Diary of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 17, No. 18
(September 2021, part two)
Tampa, Clearwater, Orlando, Philadelphia, New York City
I left Tallahassee after having spent three and a half weeks there, chanting Hare Krishna on the campus, inviting students to Krishna Lunch and our temple programs, and distributing a few books, and I look forward to returning for the spring semester. I first went to Tampa to attend the nearby Clearwater Beach Ratha-yatra. I caught a ride from there to Orlando with Jeremiah, and I was able to chant four hours on Sunday at Lake Eola with him and three devotees from the Orlando congregation. I returned to Tampa to give the Sunday feast lecture, to chant on the University of South Florida campus for three days, and to do the kirtan at the Bhakti Yoga Society program at the Marshall Student Center on Wednesday. Thursday I flew to New York City and took a bus to Philadelphia, where I did harinama for four hours for two days to promote the Ratha-yatra on Saturday. After the ecstatic Philadelphia Ratha-yatra, attended by several swamis and by Harinama Ruci, I returned to New York City.
There I resumed my position on the NYC Harinam party of Rama Raya Prabhu, where I am very happy to have the association of devotees who are willing to chant Hare Krishna in public for four hours a day, six days a week.
I share excerpts from Srila Prabhupada’s books, especially The Nectar of Devotion and Nectar of Instruction, and I also share quotes from his lectures. I share excerpts from the writing of Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami. I share quotes from Vrindavan Dasa Thakura’s Caitanya-Bhagavata and from Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura’s commentary on it. I share excerpts of Back to Godhead articles by Satyaraja, Visakha, Caitanya Carana, Gauranga Darsana, Vraja Vilasa, and Jitendra Savanur Prabhus. I share notes on lectures in New York City by Kavicandra Swami, Kadamba Kanana Swami, and Rama Raya Prabhu, and in Tampa by Vivasvan Prabhu.
Many thanks to Atmanivedana Prabhu for his very generous donation on the occasion of his father’s memorial service. Thanks to the people who gave us donations at Lake Eola. Thank to Rupachandra Prabhu and a devotee at Radha Govinda Temple, whose name I do not recall, for their kind donations. Thanks to Nadiya Kishore Prabhu of Jersey City for the ride from the Philadelphia Bhakti Garden to the Brooklyn temple. Thanks to Haryasva Prabhu for accommodating me at his place in downtown Philly. Many, many thanks to Kaliya Krishna Prabhu for all the wonderful videos he took of NYC Harinam, which enabled me to do more dancing and distribution. Thanks to Rayn Mataji for her videos of harinama at University of South Florida.
Itinerary
September 26–October 5: NYC Harinam
October 6–?: Serve my diksa-guru Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami in Stuyvesant Falls, NY
?–January 3, 2022: NYC Harinam
January 5‒April: Tallahassee and Tampa harinamas and college outreach
Chanting Hare Krishna in the Clearwater Beach Ratha-yatra
I was eager to attend the Clearwater Beach Ratha-yatra, never having attended it before because of being in Europe when it was held.
I was happy that J.R. Maxwell was enthusiastic to do a harinama before the Ratha-yatra, which we did for almost an hour. We found many people were favorable.
Visvambhar of the Mayapuris chants Hare Krishna at Clearwater Beach Ratha-yatra, and devotees and passersby dance (https://youtu.be/fcMNFD6j9DQ):
Beach goers enjoy dancing with devotee ladies as Visvambhar chants Hare Krishna (https://youtu.be/_AlVu1CeK88):
Amala Harinama Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at Clearwater Beach Ratha-yatra (https://youtu.be/a4u2QVMlwSQ):
Ananta Gauranga Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at Clearwater Beach Ratha-yatra, and passersby dance (https://youtu.be/vdyK_qneoDE):
Young devotee ladies chant Hare Krishna and Jagannatha songs at the end of the Clearwater Beach Ratha-yatra (https://youtu.be/kbw3v5l0rDQ):
After the parade, one nice devotee lady introduced herself to me. She had received japa beads at a program in Rishikesh in 2012 which Navina Nirada Prabhu had organized and which I attended. Later I saw her in Union Square, and she told me she was regularly chanting and attending the temple in her country. She asked me how to encourage her children in Krishna consciousness, and I told her about gurukula, and she put her oldest son in gurukula in Mayapur. In 2018 I saw her in Mayapur and she was initiated by Caitanya Candra Prabhu, a popular guru in the Russian speaking countries. Now she is moving to Alachua and putting her younger kids in the Bhaktivedanta Academy there. It is always wonderful for me to hear of her increasing commitment to Krishna consciousness.
After the kirtan in front of the Ratha-yatra came to an end, many high school kids in bathing suits wanted to have their photo taken on Lord Jagannatha’s cart, and Dharmaraja Prabhu was very liberal and allowed them to do it. I gave the most interested ones “On Chanting Hare Krishna” and the web page for our Florida Ratha-yatras so they could meet up with us again next year.
Chanting Hare Krishna in Orlando
I realized that no one would go on harinama with me in Tampa, and since Jeremiah was driving to Orlando, where we had previously chanted together, I might have a harinama partner if I came with him there. He had a friend with a condominium we could stay at in Orlando. I informed the most enthusiastic of the Orlando harinama devotees, who I had just seen at the Clearwater Ratha-yatra, and to my great delight, we had five devotees chanting Hare Krishna at Lake Eola in Orlando for four hours on Sunday.
