travel journal#4.19: Alachua/Gainesville, FL & Albany, NY

Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 4, No. 19
By Krishna-kripa das
(October 2008, part one)
Alachua and Gainesville, Florida, and Albany, New York
(Sent from Gainesville, Flordia, U.S.A. on 10/25/08)

Where I Am and What I Am Doing

Visiting Alachua temple. Chanting at the campus in Gainesville. Visiting my family in Albany. (Not necessarily in that order.)

Devotional Meditations

From a Srila Prabhupada lecture: "Unless you become first-class devotee there is no chance of being relieved of this material existence."

"Every family in every society can conduct sankirtana-yajna at least every evening. In this way there will be no disturbance or scarcity of rain. It is essential for the people in this age to perform the sankirtana-yajna in order to be materially happy and to advance spiritually" (SB 5.4.3).

Notes from a darshan with Hridayananda Dasa Goswami SB 5.9.13-14:

1. Srila Prabhupada mentions in the purport that human sacrifice is done by barbaric, low class people. Everything in the scripture is not necessarily "Vedic". The Srimad-Bhagavatam was just describing human nature as it is, and the Vedic culture was just trying to deal with realities of human nature. Whenever you get a sufficently varigated gene pool, you are bound to get some people who are into human sacrifices.


2. The idea of kings hunting is not necessarily "Vedic". To get someone passionate enough to be king, they are bound to have some bad qualities. The allowance for ksatriyas to hunt is not there by intent but by necessity because they will do it anyway.


3. Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami asked Srila Prabhupada how do fire sacrifices. Srila Prabhupada said, "Shortcut."


4. For people’s psychological needs they want a guru is a superman or celebrity. Someone purely representing the sastra alone is does not satisfy them.


5. To really be a second class devotee is not easy. Can you have an international society where most of the devotees are absorbed in missionary work? In the beginning we were all youthful with recent conversion experiences so enthusiasm for preaching was natural. But can that be maintained in an institution?


6. In Jada-yoga, you put yourself in the lowest possible state, by accepting various dualities, and thus become free from false ego. It works but it is not for this age.


7. We have technology far beyond what we had in the 1970s but in many ways we have less communication.


8. I am trying to figure out what I can do with my psychophysical nature to benefit the greatest number of people for Srila Prabhupada, and have a transforming effect on Srila Prabhupada’s movement.

Notes from class by Kripa Sindhu Prabhu:

ISKCON history: In the early days, after the morning program, they had another class, and then went on harinama for three hours, took lunch, and then went out on harinama for three more hours, and then took a shower and went to the evening program. Srila Prabhupada said if we don’t go to the evening program, we would all fall down. Every one was fully engaged and it was pretty fired up because of that. We would tell the people to surrender to Krishna now, and many did.

In Brihad Bhagavatamrita, Gopa Kumar did not know if he was in Goloka, the spiritual abode, or Gokula, its replica in this world, because the same activities are going on in both.

We can understand from the scripture, we have already been through the different bodies and had the different experiences.

Acaryas compare the desire for fame to be in the same category as having sex with a low-class prostitute.

We should follow Srila Prabhupada’s program because we are not perfect pure and are subjected to the four defects of the conditioned soul. [We cannot devise a better path.]

In the questions and answers after class, one devotee lady told of an impromptu Sunday feast program at a friendly Indian’s house where she and a friend followed Srila Prabhupada whole program with kirtana, lecture, and prasadam and how it was amazingly successful. There was no prasadam left for them at the end, but they were so happy from sharing Krishna consciousness with others, they didn’t mind.

Notes from a class by Dravida Prabhu on Caitanya-caritamrita Adi 17.50-51:

We should not blame anyone else for our suffering, especially God. We must understand that the suffering we encounter is Krishna’s personal program for our purification from the tendency for sense gratification, and is thus benedictory. Practically every great devotee encountered some misery in the course of his life. Because the devotees are eager to go back to Godhead, they want to receive all the reactions that they are due before the end of life, and so are not disturbed by the miseries, but are grateful for them.

Kaviraja Goswami spoke very wonderfully and his words did not offend even those he rebuked during chastisement. Raghunatha Dasa Goswami established the superiority of the service of Srimati Radharani. Raghunatha Bhatta Goswami considered that all Vaishnavas are sincerely serving the Lord according to their realizations and should not be criticized.

Notes from a class in Gainesville by Dravida Prabhu:

The modern tendency is to depersonalize everything including our own consciousness, but the Vaisnava principle is to see the personality of Godhead everywhere and in everything.

The names that describe Krishna’s forms and pastimes are His primary names.

One of the reasons the Hare Krishna mantra is called the maha-mantra is that it not only offers obeisances to and glorifies the Lord, but directly calls out and implores the Lord to be engaged in His service.


Notes from a class by Laskmi Nrsimha Prabhu:

The Christians have the idea that Jesus and the Father are one. We can understand how that can be true because we understand the principle of the satyavesa-avatara, in which a living entity is empowered as an incarnation of Godhead with special powers.

