Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 6, No. 16 By Krishna-kripa das (August 2010, part two) Czech Woodstock, Wroclaw Ratha-yatra, Cologne Harinama (Sent from Stuyvesant, New York, on September 30, 2010) Highlights
Dhruva Prabhu suggested I include my itinerary for upcoming travel:
September 30-October 1: Stuyvesant, New York October 2: 12-hour Kirtana, Manhattan October 3: 1:30-4:30 p.m., harinama at Tompkins Square Park October 4-5: Bhakti Center, Manhattan October 5, evening: Sacinandana Swami program, Manhattan October 6-8: Philadelphia October 8, 7 p.m., Harinama, South Street, Philly October 9-11: Albany, New York
October 12: Manhattan
October 13: 12:30- 3:30 p.m. Harinama, Univ. of North Florida, Jacksonville October 13-20: Gainesville
October 15: Gainesville Ratha-yatra
October 16: chanting at the U.F. Homecoming game
October 20-November 17: Tucson November 17-November 30: Gainesville
Where I Went and What I Did
We left Leipzig by train on August 19 to attend Trutnov, a Czech rock concert where the Hare Krishnas have a camp with lots of spiritual music and food, and the blessings of the Trutnov organizer, Martin, who puts Lord Jagannatha’s smiling face on the all the festival ads, wristbands, the main stage itself, and even the plastic beer mugs. After Trutnov we went to Mother Isvari’s place near Rybnik, Poland, to recover from Trutnov, and celebrate Lord Balarama’s appearance day with a nama-hatta program. On August 26, we attended the second annual Wroclaw Ratha-yatra, then spent one day in Wroclaw and one day on the Poland farm. Then we went to Warsaw, for their Balarama festival, during the Sunday feast. Tribhuvanesvara Prabhu led great kirtana, and the feast was very satisfying. On August 30, we started by train to London, stopping in Berlin for dinner, and Cologne, for a day, to do harinama. Then we ended up in Brussels for the evening ofAugust 31.
Trutnov Open Air Festival (Czech Woodstock) August 19-22, 2010
The first day, I saw three people from previous years. It seemed more people chanted this time than previously. People even stood on benches dancing with upraised arms, a new development. The first night, we tried to stop the kirtana twice, but people wanted us to keep going. We finally ended at 2:10 a.m. Once I counted seven people happily chanting along at 1:00 a.m.
Other days we stayed up even later, once ending at 5:00 a.m. There were always people ready to hear, sing, and dance, until the end. The picture above was taken at 3:20 a.m.
We did Ratha-yatra from the school we stay at, to the downtown area, and then back up the hill to the Trutnov site. Some people pulled the cart, and others sang and danced. Two girls who must have spent half their time in our tent joined our return Ratha-yatra, back to the school that was our base. On that return Ratha-yatra, some people even lay down flat on the street before Lord Jagannatha
When Prabhupada disciple, Jay Gurudeva Das, did Hare Krishna chanting with electric guitar and synthesizer, one very large, jovial, young man who obviously had a lot of beer, jumped up on the stage and tried to chant into the microphone. He attracted a lot of attention. He had a good voice, but because he had so much beer he messed up the mantra a lot, although we showed him a couple mantra cards. Jay Gurudeva was good at letting him do his thing but not steal the show. Although Jay Gurudeva had just sung many of the same tunes as last year which had gotten many people dancing, this year for the first hour, practically no one danced but me. Not even those who I had seen dancing and chanting the night before would dance, not even when I tried to encourage them. But when this man spontaneously came up on the stage, he attracted people’s attention, and then thirty people got up and danced with enthusiasm. [Click here to see Facebook movie showing about the above.]
Prithu Prabhu gave one of the best lectures I heard him ever gave. He talked about the body, subtle body, and soul. He talked about experiences he had of astral travel as well as a near-death experience. So as to relate to the young crowd, he talked about how he was the first person in his town to have dredlocks when he was a kid, and how he distributed drugs in one area in Germany as a youth. After telling about the subtle body, he introduced the soul and transmigration. He used a large plate, small plate, bowl, cup, and spoon, to visually represent the body, mind, intelligence, false ego, and soul. At the end, he recommended the people buy one of Srila Prabhupada’s introductory books.
One girl who liked Prithu Prabhu’s lectures bought the book he recommended. She, like many, came by at least three times a day to see and hear what was happening at our Krishna camp. Punya Palaka Prabhu found her blog where she described her experience: “I go to check the Krishna camp. I exactly knew that. There, in the Krishna camp, “it” all is and “it” is so strong. I’m still not sure what “it” is, but I’ve got the time to find out. I spent there less than an hour, but I got hit by the end of a lecture by one sympathetic, English speaking man. And it was a hit at the right spot. Then for some half an hour they were singing their Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna,
Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare . . . And it was magic.” She mentioned that she liked that I took the trouble to explain some of the Bengali bhajanas that one devotees band was singing, and she learned that Krishna is one although having many names. She also described how some of us came off the stage with our instruments and sang while they were setting the stage for the next band. In conclusion, the girl wrote, “Actually, all the time I was moving between booths and the Krishna camp. And I just realized that regardless the situation, I feel always fine down there. They have brought buckets of energy in all of their mantras. And you won’t find anyone uncongenial or displeasing there . . . simply a wonderful group of people with wonderful energy.” If you know Czech or want to translate the whole article with Google, the links are Day 2 and Day 3.
One girl, who had come last year with two friends, came this year with some other friends, stopping by at least a couple times.
Our presentation this year was better in that we had mantra cards to give to all that wanted them, and we set up a booth for questions and answers, instead of informally answering people’s questions, so many more people took advantage of that opportunity.
In the morning the day after, one man and woman came up to Punya Palaka Prabhu, our Krishna Camp organizer, saying, “Your Hare Krishna Camp is a refuge for many of the participants. When they feel down they come to regain their energy—instead of some energy drinks, Hare Krishna Camp is better!” The man had been coming for years, and he was also among the group of some thirty who kept chanting and dancing by themselves on Friday night while we were setting up the stage for the band performance to come. . . . Both he and the lady said they had been bringing their friends and all of them had agreed, it was refreshing to join the chanting and dancing . . .”
After Trutnov, as Dhruva Prabhu and I were riding the train to our next destination, I could see at the rate we were going, we would miss our connection, so I searched for the conductor. I found two conductors but neither spoke English. I asked the four young people standing around if any of them knew English and would translate. One young man agreed. During their interaction with me, one his friends chanted his recollection of the Hare Krishna mantra, with a few words out of order, recognizing me to be a devotee. Thus when I thanked the man for his translation service, I gave him a mantra card as a present. The young man said with a smile, “Hare Krishna—that was the best song at the whole Trutnov festival!” And then he asked if I could sing the mantra one time for them, and I did, and then I asked them to sing it one time for me, and we chanted a couple more times, engaging a few more young people in the next carriage in hearing. The man’s comment was impressive to me, although a hundred bands had played on four stages at Trutnov, he considered Hare Krishna to be the best song at the whole event, and he wanted to hear it again.
Later when we got off that train, I decided to play harmonium and chant on the platform, down the whole length of the train and back, and I got a lot of smiles of appreciation, and I recognized some of the people who had attended our Krishna camp. I passed a few remaining mantra cards to the smiling people through the train windows. The conductors did not complain.
It was nice as always to see people happily connecting with Krishna through kirtana, prasadam, and the association of the devotees. For more pictures with descriptive captions, click here.
Wroclaw Ratha-yatra 2010
There are six YouTube videos one devotee, with the user name Arkadiusz108, uploaded about the Wroclaw Ratha-yatra. The first is below:
After their first Ratha-yatra last year, the Wroclaw devotees performed number two this year. The authorities delayed approving their application until all the weekends were taken, and so the Ratha-yatra was on Thursday. There were fewer devotees there than last year, but plenty of guests. The stage show had more variety this year, and a greater number and variety of people watched it. Many were eager to take the temple invitations I was passing out. The prasadam was better and lasted longer. Bravo! During the parade one girl who had danced in our kirtana tent at Woodstock recognized me. She was happy to encounter the devotees again. And I gave her the invitation to our local temple and invited her to the Ratha-yatra stage show.
Harinama in Cologne
Dhruva Prabhu is always up for visiting a new temple, so we stopped in Cologne as we traveled by train from Poland to London. At mangala-arati, there were only Dhruva and I, and MahaLaxmi, who we had met on the Netherlands padayatra. There are few temple devotees there, and even though it was one of their standard harinama days, we could not find local devotees to go. Fortunately MahaLaxmi, who was also traveling through Cologne and who has a nice voice, was eager to go out, so we chanted for almost three hours in a downtown market section. Once we came upon a very ornately decorated cathedral dating back hundreds of years ago, and we sat down on the steps nearby. One group of children from Spain enjoyed listening to us for a while. There were many people in the market section and near the cathedral, and we passed out invitations to the local temple. Now that I have seen what a nice venue they have for harinama, I will definitely go back. While returning to the temple, we chanted on the metro, but we saw some metro police, so we got off at the next stop and waited for the next train, so we were able to continue chanting the whole way back.
