Travel Journal#15.15: Pol'and'Rock, Berlin, Lithuania

Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 15, No. 15

By Krishna-kripa das
(August 2019, part one)

Pol’and’Rock, Berlin, Lithuania

(Sent from Warrington, UK, on August 31, 2019)

Where I Went and What I Did

The Pol’and’Rock festival, formerly known as the Polish Woodstock festival, or officially, Przystanek Woodstock, was the first three days of August this year, but Indradyumna Swami starts the programs in his Krishna’s Village of Peace at that rock festival site two days before. Thus for five days I was involved in harinamas, Ratha-yatras, and evening kirtans there, helping by distributing invitations, encouraging people to chant, and telling especially interested people about ways they can experience more Hare Krishna kirtan and devotional association in Poland. Next I went to nearby Berlin, not much more than an hour away, where I did harinama for three days, before traveling to Vilnius, Lithuania, for the Vaishnava Summer Festival in a rural area about 60 km from the city. I especially went to that festival to see and hear from Niranjana Swami, who invited me to live in the New York temple 40 years ago this fall. After the festival, I did harinama in Kaunas, Lithuania, for two days, with an enthusiastic party of five youthful devotees, before flying to Montreal, Canada, via Oslo, Dublin, and Toronto, for a Vaishnava Sanga Festival, at a retreat center two hours to the north, a journey of 26 hours.

I share excerpts from a letter and class by Srila Prabhupada. I share excerpts from the Free Write Journal of Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami. I share notes on classes at the Vaishnava Summer Festival in Lithuania by Bhakti Caitanya Swami, Niranjana Swami, Dhirasanta Swami, Guru Das Prabhu, Urmila Devi Dasi, Devaki Devi Dasi, Adi Rasa Prabhu and Kalakantha Prabhu. I share notes from conversations with Radhika Nagara and Kalakantha Prabhus.

Thanks to Gaura Prabhu of Berlin for his kind donation. Thanks to Toby for paying for my train travel within Berlin during my visit and providing food and lodging at his place and also for letting me stay in his tent in Poland. Thanks to Jagadisvara Prabhu for bringing me to the Kaunas temple from the festival and dropping me at Vilnius airport after my two-day visit. 

Thanks to Natalia for the photo of her friends and me in front of the Ratha-yatra cart. Thanks to Olivia, who played the drum at Eberswalder Strasse, for the video of me on harinama in Berlin.

Itinerary

August 31: Liverpool harinama 

September 1: Liverpool Ratha-yatra 

September 2–6: Newcastle area harinamas 

September 7: York harinama and program 

\September 8: Great North Run harinama (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) 

September 9–11: Dublin harinamas

September 12–25: NYC Yuga Dharma harinamas

September 26–28: Philadelphia harinamas and Ratha-yatra

September 29–30: Martha’s Vineyard (visiting relatives)

October 1 – December: NYC Yuga Dharma harinamas 

January–April 2020: North Florida colleges

Chanting Hare Krishna at Pol’and’Rock Festival (Polish Woodstock)

Every year for five days, Indradyumna Swami and his team who put on spiritual festivals on Poland’s Baltic coast in the summer, come and share Hare Krishna kirtan, Krishna prasadam, and other devotional opportunities with hundreds of thousands of people attending a rock concert in Kostrzyn, Poland, near the German border.

I have come for nineteen years, 2001 to 2019, being inspired to see so many new people have a positive experience of Krishna kirtan and wanting to be part of it.

I will recall some nice experiences from this year.

An Irish girl who has come for three or four years told me someone she talked to who has come every since 2006 told her, “So many things have changed since I started coming, but the Hare Krishna food is always the same!”

One girl remembered sitting in the questions and answers booth, back when I used to play the role of answering questions, probably 2006 or so, saying she could listen to me answer questions all afternoon.

She sent me a photo that she took of me and her friends and our Ratha-yatra cart, and wrote “Thank you for inspiration, so many years back, but that was you that made me feel the benefit of meditation! Namaste.”

I met people I had not seen for years like Radhanandini Devi Dasi, who I had not seen for five years, who was my translator for several years on the tour. For the first time in three years I saw Iza of Kostrzyn who met the devotees at their festival in Kolobrzeg on the coast, but began coming to our Krishna village at Woodstock and bringing all her friends each year. This year she brought a new friend from New Zealand.

Each year Chaturatma Prabhu, who comes all the way from Alachua, Florida, and has come for 16 years himself, says the people ask better questions each year. His translator, Mandakini Devi Dasi, who I remember from 2001, agrees.

Nadia-jivani Devi Dasi, a Vaishnava youth girl who manages the book booth, says the interest in the books increases every year.

One guy who remembers me from when the festival was in another town called Zary, in 2002 or 2003, has his picture taken with me every year.

Hare Krishna devotees advertise their Krishna’s Village of Peace at the mammoth rock festival, recently renamed Pol’and’Rock, by chanting for two hours around the site and passing out invitations, and many festival goers happily join in (https://youtu.be/-FqdoROFGww):

People were happy to encounter our chanting party.

Devotee ladies would invite people visiting our Krishna’s Village of Peace, who were open to the adventure and happy for the opportunity, into our Mantra Yoga tent for a Hare Krishna kirtan immersion experience (https://youtu.be/MPX_gobQqq0):

We would chant from 4 or 5 p.m. to sometimes as late as 2:30 a.m. in our Mantra Yoga tent, and many new people happily chanted Hare Krishna with us (https://youtu.be/6v_92KsfmK0):

Even parents and their small children enjoyed the bliss of the Mantra Yoga Hare Krishna kirtan experience.

Even little girls would try to follow the dancing devotee ladies.

Here Indradyumna Swami chants Hare Krishna in Mantra Yoga Tent at Pol’and’Rock on day 1, and many chant and dance (https://youtu.be/9BSuT5fnIIM):

We did not permit people to enter our Mantra Yoga tent at the Pol’and’Rock festival with their beer cans, so people would dance to the sound of the chanting at the entrance (https://youtu.be/tTXPIIAcZt8):

Here Sri Prahlada Prabhu chants Hare Krishna in Mantra Yoga Tent at Pol'and'Rock on Day 1, and many dance with joy (https://youtu.be/uDQKusXkjWg):

Madhava Prabhu chants Hare Krishna in the Mantra Yoga Tent at Pol’and’Rock on day 1 (https://youtu.be/oNS-Ze2UDRA):

Beginning from the second day and going through the fifth day, we would have Ratha-yatras each day beginning around 11 a.m. for about three hours. Many of the festival goers participated by chanting, dancing, and pulling the ropes of the chariot as you can see in the many videos.

Indradyumna Swami chants Hare Krishna on the first Pol’and’Rock Ratha-yatra, and many chant and dance (https://youtu.be/CcEfbPVyHWM):

Syama Rasa Prabhu chants Hare Krishna on the Pol’and’Rock Ratha-yatra No. 1, and many chant and dance (https://youtu.be/X_JwdRE6MyU):

Chaturatma Prabhu chants Hare Krishna on the Pol’and’Rock Ratha-yatra No. 1, and many chant and dance (https://youtu.be/3EemepxWjzg):

Sri Prahlada Prabhu chants Hare Krishna on the Pol’and’Rock Ratha-yatra No. 1, and many chant and dance (https://youtu.be/9PG0Xivf6wc):

Bhakta Jake chants Hare Krishna in the Mantra Yoga Tent at Pol’and’Rock on day 2 (https://youtu.be/1ILszhb9I0E):

Bada Haridas Prabhu chants Hare Krishna in the Mantra Yoga Tent at Pol’and’Rock on day 2, and many chant and dance in happiness (https://youtu.be/EAcstzs2Lpo):

Sri Prahlada Prabhu chants Hare Krishna in the Mantra Yoga Tent at Pol’and’Rock festival on day 2, and many chant and dance in happiness (https://youtu.be/8JMPfo3M2BI):

Madhava Prabhu chants Hare Krishna in the Mantra Yoga Tent at Pol’and’Rock on day 2, and many chant and dance (https://youtu.be/xwbtNpGu1lI):

