(Sent from Baltimore, Maryland, on May 30, 2026)
Where I Went and What I Did
During the twenty-first week of 2026, I stayed in ISKCON New York in Brooklyn where I lived and chanted with their NYC Harinam party for three or four hours each day. I also helped out with waking of the deities and the noon offering and arati.
I share quotes from Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad-gita As It Is, Srimad-Bhagavatam, and Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, as well as a couple of lectures of his. I share quotes from Vaishnava Compassion by Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami and The Vanaprastha Adventure by Jayadvaita Swami. I share notes on classes by Jayadvaita and Svayam Bhagavan Keshava Swamis, and Hansarupa, Caitanyananda, Chatamayi, Gauranga, Yugal Kishore, Aditya, Hari Bhakti, and Prabhavishnu Prabhus.
Thanks to Rupachandra Prabhu for his kind donation. Thanks to Madhu Sri Prabhu for his donation.
Itinerary
May 4–June 14: NYC Harinam
– May 30: Baltimore Ratha-yatra
– June 7: Schenectady 60-hour kirtan
– June 13: New York Ratha-yatra
June 16–August 13: Paris harinama
– June 20: Antwerp Ratha-yatra
– June 28: Paris Ratha-yatra
– July 2–3: Liverpool harinama
– July 4: Liverpool Ratha-yatra
– July 5: Birmingham Ratha-yatra
Chanting Hare Krishna in New York City
This man, who I met on harinama in a Manhattan subway station, got the three-book set of Srila Prabhupada’s original Canto One of Srimad-Bhagavatam at 26 Second Avenue. He also has a taste for the prasadam cookies we distribute on harinama.
Tulsi Prabhu chants Hare Krishna in Manhattan (https://youtube.com/shorts/hi4estnryqQ?feature=share):
Harsh chants Hare Krishna in Manhattan (https://youtube.com/shorts/ekMdAwzJALs):
Madhurya Rasa Devi Dasi chants Hare Krishna in Manhattan (https://youtube.com/shorts/IWzSTwGt3Q4?feature=share):
Hadai Prana Prabhu chants Hare Krishna in Manhattan, and a passerby plays violin (https://youtube.com/shorts/ggN-_hMmZco?feature=share):
Rama Raya Prabhu chants Hare Krishna in Manhattan (https://youtube.com/shorts/9utWzHrvwH4?feature=share):
Ananta Gauranga Prabhu chants Hare Krishna in Manhattan (https://youtube.com/shorts/h_Q9Lndz21g):
While Ananta Gauranga Prabhu chanted Hare Krishna, a passerby danced with Kana Gopal Prabhu, Chatamayi Devi Dasi danced, and Rama Raya Prabhu played the gongs (https://youtube.com/shorts/PjZJWKgK1Eo?feature=share):
Rama Raya Prabhu chants Hare Krishna in Manhattan (https://youtube.com/shorts/blY3gVyFx5U?feature=share):
Pancharatna Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at Mangala Arati at ISKCON NYC (https://youtube.com/shorts/DFqFm3ySB14?feature=share):
Radha chants Hare Krishna in Manhattan, and an Oriental woman dances (https://youtube.com/shorts/6PLOJ7sruOw?feature=share):
Pandava and Tulsi led the Sunday program for the Russian speaking devotees at 26 Second Avenue. They did a walking harinama joined by devotees from the Bhakti Center from the Bhakti Center to the Hare Krishna Tree in Tompkins Square Park, and back to 26 Second Avenue.
Here Pandava Prabhu chants Hare Krishna near the Bhakti Center in the East Village in Manhattan (https://youtube.com/shorts/Ws2OMm1F49g?feature=share):
Tulsi Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at Tompkins Square Park (https://youtube.com/shorts/TiROh2ycwCc?feature=share):
Tulsi Prabhu chants Hare Krishna in an East Village Shop (https://youtube.com/shorts/PRxZ0mqC7ls):
Damodhara Mowla chants Hare Krishna at Sunday Gaura Arati at ISKCON NYC (https://youtube.com/shorts/othEfizaE7Q?feature=share):
Chatamayi Devi Dasi chants Hare Krishna in Manhattan, and guys dance and kids play shakers (https://youtube.com/shorts/5t4TKJ5FW5Q):
Krishna Rai chants Hare Krishna in Manhattan (https://youtube.com/shorts/uyDxvZTyNYU?feature=share):
Diyan chants Hare Krishna in Manhattan (https://youtube.com/shorts/tavGS7OmsTE):
Another visiting devotee chants Hare Krishna in Manhattan (https://youtube.com/shorts/YcCcQPfTX2o?feature=share):
Photos
This is the invitation to our first Ratha-yatra in New York City, back in 1976. This year is the 50th anniversary of that event.
