Indradyumna Swami's Sweet Dealings

After the final kirtana ending the final stage show at Kolobrzeg, I followed Maharaja from the stage to the car, as I stashed my computer there. He saw a little girl with tears in her eyes in the front row of the audience, and he stopped to comfort her. He told Dominik who manages the sound booth that the tune he played for the festival breakdown was too melancholy and asked him to change it. Then the pair of girls promising to see us at Woodstock came by to have their picture taken with Maharaja.

Indradyumna Swami arrived at the base for the Laksmi-Nrsimha Traveling Festival in Poland sometime around 9:00 p.m. I noticed the stairway to his room was a mess, so I swept it and missed his arrival speech. The devotees say he talked about Lord Caitanya’s mission.

He did not have any toothpaste and his servant told him I had some Neem toothpaste from India which he apparently really likes. I used to opportunity of giving him the toothpaste to briefly greet him. He thanked me and said it was the best gift I had ever given him. This was certainly a surprising thing to hear as toothpaste struck me as insignificant, and it made me laugh. And then he said something really special. “The best gift is not the thing with the most value, but the thing that is actually needed.” And then for him it was the toothpaste.
He asked about my Mom, and I said she was at a yearly Quaker gathering. He said something about her being an educated lady and me getting that quality from her. I told him she had written about him, “My regards to the Impresario.” And I explained that “impresario” meant a flamboyant director of an entertainment extravaganza and that she had seen the videos of the Polish tour which she liked.
Maharaja was pleased I came on time as he had requested, the day his organizers had recommended.

Because of cold, wet weather for days, on the Kolobrzeg harinama, Indradyumna Swami forbade those wearing only sandals from going out of fear they would get sick. A very few stayed in the bus honoring his will, but a lot of us went out anyway, rascals as we were. I had an umbrella and wore socks with my sandals, so I considered that was good enough to protect me from the cold and wet. I stood at the back so Maharaja would not see I didn’t have shoes, but I got caught anyway. He wasn’t too heavy about it, when I told him my excuse.
I was impressed with Indradyumna Swami’s enthusiasm to go on despite the miserable weather and equally impressed with the surrender of the other devotees. Some of the ladies’ saris got so soaked they stood near to our festival’s diesel generator using the heat to dry their clothes. Some wrang the water out of their socks before drying them, and as much water came out of them, as if they had washed them. I was lucky, avoiding puddles till the end, when trying to distribute some final invitations, I stepped in one. My umbrella kept my clothes from getting wet.

One morning Indradyumna Swami asked if anybody wanted to give class as he had deadlines for organizing festivals in other parts of the world and a parikrama in Vrindavan, Mayapur, and Jagannath Puri. No one volunteered for some time. Then I raised my hand and said I would do it if no one else would. He was pleased and praised the willingness to give a class at short notice as the quality of a brahmana. Just as ksatriyas never miss a chance for a righteous battle, vaisyas will always protect the cows, and sudras are always willing to do their handicrafts, a true brahmana is always eager to preach.

One night after returning from a festival I was sitting on the stairs in the school that was our base, inserting a piece of cheese into a sandwich my friend Braja Kisora gave me. Indradyumna Swami came by and motioned for me to give him some cheese and bread, and I removed the top piece of bread from the sandwich and wrapped the cheese in it and gave it to him. It was an amusing scene and an unexpected opportunity to serve him. I told Braja Kisora what happened so he could tell his wife that Indradyumna Swami had eaten some of the sandwich she made.

I was walking around with an umbrella in the rain as one of our shows in Miedzyzdroje ended, when Mathuranatha Prabhu, who is one of Indradyumna Swami’s personal servants, tipped me off to the fact that Indradyumna Swami did not have an umbrella, and had to walk from the stage to his car. Thus I got to serve Maharaja with my umbrella.

At the last festival in Miedzyzdroje, I got some flyers out of Maharaja’s car to distribute. Maharaja saw me and asked how many there were. I described a six-inch stack of them, and he said I should get two or three devotees to help me and pass them all out. I found about six devotees willing to help, and we found many people still were unaware of the festival. I felt victorious to help out in this way.

Indradyumna Swami arranged to greet Trivikrama Swami with kirtana, foot bath, offering of flowers and guru puja, as is his standard for his guru and sannyasi godbrothers visiting the tour. For me it is very powerful demonstration of his desire to cooperate with his Godbrothers and please Srila Prabhupada.

Nice points made at Indrasyumna Swami’s festival lecture:
Gandhi said you can judge a country by how they treat their animals.
When you associate with a happy person, your distress is minimized. Thus is not surprising that when we associate with God, who is the happiest person, as we do by chanting His holy name, we also become happy.

First Full Day on the Laxmi-Nrsimha Festival Tour

Tribhuvaneswara Prabhu led the second half of the guru puja kirtana playing the accordion and getting everyone to dance. It was very lively and went on for nearly an hour. There are so many enthusiastic chanters and dancers here, the kirtanas are always very upbeat.

Since I often sit in the reincarnation booth during our festivals, Jayatam Jaya Sila Prabhu gave me a project of researching good ways to present reincarnation to the Polish people. I recalled on instance back in 2003 in which I felt successful in this.

One time a lady in her 30's came by the reincarnation tent, with her mother and daughter. She said the idea of reincarnation made her feel uncomfortable. I replied that because it is not a widely accepted idea in this society it is understandable that it would make you feel uneasy, but it can explain many things. Then she asked what it could explain. I described how some people are born into a situation of great suffering, while others are not. If God is all powerful, all good, and equal to everyone, and this is our first life, everyone should get an equal start, yet some have to suffer from the very beginning of life. Knowing about reincarnation and the law of karma (action and reaction), we can understand the people must have done something wrong in a previous life to deserve the disadvantaged situation in this life. Otherwise, we may conclude, as many do, that there is no God or that God is unfair. The lady ended up buying a book, and so did her mother.