Insight from Lectures
Navina Nirada Prabhu:
Prayers are meant to worship the Lord not fulfilling our own desires.
One who asks the Lord for what he is already giving is less intelligent and even ungrateful.
Bhaktisiddhanta Saravati Thakura spoke for three months on Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.1.1 at Radha-kunda.
Our words will lose meaning if we do not act as we say.
We repeat what we have heard and what we have realized. If we speak what we have heard but not yet realized, it will not be as effective
It is so noisy on the battlefield that the soldier touches his charioteer with his feet, either on the left or right to direct him. Thus the charioteer position that Lord Krishna accepted in relationship to Arjuna is a very menial one, but Krishna accepted it out of love for His friend.
Intelligence is measured by the extent one is willing to surrender to the Lord’s desire.
Many times you can go up to people and say, “This is a book about Krishna. You have heard of Krishna?”
Lord Nityananda has some kirtanas that went for months without disturbed by other things.
Lord Caitanya touched Prakasananda Sarasvati’s heart but humbly sitting where the people washed their feet. And so Prakasananda Sarasvati offered some service, thereby getting unknowing piety. Lord Caitanya furthermore explained out he was chanting the holy name because his guru found Him to fallen to study Vedanta.
Trnad api sunicena… is the access code which unlocks the holy names and other instructions for chanting.
Although we are only one of seven billion people on earth, still Krishna loves us.
To get people lower their defenses, we have to lower our defenses. But if we lower our defenses, we worry that someone may take advantage of us. But if Krishna is there to protect us, what do we need to worry about?
If Lord Caitanya gave sankirtana and prasadam for this masses but just spoke philosophy to the intelligent, why do we distribute these books? Because people are so unfortunate they are not willing to chant and take prasadam. They books are sankirtana in hard copy.
Unless you lead a virtuous life (the mode of goodness) you cannot taste real happiness.
Book distribution depends on four things:
1. Strong sadhana so you have some spiritual realization. 2. Having the books. 3. The more you show, the more you sell. 4. Organize.
We are not using holy name as a washing detergent to get free from sins but to serve the Lord. Krishna protects his devotee’s vows. So let’s vow to take Krishna consciousness seriously.
If you care about others, you share with them. Srila Prabhupada came from the most exalted place, Vrndavana, to the most degraded place, the Bowery, to share the spiritual truth he had.
The Jews wear that little cap to remember that there is always something divine above them.
I ask the people, “Are you a rock star or a regular loser?” Or else, I ask, “Which one of you is the smart one?” Or else, I say, “This is for all the nice people. Are you nice?”
Krishna doesn’t need anything but our love.
One of the last people of the day was not so interested. Then she asked, “Does this book say anything about Kali-yuga?” I gave her a Teachings of Lord Caitanya, and said, “This is about the person who really saves the day in Kali-yuga.” She took the book.
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pātrāpātra-vicāra nāhi, nāhi sthānāsthāna
yei yāńhā pāya, tāńhā kare prema-dāna
"In distributing love of Godhead, Caitanya Mahāprabhu and His associates did not consider who was a fit candidate and who was not, nor where such distribution should or should not take place. They made no conditions. Wherever they got the opportunity, the members of the Pañca-tattva distributed love of Godhead. (Caitanya Caritāmrita, Ādi 7.23)
This year I went to Berlin the day after the Polish Woodstock to do harinama to promote their Ratha-yatra the next Saturday. The lull between harinamas in previous years made me feel empty, and I was glad Krishna gave me this solution. I was accustomed to passing out invitations to the Woodstock attendees, who mostly are eager to take them, and the Berlin crowd was tougher by comparison. Still I recall one girl from near Cologne who loved the devotees singing and listened for sometime with a bright smile. I gave her the contact information for the temple near her home in addition to a Ratha-yatra invitation.
It was my sixth Berlin Ratha-yatra in a row, and the day was predicted to have a 90% chance of rain, but by the grace of the Lord, the downpour did not happen till the next day. There was a little rain at the temple on the Ratha-yatra day, but it did not rain at the site.
Kadamba Kanana Swami was there with his lively kirtana, and Kavicandra Swami with his faith in the holy name. Prithu Prabhu was there with his strong words meant to motivate people spiritually. For me, that Sacinandana Swami was not present this year, made it less lively than it usually was.
I distributed invitations and met many favorable people, including a number of tourists. Some I told about our festivals and temples in their homeland.
I liked the stage show, which had a lot of kirtana, including some with more contemporary music, and a very funny drama as well. I found a variety of different types of people developed an interest to learn more by viewing the stage show, and they took invitations and the very attractive German mantra cards with the face of Jagannatha on them along with a description of the mantra.
One little girl asked me to put tilaka on her,and I found a devotee lady who understood her request, and I lent her some tilaka to do that service.
The prasadam was very nice and was served out sooner and longer than other years.
Click here for one very professional video on the Berlin Ratha-yatra.
Hamburg Harinama and Sunday Feast
Dhruva Prabhu increased my outreach this year by urging me to come to Hamburg where he knew a devotee named Vasudeva, also originally from India, who lived in the temple.
The devotees do harinama there each Sunday, the day the most devotees are free from work, before the feast program.
The site is at the harbor, along the boardwalk, which is crowded with tourists. They let me play the harmonium, and I sang this Bada Hari tune that Madhava sings, and everyone liked it. The harinama was almost two hours. The Sunday feast program was only attended by about 20 people, but sometimes it is more. During the kirtana, four or five of the ladies were so enthusiastic, their dancing took out them out of the temple room, and into the next room, and maybe even further. They allow me to speak and because they are promoting study of the scriptures there and my talk had many scriptural references, several leaders like it.
Book Distribution Seminar in Berlin
By Navina Nirada Prabhu
Let new devotees watch and not start book distribution until the desire naturally arises. The people you approach can feel if you believe in what you are doing.
The first time I just carried the books for other devotees and took notes, and then I tried it myself. Some things in the presentation I changed. Everyone has his own style.
Krishna is interested in our love and affection, and sankirtana is a powerful process to cultivate this love.
When the demigods churned the ocean, first came the poison and then came the nectar, so it is often with sankirtana.
I was in Hungary where I distributed some books without knowing the language. If you are just enthusiastic it is possible.
“We are showing these books to all the nice people in XYZ. Are you one of the nice people? Thank you for taking your valuable time.”
If we give attention to the people, they will automatically reciprocate.
When you go door-to-door, when they open the door, you ask, “Do you live here?” (Make a small joke.) Great, then let me show you one of these...
“Are you more philosophical or more spiritual?” “Are you more a head person or a heart person?” “Oh, you are qualified.” Make it simple.
People like to be in treated in a personal way according to their nature but even beyond this, if they detect that we respect them, we will be successful. If the person sees we are making a great effort just for them, they will be inclined. If Krishna sees we really want the people to take the book, He will sanction it.
If you know a person is not interested, just tell him the price, and he will give the book back to you, and you can leave nicely and go on to the next person.
Ask the right questions. If a person says three times “yes,” he will buy the book. So ask questions that he will reply to in a positive way. If he says three times “no,” he won’t buy the book. Open ended questions are best, i.e. “How are you doing today? How is your karma?”
My goal is to give everyone something. Some can take only a smile or an invitation card. Some take a book the first time. Leave everyone with a good impression. Consider yourself an ambassador of goodwill.
Visit to the Polish Tour
It is always nice to visit the Polish festival hour, with their team of enthusiastic devotees, led by the incarnation of enthusiasm, Indradyumna Swami himself. I love the harinamas with sixty or more people, and I always find a people to give invitations to that the other distributors did not notice. I try to distribute the extra ones on the last day of the festival, and despite our previous two or three days of distributing thousands, still some new people take them and are very happy to hear of the festival.
Leipzig Ratha-yatra and Sunday Feast
Kavichandra Swami praised the route of the procession, which included the heart of the market district. During the parade, I went into a department store to use the bathroom on the fourth floor, and as I ascended the escalators, I noticed on each floor the kirtana was so well amplified everyone could hear it.
I felt happy because two girls I gave an invitation to during the parade came to the stage show and heard the kirtana for at least an hour, finally dancing happily with the devotee ladies. The prasadam was excellent, especially the srikhand and gaja. Later the following week, Navina Nirada Prabhu asked almost everyone he met what they were doing on Saturday, and he many were very happy about our Ratha-yatra festival.
Many people looking at the kirtana at the stage show took the temple invitations I gave them.
There were many flyers with descriptions of the Ratha-yatra and devotees eagerly distributed them.
