Diary
of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 11, No. 14
By Krishna-kripa das
(July 2015, part two)
By Krishna-kripa das
(July 2015, part two)
Prague,
Munich, Warsaw, Stuyvesant Falls, Polish Woodstock
(Sent from Newcastle upon Tyne on August 25, 2015)
(Sent from Newcastle upon Tyne on August 25, 2015)
Where
I Went and What I Did
On
Thursday, July 16, I flew to Prague to go to the Ratha-yatra the
following Sunday. Friday I did harinama
in
Prague with both the Harinama Ruci party and the Prague devotees.
After
I had purchased
the ticket to Prague, I found that on Saturday there was Ratha-yatra
in Munich, so I took the train to and from Munich that day to attend
the Munich Ratha-yatra, although I had no time to stay for the stage
show. That day I learned that my guru, Satsvarupa dasa Goswami,
wanted me to come to Stuyvesant Falls, New York, and proofread his
yearly book, and so on Monday after the Prague Ratha-yatra and after
taking an overnight bus to Warsaw, I flew to New York, instead of
taking a bus to Lithuania for the Baltic Summer Festival as I was
planning to do. In Stuyvesant Falls, all I did for six days was eat,
sleep, chant japa, and
proofread the book, Looking
Back, Volume
1. I did not finish, and I had to continue on the train to New York,
on the plane to Warsaw, and on the train to Kostrzyn, Poland, home of
the Polish Woodstock festival since 2004. I took a 75-minute break
from my proofreading marathon to chant with about ten devotees during
their Food for Life program in downtown Warsaw and found it
inspiring. Then for the next five days I participated in Ratha-yatras
and kirtanas at
the Polish Woodstock festival, and I share lots of wonderful stories, photos and videos of that below.
I
share notes on a Srila Prabhupada lecture, and an excerpt from a book
of and from the online journal of Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami, and I
share notes on a lecture by Bhaktivaibhava
Swami in Prague and a lecture of Trivikrama Swami in Warsaw. I share
a comment by Indradyumna Swami to the young people of Poland and a
comment of a Russian disciple on Krishna consciousness in his region
of Russia.
Thanks
to Baladeva Vidyabhusana Prabhu and GN Press for their kind donation
for my proofreading Looking
Back, Volume
1. Thanks to Martin of Leipzig for his kind donation. Thanks to
Krishna Kirtan Prabhu and another Warsaw devotee for Polish coins to take
the bus to the airport and to the train station.
I would like to thank the person who dropped 200 Czech koruns
(about $8) on the street in Prague and which I donated to the Czech
farm devotees, in exchange for Czech chips and cookies for my
travels, and to the Prague Ratha-yatra.
Thanks
to Food for Life Warszawa [Warsaw] ISKCON for their photos.
Itinerary
August
25–26: Newcastle
August
27: Blackpool and Preston
August
28: Southport and Liverpool
August
29: Manchester
August
30: Leeds
August
31–September 1: Newcastle
September
2–3: Sheffield
September
4–7: Ireland
September
8–18: New York City Harinama
September
19–21?: Boston
September
22–25: New York City Harinama
September
26–27: Albany
September
28–November 15: New York City Harinama
November
16–18: Washington, D.C., Harinama
November
19: Jacksonville
November
20–December 16: Krishna House (except 5 days in Tallahassee)
December
17: Jacksonville?
December
18–January 3: New York City Harinama
Chanting
Hare Krishna in Prague
As
I was taking Lokanath Swami on a tour of the grounds at the Polish
Woodstock in 2004, I asked him where was the best place in the world
to do harinama, and he
replied, “Prague.” Although I had no prior plan, I ended up doing
harinama in Prague
that very summer, after the Polish Festival tour. Now I go there
almost every year.
I
was happy to join Harinama Ruci for their harinama
the
Friday before the Ratha-yatra. Here are some highlights
(https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGerEnGdI0xKWWOOVi1yjrinxrgayPape):
After
an hour and a half we joined the weekly Friday night Prague harinama
party
led by Vidya Vacaspati
Prabhu. Here are some high points, including the participation of
some street performers
(https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGerEnGdI0xKKgkCdqWtyXPztvfOr5_7z):
Chanting
at the Munich Ratha-yatra
I discovered that I could take the train from Prague to Munich and back the same day for under 40 euros, and thus attend the Munich Ratha-yatra. Because I love Ratha-yatra, dancing before Lord Jagannatha, and attempting to inspire others to take an interest in Krishna consciousness and because I have many friends in the German yatra, it was worth it to me. Some of my friends who were also in Prague made the same journey by car, but they had no space, and another friend took the bus.