All the ‘rights’ movements reveal intense identification with the body.

Campus Bhajanas Awaken Devotion in Students

Brian from Santa Fe Community College and Celia from University of Florida both excitedly told me how they became attracted to Krishna consciousness from the campus bhajana programs at their respective colleges. Celia said that the chanting attracts you on a deeper level than you can realize. Both now attend the daily chanting on the University of Florida campus and talked to me during an evening program at our Gainesville Krishna House. I felt so inspired to hear how the chanting attracted them since the public chanting is an important part of my life. I suggested that Celia might try coming to the morning program, which Brian is already doing, and she expressed some interest in that. The next day both of them helped carry the instruments back to our Krishna center after the campus bhajanas. The following day they came to our gourmet dinner program, and after it was over, asked the devotees if we could have a kirtana. The other devotees were tired from cooking and serving out and still needed to clean up, but I, who was also feeling a void without an evening kirtana, chanted with them for fifteen minutes. My friends from Europe speak disparagingly from what they have heard about our outreach programs in America, but I can see, as American book distributors tell me, the field in America is as good as it ever has been, if not better. When we are out in public to share Krishna with others, people there become attracted. The problem is that there are only a too few fulltime or even parttime missionary devotees in America. Otherwise it is a great place to share Krishna
consciousness with others.

You Should Choose a Religion!

My sister, Karen, that her daughter, Fern, told her how her grandmother wanted her to choose a religion. To hear that was humorous for me because I had been considering advising her in the same way. Now she is sixteen. Her mom is a Buddhist, her grandmother, Quaker, and me, her uncle, am a Hare Krishna. She comes to all the different services from time to time, but doesn’t really practice any of them on her own. She is a lifetime vegetarian, however. Karen thinks that as she has taken her studies seriously like adults around her did, she will some day take up a religious practice on her own, like those around her. The Vedic idea is that children should be reminded that this human form of life is simply meant for spiritual life and be encouraged to endeavor in that way. My father and my mother were not so attached to the Anglican and Catholic religions of their births, so when Karen and I were young they looked for a path they both had faith in so we would have some idea of spirituality. Thus they joined the Quaker meeting in Albany. That consideration by the parents to promote spirituality in their children is actually the parents’ dharma. We will see what happens with Fern. I told Fern I was thinking the same thing as her grandmother (my mother), but I did not push her to choose a religion. I am so averse to people trying to push me to make decisions, I cannot do the same to others. I did, however, make the point to her that at least when she goes to the Hare Krishna services, she can count on there being vegetarian food. With the others, you never know. Even the Buddhists sometimes have preparations containing meat at their programs.

Quaker Meeting

The Sunday I was home in Albany I went to the Quaker meeting I attended as a youth. The Quakers teach complete pacifism, equality to all human beings, andthat God is in everyone’s heart. They also highly value the search for spiritual truth. In the unprogrammed meetings as we have in Albany, they sit in silence for an hour, presumably thinking of godly things, and anyone can stand up and speak briefly, if inspired, during that time. After their meetings, they serve refreshments. I was late half an hour because I miscalculated the baking time for some prasadam cookies I made to add to the refreshments. No one spoke for the first twenty minutes I was there. I decide to quote a very ecumenical verse from the Vedic literature: smartavyah satatam vishnur, vismartavyo na jatucit, sarve vidhi-nishedhah syur, etayor eva kinkarah. "One should always remember the Supreme Lord. One should not forget Him at any time. All the other scriptural injunctions and prohibitions are servants of these two principles." I spoke briefly saying that whatever our religion is, we may sometimes get caught up in the rules and rituals and forget that the important thing is to remember God. After that in the five remaining minutes at least a couple people spoke, each talking about how they saw God in their life recently in some way or other. One saw Him in the colorful autumn leaves and another in the loving responses of friends during his illness. I felt victorious because we as devotees promote the glorification of God, and so that a couple people broke the silence, and spoke in God’s favor made me smile. One elderly lady told me afterwards that now she is almost completely vegetarian now, and I encouraged her. A sociology major from Skidmore told me she liked my quote, and I sent it to her by email. Many liked the cookies. One later mentioned them in an email to my mother. I noticed the Sunday school kids playing outside and took a few cookies to them. They had studied that day the Biblical story of Jonah and the whale, and I asked them to tell it, as I did not know it. Apparently God wanted Jonah to preach, but he did not want to, and went sailing instead. He got in an accident and ended up being swallowed by whale. He realized that he made a mistake, and prayed to God who arranged his rescue. Then he went to preach to the people God had ordered him to. It reminded me of the fact that Lord Caitanya has ordered us all to preach. Perhaps if we do not do so, we will get into a jam like Jonah. Better not chance it.

ataeva ami ajna dilun sabakare
yahan tahan prema-phala deha’ yare tare

[Lord Caitanya continued,]
"Therefore I order every man within this universe to accept this
Krishna consciousness movement and distribute it everywhere"
(Cc. Adi 9.36).

travel journal#4.18: The Best Ukraine Festival Ever and More!

Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 4, No. 18
By Krishna-kripa das
(September 2008, part two)
Ukraine Festival, Poland, England, and Back to the USA
(Sent from Gainesville, Florida, on 10/17/08)

Where I Am and What I Am Doing

The second half of September I went to a very sweet festival
in Ukraine attended by four thousand devotees, and then traveled through Katowice, Wroclaw, London, and Manchester, on the way back to Alachua, Florida, U.S.A., where I attended a memorial service for Sadaputa Prabhu.

Devotional Meditations

Notes from Prabhupada Lecture:

If we see the Ford car, which was produced under the direction of Mr. Ford, and we think we have met Mr. Ford himself, that is foolishness. In the same way, everything is God, but God Himself is not every thing.

If you meet someone who has no father, that is God.

Om namah bhagavate vasudevaya, means "Krishna, I accept your invitation to surrender unto You."

By chanting Hare Krishna you can always think of Krishna and become a first-class yogi. The perfect yogi has all power from within.

Q: Sometimes there is maya in the temple.
A: Show me a place where maya is not.

God is one and the path to God is one, bhakti, as Krishna says in Bg. 18.55. Others persons, who take to other paths, waste their time because it will take them longer.

One who is inquisitive about the Absolute Truth will ultimate attain it depending on how he is situated, but for a devotee who can accept immediately the Bhagavatam version, liberation is attained. Those who can accept the authority save time.

God is not dead, because we are part of God and we are not dead.

Notes on Srila Prabhupada lecture (SB 1.5.15, New Vrndavana, June 15, 1969):

If we do not come to the spiritual platform, just some regulative principles on the material platform will not help us. Neither will going to the temple, while maintaining desires for sense enjoyment, bring the ultimate benefit.

Just as you can get a position in the government and be better situated than an ordinary man, you can become a demigod and be better situated than a human being.

Direct people to Krishna. Do not misguide them by leading them to some demigod.

The impersonalists claim the impersonal feature of God is supreme, and think that temporarily one can worship any demigod to elevate himself to that point. The Vaishnavas accept the Bhagavatam version that the personal form of Krishna is Supreme.

Krishna and maya are side by side. As soon as you are a little slack in Krishna consciousness, maya is there waiting for you.

We give brahminical initiation as recognition that the disciple is pure in habits, learned in the scripture, and engaged in devotional service.

The born brahmanas without brahminical qualities have destroyed the India’s spiritual culture.

I foolishly left my notebook in Poland, but I remember one class at the Ukraine festival by Gopiparanadhana Prabhu on the prayers of Queen Kunti. He was making the point that the devotees of the Lord do not actually suffer although they may appear to. One devotee raised a doubt, "Didn’t Devaki suffer when her six children were killed?" Gopiparanadhana was firm in his reply, "No." He explained that when actors put on a play, so many calamaties may happen in the course of the drama, but no one actually gets hurt. Rather the actors are happy to see that the audience enjoys the play. In the same way, the pure devotees of the Lord do not actually suffer in the course of playing their parts in the Lord’s pastimes. It was such a powerful analogy, it remains fresh in my mind.

Ukraine Festival—Better Than Ever

Many people I talked to said that the Ukraine festival was better than ever this year. Many reasons combined to make it so. There were no festival or prasadam fees. There were an estimated 4,000 devotees, more than ever and 500 more than last year. B.B. Govinda Swami and his harmonium player and saxophonist/backup singer were there to lead bhajanas every night, along with Niranjana Swami, Indradyumna Swami, and Bhaktivaibhava Swami and others. One very special reason for the swell of devotional emotions is that Niranjana Swami, who has been a GBC in Ukraine for many years and is a main inspiration behind the festival, returned after a two-year absence because of health. He fully participated and the devotees were grateful. Moreover, some wonderful presenters made their first appearance this year, Bhanu Swami, and Deena Bandhu and Gopiparadhana Prabhus. The three hours of kirtana every evening was taken very seriously both by the presenters and the attenders, perhaps even more so than usual, and there was much chanting and dancing and great joy. The organizers planned for no seminars, prasadam serve outs, or vendors of devotional items during the scheduled evening kirtana, to encourage participation. Those evening kirtanas are what I miss the most as I recollect the festival, sitting crosslegged on my gray cadar at Pzremysl Glowny, the train station just over the Poland-Ukraine border, grateful to the Polish railroad company, PKP, for the free power. Unfortunately, they leave the train station doors open, and the coldness of late September creeps in. Thinking of the festival, I feel the saddest of separation from the devotees, their devotion, and their kirtana. Of course, there is always next year, and one can always get the DVD with all the lectures and kirtanas, and relive it through hearing.

