Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 17, No. 14
By Krishna Kripa Das
(July 2021, part two)
(Sent from Paris on August 14, 2021)
Where I Went and What I Did
I continued to live at ISKCON Paris in Sarcelles, and I did three hours of harinama every day, mostly in Paris. Marat (playing karatalas above), who is originally from Russia but has lived in France many years and is now retired, joined me almost every day, usually for two hours or so, and Chandra (playing harmonium above) joined me several days a week for an hour. Thursdays and Saturdays, the regular harinama days in Paris, we had the most people. For the whole month of July, we averaged between four and five people on harinama. The last time I came to Paris, two years ago, I had Tulasi Prabhu, who would sing with me every day for three hours to assist me, so this time was more austere. The best thing was that many people ended up attending the programs in downtown Paris at Yoga Lyrique as a result of getting cards from us on harinama, so that was rewarding. Also devotees decided to Ratha-yatra in downtown Paris as usual, not just in the local city of Sarcelles, except without the stage show and the prasadam because of COVID-19. They were given Saturday, a more crowded day than the usual Sunday.
I have quite a bit fewer videos and pictures this time as I lost the phone I filmed them with the day before I was going to copy them to my computer. C’est la vie!
I share quotes from Srila Prabhupada’s lectures, conversations, and books, especially The Nectar of Devotion and Srimad-Bhagavatam. I share excerpts from the writing of Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami. I share notes on lectures by Rajadharma Prabhu, Manisirani Devi Dasi, Mekhala Devi Dasi, and Aksayananda Prabhu in Paris. I share a nice quote by Dr. Thomas J. Hopkins, a religion professor who appreciated Srila Prabhupada’s unique contribution more than most, which Satyaraja Prabhu shared in Back to Godhead magazine.
Itinerary
July 1–August 19: Paris harinamas
August 20–22: Balarama Festival in New Mayapur
August 23: Flight from Paris to Tallahassee
August 24–September ?: Tallahassee harinamas and college outreach
September ?–December 31: NYC Harinam
Chanting Hare Krishna in Paris
Here Rohininandana Prabhu chants Hare Krishna during a protest at La République in Paris (https://youtu.be/uBl3-l4MeQ4):
Then Chandrashekhara Acharya Prabhu continued chanting Hare Krishna during the protest (https://youtu.be/PQXqLvtf-f8):
While Chandrashekhara Acharya Prabhu was chanting Hare Krishna, he became suspicious as he suddenly found our party surrounded by policemen! (https://youtu.be/-YdoVa2rIsA):
As it turned out we planned to chant only one hour at La République and the remaining two hours at Saint-Michel, so it was not a big deal that the police stopped us eight minutes early. We just chanted an extra eight minutes at Saint-Michel. Chandra and Aravinda and his friends chanted in a march after we were stopped at La République instead of coming to Saint-Michel, and they had a good experience there.
Here Rohininandana Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at Saint-Michel (https://youtu.be/-d5HztSaIs0):
Here is my harinama report for July 2021. I did not go out on July 4 because I was on a marathon to finish proofreading Srila Prabhupada Tributes. Then I missed three days of chanting on the Paris streets from July 9 to 11 while chanting in the New Mayapur Mellows kirtan mela instead. July 14 we did Ratha-yatra in Sarcelles, which I could count as a big harinama. With all the chanting before, during, and after the procession it amounted to least three hours. The rest of July, I went out on harinama every day, mostly in Paris, except Tuesdays, when I chanted in the local city of Sarcelles for at least some of the time. In the chart below the donations are in euros.
I created a playlist of twenty sweet kirtan video clips from New Mayapur Mellows.
You can find it here (https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGerEnGdI0xIA1GnwhL4SVIzje6BW46h4).
Recollections
While I was chanting ‘prema-bhakti jaha hoite, avidya vinasha jate’ during Guru Puja on July 23 in Paris, I recalled an incident related by Sitala Dasi which I put in my journal, ‘When Sitala was head pujari in Paris, she peeked through the curtains to watch Srila Prabhupada take darsana of the Deities.
She was amazed to see two tears come straight out of Srila Prabhupada’s eyes as he viewed the Deities. She felt a little embarrassed to be in the middle of their intimate exchange.’