Insights
Srila Prabhupada:
From Bhagavad-gita 15.5, purport:
“Pride is due to illusion, for although one comes here, stays for a brief time and then goes away, he has the foolish notion that he is the lord of the world. He thus makes all things complicated, and he is always in trouble. The whole world moves under this impression. People are considering the land, this earth, to belong to human society, and they have divided the land under the false impression that they are the proprietors. One has to get out of this false notion that human society is the proprietor of this world.”
From Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.9.38, purport:
“Voluntary endeavor is the only qualification for spiritual perfection.”
From Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.11.39:
“Time can control only those who are body conscious.”
From Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.13.49, purport:
“One simply has to become sincere in his purpose, and then the Lord is there to help in every way.”
From Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.7.53, purport:
“The equal vision of the devotee is that he works to get all living entities back home, back to Godhead.”
From Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, Antya 1.101, purport:
“As far as possible, therefore, the devotees in the Krishna consciousness movement gather to chant the holy name of Krishna in public so that both the chanters and the listeners may benefit.”
From a Ratha-yatra address in San Francisco on July 5, 1970:
“This Krishna consciousness movement is not a religious type; it is a great culture. It is a great culture for spiritual emancipation.”
From a lecture on Srimad-Bhagavatam 6.3.18, in Gorakhpur, India, on February 11, 1971:
“If there is no preaching, there is no botheration. You can sit down and show people, ‘I have now become a very liberated soul,’ and chant and meditate. That means sleeping. This sort of business is condemned by my Guru Maharaja. . . . He wanted to see that everyone is engaged in preaching work, some sort of preaching work, either indoor or outdoor. When you are indoors you have to be busy writing articles for a magazine and proofread and so many things indoors. And outdoors you have to go door to door, make them members, make them interested in this movement, collect money for expenses, outdoor.”
Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura:
From a lecture:
“The world is in no need of any reformer. The world has a very competent person for guiding its minutest happenings. The person who finds that there is scope for reform of the world himself stands in need of reform. The world goes on in its own perfect way. No person can deflect it by the breadth of a hair from the course chalked out for it by providence. . . . What is necessary is to change our outlook to this very world. . . . The scriptures declare that it is only necessary to listen with an open mind to the name of Krishna from the lips of a bona fide devotee. As soon as Krishna enters the listening ear, He clears up the vision of the listener so that he no longer has any ambition of ever-acting the part of a reformer of any other person, because he finds that nobody is left without the very highest guidance. It is therefore his own reform by the grace of God, whose supreme necessity and nature he is increasingly able to realize by the eternally continuing mercy of the Supreme Lord.”
Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami:
From Vaishnava Compassion:
“Krishna’s favor is not won by any one particular thing but by sincerity of purpose in what we do.”
“If we fail to understand the suffering inherent in a life of sense gratification, we will not be able to feel compassion for those who live for the senses. We may even be tempted to live that way ourselves. We need a clear Krishna conscious philosophical understanding before we can know how to apply our compassion.”
“There are conservative preachers and their followers, and liberal preachers and their followers, and without both of these types of preachers, our movement would not have been able to grow as rapidly as it did.”
“We do believe that Krishna consciousness is superior to anything else that’s going on in this world, but let us attract people to this understanding with our deep conviction rather than our pushiness.”
“It may also be said that a devotee’s dislike for aggressive or dishonest preaching techniques is itself a form of compassion. I agree. Therefore, sensitivity should be honored. Srila Prabhupada himself honored it. When devotees objected to the scamming techniques we used in book distribution, Srila Prabhupada told them to find another way to distribute his books. Those devotees were often relieved to receive that permission. Some of those devotees may have sold fewer books, but they did it with their sense of personal integrity intact, which seems important too.”
“He [Prabhupada] did not see the degradation [of the Americans] as much as he saw the truth of the souls’ natural relationship with Krishna.”
“For Prabhupada’s followers, his tolerance and mercy toward our fallen ways is one of the ways we measure how great he was.”
“There are people who do need to be clothed, fed, and housed, but all people need spiritual emancipation.”