The devotees in Ukraine are sweet. One young male devotee came up to me the first day of the festival and gave me a bag saying, "Some matajis wanted me to give you this." I thanked him, and later looked in the bag. It was some very thick woolen socks. During the next mangala arati, feeling the unexpected cold of the floor, I realized what a great gift they were. Indradyumna Swami once told me, "The best gift is not the most valuable thing, but that which is most needed."

Devotees are such charitable people, I asked one for change for ten euros, and he gave me six more euros and told me to keep the ten. The next day, I asked another to change ten euros into grivnas, the Ukrainian currency, he gave me a hundred grivnas (over sixteen euros) and also would not accept the ten. When will I become charitable by their good association? Krishna says in Bhagavad-gita 18.5, "Sacrifice, charity, and penances purify even the great souls." What to speak of me.

As I took the bus from the Ukraine’s Lvov airport to Shegyni on the border of Poland, I saw about fifteen cows coming down a rural highway closely followed by a middle-aged woman with a stick. It reminded me of India. There, of course, it would have been a man with the stick. Many houses have vegetable gardens and squash is in season. The crowded condition of the bus also reminded me of India as do the simplicity of the people and their paraphenalia. That the prices are less is also like India, although not that quite that much less. Of course, Ukraine is much greener than India.

On the train from Przemysl to Katowice, I met a Polish young man who has lived in Munich for four years, and I gave him a invitation to the Munich temple I obtained during my visit there. Another, who kindly lent me his phone, told me he had friends who enjoy going to the Hare Krishna camp at the Polish Woodstock. He recalled, "I think they call it Krishna’s Village of Peace." I smiled and replied with its Polish translation, "Pokojova Wioska Kryszny!" And he smiled back. By the grace of Indradyumna Swami and his followers, Krishna is popular in Poland.

Krishna Consciousness in Katowice

Although I visited Bhakta Adam and his very devotional wife three times last year, I always missed their Sunday nama-hatta program. This time I stayed for it, although it was austere as the city failed to begin heating his apartment building in time for the cool autumn season. I recall the seven or eight guests who came were all very attentive in the kirtana and played the instruments and chanted nicely. It is so much more fun when the people respond with a degree of enthusiasm. Adam and his wife will get some mercy from Lord Caitanya for faithfully maintaining that weekly program.

A Couple I Met in Wroclaw

While waiting for the bus to the Wroclaw airport, I passed out Polish Hare Krishna mantra cards to the others at the bus stop. One middle-aged couple enroute to London on the same flight as me I found out was vegetarian—a rarity in Poland. I invited them to our Sunday program there in Wroclaw as it was their home. The man had a African djembe drum, and I told him he could bring it to play at our program. I wrote down the address of our Govinda’s Restaurant on Soho St. so they could come there during their two-week London visit. I also told them about our summer festivals on the Baltic Sea and at the Polish Woodstock and gave them invitations for each, saying that next year’s schedule will be posted on the web site. I hope they take advantage of some of these many opportunities.

Painting by Jagannath Krishna Das,
now Gopi Vallabha Das.

Sadaputa Prabhu Memorial at London’s Matchless Gifts

Amazingly enough, the day after I arrived in London, I saw Jagannatha Krishna Prabhu, now reinitiated as Gopi Vallabha Prabhu, who did some illustrations for Sadaputa Prabhu in San Diego. I had not seen him since that time, and it was comforting to see a fellow associate of Sadaputa Prabhu, soon after hearing he left his body. Gopi Vallabha and Rama Nrsimha Prabhus were planning a memorial service at the King’s Cross store front’s, Matchless Gifts’, Friday evening program, and they invited me to participate. I showed some clips from Sadaputa Prabhu’s videos, including those showing cheating in archeology, the complete improbability of evolution by natural selection, and empirical evidence for the difference between the mind and the brain. Gopi Vallabha told of how Sadaputa Prabhu patiently answered his scientific doubts for two or three hours when he was becoming a devotee, and how that helped him greatly in his Krishna consciousness. We felt happy that Parasurama Prabhu, the president of the center, and several individual devotees said they liked the program very much.

Manchester Ratha-yatra 2008

I went to a great harinama on Saturday in Manchester to advertise the next day’s Ratha-yatra and found the city to be a great venue for doing harinama, with many pedestrians walking in areas intentionally offlimits to cars. I was also inspired to see a group of enthusiastic congregational devotees eager to participate. Indeed, to witness the cooperative spirit among those planning and executing the Ratha-yatra was uplifting. Most amazing was that Manchester, reputed to be the rainiest city in England, had a mostly sunny day in honor of Lord Jagannatha. A busload of devotees came from London for the event.

Maha-Vishnu Swami, seen here with his accordion, played a key role in the life the kirtanas.