Indradyumna Swami chants Hare Krishna on the Pol’and’Rock Ratha-yatra No. 2, and many chant and dance (https://youtu.be/6AzmTWLEhPI):

Arjuna Krishna Prabhu chants Hare Krishna on the Pol’and’Rock Ratha-yatra No. 2, and many chant and dance (https://youtu.be/crfUAdPg1Co):

Syama Rasa Prabhu chants Hare Krishna on the Pol’and’Rock Ratha-yatra No. 2, and many chant and dance (https://youtu.be/PtbvxKWvMIc):

Syama Rasa Prabhu chants Hare Krishna on the Pol’and’Rock Ratha-yatra No. 2, many chant and dance, and two girls I talked to while walking in the shade of the Ratha-yatra play shakers and one delights in chanting (https://youtu.be/GayMeRVr2hw):

Indradyumna Swami chants Hare Krishna in Mantra Yoga Tent at Pol’and’Rock on day 3 (https://youtu.be/Y9FzZhnl9bs):

Bada Haridas Prabhu chants Hare Krishna in the Mantra Yoga Tent at Pol’and’Rock on day 3, and many chant and dance (https://youtu.be/kymGnPDE7Ak):

B. B. Govinda Swami chants Hare Krishna in Mantra Yoga Tent at Pol’and’Rock on day 3, and many chant and dance with great enthusiasm (https://youtu.be/SfvDz8dYviQ):

Madhava Prabhu chants Hare Krishna in the Mantra Yoga tent at Pol’and’Rock on day 3, and many enthusiastically chant and dance (https://youtu.be/xwu0XLMgUXE):

Indradyumna Swami chants Hare Krishna on the Pol’and’Rock Ratha-yatra No. 3, and many dance enthusiastically (https://youtu.be/7tLIO3Mr5qQ):

Syama Rasa Prabhu chants Hare Krishna on the Pol’and’Rock Ratha-yatra No. 3, and many dance (https://youtu.be/MyEO4SBCaAI):

Young devotee lady chants Hare Krishna on the Pol’and’Rock Ratha-yatra No. 3, and many dance enthusiastically (https://youtu.be/VPyXhLTqbGQ):

Arjuna Krishna Prabhu chants Hare Krishna on the Pol’and’Rock Ratha-yatra No. 3, and many dance (https://youtu.be/o1SQDC6LsnI):

Bhakta Jake chants Hare Krishna in the Mantra Yoga tent at Pol’and’Rock on day 4, and many dance (https://youtu.be/S7pfwcjxY1k):

Hari Kirtan Prabhu chants Hare Krishna in the Mantra Yoga tent at Pol’and’Rock on day 4 and everyone dances (https://youtu.be/uIi2ld6qltk):

Indradyumna Swami chants Hare Krishna in the Mantra Yoga tent at Pol’and’Rock on day 4, and many dance (https://youtu.be/fH1236xTyTE):

Bada Haridas Prabhu chants Hare Krishna in the Mantra Yoga tent at Pol’and’Rock on day 4, and many dance (https://youtu.be/tQN8BczJqTU):

B. B. Govinda Swami chants Hare Krishna in the Mantra Yoga tent at Pol’and’Rock on day 4, inspiring many people to chant and dance with great joy (https://youtu.be/98PXTMmRpWo):

Madhava Prabhu chants Hare Krishna in the Mantra Yoga tent at Pol’and’Rock on day 4, and many chant and dance (https://youtu.be/yo6xB3YAKNs):

Young devotee lady chants Hare Krishna on the Pol’and’Rock Ratha-yatra no. 4 (https://youtu.be/cS9Li031ikQ):

Small girl chants Hare Krishna on the Pol’and’Rock Ratha-yatra no. 4. (https://youtu.be/p4ISwlun5AA):

B. B. Govinda Swami chants Hare Krishna on the Pol’and’Rock Ratha-yatra no. 4 (https://youtu.be/sBTTtvDxcnQ):

Indradyumna Swami chants Hare Krishna on the Pol’and’Rock Ratha-yatra no. 4, and many dance with enthusiasm, one girl delighting in playing the shakers I lent her (https://youtu.be/QInHiyrxAio):

The Ratha-yatra ended early the final day of the festival, and after it was over, I noticed a kirtan on our main stage. I went over and found Bhakta Jake chanting Hare Krishna, a few listeners sitting in the shade, and just one girl dancing. The girl seemed really into it so I offered her some shakers to play (https://youtu.be/Duf5wdVV0FU):

It turns out she has come to our Krishna village for a couple of years and really likes it. 

I had a card listing our temples and other programs in Poland which she was grateful to accept.

On the final day of the Pol’and’Rock festival, Hari Kirtan Prabhu led a very sweet kirtan that got Indradyumna and Candramauli Swamis dancing along with a whole tent of devotees and guests (https://youtu.be/odtGvsPLqz0):

Indradyumna Swami chants Hare Krishna in Mantra Yoga Tent at Pol’and’Rock on day 5, and many dance (https://youtu.be/2OS-wHIvtsw):

While Indradyumna Swami chanted Hare Krishna in the Mantra Yoga tent, devotees and guests also danced outside (https://youtu.be/fWuJk3WdfXc):

Bada Haridas Prabhu chants Hare Krishna in the Mantra Yoga tent at Pol’and’Rock on day 5, and many dance (https://youtu.be/tRxKGVyCjBc):

Sri Prahlada Prabhu chants Hare Krishna in the Mantra Yoga Tent at Pol’and’Rock on day 5, and many chant and dance (https://youtu.be/bWnLvTfgVbM):

B. B. Govinda Swami chants Hare Krishna in the Mantra Yoga Tent at Pol’and’Rock on day 5, and many chant and dance (https://youtu.be/-bIqsqNBROE):

Madhava Prabhu chants Hare Krishna in the Mantra Yoga tent at Pol’and’Rock on day 5, leading our final kirtan at that festival, and many chant and dance with delight (https://youtu.be/KfcayoXzn-A):

Chanting Hare Krishna in Berlin

Sadbhuja Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at Mauerpark in Berlin, where devotees sing weekly from 2 to 5 p.m. on Sundays, with local devotees and a couple from the Pol’and’Rock Woodstock festival (https://youtu.be/O9mVezSUITA):

Sangita Devi Dasi chants Hare Krishna in Mauerpark (https://youtu.be/HxPU8wjTMgg):

Toby Ming Jamal Brookz chants Hare Krishna in Mauerpark (https://youtu.be/QFp3_60YC4Q):

We planned to chant in Mauerpark on Monday, but it was completely dead, so we went to a nearby U-bahn station with a lot of traffic, Eberswalder Strasse. Here Madhupati Prabhu, who I know from the Polish Woodstock, leads the chanting of Hare Krishna there (https://youtu.be/USdrkLM9PZ8):

Next Toby chanted Hare Krishna briefly until we were stopped by the police because we had our amplifier too loud for the vendors along the street (https://youtu.be/oUIUE17AXFI):

We walked to Alexanderplatz, chanting the whole way, and we chanted there until the end of our scheduled time, which was, due to Toby’s enthusiasm, six hours from when we planned to begin, and 5:45 hours from when we actually began.

The next day, Toby, to his great credit, organized a harinama from 8 to 11 a.m. at the Berlin Schönefeld airport before my flight to Vilnius that afternoon for the Vaishnava Summer Festival in Lithuania. We had never chanted at that airport, and we chose a spot between the train station and the airport itself, hoping to avoid security personnel. We did not have a donation box, a book display, or an amplifier. We passed out invitations to the Berlin temple and "On Chanting Hare Krishna" to people who seemed appreciative, like the tourists who danced with us in one of the videos below, and Madhupati Prabhu distributed books.

