Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 15, No. 24
By Krishna Kripa Das
(December 2019, part two)
New York City, Albany
(Sent from Tallahassee on January 11, 2020)
Where
I Went and What I Did
I
spent seven days near Albany, New
York,
taking care of my 95-year-old mother who was recovering from a leg
injury. During that time I spent one Sunday afternoon visiting my
guru, Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami, Bhakti Rasa and Kirtida Prabhu from
Newcastle, England, who had come to serve him, his other caretakers,
and Ravindra Svarupa Prabhu, who lives across the street. I also took
a two-day break to rejoin the Yuga Dharma Ashram party, leaving my
sister to take care of my mother. Then from Christmas through the end
of the year, I was back full time on the Yuga Dharma Ashram chanting
party. Both Christmas Day and the last Saturday of the year I had the
fortune to be able to speak at 26 Second Avenue, the sacred place
where the Hare Krishna movement in America began fifty-four years
ago. On New Year’s Eve I got to speak on Krishna conscious New
Year’s resolutions at Sunanda Prabhu’s Krishna Balarama temple in
Queens. After that I joined devotees from Brooklyn ISKCON, the 26
Second Avenue program, and the Bhakti Center in
chanting
Hare Krishna from Radha Govinda Mandir to Prospect Park, where
thousands of people gather for festivities culminating in a fireworks
show at midnight. After describing my time in New York City and Albany, I share my special memories of 2019 and end with my expenses and income report for 2019.
I
share many quotes from several classes by Srila Prabhupada and
excerpts from the writing of Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami. I share notes
on a class by Locanananda Prabhu in Brooklyn and a conversation
with Ravindra Svarupa Prabhu at his home in Stuyvesant Falls. I share
an interesting quote by a John Woolman, a Quaker missionary, which
seems consistent with ideas in Bhagavad-gita.
Many,
many thanks to the 26 Second Avenue devotees, Victor Anderson, my
mother, a man at the Albany
Quaker
meeting, Vijaya of midtown Manhattan, and Lila Manjari Devi Dasi for
their kind donations.
Thanks
to Kaliya Krishna Prabhu for the video of Kishor Gopal Prabhu
chanting in Times Square and the photo of Krishna Prasad Prabhu
selling a saptarsi
set
of books there. Thanks to Glykeria for sharing the video of me giving Bhagavad-gita class at 26 Second Avenue.
Itinerary
January–April
2020: North and Central Florida colleges, mostly Florida State
University
Special
events:
January
20: Gainesville Martin Luther King Day March harinama
January
21–22: Chanting at UF in Gainesville
January
23–24: Chanting at USF in Tampa
January
25: Tampa Gasparilla pirate parade Ratha-yatra
February
8: Ocala Rainbow Gathering
March
14: Daytona Beach Ratha-yatra
March
21: St. Augustine Ratha-yatra
March
28: Tallahassee Ratha-yatra
April
10: FSU Kirtan Event
Chanting
Hare Krishna in New York City
Here Kishor Gopal Prabhu of The Bhakti Center chants Hare Krishna in Times Square subway station, and his mother, Ekadasi Vrata Devi Dasi, visiting from Alachua, distributes “On Chanting Hare Krishna” pamphlets (https://youtu.be/s5MzLZQ8y8M):
Here
Hari
of Columbus, who has visited the Yuga Dharma Ashram three times in
the last year, chants Hare Krishna in Jackson Heights / Roosevelt
Avenue subway station, and a man dances and leaves a donation
(https://youtu.be/-mCv3iyHqIc):
Rama
Raya Prabhu chants Hare Krishna in Jackson Heights / Roosevelt Avenue
subway station in Queens, and several devotees and passersby dance
and one local plays shakers (https://youtu.be/0AkgUeESdTs):
Hari
of Columbus chants Hare Krishna in Times Square subway station, and
three children in a family play shakers
(https://youtu.be/O2oduri8-yY):
Rama
Raya Prabhu chants Hare Krishna on Christmas in Times Square, and a
passerby dances in addition to several devotees
(https://youtu.be/mqd7M6WYsYE):
Later
while Rama Raya Prabhu was chanting Hare Krishna, a group of guys
danced with the devotees (https://youtu.be/Myk4ExHpwhE):
As I was manning the book table, a couple of young ladies from Kuwait who were curious came by, and one took an English book and the other an Arabic book:
I left the harinama early on that Saturday to speak at 26 Second Avenue on Bhagavad-gita (https://youtu.be/jgcTVGEjpq0):
Here
Rama Raya Prabhu chants the second Hare Krishna kirtan at the Yuga
Dharma Ashram Sunday feast program attended
by
those especially interested people who bought our books or those
who
happen to live near our neighborhood of Hamilton Heights
(https://youtu.be/lB9h5ejMRrk):
I
was late for our walking harinama
outside
at
Times Square on Sunday, so Krishna Prasad Prabhu invited me to chant
in the subway station where they were distributing books. It always
gives me great pleasure when the book distributors sell a saptarsi
[seven-book set] while I am leading the Hare Krishna chant as he did
during the forty-five minutes I joined them:
Krishna Prasad Prabhu recalls, “This is a really nice young lady from Israel. . . . I approached her to see if she would take some books. She’s a spiritual person into yoga and told me that she’s been looking for answers about life in general and about the universe. She said that she’s been having some problems with her family lately and was looking for a way to clear up those difficulties! I told her that problems in the material world will always come and go but this ancient spiritual knowledge will teach her how to tolerate such problems and be more transcendental to them. She was very curious and looking forward to read the books as she’s already a spiritually inquisitive person so she happily gave a nice donation for the set.”
