Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka,
Vol. 11, No. 1
By Krishna-kripa das
(January 2015, part one)
By Krishna-kripa das
(January 2015, part one)
Florida
(Sent from Gainesville, Florida, on January 21, 2015)
(Sent from Gainesville, Florida, on January 21, 2015)
Where I Went and What I Did
I
returned to my base in Gainesville, Florida, for the first three
months of the New Year. We started the year with a large
harinama
event
at the Taxslayer Bowl at the stadium in Jacksonville attended by 36
devotees from
Alachua, Gainesville, and Jacksonville.
In
Gainesville, in addition to chanting for 2½ hours during Krishna
Lunch, the prasadam
distribution
at the University of Florida, we chant Wednesday at the Gainesville
Farmers Market and Friday with the Alachua devotees on the corner of
the University campus. Besides my practice of going to the temple
morning and evening programs and reading one hour, I added cleaning
the floor of my room and practicing mrdanga
to
my daily routine, along with chanting Queen Kunti's prayers from
memory every Sunday, and I hope I can maintain them throughout the
year.
In this issue, I report my
expenses and income for 2014, and I thank the many, many people who
kindly supported my program of traveling and promoting the public
congregational chanting of the holy name of the Lord and speaking on
the Bhagavad-gita
and
Srimad-Bhagavatam.
I
also apologize for a video I posted that some devotees complained
about. I include a picture of a practical innovation at Krishna
House.
I share notes on a couple
lectures from swamis visiting Gainesville, Danavir Goswami and Bhakti
Prabhupada-vrata Damodar Swami. I have notes on classes by Prabhupada
disciples in the Alachua and Gainesville communities, Kalakantha,
Nagaraja, Ranjit, and Sesa Prabhus, some from other initiated
devotees, and a few nice realizations from very new devotees.
Thanks
to Vishnu-priya dd of Jacksonville for her kind donation.
Thanks
to Prahladananda Swami for his generous donation for my doing the
service of proofreading his book on health.
Thanks
to J.R. for his pictures of me on harinama
in
Gainesville.
Itinerary
January 21: Gainesville
January 22: Jacksonville
January 23–28: Tallahassee
January 29–31: Tampa
February 1 – April 8:
Florida (Gainesville, Alachua, Tallahassee, Jacksonville, and Tampa)
April 9–11: Washington, D.C.
April 12: Albany
April 13–15: New York City
April 16: Toronto
April 17–24: Ireland
April
25: London
April 26: Radhadesh
April
27: Amsterdam (King's Day)
Accounting for 2014
Because people give me
donations, I feel I should tell how I spend what I am given.
ACCOUNTING
FOR 2014
|
|
CATEGORY
|
AMOUNT
|
travel
|
3404.01
|
gifts
|
492.52
|
health
|
294.46
|
maintenance
|
102.70
|
food
|
64.03
|
festivals
|
48.33
|
books
|
26.77
|
communication
|
13.03
|
rent
|
10.56
|
loans
|
9.00
|
donations
– public
|
−665.25
|
donations
– private
|
−3692.80
|
balance
|
107.37
|
Gifts
are donations to temples, swamis and and presents for my relatives.
Communication is phone, internet, and computer expenses. It does not
include my British phone expenses which Satya Medha Gauranga Prabhu
kindly pays for, for which I am grateful, and which amount to around
$50. Books are the cost of books bought for harinama
minus
books specifically sold, but many books are given in reciprocation
for donations on harinama
and
these are not included here. The festival fee is for the Baltic
Summer Festival. Rent is what I paid to stay in Mayapur. Public
donations are those people gave me on harinama,
mostly in Europe. As far as travel, I went to Ireland, India,
England, Holland, Belgium, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Czech
Republic, Poland, Lithuania, Germany, Slovakia, and France.