Here Madhupati Prabhu leads the chanting of Hare Krishna, and I play the drum (https://youtu.be/B-UnOw34kkY):

Then I let another devotee play the drum as Madhupati continued chanting (https://youtu.be/MQ7xCwcNHVQ):

At one point, tourists enjoyed dancing with our party (https://youtu.be/ABq1pixh-RU):

Chanting Hare Krishna at the Vaishnava Summer Festival in Lithuania

For eight years (2005–2012) I went to Bhakti Sangama, the Ukraine festival, but as I started spending more time in the UK and in New York City in September, that became less convenient. I learned that I could also meet up with my siksa-guru, Niranjana Swami, at the Lithuanian Vaishnava Summer Festival which was near the time I was in Eastern Europe for the Polish Woodstock anyway, so I have been doing that for several years. There they have kirtan every night for three hours, beginning with Gaura Arati at 7:00 p.m. I share some videos of those kirtans:

Adi Rasa Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at the Vaishnava Summer Festival in Lithuania on Tuesday night (https://youtu.be/MbvZTQmfK5U):

Adi Rasa Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at the Vaishnava Summer Festival in Lithuania on Wednesday night (https://youtu.be/zEoT9H-ABKk):

Niranjana Swami chants Hare Krishna at the Vaishnava Summer Festival in Lithuania on Thursday night (https://youtu.be/KUrcMzq8GrQ):

Adi Rasa Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at the Vaishnava Summer Festival in Lithuania on Thursday night (https://youtu.be/HGrACm5Dnq8):

Niranjana Swami chants Hare Krishna at the Vaishnava Summer Festival in Lithuania on Friday night (https://youtu.be/8ZRV6TgA3qI):

Niranjana Swami chants Hare Krishna at the Vaishnava Summer Festival in Lithuania on Saturday night (https://youtu.be/BdQ96NGzo_Q):

Bhakti Caitanya Swami chants Hare Krishna and Niranjana Swami dances at the Vaishnava Summer Festival on Saturday night (https://youtu.be/YDh44-DvkzU):

In addition to chanting kirtan, of course, we chanted japa on our beads. One day I noticed these two young sisters, dressed identically, following in the footsteps of the adults, chanting japa around the sacred tulasi plant.

Chanting Hare Krishna in Kaunas

At the Vaishnava Summer Festival in Lithuania, I mentioned to at least three devotees from the Holy Name Monastery, situated between Vilnius and Kaunas, that I was interested in doing harinama after the festival on Monday, before leaving Tuesday for Canada, but none of them seemed very excited about the idea. However, two devotees from Kaunas, Dwijamani Gaura and Jagadisvara Prabhus, who remembered me from the past, were much more enthusiastic about my suggestion so I decided to go there. They arranged for two three-hour harinamas, one on Sunday, the day the festival ended, and one the next day, and thus they pleased me very much. We had six devotees each time, three male and three female. I also gave an extra class Monday evening, and the entire harinama party attended the Gaura Arati and class, except the devotee who kindly cooked dinner for us. It is inspiring to encounter such enthusiasm in the younger devotees, and makes us confident the mission will continue on nicely after we leave this world.

Dwijamani Gaura Prabhu chants Hare Krishna in Kaunas, on the second of the two three-hour harinamas the devotees arranged at my request (https://youtu.be/zTkgy1o3EG8):

Jagadisvara Prabhu later wrote me that they are continuing with harinama three or four days a week since my visit.

Harinama Report

To see photos I took but did not use click on the link below:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/TH2khE8g3wtv6d1X6

Insights

Srila Prabhupada:

Letter to Satsvarupa from Bhaktivedanta Manor on 8 August 1973:

“So now Krishna has sent you a nice bus, and you also have a good field for preaching. Chant, dance, distribute books and prasadam, and everything will increase automatically.”

From a class on Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.1.1 on Sept. 12, 1972, in Dallas:

“Our human life is meant for reviving our love for God. This material life means forgetfulness of God, because we are sons of God or we are part and parcel of God. We belong to the same unit, God and the living entities that is complete unit. Just like in family, the father, the mother, the children, the servants and others, complete unit. Similarly God and the living entities they are complete unit but when we forget that unity, when we forget that I am also part and parcel of God and his creation then that is called material. So human civilization they have got some sort of religious principles that means to know God, religious principles means to know God. Not only to know but to love God. That is ultimate goal of life.”

Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami:

From “Srila Prabhupada Samadhi Diary” in Free Write Journal #50:

“As I have previously mentioned, I wrote the Samadhi Diary after I stopped going to see Narayana Maharaja. Even before the GBC ordered that ISKCON devotees should not go see Narayana Maharaja, I figured out that it wasn’t right, so I stopped going to see him on my own. I wanted to purify myself and become an exclusive disciple of Srila Prabhupada. The Samadhi Diary served me in this way. I wrote in two places within the Krishna Balaram temple: in the actual Samadhi Mandir before the murti of Srila Prabhupada, and in Prabhupada’s residential room.”

From “Call to Action” in Free Write Journal #50:

“One can’t help but be drawn into action when he reads and meditates on Prabhupada’s purports. They are calls to action on many levels: ‘Surrender to Krishna,’ ‘Chant Hare Krishna,’ ‘Tell everyone you meet about Krishna.’

“If you want to keep your life unchanged, but you still want to read Prabhupada’s books, it will put you into conflict. He pricks the conscience, and yet he soothes the mind and spirit as he reminds us that we are not this body, and we don’t belong to the perishable and temporary world. Srila Prabhupada also reminds us of the easy process of chanting Hare Krishna and performing devotional service, by which we can transcend birth and death.

“Is it possible to read Prabhupada without responding to his call for action? What if one rationalizes his reading in such a way that he reads without changing his life? No, it’s not possible. Any attraction to his books will change a person’s consciousness in a favorable way. At least the reader will continue hearing the holy names of Krishna. And the fact that he likes to read means he is favorable to the pure devotee; and so Krishna will be favorable to him. 

“But it’s natural that as we meditate on Srila Prabhupada’s preaching, we should desire to become a preacher too. He wants this of his followers. It’s also natural for each reader to try to adjust Prabhupada’s command to his own situation. Srila Prabhupada also advises this when he says that one should take up Krishna consciousness and preach ‘according to his capacity.’

“Prabhupada’s invitation to completely surrender to the will of Krishna will find us falling short somewhere or other. But we can follow the mahajanas described in the Srimad-Bhagavatam. Gradually we will find ourselves swept up by the flow of their devotional service. Therefore, let us not be afraid to read Srila Prabhupada’s books, even though we feel we’re not capable of fully responding. It is better in any case, to hear his message and be humbled by thoughts of pure devotional service. Even if one did nothing else but read Prabhupada’s books, that in itself would be a reply to the call for action.”

From “Calling Out to Lord Nrsimhadeva” in Free Write Journal #51:

“Prabhupada first introduced chanting to Lord Nrsimhadeva when he had a stroke in 1967 and was hospitalized in critical condition. He told all the devotees in his temples to chant the Nrsimha prayer: namas te narasimhaya prahladahlada-dayine hiranyakasipor vaksah sila-tanka-nakhalaye . . . The devotees stayed up all night and fervently chanted the mantra. Prabhupada said their prayers saved him. A few years later, someone threw a pipe bomb into the temple room in Los Angeles. A few devotees were hurt with shrapnel. At that time, Prabhupada had the complete Nrsimhadeva mantra printed out and distributed to the devotees. He told them to chant it for protection in times of danger. He also said the devotees should pray to Lord Nrsimha to drive out their anarthas (unwanted bad habits and thoughts) so that they could proceed in pure consciousness.”

From “When Did I Realize that Prabhupada Was the Pure Devotee I Must Associate with, Not Someone in the Future, or Theoretically? How Long Did It Take to Catch On How Rare and Advanced Prabhupada Was?” in Free Write Journal #51:

“Within the first weeks and months of associating with Swamiji at 26 Second Avenue in 1966, his small group of initiated devotees came to the realization that he was a self-realized, pure devotee. We didn’t know very much what that meant, but we held him in the highest esteem, above all other swamis and religionists. It didn’t take so long. Prabhupada taught that we must surrender to a pure devotee-spiritual master, and we submissively concluded that he was the one.”

Bhakti Caitanya Swami:

Jiva Goswami describes Brahman as Krishna minus His form and His personality. Thus in the Isopanishad the devotee prays to see Krishna through the glowing Brahman effulgence.

Paramatma is Krishna with His form but minus His personality.

If you like sleep, at the end of the creation, there is the opportunity. [The living entities are sleeping within Maha-Vishnu for many, many millions of years.]

In its original form, time assists in the pastimes of the Lord, elongating or shortening as needed.