As
I climbed the stairs at Karlsplatz U-bahn station,
after seven hours of travel, and I heard the Hare Krishna kirtana,
I
felt joy within my heart. They had just broken the coconuts, and it
was time for the procession to begin.
Munich
Ratha-yatra is one of the longest in Europe, and I am sure it was a
good four hours. I just had time to hear half of Kadamba Kanana
Swami's kirtana at
the beginning of stage show as I waited in line for prasadam,
before
my return journey to Prague.
Krishna
Ksetra Swami and Kadamba Kanana Swami were special guests. Sometimes
the procession passed through crowded areas and sometimes more vacant
ones.
Nice
features I recall about the Munich Ratha-yatra were many people took
photos of it.
We
would pass outdoor cafes, and almost everyone would be attracted by
the procession.
Devotees
offered fruit to Lord Jagannatha and distributed it to people in the
crowd, and onlookers and devotees both appreciated that.
Some
people danced with us.
One
couple took great pleasure dancing to our Hare Krishna music
Then the husband took a picture of his wife dancing with a devotee lady.
Then the husband took a picture of his wife dancing with a devotee lady.
Others
also enjoyed dancing.
At
the end of my playlist of video clips you can see different people at
Karlsplatz joined in the dancing at
the end of the procession
(https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGerEnGdI0xKOzgvsV1jOqAJ6HCPrHUNS):
The
first class compartment on the train home had WiFi, but the signal
extended to the area between the first and second class carriages,
and I would sit on on the floor and connect. In my email, I got an
urgent letter from my guru telling me to come to his place in New
York and proofread his lastest book. I checked prices on roundtrip
tickets from Prague, Warsaw, and Berlin, to New York City, and found
it was $200 cheaper to travel from Warsaw, where I was traveling to
by bus the next evening after the Prague Ratha-yatra. I sent his
servant the details, and I learned the next day I had a midday flight
on Monday to NYC.
Prague
Ratha-yatra
By contrast to Munich, the Prague Ratha-yatra is very short, about an hour and a half. It is in a busy tourist section, but the stage show was a bit off to the side.
Bhaktivaibhava
Swami, Danavira Goswami, and Kadamba Kanana Swami were special
guests. Titiksu Prabhu and the London cart came to Prague, as well as
to Paris and Budapest for their Ratha-yatras.
Harinama
Ruci posted a wonderful movie of the Prague Ratha-yatra on Facebook,
and it got over 135,000 views:
If
you have accress to Facebook, you can see it
(https://video.xx.fbcdn.net/hvideo-xpf1/v/t42.1790-2/11739922_1136011126428582_1682445110_n.mp4?efg=eyJybHIiOjE1ODcsInJsYSI6NDA5Nn0%3D&rl=1587&vabr=882&oh=9f76804a1ab5f6edb0493789e66ec004&oe=55D8D74B).
I
was amazed by the fascination of some Oriental girls, who smilingly
took all kinds of pictures of the event.
We
also distributed fruit offered to Lord Jagannatha in that
Ratha-yatra.
One
photographer even continued taking photos while holding the fruit in
this hand!
Harinama
Ruci likes
the chanting in the streets so much that during the stage show,
usually during the Indian dance, we go chanting around the tourist
section of the city. This time, probably because Janananda Goswami
came with us, we had thirty devotees instead of just ten. A lot of
onlookers
participated in dancing with us.
Devotee
ladies would dance, swinging ladies from the crowd.
Also
both the devotees and newcomers would enjoy dancing in a circle
together.
You
can see some
of the dancing in
this series of video clips
(https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGerEnGdI0xKIfdoP2NNtAfCKjDeCZN0h):
At the end of the stage show there was a very lively kirtana led by Kadamba Kanana Swami. You could see onlookers who came to visit our festival and those in the nearby cafe were attracted. Maharaja invited me to come up on the stage, but I indicated I had to go. Ironically, just as I left his Munich Ratha-yatra stage show kirtana the day before to catch a train to Prague, I had to leave his Prague stage show kirtana to catch a bus to Warsaw. Before I left I took this video clip (https://youtu.be/mnZFZA6XP28):
I
forgot to book a fruit plate as my meal on my Air France flight from
Warsaw to New York City via Paris. So in flight, I asked the steward
if he had any fruit.