My father passed away 49 years ago on July 30. In theory there could be a 48-year-old man somewhere in human society who was my father in his last life, and most likely I would not recognize him and he would not recognize me. I wonder if he would glance at our chanting party or just walk by. Would he take a flyer for the latest Ratha-yatra I am advertising?
Insights
Srila Prabhupada:
From a lecture on Srimad-Bhagavatam in Paris on June 12, 1974:
“Impersonalists, they do not know what is love. Because he’s one. Their philosophy is oneness. So how there can be love, one? Is it possible? Have you got any such experience, love means one? No. Love means two. There must be two, the lover and the beloved. So lover... Krishna is already lover. He’s so lover of you that He’s trying to get you back. That is Krishna’s attempt.”
“So [in] this movement, we should understand very clearly, that there is no question [of] artificial negation. The question is purification. As soon as you become purified and you become fully Krishna conscious, then your life is successful. That is wanted.”
From Srimad-Bhagavatam 7.9.8, purport:
“Unless one is meek and humble, to make progress in spiritual life is very difficult.”
From “Bhagavan’s Perfect Teachings” in Back to Godhead, Vol. 55, No. 6 (Nov./Dec. 2021):
[Edited transcript of a class on Bhagavad-gita 2.11 in Mauritius on October 1, 1975.]
“This family relationship or national relationship or community relationship is due to this body. I accept somebody as my brother because he has got the body from the same father from whom I have got this body. But the body is a by-product of the father’s body, so this bodily relationship is material. It is outward, external. It is not a real relationship. The father is a soul, I am a soul, my brother is a soul, so we are related on the spiritual platform in relationship with God because the soul is not matter. But we see the material body only. The son does not see the soul of the father, nor does the father see the soul of the son. Everyone, under illusion, is simply seeing the body and accepting people as kinsmen.”
“You will find many people talking as if they are very learned. But if you ask someone, ‘What are you?’ the reply will be, ‘I am Indian,’ ‘I am American,’ ‘I am Mr. Such-and- such,’ ‘I am the father of such and such.’ This is the bodily conception. However great he may be, he is identified with the body. And according to sastra, so long as we shall identify with this body, we are no better than the cats and dogs, because they also identify with the body.”
“Bhagavad-gita is a great science. People do not know this science. You may think that you are living very happily, but you have to change this body, and your new body may not be very happy. That they do not know. This is ignorance.”
From “Rascal Politicians” in Back to Godhead, Vol. 55, No. 6 (Nov./Dec. 2021):
[From a conversation with disciples in Geneva, Switzerland, on June 2, 1974.]
“For instance, the India-Pakistan war happened due to these politicians. The Hindus, the Muslims – they are innocent. They don’t fight. These politicians engage them to fight artificially for their political ambition. The wars declared nowadays are on account of these rascal politicians. The people do not want it.”
“And for having sufficient rain, you must execute yajña, or sacrifice. Yajñad bhavati parjanyah. So these leaders are now becoming rascals. They are not performing yajñas. They are opening slaughterhouses. How will there be rain? Instead of performing yajñas, they are opening big, big slaughterhouses.”
“We propose that ‘Everything belongs to Krishna, and we are all sons of Krishna. Just cooperate in Krishna consciousness. Then the whole world will be happy.’ This is our proposal. Why do you think, ‘It is American,’ ‘It is Swiss,’ ‘It is Indian’? Everything belongs to Krishna. Let us become obedient to Krishna, and because we are sons of Krishna, let us enjoy the property of Krishna. Immediately there will be happiness.”
From Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.22.36, purport:
“We should not be attracted by anything material, higher or lower, but should consider them all on the same level. Our real engagement should be in inquiring about the real purpose of life and rendering devotional service to the Lord. Thus we will be eternally blessed in our spiritual activities, full of knowledge and bliss.”
From The Nectar of Devotion, Chapter 19:
“Ecstatic love of Godhead can be potently invoked simply by following the rules and regulations of devotional service as they are prescribed in scriptures, under the direction of a bona fide spiritual master.”