In the material world, the effect of time is to destroy everything.

Our bodies become stronger up until we are 25, 28, or maybe 30, but after that it is all downhill, as we have personal experience of.

At a certain point in Arjuna’s vision of Krishna’s universal form, all he was conscious of was the kala rupa aspect of that form, the form of universal destruction. That was so devastating to Arjuna, according to Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura, that were he not an experienced ksatriya accustomed to seeing death, he would have had a heart attack.

Talk about controlling. Krishna controls each atom. Now that is full control.

Krishna says “Time I am, and I have come to destroy.” His destruction is not just of the warriors on the battlefield at the time, but of all of us and at all times, even here in Lithuania. By the time we leave this festival, time will have made some progress on us.

As Supersoul, Krishna simply administers justice, without attachment.

For Stephen Hawking to have had such intelligence required amazing good karma, on the other hand, to have such a dysfunctional material body that was hardly worth living in required amazing bad karma.

Sometimes devotees wonder how if people experience suffering without knowing the cause of it that they will learn not to misbehave, but as we can see from the prison system, even when people do know the crimes for which they are punished, they still commit the crimes again.

After suffering a lot in material life, we sincerely inquire, “What is going on here?”

In Vrindavan, they put bells on the pots of butter so they would ring and warn if someone was stealing the butter. Krishna, therefore, asked the bells to remain silent. Then Krishna took a large chunk of butter, and the bells remained silent. When he began eating the butter, however, the bells began ringing. Krishna asked the bells why they did not keep their agreement. The bells replied that that they were silent when He stole the butter, but when God eats, you have to ring a bell.

Rupa Goswami wrote 100,000 verses.

If you do not read Sanatana Goswami’s Brhad-Bhagavatamrita, 10% of your life is wasted.

Gopala Bhatta Goswami wrote a nice piece about the boating pastimes of Radha and Krishna.

Raghunatha Bhatta Goswami assisted Rupa Goswami in the worship of Radha-Govinda.

Sanatana Goswami was born in 1488, and Rupa Goswami was born in 1493. Because of their great learning, the Muslim Nawab decided to employ them. He offered a deal they could not refuse, either you work for me or I kill you and your whole family. They were so expert in running the government that the Nawab let them live as they wished. They based themselves in Ramakeli, where they had a temple, and a Radha Kunda and a Shyama Kunda.

Before he met Lord Caitanya, Rupa Goswami wrote Hamsaduta, a conversation between Lalita and a swan she wished to carry a message to Krishna in Mathura, so he was already highly elevated in Krishna consciousness.

Rupa and Sanatana considered themselves in the same category as meat eaters, not that they ate meat, but because they were engaged in the service of meat eaters.

The prison that they put Sanatana in is still in Ramakeli.

Lord Caitanya instructed Rupa Goswami for ten days and Sanatana Goswami for two months which explains why there is only one chapter on Lord Caitanya’s instructions to Rupa Goswami and four or five chapters on His instructions to Sanatana Goswami.

There are four main bhajana kutirs of Sanatana Goswami in the Vrindavan area.

Once at his bhajana kutira at Gokula, he saw ahead of him some boys playing some ball game, and he noticed one was very dark in color, even bluish. After the game was over, he decided to follow Him home and see where He was living. He was living with some brahmana named Chobay in Mathura. Sanatana Goswami explained to Chobay that the boy was not ordinary, and he should be put on an altar and worshiped, and so they did and He was called Madana Mohana. That night He appeared in a dream to Sanatana Goswami saying He was so bored, and that He wanted to go on parikrama with him. He also appeared in a dream the same night to the brahmana Chobay. Sanatana Goswami said that Madana Mohana would be more comfortable living with the brahmana who would cook Him all kinds of nice food that he could not possibly provide on parikrama. Madana Mohana insisted that he wanted to join Sanatana. Sanatana said that He would have to promise not to complain, and He did, and thus He went with Sanatana Goswami. Once all Sanatana obtained by begging was some chapati flour, and so he mixed it with Yamuna water, and formed dough balls called bati, which he threw in a fire. The outside was blackened, but he offered the cooked insides to Madana Mohana who accepted them but requested some salt. Sanatana threatened to return Him to the brahmana because He complained. If you are fortunate, you can get some maha-prasadam bati even today at the Radha Madana-Mohan temple in Vrindavan.

If you have not had the Bengali sweet chum-chum, you have wasted 10% of your life.

When Sanatana Goswami would enter Vrindavan the whole village would stop. Even the animals would run forward to greet him.

They would offer him prasadam, items they made especially for him.

He would speak three or four hours and then have personal darsanas. Everyone would line up for personal darsanas. He would remember all their names and the particular details they discussed at their last visit. They would spend the entire night like this. Then they would have mangala-arati and then he would leave, and the entire village would go with him. He would beg them to return to their village and take care of their business. Sometimes they would, but sometimes they followed him to the next village.

Jiva Goswami was the disciple of Rupa Goswami and would remain always with him. Sometimes Jiva would stand in such a way as to block the sun so Rupa would not be inconvenienced while writing his many books.

Vallabha came to visit. Vallabha would suggest adjustments to Rupa Goswami’s work, and Jiva Goswami would reject every single adjustment and explain how Rupa Goswami’s original words were superior in a very cutting way. That was very hard for Vallabha to hear, so much so that when Rupa Goswami invited him for lunch, he said that follower of yours is so heavy, I will not stay for lunch. Rupa Goswami was upset that his guest was treated in such a way by Jiva that he became upset and left. Rupa Goswami decided that such unmannerly behavior by Jiva Goswami was not befitting a resident of Vrindavan, and that he should leave and return to Navadvipa until he improved in character. Jiva was so heart-broken that his attempts to defend his guru and the truth were not accepted, he decided to fast until death. While he was doing that, Sanatana Goswami came by, and he found Jiva in that condition and learned from him what happened. Sanatana Goswami went to Rupa Goswami, and reminded him of Lord Caitanya’s instruction to them: nama-kirtana bhagavata-sravana jiva-daya. He added that there is one particular jiva that you should show your mercy to. Rupa Goswami understood and brought Jiva Goswami back into his association.

Let not ill feelings toward you arise in a devotee’s heart for it will be an impediment to your advancement. Give Vaishnavas your very life so they will forgive your offense. Never find fault Vaishnavas, and always glorify them.

In Siberia they have a saying that in Siberia for nine months it is cold and for three months it is very cold. In Vrindavan for nine months it is hot and for three months it is very hot. Raghunatha Goswami would chant all day, oblivious to the heat. Once some tigers came as Sanatana could see from across the kunda, and then Krishna appeared to protect him. Sanatana Goswami came all the way around the kunda to tell him what happened, and he implored Raghunatha Dasa Goswami to build a hut so as not to take service from Krishna. He agreed but did absolutely nothing. Later during a hot day. Radharani appeared and used her own sari to shield Raghunath from the sun while She Herself was perspiring profusely. Again Sanatana Goswami explained to Raghunatha Dasa what happened and implored him to build a hut so as not to take service from Radharani, and so he did.

Niranjana Swami:

I like “Parama Koruna.” [In his translation of it] Srila Prabhupada explains Krishna consciousness very simply. One must simply chant Hare Krishna with faith and without a motive of sense gratification.

The holy name of Krishna is always transcendentally sweet but one in ignorance experiences it as bitter.

The sun is always bright, but the presence of clouds keeps us from experiencing its brightness.

By chanting as Locan Dasa Thakura describes, we will get Lord Caitanya’s full mercy.

The previous acaryas make it easier for us by giving us their example. By meditating on how they crossed the ocean of material existence, though meeting serious difficulties, we get strength.

Lord Caitanya came to teach by His example.

The easy path becomes difficult because of the obstacles. One way the acaryas make it easier for us is to enumerate obstacles.

The problem is that people think anarthas, which have no value, actually have value.

Bhaktivinoda Thakura says hrdayam durbalyam, weakness of heart, has four manifestations:

1. attachment to things that are not connected to Krishna.

2. deceitfulness or fault-finding

3. envy of other living entities

4. seeking prestige

Although everything is connected to Krishna, when we do not consider its connection to Krishna, but instead, how we can use it for our sense gratification that is a weakness of heart.

