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Saturday, March 31, 2007
Tallahassee Ratha-yatra
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Blissful Gainesville Wednesday Evening Program
Hankering for God / Perceiving Krishna by Service
"[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.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Preaching Realizations / Deity Pastimes / NOI
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.
Monday, March 26, 2007
Seeing God / Rama's Glories / Absorbed in Bhajan
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.
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Prabhupada Quotes / Gift from BT / Rama's Glories
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.
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Insight from Bhakti Caru Swami / Saturday at the Campus
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.
Friday, March 23, 2007
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.Thursday, March 22, 2007
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.