Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 17, No. 23
By Krishna Kripa Das
(December 2021, part one)
New York City, Upstate New York
(Sent from Brooklyn, New York, on December 18, 2021)
Where I Went and What I Did
I remained living at Radha Govinda Temple in Brooklyn, the home of ISKCON NYC, chanting with Rama Raya Prabhu’s harinama party, NYC Harinam, four hours a day, except Sundays when I did a walking harinama on Brooklyn Bridge with Kavicandra Swami and two or three other devotees. On Saturday, December 4, Rama Raya Prabhu took practically his entire harinama party to Stuyvesant Falls to participate in Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami’s Vyasa-puja by performing kirtan, to Hudson, where we did harinama at the Hudson Winter Walk for an hour and a half that evening, and to New Paltz, where we had dinner at Krishna’s Kitchen, a successful new Hare Krishna restaurant near the university there.
I share a quote from Sri Isopanisad and several quotes from Srimad-Bhagavatam and a lecture by Srila Prabhupada on it. I share many excerpts from the writing of Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami, including many from his Back to Godhead articles from 1986 to 1989. I share notes on Vrindavan Dasa Thakura’s Caitanya-Bhagavata. I share notes on classes at ISKCON NYC by Jayadvaita Swami, Kavicandra Swami and Candrasekhara Swami, and Hansarupa, Rama Raya, Nikunjabihari, Tulasi, and Nityananda Kisora Prabhus. I share realizations from Chandrashekhara Acharya Prabhu from a one-man walking harinama and a couple reflections of my own.
Thanks to Kaliya Krishna Prabhu for his many videos of the NYC Harinam party. Thanks to Natabara Gauranga Prabhu for letting me use his phone to film the Hudson Winter Walk harinama. Thanks to Anupama Prabhu for taking the Facebook Live video of our Brooklyn Bridge harinama.
Itinerary
November 24–December 23: NYC Harinam
December 24–26: Albany, Christmas with relatives
December 27–January 3, 2022: NYC Harinam
January 4: Tampa harinama
January 5‒14: Tallahassee harinamas and college outreach
January 15: Gainesville harinama?
January 16: Orlando harinama
January 17: Apopka Martin Luther King Parade and Orlando harinama
January 18: Tampa harinama and college outreach
January 19–February 14: Serving Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami in Stuyvesant Falls, NY
February 15–17: Tampa harinamas and college outreach
February 18: Gainesville harinama
February 19–20: Bhaktivedanta Institute Cosmology Conference 3
February 21–:Tallahassee and Tampa harinamas and college outreach
Chanting Hare Krishna in New York City
We always chant Hare Krishna every morning in front of our beautiful deities of Radha and Govinda. The large white flowers which generally have a pleasant scent were impressive in their decoration this day.
Here I chant Hare Krishna in Times Square subway station (https://youtu.be/bOfUR3OPC8A):
Natabara Gauranga Prabhu chants Hare Krishna in Times Square subway station (https://youtu.be/B2jsNV0o3_U):
Devarsi Prabhu chants Hare Krishna (https://youtu.be/QpeFyS-VOLM):
Nityananda Kisora Prabhu chants Hare Krishna (https://youtu.be/UdNY0Y0QgIs):
Kaliya Krishna Prabhu chants Hare Krishna (https://youtu.be/JXYfQsmExHU):
Rama Raya Prabhu chants Hare Krishna (https://youtu.be/TJYnaQWRYNg):
While Rama Raya Prabhu was leading, one passerby played his flute.
Here is another video of that kirtan in portrait orientation (https://youtu.be/ZM5ej8n3nMo):
Devarsi Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at Union Square Park
(https://youtu.be/Dw1Gvbw5hfg):
Tulasi Prabhu of Bulgaria, visiting the USA for the first time, chants Hare Krishna at Union Square Park, and devotees dance (https://youtu.be/55QGWoP0ujQ):
Harivenu Prabhu chants Hare Krishna after Guru Puja at ISKCON NYC (https://youtu.be/BAXUO1lKleQ):
Here I lead the Hare Krishna chant on Brookyn Bridge, from Brooklyn to Manhattan, with devotees from ISKCON NYC, including Tulasi and Matanga Prabhus from Bulgaria, and Kavicandra Swami, who inspired us to choose that location (https://youtu.be/RlfYCDMbQeA):
After our party led by Kavicandra Swami chanted Hare Krishna across the Brooklyn Bridge, a halal food vendor invited us to dance around a table in front of his truck. He joined us, along with several Muslim ladies and a jolly black lady with a Santa hat. On the way home, those same Muslim ladies danced to our kirtan in two subways stations, Brooklyn Bridge and Fulton (https://youtu.be/Ql1UlP9_bCQ):
Nityananda Kisora Prabhu chants Hare Krishna during Sunday feast arati at ISKCON NYC (https://youtu.be/CU2wlzHLLEE):
Then Bipin Bihari Prabhu continued the kirtan (https://youtu.be/QMgr3NGLX1A):
Priya Krishna Prabhu chants Hare Krishna after Sunday feast lecture at ISKCON NYC (https://youtu.be/dj4kYcDmeQo):
I chanted Hare Krishna in Washington Square Park (https://youtu.be/Ju-rhlZ4KA8):
Natabara Gauranga Prabhu chants Hare Krishna (https://youtu.be/GmQEJ6aNGnA):
Devarsi Prabhu chants Hare Krishna (https://youtu.be/HfZXH1MSh58):
Kaliya Krishna Prabhu chants Hare Krishna (https://youtu.be/M8JQu41duXc):
Here is another video with the phone held vertically (https://youtu.be/Mx7T2BWgxQ0):
Ishan Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at Washington Square Park (https://youtu.be/6oT80M5MSWA):
Nityananda Kisora Prabhu chants Hare Krishna (https://youtu.be/ppG1uETXz_Y):
Rama Raya Prabhu chants Hare Krishna (https://youtu.be/fpYBGj14_EQ):
While Rama Raya Prabhu was chanting Hare Krishna, a young man ran up to the party attracted by the sound. He said he had been listening to some music on his headphones, but because it was such a warm day he removed his headphones, and he was immediately attracted to the sound of the kirtan and came over to see what it was. I gave him some shakers, and he played them and danced (https://youtu.be/hw4PuSqiVZc):
He left with “On Chanting Hare Krishna” and an invitation card to the temple.
Devarsi Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at Atlantic Avenue / Barclays Center subway station in Brooklyn below the downtown 2/3 train (https://youtu.be/0eeyNYTMo5c):
Tulasi Prabhu chants Hare Krishna, and Matanga Prabhu dances while distributing books (https://youtu.be/TyyH9L9rXVk):
While Tulasi was singing, a guy played shakers (https://youtu.be/9P6QroMpx9w):
Nrikesari Prabhu, who was at the book table that day, talked to one passerby named George for about an hour. George came to our Tuesday program in the Lotus Room that very night.
George is wearing the pink hat on the left side of this photo, and he talking to Kavicandra Swami and Tulasi Prabhu. I invited him to the Sunday feast, although I informed him that most of the people would be Indian. He said he liked India and would be happy to come, and so he did. He even filled out the form for sponsoring Bhagavad-gitas, and he came the following Tuesday as well.
Here are a couple other photos from that program.
Hari Vilasa Prabhu chants Hare Krishna after Guru Puja at ISKCON NYC (https://youtu.be/kEzE-EJKvzc):
I chanted a Hare Krishna tune in Times Square subway station (https://youtu.be/uMCmGPYCbnY):
Devaka chants Hare Krishna (https://youtu.be/HbEuIx8nh6k):
Nityananda Kisora Prabhu chants Hare Krishna (https://youtu.be/z5KLcVB0QX4):
Matanga Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at Penn Station subway station and a passerby dances (https://youtu.be/VLjcnwzzgZU):
Tulasi Prabhu also chants Hare Krishna there, and a street musician plays the flute (https://youtu.be/RJk5YKHItcs):
Later another street musician stopped by and played the drum (https://youtu.be/aWNrtdIR3j0):
Rama Raya Prabhu chants Hare Krishna (https://youtu.be/s2UoKAq8EPQ):
Natabara Gauranga Prabhu chants Hare Krishna in Jackson Heights / Roosevelt Avenue subway station in Queens (https://youtu.be/6kstXCUkL40):
Radha Shyamananda Prabhu also chants Hare Krishna there (https://youtu.be/gvnRZm6OJ_0):
Harivenu Prabhu chants Hare Krishna, and a passerby dances with Tulasi Prabhu (https://youtu.be/-65b81Vnv3Q):
Natabara Gauranga Prabhu chants Hare Krishna in Washington Square Park (https://youtu.be/sGMB87llNb4):
Kaliya Krishna Prabhu also chants Hare Krishna there (https://youtu.be/Z3vaS_Htgs4):
Ishan Prabhu chants Hare Krishna (https://youtu.be/r4luRkYI1Sk):
I chanted my favorite Hare Krishna tune in Washington Square Park that night (https://youtu.be/vua2frpzvww):
Here is another view of that kirtan (https://youtu.be/iKLn3FVuusM):
Then Rama Raya Prabhu chanted Hare Krishna to the “Jingle Bells” tune there (https://youtu.be/2M9LJgvMK2g):
Later, park goers danced to Rama Raya’s kirtan (https://youtu.be/NVbS4A3Mf40):
Usually I leave harinama immediately at 7:00 p.m., but because rain was threatening and because I took a nap and came out late, I stayed to help pack up. No one wanted to give away the flower garland from Radha-Govinda that we used to decorate the harinama sign, so I volunteered. Although we consider the prasadam flower garlands blessings, most people we offer them to reject them, so I knew I would have to ask several people before one accepted my offer.