Jeremiah chants Hare Krishna at Lake Eola Park in Orlando (https://youtu.be/8dLMxEWCUTc):
I decided to take a Facebook Live video of the rest of the harinama. Because I now only have one camera, I do not have high resolution videos of the other singers.
Here Jeremiah, Yagdesh, Avinash, and Gopal Govinda Shyam Prabhus, respectively, lead the Hare Krishna chant at Lake Eola Park in Orlando on the disappearance day of Haridasa Thakura as part of a four-hour harinama on that occasion [this is an edited Facebook Live video] (https://youtu.be/dMoqWQhAkIQ):
Chanting Hare Krishna in Tampa
Krishna Kishor Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at the Tampa Sunday feast on the disappearance day of Haridasa Thakura (https://youtu.be/P8Fo7berKYQ):
University of South Florida student plays bass as Vivasvan Prabhu and Krishna Kripa Das chant Hare Krishna on Tampa campus (https://youtu.be/M-7UGQuE858):
I chant Hare Krishna at University of South Florida near the Marshall Student Center, and Rayn plays the drum (https://youtu.be/FLGPSKXGHQQ):
While we were chanting a student came by and played the karatalas and chanted with us (https://youtu.be/r5YhPkjLUKI):
Then another student joined us and played the shakers and chanted (https://youtu.be/tLnYsw2tZt8):
Thanks to Rayn Mataji for playing the drum and for taking and sharing the above three videos at USF.
I chanted 13½ hours at University of South Florida over three days, and I got forty students to sign up for our Bhakti Yoga Society email list. Almost all of them were interested receiving a free book, our promotional offer for signing up.
Chanting Hare Krishna in the Philadelphia Ratha-yatra
One jovial dude passing by as I chanted Hare Krishna at Rittenhouse Square one evening to advertise Ratha-yatra said, “I know Ray Cappo [the famous singer in the devotee band, Shelter]!” I told him about tomorrow’s festival by the Art Museum, and he replied, “I’ll definitely be there, especially if there is prasadam!” Another man, hearing of the festival, said, “The one by the Art Museum, the Ratha-yatra?” One young guy I spoke to earlier said, "See you tomorrow!" Three high school kids played instruments and chanted four mantras. I also met a vegan Buddhist lady who enjoyed chanting with us the previous year. Krishna has fans in Philly!
Kadamba Kanana Swami chants Hare Krishna and Jagannatha songs in the Philadelphia Ratha-yatra (https://youtu.be/x4OHA9Wqzno):
Rama Raya Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at the Philadelphia Ratha-yatra (https://youtu.be/yEPBADyyESY):
Candramauli Swami chants Hare Krishna at the Philadelphia Ratha-yatra (https://youtu.be/gDfnGGg0Quo):
Vishnu Gada, Gauravani, and Acyuta Gopi Prabhus chant Hare Krishna at the Philadelphia Ratha-yatra kirtan tent (https://youtu.be/pE-DDjI3SWw):
Vishnu Gada Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at the Philadelphia Ratha-yatra kirtan tent (https://youtu.be/dZMrL352QzE):
It is great to be in a place where seventeen devotees go to mangala-arati on an average. Here Candrasekhara Swami chants Hare Krishna at ISKCON NYC in Brooklyn (https://youtu.be/s0nyzJlY5aI):
Here I chant Hare Krishna at Union Square Park in New York City, and you can really see how happy I am to be back on our New York City party (https://youtu.be/S1H9PzeWb5M):
Later I chanted my favorite Hare Krishna tune (https://youtu.be/O8WOAT7qjiA):
When not singing, I would usually dance and distribute the “On Chanting Hare Krishna” pamphlets.
Rama Raya Prabhu chants Hare Krishna in Union Square Park in New York City (https://youtu.be/7Jc6axcDYwQ):
Kadamba Kanana Swami chants Hare Krishna at mangala arati at ISKCON NYC in Brooklyn (https://youtu.be/q0ja383rhyQ):
Natabara Gauranga Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at Atlantic Terminal in Brooklyn (https://youtu.be/gskSWxKVMwI):
I chanted Hare Krishna there too (https://youtu.be/oCeZqB5FSCI):
Braja Sakhi Devi Dasi chants Hare Krishna (https://youtu.be/pP7DscZgA04):
Rama Raya Prabhu chants Hare Krishna (https://youtu.be/83HwL4ptyOo):
Here is just me dancing (https://youtu.be/QCXIH8i-phs):
The above two videos were by Kaliya Krishna Prabhu. I took one of my own (https://youtu.be/xUjtRZkgM44):
Jacob of Slovakia chants Hare Krishna there (https://youtu.be/2yRZEue4nWU):
I chant Hare Krishna there too (https://youtu.be/XM77An-KBrk):
Kadamba Kanana Swami chants Hare Krishna (https://youtu.be/sjMzbWCbmJg):
The above video is from Kaliya Krishna Prabhu, while the following video of the same kirtan I took (https://youtu.be/AI1ajDcFTRQ):
Rama Raya Prabhu chants Hare Krishna and Kadamba Kanana Swami dances at Columbus Circle, and other devotees and passersby also join in the dancing (https://youtu.be/3ey89nmXu_M):
Devarsi Prabhu chants Hare Krishna (https://youtu.be/gK_bTnyoCxA):
Rama Raya Prabhu chants Hare Krishna in Union Square, a kid plays shakers, and some devotees dance (https://youtu.be/zJOIsj-oaVY):
World Holy Name Festival
The ISKCON Kirtan Ministry has an annual event called the “World Holy Name Festival.” This is a two-week period in September when they encourage devotees to dedicate themselves to do additional service to the holy name. I decided to chant Hare Krishna in public for four hours instead of my usual three.