I stopped by the school gymnasium, which serves as our temple room and prasadam hall, to get my bead bag which I left there at breakfast time. There was a play rehearsal going on and as I was leaving, the ladies directing it encouraged me to play the role of a sannyasi in it, probably since I was already wearing the right color clothes and they didn’t have anyone else. I just have to give blessings to four people, chant some mantras, and pour some imaginary ghee into an imaginary fire. We will see how long I last. . . .

I encouraged a couple of Vaishnava youth boys to chant the evening arati song with me. One had nice mrdanga playing ability and the other a great voice. The one with the nice voice led the Nrsimha prayers. Just as we ended a Russian devotee, who had played with Aindra Prabhu in Vrindavan, came by and sang some very sweet Hare Krishna tunes which he accompanied on the harmonium. I enjoyed dancing as the others played the instruments. Then he sang a very nice Hare Krishna tune that Village of Peace, our tour reggae band, played at our concerts on the summer tour and the Woodstock festival, and I felt happy recalling how all the young people had chanted and danced with us when they played. It is wonderful that devotional activities can be relished forever.

A Visit to London

I arrived at London’s Soho St. temple at 2:50 p.m. When the devotee introduced me to Murali Manohara Prabhu, who is in charge of the brahmacari asrama and who allowed me to stay there, I realized he was a devotee I had met in Mayapur. He reminded me that we talked over prasadam on a number of occasions. I was overjoyed to find out that harinama, one of my main impetuses for spending a day in London, was going out in just ten minutes. Although I couldn’t have slept more than three hours and I had just two bananas for the day’s meals and hadn’t even taken my shower yet, I could not miss this great opportunity to chant on London’s crowded Oxford Street with a group of very dedicated devotees. I saw Krishna Vidhi Prabhu, the main leader of the party, who I had met in Mayapur last year, on harinama, of course, as well as his wife, who I remember from when I came to London in 2002. The biggest surprise was to meet Prema Harinama Prabhu, a brahmacari who loves harinama and who I see every year on the Polish festival tour. Here they are very liberal and consider it a benediction to hear me lead harinama, and so for half an hour or so I chanted a favorite Hare Krishna tune I had recently played at Gainesville’s Krishna Lunch (http://www.krishnalunch.com/).

There are many people on Oxford Street, including businessmen, students, and tourists, in abundance, and many persons smiled, moved in time with the music, and took pictures of our chanting party. It was a very lively environment to do harinama in.

I was amazed that when the harinama was over at 5:00 p.m. Krishna Vidhi and Prema Harinama were discussing doing another harinama at 6:00 p.m.! At the conclusion of their discussion, they decided to go out again at 5:15! Such enthusiasm is most inspiring to see. After that they went to a local preaching program at King’s Cross. I wanted to go as well, but I had promised Murali Manohara Prabhu a couple weeks ago that I would give the evening class on Bhagavad-gita, which is at 6:00 p.m., during my visit.

I meditated on the verse during the harinama, but found out while giving the class that in the purport Srila Prabhupada stresses Arjuna’s good qualifications as the cause of his indecision to fight instead of his material attachment to his cousins on the opposing side. I talked about how that section around and previous to today’s verse, Bg. 2.6, discusses Arjuna’s reasons for not fighting, and it was interesting for me to see how sometimes Prabhupada praises Arjuna for his good qualities like compassion and sense control and at other he criticizes him for being materially attached. I followed Srila Prabhupada in his purport and praised Arjuna’s sense control and detachment in his willingness to consider the situation from a religious point of view and to live by begging if necessary to avoid fighting his relatives for the kingdom. I tried to explain clearly how sense control and detachment are necessary for giving up identification with our bodies and thus ending the cycle of repeated birth and death and making attainment of the kingdom of God possible. By the end of the class, there were at least ten people there.

The speaker traditionally leads the evening arati kirtana there at Radha-Londonisvara Mandir, and I chanted Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s beautiful Gaura arati song with great enthusiasm, along it felt odd to me that there are no Gaura-Nitai deities there, just a small picture of Pancatattva. Many people were enthusiastic about kirtana and that make it extra special. There must have been twenty or twenty-five people, many of them Indian, and I felt so happy to see the nice attendance.

I spent most the rest of the evening sorting out what I would not use until I return to London in October, as I have at least 5 kilograms of baggage over the limit for my next flight. I also helped a brahmacari install Wincom on the temple computer.

Reflecting on the whole evening, I felt so happy to be engaged in such superexcellent devotional activities as going on harinama, giving Bhagavad-gita class, and leading the sundara-arati, all in just the half day I spend here at Srila Prabhupada’s temple in Soho Street.

Onward to Poland tomorrow.

Srila Prabhupada ki, jaya! Sri Sri Londonisvara ki, jaya! Gaura premanandi!

My Favorite Devotional Service

Congregational chanting of the holy name is my favorite devotional service. Supremely authorized, it’s Srimad-Bhagavatam’s dharma for this age, meant to please Lord Caitanya, who demonstrated it daily. Caitanya declared it the prime benediction for humanity and the life of all transcendental knowledge, increasing the ocean of transcendental bliss and letting us fully taste the nectar we always want. Narottama dasa Thakura says it’s imported from God’s abode, where Brahma-samhita states every word is a song and every step, a dance.