I
am very, very grateful to GN Press, Kaliya Krishna Dasa (NYC), Dhruva
Das (Oregon), Navina Shyam Das (Dallas), Tara Das (Mayapur), the
Newcastle temple, Premarnava Das (Dublin), Srikar (Gainesville), Tony
(England), Clive (Chester), Caitanya-candrodaya Das (Ukraine),
Sivananda Sena Das (Rotterdam), the Preston nama-hatta, the Liverpool
nama-hatta, Ajay (Huddlesfield), the Leeds nama-hatta, Gopalacarya
Das (Govindadvipa), Jivananda Das (Slovakia), Janananda Goswami,
Mariana (Sheffield), Vishnu Priya Devi Dasi (Newcastle), Kevin
(Govindadvipa), Atmanivedana Das (NYC), Uma Devi Dasi (Michigan), the
UNF Krishna Club, Sundari Gopi Devi Dasi (Jacksonville), Karuna Rasa
Das (Watford), Raghunatha Bhatta Das (Scotland), Rama Raya Das
(NYC), Gauridas Pandit Das (York), Madhava Gauranga Das (Rotterdam),
Nanda Kumar Das (Dublin), Sanatani Devi Dasi (Oslo), Bhakti Rasa Das
(Newcastle), Charu Gopika Devi Dasi (NYC), Jagannath Misra Das
(Bulgaria), Jon (Leeds), a devotee in the Queens temple, an Indian
man who visited the Harinama Ashram (NYC), an Indian man on the
street whose father was a life member (Philly), Mithuna Prabhu and
ISKCON Queens, Sudevi Devi Dasi (Tampa), the USF Bhakti Yoga Club,
Mohnish Goel (Delhi), Haladhara (Sheffield), Urmila
(Leeds), Priya Sundari Devi Dasi (Leeds), Shelina (Govindadvipa),
Doug (Preston), Jason (Sheffield), the London Soho temple, a lady on
harinama
(Philly),
Mike (New Vrindavan), Jon (Florida), a German brahmacari
in Mayapur, TravelersBox, and Gaura Karuna Prabhu (Czech Republic),
and others who forgot to note down for their kind donations. I am
also very grateful to all the anonymous persons who gave me donations
on harinama.
Thanks
to all the people who have helped me in different ways who are too numerable to mention completely. Some include Kanwar and Mariana, who
let me stay at their place whenever I come to Sheffield, Doug
whenever I come to Preston, and Lovelesh and Amrita Keli Devi Dasi whenever I
come to Jacksonville, Dr. Karuna Rasa Das of Watford, who gave me a medical checkup, and Gaura Krishna Das, who always gives me a lift to
Bhaktivedanta Manor, and makes life in England easier. Jiva Goswami Das helped me incalcuably by giving me a new netbook computer, and Dorain made it easier for me to study on the road by giving me Smartphone that I put Gitabase on.
Public Apology for
“Brighton Harinam--Dancing Outside a Shop” Video
I
want to publicly apologize for publishing a controversial video
called “Brighton Harinam--Dancing Outside a Shop” on YouTube in
the summer of 2013. Some devotees objected to Mahavishnu Swami's
joking behavior with a costumed man who was dancing with our party. I
should have had enough intelligence to realize that might offend some
devotees, and I should have edited out that section of the video.
Otherwise it is a typical harinama
video
showing onlookers having a good time dancing with the devotees. I am
sorry I offended some devotees because of my thoughtlessness, and I
promise to use greater discretion in posting videos in the future.
That video is no longer publicly accessible on YouTube in its
original objected-to form, and in its place I have put an edited
version made by my friend Vidyapati Prabhu removing the major
complaint.
Harinama at the Taxslayer
Bowl (Formerly Gator Bowl)
Devotees
in Florida chant at the stadiums before the football games because
that is one of the few times you can reach a lot of people at once.
Alachua devotees and Jacksonville devotees have joined together and
chanted before the Gator Bowl (recently named the Taxslayer Bowl
after a company that is funding it) around New Years time for several
years. Godruma and Vishnu-priya and other devotees from Jacksonville
put on a nice feast for all the devotees before or after the harinama
depending
on the time of the game.
This year lots of people
became exposed to the Hare Krishna mantra for the first time as the
teams that were playing were from Tennessee and Iowa, where there are
not many parties of Hare Krishna chanters.