Later
he brought me some cut fruit consisting of blueberries, kiwi fruit,
mango, and more.
I offered it to Krishna by chanting the mantras, and it tasted so good. When the stewards saw I liked it they brought me another bowl of it. As I deplaned I thanked the man who got me the fruit telling it was the best food I ever had on a plane, and he replied, “That is because it is our food.”
I offered it to Krishna by chanting the mantras, and it tasted so good. When the stewards saw I liked it they brought me another bowl of it. As I deplaned I thanked the man who got me the fruit telling it was the best food I ever had on a plane, and he replied, “That is because it is our food.”
Stuyvesant
Falls
It
was a real marathon for me proofreading my guru's,
Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami's, latest book, Looking
Back, Volume
1, in which he revisits some of the books he wrote and tells what was
going on in his life when he wrote them, what inspired
him to write them and to include certain things in them, and what
parts were especially important to him. The excerpts were dictated
and the typists generally did not check their typing with the books
the excerpts were taken from so there were many discrepancies. I
initially began, for the sake of strictness, to compare the text of
the new
book with original sources in every case, but I could see by doing
that I would not finish in the six days I had allotted, even if I
worked twelve hours a day at it, which I tried to do. Then I just
decided that I would check the originals only when I encountered
something that did not make sense. That difficulty with that came
with some parts that were “free writing”. There are fewer rules in that spontaneous style of writing and
it was hard to understand whether it was supposed to read the way it did
or the unusual sequence of words indicated a mistake, so you had to check it anyway. For some
of the typists, English was a second language, and sometimes they
would miss idioms, or type something that sounded right but had no
meaning. I wanted to finish up so I could go to the Polish Woodstock
festival and share kirtana
with
thousands of people, and
so it was a tremendous challenge for me, a challenge I rarely have.
Food
for Life in Warsaw
For
the last six months or so, devotees in Warsaw, headed by Sasabindu
Prabhu, have been distributing prasadam every Monday afternoon
for an hour and a half in a busy region between the metro and the
central train station. They invited me to chant with them the day I
flew to New York City, but it was not possible, so I decided to go
out with them the day I returned. Behind
our chanting party, you can see people lined up for prasadam.
The
devotee playing the drum, Sasabindu Prabhu, organizes and cooks for the party.
His halava was full of fruit and it tasted so, so good!
After just proofreading and no harinama for a week, you can see I was happy to be dancing in the kirtana again!
Altogether,
there were about ten devotees chanting, serving food, distributing
books, and giving out invitations to the temple. It was nice to see a
cooperative team working on an outreach program.
While
in the Warsaw temple, I met a Polish lady who became a Muslim while
working in the Middle East, not being satisfied with the Christianity
she was presented with as she grew up in Poland. Somehow or other,
her twelve-year-old daughter developed an interest in Hare Krishna,
so lady herself has been studying our philosophy and appreciating the
universal truths. She wants to encourage her daughter's spiritual
exploration. The young girl, who is named Myriem (in the green dress in the first picture above), very
enthusiastically played the kalatalas and helped out in
different ways on the food distribution outing, and it was very
inspiring. What a remarkable story!
Food
for Life Warsaw posted a video on their YouTube channel on the Food
for Life event (https://youtu.be/8Gh_v2FkopY):
The
Polish Woodstock
For
the fifteenth year in a row, I attended the Polish Woodstock
festival. It is really an amazing opportunity to share kirtana
and prasadam with
tens of thousands of people.
One
guy, who talked to me two
or three
years ago, commenting our kirtana
yoga tent one night,
said, “Most of these people are not Hare Krishnas, but they are
singing, dancing, and smiling, and are completely happy. In the
ordinary world, that would never happen!” I smiled, and said, “Yes
I know. That is why I have been coming here for fifteen years. Anyone
can be happy by chanting Hare Krishna, but at the Polish Woodstock,
they are willing to try it, and so they get that experience.”
Originally
this event was attended only by Polish people, and gradually more and
more Germans would come. In recent years it has become more
international. This year I talked to people from France, Norway,
Estonia, Bulgaria, Mozambique, Mexico, Brazil, and Bolivia as well!