We advertise spiritual pleasure surpasses material. Through our public chanting we mercifully share spiritual joy with those unaware, letting them pursue it.

A cruising teenager spotted jolly devotees dancing downtown. He thought, “That’s what I should be doing.” In two weeks he joined the temple, then became initiated by Srila Prabhupada, and still loves to chant.

Harinama sankirtana is pleasurable, accessible, and spiritually uplifting, for both ourselves and others.

A Tribute to Suhotra Prabhu

Suhotra Prabhu passed away recently in Mayapur, and there is an article about that on the Mayapur web site:
http://www.mayapur.com/main/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=330&Itemid=1&lang
It was impressive to me that he left his body while completely absorbed in writing study guides on the Srimad-Bhagavatam in the holy dhama of Mayapur with his bead bag in his hand, exempt from the torture of prolonged illness that often precedes death. I think that Srila Prabhupada and Lord Caitanya must have especially blessed him for his contribution to their mission.

I did not know him intimately, having talked to him personally on but a couple of occasions. But I did hear many of his classes in 2006 on Srimad-Bhagavatam at the Bhaktivedanta Academy. He was always very much excited about his studies and his classes were insightful, full of interesting uncommonly known items, and often humorous as well. I want to share my notes on them with you as a way of glorifying him as a memorial tribute. I hope you find them beneficial.

All glories to Suhotra Prabhu, who dedicated his life to Srila Prabhupada's auspicious mission, and who left this world in the glorious Mayapur dhama.

Notes on Srimad-Bhagavatam Classes by Suhotra Prabhu in 2006

Some Nectar from Srila Prabhupada

As an eight-year-old child, Srila Prabhupada was playing in a field with some strike-anywhere matches. One match fell on his cotton dhoti and it burst into flames. A man appeared from nowhere and rolled Srila Prabhupada on the ground to put out the flames. Prabhupada showed the devotees a scar he still had from that incident. The lesson Prabhupada used the story to teach is that you should not think that you can play with Krishna’s energies and there will not be consequences.

Srila Prabhupada once said, “If you want to know what your karma is, look in the mirror!”

On King Pariksit and Sukadeva Goswami

King Pariksit’s leaving his body was of such universal import that great sages came there on a variety of pleas.

As doctors differ in diagnosis and prescription, similarly the sages offered different advice to King Pariksit.

Practically the whole Bhagavatam is an answer to King Pariksit’s two requests:
(1) tell me of the unalloyed duty of everyone in all circumstances,
(2) and specifically of those who are just about to die

Sukadeva Goswami did not leave the womb of his mother until Lord Krishna Himself assured him that he would be unaffected by maya (illusion). His father Vyasadeva’s assurance was not sufficient.

On Laksmi, The Lord's Internal Energy

When Mahamaya got initiated by Srila Prabhupada, Srila Prabhupada explained, “Mahamaya is another phase of Srimati Radharani.”
Laksmi acts either as Laksmi or Maya depending on how we approach her.
In the Sixth Canto, Chapter Nineteen, Kasyapa glorifies the worship of Laksmi-Narayana and explains the whole Bhagavata philosophy in just a few verses.

On Psychology

Some devotees are enamored by Western psychology, but there are six or eight schools of Western psychology and even people with degrees in it admit that Western psychology does not have a complete understanding.

Because Pariksit Maharaja is a great devotee, he regrets his offense to Samika Rsi. He does not minimize it thinking, “I am OK. You are OK,” as a popular psychologist might. Nor does he avoid taking responsibility for the fault, because at heart he doesn’t feel he did anything wrong.
In the Vedic paradigm there are standards of right and wrong. There is admission of wrong by the guilty party, his determination to reform, and his endeavor to get on with life, which means to get on with life’s goal of attaining love of Godhead.

On Punishment by Yamaraja

Yamaraja’s messengers are angry with sinful persons because the messengers subsist on the offerings from sraddha ceremonies and thus when people are sinful, they have less to subsist on. It is said that the diseases of this world in their personified form are servants of Yamaraja (the lord of death).

Pious souls go to Yamaraja’s assembly where Yamaraja’s dogs acts as fearsome guard dogs. The impious souls are actually bitten by the dogs, but because they have subtle bodies they do not die. They just suffer. Each time a dog bites, the individual recalls one of his sinful acts.

On Buddhism

The Buddhists say that before Buddha appeared there were sixty-two different philosophies in India and many people were confused.

Buddha used the example of the man who is shot with an arrow to discourage unnecessary philosophical speculation. When one is shot with an arrow it is useless to ask who shot the arrow, which direction it came from, how powerful was the bow, etc. Best thing is to remove the arrow and dress the wound.

Buddha said his dharma would last one thousand years. His leading disciple told him that there are many young women who want to become nuns. Buddha said that that was alright, they could come, but in that case, his dharma would last only five hundred years. This is written in the Buddhist scripture itself.

Buddha defeated the best Vedic scholars who knew the Vedas backwards and forwards. If God wants to preach atheism, then who can defeat Him?

Odds and Ends

It is described that all material and spiritual weapons exist within Lord Vishnu’s disc called Sudarsana. Actually the fall of the soul is not when he comes to the material world since he comes as Lord Brahma and acts as Krishna’s servant. If as Brahma, he becomes attached to karma or jnana, then he is fallen and must remain in the material world.

In Bhagavad-gita, Krishna speaks often of buddhi-yoga or engaging our intelligence in devotional service.

In the Second Canto it is described that the Lord draws energy from the marginal energy to run the cosmic manifestation.