“By studying Prabhupada’s books, we must face the fact that Krishna consciousness is not unnatural to the heart of any living entity. It is only their (our) conditioning that separates us from being happy in pure love of God.”
“By hearing, we will also learn and gradually become convinced of the fact that sharing Krishna consciousness with others will make us dear to guru and Krishna. Krishna considers it a victory when a conditioned soul turns to Him.”
“Preaching is the appropriate guru-daksina that should be offered in return for the spiritual master’s instructions. Even as early as 1966, at my own initiation, Srila Prabhupada instructed us that he was giving us knowledge, and we were now becoming obliged, by accepting initiation, to disseminate it widely. This, he said, was to be our guru-daksina. I remember being struck for the first time by the concept of our owing the spiritual master for the teachings he was so freely giving.”
“There is a point where mental life gets in the way of preaching, and when we overcome it—we go out on harinama or to distribute books or to approach people at one kind of gathering or another—we feel cleansed. I have personally experienced that phenomenon whenever I have gone out on harinama. We often think we don’t want to go, but when we surrender to it and actually participate in the merciful distribution of the holy name, we usually feel wonderful afterwards. When we sacrifice something for Krishna’s service, Krishna always reciprocates.”
“Devotees must have the opportunity to continue to advance beyond their initial infatuation with spiritual life. Educational training allows us to do that.”
“I once asked Srila Prabhupada about this. I wondered if the teaching, ‘You’re not this body,’ wasn’t for the nondevotees. No, he said, that too was for devotees. Only devotees can understand such things.
“Then how does a devotee show compassion toward the nondevotees? Harinama, prasadam distribution, colorful festivals, and enough philosophy to attract them to Krishna.”
“Receiving the holy name is meant to be an exchange between devotees and anyone who will hear.”
“We should care for others both materially and spiritually, just as we care for ourselves. To ignore others’ needs in the name of offering only spiritual compassion means to live in denial about our own humanness.”
“As we devotees try to find our balance between personhood and institutional life, ISKCON has become rife with humanistic sub-movements, many of which do advocate lowering the standards of behavior Srila Prabhupada set for us.”
“Those who have accepted initiation have chosen a guru; if we follow Prabhupada, we have also chosen a worshipable Deity, Lord Krishna. Such choices, however, are not made once and for all. We must continue to choose every day.”
“If we are not making a daily, conscious choice to surrender in spiritual life, we will very quickly become mechanical and dissatisfied. Such dissatisfaction eventually will cause a crisis in our spiritual lives.”
“He [Prabhupada] speaks about abortion—that it has been arranged by karma in which womb a living entity will take birth. If we prevent the soul from accepting the body by aborting the fetus, then that is like denying someone his legal right to occupy an apartment for which he has already paid the rent. Such behavior is criminal.”
“Prasadam and the holy names are all we can offer souls in the lower species, but they are effective on humans who are uninterested in spiritual life too.”
“Srila Prabhupada gave the example of an apartment dweller’s right to live in his own apartment and equated the apartment with the body. It is criminal, he said, to take or destroy another person’s home. Similarly, it is criminal to deny a soul the right karma has bestowed upon it to live in a particular body.”
“Srila Prabhupada said something a little different about the nature of pure devotees. That is, that such an incarnation would have a spiritual body and would not actually be subject to the same sense of pain as those in a material body. The Christians would consider this heresy, and have consistently driven any expressed ideas like this out of the Church.”
“Recognizing our spiritual poverty is the first step in learning to feel dependent on Krishna. To recognize our poverty means we have to also face why we are holding back from surrender. Usually, fear is holding us back from full dependence—either fear that Krishna will not protect us adequately, or fear that His protection may not mesh with our own idea of comfort. We may also be afraid of the higher states of bhakti where we feel everything taken away but Krishna, and our lives are turned upside down in love of God. Fear, of course, is the result of attachment. We prefer not to put ourselves into any extreme positions.”
“No matter what else happens to us, Krishna will protect our spiritual knowledge. That is the real meaning of His protection.”
“One time when I was Prabhupada’s secretary in Hawaii, Rupanuga called to tell Prabhupada that someone had thrown a fire bomb through the temple window. A boy had died. Prabhupada asked, ‘Was he chanting Hare Krishna?’ Rupanuga said, ‘Yes.’ Prabhupada said, ‘We have to die sooner or later. If we take the opportunity to chant Hare Krishna, it’s very good.’ Was that boy vanquished? Krishna’s protection of that soul cannot be assessed according to material considerations.”