“An example of such extraordinary mercy is given in the Eleventh Canto, Twelfth Chapter, verse 7, of Srimad-Bhagavatam, wherein Lord Krishna tells Uddhava, ‘The gopis in Vṛndavana did not study the Vedas to achieve Me. Nor had they ever been in holy places of pilgrimage. Nor did they devoutly execute any regulative principle. Nor did they undergo any kind of austerity. It is simply by My association that they have attained the highest perfection of devotional service.’”
“From the example of Candrakanti as found in the Padma Purana and from the example of the gopis as found in Srimad-Bhagavatam, it appears that a devotee who always thinks of Krishna and who always chants His glories in ecstatic love, regardless of his condition, will attain the highest perfection of unalloyed devotional love due to Lord Krishna’s extraordinary mercy.
“If a devotee is continuously in love with Lord Krishna and his mind is always fixed upon Him, that devotional attitude will prove to be the only means of attracting the attention of the Lord. In other words, a Vaishnava who is incessantly thinking of the form of Lord Krishna is to be known as a pure Vaishnava.”
“In the Narada Pañcaratra Lord Shiva therefore tells Parvati, ‘My dear supreme goddess, you may know from me that any person who has developed the ecstasy of love for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and who is always merged in transcendental bliss on account of this love, cannot even perceive the material distress or happiness coming from the body or mind.’”
From The Nectar of Devotion, Chapter 20:
“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 and 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; that is called ‘relishing the mellow.’ To be more clear, we may understand that the various feelings of happiness derived from discharging devotional service may be termed the ‘mellows’ of devotional service.
“This relishing of transcendental mellow in discharging devotional service cannot be experienced by all classes of men, because this sweet loving mood is developed only from one’s previous life’s activities or by the association of unalloyed devotees. As explained above, association with pure devotees is the beginning of faith in devotional service. Only by developing such faith in the association of a pure devotee, or by having in one’s previous life executed devotional activities, can one actually relish the mellow of devotional service. In other words, this transcendental bliss is not to be enjoyed by any common man unless he is so extraordinarily fortunate as to be in association with devotees or to be continuing his previous birth’s devotional activities.”
From Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.9.22, purport:
“A living entity is so made by the will of the Almighty that he is most happy when placing himself in a condition of absolute dependence.
“The opposite tendency is the cause of falldown. The living entity has this tendency of falling down by dint of misidentifying himself as fully independent to lord it over the material world. The root cause of all troubles is there in false egotism. One must draw towards the Lord in all circumstances.”
From Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.9.23:
“The Personality of Godhead, who appears in the mind of the devotee by attentive devotion and meditation and by chanting of the holy name, releases the devotee from the bondage of fruitive activities at the time of his quitting the material body.”
Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami:
“Japa Reform Notebook was written 40 years ago, and it’s still a favorite; it was recently reprinted in India. This shows that my books were written ahead of their time and are read now as new. Over that amount of time there is a whole new generation of readers.”
From Morning Songs:
“If Krishna Will Be Kind”
“If Krishna will be kind
to lift us out of the muck
although we don’t deserve
it. He measures things
exactly, and you have to
pay for it.
“But if you become a rightly
resolved devotee according to
guru and sastra then
He won’t consider you
diminished if you
commit abominable acts.
“If you are a fixed devotee
He forgives you and
by continuing to serve Him
He moves the justice
of the courtroom and
accepts you utterly.
“This is the conclusion
for those who promise
not to commit sins again.
They see the consequences of falldown
and must be considered
sadhus.
“But if they indulge in falldown again
they won’t be considered
a high devotee. Krishna is kind and gives
the benefit of the doubt
to those who worship Him and
serve Him with all their might.
“To repent and regret
and showing up
at the military camp
say, ‘Yo!’ when their
name’s called and
push their shoulder to
the wheel.”
“One of the devotees then took a copy of Teachings of Lord Caitanya from the bookshelf. Showing Prabhupada the cover painting of the Panca-tattva, the devotee said, ‘Srila Prabhupada, what about Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu? Generally we paint Him with long hair.’ Srila Prabhupada began to joke. ‘Yes,’ he replied, ‘Caitanya Mahaprabhu—He was a hippy. Therefore He has come to save you.’ The devotees began to laugh at Prabhupada’s humor, but because Srila Prabhupada’s Bengali inflection added a slight ‘sh’ to save, no one was positive whether Prabhupada was saying save or shave. Srila Prabhupada immediately noticed this. He was chuckling and repeated, ‘Yes, He has come to save you and shave you. Caitanya Mahaprabhu has come to save you and shave you.’”