Two devotees dressed up as Lord Caitanya, in yellow, and Lord Nityananda, in blue, and they swung each other around in circles as they danced before the cart, to the happiness of the devotees.
Suggestions I made for next year were: The description of the Ratha-yatra we distributed to onlookers could include the route and the place of the stage show. We had to give a separate invitation with the place of the stage show, and we had no information about the route until I asked, and then I was able to pass that information on to two or three guests who asked. It is good to think about how to improve the festival each year, and it was progress the devotees had a meeting about that soon afterward.
Bhaktivinoda Thakura says Ratha-yatra is the essence of all the festivals and those who take part are preparing themselves to become residents of the spiritual world.
This includes even onlookers like these girls who, knowingly or unknowingly, swept the street for the pleasure of the Lord and His devotees.
Although usually the Leipzig devotees have a feast program every other Saturday, they have a special one on the Sunday, the day after the Ratha-yatra. After the feast, they had a spontaneous kirtana that burst out of the temple room into the adjoining room and which continued for two hours.
Insights from Lectures
Indradyumna Swami [from introductory lectures at the Polish festivals]:
[I love Indradyumna Swami’s lectures on Bhagavad-gita to the attendees of his Polish festivals. He presents the philosophy using simple analogies people can relate to, and he makes it sound very reasonable.]
The human being has higher intelligence for self-realization. Even the smartest animal is not as smart as the dumbest human being.
Unless your know who you are, you will not know what to do to make yourself happy.
Just was we accept food from other cultures, we should also accept bona fide spiritual knowledge from other cultures. Everyone in Poland likes pizza, but pizza was not invented in Katowice!
This wisdom appeared in India, but it not just meant for people of India. The sun also appears in the east, but it travels to the west to benefit us here. Similar this spiritual knowledge from India is meant to benefit the whole world.
If you are evicted from your apartment, you find another place before the date of eviction. Similar you must plan for where you go in the next life.
Bhagavad-gita can help all persons understand where they are going when they die.
If we have unfulfilled desires, even if we are old, the desires will cause us to take another birth.
As a book has many chapters, our soul has many lives. We have been a king, a poor person, an American, a Polish person, an Australian.
How do you explain one person is born into opulence and another is born into poverty? Is God kind to some and not others? No, everyone is getting the results of their actions in a previous life.
An intelligent person uses the frustration of a life of mixed happiness and distress to seek a higher realization where we are always happy.
A man accused me of being an escapist, but if you are in a burning building, escape is the best strategy.
We should be like a sailor, who does his duties at sea nicely, but knows he is ultimately going back to the land. We should sail through this world, knowing it is not our real home, and keep our sight on the spiritual world.
God is not an old man. Why should He be subjected to the laws of the material world? We learn from the Vedic literature that God, although the oldest person, is eternally youthful.
These devotees are happy because they are coming close to the happiest person God.
Kavicandra Swami:
To be attentive is most important. Even if the speaker is Lord Siva, if you are not attentive, you will not get the full benefit.
If the audience is really alive, the speaker finds he has more to say.
Srila Prabhupada was so attentive to recording his classes, if the tape jammed, he would wait until his disciples corrected it.
Srila Prabhupada said in a class, “You may say you have no love for Krishna, but I see you are coming every time. I am always saying the same thing, and yet you are still coming. Therefore you must have some attachment for Krishna.”
If we do sankirtana to become famous we will not take the bliss we experience doing it for Krishna.
Q: What makes the difference that makes one continue his whole life?
A: One must be tolerant and humble as Lord Caitanya recommends in Siksastaka 3. Enthusiasm is another key, and patience in the face of delayed success. Prayer is also powerful and essential. After the very successful opening of Krishna-Balarama in Vrndavana, Srila Prabhupada said, “Now Lord Balarama is here. You can pray to Him for strength.” Thus each year I go to Vrndavana, I thank Lord Balarama for giving me strength, and ask Him to continue for another year. Krishna will keep you around if you realize you have no place to go.
Q: Can people change their character?
A: Yes, people become from their bad qualities. We want to change. We want to be purified, to become gentlemen, to become good people.
Preaching involves confronting the unwanted things in one’s heart, and that is too much for some people, so they leave.
Singapore church weekly sayings, “Melt me, mold me, and use me.” “Let go, and let God.”
Prabhupada said controlling the mind means thinking of how to distribute the holy name.
Revealing your mind confidentially means, if you have some wonderful experience in Krishna consciousness, tell somebody.
Thank Krishna. Even if all you can do is chant the holy name, that is Krishna Himself. It is not an ordinary thing.
Some one told me he was praying that the Prabhupada disciples all live to 160 years old. That is a nice sentiment but unlikely. Better pray that you will be able to take up their preaching work.
On initiation:
Second initiation is for connecting more to Krishna, deepening the commitment.
We should not push people to get initiated artificially, but rather inspire them to surrender to Krishna. Initiation will come in due course.
Krishna Himself had a guru.
During the early days of this movement, there was one rascal who claimed to be Krishna. He said you do not need books. His idea was that books are required in Kali-yuga, but because he had advented, they were not necessary.
Lord Caitanya wanted everyone to become a guru. Every one should be come a instructing (siksa) guru or a vartmapradarsaka-guru.
It is an amazing thing that Srila Prabhupada installed so many Deities and arranged for their worship.
None of Srila Prabhupada godbrothers believed westerners could become brahmanas, but Srila Prabhupada understood the power of Lord Caitanya’s mercy.
The Ratha-yatra in Leipzig was so nice because it was in the crowded shopping area where all the people were and couldn’t get away.
Dhruva put tilaka on so many people, and I didn’t see anyone refuse him. Wearing the tilaka makes them feel more a part of the festival.
Envy comes from lust. If you want something I have, you become envious.
Srila Prabhupada said Krishna consciousness is simple.
Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami, Vihara Bhavan, no. 28:
“Once a disciple lost his beads and wrote to Prabhupada to please chant on another set. Prabhupada wrote back that there was no need to chant on another physical set of beads. ‘Once the blessing is given it is eternal.’”
Kadamba Kanana Swami:
Why so much austerity? If we do not follow the austerities, we will act in ignorance and passion and suffer even more. In the animal kingdom, one animal eats another, and when we do not restrict ourselves, we live like an animal, with all the anxiety that comes with that kind of life.
In this world, Krishna, out of his kindness, is always with us in the heart.
Nitzshe said as humans we can achieve so little, and then with religion, we have to give that little bit up. God is watching this and enjoying it so much that recreates the universe to do it again and again.
In dasyam, there is general service, and personal service (kinkara), where one considers the actual desire of the master.
“I am limited, but let me do as much as I can for Krishna”, can be our meditation.
These austerities of the body like celibacy are practical. If you have sex with a variety people your life becomes complicated. If you practice not having sex outside marriage, then a certain faith and trust develops that makes existence more palatable.
In my family we did water skiing for some time and then we stopped doing it. In the beginning, there was some excitement, but that waned.
Bhakti liberates us and makes us free for Krishna.
Austerity is only austerity in the beginning. For example, no meat, fish, or eggs, is now not a difficulty. Similarly, giving up alcohol or smoking is not an austerity, if you consider all the unpalatable ramifications of these habits, the expense, the filth, the inconvenience. As far as the love in the material world, our beloveds are a very sad second to Krishna. The romance wears off, and even if it lasts to the end, we become like two skeletons. In reality we are together for a limited time only, and we cannot expect such relationships to provide all that we might hope.
In this world, people walk around in their bubbles, and sannyasis walk around with needles and pop them.
In this world as people trade in their cars or i-Phones for new ones, too often we similarly trade in our husbands or wives for new models.
In any otherwise comfortable household life, without higher aspirations there is an emptiness. Like monkeys in the zoo that stay because there are well fed, the householder may feel inclined to stay in family life.
Our disease as a neophyte devotee is that we want God to catch us before we are willing to let go. A madhyama adhikari has faith that Krishna will reciprocate, and so he can act as Krishna desires.
By false ego we are absorbed in the distinctions based on that body, instead of seeing all beings as spiritual souls.
Yudhisthira was fighting but not seeing anyone has his enemy.
The main meditation for the Vaisnava is to see everyone as a devotee of the Lord. In truth, even demons are devotees of Lord Krishna because the eternal identity of all souls is that of servants of Krishna.
Actually the false ego is weak as it is comprised of the illusory energy. As long as we are serving the devotees, we are progressing.
If we see the Lord as always judging people will not be attracted.
On harinama, we can see the variety of reactions of the people.
Some people say they do not believe in hell, but hell is around us.
If we see the various diseased conditions of the living beings are all curable by Krishna consciousness, our vision will be very optimistic.
We may not think we are so successful in our preaching, but actually many souls are becoming purified.