Gabriel
from Brazil came up to me in the kirtana
tent
and reminded me that
I talked to him last month at the Stonehenge Solstice Festival. At
Woodstock he danced with with us every day, sometimes more than one,
and he brought his friends as well. In one of the videos
I took, you can see he really got into it.
I
met people from all over Poland, from Gdansk, from near the border
with Belarus, from near Wroclaw and near Katowice near Krakow, and of
course, Warsaw. I gave out at least a couple invitation to our
Wroclaw temple and several to our Warsaw temple.
Martin,
the organizer of the Trutnoff Open Air Music Festival, also called
the Czech Woodstock, came there to promote his event. I know him from
a kirtana program we did in
Trutnov's Balaram restaurant one year.
At
the Polish Woodstock, we do Ratha-yatra every day for about three
hours.
We
had a saxophonist on Ratha-yatra, which does not happen every year.
I,
along with others, distribute flyers.
Sometimes
people have no free hands.
Many of the young people there joyfully participate by pulling the cart.
Others
participate by dancing.
Some continue dancing after our procession ends.
Some
read the mantra from our cards.
As
at the Munich and Prague Ratha-yatra, at Woodstock we distribute
prasadam from the cart.
Here
Indradyumna Swami tastes the nectar of distribution.
Here
is a segment with Mahatma Prabhu, who came for the first time this year,
leading the singing (https://youtu.be/mq3sl9BVXbI):
One
time he kept the kirtana
going
for quite a while after the Ratha-yatra, and many people danced
(https://youtu.be/OTobXxUkRv8):
Mahatma
Prabhu, who loves kirtana
and
sharing it with others, was very happy he came this year for the
first time.
Bhagavat
Asraya Prabhu, a Prabhupada disciple from the UK, also came for the
first time. He also loved the event and wants to come on the whole
tour next
year.
He spent a lot of time in questions and answers, and his interpreter
was impressed with the expert way he answered the questions.
It
is always a pleasure for me when devotees I know from other places
come to the Polish Woodstock and have a wonderful time.
Arjuna
Krishna Prabhu from Russia also led a lot of kirtana
on
Ratha-yata, and this kirtana
at
the end of one Ratha-yatra was particularly festive with lots of
dancing
(https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGerEnGdI0xKnG0RrelYPsft3x0p7D-TO):
After
one Ratha-yatra, I talked briefly to one college student from Mexico.
I mentioned we had a couple of Mexican girls on our staff, and I went
to get one of the them for her to talk to. Apparently this student
had been attending our temple in Mexico City and was studying now in
Leipzig. She had come to the Polish Woodstock by chance, not knowing
of the great Hare Krishna presence there. I took her card, and
promised to tell her the details of the Leipzig Ratha-yatra on August
29. She wrote me after I did so saying she would definitely go.
At
the end of the Ratha-yatra kirtana
the last two days, I grabbed the microphone and told
the people of other Krishna music
opportunities.
The first day I told them we also had this Ratha-yatra the next day
from 11:00 to 14:00 and that we had more Krishna music in the Kirtan
Yoga tent from 17:00 to 2:00. The final day I told them that this was
the final Ratha-yatra but we did have music in our Kirtan Yoga tent
from 17:00 to 4:00. I translated each phrase in Polish as I made the
announcements, since I had learned the words for everything I wanted
to say by coming for so many years. Dominik (now initiated as Dvija
Vara Prabhu), who has done lots of organization and practical work
for the Krishna village at Woodstock for years, heard my
announcement. He came up to me afterward, thanking me very much, and
complimenting me on my Polish translation. I was happy to please such
an important leader in Indradyumna Swami's organization. I told him
how it is important that when we have a favorable crowd gathered,
that we take advantage of it and tell them of our events. One
of the things that inspires me about Indradyumna Swami is his
realization of the importance of promotion. He
will will have devotees do three hours of harinama
and
distribute
7,000 flyers for three days to advertise his festivals.
Standing
at the opening of the mantra yoga tent, I offer mantra cards to those
who show some attraction to the kirtana. In
Polish, the short “i” is spelled with “y”, the sound “sh”
is spelled “sz”, and the “y” sound is spelled with “j”.