Although three people had no interest in the garland, the fourth showed disbelief that I was offering her such a nice thing. I gave her a card for our vegetarian restaurant, and she said she was vegan. Then her openness made perfect sense to me. Vegetarians are always more open to whatever we have to offer them. I told her that India’s revealed literature says that those who eat meat cannot understand the subtleties of the spiritual science, and I praised her good fortune.
Radheya Prabhu chants Hare Krishna during Gaura Arati at ISKCON NYC (https://youtu.be/KifybccB4gM):
Natabara Gauranga Prabhu chants a lively Hare Krishna tune at Atlantic Avenue / Barclays Center subway station (https://youtu.be/M0P9weEfFFc):
A father and daughter happily play shakers as Natabara Gauranga Prabhu chants Hare Krishna in Times Square subway station (https://youtu.be/VwW5X1t8fHE):
Vraja Mohan Prabhu, back on the harinama party after serving his guru, Giriraj Swami, chants Hare Krishna at Times Square subway station (https://youtu.be/qj-PqsHq4Ew):
Rama Raya Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at Times Square subway station, and Bhakta Dylan dances (https://youtu.be/M76VATMGXCc):
Krishna Kumari Dasi, who resides in Stuyvesant Falls as does Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami, organized a harinama at the Hudson Winter Walk which is always the evening after his Vyasa-puja celebration in a small city about 20 minutes away.
Rama Raya Prabhu’s NYC Harinam party played a big role in the harinama, Haryavasa Prabhu, an older disciple of Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami, joined in, and a friend of Krishna Kumari, who had been to kirtans but never harinama, had a great time dancing.
I led the kirtan in the beginning as no one really came forward to start it off, and I don’t like to wait around for things to happen, thus I do not have any video of that.
Harivenu Prabhu led after me, chanting a very lively melody, and many people were inspired to participate in different ways, by clapping, smiling, waving, and dancing (https://youtu.be/QcX5teIM_iE):
Next Tulasi Prabhu of Bulgaria led for a while (https://youtu.be/SNODZOqvwJk):
Several people were inspired to clap and dance during his kirtan (https://youtu.be/YcCiCAou89A):
I decided to put the rest of Tulasi’s kirtan and Natabara Gauranga Prabhu’s kirtan on Facebook Live, and I edited out the parts with the most interaction with the public (https://youtu.be/L70Oaxo44E8):
You can see the entire Facebook Live video here (https://youtu.be/mjO-Mkn8rZ4):
All in all, it was our best harinama at the Hudson Winter Walk of all those I remember, and I hope we can do as well or better next year.
Notes on the Vyasa-puja of Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami on December 4, 2021
Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami started his Vyasa-puja lecture by telling ten stories of Srila Prabhupada.
Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami:
1. I gave Swamiji $600 I had saved up from my job and Navy severance pay for a writing retreat in Canada. At first he smiled broadly, but they he became very grave. He seemed to be saying, “Do not think you can purchase me by your donation. You still have to surrender.”
2. I phoned him, asking him to save lunch for me as I had to stay at work late that day.
When I came to get the lunch he had saved, I bowed down to his feet although I had never bowed down to his feet before.
3. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to get initiated. I partly felt I did not want to give up my independence.
I stayed up all night typing. He gave me a few grapes. I thought, “I stayed up all night typing, and all I got was a few grapes.”
Then he said something that completely changed my life.
“This is not a mechanical exchange. If you love me, I will love you.”
This caused an emotional reaction in me.
I apologized for missing the first initiation, but he indicated missing the first initiation was not a big thing.
4. He named me Satsvarupa, which he explained means “the inner form of truth.”
Once upon seeing me, he said, “Here comes the truth personified.”
At initiation he explained, “When the disciple is initiated, he incurs a debt to the spiritual master, guru daksina.” In our case, he said it meant preaching.
5. I knew he liked mangoes, and I knew where to find them in New York, so I brought him a mango every day.
Once when I gave him one, he said, “Very good boy.”
The others laughed, but Srila Prabhupada said, “No this is love. This is Krishna consciousness.”
6. I asked him, “Which self would you like me to be?”
He did not answer directly but said, “This boy Steve is very nice. He types for me and gives me donations.”
7. Originally I thought that he had a few close associates that did things with him, and I did not think I was part of it. Once I was sitting on the curb after the Sunday morning class, wondering what to do next. Swamiji had a boy call me in, and he asked if I had any work engagement. I said no, and he personally invited me to the Sunday Love Feast.
8. First question: I heard Van Gogh in writing to his brother said that misery is eternal.
I asked Swamji if misery is eternal, and he said, “Yes. You can break your leg, and then have to wear a cast. It can heal. Then you can get in an accident and damage your brain. In this way misery is eternal. But there is a another world, the spiritual world, where there is no misery.” Then he explained how to go there. I felt satisfied to hear his answer.
9. Walking back from the lawyer with him, I said, “The city is a jungle, but there are no snakes.”
He said, “What about Mr. Payne [the real estate person who tried to cheat the devotees]?”
I pulled the cord when the bus was nearing our stop. Srila Prabhupada pointed out I pulled it one stop too early. He was right.
10. Once I asked him if one popular Indian mission he had referred to is bogus, how is it so well organized?
Swamiji did not answer. It bothered me. Later I realized he did not have to.
I did “hi run,” which is a few sentences in prose, then a haiku.
I did art as self expression and as therapy for my migraine headache syndrome.
I was attracted to the outsider art concept as I am part of a tradition that is marginal in the west and my own art is not the polished BBT illustrator art.
Jayadvaita Swami:
Doing management and traveling but always sadhu.
Now able to live the simple life.
Srila Prabhupada trained him and gave him the blessings given to a gentle disciple.
Kavicandra Swami:
We did dramas together at the Dallas Sunday feast. One was when Krishna visited both the king and the brahmana.
Srila Prabhupada-lilamrita should be required reading.
Haridas Prabhu from Washington:
[I liked a lot of his points, so I asked to include his whole offering.]
Steve Kowit was your old friend, a writer and poet himself, with a warm heart and a wry sense of humor. You shared your poetry with him. He pronounced it: “fatally provincial.” That was not very warm or funny. But his words, though a bit rough (he was from Brooklyn after all), were true; though maybe not in the way he meant them. To him, writing that always had Krishna in the picture, be it poetry or prose, was provincial, limited in its scope. It lacked a global reach. Yet this so-called limitation was actually a transcendental ornament. So let’s set the record straight.
In your childhood, you ice skated on Jack’s Pond and were convinced that the neighborhood reality you knew then was as real as real can be. But soon that world expanded as sound wave after wave was broadcast from the WOR radio tower and captured by your radio in the nighttime privacy of your teenage room as Raconteur Jean Shepherd rhythmically told stories, asked real life questions, and offered an invitation to enter a world far beyond Jack’s Pond.
Then came collegiate literary studies and the scope of the world widened even more. After that, provincial life faded further into the past when you set sail in the Navy and crossed the Atlantic Ocean, leaving the days at Jack’s Pond far behind. But that too was not a forever duty. Once honorably discharged from the bowels of the U.S.S. Saratoga you set a new course with no detours and headed directly to the lower east side of Manhattan Island where a mix of artists, immigrants, and young seekers had congregated.
AND THEN everything changed when you saw the small piece of paper taped to the window: Classes in Bhagavad-gita / Monday, Wednesday and Friday 7 p.m. / Transcendental Sound Vibration.