As
I was standing in front of our chanting party, dancing and handing
out pamphlets, one jovial man from Tennessee asked me who Hare
Krishna was. I explained that Hare Krishna are names of God in the
ancient Sanskrit language of India. He asked if we worshiped the same
God as the other religions worship. I explained there is one supreme
being who is fulfilling the desires of all other beings, and that is
the Supreme Lord, who we and all other religions are worshiping. He
asked if we accepted the Bible. Not wanting to discuss the merits of
the Bible, I said, “Christ said to love the Lord with body, mind,
and soul, and to love your neighbor as yourself,” and we agree with
that. If everyone followed that, the world would live in peace. God
sent Christ to teach that truth. He then asked what was the position
of Jesus Christ. That is always a touchy subject with Christians, so
I was a little worried. I said God and Christ are simultaneously one
and different. He smiled and said, to my great surprise, “I like
that!” I continued explaining that Jesus said he was the son of God
and he prayed to God, but he also said that he and the Father were
one. Therefore, they are simultaneously one and different. He said,
“You are very articulate.” He explained he was a Apostolic
Pentecostal, and that while the Pentecostals worship the Father, Son,
and Holy Ghost as distinct, the Apostolics consider them all to be
one. One of Lord Caitanya's main teachings is that the pure souls
[and in fact all emanations from God] are simultaneously one with and
different from God, and for me to encounter a Christian who was
excited to hear this philosophy really made my day, and I asked to
take his picture.
Another
fortunate encounter was a young lady who looked so happy to meet our
chanting party I had to offer her an “On Chanting Hare Krishna.”
One of the two guys with her asked some questions about our
philosophy, and I answered them in such a way that he thought it
sounded reasonable. She was from North Carolina, and I told her about
our centers there, and gave her my card, offering to let her know
details about them.
As we ended our brief
conversation, and they were walking away, Mother Madhumati approached
the lady, and offered her a garland.
Then Madhumati invited her to
dance.
She
looked so happy dancing with the devotee ladies. You can see from
this video, she really entered into it (http://youtu.be/I6vekhdSyaM):
During
the rest of the harinama
others
took pleasure in playing the tambourine and dancing with the devotees
(http://youtu.be/jDGbA_7LWNU?list=PLGerEnGdI0xLJJaibnU7l40IDgh8jbrA7):
Krishna Lunch
Some devotees from the
Vaishnava Youth Mexican Bus Tour visited Krishna Lunch after their
tour ended in Alachua so we had a few extra chanters and servers on
the campus.
Here Nitya Lila (center), who
I met chopping vegetables at the German Kirtan Mela, and later
serving Radha-Govinda in Brooklyn, happily serves Krishna Lunch.
Chelsea, who chanted with us in New York City, during school breaks
from Rutgers University, also serving the lunch (right), decided to
live in Krishna House for the spring session.
Chanting at the Farmers
Market
The
steps of an abandoned fast food place at the plaza became our new
venue for our harinama
at
the Farmers Market.
All the devotees were so
enthusiastic, we stayed out for 2½ hours!
Some people sat and listened
to us.
Some clapped.
Some moved with the music.
Some took pamphlets.
And also enjoyed reading them.
Some took books that Caitanya
and Mikey distributed.
Chanting on the Gainesville
Harinama
Devotees from Alachua and
Gainesville have been chanting on the corner by the University of
Florida every Friday since before I moved there in 1994.
On January 16, we had a party
of 16 men, 10 women, and 4 children!
I stand in front of the party
and dance,
and invite people to the Krishna House programs in
Gainesville.
One family of five walked by
our party, and I talked to the parents briefly. The man had fond
memories of eating Krishna Lunch 30 years ago. He said he also liked
our music. He said, “It is part of the culture!” It was beautiful
to see such a positive impression of Hare Krishna.
Innovation
Different
temples have little innovations that make life easier. Microphone
cables are always getting tangled up, and untangling them takes time
away from more important services.
Here
Badahari Prabhu, the devotee in charge of maintenance at Krishna
House in Gainesville, put brackets on the pujari
room
door so you can roll up and store the microphone cables and the
microphones themselves in a simple elegant way.
To see the pictures I took but
did not include in this journal, click on the link below:
Insights
Danavir Goswami:
The
devotees do not have to take many courses to learn good qualities,
but they are included in bhakti-yoga.
The
Lord personally reciprocates with His devotee, and so the devotee
becomes greatly influenced by Krishna as a rod in a fire attains the
qualities of fire. The devotees become qualified in that way to act
in the position of God.
If God were here He could
bless us, but His devotee can also bless us because he is empowered
by Krishna.
Krishna purifies everything,
and so His devotee purifies everything.
“If
God is good, why are there so many problems in this world?” This is
the most frequently asked question. God does not force His will upon
us. And thus people engage in sinful activities and suffer.
If God came to a city, and the
residents decided to receive and serve Him, then their whole city
would become transformed. But if people did not believe He was
coming, and just went on with their sinful life, such an opportunity
would be missed.