One
lady took two mantra cards and gave one to her husband. At first he
did not understand what it was, and she explained, “Hare Krishna
Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare . . .” He smiled, and kissed
the card, and said, “I love you.”
I
gave one young lady a mantra card, and she was going to embrace me. I
showed her the pranam
mudra, showing respect by joining palms, and she did that back to me. I explained as a monk, I am not
supposed to embrace the girls, but that I appreciated her affection.
She replied with a smile, saying of her experience in kirtana
yoga, “I love it!”
One
guy embraced me, happy to get the mantra card, and several girls
tried to embrace me. I was a bit put off by it at first. Then I
reflected that I enjoyed the first Woodstock festival I went to in
2001 so much that afterward I embraced Sri Prahlada, one of our main
singers. I am not one who ever embraces anyone, but I was so happy
with the joyous kirtanas
that
touched people's hearts that I spontaneously embraced him. Similarly
a lot of people who came to our Krishna kirtana
tent
felt a lot of joy, and they wanted to express their gratitude to
someone who was part of the team making it happen by
embracing him.
I
met a lady from the UK who lives near York, and I gave her my card
and promised to tell her of the programs there.
I
saw one guy who originally met me in Zary at the Woodstock in 2003
and comes by to say “hello” every year.
Trisama
Prabhu introduced me to a German man who was seriously curious about
the philosophy, which I described in brief to him. I gave him a
booklet listing all the German temples as he spends half the time in
Berlin and Munich, and I gave him my card, in case he had questions.
I
recall giving out contact information for our Berlin and Munich
temples. I had talked to the lady from Berlin a previous year, and
she seemed more serious now.
One
lady from Gdynia, 400 km away, said she comes to the Woodstock
festival to see us Hare Krishnas only.
One
man had come to Woodstock ten years before and recalled that Hare
Krishna was the most memorable part.
So
many people felt positive energy in the kirtana
tent.
One
young lady said she could not relate to anything that was going on at
the Woodstock, and she was so grateful she could come to our Krishna
village and escape the craziness of it.
I
share some videos of the devotees and onlookers dancing to several
kirtanas, including those by Indradyumna Swami, Badahari
Prabhu and Mahatma Prabhu
(https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGerEnGdI0xL4CQyHya_bUISZlzZDYi1L):
[Acyuta
Gopi and Madhava also led wonderful kirtanas but so late at
night my limited camera could not record the awesome dancing it because it was too dark.]
Harinama
at the Train Station
I
was a little disappointed that I could not get a harinama
party
together to the train station the day after Woodstock, but it is such
a great opportunity to share the holy name that I chanted by myself
there for an hour. I had to buy a ticket anyway, so I brought my
harmonium, my amplifier, mantra cards, and invitations to our centers
in Warsaw and Wroclaw to the train station and chanted while waiting
in line for a ticket and 45 minutes afterward.
One
young lady enthusiastically chanted Hare Krishna as soon as I came
near her. She was from near Warsaw and happy to get an invitation to
our center there where she could continue her interest in Hare
Krishna.
I
continued walking through the crowd of hundreds of people at the
train station, giving mantra cards to anyone who smiled or said “Hare
Krishna.”
Another
girl from near Warsaw was happy to hear my brief description of
Krishna consciousness, finding it to be interesting, and she also
took an invitation to the temple.
One
guy who was familiar with a tradition where they vibrate sounds of
certain pitches for their beneficial effects, suggested that we chant
a Hare Krishna melody incorporating these sounds. I suggested he
making a recording of himself chanting Hare Krishna in that way and
send it to me, and that I would share it with my friends.
To see the photos I did not include in the blog, click on this link below:
Insights
Srila
Prabhupada:
from
a lecture on Srimad-Bhagavatam
5.5.1 in Bombay on December 25, 1976:
This
is the difficulty: we take leadership of human society although we
remain in the bodily conception of life. Because they also have that
conception, the leaders are no better than us, and in that conception
we are no better than animals.
God
is always God. He neither becomes God nor does He fall down.
There
is no question of overpopulation. Because the people are godless, God
is restricting the supply.
Satsvarupa
dasa Goswami:
“By
the time
I wrote Japa Transformations, things were improving.
When I moved to Stuyvesant Falls
my japa gradually came
under control. Starting at
midnight in the sanctity of
my bhajana kutira I began
to report: 'I was not troubled
by outside thoughts.' The
remaining distraction is
that I think of what to
write in my Japa Report
while I’m chanting.”