From Shack Notes:
“The truth is, I am unqualified to write Krishna-katha. I should in no way venture on my own in this sublime topic. But I cannot be still. What does Prabhupada say? He says, ‘Write your realizations.’ He says do something to spread Krishna consciousness. He says it is a sannyasi’s first duty to write. He says write to save the crippled humanity. Krishna will be pleased, even as a father is pleased by the broken speech of his little child. Speak of Him.”
From Japa Walks, Japa Talks:
“The Srimad-Bhagavatam chapter ‘Yamaraja Instructs His Messengers,’ has many wonderful statements about the potency of the holy name. Prabhupada states, ‘There is no need to conduct research into the significance of the chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra. The history of Ajamila is sufficient proof.’”
From My Relationship with Lord Krishna:
“My dear Lord Krishna, You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead. All glories to You! The Vedic literature praises Your glories, but it can never come to the limit of Your greatness. Other world religions also praise You. Only fools—those who think themselves God—and atheists do not praise You. The atheists think that the cosmic manifestation was created by chance, but nothing happens by chance. Everything is under Your control.
“Dear Lord, I am dependent on the scriptures and on my spiritual master to tell me about You, yet each of us can know You by perception. We perceive our own consciousness, which is an expansion of the supreme consciousness. Our individual consciousness is ruled by a higher source, and that is You.
“I am speaking these philosophical words just to fend off the atheist within me. But I wish to approach You, not just argue in favor of Your existence. The best kind of prayer is to ask for pure devotional service. O Lord Krishna, O energy of the Lord, Hara, please engage me in Your service. I am already serving You, but now I ask to serve You in love. Please enlighten me. Make me more fit to serve You and not my own senses.
“We are small. Therefore, we become stuck in our pitiful condition. We have heard of Your blissful nature and Your abode, but we are still somehow bound by the material body and the material concepts of fear, repulsion, attachment, and the desire to lord it over and enjoy this world. Will You release us from this entanglement? We cannot release ourselves.”
From Remembering Srila Prabhupada: A Free-verse Rendition of the Life and Teachings of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder-Acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness:
“TO AFRICA”
(September 10, 1971)
“To Mombasa’s beach,
where he recovered from ill health,
then flying to Nairobi—
a city for preaching.
Staying at Hindu homes,
Prabhupada became their guru and friend.
But one night, calling Brahmananda Swami to his room,
he said, ‘Preach to the Africans.
They are the proprietors of this land.
You say they are poor,
they speak Swahili,
and they are culturally alien
compared to the Indians.
But we have come to Africa
for the Africans. So do it.’
Prabhupada started it himself.
Showing no distinction between African and Hindu,
in a Radha-Krishna temple downtown,
they opened the doors to all,
and a rushing sea of young urchins
poured in the door,
along with the poor and the pickpockets.
When Prabhupada arrived
the black sea of humanity parted,
welcoming his entrance.
Onstage, he spoke in English
to a Swahili-speaking crowd,
but they were patient,
and loved the kirtana and prasad.
“He sent Brahmananda Swami into the street
to hold harinama—a great success.
And he went to the University of Nairobi,
where he told the students,
‘Don’t follow the Westerners with their empires.
When there is nuclear war,
all their skyscrapers will be finished.
Build your nation on a spiritual foundation,
without discrimination, with Krishna Consciousness.’
Wherever he went in Nairobi,
Indians and Africans loved him,
just as all people loved the Six Gosvamis of Vrndavana.
In the midst of these activities
Prabhupada told his men,
‘Work now, samadhi later.’
The trance of absorption in Krishna-thought
could be obtained by working,
with the body and mind engaged
in spreading Lord Caitanya’s mission.
So they should all do like he,
who at 75 was working day and night.
‘Keep me talking—that is my life.
Don’t let me stop talking. . . .’”