Here is my report:
Note: September18 was the Clearwater Beach Ratha-yatra. I did not personally distribute any books there. Many others did, but I do not know how many. I hoped to chant four hours a day, but I was short on September 10, 11, and 17 because I planned to do venues I didn’t want do alone and no one joined me. The day after the World Holy Name Festival I did an extra hour of harinama to complete my quota of 56 hours of harinama for the two-week festival.
Notes on a Memorial Service for Baladeva Prabhu of Trinidad
Baladeva Prabhu, a disciple of Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami, who relocated to Stuyvesant Falls, New York, along with his wife, Krishna Dasi, to serve his guru, left his body on September 25, 2021, the morning of the Philadelphia Ratha-yatra. On Tuesday, September 28, the devotees had a memorial service that was broadcast on Zoom. Here are some notes on that.
Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami, his guru:
Baladeva of Trinidad met the devotees in 1979. He moved into the temple in 1980.
I gave him first initiation in June 1980. In February 1982, he got second initiation.
When I visited Trinidad, I would stay with Baladeva and his parents. Because I always stayed with him, I developed a close friendship with him, more so than with the other devotees there.
He organized Ratha-yatra every year.
He was very affectionate to me. He had the signature of my name on a tattoo on his arm.
I became friends with his children and wife, Krishna dasi.
He made a great sacrifice moving to Stuyvesant with its cold winters.
He became friends with our neighbors here. Some of them cried when he passed away.
Being an expert devotee, we know he has a good future.
He loved Baladeva Vidyabhusana.
Ravindra Svarupa Prabhu:
We have lost another one. This is natural as the Hare Krishna movement is getting older.
As Gaudiya Vaishnavas we use feelings of separation to increase affection.
Srila Prabhupada said, “We are eternal associates. We will have another ISKCON in the spiritual world.” Thus we shall all be together in not too long.
Love for Krishna has no upper limit. It always increases.
Prepare to become eternal associates and enter into Krishna-lila.
Saudamani Devi Dasi:
I think of him as very fortunate to have his guru’s personal service at the end of his life.
He was always conscientious in regularly chanting his japa, walking back and forth on the street in front of my house.
Baladeva Vidyabhusana Prabhu:
I always appreciated that he was always surrendered to our guru’s service. That was a very endearing aspect. I could always count on him to assist me in my service to our guru.
Rasesvari, his daughter:
I always called my father pita. He had very strict standards. My father always cooked lunch for me, and the other kids were amazed by the homemade meals every day.
He loved the harmonium.
He really wanted me to learn dance, and he took me to several dance schools until he found one that taught the dance that is done for Lord Jagannatha.
I decided to get a tattoo of Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami’s signature, and my father decided to get one too, at the same time.
-----
At Union Square, Rama Raya Prabhu glorified Baladeva Prabhu of Trinidad, who dedicated the end of his life to the personal service of our guru, Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami:
Humor
When the Hasidic Jews ask me if I am Jewish, I tell them, “Not this life!” 🙂
Insights
Srila Prabhupada:
From Srimad-Bhagavatam 7.15.25:
[Narada Muni said:] “One must conquer the modes of passion and ignorance by developing the mode of goodness, and then one must become detached from the mode of goodness by promoting oneself to the platform of suddha-sattva. All this can be automatically done if one engages in the service of the spiritual master with faith and devotion. In this way one can conquer the influence of the modes of nature.”
From a lecture on Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.12.19 in Dallas on March 3, 1975:
“Land is God’s creation, water is God’s creation, but you cannot live in the water, and the fish cannot live on the land. Similarly, although there are millions and trillions of planets within this universe, you have to live in that particular planet where you are destined to live. That is condition. You cannot go to the sun planet or moon planet. Otherwise, what is the meaning of conditioned life? Conditioned life means you are given opportunity to live on this planet, or the other living entities, they have been given opportunity to live in the sun planet. So they cannot come and live here, and we cannot go there and live there. This is called conditioned life. You must live under condition. You are not free.”
“We are imposing some tapasya [austerity], that ‘Don’t indulge in these things. No illicit sex, no intoxication, no meat-eating, no gambling.’ These are the items of tapasya for advancing in Krishna consciousness. So is it very difficult? It is not difficult. If one can practice, go within the water up to the neck in chilly, pinching cold, is it more difficult to give up illicit sex and meat-eating and intoxication? We are not advising, ‘No sex.’ Illicit sex. So where is the difficulty? But the age is so fallen that even these primary tapasya we cannot execute. That is the difficulty.”
“But if you want to realize God, as it is said here, tapasaiva, only by tapasya, only by penance one can realize. Otherwise not. Otherwise it is not possible. Therefore this word is used, tapasaiva. Tapasa eva: ‘only by tapasya.’ There is no other means. Tapasaiva param. Param means the Supreme. If you want to realize the Supreme, the Absolute, then you must agree to certain type of tapasya. Otherwise it is not possible. The preliminary little tapasya—just like Ekadasi; that is also one of the items of the tapasya. Actually, on the Ekadasi days we shall not take any food, even drink water. But in our society we are not doing so much strictly. We say, ‘Ekadasi, you don’t take food grains. Take little fruit, milk.’ This is tapasya. So we cannot execute this tapasya? So if we are not prepared to undertake even this very, very easily executable tapasya, then how we can expect go back to home, back to Godhead? No, that is not possible. Therefore here it is said, tapasaiva, tapasa eva. Eva means certainly. You have to.”
