Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 17, No. 8
(April 2021, part two)
Tallahassee, Valdosta, Gainesville, Tampa, Miami
(Sent from Miami on May 8, 2021)
Where I Went and What I Did
I finished my spring semester stay in Tallahassee, chanting at Landis Green on the Florida State University campus during the weekdays and at Lake Ella and by the bars on the weekends. One Friday night, we chanted at a student party and many people participated. I did three more harinamas with Sandipani Muni Krishna Prabhu, including one at a new venue for us both, Valdosta, Georgia, before he continued on his journey to Atlanta. Ramiya Prabhu encouraged me to chant at University of South Florida in Tampa after the spring semester ended at FSU because their semester ends two weeks later, so I did that for three days. On the way from Tallahassee to Tampa, I spent a day in Gainesville and Alachua, chanting at the Krishna House Saturday evening three-hour kirtan, Depot Park Sunday afternoon, and the special Alachua Sunday feast for Rama Navami. After Tampa, the last two days of April, I chanted with Mahavishnu Swami and Harinama Ruci in Miami, at South Beach and in Wynwood, respectively.
After my proofreading marathon on Vijaya Prabhu’s sankirtana book, I got more into reading Srila Prabhupada’s books, focusing on my favorite, Sri Caitanya-caritamita, which I share some quotes from. As usual, I have excerpts from the writing of Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami. I share notes on a video about Jayapataka Swami which Satyaraja Govinda Prabhu helped to produce and which he played at his Vyasa-puja festival, which we attended. I share notes on classes in Miami by Mahavishnu Swami, in Alachua by Tamohara Prabhu, in Tampa by Vivasvan Prabhu, and in Tallahassee by Kaliya Damona and Chandrashekhara Acharya Prabhus.
Thanks to Sasha of New York City for his kind donation. Thanks to Kaliya Damona Prabhu for driving me from Tallahassee to Alachua and to Jeff for driving me from Alachua to Tampa. Thanks to Parvat Muni Prabhu for driving me to the University of South Florida. Thanks to Kesava Gopal Prabhu for picking me up at the Miami Airport. Thanks to Bhakti Prabhupada Vrata Damodara Swami, Jayadhvaja Prabhu, and the ISKCON Miami Outreach community for facilitating our accommodation, prasadam, and harinamas in Miami. Thanks to Vivasvan Prabhu for allowing me to stay at his temple during my several visits to Tampa this spring semester.
Itinerary
May 8–August ?: NYC Harinam
August ?–September ?: Florida college outreach
September ?–December 31: NYC Harinam
Chanting Hare Krishna in Tallahassee
We continued our successful program of sharing the holy name with Florida State University students partying on Friday nights in Tallahassee.
Sandipani Muni Krishna Prabhu chants Hare Krishna to partying FSU students on College Avenue in Tallahassee (https://youtu.be/ea3W4U-rIZc):
Next Chandrashekhara Acharya Prabhu chanted Hare Krishna there on College Avenue (https://youtu.be/gDYoVPtSyuI):
When Chandra was chanting, a group of Florida State University guys dressed as nuns decided they wanted to have their picture taken with a Hare Krishna monk, namely myself. Chandra suggested that because they were dressed as nuns, they might as well chant the names of God, and so they did (https://youtu.be/MzBkNTkjg1U):
It is interesting that although they have a spirit of irreverence to make fun of the dress of serious religious practitioners, they have the amazing piety to be willing to chant accepted names of God on the request of a devotee. Such chanting is said in Srimad-Bhagavatam 6.2.14, even when done in a joking spirit, to nullify the reactions of the greatest sins.
Here several Florida State University students enjoy chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra one more time with Chandra, as I advised them to, as our proposed hour of chanting downtown came to an end (https://youtu.be/0WmdFgi48rU):
I felt bad the students did not have a Krishna Lunch program this semester because of our building repairs and restrictions by the city government and the university. Thus I created a one time event, an End of the Semester Sunday Krishna Lunch. I passed out invitations during our Friday night harinama as well as at Landis Green. At least fourteen people ended up getting the Krishna Lunch, and I felt happy about them getting prasadam and being reminded about our Krishna Lunch program. One had eaten Krishna Lunch as an undergraduate in 2006 and later lived in Europe for a few years. On returning to Tallahassee this year he decided to look up Krishna Lunch and learned of our special meal. He was happy to be reconnected.