We are thinking we are the
only living beings in the universe, but actually most living beings
are happily situated in the spiritual world.
People
ask, “Why does Krishna give us free will if we misuse it?” but do
we really wish that God made us robots? No parent will hold a gun to
the head of his children, even if they do foolish things, in order to
force them to do good things.
We
have to tolerate because we cannot really do anything –
the calamities are coming from a higher authority. Instead of
spending our lives trying to counteract these things, it is better to
focus on pleasing Krishna.
Christ
is the ideal example. He prayed to Krishna as he was being crucified,
“They know not what they do.”
In the Israeli army I had
permission to do my offerings to the Lord. People were envious of me
because I got exempted from parts of the program they were forced to
do. One guy, the biggest one, said, “If you do not stop ringing
that bell, I will push it down your throat.” So I stopped ringing
the bell.
Haridas Thakura tolerated. In
this movement, some devotees were disowned by their parents. That is
very hard, but they had to tolerate.
It is the mercy of the
spiritual master that he chastises us and thus corrects us. If you
are going to hell, and someone tells you to stop, it is mercy.
Q: The Vedas say life is on
every planet. Why do the scientists not detect it?
A:
Maybe they have not gone to other planets. Life on other planets may
not be as it is on this planet. It may be more subtle, and we may not
be able to perceive that. The yaksas
warned
the Pandavas not to go further in the Himalayas. Bhima did not take
that instruction very seriously. Then the yaksas
said
that even if you go, you will not be able to see anything anyway.
Q: We talk about Krishna
consciousness being blissful, but here we have to tolerate so much.
How to understand?
A:
Even
they tried to kill Krishna Himself. That is the nature of this world.
Krishna does not force people to behave. If we practice tolerance
then we can continue to chant. If we are not tolerant, we will be
distracted from the chanting by so many things. “Why is he chanting
so loud? Why are these billboards here? Why are they dressing like
that?”
Q: Sometimes we tolerate but
internally we are gritting our teeth. What to do?
A: If you are a singer, if the
sound man does not have the sound quite right, you may make a few
suggestions to him, but ultimately you go on with the show because
you know if you get upset, it will ruin whole performance.
Q:
How do we avoid anger that has gone past the point of being possible
to tolerate? A: Anger comes from lust. Better to not let lust get out
of hand. Better not to contemplate the objects of the senses.
Bhakti Prabhupada-vrata
Damodar Swami:
In
Bhagavad-gita
2.16,
“no
endurance” means “no ultimate endurance.” Material things,
including the body, endure for sometime but not forever.
Apparently there are
sub-species of the 8.4 millon species.
Our process is to perform
devotional service to serve the reality.
We are real, not as these
bodies, but as spirit souls.
It is not that we were
Christians and are becoming Hindus, but we are waking up to the
realization that we are spiritual souls.
If a drop of water says “I
am ocean” that is alright but if the drop of water says “I am the
ocean” that is crazy.
The
problem with many famous Western philosophers, including John Locke,
is that they think that sense perception and interference are the
only ways of attaining knowledge. Locke says that all we know is the
sense impressions but not what is causing those sense impressions. We
also agree that we cannot understand with our senses what is causing
the sense impressions.
For God to be God he has to
have inconceivable potencies, and we are one, the marginal energy.
Phenomenologists believe you
cannot really know what is real, and all you can do is study the
temporary phenomena.
We
are fortunate because we accept the way of attaining sabda,
hearing
from authority.
The pure devotee sees so
deeply that all things are all Krishna's energy and thus nondifferent
from Krishna, that he is ecstatic.
The Mayavadis say everything
is illusion, but illusion has no meaning unless there is a person
having an illusion, and if there is a person having an illusion, that
defeats the Mayavadi idea that ultimately there is no personality.
If
we are convinced about the unreal nature of this world, we will be
not inclined to enjoy this world either in a Western style or in a
Eastern style, and thus the misconception of the karmis
is
defeated.
The understanding of the real nature of this world is to counteract
the misconception of the jnanis.
If we see the material world
as Krishna's energy, then we see its reality.
We
share with the jnanis
the
idea understanding this world is unreal, but we go beyond that
because we talk about the source of this unreal world and our
relationship with that source.
The
demons say “that this world is unreal, with no foundation, no God
in control.” (Bhagavad-gita
16.8)
We share the understanding that the world is unreal, but we
understand that there is foundation, the Lord, and He is in control.