On Studying

Srila Prabhupada once said a brahmana is one who has read his books four times.

Every day we must study the scripture to sharpen our intelligence to distinguish between maya and Krishna consciousness. The demigods remain neophyte devotees because they cannot discriminate between heavenly sense enjoyment and spiritual rasa.

On Congregational Chanting and Devotional Service

The minimum benediction from the yajna of sankirtana is liberation. From acting out of kama, we realize that we “can’t get no satisfaction”, and then we desire liberation.

Ajamila got moksa from chanting the name of Narayana, even to call his son. To get moksa in previous ages, one had to perform sacrifice perfectly.

Those people we see in the West on harinama who somehow or other clap, chant, and dance with the devotees get incalculable benefit. They may be the persons who greet you when you go back to Godhead!

Srila Prabhupada said that people who stay for a long time in the Krishna consciousness movement have acquired such a taste for devotional service after many births.

Tallahassee Ratha-yatra

Lord Jagannatha kindly agrees to participate in the Springtime Tallahassee parade (see http://www.springtimetallahassee.com/) each year, during a festival attended by a quarter of a million people. His associates pull His chariot and chant and dance, in a very lively way. Mother Yadunandana's Jagannatha Deities have big smiles on their faces and are an inspiration to see. A devotee lady visiting from Vancouver was leading the kirtana enthusiastically when I arrived. Some young women performing in the parade were attracted by her chanting. Garuda, Nrsimhananda, Krishna Kesava, and Nagaraja Prabhus, a local Vaishnava youth, and even I led kirtana before or during the parade, or on the subsequent harinama. Garuda played his guitar and danced the whole parade. Some of the young ladies danced nicely in a pattern at the front of the party, and Bhakta John and I tried to dance nicely in a pattern that was compatible, if not identical, behind them. For me, one of the best parts of the parade is seeing the waves, smiles, and dances of those in the crowd, revealing some level of attraction to Lord Jagannatha, His associates, His name, and His pastimes. I always think that in the future, some devotee will be relating the story of how they came to Krishna consciousness, and they will say how they saw the devotees chanting in the Springtime Tallahassee parade, and then . . . . After the parade we did harinama through a street fair covering several blocks near Park Ave. and Monroe St. Amazing enough, although we passed many policemen, no one asked us to stop, and we made our way slowly through the crowded festival. We found a vacant place amidst the grassy median of Park Ave. , away from vendors, where we chanted for some time. Bhakta Brian, Bhakta John, and I, as well as others, distributed educational flyers telling about some aspect of Krishna consciousness with the local temple program and contact information on it. Puskara Prabhu distributed Krishna: Reservoir of Pleasure. I had some flyers also with the Hare Krishna mantra on it as well as our web site (www.krishna.com), and I told the people if they liked our music that they could download some songs or order some CDs from our web site. Many people were thankful. We also carried a large sign proclaiming "Chant Hare Krishna and be happy." After the hour long harinama, there was prasadam for the devotees in a nearby park. Three young people dressed like hippies also joined us. There were rice, spaghetti, Gauranga potatoes and five varieties of cakes and sweets, most of it cooked by Daru Brahma Prabhu, temple president of Tallahassee. About fifteen devotees from Tallahassee and forty from Alachua attended the event. Many Alachua devotees came on the Vaishnava Youth Ministry bus which was sponsored by Ramiya Prabhu and a Tallahassee devotee. Kaliyaphani and Manu kindly drove the bus, Karuna Sindhu suppled nice rice and vegetable prasadam for breakfast, and Krishna Keshava Prabhu led bhajans enroute. All glories to all the devotees whose different contributions made the event a success. Please come next year and bring your friends, and we can make it bigger and better! All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu who are kindly engaging ourselves in this auspicious work!

Blissful Gainesville Wednesday Evening Program

Adi-karta Prabhu has created and is maintaining a nice evening program on Wednesday evenings at our Gainesville Student Center (Krishna House). There is kirtana, Bhagavad-gita class, more kirtana, and nice prasadam prepared by his wife, Mother Rucira. Ten students came, but often there are more. There was a lot of enthusiasm, especially for the second kirtana and the prasadam. I become so happy seeing the people become connected with Krishna. I got to talk to many of the students, and it was a very positive experience. Many are regulars. I was also able to invite them to my Tuesday class on The Nectar of Instruction.

Hankering for God / Perceiving Krishna by Service

Notes for my lecture on Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.6.22:

"[The Lord told Narada Muni,] O virtuous one, you have only once seen My person, and this is just to increase your desire for Me, because the more you hanker for Me, the more you will be freed from all material desires"

1. The Lord wants to benefit the devotee

a. We may appear to suffer initially, but by Krishna's grace we will be happy beyond our dreams.

2. Hankering for Krishna frees one from lust.

a. Example of the "new" gopis who were restrained by their superiors from running to Krishna in the dead of night, and who thus burned up in the fire of their anxiety to see Krishna, all their remaining material desires.

b. "Sri Krishna, the Personality of Godhead, who is the Paramatma [Supersoul] in everyone’s heart and the benefactor of the truthful devotee, cleanses desire for material enjoyment from the heart of the devotee who has developed the urge to hear His messages, which are in themselves virtuous when properly heard and chanted" (SB 1.2.17).