I am hopeful the event can happen yearly at a scale at least as large as it was this year. A brief article with a gallery of pictures can be found at: http://www.theasiannews.co.uk/news/s/1069576_krishna_devotees_enjoy_colourful_festival

That site links to a nice video as well: http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/video/?bcpid=1138292711&bctid=1825764784

Memorial Service for Sadaputa Prabhu in Alachua, Florida

It was a little bewildering after sleeping one hour the night before, to take an hour and a half of buses, eleven hours of flights, from London to Orlando, and then two hours of traveling by car to Alachua for a memorial service for Sadaputa Prabhu that evening. I had been gone for fifteen months, and experienced the mixture of the happiness to see old friends and sadness that Sadaputa Prabhu was no longer with us, and the frustration at not being able to reciprocate with all the people I saw there that I knew. From the memorial service, I learned about other aspects of Sadaputa’s life, both as a new devotee and as a family man, that I had not known before, and I found that beneficial. For my part, I played an excerpt of his "Mind and Brain" video where he talks about empirical evidence that the soul is different from the body, near-death experiences and past life memories. I prefaced it by saying that we are so much affected by materialistic ideas we have learned in school, that hearing of this empirical evidence confirming scriptural injunctions about the eternality of the soul is valuable.

Birthday Party

Three devotees at Gainesville ISKCON had birthdays on September 30. We were 22, 32, and 49 years old. The two eldest of us, Saranga Prabhu and I, did presentations for the evening class. He discussed his silas and worshiping Them, and I showed some clips from Sadaputa Prabhu’s videos and shared some of the material I did not have time to present the previous night at the memorial service. Barbara and Brian, Sadaputa Prabhu’s wife and son from his first marriage, appreciated hearing more about him. We all had cake and ice cream. A nice way to end the month.

"Advanced people are eager to understand the Absolute Truth through the
medium of science, and therefore a great scientist should endeavor to prove the
existence of the Lord on a scientific basis" (Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.5.22,
purport). All glories to Sadaputa Prabhu, who endeavored his best in that
connection.

travel journal#4-17: Finland and Ukraine

To see the illustrated version of this journal, click on the link below:

http://krishnamonk.blogspot.com/2008/10/travel-journal4-17-finland-and-ukraine.html

 Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 4, No. 17

By Krishna-kripa das

(September 2008, part one)

Tampere and Helsinki, Finland & Kharkov, Ukraine

(Sent from Gainesville, Florida on 10/11/08)

 

Where I Am and What I Am Doing

I spent the first week of September in Finland, researching an article on the Finnish yatra, especially its programs for academia, for Back to Godhead and meditating on speaking on the glories of Radharani for Radhastami. Then I went to Kharkov where we had a couple harinamas, including a very nice one at the college, and where Bhakta Andre kindly replaced eight fillings in my teeth.

 

Devotional Meditations

Notes on Kavicandra Swami's recorded class on Caitanya-caritamrita:

"Water, water, everywhere, but not a drop to drink" from Rime of the Ancient Mariner describes the nature of the material world. We are looking for enjoyment, but if we try to enjoy that which surrounds around us, we will just suffer, just as if one drinks the sea water to quench his thirst.

We want to go from lust to love, and from passion to compassion.

In this ISKCON movement we are doing the same things that Lord Caitanya did, so this is also Gaura-lila.

Notes from a recorded lecture by Bhakti Vidya Purna Swami:

In making emotional presentations, a pleasant background has to be created before the point is made, so the point is likely to be accepted. In intellectual presentations, the point is made in the beginning, and the presentation uses intelligent arguments to show the wisdom of the point.

If one foolishly drives off the road, one does not blame the road, the car, or the tires, but oneself, why then does one who has difficulty in a relationship, always blame the other person? If we could learn to refrain from doing this, we could improve our relationships among devotees considerably.

 

Academic Outreach in Finland

 

I have written an article for Back to Godhead, on Finland's academic outreach, but I want to say a little about it here. The "Krishna religion" is an official religion in Finland. If three or more kids in a city worship Krishna, then if their parents request, the school is obligated to teach a weekly class it in.

 

Tapo Divyam Prabhu teaches a class of Nepali boys about Srila Prabhupada.

Thus one devotee, Tapo Divyam Prabhu, teaches seven such courses in the Helsinki area schools.

 

Tattvavada Prabhu gives a lecture to a class of high school students. In addition a team of five devotees headed by Tattvavada Prabhu, ISKCON's regional secretary for Finland, gives lectures in 100 high schools and colleges and in six of the country's ten universities. Besides this, at least two or three classes visit the temple each week. One teacher of religion teachers brings his entire class once a year, and a class of nurses visits the temple once a year, as nurses need to be familiar with the different practices of their patients. Recently, a professor at the Helsinki University asked the devotees to write a curriculum for a course in the Krishna religion. Thus in the country of Finland the devotees are well respected for the knowledge that they share.

 

Harinama in Finland

We did harinama in Tampere with the book distribution and college lecturing party, which they occasionally do midweek. We also did weekly two-hour harinama in a busy section of Helsinki. There they distributed hundreds of invitations to the Radhastami festival. They kindly let me lead the kirtana part of the time both place, and they had the cut-off harmoniums that Aindra Prabhu has especially made for harinama. It is three cities in a row that they have had those harmoniums, and I am happy to have the practice using them.