The care given to the
architecture of the college buildings is to create the impression
there is knowledge there.
Kalakantha Prabhu:
Emerson said the West is that
strange part of the world where they think they only have one life.
You
can say there is a touch of skepticism in Arjuna's question in the
beginning of the Eleventh Chapter of Bhagavad-gita.
In
Chapter Ten Krishna describes how He exists in different
manifestation in this world, and in Chapter Eleven, Arjuna asks to
see this.
The tendency is to try to get
as much sense gratification now before it passes away, and that puts
us in the mode of passion.
People
are so ambitious after sense gratification that now the weekend
starts on Thursday.
Actually spiritual life is
happiness now and more happiness in the future.
Activities can be classified
in these four ways:
1. Important and Urgent:
Crisis!
2. Important and Not Urgent:
Preparation
3. Not Important and Urgent:
Interruptions
4. Not Important and Not
Urgent: Time Wasters
The whole life of a devotee is
in the second quadrant, preparation (important and not urgent).
For the materialist, Krishna
is time, the destroyer of everything, but for a devotee, Krishna is
this loving person.
Hankering for the future is in
the mode of passion. Lamenting for the past is in the mode of
ignorance.
One in the mode of goodness
does not worry for the future because of confidence that Krishna will
take care.
In World War I, one Christmas
the warring parties declared a truce and had a soccer game between
the English and Germans. This is like the Pandavas and Kauravas
meeting as friends in the evening after the day's fighting.
When
convincing someone of a path of action, appealing to their more noble
motives is a good strategy. Krishna does this in the Gita,
telling
Arjuna about the example of King Janaka and asking him act rightly as
a leader so common men will follow.
“If
you can slave yet never crave the fruits of your endeavor,
you'll savor liberation from
this worldly cave forever.”
(from
a Bhagavad-gita
rap)
Q
(by Arjuna Prabhu): How should we approach our relationship with
Krishna?
A: Just start by offering
whatever you have to Krishna.
Q (by Marlon): If we are
focused all about Krishna then how do we understand our
individuality?
A: It is counter-intuitive but
by focusing on Krishna our individual spiritual personality becomes
more and more revealed to us.
Comment by Krishna-kripa das:
Because we are eternal servants of Krishna, the more we focus on
Krishna, the more we understand our personal individuality which is
in relationship to Him.
Nagaraja Prabhu:
summarizing
the Prabhupada lecture, “Somehow Fix Your Mind on Krishna”, in
Back
to Godhead, Vol.
49, No. 3:
“Any
contact with Krishna purifies our consciousness and gradually
qualifies us
for eternal loving exchanges
with Him.”
Ranjit Prabhu:
Jayadeva
Goswami lived on the bank of the Ganges at Navadvipa, and he was the
court pandit for King Laksman Sena of Bengal. Bhaktivinoda Thakura
says that Jayadeva Goswami imbibed the mood of Lord Caitanya from
being in Navadvipa, the Lord's place of birth, even before the Lord's
appearance.
When we drive past the
Walgreens and we see the free flu shots, we can be reminded that
disease is there and people have it and we may soon join them.
This body has a trillion cells
and I have no knowledge of them or what I am doing, and yet I am the
knower of this particular field.
Sesa Prabhu:
If we are trying to accumulate
things, why would we want to worship someone who takes away things
(Hari or Krishna).
If we keep the goal of love of
God in mind, then when we meet challenges in life, we will be able to
see them in the proper perspective.
We are conditioned for many
births to think if we do good things, we will get good results and if
we do bad things, we will get bad results, but that is not a complete
understanding of how things are. Actually what happens to us is the
mercy of God.
Comment
by Madhumati Devi Dasi: Karma is like you hit a ball and it hits a
wall and bounces back to you. Devotion is that you hit a ball, and
Krishna catches it and throws it back to you.
Comment
by Vaishnava Prabhu: This universe can supply the needs of all but
not the greed of even one.
Janmastami, the day of
Krishna's appearance, is a national holiday in India.
I
failed my bar exam after so much college. I was lined up to get a
good job, but because I failed the exam I was not hired. From the
material point of view, I could have lost everything. But I did not
experience it like that. I saw that Krishna protected my sadhana
(regulated
spiritual practices) and gave me different service opportunities I
otherwise would not have had. Later I passed the exam.