3. How we can increase our hankering for Krishna?

a. "O twice-born sages, by serving those devotees who are completely freed from all vice, great service is done. By such service, one gains affinity for hearing the messages of Vasudeva" (SB 1.2.17)

b. "The holy name, character, pastimes and activities of Krishna are all transcendentally sweet like sugar candy. Although the tongue of one afflicted by the jaundice of avidya [ignorance] cannot taste anything sweet, it is wonderful that simply by carefully chanting these sweet names every day, a natural relish awakens within his tongue, and his disease is gradually destroyed at the root" (NOI, verse 7).

4. "A living being cannot be vacant of desires."

a. "Everyone is forced to act helplessly according to the qualities he has acquired from the modes of material nature; therefore no one can refrain from doing something, not even for a moment" (Bg. 3.5).

b. Mayavadis think they can avoid reactions by being inactive by Krishna does not accept this in Bhagavad-gita 3.4.

5. "The more a person is engaged in the transcendental loving service of the Lord, the more he acquires a hankering for it." How is that?

a. By his service, he becomes purified and can then appreciate devotional service on a deeper level, thus becomes even more attracted to Krishna!

b. His experiences Krishna's sweet reciprocation, and thus he is inspired to render more service.

6. His service and His person are identical

a. This is nicely described in the verse (b) and purport (c,d) to SB 1.6.33:

b. "The Supreme Lord Sri Krishna, whose glories and activities are pleasing to hear, at once appears on the seat of my heart, as if called for, as soon as I begin to chant His holy activities."

c. "As soon as a pure devotee engages himself in the pure devotional service of hearing, chanting and remembering the name, fame and activities of the Lord, at once He becomes visible to the transcendental eyes of the pure devotee by reflecting Himself on the mirror of the heart by spiritual television. Therefore a pure devotee who is related with the Lord in loving transcendental service can experience the presence of the Lord at every moment."

d. "Since He is absolute, He can appear Himself in the picture of His glorification, the two things being identical.

7. Realizations of the Lord's presence

a. Krishna-kripa Dasa: During nama-hatta harinamas (nagara-sankirtana) in Navadvipa Dham, when we take out the Gaura-Nitai Deities and we have a hundred devotees enthusiastically participating, it feels so ecstatic it as if we were living 500 hundred years ago and we are personally going out with Lord Caitanya and His associates on sankirtana.

b. Bhaktin Kim: Doing some casting work for the Philadelphia Jagannatha Deities, I have to meditate carefully on each and every curve of Lord Jagannatha's face, and by doing that was surprised how blissful it made me feel. [I mentioned to her how the form of the Lord is stated in the scripture to be beyond the happiness and distress of this world.]

c. Jitamitra Dasi (Kalakantha Prabhu's wife): When I moved to Gainesville, I considered giving up my evening dressing of Radha-Shyamasundara, thinking the half-hour drive each way to be too much, but I notice now that I feel so happy dressing the Deities, the inconvenience is truly insignificant.

Preaching Realizations / Deity Pastimes / NOI

Notes on a class by Satvata Prabhu's lecture on Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.6.21

Srila Prabhupada said if you sell books, Lord Caitanya will personally embrace you.

When you travel and preach, you see how Krishna takes care of you.

"Brazil is a poor country. We would go out to other cities by bus. In order to eat we would have to sell some books and in order to get home we would have to sell more books.

The first class he ever heard in a temple explained that Deity worship (arcana) is practicing serving Krishna so we know what to do in the spiritual world.

When you are absorbed in preaching, you are far away from offense.

Deity pastimes:

Once he wanted to chant Radha-stava in Vrndavana and thus he prayed to our Deities there. Just then the person in charge of scheduling the singing said, "Today you lead the kirtana."

Once in Brazil, some redneck type people who live in the forest saw an arati ceremony at the temple. After the arati, they asked how the priest how he made the dolls dance like that and if they were puppets.

Bhakti Vikasa Swami mentioned in his seminar in Mayapur on March 1, 2007 on the Preface to The Nectar of Instruction that Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura said that Lord Caitanya recited these verses of Upadesamrita (The Nectar of Instruction) to Rupa Goswami at the ocean at Puri, and Rupa Goswami later wrote them down.

Four people attended my first Nectar of Instruction class, and I am very inspired to continue. They all seemed to be glad they came, and almost everyone took a book.

Seeing God / Rama's Glories / Absorbed in Bhajan

Notes on Ekendra Prabhu's lecture on Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.6.20 and Rama-lila
Because the Lord is beyond the reach of the senses, he can only be seen by one who has pleased him.
Maya makes sure that we are free from all material taints so we can go back to Godhead.

Points from Rama-lila that impressed me:

1. Srila Prabhupada writes that Lord Rama was even kind to Ravana after his death since he engaged Ravana's pious brother, Vibhisana, in performing his funeral ceremony so he would not go to hell. This is an incredible idea for one in mundane consciousness because the tendency is to be very vengeful toward one's enemy and to take pleasure in making him suffer. The Lord, however, looks to benefit everyone. All glories to Lord Rama!

2. When Rama was king there was no death for those who did not want it. This is another amazing idea. Talk about good government!

Although today was a fasting day, I did not look at my watch for the whole two-hour bhajan program at Krishna Lunch. I could not believe the two hours had gone so fast. That is the mercy of Lord Rama! I never remember that happening before.

Prabhupada Quotes / Gift from BT / Rama's Glories

Srila Prabhupada said, "Ayur-veda means the Vedic knowledge about the duration of life."
Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.1.3, Caracas, February 24, 1975

Srila Prabhupada wrote in a letter dated August 14, 1976, "If you feel at all indebted to me then you should preach vigorously like me. That is the proper way to repay me. Of course, no one can repay the debt to the spiritual master, but the spiritual master is very much pleased by such an attitude by the disciple."