Besides weakness of heart, there are three other obstacles, material desire, illusion about spiritual knowledge, and aparadha.

Q: What is the difference between the easy path and watering things down?

A: Watering things down is leaving the easy path altogether.

We cannot give up sense gratification all of a sudden, but we can chant without desiring sense gratification. We chant for service. We chant to please the Lord.

Chanting the names of the Lord for any reason other than to attain devotional service is an obstacle.

The faith not to give up the path is required.

We should think, “I have firm faith that anyone, even one as fallen as I am, can be purified by this process of chanting Hare Krishna, and therefore, I will never give it up.”

I like chanting bhajanas. Sometimes I chant bhajanas, and I talk about them. If I do that, I chant very few bhajanas.

Atma-niksepa means full self-surrender and is one of the six items of surrender.

We may not realize it, but by encouraging children to think they are the center of attention, we are encouraging them to forget Krishna, as Bhaktivinoda Thakura describes in the song about his life.

Narottama Dasa Thakura in “Gaura Pahu” laments his failure to appreciate that sankirtana movement of Caitanya Mahaprabhu and considers it better he had not lived.

The previous acaryas have given us a wealth of knowledge about the uselessness of the materialistic way of life.

Bhaktivinoda Thakura says if a householder uses his body for chanting the holy name of Krishna then his endeavor for maintaining that body is as good as chanting the holy name of Krishna. In other words, everything else we do should be to support our chanting of the holy name.

Although parts of Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s songs are depressing accounts of materialistic life, he ends with hope.

Bhaktivinoda Thakura says showing compassion to fallen souls by preaching the holy name is the essence of religion.

As an emperor can conquer many kings, Krishna’s supreme quality of bhakta-vatsala conquers all His other qualities. Understanding this can resolve all apparent contradictions within Him.

Krishna is not controlled by the devotee but by the love of the devotee.

Without sincere devotional service, everything else is a show.

He likes to be controlled by the love of His devotee. He likes to reciprocate that love. He becomes very attached to unflinching love of His pure devotee.

What is the value of knowledge, austerity or sacrifice if it does not awaken our love for Krishna?

Srila Prabhupada often would tell the story of Prime Minister Gladstone being visited by an ambassador. The ambassador, after waiting an hour to see the Prime Minister, peeked in and saw his grandson riding him like a horse. Srila Prabhupada would tell this story to show how Krishna is more concerned with intimate relationships with devotees than more reverential relationships.

Krishna does not like to always be God. He prefers to play with His friends.

Krishna does whatever He likes. Do not be envious of that.

If Krishna is the supreme enjoyer, then it must be that I am meant for Krishna’s enjoyment.

His pastime of being chastised by Mother Yashoda reveals the truth about Krishna that He enjoys being controlled by love.

Once Yashoda caught Krishna with His hand in a pot of butter. He explained that His bangles were burning His wrist, and He had to cool it with the butter.

When the gopis would complain that Krishna was stealing their butter, He would protest that in reality they were stealing His butter.

In the beginning Krishna was pretending to be afraid, but as Yashoda came closer with the stick, He became really afraid.

The love of the devotee is so powerful that Krishna forgets that He is God.

There is so much love in the heart of the devotee that Krishna enjoys being trapped by it.

In one lecture, Srila Prabhupada said we should not think that Krishna is our order supplier, we should be Krishna’s order supplier.

Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura explains that originally Yashoda had difficulty tying up Krishna because he had a desire to play with His friends and did not want to be tied up. When He saw the bhakta-nistha of Yashoda, He became compassionate upon her due to His own kripa-sakti.

I was asked once, “How can I become free from everyone else’s control?” The person was thinking that was the greatest goal, to be independent. But Krishna Himself enjoys being controlled by His devotee.

The catalyst to awaken our own love for God is to hear about the pure love of the devotees of the Lord.

Comment by Guru Das Prabhu:

There is more background on the story of Gladstone that makes it even better. He was Prime Minister during Queen Victoria’s reign. He was in competition with another minister, Disraeli, who was more a people person and more spontaneous while Gladstone was more by the book. One year Gladstone would be prime minister and the next year Disraeli, and there was a competition between them. Disraeli was a joker, and he boasted he could make a joke about any subject. Gladstone challenged him to make a joke about Queen Victoria. He replied humorously, “Queen Victoria is not a subject.”

Comment by Bhakti Caitanya Swami:

Once Radharani was decorating Herself to be seen by Krishna. She was almost ready but had one eye only decorated with ointment. Then Krishna came. She panicked and said, “Niranjana! Niranjana! [meaning “No ointment! No ointment!”]” And Krishna decorated her other eye.

Dhirasanta Swami:

In our japa seminar, we are speaking of attraction, attention, absorption, attachment, and affection.

We know attachment from our attachment to the pastime of taking Krishna’s prasadam. One day we will be so attached to Krishna’s names and pastimes. We have some attachment, but we have to increase that.

The more we chant the more we will want to chant.

If you still eat food prepared by nondevotees, you are not fully attached to prasadam.

Guru Das Prabhu:

In the 1960s we had free love and free drugs. Why would we follow a swami who told us to give up free love and free drugs? Prabhupada explained, “I have given you something substantial in the Vedic culture.”

Srila Prabhupada would write the mantras on the chalkboard and teach us.

One shop had a deity of Kartamasi, Krishna, the little captain. I would go there every day and ask the staff to give them to us. They got tired of me asking, and said you can have Him for $35. I went out into the street and appealed to different people for money, by saying things like “My father is in jail.” or “My son is in jail.” In this way, I raised the money, and we brought Krishna to the temple after taking Him for a walk in the park.

Shyamasundara Prabhu built an altar before, although we did not have a deity. Now on the altar had we a totem pole, a painting of Jesus (which Srila Prabhupada allowed), and Kartamasi Krishna.

Govinda Dasi’s father protested, “What does my daughter have to have an Injun name?”

Srila Prabhupada expertly replied, “If she is happy, why do you object?”

Srila Prabhupada explained to me, “If you are teaching, do not give them more than they can take at a time. Otherwise they will not be able assimilate it. It is like feeding people too much so that they get indigestion.”

If I wanted to be close to Srila Prabhupada. I would just bring the tape recorder. Srila Prabhupada would see and motion me forward. Sometimes there was no tape in the tape recorder.

Srila Prabhupada made Yamuna a GBC (Governing Body Commissioner), but she did not want to do it.

I was reading Bhagavad-gita in the park, and Yamuna came up and proposed marriage to me in the most unromantic way possible, “Harsarani said if we are living together, we have to get married.” We asked Srila Prabhupada. He said we had to get initiated first. We said when. He said, “Tomorrow.” He did not want my flickering mind to have time to dissuade me. After initiation, we asked when to get married. Again he said, “Tomorrow.”

We thought of different ideas to get Srila Prabhupada immigration status. One girl wanted to marry Srila Prabhupada, and we seriously considered it for that reason. He declined saying, “I am a swami.” Dayananda and Nandarani wanted to adopt Srila Prabhupada. Srila Prabhupada said, “They will ask, ‘Why such an old child?’”

The devotees in New York City wanted Srila Prabhupada to come back there, so I told Shyamasundara to carve Jagannatha very slowly.

Someone came up with the bright idea to take Lord Jagannatha to the park. Srila Prabhupada asked where Jagannatha was, and when I told him, he began running to the park, and I ran with him. Srila Prabhupada explained that Lord Jagannatha only comes out of the temple once a year, but as long as we are here we might as well stay for some time.

The Vaishnava principle is dasanudas [becoming the servant of the servant]. If I can see your success, I am happy.

We built this movement like a family on the basis of love and trust, but Srila Prabhupada was here as the acarya and the perfect example.

Srila Prabhupada said of Krishna book, “Krishna was on my shoulder showing me how to write it.”

One thing I learned in India is to put one shoe on one side of the temple and the other shoe on the other side of the temple. Once, being in a rush to join Srila Prabhupada, I came to him without my shoes. He asked where my shoes were. I said, “When I am with you, I do not feel any pain.” Srila Prabhupada was not pleased, and he explained: “There is enough austerity in the world that you do not have to put any on unnecessarily.”