From Dublin Pieces:
“You’d better cool down and take rest. It doesn’t mean anything. No loss. No loss or gain in this material world. Go on singing the glories of Narayana. In the beginning there was only Narayana – no Shiva or Brahma or motor vehicle bureau – only Narayana and so it will be at the end of life. Be in the protection of the Supreme Lord by chanting His holy names. It’s alright. You have the best spiritual master and the best process. Please, Srila Prabhupada, let me do what is best. Let me respect and honor your devotees.”
From A Poor Man Reads the Bhagavatam, Volume 1:
“Prabhupada is sitting at Chippiwada on a thin, straw mat placed on the hard floor, naked bulb overhead the only light, stones placed on manuscripts as paperweights, typing for hours. To reciprocate, I read for hours, for years, and now want to write on his points.”
“. . . I remember reading it [the Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.1.3, purport] for the first time and mulling over this wondrous new information about a relationship with God in ghastliness, wonder, and conjugal love. No other religion teaches this. For me, the most wonderful thing in the purport comes at the end where Prabhupada tells us about Sukadeva Gosvami. ‘The Vedic fruit which is mature and ripe in knowledge is spoken through the lips of Srila Sukadeva Gosvami, who is compare to the parrot not for his ability to recite the Bhagavatam exactly as he heard it from his learned father, but for his ability to present the work in a manner that would appeal to all classes of men.’ Something in me responds to the idea that we should be more than parrots who mindlessly repeat the philosophy. We can instead faithfully repeat the philosophy, yet sweeten it with our own understanding.”
From Truthfulness, the Last Leg of Religion:
“Vaisnavera kriya mudra vijneha na bujhaya, ‘One can never understand the mind of the acarya.’ We should not try to judge the liberated acarya according to ethics and morality. He is ethical and truthful, and it is only our misunderstanding if we don’t appreciate what he is doing according to time, place and persons.”
From Meditations and Poems:
“We can’t promise you your way. Just
chant Hare Krishna and remember Lord Caitanya
and be absorbed
in preaching and then whatever happens
you’ll get through in the right
consciousness.”
From Begging for the Nectar of the Holy Name:
“In discussing this offense [preaching the intimate glories of the Lord to the faithless], Bhaktivinoda Thakura expresses the importance of sraddha. People who have sraddha should be given the holy name. What about my own sraddha? If faith is such an important ingredient, then it is also an offense not to possess faith. Faithless persons are excluded from the mercy of the holy name. This point is covered even more in the tenth offense, which specifically states, ‘Not to have complete faith in the chanting of Hare Krishna’ is an offense.”
From Japa Walks, Japa Talks:
“We can follow Ajamila to the extent of chanting helplessly. One of the symptoms of surrender is to consider oneself very fallen and in need of Krishna’s help. You must call out like that—‘Hare Krishna!’ Lord Caitanya was so kindly aware of the position of the struggling devotee trying to come to the platform of pure devotion. He compassionately revealed this in His own prayer, ‘O my Lord, You have so kindly appeared in Your holy name, and in these names You have invested all Your energies, but yet I am so unfortunate that I have no taste for chanting this Hare Krishna.’ Narottama dasa Thakura also expressed this lamentation of the devotee who wants to engage in Krishna consciousness but who cannot taste the nectar of devotional service due to his material attachments. Narottama says, ‘What good is my life? I know with my mind and intellect and even within my heart that this chanting is everything, but I don’t like to chant. I don’t like to associate with the devotees, and I don’t like to take part in this sankirtana movement. I must be cursed. What is the sense of being alive?’ He does not want material life, but he cannot taste the holy name. This is not our permanent despair, but it produces that helpless condition. We don’t chant for any material or even spiritual benefit in terms of liberation, but we know that this chanting is everything—except we just can’t taste it. By surrendering in this way to the holy name—that is helplessness.”
From Dublin Pieces:
“But after spending gallons of blood, you do get a man and his wife like the Dubliners in whose flat we are staying. A few souls join and that’s worth it, plus the knowledge that you are pleasing Krishna and saving yourself and that even a little exposure to Krishna consciousness is very good for everyone.”