“It is that pushing action of time that allows us to see our life duration diminish and which gives impetus to our desire to increase our devotion. We have little time in which to perfect ourselves. Time allows us to watch matter decay. No matter how attached to it we are, we see we can never hold on to it forever. Everything dwindles and disappears over time. That understanding too provides us with an impetus to aspire for the eternal.”
“Vaishnavas desire seemingly impossible things in Krishna’s service. Prabhupada based his desire that the whole world become Krishna conscious on Lord Caitanya’s edict that His name be spread in every town and village. To achieve that, Prabhupada started the Hare Krishna movement. But what hope does our tiny movement have in this world, influenced as it is by Kali-yuga? We are not even united among ourselves. How can we hope to conquer the world with love of God? When we think of Prabhupada’s desire and the desire of all compassionate Vaishnavas, we can endeavor to carry the desire out, but ultimately, we are left only with prayer.”
“All devotees will agree that Krishna responds with compassion when a devotee prays. What is it, then, that blocks us from being aware of His response? This question has a simple answer. We cannot hear Krishna because we have already decided what He should say. When we pray for ourselves we are often reluctant to face the actual depth of our deficiencies and what it will take to fill them. When we pray for others, we are usually sure we know what is best for them. When our hope for ourselves or others is not fulfilled, we conclude that Krishna did not respond to our entreaty.”
Jayadvaita Swami:
From The Vanaprastha Adventure:
[Acyutapriya Prabhu, GBC in Ukraine said:] “My small experience and realization in community-building is that unless you take care of ladies you’re doomed—you cannot build a proper community. Because women have always been fire and men have always been butter, the women are stronger. And if they’re strong in Krishna consciousness they’ll make the men dependent on them Krishna conscious. And we’ve seen that many times. And if they are not Krishna conscious they’ll drag down the men, even men strong in Krishna consciousness. So without taking proper care for ladies, we cannot build a proper, sustainable, natural community.”
[Acyutapriya Prabhu, GBC in Ukraine said:] “And when the kids grow up and start making money and become independent economically, then you can finish up with all these affairs and surrender to Krishna. Chant more than sixteen rounds, follow strictly sadhana, read more, absorb yourself in Krishna consciousness and bring it to others. This way, you might finish your life as a human being, without this fear inside: ‘What will be with my relatives? What will be with my money? With my house?’ Everything. You know? When you absorb yourself in Krishna consciousness, you lose fear. This is very attractive to people. And people buy it—this sort of vanaprastha. That’s my experience.”
[Acyutapriya Prabhu, GBC in Ukraine said:] “The problem I see is when people have grown in Krishna consciousness in their community and then, in old age, they get an idea of moving to Vrindavan or Mayapur and they don’t have enough money to quit their life in a sort of Vaishnava hospice. They uproot themselves, and they go to Vrindavan and Mayapur, and they’re not needed there. No connections. And they become a burden there. And the devotees living there just suffer because of that. Those local devotees have to take care of them. And at times the care taken is not enough. And I think that’s not a proper way of vanaprastha or renunciation. I believe devotees would do better to keep up with their community. If you surrender your life to people, if you’ve invested everything in their life, you won’t be lonely at the last stage. You’ll be always surrounded by devotees, chanting, etc. We have quite good examples of that.”
[Acyutapriya Prabhu, GBC in Ukraine said:] “We donated our house, which is near the temple. We just donated it. I think a preacher must trust Krishna. But I never preach that to people, because often they have desires to have more than Krishna gives just to maintain yourself for preaching. That’s my realization.”
“Bhakti Purusottama Swami Maharaja every time used to say, ‘Whenever you have people retiring, send them to Mayapur. I have many assignments for them.’”
From a class on Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.18.4 in New York on May 21, 2026:
The guru can pick and choose which instructions on devotional service are to be followed, but we cannot. We follow what the guru has given us.
We may not know, but if we hear from the experienced person, we can take it from him because he knows.
We should hear with faith and interest.
We may be more qualified or we may be less qualified, but if we follow the great souls we will attain success.
Krishna is giving instructions, and Krishna is dancing with the gopis. We are meant to follow the instructions, but we are not meant to dance with the gopis.
If we have a doubt about what to follow, we can consult the devotees.