“Provided you want to render service, Krishna is ready to accept it.”
“We should always feel that ‘Here is Krishna, personally present.’ Actually He is personally present. Then are we so fool that we are worshiping a stone Deity? No. ‘We’ means we have installed this Deity under the direction of previous authorities, acaryas. So it is not whimsical. We have installed the Deity exactly under the direction of the previous acarya, and therefore the Deity is personally present, Krishna. As He is present everywhere, sarva-bhuta-guhavasam, similarly, He can live in many millions of temples simultaneously and live at the same time Goloka Vṛndavana. That is Krishna. That is Krishna’s omnipotency.”
From “Levels of Realization” in Back to Godhead, Vol. 56, No. 1 (January/February 2022):
“And trance means when your mind is so fixed up on Krishna or Vishnu that not for a second is your mind deviated from Krishna’s form.”
“Wrong civilization, rascal civilization. And this is due to this rascaldom called nationalism – ‘This is my land.’ At any moment a person will be kicked out by death, but still he claims, ‘It is my land.’ Janasya moho ’yam ahaṁ mameti. This is the illusion. Nothing belongs to him; still he is fighting, ‘This is mine. This is mine.’ ‘I’ and ‘mine’ – identifying oneself with the body and wrongly conceiving that ‘This is mine.’ This is the basic principle of a wrong civilization. Nothing belongs to us. I have come here to Switzerland. Suppose I remain here for one month and I claim, ‘Oh, this is mine.’ What is this?
“So, similarly, we come to this world as guests. We come to the womb of a mother and live here for seventy years or so. And we claim, ‘This is my land.’ But when did it become yours? The land was there long, long before your birth. How has it become yours? But people have no sense. ‘It is mine – my land, my nation, my family, my society.’ In this way they are wasting time.”
“Nationalism is the idea of tribes. In Africa there are still groups of tribes. Nationalism is the most crude idea of civilization. It is nothing but developed tribalism. Modern man is not advanced in civilization. This nationalism is another form of tribalism, that’s all.”
Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami:
From Free Write Journal #162:
“I received a nice poem by email. The poem was sent out to many readers online. It’s signed, ‘Humbly yours, Navin Goyal.’ Here’s the poem:
[Note: This is the last stanza. Click on the link above for the Free Write Journal #162 and scroll down to see the whole thing.]
“When I’m dead,
Your tears will flow, but I won’t know,
Cry with me now instead
You will send flowers,
But I won’t see
Send them now instead.”
From A Poor Man Reads the Bhagavatam, Volume 1:
“‘Krishna will make it clear.’
Give us saram.
Give marrow.
‘I will, but you must have the
adhikara (qualification).
Do you?’
“You mean, am I interested,
brainy enough, or what?
‘I mean, do you care to know
what your soul aches for?
Art is no substitute for the
soul’s cry. Matter won’t
suffice in any form although
it looks good at first.’
I guess I do qualify—
I want to be happy and I sure agree
we need a direct dispensation.
So dish it out please,
smack it in my hand.
Gimme essence,
set a soiled, arrogant, covered-over
soul.
“Will Suta disclose to such as he?”
“ . . . One either hears about, praises, and worships Krishna, or he hears about, praises, and worships a fallible, unqualified object of worship.
“It reminds me of my own tendency to worship heroes, which I directed towards various persons during my childhood and adolescence. When I was very small, I looked up to my father. Later, I worshiped various members of the Brooklyn Dodgers. Even later, I worshiped famous rock ’n’ roll singers. In college, I transferred my praise to intellectuals and artists. The heroes changed because I outgrew them. I took their pictures down from my walls and replaced them with others. Those who seemed great later seemed foolish. Then I would make fun of them. They proved to be impermanent heroes or protectors. Neither could they give me happiness, even when I was at the height of their praises.
“Srila Prabhupada points out how political or advertising propaganda creates the false impression that an ordinary person is wonderful. Such a person’s popularity surge lasts only a little while. Then people become tired of the hero and begin to see the glaring defects in his character. They then reject him at the voting booth. When the hero is at his zenith, he appears to be the country’s savior, but history judges us in the long run: who has done anything to alleviate the basic miseries of human existence?
“Therefore, hearing, praising, remembering, and worshiping should be offered exclusively to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Unfortunately, people have so little information about God that He’s just not tangible to them. The local politicians and superstars are more tangible than God. Or, God is poorly presented by religious leaders and people simply reject Him as sentiment. This is a faithless age.”
“ . . . I hereby sign off after having scratched the tender surface of my own inadequacy and self-centeredness. But I can’t kick myself out. I have to work with this fruitive being and, even in my conditioned state, perform devotional service. All I can do is ask forgiveness and keep going. Lead on, Suta. I can’t help myself, so I fall at your feet.”
From Journal and Poems, Book 2 (June–December 1985):
“Bowing down before the temple Deities. Sitting to view Them while the kirtana starts, and joining in the kirtana.
“Almost every act is pleasurable. There is also sadness that I do not feel it more deeply and purely, yet it is undeniable that this life is happy and this is what I want. I want to live with devotees and rise early and see Krishna Deities all my life, and I am doing that now, so it is a source of happiness.”
From Calling Out to Srila Prabhupada:
“We should also always be aware that whatever prayers we make will be inferior to the best prayers already composed.”