At our Gainesville men's group meeting, Brahma-tirtha Prabhu liberally agreed to give me a laptop which I can use on my travels to do my Krishna.com questions and my journal. All thanks to him for his kindness.

Notes on Nagaraja Prabhu's lecture on Lord Ramacandra's Appearance Day:
Some people think that because the Lord is all-pervading that He cannot appear. But God can do whatever He likes. Who can stop Him from appearing?
Srila Prabhupada once said that if Laksmi (wealth) is not used for Narayana (God) then she becomes maya (illusion).
The most important lesson to learn from Lord Rama's pastimes is that if you try to get Laksmi without Narayana, you will lose.
Our philosophy is that if you please God you do not have to worry about anything else.
The residents of Ayodhya, the kingdom of Lord Rama, were ready to leave the opulence of their land and follow Rama to the forest for without Rama their opulence had no meaning for them.
As devotees, we let Rama rule our life.

Insight from Bhakti Caru Swami / Saturday at the Campus

Notes on a Bhakti Caru Swami class on Nectar of Instruction preface and verse 1:
Why does Rupa Goswami bring up this idea of making disciples in the first verse of Nectar of Instruction? Because Lord Caitanya wanted all his followers to become spiritual masters and spread Krishna consciousness all over the world.
Compared to during Srila Prabhupada's time, ISKCON is stagnant. When you go to the West, you see Indians manning the temples. This means that Westerners are not joining, and Indians, because it is their thing, are joining despite our lack of preaching.
King Arhat imitated Rsabhadeva in his avadhuta mood because he found Rsabhadeva, as an avadhuta, had more followers than he did as a king, and thus Jainism was born.
When there is dhanam and janam, the sundarim is not far away.

I went to the campus with the harmonium to chant for an hour. I practiced four Hare Krishna tunes, and one guy smiled and shouted "Hare Krishna" as he bicycled by. I passed one girl and her boyfriend doing a yard sale to and from the campus. She had a favorable attitude about Krishna Lunch, and so I told her there were two groups doing Krishna food at this weekend's Kanapaha Botanical Gardens festival. I also mentioned our weekly Sunday feast in Alachua. I found a piece of Radha-Madhava's mahaprasadam from Mayapur in my bag, and gave it to her as a treat from India and explained the historical significance of Mayapur and the spreading of the chanting of Hare Krishna all over the world from there. She liked the flavor of the sweet, and said it would be great with coffee. She asked about our vegetarian cooking class, and I told her about the yoga, Bhagavad-gita, and Nectar of Instruction classes which I knew about and told her I'd ask about the vegetarian cooking class, which I later found out we used to have but don't at present. I felt victorious that at least someone got a little mercy in the form of prasadam from the holy dhama.

Issues With God / Enchanting Chant / Rainbow Rap

Notes on Ekendra Prabhu's class on SB 1.6.19:

Most of us are so demanding in our relationship with God that if we were as demanding with our parents and friends they would become disgusted with us.

Our desires to control the outcome of events and to have all our desires fulfilled are manifestations of our false desire to be God.

Once when Ekendra was having difficulty in marriage, he read a book he highly recommended called Divorce Is Not the Answer by George Pransky. The author makes the point that in the beginning of relationships we see our differences as interesting attractions but when familiarity breeds contempt, they become sources of great distress. He advised that we try again to see the novelty of the differences and not see them as points of contention.

Krishna Lunch:

A young mother and her well behaved son and daughter watched our bhajan group attentively for ten or fifteen minutes and then inquired from Adi Karta Prabhu about our religion.

Harinama:

I saw more of my old harinama friends at this Friday nights' harinama. I was happy to hear from Kesava Prabhu how they had distributed four or five buckets of both kitri and halava at the Ocala Regional Rainbow Gathering, and many people were appreciative. He was glad I had emailed him from Mayapur reminding him of the event. Seeing Eli, now Nitai Prabhu, the national Krishna Rainbow Gathering organizer, who was on pilgrimage in Mayapur, had made me recall the upcoming Florida event.

Science Analogy / Song Lover / SDG on Japa

Notes on Jayananda Prabhu’s class on SB 1.6.18:

Mass spectrometry is used to identify the chemicals in a rock by bouncing X-rays off it. By observing how the X-rays are reflected, we can understand what the chemicals present are. In the same way, by observing this world, which is a reflection of the spiritual world, we can get some insight into the spiritual world.

The Greek Orthodox church emphasized jnana (knowledge), while the Roman Catholic church stressed good works.

Krishna Lunch:

One girl sat on the ground in front of our chanting party to eat her lunch. Purusharta Prabhu suggested that she sit on the blanket next to us, but she replied that she preferred to sit in front of us so she could watch us sing. Before she left, I mentioned that we have singing at our temple in the evenings, and that we could teach her the words to the song and how to play the different instruments. She said that she was intimidated by the musical instruments, but she liked to sing. She said she was busy this week, but next week, if her schedule permitted, she would come by.

Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami conference call:

Notes on his reading of a relevant section from Japa Walks, Japa Talks:

We should not despair in our attempts to chant that our mind wanders. Never give up chanting. When we preach we turn away from ourselves and are saved from wallowing in our own situation. We should not feel too bad about our desire to get our rounds done. It is a sign of responsibility.