People needed to accumulate a lot of ajnata-sukrti so they can come to the point of desiring Krishna.
The Vedic culture is to treat your enemies in such a way that they forget their enmity.
In the west, we people tend to be inimical to people in general and have a few friends. Our task is to become friends of everyone.
In the west, even if people get together, they still maintain a sense of their space around them, but in India it is not like that.
The demonic people like to be in ignorance, and they cannot hear about the Lord and His philosophy so they protest again it.
Our faith must develop into conviction.
Spiritual life may not be easy, but material life does not work out.
We do not think of devotees as our enemies, but sometimes we do not think devotees are our friends. Some devotees have different ideas about serving Krishna. Those who have similar ideas can cooperate and serve together.
Once we had more aspiring devotees than we had rooms in Mayapur. I suggested we use some of the guesthouse rooms for bhaktas, and so there was some disagreement.
When the Ganges comes to the heavenly planets, the demigods become eager to carry her in different pots instead of letting her run her course, because they want to get her mercy.
It is said the speaker of the Bhagavatam benefits the most, then the inquirer, and the next those who listen passively, for they are less involved.
When Srila Prabhupada was taking rest, he would not mind hearing kirtana.
By hearing about Krishna we are associating with Him. Our worship of Krishna is not just some quick thing like an arati. This is nice but as time goes on we learn how to worship in the way that those who know how to please Krishna worship Him.
Srila Prabhupada said, “People always had to do what I said. Even my parents had to do what I said. My classmates had to do what I say.” And even now so many people are doing what Srila Prabhupada said. He was always a leader.
Our nature may also stay the same and that is alright. If we are stubborn, we can be stubborn for Krishna. When I was sent to Vrndavana, I had so many plans for what I wanted to do. But I found Krishna wanted me to use my stubbornness in His service. He wanted someone who would stay there no matter what and deal with all the problems. I did not want to the quality of stubbornness in Krishna’s service, but it was His will. Our program is to use what is favorable for Krishna’s service and to reject that which cannot be used to serve Krishna. In Bg. 18.66 says in the first half of the verse that we must surrender to him, and in the second half Krishna says that he will remove the sinful reactions—the negative things that do not help us.
Prithu Prabhu suggested in the Prabhupada Samadhi that we have an artistic panel which on the outside that says “Tell everyone you meet about Krishna” and on the inside “Krishna is the original Supreme Lord.—krishnas tu bhagavan svayam.”
Initiation lecture:
The holy name being Krishna Himself is sufficient to grant all perfection, what then is the need of initiation?
The difficulty is that we are very lazy and not determined, and therefore, accepting initiation is useful. We need to take shelter of the Vaishnava to progress.
If we give lust something it wants, it will still not be satisfied.
“Unless one is properly initiated, he can descend again into the animal species.”
In previous ages, they did not take vows—they were so responsible they did not need to.
The second initiation is not just a formality. We are expected to acquire the qualities of the brahmana.
Srila Prabhupada said in the material world one needs the qualification to attain a post, but in Krishna consciousness we attain the post and then acquire the qualifications.
Jananivasa Prabhu in Mayapur said, “It is very difficult to be a brahmana. I do not know whether I can do it this life.” If he cannot do it, what to speak of me.
After initiation one is never the same because he has a new responsibility. He may not take it seriously but the responsibility is there, nonetheless.
Anuttama Prabhu:
In Philly in ’75 when we gathered for Ratha-yatra, Srila Prabhupada gave a morning class on Ajamila. The temple was so full of East Coast devotees it was hard to find a good place to hear. Listening through the window, I remember Srila Prabhupada said, “Just like the police are everywhere and you can call an emergency number and they quickly come, similarly the Yamadutas are everywhere and come when needed.”
Illicit sex has been around since the beginning. By the grace of Lord Caitanya, the holy name, and the instructions of the guru, we are not affected as we chant on the beach.
We all have the potential to fall. It is our minute indepenence. Each day, we can do Krishna consciousness or something else. We do Krishna consciousness because material pleasure is limited and unsatisfying.
That Krishna expands for his ever-increasing bliss according to Prabhupada’s Bhagavad-gita 3.37 purport means Krishna wants someone to play with.
Even if we do not experience the higher taste, at least we know it is out there.
It is foolish to think maya has no effect on us. Maya is always testing us.
Bilvamangala Thakura also had a relationship with a prostitute like Ajamila, but because she was a devotee, she advised him to give his love to Krishna, thus in the middle of his life, he surrendered to Krishna and attained perfection. Ajamila, on the other hand, remained sinful throughout his life, until by chanting the name of his child, who was named after Lord Narayana, he was freed from sin and given the chance to engage in devotional service.
We need good association because we have a tendency for maya. With good friends and a good spouse, we can be woken up if we fall into the slumber of maya.
Srila Prabhupada never condemned any devotee who fell into maya. He always wished they would come back.
Ayana means wandering, and ayana means resting place, so Narayana guides the wandering of all entities or is the resting place of all entities.
Srila Prabhupada said, “It takes a gallon of my blood to make one devotee.”
Q: Lord Caitanya prayed, “Na dhanam . . . na sundarim… Some devotees have these and not distracted…”
A: We do not need these for ourselves but for preaching.
Prithu Prabhu:
Q: Should the householders come to the temple or make their home a temple?
A (by Prithu Prabhu): No temple is well managed unless all the orders of spiritual life are present. Householders can participate in temple activities, support such activities, preach to new householders about how to do it, etc.
It is not enough just to have Deities in your home. Every Hindu family has Deities in their home. Govardhan, a big gunda (thief), would have deities of Radha-Krishna in his home. I got a property from him so I became friends with him. He invited me to come for breakfast. He offered the food to his Radha Krishna Deities. He would pray to Them for people to rob. I asked him about the inconsistency in this. He replied, “I am a thief. It is my occupation. My father was a thief.”
A (by Kavicandra Swami): Making the home a temple means you invite people and engage them in Krishna activities. The people who do not feel comfortable coming to the temple can come to the householders houses.
Ignorance means you hurt yourself and others. A ’60s band member told a journalist his bad health was due to “the sins of his youth.” In passion, you succeed at the expense of others. Goodness means you know you are God’s son, and therefore, we have an obligation to Him.
In Russia it is so hot this August that people take shelter of the rivers to cool off, but because they are drunk on vodka and do not know how to swim, they are drowning by the hundreds. This is ignorance.
People with spirituality do not try to unnecessarily exploit the resources of nature. To make more such people is the solution to the environmental crisis.
Nothing else matters but that we cut the chain of material existence. Anything that does not cut it is maya.
When we chant Hare Krishna, even the pigs laugh at us, but it does not matter.
Sanatana Goswami had a touchstone in his rubbish because it had no value for him.
People my age, who led a material life, look like they just came out of the grave. They do not know what they are doing or where they are going. But we know where they are going.
They sing, “I can’t get no satisfaction.” That they try for their own satisfaction means they are demons.
The real question is how to get out of the prison of the material world. We must know “aham brahmasmi” [I am spirit].There are 4 million people in Berlin. If you ask them, “Who are you?” How many will answer “Aham brahmasmi.” That is the best answer, but how many know?
In this world, we strive for money and reputation. I want to be a big kirtana leader. I want to be a big rock star. It is all stupid. It is all maya. But it is very difficult to overcome. Krishna says only by surrender to Him can it be overcome. Maya keeps the insincere people away from Krishna. We all have some insincerity, which drives us to activities that have nothing to do with cutting the cycle of birth and death. Attachment to matter is very strong. The question is how to get out. Srila Prabhupada was very kind. He was not attached to matter. He came and he started this society of Krishna consciousness. He is one in a million people. We have not seen anyone on the level of Srila Prabhupada who kindly came to set us free from material existence. Of Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati’s disciples, our Srila Prabhupada was a diamond among a bunch of jewels.
In Mayapur once Prabhupada said in a lecture, “Because we have a temple, so many people are coming to hear. Without a temple that would not be.”
This is the anniversary of the incorporation of ISKCON. Prabhupada understood that unless there is a society the people will drift more and more into the material energy. They will go to the football matches, the universities, so much “asat-sanga [association with the impermanent].”
Hearing the holy name and chanting the holy name will protect us from being polluted by the material existence. But more is required. Temples are needed to help people to hear and chant the holy name.
I was temple president of Amsterdam. One man lived in a boat on the temple property. He just came for the Sunday feast, just for prasadam. I tried to convince him to do some service. He would not do anything. I finally kicked him out. He complained to Srila Prabhupada. Prabhupada asked him what his service was. He said he had no service now. Prabhupada asked him what his service was in the past. Prabhupada asked, “How many books did you distribute? How many temples did you open?” When he said, “None,” Prabhupada agreed, “Prithu was right in kicking him out.”
Facility to live on the temple grounds helps us to participate in the temple programs. Like an ivy bush needs a tree to climb up, we need a structure, an institution, to support our spiritual practice.
