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.