Rajadharma Prabhu:
When I was thinking of becoming a devotee, it was an attractive idea that all these people would become decorated with the quality of humility.
If we look within ourselves, seeing the desires within our hearts, we may realize we actually do not want to go back to Godhead. By associating with people who do want to go back to Godhead, we can attain that qualification.
Because Lord Caitanya came to uplift the fallen, in Kali-yuga our disqualification is our qualification.
The pure devotees are never attracted by opportunities for sense gratification whereas the demigods often are.
We should not be too much fatalistic because our future can be changed by the Lord.
The senior devotees say the more you advance the more you see how far distant you are from Krishna and how insignificant you are.
There is a Christian saying that you are never too bad for God only too good.
Krishna accompanies us through all the tribulations of old age up to death.
I remember when 9-11 happened. While hearing the journalist reports I came to the realization that journalists are not here to pacify us but to agitate us.
Srila Prabhupada told a journalist that Krishna consciousness begins when one inquires, “Why am I suffering?”
The material pyramid is me on top and everyone underneath, while the spiritual pyramid is everyone on top and me on the bottom.
Manisirani Devi Dasi:
A customer was reading the Bible while waiting for his haircut. The barber chided him for wasting his time because God did not exist. The barber argued that there is so much suffering in the world, how can God exist? Just after his haircut, as the customer left the shop he saw a long-haired man on the sidewalk. He asked him for a favor, to come with him into the shop. The customer said to the barber, “Barbers do not really exist.”
The barber said, “What do you mean by that?”
The customer said, “If barbers actually exist, how could there be this man with long hair?”
The story is to expose the fault in the barber’s reasoning. Long-haired people exist although there are barbers because they do not go to them for haircuts. Similarly suffering people continue to exist although there is God, because they do not follow His instructions which are capable of freeing one from all suffering.
As much as we surrender to the Lord, that much we will understand what is going on.
Dainya is the first principle of surrender. We need humility to apply the other five items of surrender.
Srila Prabhupada shows his dependence in his prayer to Krishna, “Make me dance as You like.”
To give people the enthusiasm to read Srila Prabhupada’s books, you also have to have it.
If there were no misery in this world we would not remember that we are supposed to be going somewhere else.
Comments by me:
You were saying we have many opportunities to surrender to Krishna each day. I was thinking that we have 1728 mantras we have to surrender to hearing, and then within each mantra there are 16 names we have to surrender to hearing!
I have a small experience of depending on the Lord. I was engaged in dressing the deities one day a week because we had too few pujaris in San Diego. I would finish by 8:00 a.m., and then I would go to the roof of the temple for two hours and chant my sixteen rounds straight through without being disturbed. Then I would look for something for breakfast. I never saved breakfast or had someone save it for me, I just depended on the Lord that there would be something, and there always was.
I like the point you made that if we follow what Srila Prabhupada gave us, additional knowledge we need will be revealed. It reminds me of this section of the Preface of Nectar of Instruction, “In all spiritual affairs, one’s first duty is to control his mind and senses. Unless one controls his mind and senses, one cannot make any advancement in spiritual life. Everyone within this material world is engrossed in the modes of passion and ignorance. One must promote himself to the platform of goodness, sattva-guna, by following the instructions of Rupa Gosvami, and then everything concerning how to make further progress will be revealed.”
Regarding your point about taking shelter of Krishna in all situations. I recall someone who did a study of why devotees left concluded it was because the devotees were not able to apply this verse in times of distress: “My dear Lord, one who earnestly waits for You to bestow Your causeless mercy upon him, all the while patiently suffering the reactions of his past misdeeds and offering You respectful obeisances with his heart, words and body, is surely eligible for liberation, for it has become his rightful claim.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.14.8)
Mekhala Devi Dasi:
One bhakta, who had difficulty appreciating the classes in Paris, said when he came to New Mayapur and was engaged in weeding the garden, he felt he was weeding his heart.
Aksayananda Prabhu:
From a class at Yoga Lyrique on Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.8.64–65:
The great sages do not visit kings for economic gain but to help the kings spiritually.
Narada indicates to the king that because he gave up his spiritual endeavors that he is dissatisfied.