Jayananda Thakura worked on the Ratha-yatra. He was a good example. He was a friend to everyone. I went shopping with him. The vendors would greet him, “Hi Jim! Here, take this,” and give him something from their shops.

Once on Lord Caitanya’s appearance day, Srila Prabhupada informed us about the day, and he gave us a manuscript of Teachings of Lord Caitanya. He told us to stay in the temple, and chant japa and read the whole day. Jayananda and Jivananda Prabhu suggested after some time to go outside. I protested because of what Srila Prabhupada had said. But they said that Lord Caitanya in the heart told them to go out. I went along with them. We took instruments, and sang in the street in front of Srila Prabhupada’s apartment. Srila Prabhupada was very happy to see us, and he confirmed that it was because of inspiration from Lord Caitanya that we were chanting Hare Krishna in the streets.

I was once on a plane with only a curtain between the cockpit and the rest of the plane. Someone had a goat on board, and someone else had chickens. We were talking about how maya was everywhere. Even there were a goat and hens on the plane. Then someone threw up in the aisle.

Prabhupada would say a devotee is jolly and makes jokes.

We happened to pass through the Cairo airport the day after Nasser, the leader was assassinated. Giriraja was having an ecstatic kirtan on the airfield while the whole city was in mourning. I saw some soldiers approaching the devotees with bayonets in their hands. I rushed out between the soldiers and devotees and told the soldiers that the devotees were singing the glories of President Nasser. The soldiers then guarded the devotees, instead of attacking them.

Srila Prabhupada is the perfect wonderful acarya. We can learn from him to this day.

I started a caring project for devotees. We were donated an entire hospital in Vrindavan.

We are all on the same boat, but if we are rowing in opposite directions, we will not make progress.

Krishna says in the “Venu Gita”, “My sweetness is tasted by the devotees according to the nature and strength of their love.”

The material world has a way of building up heroes and then tearing them down.

Srila Prabhupada prayed to Krishna on the Jaladuta, do with me whatever you want.

Thank Krishna that you are more intelligent and are receiving these sun rays.

I would always look through the books and see how Srila Prabhupada was presenting Krishna consciousness to the modern world.

On the “Top of the Pops” they were going to have some gyrating dancing girls perform when we played. As the temple president I explained to the producer that these dancing girls were incompatible with our spiritual message. He said they were on contract, and they had to perform. So we began packing up the equipment to leave, and I could see the producer was upset. I asked for some cloth, and Yamuna dressed up the dancing girls as if in saris. I taught them the swami step, and the girls were very happy that they did not have to do that other dance.

If you are feeling very unqualified and you are thinking that you cannot do anything, just remember that Krishna accepts the smallest offering done in sincerity.

I saw Srila Prabhupada as soft as a lamb and as fiery as a lion.

I have 119 letters from Srila Prabhupada.

I do not travel as much as before, but I am happy to be here again because you inspire me with your youthful enthusiasm because it reminds me of my early days as a devotee.

Srila Prabhupada did not encourage us in too much renunciation. He encouraged service.

Your relationship with Krishna is unique, and I can encourage you in it, but you have to do it yourself.

When Srila Prabhupada asked me to be the president of the Krishna Balaram temple in Vrindavan, I said that Shyamasundara is a better builder. Srila Prabhupada replied, “Krishna will help you.”

Sridhara Maharaja was a most dear godbrother of Srila Prabhupada. I saw them together many times, and they had a very special relationship. Parivrajakacarya Swami is helping me with The Vedic Care Charitable Trust. He is a disciple of Sridhara Maharaja. If you have sectarian thoughts then kick them out of your mind. Otherwise we might as well be karmis not Vaishnavas.

I asked Srila Prabhupada if he did sports. He replied, “Yes, I was captain of the debating team.” He would debate one side and win, and then he would debate the other side and win too.

We sent all kinds of things to the Beatles, but Peter Asher threw everything we sent into the rubbish bin because The Beatles were inundated with all kinds of appeals from all kinds of people.

Once Prabhupada was informed that some hippies were fighting, and people asked him to make peace. Srila Prabhupada was ready to go. But by then the fighting had stopped.

Once a couple musicians from the Grateful Dead, a couple of Hells Angels, and a couple of their women came to London along with their motorcycles. The Hells Angels were ready to beat up the Beatles because that was their relationship with people. When John looked into the room and saw the Hells Angels in the crowd, being streetwise, he declined to enter. Ringo Starr, who was simple in a good way, followed him. Paul looked in, and decided he was not going in there. George looked in and saw Shyamasundara way in back, and he walked right up to him, saying, “I have been looking for you guys.”

George said he and John had chanted Hare Krishna for three days once they liked it so much.

Ringo Starr asked me if he could come back as a cat in his next life. I said yes but asked why. He said he liked cats.

Billy Preston played the electric organ. Mukunda the drum, and me karatalas.

We had a primitive tape of Brahma-samhita, and we played it for George and told him we wanted to record an album on the Apple label.

Although there were only four of us, we recorded the chorus on top of ourselves several times so it sounded like 32 people.

Linda McCartney went to my high school. It was in Scarsdale, a very rich place. I told told her we were in school together, and she said that no one in Scarsdale would ever become a monk. Krishna owns Scarsdale too.

When Srila Prabhupada heard our Govinda recording he cried, and thus we play it in the temples.

Both “Hare Krishna” and “Govinda” made the top ten on the charts.

Our “Hare Krishna” single was the fastest selling single of The Beatles.

In England, the Indians loved us, the young people loved us, members of parliament loved, and George loved us.

There is a love song called “Something” that Frank Sinatra said was best love song ever that George originally wrote as a love song to Krishna.

George was doubtful whether he should come out with “My Sweet Lord” because it was so devotional and mentioned Krishna. One musician, Phil Spector, told him it was too good to not come out with it, and so he did. Because Phil liked George so much he said, “I could not help liking the Krishnas with their robes and everything.”

A Mayavadi was insisting the thread and the blanket were the same. I said, “OK, you can sleep with the thread, and I will sleep with the blanket.” It was very cold and after ten minutes, he came begging for his blanket. I told him I would give him his blanket back if he bowed down to my guru.

Yamuna asked if she could cook for Srila Prabhupada in the kitchen on the train but they told her, “No.”

She said, “I will jump off the train then.”

Malati screamed, “No!”

And they gave in and let her, and she brought prasadam to Srila Prabhupada in the first class compartment.

When a rich man on the train offered to help us get a temple in Delhi, Srila Prabhupada told me to get off the train in Delhi and start a temple, while he and the others continued their journey. It was like the mother bird pushing the small one out of the nest.

Urmila Devi Dasi:

Sex desire is something that exists in the spiritual world.

“In the material world, if one is sexually inclined and enjoys sex life, he enjoys something temporary. His enjoyment vanishes after a few minutes. However, in the spiritual world the same enjoyment may be there, but it never vanishes. It is continuously enjoyed. In the spiritual world such sex pleasure appears to the enjoyer to be more and more relishable with each new feature. In the material world, however, sex enjoyment becomes distasteful after a few minutes only, and it is never permanent. Because Krishna appears very much sexually inclined, He is called the new Cupid in the spiritual world. There is no material inebriety in such desire, however.”

“The desire for enjoyment is present both in Krishna and in His parts and parcels, the living entities.” (Cc. Madhya 8.138, purport)

“The living entities—moving and nonmoving—are part and parcel of Krishna; therefore “ originally have the same kind of lusty desire as His.” (Cc. Madhya 8.139, purport)

If we try to kill sexuality, one of three things will happen:

1. we become angry

2. we become hard-hearted

3. we fall down

Srila Prabhupada explains that not only hladini-sakti does give pleasure to Krishna but that hladini-sakti gives pleasure to and nourishes the devotees.

The devotee enjoys by uniting Radha and Krishna, Sita and Rama, or Laksmi and Narayana.

When a devote chants Hare Krishna, Krishna and His internal potency are dancing on the tongue of the devotee. (Bg. 12.8, purport).

The material mentality is to steal Radha, Sita, or Laksmi for our enjoyment, and the spiritual mentality is to bring Radha, Sita, or Laksmi to the Lord for His enjoyment.