Prabhupada went around the world and established one temple after another. That is what he did. Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati wanted temples everywhere. That is Lord Caitanya’s desire that the chanting go everywhere. So there must be temples everywhere. Of course, we cannot miss the individual’s needs while supporting the institution. Both the development of the individual and the institution are important.
Some people leave temples and focus on their own spiritual development but that is not the desire of Srila Prabhupada. Every idea outside the idea of the acarya is useless.
Both a well-organized society and competent devotees are required. To focus on one or the other is immature and incorrect.
There must be brahmacaris and grhasthas both in a temple community. Both are required. Grhamedis should be criticized but not grhasthas.
Some temples in America have not seen brahmacaris for three decades. Because brahmacaris keep getting married, you have to keep making new brahmacaris. When there are no new brahmacaris, the temple dies. We see this in places like Heidelberg.
We have to go out distribute books, chant Hare Krishna, and create new devotees and build new temples. This is Prabhupada’s program.
There has to be an institution. We should not minimize it. We also must take care of the needs of the individual. To do one at the expense of the other is a materialistic idea.
If you preach something different from Srila Prabhupada, your swami hat will not save you. Renunciation means you give up your desire and follow the acarya.
The principle is not difficult. The application is difficult. This is a young society. We had these new gurus. One stressed the needs of the society but not the personal development of the individual. I talked to this guru. I said I understand we need gurus, but I do not understand how one can become a self-realized soul overnight by decree. He accused me of wanting to swallow him. I said, “I do not want to swallow you. I just want to discuss with you.” He replied, “Well, I want to swallow you, but because I cannot swallow you, I will spit you out. You have ten minutes to leave.” So my wife, kid, and I were on the street with no money for a meal the next day.
Hitler was a minority. How did he attain power? He offered to give the church whatever they wanted if they supported him. If the church opposed him from the beginning, there would be no concentration camps.
Krishna writes the script for Kali-yuga where people are bad.
I could beat you and say, “It is your karma, otherwise, I could not beat you.”
The fall of communism in Russia is directly a result of the Hare Krishna movement. They murdered and tortured so many devotees, Krishna had enough.
If there are enough devotees, we can change the whole history of the world.
Initiation comments:
I was sitting right next to Srila Prabhupada when he was talking about 1st class, 2nd class, and 3rd class men, etc. Someone in the audience accused him of claiming to be a 1st class man, but I could see that because of Srila Prabhupada’s natural humility, he was shocked. “No”, he said with complete sincerely and tears in his eyes, “I am actually a 5th class man because I am serving the 4th class men.”
The whole thing is about being connected and presenting what we have heard from the acaryas [previous teachers].
If we do not recruit new people, we will perish.
Srila Prabhupada said after the Mayapur temple opening, that without temple, if I speak a thousand people may come and then go away, but now that we have this temple, then will come again and again, and become devotees.
Devamrita Swami said that the people who come from yoga, come and remain interested only in yoga, but those who come from Srila Prabhupada’s books, become interested in the philosophy and become devotees.
Mother Sitala dd:
What we think about is important. First there is contemplation in the mind before some falling down. We must watch our mind and speech as they are an indication ofwhere our consciousness is at.
Srila Prabhupada wrote me that we must be consciously engaged in devotional service 24-hours a day.
Srila Prabhupada repeatedly said, “Chant 16 rounds a day.”
It is not because of our practice we reach the goal, but because Krishna sees we are sincerely trying.
Srila Prabhupada explains Ajamila forgot Krishna, but Krishna did not forget Ajamila. Krishna thought, “Ajamila is attached to his child, so I will tell him to name him Narayana.” Krishna is so kind. Krishna thought, “He is a rascal. He made a big mistake. Let me help him.”
Srila Prabhupada was so grave it was frightening when he spoke on Ajamila in Vrindavana.
I have a friend whose mother, who was inimical to Krishna consciousness, was dying. She described being tormented by these creatures whenever she closed her eyes. She describes them just as they are in the Srimad-Bhagavatam. Her daughter chanted Hare Krishna, and they went away. She wanted her daughter to stay by her side and chant.
I was in a car crash with a few devotees. As the car was turning over out of control, the devotee next to me yelled “Oh, sh__! I’m gonna die.” I thought “yikes, that’s not the right thing to say if this is it, and if she’s gonna
die, I probably am to,” and I started yelling, “Hare Krishna!” Now, this devotee next to me, was a very, very nice devotee, and she was certainly happy that it was just a trial run and not the actual moment of death. But, the point is that any moment we can be confronted with death, so we need to practice and practice chanting the holy name so we can do the right thing at the right time.
Raghunandananda Thakura gave invocation at Kheturi festival. Cupid, Pradyumna, is his identity. Mukunda, who was previously Vrinda Devi, was his father.
Raghunandananda Thakura was so insistent the deity eat his offering, the deity actually consumed it. His father had some doubt, as this never happened before, and so he secretly watched. Deity Gopal looked at Mukunda after eating half a laddu and stopped.
Prahlada Nrsimha Prabhu:
Because our kids are named in relation to Krishna we are always chanting Krishna’s names. This is very good. In South India they are always chanting om namo narayanaya. Vaikuntha reverberates with this mantra. Prahlad chants this and Narada also.
Ramanujacarya’s guru gave him a mantra that could grant liberation, but he was told to keep it a secret. Instead, he went to a prominent public place and announced to the people they could get liberation simply by chanting this mantra, om namo narayanaya. When his guru asked him why he did that, he explained he did not mind going to hell for disobeying his guru if so many others could be liberated. The guru realized that Ramanujacarya’s realization surpassed his own and blessed him.
The Krishna Deity, now installed in Udupi, which Madhva found in a block of gopi-candana a ship captain gave him, originally belonged to Queen Rukmini.
In Udupi, brahmanas bathe in a pond in front of the temple with their clothes on and do puja in that wet condition to remove contamination encountered enroute to the temple.
Only brahmanas and ksatriyas could see deity who faced north. One sudra sang sons of Vraja on the western side. The brahmanas wanted to stop him, but the wall crumbed, and the deity turned to face west.
Ratha-yatra is there each night in Udupi.
The Lord never forgot Ajamila’s service, and so He inspired him to name his son Narayana.
We have to follow the Vedic culture, like naming children after Krishna, because it is all good for us.
The red dot on ladies takes away lust in men. If the ladies do not cut their hair, their husbands have a long life.
We do not study as much as we hear the pastimes of the Lord. How do you study a sweet ball? No, you taste it.
We each feel a personal relationship with Krishna, and each of His forms and each of his devotees have relationship with each of us.
Vaishnava pranamas include all Vaishnavas in the universe, Hanuman, etc., because one day we will be in their midst.
Q: Only chanting Hare Krishna is said to be necessary, why Vedic culture?
A: It is the Lord’s culture. By chanting we develop this consciousness, and we learn how to act. Chanting bring us to this culture automatically.
Krishna-kripa Das:
Seeing Krishna is not easy.
a.Out of thousands among men one may endeavor for the perfection of understanding he is spirit not matter, but hardly one who has that perfection knows Krishna in truth. (Bg. 7.3)
b.Muktanam api siddhanam narayana parayana/ sudurbhatma prasantaya kotisvapi maha-mune. Out of millions of liberated and perfect beings, a peaceful devotee of Lord Narayana is very rare. (SB 6).
1.Kumaras—many births. Dhruva—six months. How long will it take us?
a.Srila Prabhupada said one life, if you follow the four rules and chant Hare Krishna.
b.Determination is very important.
c.Srila Prabhupada says although our austerities are nothing compared to what Dhruva Maharaja performed, we should emulate his enthusiasm.
2.Dhruva regretted his desire for material prosperity.
a.It delayed his return to the spiritual world.
b.It does not satisfy the soul. (SB 1.2.6)
3.Dhruva regretted his revengeful attitude.
a.He attained the Vaishnava quality of compassion.
b.He understood that others are acting as instruments of our karma.
4.What can we learn from this?
a.We should not desire materially or we will be detained in the material world.
b.We must be very pure in our intentions.
1. Demigods try to obstruct devotees.
a. Indra stole the horse from Prithu Maharaja’s sacrifice.
b. Siva was tempted by Cupid.
c. demigods send dancing girls to distract ascetics: Indra sent Menaka to allure Visvamitra.
2. If you approach Krishna for material things, he is kind and gives you His lotus feet.
a. Whatever you desire if you worship Krishna with one-pointed attention, you’ll attain the perfection of devotional service (SB 2.3.10).
b. Lord Caitanya expained, “Krishna says, ‘If one engages in My transcendental loving service but at the same time wants the opulence of material enjoyment, he is very, very foolish. Indeed, he is just like a person who gives up ambrosia to drink poison. Since I am very intelligent, why should I give this fool material prosperity? Instead I shall induce him to take the nectar of the shelter of My lotus feet and make him forget illusory material enjoyment.’