 

Book Distribution Stories from Finland

While researching my article on the academic programs done by ISKCON in Finland, I traveled for three days with their book and prasadam distribution devotees who worked Tampere, the same town as Tattvavada Prabhu gave his academic lectures in that week. Every day Avadhutacandra Prabhu, the party leader and one of the leading book distributors in Europe had a nice story to tell.

The first day he met a respectably dressed man who showed surprising interest in Prabhupada's books. It turned out, when the man was a student, he had heard a lecture by Tattvavada Prabhu and even stayed after class to continue speaking with him. Now he eagerly discussed the philosophy with Avadhutacandra and ultimately bought a book.In front of the library, Avadhutacandra talked with a student who had a heart condition so bad that he could actually die at any moment. He was convinced about the worlds' miseries, and Avadhutacandra sold him both the Gita and the Bhagavatam, Canto 1. When the man made the payment for the books, Avadhutacandra threw in the Mahabharata for another five euros. One boy really had an interest in Prabhupada's books, but he had no money. Just then a girl who had previously purchased the books came up and told Avadhutacandra how much she liked them. Seeing her enthusiasm for the books, he asked her if she would be willing to buy a book for the boy who had no money. The boy was a little shy at first to take help from the girl, but ultimately he did, and received the book. Avadhutacandra also sold another book to the girl at a discounted price.

 

Radhastami

I gave two lectures on Radhastami—one in the morning to the temple devotees, and one for the general Sunday feast crowd. In the morning, I talked about the feelings of separation of Radharani and how Lord Caitanya and Srila Prabhupada taught that devotees must learn how to love Krishna through feelings of separation following in the footsteps of the gopis. This is largely over my head, but I supported it with Prabhupada's statements from Krishna book. It is the right time to talk of such esoteric topics. If not on Radhastami, when? We cannot neglect such an important part of the philosophy. I read my poem about Radha and the bumblebee, which is based on Krishna book, and it went well. In the evening I stressed how Srila Prabhupada would often say that it is easy to attain Krishna by the mercy of Radharani, and we should beg for Her mercy in this connection, especially on this day.

 

During the Radhastami feast I talked to a young couple who had hitchhiked from Germany to Finland. I could see they were not so interested in religion, but they did like music. I talked with them about mantras and the purifying power of the Vedic sound vibration, and they seemed interested. The boy was a guitar player, and I showed him the chords for the simple tune that Srila Prabhupada often chanted, demonstrating with the harmonium. He said that they like to sing while they hitchhike, and I hope they experiment with the maha-mantra, and that it wins their hearts. One enthusiastic devotee gave them two liters of halava to take with them on the road. That it itself might prove an inspiration for devotional service. I learned from the girl that there is a bus that you can take to India from Instanbul for forty euros. Apparently, you do not need visas for the intervening countries as you don't get off the bus. She had never taken it but heard that it leaves from the main bus terminal there in Istanbul.

 

Harinama in Kharkov

 

Each venue we do harinama has a special flavor. I love the ones we do on the sidewalk near the university in Kharkov, Ukraine. What's special there is the devotees roll out about 15 meters of carpet on the curb across from us for interested people to sit and hear the transcendental sound. Usually between five and twelve people are sitting listening at any one time, and for at least half an hour during the three or four hours we chanted there, twenty people listened. This time we came out with four devotees. Two more devotees, who attend the university, later joined us. We played the harmonium, the mrdanga, karatalas, whompers (the big karatalas), a tambourine, and a djembe. The devotees, headed by brahmacari preacher, Krishna Dvaipayana Dasa, display a table of books, DVDs, incense, sweets, temple invitations, and a photo album of devotional pictures for people to look through. [The DVD distribution program is interesting. The DVDs, which are either for sale or to borrow, include kirtana, lectures, and movies of India and devotional topics, and create an interest in the people receiving them.] One new Kharkov devotee, a university student in technology, told me that he hears the passersby the harinamasay things like, "These Hare Krishnas are very powerful. They pass out sweets and incense, and make you feel like you don't want to go anywhere else." In Kharkov the devotees chant six days a week, at least three hours a day, either at the university, park, or downtown, depending on the day. I like to go there every year and become inspired. Sahasra Jit Prabhu, the temple president, tells me that each year they teach an introductory course to about twenty to thirty newcomers to Krishna consciousness, most having developed an interest as a result of the harinama program.