Most people imagine that if they can minimize suffering and maximize sense enjoyment they will attain satisfaction, but this is an illusion.
Narada makes the point that one on the path of liberation becomes free of suffering.
We should not understand that liberation means that I can do what I like. Rather one on the path of liberation practices austerities.
Everything in this world is regulated. We cannot eat 3 kilos at each meal. As a male, I cannot decide to become pregnant.
If we follow the path of liberation, we have less and less suffering.
The king honestly presented the reason for his dissatisfaction because he had faith that the sage Narada could actually help him.
The living entity cannot live without being attached. The tendency to become attached is so great that we even become attached to things that are not good for us.
The king was afraid of displeasing his wife because he was afraid of losing his sense gratification.
Spiritual life is to live to please the spiritual master without any other desire.
Without a spiritual master it is difficult and practically impossible to give up material attachments even if we recognize they are not good for us.
We have to make a conscious choice to accept the association of the devotees.
To conquer lust we have to work on the gross level and the subtle level. On the gross level we eliminate such things as association with the opposite sex and eating food in the mode of passion.
Two varnas are affected by rajo-guna, the ksatriyas and the vaisyas.
If we accept a guru simply as a formality, without following the instructions of the spiritual master, it is as if we do not have a guru.
If a devotee can inspire you by his words to serve the devotees, himself, and the Supreme Lord, then he is your guru. If you enjoy the devotee’s lectures, but they do not motivate you to serve the devotees and the Supreme Lord, he is not your guru.
Q: Have there been any female gurus?
A: The wife of Nityananda, Jahnava, was guru. So was the wife of Advaita Acarya, the second wife of Srinivasa, and his daughter as well.
Dr. Thomas J. Hopkins:
[Satyaraja Prabhu wrote a wonderful article “Dr. Thomas J. Hopkins: A Scholar with Heart” in Back to Godhead, Vol. 55, No. 6, in memory of Dr. Thomas J. Hopkins, a very favorable scholar of religion, who passed away recently, and he included this quote by him in the article.]
From Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna: Five Distinguished Scholars on the Krishna Movement in the West, Steven J. Gelberg, ed.:
“It’s an astonishing story. If someone told you a story like this, you wouldn’t believe it. Here’s this person, he’s seventy years old, he’s going to a country where he’s never been before, he doesn’t know anybody there, he has no money, he has no contacts. He has none of the things, you would say, that make for success. He’s going to recruit people not on any systematic basis but just by picking up whomever he comes across, and he’s going to give them responsibility for organizing a worldwide movement. You’d say, ‘What kind of program is that?’
“There are precedents, perhaps. Jesus of Nazareth went around saying, ‘Come follow me. Drop your nets, or leave your tax collecting, and come with me and be my disciple.’ But in his case, he wasn’t an old man in a strange society dealing with people whose backgrounds were totally different from his own. He was dealing with his own community. Bhaktivedanta Swami’s achievement, then, must be seen as unique.”
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Brahma-samhita 5.59 is part of a summary of the devotional path given by Lord Krishna to Lord Brahma. Sometimes the path is presented in such detail we forget the essence, and it is good to be reminded of these key points, especially by Krishna Himself.
pramanais tat-sad-acarais
bodhayan atmanatmanam
bhaktim apy uttamam labhet
“The highest devotion is attained by slow degrees by the method of constant endeavor for self-realization with the help of scriptural evidence, theistic conduct and perseverance in practice.”
The rest of the summary is: “When the pure spiritual experience is excited by means of cognition and service [bhakti], superexcellent unalloyed devotion characterized by love for Godhead is awakened towards Krishna, the beloved of all souls. . . . These preliminary practices of devotion [sadhana-bhakti] are conducive to the realization of loving devotion. [Loving devotion]—than whom there is no superior well-being, who goes hand in hand with the attainment of the exclusive state of supreme bliss and who can lead to Myself. Abandoning all meritorious performances serve Me with faith. The realization will correspond to the nature of one’s faith. The people of the world act ceaselessly in pursuance of some ideal. By meditating on Me by means of those deeds one will obtain devotion characterized by love in the shape of the supreme service.” (Brahma-samhita 5.58, 5.60–61).