Q: Why does Krishna sometimes set an example and at other times act in His own way?
A: Because there is more to life than setting examples. Even our parents sometimes act to set an example and sometimes act in their own way.
We do not spend a lot of time talk about Krishna’s confidential activities because we are warned it will not be good for us.
Discrimination is required, but not that we spend all our time discriminating.
If you speak something not from scripture, you lose credibility with people who know.
Even a less experienced person, all he has to do is just repeat the words of the authorities.
By speaking what the acaryas have said, you get realization and advancement.
The core of our job is just to repeat.
Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura said there is a shortage of nothing in this world. There is only a shortage of Krishna consciousness. Our job is to give them that.
If we follow the regulative principles and we speak what the acaryas said, our words will have potency.
Hansarupa Prabhu:
Demoniac people, because they do not know what to do or what not to do, create imbalances that sometimes cost the lives of thousands of people.
The Golden Age of Lord Caitanya is the only thing holding Kali-yuga back.
Sarvatmana means surrender without reservation.
Srila Prabhupada said whoever misses mangala-arati has to fast the entire day.
Srila Prabhupada only wanted people who were 100% surrendered.
Unless you fully surrender, you will not experience Krishna’s reciprocation.
The police had not issued a permit for parades on Fifth Avenue since 1962. The person in the police department who signed the permit for the New York City Ratha-yatra in 1976 said these famous words, “I do not know why I am doing this.”
Jayananda knew the value of full surrender, and he could share that with others.
Svayam Bhagavan Keshava Swami:
From a lecture on Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, Adi 5.21–22 in ISKCON NYC on May 23, 2026:
To play you need a playground. Vrindavan is that playground. Nityananda establishes that playground.ask
The song “Jaya Radha Madhava” that Srila Prabhupada would chant before class reminds us of where we are trying to go.
Srinatha Cakravarti says in a verse Srila Prabhupada quoted many times that Lord Caitanya came to teach five things:
1. Love of God is the goal.
2. Bhagavan-tattva
3. Dhama-tattva
4. Bhakti-tattva: The gopis teach the way to worship Krishna.
5. Pramana-tattva: Srimad-Bhagavatam is the evidence.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrita explains Bhagavan in a most deep way.
Of the thousand verses quoted in Sri Caitanya-caritamrita most are from Srimad-Bhagavatam.
The pastimes of Krishna are going on in the spiritual world, somewhere in this world, and in the hearts of great devotees.
Krishna is beyond the three modes of material nature, Krishna is beyond the three states of consciousness, Krishna is beyond the three worlds, and Krishna is beyond the three dimensions, and therefore, He is called turiya, or existing in the fourth dimension.
Atah sri krishna-namadi . . . was a most quoted verse by Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura.
Anyone, even a scientist, who is humble, can admit that they know nothing for sure.
Atheism doesn’t inspire you to live, doesn’t explain anything, and is philosophically inconsistent.
Arjuna asked Krishna seventeen questions. Several times Arjuna inquires about the characteristics of the liberated soul, and Krishna describes them. These descriptions can show us who we can take lessons from and give us a clue how we are progressing.
Both the personalists and the impersonalists accept as evidence these three sources: Upanisads, Vedanta-sutra, and Bhagavad-gita. Bhagavad-gita is a summary of the Upanisads and Vedanta-sutra is summarized in Srimad-Bhagavatam, so actually you just need Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam.
Impersonalism gives peace, but it doesn’t give love.
Some people think that time takes everything away from us, but actually time separates us from that which is not us, so time is our friend inspiring us to take shelter of what we actually are.
When we cannot voluntary give up things, time helps us by taking them away.
From a class on “Krishna’s Reciprocation” at The Bhakti Center on May 24, 2026:
When I first came to the temple, I told the devotee I was talking to, “I do not know whether I believe in Krishna or not.” He replied saying we are not trying to convince you to believe in Krishna, rather we are equipping you with the tools whereby you can experience Krishna in your life at every moment.
Pariksit comes from two roots, pari – around, iksata – to see. He was always looking around in hopes of seeing Krishna.
The sound of Krishna’s flute causes everyone to forget their dharma. They do not have to be intellectually convinced to give their dharma.
“Commenting on the T-shirt ‘I lost my heart in Vrindavan’ Jayadvaita Swami said, ‘I hope you lost it to the right person!’”