Thanks
to Ananda Prabhu for the photo and to Kaliya Krishna Prabhu for
sharing it!
I went to the Sunday Feast in Brooklyn, and I encountered Bob (on right in photo) who remembered me from University of South Florida in Tampa, which was a surprise.
Here
Natabara
Gauranga Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at Atlantic Avenue / Barclays
Center subway station in Brooklyn, and two ladies play shakers
(https://youtu.be/QO3Ng-g2X1s):
Rama
Raya Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at Atlantic Avenue / Barclays Center
subway station in Brooklyn, and a lady happily plays shakers and buys
books (https://youtu.be/K_Se8MN8-6k):
Rama
Raya Prabhu chants Hare Krishna to the tune of “Auld Lang Syne”
at Atlantic Avenue / Barclays Center subway station in Brooklyn, and
a lady plays shakers (https://youtu.be/751K4Iq8bVE):
Govind
chants Hare Krishna at Atlantic Avenue / Barclays Center subway
station in Brooklyn, and boy and his mom play shakers
(https://youtu.be/0uKR9fbKSyc):
Rama
Raya Prabhu chants Hare Krishna to the tune of “Auld Lang Syne”
at Penn Station subway station on New Year’s Eve
(https://youtu.be/sZFuowH2OIw):
The
New York New Year’s Eve Harinam began at Radha Govinda Mandir, and
about fifty devotees led by Premananda Kirtan Prabhu proceeded down
Flatbush Avenue, through Grand Army Plaza, to Prospect Park, where
thousands of people gather to watch the fireworks at midnight. Video
by ISKCON Brooklyn (https://youtu.be/FirxVBcL-74):
My
Time in the Albany Area
I
cooked breakfast and lunch, bought food, medicine, gasoline, and
Christmas presents, and drove my mother to appointments for seven
days in December.
One
Sunday afternoon I borrowed my mother’s car and drove to Stuyvesant
Falls to have an Ekadasi lunch with my guru and his caretakers,
including my friends Bhakti Rasa and Kirtida Prabhus, who I see in
Newcastle, England, when I visit for several weeks every year. They
always help me out by coming on harinama,
driving me to and from the airport and train station, and offering me
an occasional meal. They have lots of devotional qualities and a deep
appreciation of our guru. I bought some asparagus at the shop for the
meal on the way as Baladeva Prabhu, my guru’s longtime servant had
advised. Although I fasted the morning as usual on Ekadasi, after
just a cup of a smoothie I felt energized enough to volunteer to be
the first reader during my Guru Maharaja’s lunch, which was a real
treat for me. Guru Maharaja’s voice sounded strong, and
he spoke with clarity. He appeared in better health than I had seen
him in
recently,
after having rested up from the Vyasa-puja event in early December.
After lunch I took all the maha-prasadam
from
all the deities to give to my mother.
Almost
every Sunday, Ravindra Svarupa Prabhu, at his house across the
street, gives a class on Srimad-Bhagavatam,
which is streamed live on the internet. He is happy to have people
sit in the room and hear it live. His tech person and
secretary, Sraddha Devi Dasi, was visiting her folks for Christmas,
so when we arrived for class, we found him finishing lunch. He was
happy to invite us in to chat with him informally, and we talked for
over an hour, and I put some notes from
our conversation below in “Insights”.