What to do to transform lust into love?

1. Turn our desires to Krishna.

2. Think of Krishna with some attachment.

3. Get an authentic and deep experience of Krishna consciousness.

Ashrams use sacrifice to engage remaining lust.

The renunciates see the whole world as family. They study as a sacrifice, meditation, and missionary activities as sacrifice to engage and purify the remaining sex desire.

“Who is following the, strictly the regulative principle, even in sex life, he can see Krishna.” (Prabhupada)

“This reciprocation of service and love between husband and wife is the ideal of a householder’s life.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.23.1, purport)

Man is attracted women, and women demand responsibility and sacrifice.

In household life, living peacefully with spouse, bringing up children, and earning wealth for benefit of family and society are sacrifices that engage and purify the remaining sex desire.

I have an analogy:

A healthy arm is compared to one experiencing pure spiritual pleasure.

Bhakti is compared to the cast supporting the recovering of the broken arm which is analogous to one affected by lust.

The ashram is compared to a pain killer that eases recovery.

It is of two kinds: householder and renounced. One allergic to one may take the other.

When people see apparent contradictions they become doubtful about God.

Just a little understanding of Krishna can free us from material life.

Srila Prabhupada said that even an ordinary person you do not know you cannot ask about his intimate relationship with his wife.

Krishna is apparently working but actually He is just playing, either as a cowherd boy, or as a head of state.

There is research indicating that when you are really absorbed in your job you enter into a trance-like state.

Krishna wants people to be responsible. Thus he engages in activities to set a good example, otherwise people would become irresponsible.

We are like cells of the universal body of the Lord. As we want the cells of our body to be nicely situated, Krishna wants us all to be in a happy condition. Thus He incarnates in various species.

We should speak kindly to each other, even if we disagree.

There is no mediation between Radharani’s and Candravali’s party. They have different opinions.

When one has love for Krishna, His mysterious features simply increase that love.

By understanding more about Krishna, we increase our love for Him, and by increasing our love for Him, we increase our understanding of Him.

Comment by Bhakti Caitanya Swami:

I heard a class by Srila Prabhupada in which he was talking about how Krishna takes care of His devotees. He concluded by saying: “Just try to understand Krishna!”

The next day I was listening to another class by Srila Prabhupada where he was talking about the universal form. He concluded by saying: “Don’t try to understand Krishna.”

Additional quotes for Mother Urmila, which may relevant to her presentation:

“The ultimate result of devotional service is to develop genuine love for the Supreme Personality. Love is a word which is often used in relation with man and woman. And love is the only word that can be properly used to indicate the relation between Lord Krishna and the living entities. The living entities are mentioned as prakrti in the Bhagavad-gita, and in Sanskrit prakrti is a feminine object. The Lord is always described as the parama-purusa, or the supreme male personality. Thus the affection between the Lord and the living entities is something like that between the male and the female. Therefore the term love of Godhead is quite appropriate.” (SB 1.7.7, purport)

“There are many instances in the history of the world of a great conqueror’s being captivated by the charms of a Cleopatra. One has to study the captivating potency of woman, and man’s attraction for that potency. From what source was this generated? According to Vedanta-sutra, we can understand that everything is generated from the Supreme Personality of Godhead. It is enunciated there, janmady asya yatah [SB 1.1.1]. This means that the Supreme Personality of Godhead, or the Supreme Person, Brahman, the Absolute Truth, is the source from whom everything emanates. The captivating power of woman, and man’s susceptibility to such attraction, must also exist in the Supreme Personality of Godhead in the spiritual world and must be represented in the transcendental pastimes of the Lord.

“The Lord is the Supreme Person, the supreme male. As a common male wants to be attracted by a female, that propensity similarly exists in the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He also wants to be attracted by the beautiful features of a woman. Now the question is, if He wants to be captivated by such womanly attraction, would He be attracted by any material woman? It is not possible. Even persons who are in this material existence can give up womanly attraction if they are attracted by the Supreme Brahman. Such was the case with Haridasa Thakura. A beautiful prostitute tried to attract him in the dead of night, but since he was situated in devotional service, in transcendental love of Godhead, Haridasa Thakura was not captivated. Rather, he turned the prostitute into a great devotee by his transcendental association. This material attraction, therefore, certainly cannot attract the Supreme Lord. When He wants to be attracted by a woman, He has to create such a woman from His own energy. That woman is Radharani. It is explained by the Gosvamis that Radharani is the manifestation of the pleasure potency of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. When the Supreme Lord wants to derive transcendental pleasure, He has to create a woman from His internal potency. Thus the tendency to be attracted by womanly beauty is natural because it exists in the spiritual world. In the material world it is reflected pervertedly, and therefore there are so many inebrieties.

“Instead of being attracted by material beauty, if one is accustomed to be attracted by the beauty of Radharani and Krishna, then the statement of Bhagavad-gita, param drstva nivartate [Bg. 9.59], holds true. When one is attracted by the transcendental beauty of Radha and Krishna, he is no longer attracted by material feminine beauty. That is the special significance of Radha-Krishna worship. That is testified to by Yamunacarya. He says, ‘Since I have become attracted by the beauty of Radha and Krishna, when there is attraction for a woman or a memory of sex life with a woman, I at once spit on it, and my face turns in disgust.’ When we are attracted by Madana-mohana and the beauty of Krishna and His consorts, then the shackles of conditioned life, namely the beauty of a material woman, cannot attract us.” (SB 3.31.39, purport)

“The basic principle of the living condition is that we have a general propensity to love someone. No one can live without loving someone else. This propensity is present in every living being. Even an animal like a tiger has this loving propensity at least in a dormant stage, and it is certainly present in the human beings. The missing point, however, is where to repose our love so that everyone can become happy. At the present moment the human society teaches one to love his country or family or his personal self, but there is no information where to repose the loving propensity so that everyone can become happy. That missing point is Krishna, and The Nectar of Devotion teaches us how to stimulate our original love for Krishna and how to be situated in that position where we can enjoy our blissful life.

“In the primary stage a child loves his parents, then his brothers and sisters, and as he daily grows up he begins to love his family, society, community, country, nation, or even the whole human society. But the loving propensity is not satisfied even by loving all human society; that loving propensity remains imperfectly fulfilled until we know who is the supreme beloved. Our love can be fully satisfied only when it is reposed in Krishna. This theme is the sum and substance of The Nectar of Devotion, which teaches us how to love Krishna in five different transcendental mellows.” (The Nectar of Devotion, Preface)

“In the Padma Purana there is a statement of submission in feeling by devotees praying to the Lord: ‘My Lord, I know that young girls have natural affection for young boys, and that young boys have natural affection for young girls. I am praying at Your lotus feet that my mind may become attracted unto You in the same spontaneous way.’ The example is very appropriate. When a young boy or girl sees a member of the opposite sex there is a natural attraction, without the need for any introduction. Without any training there is a natural attraction due to the sex impulse. This is a material example, but the devotee is praying that he may develop a similar spontaneous attachment for the Supreme Lord, free from any desire for profit and without any other cause. This natural attraction for the Lord is the perfectional stage of self-realization.” (The Nectar of Devotion, Chapter 9)

Some people think that spiritual life means going to Mayapur and studying bhakti-sastri and everything else is maya.

Some people think renunciation means to be hard-hearted.

Some people deny their emotional needs and those of others in the name of spiritual service.

Bhaktivinoda Thakura says that we also have emotional and social needs.

Seeing Krishna as separate from the world is a cause of the above misconceptions.

The world is not maya but seeing it as separate from Krishna is maya.

We want to see that Krishna is everywhere and in everything.

We often identify ourselves as a son or daughter, and then we have to agree with our parents. But will that always happen? No. That can result in disappointment or anger toward those we are trying to please.

Thus we have to change our identity.

Our identities in this world are covers so we can do our real business as a servant of Krishna.

Bhaktivinoda Thakura saw his home and family members as Krishna’s property.