Four qualities of Krishna reciprocation:
1. it is unfailing
Srila Prabhupada explains acyuta as meaning Krishna infallibly reciprocates with His devotee.
2. it is unpredictable
3. it is unchanging
No matter what He does, He is intensifying your bhakti.
4. it is unequal
The gopis devotion was so great Krishna could not reciprocate, and thus His reciprocation was unequal.
The acaryas say Krishna came as Caitanya to experience the gopis devotion as an attempt to reciprocate it.
Shyamasundar said that Prabhupada said if you take a risk for Krishna, He has to reciprocate. Shyamasundar said they tested that idea to the max.
Krishna may give us what we need but not always what we want.
Krishna sometimes does not appear, to increase the yearning of the sadhana.
Krishna sometimes does not appear, to increase the prema of one who already has prema.
Krishna does not appear to Radha to glorify Her.
Krishna is always there, but we have to learn how to see how He is reciprocating.
Our relationships with devotees give us reciprocation when we cannot appreciate Krishna’s reciprocation.
From a Monday evening class:
The materialists use technology or fantasy to create a paradise because they do not believe in a spiritual world.
One lady told me when I was distributing, “Don’t stop me because I am a nihilist.”
All Vedic philosophies deal with jiva, prakrti, and brahman.
The devotees do not try to enjoy the material world, do not try to deny the world, and do not try to escape from the world. They engage with the material world.
Once I pitched up a tent in a field, and the rats we bothering me, and I was upset thinking, “Why are these rats intruding on me?” Then it occurred me, actually I was actually intruding on them.
Four issues for the future:
Anthropocine [man is dominating]
DeepFake [now people can make avatars that completed simulate real people].
Virtual Disconnection [we are so absorbed in our social media, our human connections are dwindling.]
Apocalypse
The average person spends 8 hours on a device each day, and we wonder why people are lonely.
Loneliness is more dangerous to health than smoking 15 cigarettes.
Extreme intolerance and unimaginable power are a recipe for disaster.
Spiritual people come together and enlighten one another.
The only hope for the world is communities where the human-divine connection is nourished.
When you take God out of the world, people will do all kinds of misdeeds to achieve their ends.
Peace is the remembrance of the divine in every situation.
Our purity is our impunity.
If you can go out in the morning and change one person’s world that is significant.
Martin Luther King, Jr.: The people who want to make peace in the world have to be as intelligence and organized as those making war.
Jayananda quote. Ask him.
I have been to many cities, and New York is a monster.
Srila Prabhupada had to have such conviction to keep his focus on his truth that he knew could save the world in the monster city of New York.
We need to know what people are struggling with so we can present our solution in a way that they can assimilate it.
Videos that go viral deal with these three issues:
What is my purpose?
How can I find love?
How can I have better mental health?
The Bhagavad-gita deals with all three of those issues in a deep way.
Einstein said you’ll know the truth because it is simple and beautiful.
Caitanyananda Prabhu:
As we progress in devotional service, we differentiate between our needs and wants, and endeavor only for our needs. Later, even our needs become less.
We desire to become favored by the Lord as soon as possible.
Chatamayi Devi Dasi:
When Bhumidevi surrendered to Prthu Maharaja, she became free from fear.
Mental speculation not only does lead us forward, but it actually hinders our progress.
We need to come to the foundational realization that we really need help. We cannot attain success in life on our own.
There is a verse in the Chandogya Upanisad describing the characteristic of jivan mukta, a liberated souls:
1) Apahata papa:
The first symptom of a jivan-mukta is apahata-papa which means that he is free from all sinful activities. One who is liberated in this life does not commit any sinful activities.
2) Vijara:
Another symptom of a liberated person is vijara, which indicates that he is not subjected to the miseries of old age. (In reality, this does not refer to the body but to the heart. His heart is innocent as a child and as enthusiastic as a bubbling youth who has unlimited dreams and ambitions, except that they are all directed towards pleasing Krishna. Even though the difficulties of old age affect him, he overcomes them by intense determination to serve the Lord.)
3) Vimrtyu:
Another symptom is vimrtyu. A liberated person prepares himself in such a way that he does not take on any more material bodies which are destined to die. (In other words, he does not leave this world like an ordinary materialist.)
4) Visoka:
Another symptom is visoka, which indicates that he is callous to material distress and happiness.
5) Vijighatsa:
Another is vijighatsa, which indicates that he no longer desires material enjoyment.