One weekend I distributed two cards for Govinda’s restaurant in Brooklyn, one to an FSU student who liked Krishna Lunch and was moving to New York City, and one to a lady at Lake Ella, who was moving to Brooklyn the very next day.
While I was chanting Hare Krishna at FSU an older man asked me when we were resuming our Krishna Lunch. I said after suspending us due to COVID-19, the university administration was making it difficult for us to use our usual campus venue. He said that in the building where he worked was a big room we could definitely use. He said he was chairman of the department, and the worst they could do was fire him, and then he could take that 2000-mile hike he always wanted to do while he was still able to.
Here Kaliya Damona Prabhu chants Sita Rama on Rama Navami at ISKCON Tallahassee at a program attended by a group of Indian congregational devotees and eight Florida State University students (https://youtu.be/QfF7UP5HZgk):
Toward the end of the kirtan, several participants began to dance (https://youtu.be/A0mvcPM--38):
Friday night we planned to do harinama from 8 to 9 p.m. by the bars frequented by students, however Satyaraja Govinda Prabhu encouraged us to stay for more of his Jayapataka Swami Vyasa-puja celebration. We decided to make a deal with him: if we stayed, he would have to do an hour of harinama with us afterward!
Here Jorge chants Hare Krishna on College Avenue, and passing Florida State University students interact by dancing and playing instruments (https://youtu.be/hZmcILLzxmM):
Then Kaliya Damona Prabhu chanted Hare Krishna, and many more students participated (https://youtu.be/y-X18t1Im-8):
As it got later, there were fewer people on the streets, so we decided to experiment with a new venue suggested by Jorge.
Here Kaliya Damona chanted a mellow Hare Krishna tune at a Florida State University student party frequented by some students who have attended our programs, before a poetry reading was scheduled to happen (https://youtu.be/H1Ss06cldgs):
Then Kaliya Damona and Satyaraj Govinda Prabhus both led, and many students joyfully chanted Hare Krishna and danced, some for the first time (https://youtu.be/92E-JmzCblA):
Sandipani Muni Krishna Prabhu caught a ride with an Alachua Hare Krishna youth and a friend to Atlanta, and I drove him to Valdosta, Georgia, to intercept them. We decided to do some harinama in Valdosta because we had never chanted Hare Krishna there before. Perhaps no one has. As soon as he started singing, a group of people began dancing with us in the parking lot (https://youtu.be/sj0WTxxBVxU):
Chanting Hare Krishna in Gainesville at Krishna House on Saturday Evening
The three-hour kirtan in the Krishna House parking lot in Gainesville, which is organized by Ananta Vallabha Prabhu, is really ecstatic, and I was happy that Kaliya Damona Prabhu and his wife wanted to attend it, so I could participate in one more before going to New York City.
Here Max plays ukulele and chants Hare Krishna at the Krishna House Saturday evening kirtan (https://youtu.be/26cMPDDOW1I):
Patricia of Alachua, who became interested in Krishna consciousness because of having devotee friends in high school, chants Hare Krishna (https://youtu.be/on4R8NkTaxM):
Toward the end of her kirtan, devotees became inspired to dance (https://youtu.be/br3IIbQEo_g):
Partha Sarathi Prabhu chants Hare Krishna (https://youtu.be/6lDrWIy9HqQ):
Kaliya Damona Prabhu, temple president of ISKCON Tallahassee, chants Hare Krishna (https://youtu.be/oNQmt17qXJ0):
Ananta Vallabha Prabhu chants Hare Krishna (https://youtu.be/FFYDE4_zv):
Toward the end of Ananta Vallabha Prabhu’s kirtan, Murli Gopal Prabhu was inspired to dance (https://youtu.be/YYZlfdMkwrk):
And in time, everyone else became inspired to dance (https://youtu.be/C90K765nJYY)!
I was planning to chant at University of South Florida in Tampa for their last week of classes, but I only stayed three days as I learned my friends from Europe, the Harinama Ruci traveling harinama party, were coming to Miami midweek.