. . . The Matchless Gift . . . The forever duty . . . You have kindly told us your story from then on as only you can tell it, with honesty, generosity and love. And hearing it from you has enriched our lives so much. And it is hardly a provincial tale. Rather your holy feet have travelled to five continents, and if you include the reach of your writings, Africa has certainly been touched and maybe some transcendental traveller has touched the southern most continent carrying a Prabhupada-lilamrita in a backpack while trekking to see penguins sporting on Antarctic ice. That’s possible . . . but even if the Lilamrita hasn’t gone there yet it has certainly been read and re-read around the rest of the world, and it has delivered Srila Prabhupada to so many readers. And the wonderful affect of reading the Prabhupada-lilamrita is that it melts reader’s hearts.
So the glory of your quote “fatally provincial” writings lies in what happens in reader’s hearts. Sadhavo hrdayam mahyam:
The pure devotee is always within the core of My heart, and I am always in the heart of the pure devotee. My devotees do not know anything else but Me, and I do not know anyone else but them.
Home is where the heart is and apparently Lord Krishna is provincial Himself and is unwilling to take a step out of His Vrindavan homeland where we have heard everyone loves Him and He loves everyone. Thus as a writer in parampara you are unwilling to write about anything but Krishna, both directly and indirectly. So your old friend’s critique is really praise glorifying your transcendental provincialism.
As you have said, “The artist knows his purpose.”
May we follow you faithfully from Jack’s Pond wherever you lead us on the path Back to Godhead, and by your grace may we always feel the presence of Krishna everywhere along the way.
Syama Gopa Rupa Devi Dasi:
You inspire your followers in honesty and clarity.
Kirtan Rasa Prabhu:
I see you as proof of God and His kindness.
Whatever faith I occasionally have in the Lord is because of you.
Anuradha Devi Dasi:
Thank you for gathering us together, giving us time to meditate on Srila Prabhupada and his mission.
Thank you for responding to Prabhupada’s invitation to love him, thus creating a shelter for all of us.
When I come to serve you, I forget Oxford and my previous life. There is no past, present and future. Only Viraha Bhavan time.
Everyone laughed when you said you wanted to go out as a Prabhupada man. I do not think you have been anything else.
Haryasya Prabhu:
When I first met you and heard you speak, you said, “Srila Prabhupada said this. Srila Prabhupada said that.” I knew you were my guru.
When you read, it is not like any other reader. It is you going right to my heart.
I love hearing you call our names after our reading.
Silavati Devi Dasi:
I gave you a bostock. I wondered how you would transcendentalize this. You installed it in your garden.
I want to go out as SDG man.
Gurudasa Prabhu:
It is your mercy I am standing here.
Your ecstasies are in your books.
Each of your books has the potential to move a person toward Srila Prabhupada and Krishna.
Your constant devotion to Srila Prabhupada in your books is the reason we honor you.
You constantly lift me up despite my stubbornness.
Sthita-dhi Muni Prabhu:
It was wonderful to see Soma Prabhu and Sumati Dasi reminiscing with Guru Maharaja about the early days in Boston and to hear how they appreciated Guru Maharaja’s role in their spiritual life.
I saw that very soon in Boston you were serving Srila Prabhupada by giving shelter to others.
On Srila Prabhupada’s disappearance day in Alachua, Ambarisa’s wife glorified Srila Prabhupada-lilamrita and how it connected her to Srila Prabhupada. And then she glorified Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami and started listing all his books that inspired her.
Muktavandya Prabhu:
I was lying on the floor in the temple in 1978, and really struggling. The temple president came to me, and said, “I do not know why I am doing this, but I am recommending you for second initiation.” I had seen Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami, and I was happy that he was going to be the guru in our zone.
Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami said that those second initiated by him could take him as spiritual master if they desired. It was an attractive idea to me.
Rama Raya Prabhu:
Krishna is concerned that love of God is distributed in this world.
Srila Prabhupada said, “I think all of you were sent by Lord Caitanya to assist me.”
You were privileged to be among the pillars or building blocks to build this movement.
Narada Rsi Prabhu:
Once Guru Maharaja saw me in Philadelphia, and he gave me a big hug and said I am very much concerned about you, coming all the way from India. I felt connected to the guru parampara with that embrace.
Krishna Kripa Das:
Serving you at Viraha Bhavan this fall I encountered your daily schedule. It reminded me of how great acaryas such as Srila Prabhupada and Bhaktivinoda Thakura had daily schedules to accomplish much in the service of the Lord. Chanting japa in the early morning, hearing Krishna katha for 2.5 hours a day, and offering literature for the spiritual benefit of humanity are important activities of your day. Thus you stress by your example the importance of japa, hearing of Krishna-katha, and sharing spiritual wisdom. Because of your regulated life, your servants also have to regulate their lives, and thus you bring them to a higher level.
I enjoy serving you by proofreading your books. I put my favorite sections from them in my own journal. This time I included 34 quotes from your collected articles in Back to Godhead magazine alone, and many from your Free Write Journal as well. Here are some:
From “Pessimists With a Solution” in Back to Godhead, Vol. 21, No. 11 (November 1986):
“The Krishna consciousness viewpoint has been described both as pessimistic and as optimistic. Optimists criticize the devotees for pointing out that life is full of misery and that attempts to enjoy are ultimately frustrating. The optimists feel the devotees are falsely denying themselves the joys of life.
“Pessimists, on the other hand, criticize the devotees for being naive. They consider spiritual activities to be impractical for solving the world’s problems.
“One in Krishna consciousness is actually both pessimistic and optimistic. He is pessimistic about material enjoyment, but he is optimistic about serving Krishna and about the power of that service to provide the satisfaction material life promises but doesn’t deliver.”
From “Satisfaction Guaranteed” in Back to Godhead, Vol. 20, No. 5 (May 1985):
“Lord Krishna is seated in our hearts as our best friend. He knows the many sufferings we have undergone and which no else can either understand or care about, and He sympathizes with us in those sufferings. He appreciates us, and He knows how nice we are. To appreciate Krishna in return and to please Him is the greatest happiness in life, and it is the greatest source of personal satisfaction. One who has realized this satisfaction is said to be atmarama, self-satisfied. Such a person needs no further support in this world.”
From “True Love” in Back to Godhead, Vol. 20, No. 4 (April 1985):
“If we don’t love God, we must love something less. Therefore, everyone should take at least the first steps toward developing his love for God. The ultimate goal of life should not be left in the hands of a few rare saints.”
I am grateful to be part of your production team. Please keep me engaged in your auspicious service.
Thank you so much.
Insights
Srila Prabhupada:
From Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.5.45:
[The demigods prayed:] “O great Supreme Lord, offensive persons whose internal vision has been too affected by external materialistic activities cannot see Your lotus feet, but they are seen by Your pure devotees, whose one and only aim is to transcendentally enjoy Your activities.”
From Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.5.49:
[The demigods prayed:] “O unborn one, please enlighten us regarding the ways and means by which we can offer You all enjoyable grains and commodities so that both we and all other living entities in this world can maintain ourselves without disturbance and can easily accumulate the necessities of life both for You and for ourselves.”
From Sri Isopanisad, Text 1, purport:
“This Isopanisad is part of the Yajur Veda, and consequently it contains information concerning the proprietorship of all things existing within the universe.”
From Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.5.13, purport:
“There are thousands and thousands of literary men all over the world. They have created many, many thousands of literary works for the information of the people in general for thousands and thousands of years. Unfortunately, none of them have brought peace and tranquility on the earth. This is due to a spiritual vacuum in these literatures. Therefore, the Vedic literatures, especially the Bhagavad-gita and the Srimad-Bhagavatam, are specifically recommended to the suffering humanity to bring about the desired effect of liberation of the material civilization, which is eating the vital part of human energy.”
From a class on Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.12.19 in Dallas on March 3, 1975:
“You cannot violate the conditions of the nature. That is not possible. But they are thinking they are free, they can do whatever they like. That is called ignorance. . . . This rascal civilization do not admit this. They are so fool that they are conditioned in every step, and still they are thinking they are free. This is called illusion.”
“This body . . . can tolerate any condition, provided you practice it.”
“If you want to realize God, as it is said here, tapasaiva, only by tapasya, only by penance one can realize. Otherwise not. Otherwise it is not possible. Therefore this word is used, tapasaiva. Tapasa eva: ‘only by tapasya.’ There is no other means.”
“If we are not prepared to undertake even this very, very easily executable tapasya, then how we can expect go back to home, back to Godhead? No, that is not possible.”