 

Some People I Encountered in Kharkov

 

There is Sahasra Jit Prabhu, the temple president, who always gets me at the train station, translates my Bhagavatam classes, finds a place for me to stay, and makes sure I can go on plenty of harinamas. There is Krishna Dvaipayana Prabhu, who is always jolly, and is a dedicated preacher. There is Drumila Dasa, who on harinama, closes his eyes and chants lively tunes with his whole heart. There is Bhakta Andre, the dentist, who kindly spent four hours replacing the fillings for eight of my cavities as a service, because he found my dancing inspiring at the Ukraine festival one year. There is householder Alexi, who invited the harinama party to lunch two days in a row. There was a five-year medical student from Malaysia who went to the Sunday feast there as a ten-year-old kid but decided to take devotional service seriously in Kharkov a few months ago and came out with us on harinama. There was a lady from Iran who teaches Farsi at the university, who developed an interest in Krishna consciousness in Kharkov, and came out on harinama along with her daughter. An English teacher from the university visited the harinama and decided she had to talk with me as I was an American. She blessed me to think good thoughts, say good words, do good activities, and to find God in my heart—all nice sentiments.

 

Bolo 'krishna,' bhajo 'krishna,' koro 'krishna–siksa'.

Chant "Krishna!" worship Krishna, and follow Krishna's instructions.

(from Bhaktivinoda Thakura's Gitavali)

travel journal#4-17: Finland and Ukraine

Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 4, No. 17
By Krishna-kripa das
(September 2008, part one)
Tampere and Helsinki, Finland & Kharkov, Ukraine
(Sent from Gainesville, Florida on 10/11/08)

Where I Am and What I Am Doing

I spent the first week of September in Finland, researching an article on the Finnish yatra, especially its programs for academia, for Back to Godhead and meditating on speaking on the glories of Radharani for Radhastami. Then I went to Kharkov where we had a couple harinamas, including a very nice one at the college, and where Bhakta Andre kindly replaced eight fillings in my teeth.

Devotional Meditations

Notes on Kavicandra Swami’s recorded class on Caitanya-caritamrita:

"Water, water, everywhere, but not a drop to drink" from Rime of the Ancient Mariner describes the nature of the material world. We are looking for enjoyment, but if we try to enjoy that which surrounds around us, we will just suffer, just as if one drinks the sea water to quench his thirst.

We want to go from lust to love, and from passion to compassion.

In this ISKCON movement we are doing the same things that Lord Caitanya did, so this is also Gaura-lila.

Notes from a recorded lecture by Bhakti Vidya Purna Swami:

In making emotional presentations, a pleasant background has to be created before the point is made, so the point is likely to be accepted. In intellectual presentations, the point is made in the beginning, and the presentation uses intelligent arguments to show the wisdom of the point.

If one foolishly drives off the road, one does not blame the road, the car, or the tires, but oneself, why then does one who has difficulty in a relationship, always blame the other person? If we could learn to refrain from doing this, we could improve our relationships among devotees considerably.

Academic Outreach in Finland

I have written an article for Back to Godhead, on Finland’s academic outreach, but I want to say a little about it here. The "Krishna religion" is an official religion in Finland. If three or more kids in a city worship Krishna, then if their parents request, the school is obligated to teach a weekly class it in.

Tapo Divyam Prabhu teaches a class of Nepali boys about Srila Prabhupada.

Thus one devotee, Tapo Divyam Prabhu, teaches seven such courses in the Helsinki area schools.

Tattvavada Prabhu gives a lecture to a class of high school students.

In addition a team of five devotees headed by Tattvavada Prabhu, ISKCON’s regional secretary for Finland, gives lectures in 100 high schools and colleges and in six of the country’s ten universities. Besides this, at least two or three classes visit the temple each week. One teacher of religion teachers brings his entire class once a year, and a class of nurses visits the temple once a year, as nurses need to be familiar with the different practices of their patients. Recently, a professor at the Helsinki University asked the devotees to write a curriculum for a course in the Krishna religion. Thus in the country of Finland the devotees are well respected for the knowledge that they share.

Harinama in Finland

We did harinama in Tampere with the book distribution and college lecturing party, which they occasionally do midweek.

We also did weekly two-hour harinama in a busy section of Helsinki. There they distributed hundreds of invitations to the Radhastami festival. They kindly let me lead the kirtana part of the time both place, and they had the cut-off harmoniums that Aindra Prabhu has especially made for harinama. It is three cities in a row that they have had those harmoniums, and I am happy to have the practice using them.

Book Distribution Stories from Finland

While researching my article on the academic programs done by ISKCON in Finland, I traveled for three days with their book and prasadam distribution devotees who worked Tampere, the same town as Tattvavada Prabhu gave his academic lectures in that week. Every day Avadhutacandra Prabhu, the party leader and one of the leading book distributors in Europe had a nice story to tell.

The first day he met a respectably dressed man who showed surprising interest in Prabhupada’s books. It turned out, when the man was a student, he had heard a lecture by Tattvavada Prabhu and even stayed after class to continue speaking with him. Now he eagerly discussed the philosophy with Avadhutacandra and ultimately bought a book.