I was thankful that I was joined by another singer for each of the three days I was there. The first day a senior brahmacari book distributor, Parvat Muni Prabhu of Los Angeles, came out for an hour, and the next two days, Saurabh, a graduate student in civil engineering, who I met on my first visit to the USF campus this year, also came out for about an hour. I had a captive audience because the place I chanted was near where people were posing for their graduation photos so they got to hear Hare Krishna kirtan for longer than usual. I had some extra Perfection of Yoga books which I offered people as graduation presents, but only a couple accepted them. I chanted for nine hours altogether, and I collected contact information from twenty students for our Bhakti Yoga Service, with almost all of them receiving a softbound Bhagavad-gita As It Is, sponsored by the ISKCON Tampa congregation. Thus I felt very successful, by the grace of the Lord, during my final visit to Tampa this spring. The administration at that school is the most restrictive as far as COVID-19 policies, and no other groups are doing outreach at that campus at all. I consider it must be Lord Caitanya’s special mercy I did not get stopped although I chanted there dressed as a Hare Krishna monk for about thirty hours during the spring semester!
Chanting Hare Krishna in Miami
Mahavishnu Swami, who is traveling with the Harinama Ruci traveling party, loves to engage the people we meet in chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra, usually two words at a time. He also encourages them to dance, with himself if they are male, or with one of the ladies in the party, if they are female.
Here Mahavishnu Swami chants Hare Krishna with Harinama Ruci at South Beach in Miami and engages a variety of fortunate souls in chanting Hare Krishna and dancing (https://youtu.be/4xYKH-cedzc):
Mahavishnu Swami chants Hare Krishna with Harinama Ruci at Wynwood in Miami the next day (https://youtu.be/oop2XlgQbWI):
I took a Facebook Live video of much of our harinama in Wynwood, and I extracted half an hour of the parts I found most exciting (https://youtu.be/Hn0SqekoNKo):
While we were in Wynwood, a lady from Denver wearing white (below), enjoyed chanting and dancing with the devotees so much that she requested our video of it! (https://youtu.be/ogQ7lCKDUzY):
Srila Prabhupada:
From Caitanya-caritamrita, Antya 18.18:
“Ecstatic love of Krishna makes Krishna and His devotees dance, and it also dances personally. In this way, all three dance together in one place.”
From Caitanya-caritamrita, Antya 19.106, 19.109–10:
“The activities of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu are undoubtedly uncommon, especially His talking like a madman. Therefore, one who hears of these pastimes should not put forward mundane arguments. He should simply hear the pastimes with full faith. . . . If one becomes a servant of the servants of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Lord Nityananda Prabhu and is favored by Them, he can believe in all these discourses. Just try to hear these topics with faith, for there is great pleasure even in hearing them. That hearing will destroy all miseries pertaining to the body, mind and other living entities, and the unhappiness of false arguments as well.”
From Caitanya-caritamrita, Antya 20.11:
“Simply by chanting the holy name of Lord Krishna, one can be freed from all undesirable habits. This is the means of awakening all good fortune and initiating the flow of waves of love for Krishna.”
From Caitanya-caritamrita, Antya 20.37:
[Lord Caitanya prayed:] “Without love of Godhead, My life is useless. Therefore I pray that You accept Me as Your servant and give Me the salary of ecstatic love of God.”
Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami:
From Free Write Japa #141:
“Another disciple is greatly depressed over a harsh divorce he’s gone through, along with other troubles in his life. Another devotee has mental problems, but he’s taking solace in seriously chanting japa, and it’s giving him relief. If the others would take shelter in japa, they would also feel less the victims of trauma.”
From Every Day, Just Write, Volume 3 (A Sojourn in Tapo-bhumi):
“One devotee spoke of a deep distrust of authority he now has. He felt he was a victim of the system.
“‘Another devotee said that we couldn’t condemn the whole system. We had to take personal responsibility for our parts in it.
“‘That conversation lingers in my mind. Conversations are themselves acts of conscience, and they are binding. Legally, if you discuss murdering someone, you can be convicted as a conspirator in the murder.”
“I want to be a devotee,
make a beeline to His lotus feet,
but ecstasies must be paid for and
samadhi is no joke.”
From Begging for the Nectar of the Holy Name:
“Therefore, if we cannot chant with attention right now, chant anyway and chant more. Make efforts to control the mind. Discuss the aparadhas in chanting and be alert to when you may be about to commit them. Be glad if you don’t feel part of this world. Go on hearing the pastimes of Radha and Krishna. Associate with devotees and avoid those who would destroy your faith and enthusiasm. Your devotional activities are all gains. They often seem comical because of the awkward place you are in, so there is no harm in having a laugh at yourself. At least you won’t become proud that you are an accomplished taster of rasa.”