6) Apipata:
Another symptom is apipata, which means that he has no desire other than to engage in the devotional service of Krishna.
7) Satya-kāma:
A further symptom is satya-kama, which indicates that all his desires are directed to the Supreme Truth, Krishna. He does not want anything else.
I was brought up in the Catholic tradition, and that only brought me so far. I went through at least twelve different paths looking for the perfect teacher. When I met the devotees chanting in public in Boston, I was attracted by the obvious freedom of the devotees. What really turned my mind was seeing the Ratha-yatra in Boston. I saw religion was not about beating yourself over the head for your imperfection but rather about joy, inclusion, and acceptance.
Comment by Maha-mantra: Srila Prabhupada told one person who inquired about Ratha-yatra, “I am showing you how God likes to enjoy.”
Gauranga Prabhu:
The lesson in the Prthu Maharaja pastime is that we are all dependent on the Lord.
A devotee is not disturbed with any lacking because if he has the proper determination and spiritual practice Krishna will provide everything he requires.
Krishna prema is attained by the mercy of the sadhus and the mercy of the holy name.
How do we experience dependence on Krishna and express dependence on Krishna at every moment? This we must attain.
Yugal Kishore Prabhu:
We should come to Srimad-Bhagavatam class to hear attentively, remember what we heard again and again, and do both with desire to change.
Everyone else is telling us we are our bodies, and we should get money, get sense gratification, and enjoy life.
Our intelligence does not advise our mind, remember yesterday’s Bhagavatam class.
We need to feel that we have nothing and that we need mercy in order to go forward.
Patience is most important of enthusiasm, determination, and patience. With patience we will continue.
Aditya Devi Dasi:
An anartha can be defined as a separate interest from Krishna’s.
In the association of devotees we can identify anarthas and eliminate them.
Grains are misused in our modern society in different ways. They are used to fatten animals for meat production. They are transformed to alcohol which is comsumed to the detriment of people’s bodies and the degradation of their minds.
Some people are becoming disgusted with our artificial lifestyle in the west. They want to give up their smart phones, and live off of the land, in small communities. We have a lot to offer such people because of the vision of our founder-acarya.
Srila Prabhupada’s vision was that the government would give provide land and cows to individuals for their sustenance, and the people should be satisified with the quota that they are given.
By our karma we have a certain amount of money. To get more in a society where wealth is greatly valued, we become engaged in overendeavor.
The life of the brahmana exemplifies an austere life where one is satisfied with the bare necessities and that is valuable for society.
Hari Bhakti Prabhu:
In Kali there is only artha (economic development) and kama (sense gratification) but no dharma (religion) or moksa (liberation).
One kg. of milk requires the cow to eat 7 to 10 kg. of grain.
It is said the number of bacteria in one human being’s mouth is greater than the entire earth’s human population.
I never told my family about devotional service. I let other people tell them about devotional service. They all become devotees.
Regarding encouraging children to become Krishna consciousness, being responsible and detached is best.
Prabhavishnu Prabhu:
There are activities for the benefit of this life and activities for the benefit of the next life. In this society, by preparing for career and economic gain, we are focused only on this life. We cannot even take a penny with us on to our next life. But as Srila Prabhupada said, we are completely lacking preparation for the next life.
The rules of varnasrama are designed to help us to make more and more progress in our Krishna consciousness.
Although there are laws of nature and laws of man, we imagine ourselves to be completely independent by ignoring the more subtle laws of God.
Comments by Pancaratna Prabhu:
Srila Prabhupada was also advocating the “spiritual and not religious” idea in that he promoted bhakti and was not concerned about this religion or that religion. We need to introduce Krishna consciousness to people in terms that they are used to speaking in and not using too religious terms for otherwise they will reject it as another dogmatic religion.
The Vedic culture stresses that women be protected, but Srila Prabhupada mentioned for some women, Krishna Himself can be that protector.
-----
This famous verse from Bhagavad-gita reassures us that Krishna will take care of us if we absorb our minds in Him. Srila Prabhupada needed thousands of people and millions of dollars to spread Krishna consciousness all over the world, and Krishna arranged that he attained it without a separate endeavor.
ananyas cintayanto mam
ye janah paryupasate
tesam nityabhiyuktanam
yoga-ksemam vahamy aham
“But those who always worship Me with exclusive devotion, meditating on My transcendental form—to them I carry what they lack, and I preserve what they have.” (Bhagavad-gita 9.22)