“Krishna is, being omnipotent, He can accept your service any way. Provided you want to render service, Krishna is ready to accept it. Therefore our duty is that we should never think of this Deity as something made of stone or metal. We should always think, ‘Here is Krishna personally present.’ That is devotion. And we should worship Him like that. We should offer respect, that ‘Here is Krishna. We cannot do anything wrong.’”
“We have installed the Deity exactly under the direction of the previous acarya [spiritual authority] and therefore the Deity is personally present, Krishna. As He is present everywhere, sarva-bhūta-guhavasam, similarly, He can live in many millions of temples simultaneously and live at the same time [in] Goloka Vṛndavana. That is Krishna. That is Krishna’s omnipotency.”
“Our knowledge is limited within this sense perception. That’s all. We can see so long the light is there. If the light is not there, then our seeing power is finished. Therefore it is limited. And Krishna is beyond this limitation.”
“It is Krishna’s kindness that He has appeared before you in a manner by which you can see Him. This is Krishna’s mercy.”
“Krishna says in the Bhagavad-gita [7.7], ‘Mattah parataraṁ nanyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya – My dear Dhanañjaya, there is no more superior power than Me, or greater than Me.’ So if we accept the statement of Krishna, then we understand Krishna immediately. Otherwise, by speculation, it is not possible. That is the fact.”
The humble servants of Srila Prabhupada:
From Srimad-Bhagavatam 11.3.18:
“Sri Prabuddha said: Accepting the roles of male and female in human society, the conditioned souls unite in sexual relationships. Thus they constantly make material endeavors to eliminate their unhappiness and unlimitedly increase their pleasure. But one should see that they inevitably achieve exactly the opposite result. In other words, their happiness inevitably vanishes, and as they grow older their material discomfort increases.”
Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami:
From “On Thoreau and Vedic Thought” in Back to Godhead, Vol. 21, No. 11 (November 1986):
“In an article [‘Walden and Yoga’] published in the New England Quarterly (Sept. 1964), Frank Macshane puts together convincing evidence from Thoreau’s writings that Thoreau was heavily influenced by Indian spiritual thought. Macshane claims that most readers think of Thoreau’s Oriental themes as incidental, whereas actually they are at the heart of his life and writings:
“‘[In Walden] there are many overt references to the sacred texts of India, as in, “how much more admirable the Bhagavad-gita than all the ruins of the East!” And Thoreau himself followed certain Hindu customs: “It was fit that I should live on rice, mainly, who loved so well the philosophy of India.” … Flute playing, his own and that of John Farmer, is also reminiscent of the God Krishna’s favorite musical pastime. Most significant of all are the many references to the river and the definite equation of Walden Pond with the sacred Ganges.’
“Macshane argues that Thoreau went into seclusion not with the usual Christian idea of repentance and resignation from life, but with the aim of releasing himself from petty daily affairs to contemplate his personal nature. ‘What he did,’ writes Macshane, ‘is precisely described in the sixth book of Bhagavad-gita: “The yogi should retire into a solitary place and live alone. He must exercise control over his body and mind…”’”
From “Pessimists With a Solution” in Back to Godhead, Vol. 21, No. 11 (November 1986):
“The Krishna consciousness viewpoint has been described both as pessimistic and as optimistic. Optimists criticize the devotees for pointing out that life is full of misery and that attempts to enjoy are ultimately frustrating. The optimists feel the devotees are falsely denying themselves the joys of life.
“Pessimists, on the other hand, criticize the devotees for being naive. They consider spiritual activities to be impractical for solving the world’s problems.
“One in Krishna consciousness is actually both pessimistic and optimistic. He is pessimistic about material enjoyment, but he is optimistic about serving Krishna and about the power of that service to provide the satisfaction material life promises but doesn’t deliver.”
“Although the pessimists and the optimists look disdainfully upon each other, neither can do anything to change the state of affairs in this world. Theirs is an armchair debate, the pessimists ridiculing the ‘crackpot optimists’ and the optimists scoffing at the ‘dreary, jaded pessimists.’ But the devotees in Krishna consciousness relieve people from the cycle of birth and death. After taking realistic stock of the pessimistic view of life, they actually transform the world with positive, transcendental knowledge.
“This synthesis of both the optimistic and the pessimistic was expressed by Lord Caitanya: ‘Wake up, sleeping souls! I have brought the medicine for destroying the illusion of maya. Pray for this Hare Krishna mantra and chant it.’”
From “Did Shakespeare Know the Lord?” in Back to Godhead, Vol. 22, No. 4 (April 1987):
“God’s creation, in all its aspects, glorifies the creator.”
From “The Worst Age and the Best Remedy” in Back to Godhead, Vol. 22, No. 5 (May 1987):
“In the Vedic culture those who farm and protect cows are the main population. But in today’s society no one protects the cow. The dairymen scientifically drain the cows of milk and then kill them. The cows are milked only at their peak production time, then slaughtered. How can we hail this as increased milk production! The karmic reaction for cow slaughter far outweighs any economic benefits of efficient, modern milking. Besides, when you terminate a cow’s life, you severely decrease that cow’s total milk production.”
“Because the Bhagavatam is an ancient literature, we may sometimes doubt its efficacy. Can it, for instance, resolve complicated economic and political problems? In answer to this doubt, we must remember that the Bhagavatam is on the transcendental plane. Since all living beings are also transcendental by nature, the transcendental Srimad-Bhagavatam can bring about a miraculous change.”
From “Two Views on Chanting Hare Krishna” in Back to Godhead, Vol. 22, No. 9 (September 1987):
“Because most people continue to look upon public chanting as odd or disturbing, even the members of the Krishna consciousness movement sometimes shy away from it. But at heart devotees know that public kirtana is one of the best means of praising the Supreme Lord: it not only purifies the chanters, it benefits all those who hear.”
“Whether we chant in India or the West, people receive us with the same mixture of enjoyment and disinterest.”
From “Four Reasonable Rules” in Back to Godhead, Vol. 22, No. 10 (October 1987):
“If we want to promote good in the world, we cannot blindly believe that all acts are equally good. But we can see that everyone is good at heart because he is constitutionally part of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. A learned person, therefore, seriously tries to follow the path of goodness and introduces it to others.”
“Even if pure goodness cannot be immediately achieved, the smallest attempt at goodness creates auspiciousness in the world. If we are able to face our own weaknesses, as well as the widespread corruption and evil in the world, and yet go on working for the cause of good, only then can we realize the happiness of the mahatma, the great-hearted servant of God and humanity.”
“True prayer brings the ecstasy of love of God and spares us from all the distresses of this material world.”
From “The Romance of Spiritual Life” in Back to Godhead, Vol. 23, No. 1 (January 1988):
“When we deny the inner call to render transcendental loving service, we deny the voice of God, and that is the greatest loss.”
“I wrote this prayer: ‘May Lord Krishna, who is in our hearts, bless us with the yearning to assist Him in the perfection of His loving affairs. And may we do this by assisting Srila Prabhupada in his mission of worldwide sankirtana.’”
From “Male Ego and God Consciousness” in Back to Godhead, Vol. 23, No. 4 (April 1988):
“Even if one is not prepared to make a dramatic increase in commitment to spiritual life, a little spiritual understanding will give him relief. If a person just begins to understand the atma, he will know that he is neither a man nor a woman, but an eternal servant of God. Even if we can only occasionally meditate on this eternal identity, we will get solace from the clashing pressures created by illusory persons in the illusory material world.”
From “Responsibilities of a Secular Government” in Back to Godhead, Vol. 23, No. 5 (May 1988):
“As Srila Prabhupada has said, ‘The government should have expert men to see that the Hindus are acting like Hindus, Muslims are acting like Muslims, and Christians are acting like Christians. The government should not be callous about religion. It may be neutral, in that whatever religion you profess, the government has nothing to do with that. But it is the government’s duty to see that you are doing nicely and are not bluffing.’”
From “Ecumenism – Diplomacy or Sincere Exchange?” in Back to Godhead, Vol. 23, No. 9 (September 1988):
“In Frankfurt, Germany, I met Professor Edmund Weber of Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, who said, ‘I am not as much interested in comparative religion as cooperative religion.’”
“When I used to travel with Srila Prabhupada as his secretary, I noticed two specific suggestions he offered to Christians. One was that they should worship God by chanting His holy name. The importance of singing and meditating on the names of God, especially in this age, is stressed in Vedic literature, and Srila Prabhupada took it to be a universal principle. He suggested that Christians could either chant the names of God as found in the Hare Krishna mantra, or that they could chant the name of Jesus Christ. Srila Prabhupada also pointed out an interesting etymological similarity between the names of Christ and Krishna.