From From Spiritualized Dictionary:
“Don’t loiter in the dictionary, therefore, and don’t browse. If you have to go to the dictionary, do your business and get out. It’s like going to a store on an errand and then being overwhelmed with the sights and possibilities for enjoyment. You wander into the department store, then into the tavern, then into the hardware store, then into the grocery store—into all these places that compromise your principles, following your nose like someone possessed. Wandering around the dictionary can be like that.
“There’s hardly anything to equal its wild conglomeration of impressions, although it is generally considered a dry, scholarly book. If one is found looking at a dictionary, he’s thought to be using his time profitably. But it’s a dissolute practice because we have to wander from ‘blue jeans’ to ‘blue law’ to ‘blue line’ to ‘blue mold,’ with no connecting theme or thread between them. Those whose intelligence is many-branched cannot practice Krishna consciousness.”
From From Imperfection, Purity Comes About: Writing While Reading Saraganati by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura:
“Every moment is special, and when you pass the fifty-year mark, every moment becomes more precious. I still haven’t been able to write a profound epic, but at least I am able to stop and breathe prayers and to remind myself that I am writing as one who is about to die for those who are also about to die. Don’t waste time. We are all looking for earnestness. We are all looking for that feeling that will connect us to Krishna.”
From From Copper to Touchstone:
“Madhya-lila Chapters 19 and 20 describe Rupa and Sanatana’s going to Lord Caitanya and His instructions to them. This is one of my favorite sections of the Caitanya-caritamrta. It is a real-life adventure story, especially when Sanatana Gosvami escapes his captors and arrives at the Lord’s lotus feet.
“This was the first pastime Srila Prabhupada ever shared with us when he introduced us to the Caitanya-caritamrta in 1966. I still remember how he read the story in installments, always stopping at a dramatic point which only left us hankering for more. I wrote about this event in “Planting the Seed.” In the very beginning, Prabhupada gave classes both morning and evening only on the Bhagavad-gita. After a few months of regular attendance, he told us that ‘because you are a little advanced, I will speak from Caitanya-caritamrta.’ That was typical of Srila Prabhupada’s leniency and generosity. How advanced could we have been after having attended his lectures for only a few months? Still, he shared the Caitanya-caritamrta, the ‘post-graduate study’ of Krishna consciousness with us. This is itself a good argument that we can read Caitanya-caritamrta even before having read all the other scriptures, under Srila Prabhupada’s protection.
“What I like most about this story is Sanatana Gosvami’s determined effort to free himself from material entanglement and to join Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. We all have such a story to tell. Almost all of us had to cross over the obstacles placed before us by our nondevotee friends and relatives in order to join this movement. Sanatana Gosvami’s story ends with such success—it is the story of the spiritual seeker escaping the clutches of the material energy to reach his Lord.”
From Upstate: Room to Write:
“Don’t tell anyone what I have revealed to you. You and I are mad men. Ordinary people would think the subjects of discussion by Lord Caitanya and Ramananda Raya were crazy talks. They prefer to talk of the world and their power trips and speculations.”
Jayapataka Swami:
Notes on a Vyasa-puja video:
He inspires people to faithfully serve Lord Caitanya by his example.
He is the most traveled person, has the fattest passport, and has the biggest karatalas.
One Prabhupada disciple from India recalled that Srila Prabhupada requested his father, a member of parliament, to assist his American disciple, Jayapataka, in becoming an Indian citizen. In response to his doubts, Srila Prabhupada said, “This young man is an original associate of Lord Caitanya. He will preach in the Bengali language and have ten thousand Indian disciples.”
He was the temple president of Montreal. He started a French BTG.
He organized a pandal program in Calcutta attended by 30,000 people. He became temple president of Calcutta. Srila Prabhupada wanted him to develop Mayapur, and told him, “I have given you the kingdom of God. Now develop it.” He learned Bengali from local farmers in Mayapur.
He is the Congregational Development Minister.
He is an officer in the World Hindu Federation.
He presently has 55,000 disciples.
His preaching doubled since his stroke.