“Whenever Krishna is requested to fulfill one’s desire, He undoubtedly does so, but He does not award anything which, after being enjoyed, will cause one to petition Him again and again to fulfill further desires. When one has other desires but engages in the Lord's service, Krishna forcibly gives one shelter at His lotus feet, where one will forget all other desires.
“When someone engages in Lord Krishna’s devotional service for the satisfaction of the senses and instead acquires a taste for serving Krishna, he gives up his material desires and willingly offers himself as an eternal servant ofKrishna.” (Cc. Madhya-lila 22.38-41)
Dhruva Prabhu:
That Ajamila was saying Narayana, “Narayana come eat. Narayana come drink. Narayana go to sleep,” means that Ajamila was remembering the Lord in all of his activities. To remember Krishna somehow or other in all our activities is the perfection.
In our neophyte stage we take more pleasure in finishing our sixteen rounds than in chanting our sixteen rounds.
We are fortunate that we are struggling together to chant rather than struggling alone for it is more difficult to struggle alone.
In the beginning chanting is a difficulty and later stopping chanting becomes a difficulty.
Our practice pays off in that we can remember Krishna at the time of death.
Ajamila saw one incident of an improperly dressed woman and man embracing, but at Woodstock we see thousands.
It is Srila Prabhupada’s mercy that wherever we go there is devotee association.
Q: If we have a job to do and do not do it, our authorities bring it to our attention, but if we do not chant our 16 rounds before taking rest, no one will say anything.
A: Just like no authority has to tell you to brush your teeth, because it is your own responsibility, similarly it is your own responsibility to chant your sixteen rounds.
Sad-bhuja Das KKS [temple president of Leipzig]:
Living in the country to try to make a spiritual life, one can see that he brings his city mentality with him, so that alone does not work. From attending Rainbow Gatherings, I see that the people there understand this and call it “Bringing Babylon to the Rainbow.”
People who know a lot of things do not inspire one much as those who have realization.
Q: So by doing service we become purified?
A: By absorbing our minds in service, we have no time to think of sense gratification.
Srila Prabhupada says if we think of ‘illicit sex’ we should see that Krishna reminding us not to engage in it.
We should try to find our own level of absorption in devotional service rather than being fully absorbed for one week and then abandoning devotional service altogether.
My comments:
My nirjala realization.—I found I could get absorbed in my computer services that six hours went by on nirjala Ekadasi, and I forgot completely about eating and drinking.
Both hearing and chanting are practical service.
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hare krishna hare krishna
krishna krishna hare hare
hare rama hare rama
rama rama hare hare
iti sodasakam namnam
kali-kalmasa-nasanam
natah parataropayah
sarva-vedesu drsyate
“The sixteen names of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra—hare krishna hare krishna krishna krishna hare hare, hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare—destroy all the inauspiciousness of the age of Kali. This is the conclusion of all the Vedas.” (Lord Brahma in the Kalisantarana Upanisad 5,6 of the Krishna Yajur Veda)
The Prague Ratha-yatra was a great experience for me because Prague is such a tourist city that an event held there reaches people all over the world. I talked to four or five people from Norway and Turkey, at least three from Spain, a couple of people from Brazil, some from America, and many more mostly from Europe.
I distributed descriptions of the Ratha-yatra in English on one side and Czech on the other, and a few small books. Several people took books because of the natural curiosity created by the festival.
Many people were very attracted to the distribution of fruit, flowers, and garlands from the Ratha-yatra after the parade, as if they knew intuitively of the transcendental significance.
As last year, some devotees did a harinama around the town during the less exciting parts of stage show. We invited interested people we saw to our festival at Old Town Square.
The height of the festival for many of us was the final kirtana led by Kadamba Kanana Swami. Many guests danced along with the devotees in the kirtana, and it was great to see.
Croatian Harinama Tour
The first evening we went to Crikvenica, where for two and a half hours from fifteen to thirty-five people watched our chanting party of about fifteen devotees.
Mohan Prabhu, the leader of the party, plays the big karatalas.
For two days we did Novi Vinodolski.
And the day in between them, we did Opatija, a famous elite town, that has a walkway of fame, glorifying national movie heros, where even more people watched our chanting party.
There two teenage girls were curious about we were doing, and I explained it briefly, and invited them to take part. To my surprise they sat down on the back row of the mat with the other devotees and chanted for twenty minutes or so.
Also later, a couple of older men had a great time dancing with the devotees in front of our chanting party. There also a couple who was very friendly and curious talked to me afterwards. They were from Antwerp, Belgium and I give them an invitation to our Antwerp temple. Thus for me, Opatija was the liveliest place for our evening kirtanas.
For more pictures from the Croatian Harinama Tours, visit the gallery on the web site of the Karlovac devotees:
I like the Croatian harinama party of the Karlovac devotees so much it was hard to leave after just three and a half days, but I am so addicted to going to the Poland Woodstock festival, this year for the tenth time. We took the bus with the devotees from Zagreb and Ljubljana, which somehow or other took 18 hours to reach Kostrzyn going through Slovenia, Austria, and Germany. Some of the devotees at my instigation chanting congregationally for two and a half hours while waiting for the bus in Zagreb.
Polish Woodstock
On the first Woodstock harinama several kids joined our chanting party, smiling and dancing, some entering the middle of our party and others tagging along at the end. One man smiled broadly as we chanted past and approached to greet me. “Pamientasz?”, he said. [Do you remember?] As usual I couldn’t, and he said something about short hair, and I smiled. Often people remember us from previous years. It is striking to go to a festival attended by 300,000 people in a foreign country and have people remember you. That man was the first of several who remembered me from previous years.
The Polish tour and the Woodstock are so famous always new devotees are coming. Laksmi-Nrsimha Prabhu, Kapilasva Prabhu, and Satyanarayana Prabhu came this year, I think all for the first time.
Even a couple of Narayana Maharaja sannyasis showed up unexpectedly, and a Gaudiya alternative, Radha’s Village of Love appeared, apparently a small group of about seven people with a tent, who participated in our kirtana when we went by.
It is exciting seeing old friends here. Govinda Prabhu, from Scotland, and I go over verses during meal and breaks, and I was happy that I could remember 90% of the one he taught me last year, and he remembered the one we learned together perfectly. At the Woodstock and on the tour, so many devotees are fixed in their respective services it is inspiring.
Izabela, who lives near Kostrzyn I met a couple times at our site. She is going to college now in Wroclaw and said she could come to our Ratha-yatra there.
Ewa, one nice Polish young lady, was very much attracted to hearing the chanting and staying in our camp. Her friends would always take her other places, but she would always come back, and she expressed frustration that her friends wanted to go elsewhere. She felt she was on the verge of a change in her life. She took a Krishna—Reservoir of Pleasure, and her friend, Miroslav, from Berlin did too. She goes to school in Wroclaw and promised to meet me at the Ratha-yatra there, and he lives in Berlin and promised to go to the Ratha-yatra there.
Two girls just graduated from high school expressed great happiness with the prasadam and the chanting and dancing. They had been coming for four years. I gave them the nama-hatta web page address so they could see if there is a nama-hatta program in there area and told them about the Ratha-yatra.
Sometimes to try to make an impression on their people’s minds, I would explain to them that I have come to this Polish Woodstock all the way from America for last 10 years because it is so enjoyable to share this spiritual knowledge and culture with them.
One regular attender, Wojtek, remembered me as far back as the festival in Zary in 2002. He took some pictures and speculated the stylized figure of a dancer on the mantra yoga tent was based on me.
The girl with the gold-glittering dress and dredlocks danced for Jagannatha, as she has done the last two years, and she came to our final kirtana. I could tell from her use of “Haribol!” and other devotee lingo, she has been spending time with the devotees. Last year she told me she was from Wroclaw, so I gave her invitation to the Wroclaw Ratha-yatra. She was happy and promised to be there. One devotee said he saw her then.
I was impressed to see some mothers with their kids at kirtana tent, both watching and participating in the dancing. Apparently the reputation of the devotees is improved in Poland to the extent that mothers think that Hare Krishna is a positive thing for their children to experience.
Some of the devotee girls were very enthusiastic about inviting onlookers to dance, and who ever did had a great time. You can see from the video how happy the people were to dance with us.
Madhava Prabhu, from Zurich, was an especially nice addition to the kirtana tent lineup, and his very absorbing kirtanas attracted devotees and onlookers as well. Many danced to his tunes.
I passed out mantra cards to almost everyone who came in the kirtana tent or who watched the kirtana for any length of time. You could tell from the smiles, exclamations of “Text!” and other expressions of joy that the people were happy to get them.