“Another suggestion Srila Prabhupada never tired of giving was that the Bible advocates refraining from animal slaughter, and that this is the real sense of the commandment ‘Thou shalt not kill.’ Srila Prabhupada didn’t attempt to convince Christians to give up their religion, but he made suggestions like these, as to how they could become ‘better Christians.’ And as he indicates in his letter about the Franciscans, Christians usually liked to hear these suggestion form Srila Prabhupada.”
“Some religious leaders will continue to shy away from ecumenism, and some will indulge in it only for diplomacy, but the opportunity is open for deeper and more sincere exchanges. One should not be afraid that he will lose his own faith in such exchanges, but he should try to share whatever genuine God consciousness he has realized by serving his spiritual master and scriptures. We can use all the help we can get.”
From “Divine and Demoniac” in Back to Godhead, Vol. 23, No. 10 (October 1988):
“I can recall my own position as a professed agnostic and how I became convinced of theism by Srila Prabhupada. My case was a typical example of how the bona fide spiritual master can create faith in the faithless.
“Srila Prabhupada attacked my doubts from many fronts. In the beginning I did not accept the Vedic scriptures as absolute proof, but I was interested in hearing reasonable explanations. Srila Prabhupada explained that God is the supplier and maintainer of life in the universe. All around us we find an expert arrangement for water, light, and food. Water is stored in the oceans, but when it is needed for human use, it is evaporated into the clouds and delivered as distilled water.
“Similarly, there are natural supplies of heat and food. These supplies are not produced by man, and neither is it feasible to say that they all come about by chance. Rather, the universe is maintained by very exact management. If the sun were to deviate from its orbit and come even slightly closer to the earth, all life would be annihilated in fire; if the sun were to go slightly farther away from the earth, everything would become frozen to death. The abundant evidence of supply and control strongly indicates the presence of an intelligent force behind life and nature. Examples like these had occurred to me even before I met Srila Prabhupada, but when I heard them from him, with his conviction and deep appreciation of the Supreme Lord, they had a new effect on me.”
From “Do I Have Time to Chant the Names of God?” in Back to Godhead, Vol. 23, No. 11 (November 1988):
“In virtually any discipline, from meditation to golf, stress is laid on the necessity for regular practice. Chanting is no exception. We may already be self-disciplined to give a half hour daily to physical exercise, and of course we have to spend many hours earning a living. So, if we regard spiritual progress as important, we simply have to give it some time.”
“Only by our choice can we avoid the ultimate embarrassment of reaching the end of life only to discover that we had ‘no time’ for God in which case we will have lost everything. Why not begin today by making a modest plan to try chanting the Hare Krishna mantra?”
From “Three Steps to God” in Back to Godhead, Vol. 23, No. 12 (December 1988):
“The philosopher Sankara said that in observing people, we see the young playing sports and games, the grown-ups running after sex and money, and the elderly reminiscing. No one is seriously inquiring into the Absolute Truth.”
“By performing devotional activities under rules and regulations, one gradually reaches a stage of spontaneous love of God. In the beginning a person agrees to work under the order of the spiritual master, and he takes it as an obligation. But automatically, by rendering service, the love of God dormant within comes out. The activities of bhakti-yoga can be compared to the churning of cream into butter. The butter is already present in the cream; it comes out when the cream is worked.”
From “The Power of Prayer” in Back to Godhead, Vol. 23, No. 12 (December 1988):
“Atheists think that a prayer to God is sheer imagination. But for centuries, thousands of sincere practitioners have accumulated definite evidence of the positive results of prayer. The serious doubt regarding prayer is not whether God can hear and respond, but whether the things people pray for are worthwhile. According to St. Teresa of Avila. ‘More tears are shed in this world from prayers that are answered than from those that go unanswered.’”
“Since all of us, to different degrees, are in the category of ‘fallen,’ we all need to pray to Lord Krishna. But we cannot become reconciled with the Lord unless we receive His special mercy. We may pray, therefore, ‘My dear Lord, although I am unworthy to receive your special mercy to be relieved of false ego, I beg You to please give me the qualities of love and surrender. Please give Your gift of mercy and relieve me of my impurities. Please reconcile my heart to Yours. If You do not give me Your mercy. I shall be lost.’”
From “Finding Spiritual Friends” in Back to Godhead, Vol. 24, Nos. 1/2 (January/February 1989):
“The influence we receive through teachings and writings can act negatively or positively. For example, the nineteenth century German poet Goethe poured out his youthful anguish in a novel, The Sorrows of Young Werther, and the tragic result was that several young men committed suicide after reading Werther. As submissive readers can become degraded or doomed by poisonous writings, so the opposite is true: we can gain the highest goal of life, revival of our blissful, eternal relationship with God, by faithfully associating with pure souls through their biographies or recorded teachings.”
From “Living Simple, Dying Ignorant” in Back to Godhead, Vol. 24, No. 3 (May 1989):
“When we approach the death of a loved one, or when we come close to our own death, we can see it as nature’s way of showing us that life is short and that soon all our attempts at happiness in the material world will be finished. Our shock at meeting death shows us that we have been living in illusion.”
“For example, one time a grieving mother asked Gautama Buddha if he could bring her young son back to life. Buddha said that he would try to help her, but first he requested her to gather some grains from all the houses in the local village. He stipulated, however, that she should bring grains only from houses in which no death had occurred. The woman became hopeful of regaining her dead son and set out to gather grains. But at each house, when she asked whether any death had occurred there, the residents said that recently or in the past death had occurred in their house. Gradually, the woman began to learn the lesson: Death occurs to all, and so we should not grieve or attempt to change the inevitable.”
“Lord Krishna teaches liberation from death, through bhakti, or loving service to the Supreme Lord. By association with devotees and scriptures, we can learn this art. If during this present lifetime we can perfect love of God, then death will have no dominion over us. When we realize that we are not these bodies but joyful, eternal servants of Krishna, then death itself becomes our release from suffering and our entrance into eternity, bliss, and knowledge.”
From Poor Man Reads the Bhagavatam, Volume Two:
“God is a person with hands and feet, and if we could just be with Him, we would know the perfection of happiness. Without Him, our lives are wasted. Therefore, keep reading the Bhagavatam and come as close as you can in this life to Krishna’s lotus feet. Don’t just sit on the sidelines and carp. Chant Hare Krishna. Hear from pure devotees. We are each piloting a plane, homing into the airport, wanting to land safely. We don’t need the sensation of falling through space to make the trip more exciting. Just get down on the ground safely, with all systems intact, honorably. You are the pilot, the ‘literary incarnation’ of God is the cargo, the search for meaning is the fuel, and your own poverty is the driving force.”
From Prabhupada Meditations, Volume 3:
“Recently, I heard a devotee say that we should ‘honor prasadam and not just eat it.’ I understood what he meant by that, but in 1966, there was little distinction between honoring and eating. Swamiji said to eat. We came off the streets, and he did not care how we ate. He did not say, ‘Be careful that you do not enjoy this, it is prasadam.’ Instead he said, ‘This is prasadam; therefore, enjoy it. You are not taking enough.’”
“The boys joked, ‘Satsvarupa, you have to work this afternoon, so you need to eat more to be spiritually strong.’
“Swamiji heard them and smiled, ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘be spiritually strong. Eat prasadam. This is our answer.’”
“Regardless of what a critical onlooker might say about overeating, Swamiji was our leader and he was the one who told us to eat more. He did not say we should start with one capati and decrease from there—not in those days. This was the happy entrance into Krishna consciousness. Each of us came with our many hangups and lamentations, but prasadam took care of it all. Although it is true that we should not eat in a mood of sense gratification and indulgence, there was something wonderful in the beginning—the enjoyment of eating in good company. The loving exchanges brought us into Krishna consciousness.
“Eating has always been celebrated as a way to share love and togetherness. Rupa Gosvami even mentions these two forms of loving exchanges among devotees: ‘To accept prasadam and to offer it to others.’ A spiritual family eats together in the spirit that Swamiji showed us. There was something to be learned from that example and not just laughed at as funny stories from 1966 ‘when everyone ate a lot.’
“Devotees can sit and take prasadam together in spiritual communion. If you do not have the fortune of having Swamiji in your midst, you can bring him into your midst by meditation. Before we eat, we offer the food with prayers. We can also converse with Prabhupada in our minds, "Prabhupada, please take this prasadam. They have given it to me, but I am bringing it to you, just as we used to bring you prasadam. Please take it.’ By meditation, you can offer your food to Prabhupada. He can be with you, and he can take prasadam with you. Anything is possible. Everything depends on your purity.”