Seeing Friends Coming to Mayapur

Today I met some Vaishnava youths I knew from Alachua. I talked with Arjuna about getting him in touch with the disciples of Bhakti Tirtha Swami here as he was attached to Bhakti Tirtha Swami, and I reminisced with Dattatreya about how nice it is on the Polish festival tour. I also met a devotee from Russia I knew from the tour. And I met Janananda Prabhu, a Prabhupada disciple from Vrndavana who gives thoughtful classes and who will be teaching a couple of seminars. The devotees always say I look so happy, and I explain it as a result of seeing all my friends from America , Europe, and other parts of India come here to Mayapur Dham. I also explain how Mayapur is my favorite temple because of the beauty of the Deities and the enthusiasm for chanting, especially during and after the evening arati.

Notes on Romapada Swami's class on Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.1.14

Because of Dhrtarastra's bodily attachment he could not hear Vidura's repeatedly given good instructions. Dhrtarastra was an elevated person, but because of the influence of his son, Duryodhana, and by the influence of Sakuni, he acted wrongly. Vidura was so much respected that Bhismadeva, who was very much his senior, consulted him. Vidura recommended the Gandhari marry Dhrtarastra, Bhisma agreed, and Sakuni drove Gandhari and Dhrtarastra to Dhrtarastra's home after the marriage. Later, after Pandu died untimely and his wife, Madri, entered his funeral pyre, Duryodhana and his brothers harassed the Pandavas. Krishna , the eternal well-wisher of his devotees, the Pandavas, was concerned and sent Akrura to investigate the situation in Hastinapura. Kunti, her eyes full of tears, inquired from Akrura if Krishna had plans to protect the Pandavas, and he and Vidura reassured her. After observing the situation for three months, Akrura advised Dhrtarastra:

(1) Do not act on the platform of the ignorant bodily conception of life by differentiating between the sons of Pandu and your own sons. Each life one has a different set of sons, so one should not be so attached to “one's own.”

(2) You should act out of virtue.

Dhrtarastra praised the wise and ambrosial words of Akrura but said that due to attachment to his sons those words could not remain in his heart and he could not carry them out. He was content to let whatever would happen as a result of that happen as ordained by fate. This failure to take responsibility for his actions resulted in his downfall, and we must be careful not to helplessly act according to our material attachments, neglecting higher principles, or that will also be our downfall.

That Dhrtarastra wanted a kingdom for his sons was not the problem. Dhruva also wanted a kingdom, but Dhruva went about it in the proper way, by asking the sage Narada how he could rightfully obtain it. Dhrtarastra, however, cast righteousness aside to further his ambitions and thus his sons were destroyed. Because Dhruva was respectful to Krishna and his devotee Narada, his ambition was achieved, but because Dhrtarastra disrespected Krishna and his devotees, the Pandavas, his party was destroyed.

Dhrtarastra later reflected on Akrura's advice and inquired from Bhisma and Vidura about their opinion. He decided that since Yudhisthira deserved the kingdom and the citizens wanted him to be king, he would perform a ceremony making Yudhisthira the incumbent king.

Meanwhile Duryodhana met with Karna and Sakuni. Karna thought that they should fight the Pandavas and take the kingdom rightfully by conquering them, but Sakuni, seeing how the Pandavas easily conquered King Drupada, who had previously conquered Duryodhana's party, was afraid they would lose and thus wanted to use unfair means to deprive them of the kingdom. Outraged, Karna left the meeting, and Sakuni revealed to Duryodhana a nefarious plan to get the Pandavas out of Hastinapura and then kill them, explaining how they could do this without objections by Bhisma and Dronacarya.

Dhrtarastra, because of his sons ambitions, worried what they would think of him making Yudhisthira the incumbent king, and thus he consulted Sakuni, who engaged a materialistic so-called brahmana to advise Dhrtarastra to kill the Pandavas. King Pandu had taken good care of his blind elder brother Dhrtarastra, and the thought of killing Pandu's sons was not at all palatable to him. However, Duryodhana knew how attached Dhrtarastra was to himself, and thus he threatened to commit suicide if Yudhisthira became king. He further argued that Dhrtarastra and all his sons would have no position if Yudhisthira became king and the whole situation would be miserable for them. In this way, Dhrtarastra's mind was changed, and he heard the plans Sakuni made for getting rid of the Pandavas, and let them be carried out.

The moral of the story is that because the Pandavas took shelter of Krishna, they were not affected by bad association, but because Dhrtarastra had no such shelter he became a victim of bad association and was destroyed. Actually we can always trace destruction to some bad association in the past. Thus we should always follow the example of the Pandavas and escape bad association by taking shelter of Krishna.

Nama-hatta Program in Baduria

We went to a nama-hatta program in a town called Baduria, only three and a half hours away! I brought my computer so I could accomplish some of my regular work as well. After a solid breakfast of rice, dal, and sabji, we went on harinama for just over two hours. We went through the town to the outskirts and then back through the town to the outskirts on the other side. Gaura Nama Prabhu engaged some of the devotees in distributing a Bengali book about Lord Caitanya's life and teachings and many were sold. The event must have been well advertised because we were greeted nicely wherever we went. Some people washed the road ahead of us with buckets of water, some even splashed water on the devotees' feet, others threw sweets made with sugar which the kids madly tried to grab, others, including a six-year-old girl, blew conch shells, and some brought rice, vegetables, and coins as donations. The harinama ended at the site of our pandal program in the middle of the town. After a sizable lunch of three sabjis, dal, chapattis, rice, papadam, chutney, and rasgullas, we took a break for an hour and an half or so, and then chanted Hare Krishna on the stage at the pandal for over an hour. We encouraged the attendees to chant along. The devotees from foreign countries introduced themselves telling where we came from. The places included America, England, Finland, Italy, and Israel. All the devotees were really enlivened by doing the program. As we left, many people smiled, embraced us, touched our feet, shook our hands, and in this way made it clear they appreciated our presentation. We were given puris and sabji for dinner on the way back, which I gave away in charity. One has to guard against overeating on programs like this!