The day after the Woodstock, returning from library where I used the internet, I met one Katowice girl who identified herself as a Hare Krishna and to whom I gave the number of our local nama-hatta contact. I also met a Berlin man I told about our Ratha-yatra there the next Saturday. In addition, one Wroclaw girl came up to me and said, “Hare Krishna, I love you guys.” I gave her an invitation to the Wroclaw Ratha-yatra. I was pleased to have so many pleasant interactions during the-ten minute walk back to the school that was our base.
Jayatam Prabhu engaged me in serving lunch even through I had not had breakfast. It was a little challenging for my false ego, but I wanted to help because except for kirtana I did not do so many practical services. It was nice to serve the devotees who had done so much service at the Woodstock.
Our chanting at the train station the day after the Woodstock was the best ever. More devotees came out than before. Govinda Prabhu from Scotland played the accordion the whole time. Four devotees in the chanting party, myself included, were enroute to Berlin.
When we boarded our train, the others continued chanting on the platform.
Other people waiting on the platform, including rail officials, looked at us with curiosity and smiles, but no one restricted us. One man standing at the door of another train raised his arms as our train pulled out. It was a nice way to end the Woodstock festival for me.
Insights from Lectures
Srila Prabhupada:
Spiritual advancement is never checked by any material condition.
God is in your heart, and when your heart is purified by the process of hearing and chanting, you will be able to see God.
Quoted by Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami’s journal Viraha Bhavan, #18, Commenting on a guru-puja in Paris: “The guru-puja singing is important and should be attended.”
Radhanatha Swami:
If we think, “I have served so nicely,” we neutralize the effect of our service, but if we are humble and think ourselves unworthy of the opportunity to serve but are deeply thankful for that opportunity, our love for Krishna will grow.
Janananda Goswami:
Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura says there is nothing in the world that needs be changed but our own vision. No one can change this world by the breadth of a hair.
False ego means we are seeing things in relationship to me—seeing ourselves in the center.
When we chant but our mind is elsewhere, we do not get the full effect of the chanting. The holy name is here, but due to the false ego, we are seeking light elsewhere.
I cannot think of a single country that I have been to where there are not Russian devotees in the temple doing service.
True ego is to see everything in relationship to Krishna. Because we are so absorbed in the bodily conception of life, we have to engage the senses, the mind, and intelligence all in Krishna. The idle mind is the devil’s workshop. Therefore we must think of Krishna and service to Krishna, and our consciousness will be cleansed of material contamination.
Identification with this world is very deep: attachment to the land of our birth, our level of education, etc. To give these up immediately is more difficult than engaging them in Krishna consciousness.
When the Lord is present in the heart in the form of Krishna katha, He cleans our heart.
Imagining oneself to be the doer of the activities is a common and prominent difficulty.
You may be considered beautiful by a few people, a very few, but you can lose it in a moment.
If you attain the body of a dog, it is very difficult to engage in devotional service. Practically speaking only if a human being engages you in Krishna consciousness, can you do it as an animal.
We do not know when we will lose our facilities, so we should use them while we can.
There was a poster the devotees had in the early days of the movement with a picture of a cemetery and skeletons with the words “Chant while you can.”
Harinama sankirtana reminds so many people of Krishna, and Srila Prabhupada’s books give the people the knowledge they need to make more progress.
Chanting of the holy name is more important and should accompany our other activities of devotional service.
Q: If am becoming tired while chanting, what should I do?
A: If you have to understand whether you are genuinely tired or if you are just lazy. If you have had enough sleep, it would be better to stand up, go for a walk, or squirt water on your face to stay awake and keep going. You might have to change your diet to eat lighter food.
One time a devotee was standing up during class in order to stay awake. He was situated behind the speaker. That devotee was so tired he fell asleep while standing, and he fell on top of the speaker.
Kadamba Kanana Swami:
Karma-kanda sacrifices provide all kinds of material gain. Jnana-marga, the path of looking for liberation, is considered higher. The karma-kanda mentality is that the material is a nice place. There are just a few problems, and these can be counteracted by sacrifice. However, the jnanis realize that no matter however we adjust it, the material world is not a place of happiness.
Badrinarayana Prabhu was telling that he met his father who is his eighties, and how he wished that his father might live another twenty years, and his father expressed reluctance. “Why?” Badrinarayana Prabhu asked. His father listed all the things wrong with his body. He had to take a pill to digest, a pill to go to the bathroom, a pill to stop going to the bathroom, a pill to slow down the heart, a pill to speed up the heart, etc. This is the miserable nature of inevitable old age.
Green Peace says there are more chemicals in one meal than in twenty aspirins.
Still liberation is minimized compared to the unlimited ocean of happiness of Krishna consciousness.
The karmi loves the material world, the jnani hates the material world, and the devotee loves the spiritual world and its Lord.
No position in the material world is a good position, and so the material world does not interest us except for the devotional service going on here and except for engaging the items of the material world in the Lord’s service.
Mother Theresa of Calcutta said, “If you try to do something, someone will criticize you. Do it anyway. If you are building something up, you can be sure, someone will try to break it. But in the end, who cares what all these people say anyway, because we did not do it for them anyway. We did it for God.” I thought that is a nice mood—the mood of the devotee.
There is no neutral situation. Every situation is meant to be engaged in Krishna’s service. If we have nothing to do, we can always chant Hare Krishna. It takes time to build this up mentality. It is called avyartha-kalatvam. It is a symptom of bhava—to not waste time, but to use it for Krishna.
Srila Prabhupada suggest they call the O Hare Airport, the O Hare Krishna Airport. One devotee was sent to the director of the O Hare Airport to suggest that since we have distributed so many books at your airport, that it should be called O Hare Krishna Airport. The director became so angry he practically foamed at the mouth.
I had been to the Ganges. I had drunk the water of the Ganges. I had chanted mantras like “Jaya Rama, Sri Rama, Jaya Jaya Rama.” But encountering Srila Prabhupada’s books was different, because Srila Prabhupada was always challenging us to surrender to Krishna. He presented it in such a way that one will conclude that unless he surrenders he is not actually sincere, and therefore, if one wants to consider himself sincere, he must surrender.
Imagine, if each devotee gave it the best he could, how wonderful it would be.
We must do something wonderful. We must do something very extraordinary. We have this conception that “I am an ordinary person, but I am trying to be Krishna consciousness.” But to be Krishna consciousness is not an ordinary thing.
In Bhagavad-gita Arjuna is not so much fighting with arrows as much as he fighting with his self. And when we fight with others, we are more enthusiastic than when we fight with ourselves.
We must have a positive attitude to Krishna, His paraphernalia, and His devotees, and a positive attitude for connecting things with Krishna. Srila Prabhupada was very appreciative of how nicely Krishna has arranged everything.
When we come in touch with Krishna, we learn how to properly utilize things.
Bhismadeva says if you want to save money, give up the association of women, because they are always buying clothes. Of course, this can be engaged in devotional service. They can buy so many saris. [Although their husbands may not agree.]
Suppose you have a four-year-old brother, and your mom tells you have look after him. That is like the situation with our mind.
The fight with the mind is difficult for those who struggle on their own, but easy for those who take shelter of Krishna. Those reluctant to take shelter of Krishna get trained in the school of hard knocks.
By being busy in Krishna’s service, we have no time for the service of the mind and senses.
Sometimes we lament that we have too much service, but that service is our saving grace.
Cultural Program in Prague the day before Ratha-yatra:
Krishna wanted to return to Vrindavana, but he always had to kill a few more demons. Vasudeva arranged a huge sacrifice at Kurukshetra to counteract the inauspiciousness of the solar eclipse. Some details of this are described in Gopal Campu of Jiva Goswami. Others came from Sacinandana Swami, who did not specify his source. Vasudeva had invited people from all over the universe. Narada was asked to go to Vrindavana to invite the residents of Vrindavana and to not invite the residents of Vrindavana. He explained that there going to be this sacrifice of Vasudeva that everyone in the universe was invited to except for the residents of Vrindavana. Nanda said, “If Krishna, is going to be there, then we are coming.” And so they did. There were several gates at the venue. The cows arrived at the western gate. The cowherd boys arrived at the eastern gate. When asked by the guards for their invitations, they replied that they were Krishna’s friends. The gopis arrived from the north and were perhaps the most difficult for the guards to restrain. Nanda and Yasoda came from the south. When they told the guards, they were Krishna’s parents. The guards did not believe them, saying, “Everyone knows that Vasudeva and Devaki are Krishna’s parents.” Then Yasoda saw Krishna from behind, and spontaneously cried out, “Gopal!!!” Krishna ran toward her, assuming his cowherd boy form in the process, and she grasped Him, and set Him on her lap. Then all the others came there from their different gates. They had one question, “When are you returning to Vrindavana?” Krishna resumed His princely form, and replied, “As soon he killed a few more demons.” That more than they could bear. They put Balarama, Subhadra, and Krishna on chariots and the gopis were pulling the chariots toward Vrindavana. We are not like the gopis for they never forget Krishna, but we sometimes do. But by pulling the cart, by pulling Krishna toward Vrindavana, we are pulling ourselves to Vrindavana.