Before Thomas Aquinas the idea
that one could change one's character by practice was not popular. He
got that idea from Aristotle.
Because we are trained poorly
we think that sense enjoyment is the goal of life.
I had a friend who was such a
bad influence on my life, I am still suffering sixty years later.
Comment by Brahma-tirtha
Prabhu: I went to a house in Bombay, India, with a color TV. At that
time, there were no TV stations broadcasting in color in Bombay. The
TV was in the most prominent room and had garlands on it.
How
does brahmacarya
life
reduce the fire of sense enjoyment?
He
has time to hear and chant about Krishna and serve the guru. He lives
in the ashram, and he practices celibacy.
In
grhastha
(married)
life, through a spiritual partnership and sacrifice in service to
others one reduces the fire of sense enjoyment.
What do you need to control
the senses?
Knowledge.
A higher taste from the
practice of spiritual life.
To
practice contentment.
Devamrita
Swami points to five myths:
1. Money brings happiness.
2. Technology brings well-being.
3. Weapons bring security.
4. The earth provides virtually unlimited resources we can exploit to satisfy our senses.
5. The earth provides virtually limitless room for the disposal of waste.
2. Technology brings well-being.
3. Weapons bring security.
4. The earth provides virtually unlimited resources we can exploit to satisfy our senses.
5. The earth provides virtually limitless room for the disposal of waste.
Ambarisa
Prabhu (Alfred Ford) says the difference between poor people and rich
people is that poor people think that money will bring them
happiness, but rich people know that wealth is not the cause of
happiness.
Radha Jivan Prabhu:
This world is described by the
Lord to be a place where one living entity is food for another. We
hide the fact by saying “I am nonvegetarian” not that “I am a
meat eater.” We do not say “pass the cow,” but “pass the
beef.” We do not say we want pig but hot dog.
These days the most popular
movies are about real life stories because people can relate to them.
The
Indian movie PK is done very expertly to mesmerize people.
Person who are a little
intelligent can see there is power beyond us that is in control, and
they seek to find out about it.
In the movie PK certain
questions are brought out, and persons who are not deeply
knowledgeable may be bewildered.
The message is that the alien
who came to earth learned from the earthly people how to lie and he
taught that to love, you have to be willing to sacrifice for people
you love.
The movie says there are gods
that we have created and gods that have created us, but it speaks
without authority and confuses people.
God
is not meant to supply our orders and if we take Him in that way,
people will exploit that. Yet God does supply our needs, just as our
parents do, without our asking.
I have been a devotee since I
was twenty-three, for over thirty years, and I have seen Krishna's
protection in different ways.
One
young lady with two children heard the lecture of one devotee
visiting Sydney. She told him she liked the lecture and agreed with
vegetarianism but said that she was forced because of poverty to take
a job at a butcher shop and wondered if she should give it up. He
told her not to, but to offer a prayer every day to Krishna that, if
He desired, to get her out of that sinful situation. The next year
when the devotee spoke in Sydney he saw the the lady, now decorated
with tilaka,
and
he recognized her and asked if she still had the job at the butcher
shop. She said no and now she worked in a cloth shop for a man named
Mr. Butcher.
We are bewildered by the
questions raised by the movie PK because we have not taken shelter of
the divine knowledge obtained by picking Krishna as our source of
wisdom.
Krishna
is giving relationship with God. He is not selling the various
material things we are aspiring for.
The
new president Mody of India gives foreign diplomats one gift and one
gift only Bhagavad-gita.
He
considers that is India's greatest gift.
Our behavior is according our
knowledge. Our state of behavior becomes culture.
Despite centuries of foreign
denomination by Muslims and the British, despite destruction of
temples and killing of priests by the Muslims, India's culture has
not been obliterated. Because it is so deep-rooted and it is based on
factual knowledge it could withstand so much.
Because we have not recognized
the value of spirituality, we have not sought the truth of
spirituality and thus we are subject to be cheated by godless
“godmen.”
When
I was young every school taught Bhagavad-gita
and
the writings of saints. In the evenings people would hear Mahabharata
and
Ramayana.
Srila Prabhupada has defined
faith as “implicit trust in something sublime.”
As
we have trust in an airline or a university because of the positive
experience of ourselves and others, we can also have faith in a
source of spiritual knowledge.
In
India there are four bona fide sampradayas
that
give bona fide spiritual knowledge.