While
staying at the home where
I
grew up sixty years ago, which
is on
two acres of land seven miles southeast of Albany, I would chant japa
while
looking at the snow, trees, clouds, and sky.
I find looking at God’s
creations pacifies the mind while looking at man’s creations
agitates it.
While rummaging through my mother’s cupboards, I found three ecstatic fruit-nut bars that the devotees make in Czech Republic and which I gave her three years ago. It was like meeting an old friend! Two of the three were still good but not the coconut one:
My
family attends the Christmas program on Christmas Eve at the Albany
Friends Meeting. Volunteers from the crowd enact a drama of the story
of the appearance of Lord Jesus Christ in this world, playing the
different roles. There was incredible diversity in the cast,
including people of different ages, genders, races, and
nationalities:
Many
devotional Christmas songs are sung describing the appearance of
Jesus in this world, and people experienced joy in the congregational
singing. Previously at a Quaker meeting a few weeks before I
mentioned how we used to go Christmas caroling as I was growing up,
and that it was a joyful experience. I suggested they might take
advantage of the Christmas season when such goings on are expected,
and in this way increase their joy through the group singing of
spiritual songs,
but I do not know that they ever did. The congregational chanting of
the glories of the Lord is
the dharma for this age, so I tried to encourage them as much as I
could, given
the circumstances.
To end an absolutely wonderful year, I did harinama with fifty devotees from ISKCON Brooklyn, 26 Second Avenue, and the Bhakti Center, at Prospect Park in Brooklyn on New Year’s Eve, through a crowd of thousands. I thank the Lord and His devotees for giving me so many joyous opportunities.
Special Experiences in 2019
At the end of the year, I like to reflect on some of the new and some of the extra special experiences I had during the year.
I chanted Hare Krishna on the ferry between Belfast and Scotland for the first time ever, and I chanted in two new towns on the northeast coast of England, Whitby and Filey. During long layovers at Gatwick while traveling between Paris and Orlando, I chanted in Brighton twice, where Mohini Devi Dasi organized harinamas attended by six and eight people, respectively. I organized a Monday night harinama in Manchester, which was attended by eight or nine devotees, and which inspired Karsna and Aharada Prabhu’s to make that a regular biweekly event.
I chanted Hare Krishna with Harinama Ruci in Dublin to advertise the Dublin Ratha-yatra, and it was so ecstatic I just have to mention it. My most watched video for this year came from that time (https://youtu.be/efjutRyUA1c):
I was amazed by the number of people that Harinamananda and Sundar Nitai Prabhus of Harinama Ruci engaged in joyfully chanting the entire Hare Krishna mantra, thus relieving them of their karmic burden and giving them a taste of devotional service to Krishna. These included workers from a French restaurant and from Lush Fresh Handmade Cosmetics, tourists and locals, and street performers as well (https://youtu.be/K3CNqthKBH8):
I chanted with a party of devotees outside Berlin’s Schönefeld airport for the first time, and I chanted in a park and in the downtown of Kaunas, Lithuania. Our final harinama at the Vaishnava Sanga Festival in Canada had 74 devotees in it!
My most liked video from 2019 was from our Janmastami harinama in Newcastle, England, when nine-year-old, Jiya, led the chanting of Hare Krishna and her younger sister played the karatalas (https://youtu.be/A08cdyqqMb4):
We invited a street musician to play “My Sweet Lord” at the Liverpool Ratha-yatra, and he had a great time singing at the event, associating with the devotees, and taking prasadam. I attended the harinama at the Great North Run in the Newcastle area, where 57,000 runners heard the devotees chant Hare Krishna over the course of 2½ hours. I joined Rama Raya Prabhu’s Yuga Dharma Ashram in chanting Hare Krishna and distributing books for eight or nine hours at the Boston Hemp Festival. We also did harinama for two days in Rittenhouse Square to advertise the Philadelphia Ratha-yatra as well as performing kirtana for hours at the Ratha-yatra site. Seventeen devotees chanted on a Tuesday night harinama in Boston, which Chatamayi Devi Dasi organized for me. Twenty-five devotees from Krishna House did a spontaneous harinama on a Friday night in Gainesville at my request. I encouraged a team of devotees from Brooklyn ISKCON to chant in the New York City Halloween parade, and I encouraged Yuga Dharma Ashram devotees to chant at the New York City Marathon the following Sunday. We had about fifteen devotees chanting Hare Krishna at the Hudson Winter Walk, the largest number in recent years and possibly the largest ever. During the Prabhupada marathon in addition to chanting six hours per day with the Yuga Dharma Ashram, I chanted Hare Krishna for almost nineteen additional hours at different subway stations in New York City, including some new ones for me such as Yankee Stadium, Seventh Avenue, South Ferry, Fulton Street, 145th Street (ACBD), and the best of all, 168th Street, where in 3¼ hours people donated $55.57 and accepted 11 books. You can see the details in the chart below:
To end an absolutely wonderful year, I did harinama with fifty devotees from ISKCON Brooklyn, 26 Second Avenue, and the Bhakti Center, at Prospect Park in Brooklyn on New Year’s Eve, through a crowd of thousands. I thank the Lord and His devotees for giving me so many joyous opportunities.