Mahavishnu Swami:
It is wonderful that although no one can understand the plan of the Lord, here Srila Prabhupada explains the plan of the Lord: “The sufferings of the Pandavas were never due to their past deeds. The Lord had to execute the plan of establishing the kingdom of virtue, and therefore His own devotees suffered temporarily in order to establish the conquest of virtue. Bhismadeva was certainly satisfied by seeing the triumph of virtue, and he was glad to see King Yudhisthira on the throne, although he himself fought against him. Even a great fighter like Bhisma could not win the Battle of Kurukshetra because the Lord wanted to show that vice cannot conquer virtue, regardless of who tries to execute it. Bhismadeva was a great devotee of the Lord, but he chose to fight against the Pandavas by the will of the Lord because the Lord wanted to show that a fighter like Bhisma cannot win on the wrong side.”
Without hearing from our spiritual master about dharma we are just like animals.
We are always in anxiety.
It is a waste of time to try to find eternal happiness in a world that is temporary and full of miseries.
Krishna has a plan for us, just as the government has a plan for the prisoners.
We are getting punished every moment by old age, disease, and death, but no one is inquiring what to do about this.
We should not be disturbed if we know what is going on.
The difference between us and the Pandavas is that no matter what happened to them, the Pandavas were always convinced it was Krishna’s will and they were surrendered to Krishna.
We may seem insignificant compared to Bill Gates and Joe Biden, chanting Hare Krishna in some small town, but actually the sankirtana movement will be victorious, at least for ten thousand years. This is the plan of the Lord and Srila Prabhupada made us aware of it.
In Mexico City International Airport, we were in the duty free lounge, waiting for a flight to Miami. After we have passed through security, we do kirtan. We have our tickets, so why not? The girls from the perfume department were very attracted, and we got ten or fifteen of them to sing and dance all around the perfume department.
You can see it in this video (https://youtu.be/Uon9hLucJBI):
Srila Prabhupada said, “Rhythm is the universal religion.”
COVID is a mild slap in the face of this materialistic civilization. After all, there could have been a nuclear war. Srila Prabhupada indicated that by our preaching of Krishna consciousness, nuclear war could be averted, and we have distributed millions of books and millions of plates of prasadam.
We can learn from the drama in the Mahabharata about how to deal with our own dramas.
Tamohara Prabhu:
Lord Ramacandra was the perfect son, the perfect king, the perfect husband, and ultimately the perfect renouncer.
Lord Ramacandra was the ideal leader servant.
Ramacandra was a monarch but not a tyrant.
In the Vedic culture the men who had more strength were meant to protect the women, not to exploit them.
The best part of the pastimes of the Lord is seeing His interactions with His devotees.
Vivasvan Prabhu:
A devotee asked Srila Prabhupada how someone who had fallen from sannyasa could regain the mercy of Lord Caitanya. Srila Prabhupada explained that if the spiritual master again accepts that person, then Lord Caitanya will also accept him.
Srila Prabhupada said illicit sex is the permanent disease of the souls in the West.
When I hear people are getting married, I ask them how long they dated, and they say seven years. People want to be sure.
I tell people that five thousand years India was the capital of the world and everyone practiced yoga and meditation. That knowledge became lost and science developed, and now we are all dependent on machines.
To be dependent on machines is an embarrassment for the human being.
We want to see the beauty of Krishna. We want to smell the fragrance of Krishna. Without this knowledge, we seek to gratify our senses in this world, and we become frustrated.
Harinama sankirtana completely engages all the senses in devotional service to the Lord, and thus it is highly recommended in this age.
Why would the demigods want to come to this world? To watch a football game? To see the Olympics?
The problem is the government leaders are bowing down to the big corporations, thinking that economic development is the cause of success, instead performing sacrifice for the pleasure of the Supreme Lord, who is the actual cause of success.
Three of the top ten religions in America are different varieties of Baptists.
You are lonely in the Brahman because there is no personal interaction, so you come back to this world.
Hridayananda Dasa Goswami advises to be lazy for sense gratification.
Pradyumna gave the GBC advice as to how things should continue after Srila Prabhupada’s departure. They did not accept it and years later apologized for that.
The guy who started Bikram yoga sued people who imitated his practice. He won a few cases in America, but in India the Supreme Court laughed saying, “You cannot copyright yoga.”
The devotees did not want to get the Fisher Mansion in Detroit, but Srila Prabhupada said, “I want to get it.”
Once different things were not getting done around the temple because the devotees who were supposed do them did not. Srila Prabhupada told the temple president that in that case he should do the duties himself.