If
your professor is speaking material that is different from the books,
then you have some doubt. Similarly, if one claims to be a guru and
speaks differently from the scriptures, it is natural to doubt.
In summary:
If you are looking for God
with an ulterior motive, you will get cheated.
If you are looking for God you
should accept a guru who is speaking about God.
That guru should present God
as he is described in the scriptures.
One
man, who I personally saw two years ago with 80,000 to 90,000
followers, was selling invented mantras. Now he is now in jail along
with his son.
This
is a story I heard a sadhu tell from the Puranas
or
Mahabharata.
After
the Kurukshetra War the Pandavas felt bad so many people were killed
so their eldest brother Yudhistira could become king. Krishna
explained he wanted them to teach dharma for the benefit of all
citizens as the age of Kali or degradation was approaching. He asked
the brothers to go out and report to him whatever strange sights they
saw, and He would explain how they were symptoms of Kali-yuga.
Yudhisthira
reported, “I saw an elephant with two trunks.” Krishna explained,
“Just like that elephant has two trunks, in Kali everyone will have
two faces. Everyone will speak one thing and do another.”
Bhima
said, “I saw a big pond without water although all the small ponds
nearby were full.” Krishna explained, “In Kali, my
representatives are like the big pond, which although deep with
knowledge, will have no money and no followers, while so many bogus
people will flourish with money and followers.”
Arjuna
said, “I saw a bird with writings of the Vedas on it eating the
flesh of a human body.” Krishna explained, “That is a symptom of
Kali-yuga. In Kali people will learn some scriptural verses and
exploit people and take their money.”
Nakula
said, “I saw a mother cow who had given birth to a baby and the
mother cow was licking the baby cow, so much that the baby cow began
to bleed, and it kept bleeding.” Krishna said, “In Kali the
parents will give affection to the children by encouraging them
unlimitedly in material ways but completely ignoring their spiritual
life.”
Krishna
explained, “I arranged that war so all these irreligious types
would be eliminated and you righteous pious brothers would teach the
populace dharma.”
Sahadeva
said, “After a long way, I saw a boulder came crashing down a
mountain knocking down everything, trees, buildings, monuments, etc.
But just before it struck me, it hit plant which stopped completely
its rushing speed.” Krishna explained that the boulder is Kali-yuga
personified, and the trees, monuments, and buildings are philosophies
trying to oppose Kali-yuga. The little plant is the holy name of the
Lord which seems to be very insignificant but which actually has the
complete power to stop the force of Kali-yuga.
Madhava Prabhu from the
Alachua community:
The first two verses of the
Eleventh Canto, First Chapter, Verses 6 and 7 are very powerful:
“The
Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna, is the reservoir of all
beauty. All beautiful things emanate from Him, and His personal form
is so attractive that it steals the eyes away from all other objects,
which then seem devoid of beauty in comparison to Him. When Lord
Krishna was on the earth, He attracted the eyes of all people. When
Krishna spoke, His words attracted the minds of all who remembered
them. By seeing the footsteps of Lord Krishna, people became
attracted to Him, and thus they wanted to offer their bodily
activities to the Lord as His followers. In this way Krishna very
easily spread His glories, which are sung throughout the world by the
most sublime and essential Vedic verses. Lord Krishna considered that
simply by hearing and chanting those glories, conditioned souls born
in the future would cross beyond the darkness of ignorance. Being
satisfied with this arrangement, He left for His desired
destination.”
comment
by Shyamala: Vaisesika Prabhu said what we remember at death is what
we are emotionally invested in. That was encouraging to me, that I
might remember all the kirtanas
that
really touched me.
comment
by Bhisma: I had a friend who was a devotee for a long time who was
dying of brain cancer on the farm in Alachua. He had his difficulties
over the years, and I was thinking he must be really cracking at
death. When I asked him how he was doing, he said, “Krishna is
giving me so much mercy.” He must have seen a touch of skepticism
in my facial expression, and he said, “Really! You won't believe
how much mercy Krishna is giving me!” I could understand from that
what fortune awaits us if we are faithful to Krishna till the end.
Q (by Autumn): Is our duty at
death just to remember Krishna?
A: Yes.
Manorama Prabhu:
We try to get them dancing on
the bus tour in Mexico because once they are dancing, they do not
care that it is the same song over and over.
Krishna
Dhana Prabhu:
from
“Are You Having a PL?” in Back
to Godhead, Vol.