“Like chanting Hare Krishna, wonderful prasadam (offering, serving, and feasting) is not too distant from thinking about Prabhupada. How can we avoid the connection? Just think about it—here are some suggestions: Tell Prabhupada stories about prasadam while you cook or honor a feast. Cook his favorite recipes. Also, think of statements that Prabhupada used about prasadam like, ‘Eat sumptuously, but not too much.’”
From Morning Songs:
“I follow Him with my
pen and feel the emotions
of a practicing devotee.”
From Begging for the Nectar of the Holy Name:
“A summary of the stage of nama-rasa is given as follows in Hari-nama-cintamani (p. 105):
“‘The introspective devotee must at first discard all the ten offenses and simply meditate on the holy name, trying to chant constantly. He should distinctly pronounce the holy name and meditate upon the transcendental sound vibration. When his chanting is clear, steady and blissful, he should try to meditate on the Syamasundara form of the Lord. With chanting beads in hand, his chanting and meditation should seek out the transcendental form of the holy name. He will indeed see with spiritual vision the real meaning the Name represents.
“‘Another method he may employ to see this form is to sit in front of the Deities, drink the beautiful form of the Lord with his eyes and meditate upon the holy name. Even after reaching the stage where the holy name and the form of the Lord become one, he must try to remember the transcendental qualities of Lord Krishna. The holy name and qualities of Krishna must merge through constant chanting.’”
From From Imperfection, Purity Will Come About: Writing Sessions While Reading Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s Saranagati:
“O lonely singer-writer, you are surrendering to Krishna. He sees your surrender. Do you wish you were better? Wish you were closer to the Lord’s Vrindavan pastimes? Of course. But I am grateful too.”
From Kartika Moon:
“I can occupy myself splendidly if people would just leave me alone.”
From Truthfulness, the Last Leg of Religion:
“We were discussing how the world is true and at the same time not true. But the world of the nondevotees is clearly false. An honest man sees the falsity and keeps away from it.”
“I have no purpose in trying to enjoy the world or to alleviate its misery by sociopolitical means. This world will consume me and kick me back-and-forth like a soccer ball. I want to know myself as a servant of Krishna, and that means I cannot be a servant of man or servant of country or family. I have to flee the world. I can flee into the temple, or I may flee into the shelter of a Krishna conscious grhastha life. Or if my family turns out to be too much opposed to spiritual life, I can flee to the vanam, the forest. But I must flee, and if you call it ‘escape,’ I reply, ‘Yes I’m escaping from the grip of maya at last. Why don’t you come also?’
“We reject sense gratification in all of its tantalizing forms because of its falsity. In sense gratification, you lose your honest self.”
From Poor Man Reads the Bhagavatam, Volume Two:
“Prabhupada taught us that Krishna (and the Bhagavatam) gives mercy even beyond justice. That is Krishna’s nature as the friend of His devotees. This was also the mood Prabhupada personally exemplified in his own life. He himself broke the rules of Vaishnava society to extend the Bhagavatam’s mercy to the hippie men and women of the 1960s. Therefore, for us, Prabhupada himself is the ‘somehow-or-other’ factor. We didn’t deserve the mercy, but he insisted that we take it. As he said, he created our pious credits. This is also proof that the pure devotee has been given the license by Krishna to dispense His mercy.”
From The Last Days of the Year:
“There has been enormous waste of human life, and words are one of the worst ways. People expend energy and written and spoken words all nonsense, and others spoof and no one can speak honestly to the point. The Vedic literature is the way to truth, but people can’t pick it out from the morass of billions of books in the libraries. It gets worse with the superhighway of information and exchange of political speeches, radio shows, TV shows, videoes, guess what is next? They will be talking nonstop and old and new, but it’s chewing the chewed in this miserable material world.”
From Vaishnava Behavior:
“Srila Prabhupada writes, ‘If the members of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, putting faith in Krishna as the center, live in harmony according to the order and principles of Bhagavad-gita, then they are living in Vaikuntha, not in this material world.’ (Bhag. 3.15.33, purport)”
Vrindavan Dasa Thakura:
From Caitanya-Bhagavata, Madhya Khanda 8.189–190:
“The sound of sankirtana filled the sky and pierced the covering of the universe. All inauspiciousness in the four directions was vanquished. This was not so wonderful, for by even the dancing of the Lord’s servants all obstacles are destroyed and the entire world is purified.”
From Caitanya-Bhagavata, Madhya Khanda 23.461–465:
“The Lord eats with full satisfaction any item offered by His servant, regardless of whether the offering was made according to regulations. Even if His servant does not offer an item because he considers it too insignificant, the Lord forcibly eats it. The evidence of this was when the Lord ate Sudama Brahmana’s broken rice in Dvaraka. The Lord even accepts the remnants of His servants. This was seen during the Pandavas’ exile to the forest when the Lord ate the remnants of Yudhisthira’s leafy vegetables. Krishna’s father, mother, wife, and brother are all His servants. Krishna does not recognize anyone other than His servants. The Lord accepts the form that His servant meditates on, and Krishna’s servant can even sell Him.”
From Caitanya-Bhagavata, Madhya Khanda 23.529–530:
“If someone takes the side of one Vaishnava and blasphemes another Vaishnava, he is certainly vanquished. One who serves Krishna without deviation and without blaspheming anyone is counted as a Vaishnava.”
From Caitanya-Bhagavata, Madhya Khanda 28.154–158:
“The Vedas declare that Sri Gauracandra is the spiritual master of everyone. The Lord, on some pretext, then spoke something to Kesava Bharati.
The Lord said, “In a dream some mahajana appeared to Me and spoke some sannyasa mantra in My ear. Please examine whether it is appropriate or not.”
Speaking in this way, the Lord spoke the mantra into Kesava Bharati’s ear.
Thus the Lord by trickery made Kesava Bharati His disciple, and Kesava Bharati was struck with great wonder.
Kesava Bharati said, “This is the best of all mantras. By the mercy of Lord Krishna, what is unknown to You?”
From Caitanya-Bhagavata, Madhya Khanda 28.166:
“Sri Vedavyasa has described in his Vishnu sahasra nama appears in one of His incarnations as a sannyasi. Now this statement has been fulfilled by the best of brahmanas. This secret is well-known to the society of Vaishnavas.
From Caitanya-Bhagavata, Antya Khanda 5.57–58:
[Lord Caitanya said to Srivasa Thakura:] “I personally carry on My head the needs of any person who thinks of Me without deviation. All perfection will automatically come to one who thinks of Me but does not go to anyone’s door.”
Candrasekhara Swami:
Just by hearing about Krishna we can transcend the influence of material nature.
Ignorance is a necessary part of material creation because if it was not for ignorance people would realize this place is not for them and leave it immediately.
Five kinds of ignorance:
(1) The conception “Why does Krishna always have to be in the center?” is envy or tamishra. (2) The conception that there is nothing beyond death is andha-tamishra. (3) To identify with the body and to think in terms of “I” and “mine” is tamas. (4) Conflict with others based on tamas is moha. (5) Maha-moha is a whole society based on this conflict.
Whether we are swamis or married people, we can very easily get caught up in this ignorance and forget about our spiritual life.
Matter is actually mostly empty space.
What evidence is there that the universe came from greater complexity to lesser complexity rather than as the scientists say from lesser complexity to greater complexity?
If we take a complex thing, it becomes less complex in the course of time. There is a feature of entropy. If matter ever becomes more complex, there is always an intelligent person behind it.
These descriptions of the five kinds of ignorance are not described in the scriptures of other religions, but we can easily see them operating in this world if we look carefully.
If we take shelter of the lowest part of Krishna’s body, His feet, we attain the protection of Krishna’s entire form.
Jayadvaita Swami:
We are careful not to waste money, but we waste so much time. We waste time in frivolous conversation. We waste time on the Internet.
Better a moment of spiritual realization than a long time without spiritual realization.
The unseen hand of God is time. People can say they do not believe in God, but they cannot say they do not believe in time.
Everyone is doing so many things to be happy. Everyone is spending so much money to be happy. But a devotee can be happy for free just by chanting Hare Krishna.
Q: What is more important, how you live or how you die?
A: How you die depends on how you live. If you live like a fool it is not likely you will die like a wise man.
Merging with Krishna is not a very satisfactory proposal. What will you do after you merge with Krishna?
Death is like a final exam. If you do not study what will the final exam be like?
Every time you chant, there is more to discover. Because the mantra is identical with Krishna, it is unlimited. So go on chanting and go on discovering.