Lord Caitanya said to the sons of Bhavananda Raya, “Whether you are involved in material activities or become completely renounced, you five brothers are all My eternal servants, birth after birth.” (Cc. Antya 9.141)

Srila Prabhupada from a letter to Jayapataka Swami on December 19, 1972:

1. Everything is part of Krishna’s plan. Whatever is meant to be I am doing.

2. Let me do it with my full attention to every detail.

3. Let me become absorbed in such service never mind what it is. Let all other consideration be forgotten.

[This is like the Buddhist practice of mindfulness.]

4. Only my desire to do the thing best for Krishna’s alone pleasure be my motive.

Pleasing Krishna is easy because He is pleased by our effort and our intention while people in this world are looking for results.

“To one in Krishna consciousness, everything seems happily situated.” (Krishna, Chapter 20)

How do we know what is Krishna’s desire? That we act as He describes in Bg. 12.13–20.

How do we know if Krishna is pleased? If we are following guru, sadhu, and sastra. If we find ourselves blessed with knowledge, purity, authenticity, and happiness, which we directly experience.

Devaki Devi Dasi:

Our envy often manifests in competition with equals. It is easy to be the humble servant of someone much greater than us, but in relationship with those equally matched, we often try to show our supremacy or else minimize the other person.

Lust is the root cause of envy, our desire to enjoy independently from Krishna.

If we have respect for others, we will not use them for our sense gratification.

I feel that we lost so many devotees because of lack of mentorship. A diksa-guru we see once a year is not sufficient to correct us.

If we avoid correction or we get offended by correction then we are not taking shelter.

With the help of a mentor, we can catch ourselves doing the wrong thing, and that is progress because before we did not even recognize we were doing the wrong thing. 

Six steps leading toward improvement:

1. hear about the problem (in this case envy).

2. desire to become free from it.

3. being introspective and honest.

4. we catch ourselves doing the wrong thing.

5. we cry out to Krishna for help.

6. we catch ourselves doing the right thing.

I see we all have a little Hiranyakasipu, the epitome of false ego, in our heart, and we have to invite Lord Nrsimhadeva to perform this heart surgery.

Gaura Govinda Swami said ISKCON is a crying school where we learn to cry out to Krishna.

If we cry out to Krishna, He will free us from this tendency to be envious. The trouble is we are willing to let Him remove some things but not others, which we still have faith will bear some juicy fruit in the future.

We realize that Krishna is helping us.

When we agree to do the internal work we make progress and we receive purification.

At death all that counts is our relationship with Krishna, not the number of our Facebook friends or the likes of our photos.

There is a throne in our heart, and who is sitting on it? Our fat, envious false ego. We must dethrone him and enthrone Krishna.

The householder ashram provides much opportunity for this internal work. Our high divorce rate indicates that we are not doing this internal work.

I call the grhastha ashram the battlefield of false egos.

Any situation where we have to cooperate in service can help us defeat the false ego.

Q: How much can the envy of others hurt us?

A: We do not want to think “everyone here is envious I cannot associate with anyone” but we should be cautious to avoid people who stir up envy in us. We should consider humbly “I am not advanced enough to associate with that person” and remain respectful from a distance.

If we are spiritually strong if someone is envious of us, we can still have an attitude of wanting to benefit them spiritually. If we are not so strong, we can cry out to Krishna for help. Usually the people who are envious suffer the most, so we can feel compassion for them.

Prabhupada likened ISKCON to a hospital. That a hospital has many diseased patients does not mean it is bad hospital. In a hospital so many things go on. Maybe someone is vomiting blood in the hallway, but we do not take it personally.

Q: How can we present our achievements without presenting ourselves as superior and inciting competition?

A: If we give all credit to our guru and Krishna. That means we must also be introspective. If we having a burning desire to talk about ourselves then that is bad sign.

Q: How do we please the devotees without the desire to be popular?

A: If we have the desire to be popular then that is an impurity because we should just be satisfied to serve the devotees without any recognition. We have to be aware of this.

In devotional life we can completely miss the target and instead of reducing the false ego, we can increase it to the maximum, for so much facility for that exists if that is what we are desiring.

Without introspection, honesty, and having a mentor it is difficult to make progress.

Adi Rasa Prabhu:

In Mahabharata two ladies are famous as devotees of Krishna: Kunti and Draupadi.

Gandhari was famous as a chaste lady, but she gave more importance to dharma than to Krishna.

Bhaktivinoda Thakura says bhakti includes rules which awaken devotion to Krishna’s lotus feet to benefit the soul and the rules of varnasrama to benefit the body.

Only rare people, like Vasudeva Datta, are able to perform bhakti to the exclusion of any activities to benefit the body.

In Bhagavad-gita 18.66 Krishna says to abandon all dharmas, but Arjuna kept his ksatriya dharma in his service to Krishna. This indicates that Krishna wants us to follow varnasrama as part of our bhakti.

We should take exactly what we need to maintain our body, not more or less.

The main problem is that people do not get married to serve but for their own enjoyment.

Bhaktivinoda Thakura says the soul is moral, pure, well-wishing, truthful, and loving.

Bhaktivinoda Thakura lists five levels of consciousness:

1. immoral materialists

2. moral materialists

3. moral religious

4. engaged in vaidhi bhakti [devotional service to God in practice]

5. engaged in raganuga-sadhana bhakti [devotional service to God in spontaneous love]

Bhaktivinoda Thakura does not consider there may be immoral religious people because they should not exist.

Bhaktivinoda Thakura defines morality as including:

1. forgivingness

2. thankfulness

3. truthfulness

4. honesty

5. not stealing

6. not accepting that which one does not need

7. compassion

8. respecting scriptures

9. thoughtfulness

10. worshiping the Lord

11. doing one’s duties

12. visiting holy places

These qualities of a moral person will help devotees in their relationships with each other and those in society.

Bhaktivinoda Thakura describes moral principles before bhakti because they will help do our sadhu sanga without offenses.

Honesty is to act truthfully.

Radhika Nagara Prabhu:

From a conversation:

Keshava Bharati Maharaja said that at their Govardhan ashram all their financial problems were solved once they began taking care of cows.

Kalakantha Prabhu [cow protection]:

In 1976 in ISKCON we had 14 cow protection programs. Now we have 99 programs. We have an app to keep track of them.

Srila Prabhupada had a vision of temples with associated restaurants and farms.

Srila Prabhupada writing to Yasomatinandana Prabhu from Vrindaban on November 28, 1976:

“Where there is agriculture there must be cows. That is our mission: Cow protection and agriculture and if there is excess, trade. This is a no-profit scheme. For the agriculture we want to produce our own food and we want to keep cows for our own milk. The whole idea is that we are ISKCON, a community to be independent from outside help. This farm project is especially for the devotees to grow their own food. Cotton also, to make their own clothes. And keeping cows for milk and fatty products.

“Our mission is to protect our devotees from unnecessary heavy work to save time for advancing in Krishna consciousness. This is our mission.”

What do we do?

Establish training programs.

Get support for cow protection programs.

Conferences.

One writer, Allan Savory, says, “When you graze the cows together, the cow hooves, the cow dung, and cow urine prepare the land so you do not need a tractor.”

One lady, who was a vegan, was impressed seeing the devotees taking care of the cows, is now head cowherd on our farm project.

One man grows pumpkins and melons in Siberia using cow dung. How is this? He understood that cow dung warms the soil, so he gets another month and a half of growing season using it.

From GBC resolution from March 2019:

“By Janmastami 2022 all ISKCON centers should develop a plan whereby all milk and milk products – butter, ghee, yogurt, etc. – offered to the the deities are procured from protected cows.

“The centers may approach the International Ministry for Cow Protection for assistance.”

From a conversation:

At Vrindavan, they had so many many financial, personnel and management problems, but when they repaired the gosala [cow barn] these disappeared and so many donors appeared.

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At Pol’and’Rock many tens of thousands of people hear the chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra, and some of them even chant the response. The great spiritual result of even unconsciously chanting the holy name is revealed in this verse of Srimad-Bhagavatam:

apannah samsrtim ghoram

yan nama visvaso grnan

tatah sadyo vimucyeta

yat bibheti svayam bhayam

“Living beings who are entangled in the complicated meshes of birth and death can be freed immediately even by unconsciously chanting the holy name of Krishna which is feared by fear personified.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.1.14)