Expenses and Income for 2019
As people give me donations, I feel obliged to account for how the money I receive is spent. Srila Prabhupada would always keep track of his expenses and income, and he is our example. I can provide details if people want to know, but here I supply a summary:
Insights
Srila
Prabhupada:
From
a class on Bhagavad-gita
18.45 in Durban on October 11, 1975:
“Who
can give better service than Mahatma Gandhi? Who can become such
honest man, ideal man. He was addressed as mahatma
[great soul]. Still, his service was not recognized. He was killed.
So that is the result of material service. Therefore Krishna says
that, ‘This kind of service rendering will never satisfy you,
neither the party will be satisfied. You give up all this wrong
engagement; you give service to Me.’”
“Suppose
I have passed medical examination, but I do not practice. Then nobody
will call me a doctor . . . I must practice. I must cure patient.
Then I will be known as medical practitioner.” In the same way
one’s actual work shows what his varna
is.
From
a class on Srimad-Bhagavatam
2.1.4 in Vrindavana on March 19, 1974:
“When
one is alone, he’s not so much attached with the material world.
But as soon as he unites with the other party, then he gets children,
and the attraction increases. The real business is that we have to
withdraw our attraction for this material . . . That they do not
know. I am a spirit soul. Being attracted by this material nature, I
am now encaged within this body, and I am changing this body. Just
like I am changing this body from boyhood to childhood, childhood to,
from childhood to boyhood, from youthhood. In this way, I have been
entangled in this transmigration of the soul. This is my problem.
Bhagavan, Krishna, says, ‘Real problem is janma-mrtyu-jara-vyadhi
[birth,
death, old age, and disease] [Bg. 13.9].’ . . . Nowadays they have
discovered so many problems. But actual
problem—janma-mrtyu-jara-vyadhi—they
are not very much serious.”
“If
you some way or other can reach Krishna, Vishnu, then you’ll be
saved. . . . Then you’ll not have to come to this material world
again simply to suffer. This is Krishna consciousness philosophy.”
From
a class on Sri
Caitanya-caritamrita, Madhya
20.110–11 in Bombay on November 27, 1975:
“Here
He [Krishna] is playing on His flute, but His energies are working.
Just like a big man, a big business magnate – he is sitting in his
room, but his energy is working – big, big factory is going on;
large amount of profit is coming automatically. So if it is possible
for ordinary human being that he is sitting in one place, and still,
things are going on by management of his energy, so why not Krishna,
the Supreme Lord? . . . He is situated in His planet, Goloka
Vrindavana; still His energies are going on. The material energy is
working, this material world. . . . Under His vigilance all the laws
of material nature is going on.”
“Whatever
we see, that is manifestation of the Supreme Lord’s different
energy. The example is the fire and the heat and light. . . . The
heat is the material energy, and light is the spiritual energy. Just
like when you feel some heat, you can immediately understand there is
some fire. And if there is light, you can immediately understand
there is fire. The light you can see, and heat we can feel. By
feeling or seeing, we can understand the existence of God everywhere.
This is intelligence. . . . We should appreciate the presence of God
everywhere by His different energies, exactly like heat and light.”
“To
purify the existence we have to practice tapasya
[austerity],
not running like cats and dogs here and there. . . . If you want to
get out of this entanglement of distressed condition of material
body, then mahat-sevam:
you associate with mahatmas
and serve him [them].”
From
a class on Srimad-Bhagavatam
3.26.30 in Bombay on January
7, 1975:
“But
if you have faith in Krishna’s words, niscaya,
‘When Krishna says that if I surrender unto Him, He will give me
protection, there is no doubt about it,’ that is called faith,
niscayatmika.”