From Obstacles on the Path of Devotional Service
“Even if our lives are relatively peaceful, we have to give ourselves a little preparation before practicing japa or reading. It may take only a moment to remind ourselves, ‘Now I’m going to chant the Lord’s holy names,’ or, ‘Now I’m going to read a very special book, Srimad-Bhagavatam. Let me do it with reverence and submission. This is not ordinary reading.’
“We should be aware that there is a transition from ordinary consciousness to speaking and hearing transcendental sound vibration. You cannot open the Bhagavad-gita as you would a newspaper and start scanning it or cramming. It will not work. First, you have to calm yourself and enter a state of worship. Only then can you actually read or chant. ‘Before reciting this Srimad-Bhagavatam, which is the very means of conquest, one should offer respectful obeisances unto the Personality of Godhead, Narayana, unto Nara-narayana Rsi, the supermost human being, unto mother Sarasvati, the goddess of learning, and unto Srila Vyasadeva, the author.’ (Bhag.1.2.4)
“Devotees have to develop their own methods of preparing their consciousness for sadhana. The best method is in Krishna’s advice, ‘Just fix your mind upon Me, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and engage all your intelligence in Me. Thus you will live in Me always, without a doubt.’ (Bg. 12.8) But Lord Krishna is aware that many persons are ‘too busy’ or harassed to stay in a continuous flow of devotional meditation. So Krishna recommends, ‘If you cannot fix your mind upon Me without deviation, then follow the regulative principles of bhakti-yoga. In this way develop a desire to attain Me.’ (Bg. 12.9) This implies a deliberate turning away from other thoughts to the practice of Krishna consciousness, which we do when we take up chanting and hearing.”
From Vandanam:
“Since temperaments differ, some devotees may be more inclined to the inner dialogue than others. Some may even pray regularly without really noticing it or labeling it as ‘prayer.’ We needn’t advocate that everyone must pray in the way we do. But, although prayer makes no noise, some may become disturbed that anyone their house is taking prayer so seriously.
“The voice of doubt continues, ‘What has this to do with the preaching mission?’ One answer to this is that purity is the force. Any spiritual activity which purifies us and makes us a genuine devotee will make us more fit to preach. Prayer will help us to become more convinced of Krishna’s presence.
“As we become more Krishna conscious, the people we meet will be impressed that we are not speaking hype or trying to cheat them. Prayer will also give us in inner strength to face the opposition to preaching which comes from nondevotees.
“By praying for others, one’s selfish heart broadens and an automatic result is that one wants to give them Krishna consciousness. This attitude of caring for others and then wanting to actually do something for them is expressed in the prayer of Prahlada Maharaja:
“My dear Lord Nrsimhadeva, I see that there are many saintly persons indeed, but they are interested only in their own deliverance. Not caring for the big cities and towns, they go to the Himalayas or the forest to meditate with vows of silence [mauna-vrata]. They are not interested in delivering others. As for me, however, I do not wish to be liberated alone, leaving aside all these poor fools and rascals. I know that without Krishna consciousness, without taking shelter of Your lotus feet, one cannot be happy. Therefore I wish to bring them back to shelter at Your lotus feet.” (Bhag. 7.9.44)
From Here Is Srila Prabhupada:
“. . . I found this paragraph in one of Prabhupada’s early writings called Message of Godhead. It is from the Introduction:
“‘At present, we are concerned primarily with two things: one, ourselves; and the other, the place where we live. In other words, we are concerned with two objects: namely, everything that is related to our gross and subtle bodies; and the world at large, with all its paraphernalia. But there are others above us, the transcendentalists, who are concerned not only with their bodies and minds and the world at large, but also with the transcendental subject, which is above the body and mind and the world at large. The transcendentalists are very much concerned with the Absolute Truth, and much less with relative truths.’
“Prabhupada immediately transcended the limitations of the so-called leaders of the world. He sums up their concerns in one or two sentences and informs us that there are real transcendentalists who have spiritual concerns at heart. It impresses his readers to hear that the transcendentalists are not foolish or introverted or backward, but are ‘concerned’ with a greater truth. He assures us they are willing to share it.
“‘At the present moment the word religion is being sacrificed on the altar of materialistic tendencies. The human race is more concerned now with subject matters related to eating, sleeping, defending and gratifying the senses, much like the lower animals. The general tendency is to avoid transcendental subjects as far as possible, or in any case, not to go into the details. Even the biggest political leaders have been heard to say that a hungry man or woman finds no meaning in God and religion. People in general, under the leadership of such materialistic men, are gradually descending to the status of lower animals, devoid of all transcendental realization, knowing nothing beyond their material bodies and the material world.
“‘Thus the human race has descended to the status of the dogs, who are habituated to barking as soon as they come upon another set of dogs who happen to hail from another quarter. We cannot conceive of the greater degradation of the human being than when he raises a hue and cry as soon as he sees another human being who does not happen to belong to his quarter or his religious denomination. He raises this hue and cry as if he had been faced with a tiger or wolf. Without transcendental knowledge, the human race has actually become no more than the tigers and the wolves.’”
From Karttika Moon:
“Who can ascertain the tension of a person’s heart if he himself can’t look within?”
“Will Krishna take up central residence in my heart and not be consigned to an abstract wing in my house? Will I realize my house (body) is actually His dwelling place and I am His eternal servant? When will I surrender and cry tears as I chant His holy names? ‘When will my voice choke up, and when will the hairs of my body stand on end at the recitation of Your name?’”