In front of the library, Avadhutacandra talked with a student who had a heart condition so bad that he could actually die at any moment. He was convinced about the worlds’ miseries, and Avadhutacandra sold him both the Gita and the Bhagavatam, Canto 1. When the man made the payment for the books, Avadhutacandra threw in the Mahabharata for another five euros.

One boy really had an interest in Prabhupada’s books, but he had no money. Just then a girl who had previously purchased the books came up and told Avadhutacandra how much she liked them. Seeing her enthusiasm for the books, he asked her if she would be willing to buy a book for the boy who had no money. The boy was a little shy at first to take help from the girl, but ultimately he did, and received the book. Avadhutacandra also sold another book to the girl at
a discounted price.

Radhastami

I gave two lectures on Radhastami—one in the morning to the temple devotees, and one for the general Sunday feast crowd. In the morning, I talked about the feelings of separation of Radharani and how Lord Caitanya and Srila Prabhupada taught that devotees must learn how to love Krishna through feelings of separation following in the footsteps of the gopis. This is largely over my head, but I supported it with Prabhupada’s statements from Krishna book. It is the right time to talk of such esoteric topics. If not on Radhastami, when? We cannot neglect such an important part of the philosophy. I read my poem about Radha and the bumblebee, which is based on Krishna book, and it went well. In the evening I stressed how Srila Prabhupada would often say that it is easy to attain Krishna by the mercy of Radharani, and we should beg for Her mercy in this connection, especially on this day.

During the Radhastami feast I talked to a young couple who had hitchhiked from Germany to Finland. I could see they were not so interested in religion, but they did like music. I talked with them about mantras and the purifying power of the Vedic sound vibration, and they seemed interested. The boy was a guitar player, and I showed him the chords for the simple tune that Srila Prabhupada often chanted, demonstrating with the harmonium. He said that they like to sing while they hitchhike, and I hope they experiment with the maha-mantra, and that it wins their hearts. One enthusiastic devotee gave them two liters of halava to take with them on the road. That it itself might prove an inspiration for devotional service. I learned from the girl that there is a bus that you can take to India from Instanbul for forty euros. Apparently, you do not need visas for the intervening countries as you don’t get off the bus. She had never taken it but heard that it leaves from the main bus terminal there in Istanbul.

Harinama in Kharkov

Each venue we do harinama has a special flavor. I love the ones we do on the sidewalk near the university in Kharkov, Ukraine. What’s special there is the devotees roll out about 15 meters of carpet on the curb across from us for interested people to sit and hear the transcendental sound. Usually between five and twelve people are sitting listening at any one time, and for at least half an hour during the three or four hours we chanted there, twenty people listened. This time we came out with four devotees. Two more devotees, who attend the university, later joined us. We played the harmonium, the mrdanga, karatalas, whompers (the big karatalas), a tambourine, and a djembe. The devotees, headed by brahmacari preacher, Krishna Dvaipayana Dasa, display a table of books, DVDs, incense, sweets, temple invitations, and a photo album of devotional pictures for people to look through. [The DVD distribution program is interesting. The DVDs, which are either for sale or to borrow, include kirtana, lectures, and movies of India and devotional topics, and create an interest in the people receiving them.] One new Kharkov devotee, a university student in technology, told me that he hears the passersby the harinamasay things like, "These Hare Krishnas are very powerful. They pass out sweets and incense, and make you feel like you don’t want to go anywhere else." In Kharkov the devotees chant six days a week, at least three hours a day, either at the university, park, or downtown, depending on the day. I like to go there every year and become inspired. Sahasra Jit Prabhu, the temple president, tells me that each year they teach an introductory course to about twenty to thirty newcomers to Krishna consciousness, most having developed an interest as a result of the harinama program.

Some People I Encountered in Kharkov

There is Sahasra Jit Prabhu, the temple president, who always gets me at the train station, translates my Bhagavatam classes, finds a place for me to stay, and makes sure I can go on plenty of harinamas. There is Krishna Dvaipayana Prabhu, who is always jolly, and is a dedicated preacher. There is Drumila Dasa, who on harinama, closes his eyes and chants lively tunes with his whole heart. There is Bhakta Andre, the dentist, who kindly spent four hours replacing the fillings for eight of my cavities as a service, because he found my dancing inspiring at the Ukraine festival one year. There is householder Alexi, who invited the harinama party to lunch two days in a row. There was a five-year medical student from Malaysia who went to the Sunday feast there as a ten-year-old kid but decided to take devotional service seriously in Kharkov a few months ago and came out with us on harinama. There was a lady from Iran who teaches Farsi at the university, who developed an interest in Krishna consciousness in Kharkov, and came out on harinama along with her daughter. An English teacher from the university visited the harinama and decided she had to talk with me as I was an American. She blessed me to think good thoughts, say good words, do good activities, and to find God in my heart—all nice sentiments.

Bolo ‘krishna,’ bhajo ‘krishna,’ koro ‘krishna–siksa’.

Chant "Krishna!" worship Krishna, and follow Krishna’s instructions.

(from Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s Gitavali)