“The
example is given: There is a rope, and due to my ignorance or
insufficient knowledge, I take it as a snake. This is my insufficient
knowledge. The snake is fact, and the rope is fact. But when we take
the rope as snake, that is ignorance, or the snake as rope, that is
ignorance. The Mayavadi philosopher says that ‘We are accepting . .
. rope as a snake, but there is no snake.’ But we, Vaishnava
philosopher, we say, ‘No, there is snake and there is rope. But
when we accept the rope as snake, that is maya.’
Similarly, there is spiritual world, and there is material world. But
when we accept the material world as everything, that is maya.
That is illusion.”
“Krishna
is desiring that everyone should surrender unto Him. That is His
desire. So guru’s business is to train people how to surrender to
Krishna, not to become Krishna. That is foolishness. You cannot
become Krishna.”
“Now,
how he [the guru] has become dear to Krishna? Because he is preaching
the same principle as Krishna wanted.”
“Krishna
is not so cheap thing that one can become Krishna. One can become
Krishna’s most confidential servant – that is possible. But one
cannot become Krishna. That is another illusion, maya.”
Satsvarupa
Dasa Goswami:
From
Memory in the Service of Krishna:
“You
cannot cease praying to Krishna. You need Him at every moment. On
your own, you are nothing; there is no guarantee. You must always
pray and be dependent. That was the humiliating lesson of the bout
with amnesia.”
From
Karttika
Papers:
“A
day here is worth
millions
somewhere else says
Navadvipa-dhama-mahatmya.
Bumpkin
returns to the
West
with stars in eyes and
plan.
He’ll be a
Prabhupada-Gauranga
man.” (Notepad #5, pp. 228–29)
“my
hand wants
to
chant and write
Lord,
as You will,
we
operate
as
You allow and as You desire
You
favor someone.” (Notepad #6, pp. 235–37)
“I
began with a small headache, but it
went
away, partly because I
loved
what I was doing and
they
didn’t exert pressure on me.
I
could have stopped when I wanted.” (Notepad #6, pp. 240–41)
From
Free
Write Journal #71:
“A
distracted soul cannot look at the Deities and see Them. He sees only
the messages from his own mind—what people are doing to him and
saying about him. He sees trivia and fragments of recent
ingestions—from newspapers, rumors, or the past.”
“You
will chant.
Do
the dance of
love
sidestepping
petty
truths and concerns of the mind.
Ever
so gently
push
out
“the
thoughts of the mind
and
resound in the sound
of
hari-nama
awhile, awhile, there’s no other cure for
what
ails ya.”
From
Every
Day, Just Write, Volume
34:
“I
can tell of my days
and
the falling apart of the Krishna consciousness
movement.
For example,
in
‘The Bear,’ the brave dog,
Lion
leaps at the bear and
the
bear (old Ben, who we
may
compare to Mahamaya)
rips
out its entrails.
Still,
the dog won’t release its
vise-like
bite.
Later,
when Ben is killed,
the
doctor puts Lion’s guts in
and
sews them up.
“So,
this may be likened to the
falling
out of ISKCON’s guts
and
the sewing of them back in
by
the responsible members
of
the movement.”
From
Every
Day, Just Write, Volume
35:
“Waiting
for lunch.
Can’t
imagine I’ll die.
I
write about it as a fact,
but
it’s too scary.
“So,
you turn to the Eternal.
As
escape? Yes, why not?
Escape
from death and void
depend
on sastras
which
tell us the soul
never
dies, he just jolts out
of
one body, falls asleep
and
awakens in a body new.
“We
pray to Krishna – please
give
us inspiration to desire
no
more births
but
join You in Goloka
where
Your pure devotees please You forever.” (p. 29)
From
Every
Day, Just Write, Volume
41:
“Whoever
reads this poem of mine
I
thank and may he gain the eternal favor
of
Lord Krishna who stands with splendor
in
His pastimes in the forest. May
the
reader remember
the
Lord at
death
and go to His abode.” (pp. 27–28)
“Plunge
into japa
alone, and you’ll
join
the parampara
of chanters. We’re
never
alone and always alone.” (pp. 47–48)
“We
live to
eat
but also to read and
live
and breathe and sleep and
rise
for japa
in cycles
a
little longer.” (pp. 124–25)
“I’ve
been away from Krishna too long,
you
can contact Him right away
anytime
you read. Even if it’s
dull
and dry, you’re with Him, you are
at
the cloud, the outer covering.