From A Poor Man Reads the Bhagavatam, Volume 1:
“You think you can learn something from a worldly guy or something from the truth of life rubbed against the earth without pretense?
“I wish I could write like that in devotional service too, so nicely that even a first-class fool or rascal would be interested in Krishna consciousness. I want to open up.”
“I’m spreading the chanting far and wide. I’m trying to be a soldier in His army. I am blissed out, sold forever, reeling in the nectar of the holy names. I’m a haphazard victim and agent all in one.”
“‘Should have died long ago,’
sang the Vaisnava kavi.
‘I think Yamaraja is punishing me
by not letting me join
as part of Lord Caitanya’s sankirtan.’”
From Last Days of the Year:
“Lord Krishna says that if at death you have trouble controlling your mind, then He will control it for you. Prabhupada has written this in a purport. I believe it and will appeal to Him. May I have that presence of mind.”
From The 26 Qualities of a Devotee:
“A Devotee Is Equal to Everyone, Sama
“Seeing with equal vision, however, does not mean that we treat each person exactly the same. But our intention should be the same: to share Krishna consciousness with one and all.”
From Karttika Moon:
“See Krishna book, Chapter Forty-six, p. 385, ‘Lord Caitanya taught people in general the method of vipralambha-seva. . . . Absorption in Krishna consciousness by feeling separation is thus the quickest method for attainment of the lotus feet of Krishna.’
“So, it’s not only a very high and esoteric teaching but one recommended for all devotees in our sampradaya.”
Vrindavan Dasa Thakura:
From Caitanya-bhagavata, Adi 7.44:
“Materialistic persons are unable to understand how the Lord steals the hearts of His devotees.”
Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Ṭhakura:
From his commentary to Caitanya-bhagavata, Adi 7.20:
“Those atheists committed severe offenses at the feet of the holy names by their faithlessness. In other words, they did not believe that by purely chanting the holy names one attains love of Krishna, by namabhasa all of one’s anarthas are destroyed and one is freed from all material miseries, and by chanting with offense one achieves the fruits of trivarga—dharma, artha, and kama.”
From his commentary to Caitanya-bhagavata, Adi 7.43:
“It is natural for the eternal servants of Krishna to serve Krishna with love and ecstasy. In other words, the living entity in his constitutional position eternally worships Krishna as his natural propensity. The conditioned soul with the mood for enjoyment cannot realize Krishna’s love in this material world, but Krishna who attracts the self-satisfied souls, unknowingly attracts the hearts of His servants, who have renounced material enjoyment, whose consciousness is awakened, and who are knowers of the Absolute Truth.”
From his commentary to Caitanya-bhagavata, Adi 7.61:
“Although bhakti, the eternal propensity of the soul, is present in every living entity’s heart, it is impossible for the conditioned souls to realize just as it is impossible to see one’s face in a dusty mirror. In such a state, the eternal propensity of the living entities, service to Krishna, remains dormant. Therefore they are seen to have a taste for karma [activity] and jnana [knowledge]. That is why the service of the Lord is found only in persons who have a service attitude.
From his commentary to Caitanya-bhagavata, Adi 7.73:
“It is said that Sri Sankararanya, the king of sannyasis, entered the Deity of Sri Viththalanatha, or Sri Vithoba. While traveling to South India many years later (in 1511), Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu went to Pandarapura and heard from Sri Ranga Puri about Sri Visvarupa’s disappearance.”
From Amṛita-vani 94:
“The distance between our self and our gross and subtle bodies gradually diminishes when we chant the holy name, and we soon revive awareness of our original constitutional position. When we are thus self-realized, the Lord’s pure holy name will manifest in our heart, and we will directly see Sri Krishna’s transcendental form.”
The humble servants of Srila Prabhupada:
From Srimad-Bhagavatam 11.2.55:
[Sri Havir said:] “The Supreme Personality of Godhead is so kind to the conditioned souls that if they call upon Him by speaking His holy name, even unintentionally or unwillingly, the Lord is inclined to destroy innumerable sinful reactions in their hearts. Therefore, when a devotee who has taken shelter of the Lord’s lotus feet chants the holy name of Krishna with genuine love, the Supreme Personality of Godhead can never give up the heart of such a devotee.”
Kavicandra Swami:
After the Kurukshetra Battle, Gandhari asked Krishna why He did not stop her one hundred sons from being killed. Krishna replied, “It was their karma. I could not do anything.”
Gandhari cursed Krishna that His family would fight among themselves and all be killed. Krishna thanked her, saying, “I was wondering what to do with them.”
Sumati Morarjee, the owner of Scindia Steam Navigation Company, had given Srila Prabhupada her personal room on the boat Jaladuta, so he had the best accommodation available.
Srila Prabhupada spoke heavily at Dr. Mishra’s place on Bg. 2.12 about how we are all eternal individuals. This lecture was recorded and is in the Folio. That was too much for Dr. Mishra, a Mayavadi, and he let Prabhupada only sing kirtana after that.
It is alright to start small. Do whatever you can do. You cannot start big.
I first heard Srila Prabhupada speak at a Ratha-yatra, and I thought, “I have never heard anyone speak so clearly in my life.”