Letting go is harder than picking up. We should let go of things that are meaningless and let go of things that are painful, but not that we let go of everything. As we develop our relationship with Krishna, letting go becomes easy. The more we become attached to Krishna, the more we let go of maya or illusion.
We always have the free will to turn toward Krishna or to turn away from Krishna.
If the goal is to reach Krishna, the best thing is to do that as soon as possible. Srila Prabhupada would make the point that if Krishna is the goal to be achieved after many births, as Bhagavad-gita 7.19 indicates, an intelligent person should conclude, why don’t I surrender to Krishna now?
If we are still bound, we cannot help others so much, so it is important that we strive to be free.
Kavicandra Swami:
Thoughout the Bhagavatam the conclusion is that without the Supreme Lord nothing happens.
Many cultures of the world tell of powerful beings that assist in universal control such as the demigods described in the Vedic scriptures. In this society they are considered mythology. That is like saying that no one is in charge at ConEd [the company supplying electricity to New York City and Westchester], that it is all happening automatically.
When God and Moses protested against the people worshiping a golden calf, God said, “Do not worship any form other than mine.” Generally it is interpreted that He said, “Do not worship any form.” Thus Deity worship is not rejected in the Judeo-Christian scriptures.
Someone told me, “You are nice, not like the other Hare Krishnas I met.” I understand that as meaning that the person was purified by meeting the other devotees, and he finally became so purified that he appreciated one.
A devotee manager becomes inspired when the preachers are enlivened, and he supports them.
As a single match can significantly light up a cave, a little spiritual knowledge can greatly benefit both an individual and the society as a whole.
None of the herbs, therapies, counseling sessions, seminars, will ultimately benefit the people if they are devoid of spiritual knowledge.
George Harrison was eager to get the devotees a place just outside of London. He would drive the devotees around to look at different properties, but when the real estate people saw George, they would raise the price. Finally he told the devotees to find a place themselves and he would pay for it.
When approached, one professor said, “I have that book. I found it a trash can in O’Hare airport.”
As Srila Prabhupada could expertly present the spiritual science so the people in general could understand it, Sadaputa Prabhu could read up on a scientific subject and present it in just a few sentences so that we could understand it.
In America, Monday morning is the time with the most heart attacks.
Guru Das tells how in London someone let the three couples preaching there stay in a warehouse, and within a very short time, twenty-five people joined.
In the early days of the Hare Krishna movment, people realized that their intoxication wasn’t really doing anything for them. They experimented with the chanting and found it benefited them. People still find the chanting of Hare Krishna benefits them, if they are willing to try.
We attain faith by associating with people who have faith. Unfortunately these days, people have faith in the wrong things.
Thomas Edison’s teacher sent a note to his mom saying “this child is not benefiting from school, better he just studies some trade.” He asked his mother what it said, and she said, “It says you are a really intelligent student.” He was encouraged and went on to become the great inventor of so many things like the light bulb.
Not only in our tradition, but also in the Christian tradition, they honor the feet of the saints.
One way we can meditate on the feet of the Lord is to meditate on the First and Second Cantos of the Srimad-Bhagavatam, which are said to correspond to His feet.
Srila Prabhupada gave us the greatest tapasya [austerity] – to work together spread the mission of Lord Caitanya.
The Gaudiya Matha failed in cooperation. Before Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura left this world they were a very powerful preaching mission, but after he left they could not cooperate, and they therefore could not accomplish very much.
We need a farmer every day. We need a doctor once in a while, and we may never need a lawyer, but because we eat every day, we need a farmer every day.
Although Bhagavad-gita is for beginners because it is Krishna speaking, it is relevant for the most advanced devotees.
We used to do little dramas at the Sunday Feast program. They would take just 10 minutes, but they would make an impression on people’s minds. There was one about three people hauling stones. There was a kirtan party across the river inviting them to come across the river and join them. One declined because he was too attached to his work. The other attempted to cross with his stones but sunk and drowned. The third observed the others and left the stones behind and crossed the river and happily joined the devotees.
There are many acres of desert created every year. They imagine themselves advanced technologically, but this is the result.
When we offer obeisances, we lie down touching eight parts of our body to the floor, but we also have to offer our minds.
The real thing is to offer our whole self to Krishna and not retain the control of our own life.
Krishna inspires people to give us donations, so when we get donations, we should thank the people and we should thank Krishna.
The demigods offered beautiful prayers to Lord Nrsimha, but because they were in the mood of awe and reverence, they did not completely satisfy Him like the devotional prayers of Prahlada.
Hansarupa Prabhu:
In the question and answer session of a class in Mauritius, one man said that we went to the moon. Srila Prabhupada asks him how he knows. The man says “They say . . .” Srila Prabhupada asked him who is “they”? The man said, “The Americans.” Srila Prabhupada said, “So the Americans are your authorities.” Then Srila Prabhupada explained that everyone is accepting an authority, and we are accepting Krishna as our authority.
Because I had been reading a translation of Bhagavad-gita by William Quan Judge, when I first met the devotees outside the New York City library I worked at, I challenged them, “I know Bhagavad-gita. There is nothing in Bhagavad-gita that mentions this chanting and dancing.” I showed them my Bhagavad-gita. They showed me the 1972 Macmillan Gita, and said, “That is not Bhagavad-gita. This is Bhagavad-gita.” I was not willing to purchase one at this point, but I accepted a mantra card, as I had many times before.
We see all the time that people get together and come up with some philosophy, and then they try to impose it on other people.
If we are not fixed in our understanding and realization we can be easily manipulated by fools and rascals.
You cannot think that when you enter the temple and close the door that maya did not come back with you.
You have to be able to understand who is a genuine devotee, so you can associate with him.
The paramahamsas are not looking to establish themselves materially.
Why can I not take a cold shower? Because I cannot control my mind.
In the early days you could not join the temple unless you came to mangala-arati for two weeks straight, no matter how far away you lived. I lived in Long Island at the last stop on the train so it was a challenge. I asked the temple president if I could stay in the temple on the weekend. I was willing to wash the pots for five or six hours at a time without complaining and to fix whatever needed repair so they considered I was sincere and gave me that concession.
This is a chance in many lifetimes.
At a certain point, you realize that you have to choose either the material or the spiritual.
The qualification of the spiritual master is that he brings the disciple to the point where he is willing to surrender to Krishna. He gives you a glimpse of the illusion of maya, and that you must always remember.
Listening to Srila Prabhupada’s lectures will give you the foundation for preaching.
They have a saying, “The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago, and the next best time to plant it is now.” Don’t think you missed Srila Prabhupada’s personal presence, you can still benefit from his association by reading his books.
Q: What about the devotees who were more fully surrendered in the past than they are now? What happens to them?
A: It depends. If they have good friendships with devotees, they may become inspired again.
Anyone who regularly interacts with people knows that Krishna gives one the intelligence what to say.
In talking with devotees, people become attracted because of their qualities. They see they have confidence, they have peace, and they have happiness, and they want that.
Srutikirti was always with Srila Prabhupada. He told me that he slept under Srila Prabhupada’s bed. Prabhupada liked him because he was very surrendered.
When you are with the spiritual master, you have to be very careful. The mind will always try to make you think the spiritual master is an ordinary person.
It was because of his desire to please his guru that Srila Prabhupada made the endeavor to preach Krishna consciousness in the West.
It is very intimate knowledge to understand that the spiritual master not just an ordinary person but an eternal servant of Krishna.
The impersonalists are focused on their misconception of spiritual life, and therefore, they are not looking for anything higher.
In our youth our experience of church was being dragged there by my mother, but there was no real taste. That was my experience of religion until I met the devotees of Lord Caitanya. I had heard mass, read the Bible, read the Tao Te Ching, and read the yoga-sutra, but none of it made sense to me until I read Bhagavad-gita. I saw the followers of the other traditions themselves were not serious about them, but Srila Prabhupada’s followers were different. Every one of them was completely focused, whether they were men or women, old or young, or what.
Our duty is to propagate the chanting of the holy names and to distribute transcendental literature. We have no other duty.
We read in Bhagavad-gita about the modes of material nature, and you see them right in front of you.
We have to bring light to the people. If people have something good, they want to share it.
This building is only for preaching. It is not a comfortable place to live.
Srila Prabhupada said that New York City was his most important project. Thus we have a great responsibility.
People say this person was great. He did this. He did that. But no one did as much as Srila Prabhupada.
Q (by Nrikesari Prabhu): We see two groups of people: some people read the Bhagavad-gita, and they immediately become convinced, and others read it and do not completely accept it. How do we help the second group of people?