The spiritual master’s duty is to make sure his disciples are qualified to go back to Godhead.
Advancement means preparing for the next life.
Ultimately we need thousands of gurus.
Niyamagraha means not too many rules and not too few rules. Srila Prabhupada was expert in giving right number of rules.
Srila Prabhupada stressed the idea that this world is not unreal but is temporary. The materialists try to make a permanent situation in a temporary field.
Who are we in comparison to Brahma and Indra, who got into so much trouble because of misunderstanding Krishna?
I asked a Christian girl what she was going to do in heaven. She had no idea. There are no McDonald’s, no steakhouses, no liquor shops there. You are going to have to give these things up to get there.
If you accept that God appears and disappears in this world according to his sweet will, you can attain His abode. That is the power of such acceptance. [Bg. 4.9]
The greatness of Srila Prabhupada is that he made the complex truths of the Vedas understandable to the common man through his writing.
Belief is not enough. We have to practice. Although there are so many religions with so many beliefs, there is a lack of practice.
You can offer your food to Krishna, and He will accept it. That is your connection with God.
Lord Caitanya taught to surrender to the Lord through His holy name.
Jesus walked on water, he raised the dead, and he produced food for a crowd out of nothing. Do you think he could be killed by being nailed to a cross?
We are all souls and we come from a Supersoul, and by connecting with that Supersoul we can happy.
Comment by Narada Priya Devi Dasi: The fact that there is so little description of heaven just encourages people in materialism which is what this society promotes.
Comment by Bhakta Jeff: On book distribution I tell the rednecks these books tell a practical way to defeat communism through spiritual knowledge, and they become enthusiastic to take them. [Note: Of course, Krishna consciousness is also not pro capitalism. In communism, the state is thought to be the proprietor, and in capitalism, the individual is thought to be the proprietor, but in Krishna consciousness, one understands the Supreme Lord is the actual proprietor.]
Kaliya Damona Prabhu:
If we can understand that we are souls and not our bodies we have surpassed the understanding of so many people.
Chandrashekhara Acarya Prabhu:
We are worried about what happens after death, and we are either satisfied by what our chosen theological tradition tells us about that or else we are still looking.
The souls here in this world have said to God in effect, “Thanks, but no thanks.”
The effect of sin is not annihilation but residence in this realm where birth, death, old age, and disease exist, unlike in the spiritual world.
Once Sarvatma Prabhu borrowed some money from Hridayananda Dasa Goswami. After some time when the debt was unpaid, Hridayananda Goswami inquired about it. Sarvatma Prabhu jokingly replied, “It is actually not possible to pay off the debt one owes his guru.”
From a car conversation:
I talked to a Mormon girl from Utah who was telling me that her friends just go to church to get blessings for good jobs and things like that but she was tired of that. She just wanted become more in touch with God. That mentality is so rare!
Satyaraja Govinda Prabhu:
There are seven stages in the life of Lord Rama:
1. Bala Kanda, His childhood;
2. Ayodhya Kanda, living in Ayodhya;
3. Aranya Kanda, going to the forest;
4. Kishkindha Kanda, the period where Rama met Hanuman and Sugriva;
5. Sundara Kanda, the period where Hanuman goes and finds Sita Devi;
6. Yuddha Kanda, the fight with and victory over Ravana.
7. Uttara Kanda, ruling Ayodhya through His disappearance.
When Ravana heard that his brother was chanting the name of Lord Rama, Vibhisana told Ravana that he was not chanting the name of his enemy but rather the first letter of “Ravana” and the first letter of “Manodri”, his wife.
Comment by Kaliya Damona: Manu Samhita came from Lord Rama.
Vamsi:
I come from India, and there they define love as the attitude a mother has for her child.
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Because the Supreme Lord is omniscient, His advice, which comes in the form of revealed scriptures, is perfect, and by acting according to it, it makes sense that we will have a better life than if we act according to our imagination, which we routinely experience to be faulty. Thus in Bhagavad-gita Krishna gives this piece of advice toward the end of chapter 16, “The Divine and Demoniac Nature”:
yah sastra-vidhim utsrjya
na sa siddhim avapnoti
na sukham na param gatim
“He who discards scriptural injunctions and acts according to his own whims attains neither perfection, nor happiness, nor the supreme destination.” (Bhagavad-gita 16.23)