Satyaraja Prabhu:
From “Primal Pronouns: Krishna, the First Person – and the Third One, Too” in Back to Godhead, Vol. 56, No. 1 (January/February 2022):
“Thus, in various instances He [Krishna] speaks to Arjuna as friend, as God, as guru, as the universal form, or as the original Supreme Lord, flawlessly weaving from one aspect to the next according to what Arjuna needs to hear or experience. In the end, He manifests different aspects of Himself to facilitate the needs of the specific loving exchange in which He is engaged, in this case, with Arjuna. Since He perfectly knows the heart of everyone, He knows exactly what aspects of His Supreme Self need to be exhibited at any given moment: Godhood, majesty, friendship, intimacy, or love.”
Visakha Devi Dasi:
From “Krishna, the Supreme Volunteer” in Back to Godhead, Vol. 56, No. 1 (January/February 2022):
“He [Krishna] says, ‘I can never fully repay these devotees, and so I am utterly indebted to them.’
Commentary: ‘Krishna is the all-powerful Supreme Lord. At His command are boundless energies, ready to fulfill His every desire. But He cannot repay His debt of gratitude to His devotees in Sri Vṛndavana. Thus He constantly looks for small favors He can do for them as tokens of His affection.’ (Brhad-bhagavatamrita 1.7.93)”
Vivasvan Prabhu:
From a conversation:
Religion is just a designation that pertains to the body. When the body goes back to the earth, the designation is no more, and the pure spirit emerges and goes on to the next life.
God is not a Muslim, Hindu, or Jew. He is pure spirit.
From a class:
When Maharaja Pariksit heard he was cursed to die, he did not think, “How can I counteract this curse and maintain my position as king?” Rather he thought, “This is a opportunity for me to leave my material situation and attain the spiritual kingdom.” Nowadays the politicians want to maintain their positions of leadership until they die because they do not think there is anything after death.
The Christians say that God had to arrange that Christ be killed in order to save people from their sins, but by doing this they are treating God like a karmi (a fruitive worker), someone who has to perform a certain activity to get a certain result. Actually God is so powerful simply by His desire He can save people from their sins.
I had three spiritual masters before Srila Prabhupada, Maharishi, Yogi Bhajan, and Ram Dass, but nothing really worked with the others. When I got Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad-gita As Is It, I was so impressed just by reading the introduction, I decided, “I have to find these guys.” I went to the temple, and they invited me to move it and so I did. Later my friends came by and said, “You have to pay your part of the rent.” I showed them in the books where it says that if you surrender to Krishna, you have no other obligations. They went away grumbling.
Anyone who begins to chant will immediately feel some spiritual ecstasy because for such a long, long time we have been without Krishna, and now finally, we are contacting Him.
When I distribute books, several times I have heard, “I have seen your parade on the beach.”
In Daytona Beach at the Ratha-yatra, one fat Afro-American guy asked, “Can I join you guys?”
I said, “Sure.” And he danced for the rest of the Ratha-yatra.
They say there are only two destinations for a meth addict: they go to jail or they die.
Kadamba Kanana Swami:
People say “God Bless America,” but here at Radha Govinda Mandir in Brooklyn, God in the form of the deity Govinda, is blessing America.
By transcendental sound vibration everything that is inauspicious in the heart is removed.
In India they used quilts stuffed with cotton to stay warm in the winter. In the course of time, the cotton becomes compressed and is less effective. Thus once a year a man would come through each village and would vibrate an instrument with a bow that would loosen up the cotton and make it usable again.
Lust means you do not care about a person but how you can use that person’s body to satisfy your senses.
No matter where we are or who we are with, if Krishna is not part of the equation, there will be no satisfaction for the soul.
The chanting of the holy name, that transcendental sound, changes the heart.
Real happiness cannot be found in matter because it is temporary, and the soul is looking for eternal relationships.
Once the conviction is there that real happiness is on the spiritual plane, we can peacefully progress.
Through the centuries, there have always been sages, and these sages have one quality in common, they realize pleasure is within.
Some nontraditional worshipers seek connection with spiritual energies, but there is a spiritual personality beyond the spiritual energies.
If I were God, I would get rid of these glasses. Actually there would be a lot of things I would change if I were God. So it is clear I am not God!
God’s beauty is the beauty of His true personality.
That God is all-attractive means He can satisfy our innumerable desires.
We can take material things and engage them in the service of the Supreme Lord, and those same things that distracted us will now liberate us.
Krishna is the proprietor, and we caretakers. We are caretakers of Krishna in this world, agents of Krishna, or you could say angels of Krishna.
The more we connect everything with Krishna, the more life becomes magic. No depression, no anxiety, etc.
Those who give their lives to Krishna, they have nothing to worry about. Krishna will always be there to protect them.
Krishna especially interferes with nature when He sees someone sincerely looking for truth.
God is more than nature. Nature is God’s energy.
Krishna-katha can relieve us from the miseries of material existence and can relieve the advanced souls from the pangs of separation from Krishna.
Krishna knew it would be hard for Uddhava to live without His association so He advised Uddhava to go to Badarikasrama because there he would get the association of advanced devotees who he could talk about Krishna with.
We want to share our eagerness to chant the holy name.
In the mood of glorifying the Lord, the devotees, and the scriptures, we can get the Lord’s association.
In Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu, the Bhagavatam is quoted more than any other scripture because it is the one most supportive of devotional service to Krishna.
The cent-percent focus on Krishna is the essence, and if we chant in that mood, we can follow in the footsteps of the devotees in the Bhagavatam.
Lord Caitanya does not only quote Bhagavatam, but he lives the Bhagavatam.
There is a group of people in Vrindavan who chant a bogus mantra and consider that Lord Nityananda is an incarnation of Radharani. Although feeling some bliss from uttering the name of Nityananda, they completely misunderstand His identity.