A: If you engage the people in practical devotional service, that will help. When people come with their questions, we can answer them as Krishna answered the questions of Arjuna. We are up against all kinds of fanatism, and all we can do is be genuine.
Krishna gives the book distributors special potency to engage in this transcendental welfare work.
From the morning announcements:
One of those guys who lives on the NYC subways actually became a devotee at the Henry Street temple. The devotees would distribute books and prasadam on the subways, and one such person became attracted and visited the temple. Eventually he would come to mangala-arati and do some service and then go back to the subways. After a while, the temple president would let him stay in the temple on the weekends. He ultimately became initiated and worked on the 1976 Ratha-yatra carts and the vyasasana now in the Brooklyn temple.
Rama Raya Prabhu:
The official handling the extension of Srila Prabhupada’s visa asked him questions about his mission. After hearing Srila Prabhupada’s explanation, the man said that it must be difficult to get people to commit to follow the restrictions that he recommended for spiritual progress. Srila Prabhupada said it was not difficult. He just had to remember Krishna, and Krishna does everything else.
The demons always ready to stop any glimmer of God consciousness, just as the Putana witch was ready to kill Krishna although He was only a few days old.
The upper class people in the universe, the demigods, are fully conscious of themselves as eternal servants of the Lord, but not the upper class people in human society.
The wise seek a primordial state of happiness.
God and His devotees always win in the end, and so the pure devotees are always fearless, and they can bring others into that state of fearlessness.
This is a dangerous time because it seems that the demoniac people have an upper hand. However, the good news is that the next ten thousand years will be a golden age in which the chanting of the Hare Krishna will diminish demoniac activities.
In the Vedic society those that are advanced in transcendental knowledge, and even more than that, those that are advanced in love of God, are the true leaders.
In the Vedic society the rich people would consult the saints for higher knowledge.
When we realize that nothing material will make us happy, we are good candidates for self-realization.
Lord Rama was such an ideal king there was no death in His kingdom.
To be dominated by Krishna is the ultimate freedom.
Nikunjabihari Prabhu:
Sankaracarya said if you study a quarter of a verse of Bhagavad-gita, you have a drop of Ganges water or you once hear the pastimes of Krishna, you will not be called to the court of Yamaraja after death for judgment.
Yamaraja promises that if you can understand the confidential and rarely understood supreme religious principle called bhagavata-dharma, service to the Supreme Lord, you will not have to fear death.
When Krishna decides, you can sit in Bhagavatam class. The other processes you can do on your own, but Krishna takes special charge of hearing.
Even the more sinful people can be delivered simply by chanting the holy name of the Lord. It is so powerful!
Laksmi inquired about the sleeping of the Lord in His forms of Karanadakasayi Vishnu and Garbodakasayi Vishnu. The Lord told her He was not sleeping but meditating. She inquired what he was meditating on, and He explained He was meditating on Bhagavad-gita, and by that potency all universal functions were going on.
Every body has different abilities and every mind has different understanding according to one’s karma.
Lord Maha-Vishnu explained to Lakshmi that there are two kinds of brahmanas, those who are materialistic and just work hard for sense enjoyment and do not care to pay attention to the Lord and His activities and those who engage in the nine kinds of devotional service to worship the Lord. He then told the story of a materialistic brahmana, who took birth as a overworked bull, which when dying of exhaustion, was saved from his sinful life by the pious activities of a prostitute, whose only virtuous deed was to hear her parrot recite Bhagavad-gita. Indeed, by the power of the Bhagavad-gita recitation, the person who instructed the parrot in the Gita, the parrot itself, the prostitute, and the sinful brahmana all attained the spiritual kingdom.
Hell is like a hospital in that there are so many diseases that can put you in the hospital and there are so many sinful activities that can send you to hell.
When offering grains into the fire, hold the grains between your thumb and two fingers, as if you are feeding a child, and offer them with love.
Chandrashekhara Acharya Prabhu:
From a Facebook message:
“I just wanted to let you know that I’ve been going on harinama this last week for between a half hour and an hour every day alone, and I just have my tambourine here [and] just walk around. . . . And you know what, it’s actually surprisingly blissful, it’s surprisingly self satisfying. . . . I do it walking, and then when I see somebody young, who’s paying extra attention to me, I’ll walk right up to him and show him the tambourine and say I am just chanting mantras here, up and down. And I give him my social media card with the link to it and tell him to go check out my content.”
Tulasi Prabhu:
Although we have no connection with our body, because we identify with it, we are affected by material nature.
There is a transcendental state even above goodness where there is no material suffering.
The devotee, from the very beginning, accepts subordination to the Lord, and since our tendency to act as an independent controller and enjoyer is the root cause of our bondage, he has already made great progress on the path.
Taking shelter of the lotus feet for the Lord means always engaging in practical devotional service.
Sometimes devotees who are not well situated in bhakti try to show by extra renunciation their advancement.
Knowledge and renunciation do not need to be cultivated separately from bhakti.
Avoid maya, in other words, avoid all activities neither connected directly nor indirectly with Krishna.
There is a story of a Buddhist monk who meditated for years and attained perfection, yet he heard the song “Tell Laura I Love Her” and was amazed that after so many years of meditation that the song created such emotion in him.
Nityananda Kisora Prabhu:
“O Partha, happy are the ksatriyas to whom such fighting opportunities come unsought, opening for them the doors of the heavenly planets.” We struggle with the essence of this verse every day in our lives.
The results of our personal battles generally pertain to this life.
If you fight for the sake of religion, even if you fail, you still attain the kingdom of God.
The Lord is giving us just two options, to attain His eternal kingdom or stay in this world of repeated births and deaths.
Many people say that they will remember Krishna at the end of their lives. If you are performing in theater, you have to extensively rehearse to make sure you perform nicely. How will you be sure of remembering the Lord at the end of life if you do not practice now?
One who is intelligent does not want to stay in this world where repeated birth and death take place.
There are four bona fide sampradayas and thirteen bogus sampradayas. We must take shelter of a bona fide sampradaya to attain Krishna.
Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu has asked everyone to become a guru.
Chant in such a way that you are able to make others chant and so they can also make others chant.
Even reading a single verse of Bhagavad-gita each day you can attain Krishna.
Krishna says those who distribute the Bhagavad-gita are His favorite devotees.
Krishna reduces the karma of His devotees. Thus an astrologer will not be able to predict the destiny of a devotee although he can predict the destiny of an ordinary person.
This chanting of Hare Krishna was predicted by Lord Caitanya to spread all over the world. No one but Srila Prabhupada has done this, so we can understand he is a most confidential servant of Lord Caitanya, whose activities were predicted by Lord Caitanya.
Krishna Kripa Das:
From a harinama realization shared with a friend:
“Why is harinama so satisfying? Lord Caitanya is just so happy that we took the time to go out on harinama that we, who are His eternal servants, feel satisfied having pleased Him.”
From a Facebook post:
“The other day I put my tilaka on in the laundry room rather than where others were dressing. I was surprised by the intensity of my desire to ‘have my own space.’ It occurred to me that although we crave our own space, there is only one person who actually has his own space, and that is Krishna, the Supreme Lord, and uncontested proprietor of all space. If we use the space He allots us, according to His direction, we can attain His supreme place, which is nicely described in Sri Brahma-samhita (5.56): ‘I worship that transcendental seat, known as Svetadvipa where as loving consorts the Laksmis in their unalloyed spiritual essence practice the amorous service of the Supreme Lord Krishna as their only lover; where every tree is a transcendental purpose tree; where the soil is the purpose gem, all water is nectar, every word is a song, every gait is a dance, the flute is the favorite attendant, effulgence is full of transcendental bliss and the supreme spiritual entities are all enjoyable and tasty, where numberless milk cows always emit transcendental oceans of milk; where there is eternal existence of transcendental time, who is ever present and without past or future and hence is not subject to the quality of passing away even for the space of half a moment. That realm is known as Goloka only to a very few self-realized souls in this world.’”
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Sometimes, attracted by the quality of the Krishna prasadam, we take too much. What can we do in that case? I always take shelter of Krishna by chanting this verse:
aham vaisvanaro bhutva
pranapana-samayuktah
pacamy annam catur-vidham
[Lord Krishna said:] “I am the fire of digestion in the bodies of all living entities, and I join with the air of life, outgoing and incoming, to digest the four kinds of foodstuff.” (Bhagavad-gita 15.14)
And on the material plane, ginger aids digestion and half a teaspoon of baking soda in half a cup of water counteracts acidity in the stomach. In India many people say the name of the Lord when they take medicine because they know it is God’s mercy that a medicine will prove effective.