I wrote Japa Transformations, things were improving.
When I moved to Stuyvesant Falls
my japa gradually came
under control. Starting at
midnight in the sanctity of
my bhajana kutira I began
to report: 'I was not troubled
by outside thoughts.' The
remaining distraction is
that I think of what to
write in my Japa Report
while I’m chanting.”
From
Prabhupada Meditations,
Volume
2, Part 3, Number 7:
“Srila
Prabhupada removed the awkwardness by convincing us that we did not
belong to a different religion than he. He referred to the
transcendental level at which all things come together. He used to
say, 'No one should object and say that they can't chant Hare Krishna
because it is a foreign name and it is not one's own religion. This
is transcendental sound vibration. We are all spirit souls, parts and
parcels of Krishna.' In this way, he established spiritual intimacy.”
Bhaktivaibhava
Swami:
Without
the mercy of a pure devotee, one cannot attain the Absolute Truth,
Sri Krishna.
The
many useless commentaries on the Bhagavad-gita
are
the proof that without the mercy of a pure devotee of Krishna one
cannot understand the Absolute Truth.
One
should take shelter of a pure devotee and ask for his mercy.
Someone
asked Vamsidasa dasa Babaji how one could attain perfection in
devotion to Krishna, and he indicated the answer with a single word,
“Begging.”
Prahlad
Maharaja said, “Unless human society accepts the dust of the lotus
feet of a pure devotee of the Lord, mankind cannot turn his attention
to the lotus feet of Krishna which alone vanquish the miseries of
material life.”
There
is no greater embarrassment to a materialist than for his child to
become a Vaishnava.
Brahma
wanted to take birth as a blade of grass in the Vrindavan area to get
such dust of the lotus feet of those so dear to Krishna.
Q:
How can you recognize a pure devotee?
A:
By his teachings. But, of course, a pure devotee never says “That's
me.”
Srila
Prabhupada says in a letter, “One who claims he is a advanced
Vaishnava is not advanced.”
Getting
the mercy of the pure devotee means pleasing the devotee.
Srila
Prabhupada is giving his mercy through his teachings, his books, his
disciples, etc., but one has to take the mercy.
Trivikrama
Swami:
When
it is said women are less intelligent, it means they are more given
to being carried away by their emotions.
With
our intelligence, we are supposed to do everything for the
satisifaction Krishna, but we are conditioned by years of acting for
ourselves.
If
we make a vow, “With this one life I will simply endeavor to make
Krishna happy,” we will have wonderful success.
Although
Srila Prabhupada is just one person, he was able to convince
thousands of people of Krishna consciousness.
There
is urgency because we have this advantage of this human form of life.
The
problem is we are attached to material things, so we have to get a
higher taste. That is why we advocate the kirtana,
because
it is the easiest way to get a higher taste.
As
long as you have material desires, you will have to remain in the
material world. The best thing is to pray to Lord Nrsimha to rip out
your material desires with His nails.
Indradyumna
Swami:
From
an address during a Ratha-yatra kirtana:
By
chanting Hare Krishna you are becoming happy as you have experienced.
Narottama Dasa Thakura has explained why. This chanting of Hare
Krishna is imported from the spiritual world.
Arjuna
Krishna Prabhu:
From
a conversation at the Polish Woodstock festival:
For
seven years after Harikesa Swami left, only about ten devotees
maintained book distribution, harinama,
and
prasadam
distribution
in the Ural region of Russia. Otherwise the whole yatra
there was spaced out. But because those enthusiastic devotees
maintained those programs, beginning in about 2008, so many new
people have begun to join. Now every month there are new devotees
joining.
-----
ye
lila-amrita vine, khaya yadi anna-pane,
tabe
bhaktera durbala jivana
yara
eka-bindu-pane, utphullita tanu-mane,
hase,
gaya, karaye nartana
“Men
become strong and stout by eating sufficient grains, but the devotee
who simply eats ordinary grains but does not taste the transcendental
pastimes of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Krishna gradually becomes
weak and falls down from the transcendental position. However, if one
drinks but a drop of the nectar of Krishna’s pastimes, his body and
mind begin to bloom, and he begins to laugh, sing and dance.” (Sri
Caitanya-caritamrita 25.278)