49, No. 3:
“If
even to get a gold medal in the Olympics takes rigorous practice and
hard work, then just think how much practice and preparation are
required to be transported to the spiritual world for eternity. Hence
life is called a preparation.”
Tulasirani Devi:
Queen Kunti prays to Krishna,
“I wish that all those calamities would happen again and again so
that we could see You again and again, for seeing You means that we
will no longer see repeated births and deaths.” How many people
pray like this in this material world? Usually people pray to become
free from calamities.
Why does she pray like this?
Because whenever she experienced a calamities she realized that
Krishna was there to protect her.
Krishna sends us personalized
tests to see if we will take shelter of Him or run in the other
direction.
If someone stops cultivating
their relationship with God, whether to due to happiness or distress,
that is the greatest calamity.
I
had been a devotee for two years and felt I really wanted to purify
myself. I prayed to Lord Nrsimhadeva in New Vrndavana, “Do whatever
it takes to get rid of my false ego.” I said it three times.
Several hours later I was in the most horrific car accident. I did
not die, although the policemen said, “You should not have lived
through that.” We could see for each of us involved in the accident
how that was Krishna's mercy in every case, even for the girl who
died, who left the world in a very spiritual state. In one sense I
become more faithful to Krishna as I saw him respond to my prayers,
but I also become more fearful of developing my relationship with
Krishna and afraid of praying to him. Since then I have rectified
that fearfulness in my relationship with Krishna. I do pray to Him
now.
One
lady prayed exactly the prayer of Queen Kunti, and she lost her
husband, children, job –
everything was gone. She became bitter and stopped practicing.
Comment by Hari Priya: Take
shelter of Krishna by taking shelter of Krishna's devotees and
confide in them.
Usually
we need a mixture of loving encouragement and stern correction.
Comment by Naomi: Remembering
the sweet pastimes of Krishna in difficulties keeps me from blaming
Him for the calamities.
In my own calamities I always
meditate on this verse :
“tat
te ’nukampam su-samiksamano
bhuñjana evatma-krtam vipakam
hrd-vag-vapurbhir vidadhan namas te
jiveta yo mukti-pade sa daya-bhak
bhuñjana evatma-krtam vipakam
hrd-vag-vapurbhir vidadhan namas te
jiveta yo mukti-pade sa daya-bhak
My
dear Lord, one who earnestly waits for You to bestow Your causeless
mercy upon him, all the while patiently suffering the reactions of
his past misdeeds and offering You respectful obeisances with his
heart, words and body, is surely eligible for liberation, for it has
become his rightful claim.”
How many people “patiently
suffer”?
When we are experiencing
calamities it is helpful to consider that Krishna has some greater
plan.
Lord Caitanya's program is to
chant, to dance and to serve the devotees.
Dhameshvar Mahaprabhu
Prabhu:
comment by Shyamala: By giving
up material attachments we are benefiting the soul which is our
ultimate responsibility.
Today responsibility means to
conform with the norms of our selfish society. It is reacting to
satisfy material needs but is devoid of intentional enlightened
action.
Regular, faithful, and
practical devotional service inspires Krishna to manifest in the
heart.
The pure devotee is simply
interested in attaining Krishna and is not disturbed by any number of
material calamities.
If my peace of mind depends on
people acting the way I want, then I will always be disturbed.
By making Krishna the center
of their lives, the residents of Vrindavan enjoy the highest
happiness.
Comment
by Tulasirani Devi: Radhanath Swami said, “When the guru sees his
disciple is taking personal responsibility to execute Srila
Prabhupada's mission, he is very pleased.”
Comment
by Mikey: If we tolerate the dualities as Krishna mentions in Bg.
2.14, and act according to the scriptures, in buddhi-yoga,
we
progress.
Bhakta Mike:
If we give up Krishna
consciousness to pursue the temporary, we lose both the eternal and
the temporary, because we will lose the temporary anyway, and so it
is foolish to give up Krishna consciousness.
Bhakta Franco:
I
was brought up as a Baptist. I learned God was far away and if you
did not perfectly follow the 10 commandments you would burn in hell
forever. I thought, “Why bother? I am bound to make one or two
mistakes.” In Krishna consciousness, I learned that God wants to be
your friend.
-----
yasmin
vijñate sarvam evam vijñatam bhavati
“The
devotee of the Lord knows everything material and spiritual in
relationship with the Lord.”
(Mundaka
Upanisad 1.3)