He’s
inside.” (pp. 156–57)
“Prabhupada
ahead of us, waiting for us.
We
don’t know where we came from or
where
we are going. We want to
find
the spiritual world of bliss and
eternity
and know our rasa,
and it
makes
new sense – we want to
serve,
we’ve got the right
body
and mind, all soul.” (pp. 156–57)
“You
will write and someone will read it, but
before
long each has to exit and be with
Krishna
the way we each do – or do not.” (pp. 205–7)
“Now
I still don’t despair. I am
not
so orthodox, but ISKCON itself is
strange.
Anywhere you can be genuine
and
loyal, do it there, be Krishna conscious,
repeat
the message of Prabhupada
the
basic memory of what you’re supposed to do:
Avoid
the nondevotee mood,
go
on chanting,
some
kind of witnessing to others
your
own example, prayers for
faith
and experience.
To
be honest and simple
to
not waste time, don’t cheat
others.”
(pp. 205–7)
“Lunch
Poem
“Laugh
and eat under the
umbrella
of Krishna’s feet
never
forget some way to connect
chosen
words to
Him.
He’s here.” (p. 210)
Locanananda
Prabhu:
From
a Sunday feast lecture at ISKCON Brooklyn:
Srila
Prabhupada wanted every house in America to have a set of his books.
Srila
Prabhupada wanted us to have vehicles that opened on the side,
revealing changing bodies exhibits and other dioramas, and to park
them on college campuses so people could learn that they are not
their bodies.
Srila
Prabhupada said that all someone has to do is visit the temple and
see the form of the Lord and honor prasadam
to
go back to Godhead.
On
February 9 last year we did harinama
for
two or three hours in the Chinatown parade which is attended by
thousands of people. We had invitations and mantra cards in Chinese,
inviting people to chant the Hare Krishna mantra. We plan to do it
again in the coming year, and you are invited.
There
are thousands of books in the NYU library, but there are no books
that tell you that the Absolute Truth is one, but He became two, as
Krishna and Radha, and then later became one again as Lord Caitanya.
Srila
Prabhupada said that if you are considering becoming a devotee,
Krishna will speak to you in the heart and encourage you.
When
Jesus was crucified, he cried, “My Lord, why have you forsaken me?”
I wondered about that, and I researched it. I found that in one of
the Psalms it foretells the crucifixion.
Jesus
Christ said, “In the kingdom of my father, there are many
mansions.” Srila Prabhupada describes what they are made of.
In
my own case, my family offered me a million dollars to leave Krishna
consciousness. That was fifty years ago, when a million dollars was
worth a lot more than it is now.
My
apartment became the first temple in Paris. The devotees had gotten
kicked out of their apartment because their burning spices disturbed
everyone in the building, I offered to let them stay my place in
exchange for
free meals. Prabhupada, in a letter to them, thanked me for offering
my place.
Once
a devotee who was to be initiated was reluctant to shave because his
coworkers would tease him. Srila Prabhupada told him to just shave
once for the initiation ceremony and not to worry as his hair would
grow back.
When
I went to Israel to open a temple, one devotee who was in Israel
fixed up a place for us to stay. He lit it with electricity he
borrowed from another apartment. That night we arrived we were all
arrested by the police for stealing electricity. We heard on the news
the next day, “The Hare Krishna devotees have arrived in Israel,
and they have already been arrested for stealing electricity.”
One
fourteen-year-old girl joined us for while, but her family was
against us. They thought we were involved with drugs, and the police
came and searched our entire place. The police chief said in his
testimony, “We could not find any drugs. These people chant the
names of God in public and distribute an amazing food called halava.
I think they should be given unrestricted access to the streets of
Tel Aviv and wherever else they want to go.”
Our
kirtan party was filmed for a movie that was released after we had
been there for just a week. Its title was The
Uranium Conspiracy.
Thus
after a very brief time in Israel, everyone was aware of the Hare
Krishnas being there.
From
a conversation after class:
Siddhanta
talked to me for five hours in the course of recording material for
Prabhupada
Memories.
Ravindra
Svarupa Prabhu:
From
a conversation at his home in Stuyvesant Falls on December 22, 2019:
The
devas
are like the nervous system of the universe. Brahma is the soul.
Vishnu is the Supersoul.
