India. You
have seen the camels in India? They are incarnations of the members of the
British raj. In this way, he wanted to end our identification with Britain.
Sankarsana Prabhu:
Before answering the question, “How do I succeed
on the path of Krishna bhakti?” we should ask the question, “Why should
I succeed on the path of Krishna bhakti?”
If we do not have love of God in our hearts we
are starving spiritually, and trying to get happiness through eating, sleeping,
mating, and defending, and yet not attaining the happiness we desire. We are
not creatures of this world, but belong in the spiritual world with Krishna.
Even if you attain the topmost position in this
world, without Krishna bhakti you will not be happy.
The guru is essential to inspire one spiritually
and to give correction.
The Christians say, “I can do anything I want
because I accept Jesus. I am saved.” If we think now that I am initiated, I can
do anything I want” then that is the same consciousness. Actually initiation
means the beginning of our life of spiritual practice. Initiation means
following the guru henceforth.
An experiment was done on two groups of plants
which were given the same amount of water, fertilizer, and light, in two
different moods, in affection and in aversion. The plants which were nourished
with affection thrived, while the others did not. If living entities with such
a low level of consciousness appreciate love, what to speak of human beings.
I was brought up as a Christian and I had no
understanding that I could personally offer something to God, and He would
reciprocate.
We all have a tendency to love. The key is to
give our love to Krishna. That is the purpose of this institution.
There are two ways to love Krishna spontaneously
and according to regulations. For those whose spontaneous love has not been awakened,
there are the regulative principles of devotional service.
The key to succeed in the practice is regulated
daily practice.
The name of Krishna is sweet because it is
Krishna Himself.
There is no taste in material sense
gratification, but we think there is happiness there.
The gardener who pulls the weeds out by the
roots is the successful gardener. We have chant in such a way that our deep
rooted material desires are destroyed.
Can you imagine being able to behold the
beautiful form of Shyamasundara in your heart? He is already there.
We all have some sincerity. That is why we are
here. Did anyone pay any of you to come to this festival? No. Actually we all
had to pay to come here to chant and hear about Krishna. So we all have some
sincerity.
You simply have to be determined to follow, and
your success will be assured.
Q: What about Srila Prabhupada’s instruction to
give 50% for preaching Krishna consciousness?
A: Bhaktivinoda Thakura advised to consider
one’s house and your family to belong to the Lord and keep track of them as
service to Him. In this way, you can give 100% to Krishna. As a Christian I was
taught to give 10% to the church. I even had to give 10% of my allowance to the
church. I see that as a result of that funding there are missionary activities
all over the world. I am sure that if all the devotees in Kaunas gave 10%, the
new temple that has been discussed for years would already be built.
Q: Can I marry a nondevotee woman?
A: If she is willing to follow our principles
and she permits you do to your spiritual practice, it may work out. The
difficulty is that ideally sex is meant only once a month when trying to
conceive a child, so it may be unlikely that she will be so dedicated to you
that she is willing to follow that.
Persons whose children become devoted to God are
very special souls. Try to help your parents spiritually as far as possible.
Q: What is a marriage blessed by Krishna?
A: When the husband helps the wife become
Krishna consciousness, when wife helps the husband become Krishna
consciousness, and the husband and the wife help the children to become Krishna
consciousness, that is a marriage blessed by Krishna.
In “Bhajahu Re Mana” Govinda answers the
question of what to do with mind if one gives up temporary sense enjoyment in
the final verse of his song, the nine process of devotional service.
Beatles music does not excite the animals, but
Krishna’s flute enchants all species of life.
Within Krishna’s name, there is Krishna’s form,
pastimes, devotees, etc. By vibrating Krishna’s name you are connecting with
everything. Everyone is anxious to be online and connect with the internet
these days, but what we are connecting to is a small fragment of Krishna.
Ananda Caitanya Prabhu:
Sukadeva Goswami, although liberated from birth,
originally did not appreciate the devotees until fully educated by his father,
Srila Vyasadeva.
Sukadeva Goswami understood by hearing that
marriage was unnecessarily entangling so he skipped it.
Bhakti Ananta Krishna Maharaja stresses
cooperation among the brahmacaris in his ashram in Moscow, and that
creates a wonderful atmosphere there.
One devotees said I like chanting and
associating with devotees, but I have material desires. Can I ask Krishna to
fulfill them? The answer she got was, whether or not Krishna fulfills them, he
will treat you in such a way you get beyond them.
If you glorify the devotees in general who are
trying to sincerely serve and spread the holy name, you will have no
difficulties.
Bhakti Vijnana Swami told us one story. One
Sacinandana Babaji lived to be 112 years old. He would make garlands for
Srimati Radharani every day and chant Her name. During a drought he searched
everywhere for flowers and finally found a beautiful garden on the outskirts on
Vraja. He asked the owner for some flowers for Radharani. But the owner became
angry and drove him out. He was upset to see how the man was so possessive he
would not spare any flowers for Radharani. He decided to wait until the man
went to sleep and steal some flowers. He went a small distance away to wait. He
met a band of thieves, and introduced himself as another thief. When the asked
him what he planned to steal, he replied “flowers.” They were surprised because
flowers dry up and have no lasting value. He explained he wanted to make a
garland and offer it to his swamini. He said that went he places a
garland on his swamini, all his desires are fulfilled, and he is
completed satisfied. The thieves admitted that whatever they stole they never
attained satisfaction, and they became interested in helping Sacinandana Babaji
by stealing the flowers. After the flowers were obtained the babaji made
the garlands, and the thieves found to their surprise they became completely
happy wearing the garlands offered to Radharani, and they became disciples of
Sacinandana Babaji.
In the materialistic society the people are
looking for their own satisfaction and therefore there is lots of conflict, but
because the devotees are trying to serve Krishna, there is no conflict.
Bhakta Lauis:
from a car conversation:
Just as you work and at the end of the month,
you get a paycheck, although there is not any evidence of it beforehand, if you
do the work of your spiritual practice, at the end you will experience God.
-----
yatrottamasloka-gunanuvadah
prastuyate gramya-katha-vighatah
nisevyamano ’nudinam mumuksor
matim satim yacchati vasudeve
“In an assembly of pure devotees, there is no question of
discussing material subjects like politics and sociology. In an assembly of
pure devotees, there is discussion only of the qualities, forms and pastimes of
the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He is praised and worshiped with full
attention. In the association of pure devotees, by constantly hearing such
topics respectfully, even a person who wants to merge into the existence of the
Absolute Truth abandons this idea and gradually becomes attached to the service
of Vasudeva.” (Srimad-Bhagatavam
5.12.13)