Sivananda Sena was apparently jailed for not paying some fee, along with the other members of his pilgrimage party, and he was later brought before the minister who wished to ask him some questions. The minister said, “Who is more powerful? Lord Jagannatha or your Lord Caitanya?” Sivananda Sena said, “That is easy. Lord Caitanya.” The minister replied, “I thought so. After you were jailed, Lord Caitanya appeared to me in a dream, and He ordered me to release you and all your men or he would destroy me, saying, ‘Let see if your Lord Jagannatha can protect you.’”
The queens of King Prataparuda viewed the snana-yatra of Lord Jagannatha, Baladeva, and Subhadra from a special platform. One year the king arranged to let Lord Caitanya’s associates watch from that spot, and the queens had to stand in back on their tiptoes. That year the water bathing the Lord was minimized by the water emanating from the body of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
“Nilacala” literally means “blue hill,” but there is no such hill to be found in Puri. Bhaktivinoda Thakura comments that 800 years old the previous Jagannatha temple was made of blue stone, and from a distance in the sea, it appeared as a blue mountain, thus the name, Nilacala [nila—blue, acala—mountain].
We tend to collect knowledge from different places and come up with our own personalized process of self-realization. The instructions given by Krishna Himself about self-realization, however, are superior to our concocted process for serving Him. This is received from a spiritual master.
Once we understand that Krishna is everything, we can adjust our lifestyle to make it favorable for realizing Krishna.
Srila Prabhupada liked the sentence, “It’s not required.” Devotees would ask, “But is it forbidden?” Srila Prabhupada would smile, and then repeat, “It’s not required.” But if everyone tells us not to do something, and we do it anyway, then we must make that situation as Krishna conscious as we can.
Not by wearing saffron clothes, not by restricting food or fasting or other kinds of sense control, not by discussing philosophy, and not by observing a vow of silence, but only by the beginning of devotion to the lotus feet of Govinda, who performs pastimes on the banks on the Yamuna’s shore can one conquer cupid (lust).
Devotional service would be easy, if it would not be for lust. Although Visvanatha Cakravati Thakura says even if one has lust still he can engage on the devotional path, still people on the devotional path are sometimes seriously affected by lust.
We must be under the shelter of the Vaishnava at every step of the way.
We can give up the activities of lust by the guru’s order, but can we completely give it up? Yes. But we have to be completely dedicated to the guru’s mission. We cannot have a conception of “my life” with all kinds of activities in it that have no connection to our guru and his mission. If we start thinking “my life” soon we will be thinking “my wife.”
Dhruva was extraordinary devotee for his great maturity at such a young age. Gajendra was amazing in that he had transcendental knowledge as an animal. Still they could not attract Krishna by service. The service attitude is essential.
If we find we experience lust increasing, we may notice that our service attitude is decreasing, and we must rectify this.
We should find a service that we can absorb our mind in. That will protect us.
We can make arrangement our own spiritual life or we can make arrangements for the spiritual lives of many. Just like there are maha-rathis, ati-rathis, eka-rathis, and ardha-rathis. The maha-rathis can fight with many thousands of men. The ati-rathi can fight with a thousand people. The eka-rathis can fight with one man, and the ardha-rathi can fight with half a man.
If we just do a little bit extra, we can reach more people. Just like the last kirtana at the Prague Ratha-yatra stage show. I had enough kirtana for myself. I didn’t need that extra kirtana. But I knew if I led a really rocking kirtana, I knew everyone would dance, and they did.
If we just had to make the neighbors Krishna conscious, that would be a lifetime mission. But when we move, they will never forget us. You may even find they will visit you at the new place.
There is so much to do. And if we meditate on that, then we have no time for lust.
If we do not become agents of mercy, we will come to the state where we will come to a crossroads where there are four roads, all saying “No entry”—the roads to gambling, illicit sex, meat eating, and intoxication, and we will be feel frustrated.
Q: We hear that if the family engages in deity worship they can forget all kinds of sense gratification. But many new devotees are not so qualified. Is it good for them to do deity worship anyway?
A: Yes. But we should have a serious standard. Tarun Kanti Ghosh started a political party, and his platform was kirtana. He did kirtana all over Bengal and got elected to office. Srila Prabhupada said he was the highest placed Vaishnava in India. We knew him. We heard he joined the Raj Dhani train one night, so we decided to find him. We located him and greeted him, “Hare Krishna!” He said, “Shhh! I am doing my puja.” He had a box with puja paraphernalia and pictures of his deities. Then he asked us why we were not chanting our rounds! So like that, we should not put the deities in a box, but always worship Them, even if we travel.
Even the deity in the shop should not be treated as a statue. It is not good we buy deities and keep them in storage for years, or if we just worship Lord Jagannatha for Ratha-yatra and return Him to the closet.
Q: What is the fate of the disciple who does not inquire from his guru?
A: Srila Prabhupada says in the Bg. 10.10 purport, the Lord will help such a people. Inquiry from the guru, does not mean just inquiring about all the aspects of the philosophy, but also about what lives in our heart. We must be honest when we approach the guru.
Q (by me): I can do some of the sadhana Srila Prabhupada recommended, so in theory, I should be able to encourage others, but I do not feel that people will accept me as an authority.
A: Maybe you do not make a good authority, but perhaps you make a good friend. Because you know the siddhanta, in that sense, you are an authority. But you may not be the kind of person, who says, “Let’s go!” and everyone follows. That is a matter of karma. You may say, “Let’s go!” and no one moves. [I interjected, “or they may move in the opposite way.”] But you can be a friend. You can be friendly with those much junior to you. I cannot do that. I have to boss them around. So as a friend, you can encourage them.
Gita is sometimes called Gitopanishad, but the Gita goes beyond the Upanishads. It is not strictly a Upanishad, but it has the same format as the Upanishads. The Upanishads establish that everything is spiritual. It is said that Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s acintya-bheda-abheda philosophy is based on Lord Kapila’s sankhya philosophy. That everything is spiritual or Brahman is important for us as it can keep us detached (nirapeksa). Everything emanates from Krishna. Krishna appears within the universe and yet the universes are within Krishna. If we cannot understand it philosophically, Krishna demonstrates it in His pastime of showing His Mother many universes in His mouth.
In Australia there have forest fires there and big fireballs are thrown out of the fire as far as 25 kilometers away. I was in Canberra and a fireball landed 500 meters from the temple. On one nearby street, all the houses were burnt down but one. That house even had its garden intact! Somehow the owner had attracted some mercy from the Lord, and his house was saved. We can see Krishna behind everything.
I have a cartoon of two monks walking on the road. And one sees a sign that says, “Sign from God,” and he says to the other, “Look, a sign from God!”
A neophyte sees this movement as being lead by different personalities, but one who is more advanced sees the movement is going on by the grace of Lord Caitanya and is not dependent on any of us. If we start thinking it depends on us, then we get carried away by pride, which Krishna does not like, and so he has to make a situation to teach us. Because the movement depends on Krishna, we can be hopeful of its success. Otherwise, if it is dependent us, we may wonder.
As a parent can sympathize with feelings of the child, the devotees can sympathize with the sufferings of the unenlightened materialists.
The devotees develop their own individuality in the course of engaging in the service of the Lord, where as the impersonalists gradually lose their individuality.
Q: According to the Gita, the impersonalists can become devotees.
A: Yes, but not those Mayavadis who begin to blaspheme the Lord saying His form is material and His service is illusory.
Q: How to understand the whole street of houses except one burning is the will of God?
A: Bhakti Tirtha Swami answered this in his book The Begger. One-third of world’s people died of the bubonic plague. In Rwanda, in a few days millions of people were killed. In one paper, there was a headline 27 people killed in LA. On page four, there was an article about 500,000 killed in a Bangladesh flood. Only those who are convinced of the eternality of the soul can understand it is the will of God, and even they are temporarily bewildered.
There will be no survivors.
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“The characteristics of Krishna are understood to be a storehouse of transcendental love. Although that storehouse of love certainly came with Krishna when He was present, it was sealed. But when Sri Caitanyaa Mahaprabhu came with His associates of the Panca-tattva, they broke the seal and plundered the storehouse to taste transcendental love of Krishna. The more they tasted it, the more their thirst for it grew. 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. In distributing love of Godhead, Sri Caitanyaa Mahaprabhu and His associates did not consider who was a fit candidate and who was not, nor where such distribution should or should not take place. They made no conditions. Wherever they got the opportunity, the members of the Panca-tattva distributed love of Godhead.” (Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, Adi-lila 7.20–23)