The
first Soviet devotees who I met in Mayapur said they worked on a
fruit farm. They knew when the communist party meetings were because
they would always get
orders
for
a lot of fruit. The devotees picked the fruit, took it to a secluded
part of the farm, and then they offered the fruit to Krishna before
shipping it to the Communist party meeting. Perhaps that is the
reason the Soviet rule came to an end.
Comment
by me: Also I think Krishna was displeased with the Soviets torturing
religious people in prison camps in Siberia, and that was another
reason their rule came to an end.
Prabhupada
several times talked about a war erupting between Pakistan and India
that brought in America and Russia and thus the whole world. I asked
my GBC, Rupanuga Prabhu, to ask Srila Prabhupada what happened about
the war. Prabhupada said, “Krishna changed His mind.” I thought
about the implications of that for ten years. Krishna’s plan is not
set in stone.
Srila
Prabhupada would say, “Lord Caitanya’s movement will go all over
the world. You help make it happen and get the credit.” The
implication being if we didn’t, someone else would.
God
sends two kinds of people: the
ministers and the Scourge
of God.
I
was involved with what was called the guru reform movement. I did not
feel that I was in control of it. Rather I felt as if I was being
moved at each step by a superior power.
Question
(by me): What is your vision for the future of ISKCON?
I
do not have any special vision other than that everything will
progress nicely if we strictly follow the four rules and chant Hare
Krishna. One thing I learned as an ISKCON leader is that many
devotees do not actually follow the four rules and chant Hare Krishna
as they promised. People do not understand that the four rules
against meat eating, illicit sex, gambling, and intoxication are
principles of cognition. If we can follow
these
rules,
we will gain knowledge.
Comment
(by me): That reminds me of this powerful quote from the preface of
Nectar
of Instruction by
Srila Prabhupada:
“In
all spiritual affairs, one’s first duty is to control his mind and
senses. Unless one controls his mind and senses, one cannot make any
advancement in spiritual life. Everyone within this material world is
engrossed in the modes of passion and ignorance. One must promote
himself to the platform of goodness, sattva-guna,
by following the instructions of Rupa Gosvami, and then
everything concerning how to make further progress will be revealed
[my
italics].”
That
is it exactly!
Krishna
Kripa Das:
From
a conversation:
Krishna
Prasad Prabhu makes cookies for our harinama
party here in New York, and the challenge is how to avoid spending
the whole afternoon eating cookies. It is so tempting that almost
every Ekadasi someone spaces out and eats one anyway, although it
breaks the fast. Once on a non-Ekadasi day, I did not eat a single
cookie. That day I decided that whenever I felt like eating a cookie,
I would bring my mind back to the sound of the mantra. It was
actually a very painless and effective technique. Unfortunately, I
was only sincere enough to do it one day in three months!
John
Woolman (Quaker missionary):
[In
York, England, we have our Hare Krishna meetings in the John Woolman
room of the York Friends Meeting. Apparently, although from America,
Woolman left his body in York due to an illness in the course of his
missionary work. Here is a quote by him that is largely consistent
with Hare Krishna teachings which I found posted on the wall of the
Albany Friends Meeting.]
“Look,
my dear Friends, to divine Providence, and follow in simplicity that
exercise of body, that plainness and frugality, which true wisdom
leads to, so may you be preserved from those dangers which attend
such who are aiming after outward ease and greatness.”
[You
can compare the life of simplicity, plainness, and frugality, which
wisdom leads to,
to goodness,
the
aim of outward ease to ignorance, and the aim for greatness to
passion. Krishna advises to avoid ignorance and passion and keep oneself in goodness, where one can attain spiritual knowledge.]
-----
Srila
Prabhupada would often quote this verse which stresses that love of
God (krishna-prema)
is always present in the hearts of all living entities, and that it
just needs to be awakened by devotional service beginning with
hearing. He would make the point that the fact that Westerners, who
had never heard of Krishna, were now becoming attracted to Him, was
evidence of this krishna-prema being already present in the heart. This verse is a favorite verse of inspiration for
me.
nitya-siddha
krishna-prema ‘sadhya’ kabhu naya
sravanadi-suddha-citte
karaye udaya
“Pure
love for Krishna is eternally established in the hearts of the living
entities. It is not something to be gained from another source. When
the heart is purified by hearing and chanting, this love naturally
awakens.” (Sri
Caitanya-caritamrita,
Madhya 22.107)