Association of the devotees is needed to chant the holy name with the proper understanding.
What in this world can we fully trust? Srila Prabhupada’s books are fully trustworthy
Reading the Bhagavatam immediately lifts one up from the mental platform.
All the devotees who are not grhasthas are meant to fully engage in outreach. The agents of Kali-yuga are preaching full steam. If we do not, the future is very bleak.
Srila Prabhupada had a deep sense of urgency, and he instilled that in his followers.
Haryasva Prabhu:
From a conversation:
You have to listen to the voice within. You know that voice that is always telling you do to the right thing even when you do not want to do the right thing. You have to listen to that voice.
Rama Raya Prabhu:
The asuras [ungodly] use every trick in the book to explain away the supernatural activities of the Lord and show that He is an ordinary person just like themselves.
The destruction of Yadu dynasty is evidence of the Lord’s impartiality. It shows He is above nepotism, the tendency to favor one’s own relatives over others.
The saints always advise: Do not try to become happy in a place where happiness is only a myth.
Pure unalloyed devotional service is extremely powerful.
Caitanya Carana Prabhu:
From “Are People Innately Good or Innately Bad?” in Back to Godhead, Vol. 56, No. 1 (January/February 2022):
“Bhakti-yoga is a time-honored process for unleashing our potential for virtue and for purging ourselves of the propensity for vice. It is especially potent because it relies not just on our finite power to change ourselves but also on God’s infinite power to help us change. No wonder bhakti wisdom proclaims that human nature, however distorted it may be presently, is always reformable. Still, there’s a big condition: the willingness of that individual to reform. Without that readiness, no one can help, not even God. Even Rama couldn’t reform Ravana.”
“When we want to help others, we can’t be merely sentimental; we need to remember that we can only help them if they want to be helped. If they aren’t ready to listen to good advice, we may need to keep a distance from them so that we don’t become dragged down by them. Of course, we can and should pray for their welfare, but we may also need to recognize that we can’t help them reform, at least in their present condition. Nonetheless, the one person whose reformation we can most control is us ourselves.
“If we work to our best capacity, each of us can make a positive difference, certainly in our inner world and possibly in our outer world.”
Gauranga Darsana Prabhu:
From “Who Is Worthy of Giving Shelter?” in Back to Godhead, Vol. 56, No. 1 (January/February 2022):
“If we are drowning, we cannot be saved by another drowning person.”
“Only God can liberate an entangled person because God is never entangled; He ever liberated (muktaya).”
Vraja Vihari Prabhu:
From “How Do We Pray to Krishna?” in Back to Godhead, Vol. 56, No. 1 (January/February 2022):
“Queen Kunti’s prayers in the First Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam teach us to first praise the Lord, then express our own disqualifications, then thank Him for all He has given us, and finally request Him for the blessings we seek.”
“Often we express thanks to God for everything He has done for us, and this is usually said in a general sense. Kunti, however, explains in specific details how Krishna protected her and her sons from many dangers. She thus teaches that gratitude is shown more by a specific delineation of the Lord’s blessings upon us than by a general expression of gratitude.”
“Gratitude in daily life is yet another practical way to improve our prayers. If you are thirsty and someone offers you a cup of water, you’ll most likely say thank you. But isn’t God supplying unlimited water, air, heat, sunshine, etc., daily? Awareness of the daily gifts, especially what we have received in the last twenty-four hours, is an excellent way to keep our gratitude practices fresh and exciting.”
Krishna.com Live Help volunteers:
From “Letters” in Back to Godhead, Vol. 56, No. 1 (January/February 2022):
“We have all been suffering in the material world for many lifetimes. So we need to do something different this lifetime to make sure we don’t have to come back again and again.”
Jitendra Savanur:
From “Degree Matters, But Only to Some Degree” in Back to Godhead, Vol. 56, No. 1 (January/February 2022):
“Albert Einstein said, ‘Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything one learned in school.’”
“Martin Luther King, Jr., rightly said, ‘Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.’”
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Srila Prabhupada had great confidence that his Krishna consciousness movement could actually solve all the problems of the world. How is this practically possible? People act in ways that harm themselves and others because of material contamination within their hearts, qualities such as lust, greed, anger, malice, illusion, and madness. This material contamination can be completely destroyed by the congregational chanting of the holy name of the Lord. In this verse “ceto-darpana” refers to “the mirror of the heart” which can be cleansed by this chanting. In the database of Srila Prabhupada’s books, conversations, lectures, and letters, Srila Prabhupada used this phrase 553 times! Srila Prabhupada advised his followers to perform this congregational chanting of the holy names in his temples morning and evening and in the streets of the town for at least an hour each day. Let us try to come up to this standard and maintain it in order to save ourselves and the people in general from being carried away by materialism and missing the chance for an eternal, blissful life.
ceto-darpana-marjanam bhava-maha-davagni-nirvapanam
anandambudhi-vardhanam prati-padam purnamritasvadanam
sarvatma-snapanam param vijayate sri-krishna-sankirtanam
“Glory to the Sri Krishna sankirtana, which cleanses the heart of all the dust accumulated for years and extinguishes the fire of conditional life, of repeated birth and death. This sankirtana movement is the prime benediction for humanity at large because it spreads the rays of the benediction moon. It is the life of all transcendental knowledge. It increases the ocean of transcendental bliss, and it enables us to fully taste the nectar for which we are always anxious.” (“Siksastaka” 1, spoken by Lord Caitanya and quoted in Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, Antya 20.12).