Saturday Festival Memories

The Saturday festival in Mayapur with its Deity procession is so lively here, even without the elephant. The big Gaura Nitai Deities from Prabhupada's Bhajan Kutir are pulled by ox cart. Following them are the big Prabhupada murti and the small Radha-Krishna Deities. The kirtanas are so lively. Then always chant my favorite tunes. A friend of mine told me today that most of the tunes are Bollywood tunes (from India's entertainment industry) and that the traditional Bengali tunes are too hard to follow. I do not know if it is true, but the tunes are attractive and very easy to sing and dance to.

After participating in the festival I stopped at the brahmacari kitchen for their hot milk from the goshala which is really good. As I walked back home, a tourism bus from the parking lot near Vamsi Bhavan past me. There was a lively kirtana going on in the back of the bus and the people waved and cheered as they passed. I was thinking the chanting is so nice they could do it all the way home and they would be full of ecstasy when they arrived. Then they could get together with their family and friends each evening and spread the wonderful gift they received at Mayapur to others. We should encourage them to create the nice atmosphere of Mayapur's evening program and Saturday festivals in their homes and villages, and share the ecstasy with others.

“Sri Panca-tattva themselves danced again and again and thus made it easier to drink nectarean love of Godhead. They danced, cried, laughed and chanted like madmen, and in this way they distributed love of Godhead. . . . Although the members of the Panca-tattva plundered the storehouse of love of Godhead and ate and distributed its contents, there was no scarcity, for this wonderful storehouse is so complete that as the love is distributed, the supply increases hundreds of times” (Sri Caitanya-caritamrita 7.22,24).

I met the Gaura-Nitai Deities on the way back to Their temple and participated in a small kirtana led by the people pulling Them. It was a beautiful way to end a beautiful evening.

Sastric Knowledge is Perfect

Bhakti Vidya Purna Swami, Srimad-Bhagavatam Canto 2, Chapter 1

King Pariksit asks how to apply the mind so that the mind becomes free from dirty things. This is needed because the usual ways we apply our minds, do not free them from dirty things but often create more dirty things.

Using the scripture, we must connect everything with the Lord, in order to purify our minds.

There are different kinds of knowledge:

1. pratyaksa - knowledge gained through sense perception
2. paroksya - knowledge gained from others
3. aparokysa - knowledge that is experienced
4. adhoksaja - knowledge beyond sense perception
5. aprakrta - knowledge that is transcendental

There are so many books on management and more come out every year. But if you take knowledge from scripture you won't have to look for new knowledge each year because the scriptural knowledge works in all circumstances not just some.

Principles always apply. Details change according to time, place, and circumstance.

According to the sastra, the varnasrama system is considered to be the Lord's body. Thus we must accept varnasrama. We must also accept each of the varnas and asramas to be important because every part of the Lord's body is important. It is not that the Lord's head is important, but His feet are to be neglected. Each division has something inspiring to contribute to society. The brahmanas teach. The ksatriyas protect and are true to their vows. The vaisyas give their hard-earned money in charity to benefit others. The sudras do their arts under the direction of the others. Michelangelo, who worked under the direction of superiors, contributed many more great works of art, appreciable by a greater variety of people, than Van Gogh, who worked on his own.

Shoe Saga

Inconceivably enough, I was separated from five pairs of shoes in this year alone! One in Calcutta, one in Russia, one in Hungary, one in Ukraine, and finally one in Mayapur in November. Fortunately they were all about $3 shoes, so it wasn't a great loss. I decided to go without shoes as long as possible out of a sense of frustration and defeat. However, day by day it has been getting colder in the mornings here, and I have been afraid of getting sick.

Last night I read in my diksa guru's book, Prabhupada Nectar (Vol. 2, No. 25): “Srila Prabhupada did not like his disciples to perform artificial austerities. When one devotee appeared bare-chested in the cold at a Kumbha-mela, Prabhupada reprimanded him. On another occasion, in America , he teased his disciple Nara-Narayana, who came into the cold temple room wearing only a light T-shirt.

“Nara-Narayana,” said Prabhupada from the vyasasana, “you must be eating chickens.” The other devotees turned and stared.

“Yes,” said Prabhupada, “this is how the Mohammedans keep warm. Are you eating chickens, Nara-Narayana?”

“No, Srila Prabhupada.”

Prabhupada then began telling a story how the Mohammedans keep warm: “The system is that a man tries to eat one hundred chickens by eating a single chicken. A farmer will take a hundred chickens and then feed one of them to the ninety-nine. He then feeds another one to the remaining ninety-eight, and another one to the remaining ninety-seven. Finally, when there are only two chickens left, he feeds one chicken to the other. Then that chicken is fed to the emperor. In that way, it is considered that he is eating one hundred chickens.”

As a result of reading this, I decided to give up my artificial austerity of going barefoot in December. After harinama in Navadvipa, I decided to look for some shoes. The people in Bengal are so short the stores do not carry size 11. Size 10 is the largest. Thus I tried on at least five pairs of shoes before finding something that fit. Because the top part is cloth, at least they won't give me blisters, like the five pairs that were stolen. We will see if my big toe wears a hole in the top of them before too long, or more likely, if someone rips them off. I will keep them indoors at night to be safe. At any rate, they were only 135 rupees ($3) and if they last the winter, I will be grateful.