Where I Went and What I Did
The first three days of 2022, I lived in ISKCON NYC in Brooklyn, and I assisted the NYC Harinam group led by Rama Raya Prabhu by leading the Hare Krishna chant and distributing “On Chanting Hare Krishna” pamphlets and an occasional book. Prahladananda Swami would often come on harinama and lead the chanting for at least an hour. Kavicandra Swami would come out for an hour or two, and sometimes more, and distribute Srila Prabhupada’s books. January 4 I traveled to Tallahassee by flying to Tampa and taking the bus to Tallahassee. Three devotees chanted with me for over an hour and a half at two venues in Tampa between my flight and my bus. The next nine days I chanted Hare Krishna in Tallahassee, mostly at Landis Green on the Florida State University campus, and once each at FAMU, Lake Ella, and First Friday.
Then I spent two days doing harinama in Gainesville and two days doing harinama in Orlando. The last day in Orlando I chanted with twelve other devotees in a Martin Luther King parade in the suburb of Apopka, where we were very well received. On my last day in Florida I took a morning bus from Orlando to Tampa, and a friend and I did harinama briefly by the University of Tampa in downtown Tampa before my flight to New York City.
I share notes on Srila Prabhupada’s books and letters. I share excerpts from the writing of Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami. I have a quote from Sri Caitanya-bhagavata by Vrindavan Das Thakur and a couple of quotes from Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur’s commentary on it. I share notes on classes in New York City by Prahladananda and Kavicandra Swamis and notes on a class in Orlando by Dvaipayana Prabhu.
Thanks to Avinash, Jaya Sila, Gopal Govinda Shyam, Rasika Madhava, and Upananda Prabhus for their very generous donations in Orlando. Thanks to Sasha Prabhu of New York City for his kind donation. Thanks to Kishor Prabhu of Tampa for driving me from the Tampa airport, to harinama, and to the Tampa bus station and for driving me from the Tampa bus station, to harinama, and to the Tampa airport, as well as for his donation. Thanks to Devavan Prabhu and his wife, Rosa, for letting me stay with them in Gainesville and for transporting me around the city. Thanks to Avinash for his accommodation in Orlando and rides to harinama and to and from the bus stations. Thanks to Tulasi Prabhu, Badia, J.R., Rasika Madhava Prabhu, and others who I may have forgotten, for kindly taking videos for me or sharing videos with me.
While contemplating all the assistance I received in the beginning of January, this phrase appears in my mind: “I get by with a little help from my friends.”
Itinerary
January 19–February 14: Serving Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami in Stuyvesant Falls, NY
February 14: NYC Harinam
February 15–17: Tampa harinamas and college outreach
February 18: Gainesville harinama
February 19–20: Bhaktivedanta Institute Cosmology Conference 3
February 21–25: Tallahassee harinamas and college outreach
February 26–28: Gainesville/Alachua harinama and Sunday feast
March: India with Jeremiah
April: Tallahassee and Tampa harinamas and college outreach
May ?: harinama with Sankarsana Prabhu by the Washington, D.C., museums
May ?–June: NYC Harinam
Chanting Hare Krishna in New York City
Before sharing my videos from the beginning of 2022, I want to share three videos my friend, Tulasi Prabhu, of Bulgaria, sent me from our New Year’s Eve harinamas.
The first two are from 42th Street and the last from the Astor Place subway station.
Tulasi Prabhu chants Hare Krishna on 42th Street (https://youtu.be/7uENc0pSsU0):
Radha Shyamananda Prabhu chants Hare Krishna (https://youtu.be/lIv7NYHGAbA):
New Year’s Eve partiers, who had been listening to us for several stops on the 6 train, enjoyed dancing to our kirtan when we all got off at the Astor Place stop (https://youtu.be/OINv1LADzyw):
Here I chant Hare Krishna in Times Square subway station on New Year’s Day, and kids play shakers and dance. [Video by Tulasi Prabhu.] (https://youtu.be/hebupiRXrp0)
Prahladananda Swami chants Hare Krishna in Times Square subway station on New Years Day (https://youtu.be/CQf06rzIG_k):
Tulasi Prabhu chants Hare Krishna on the Brooklyn Bridge with devotees from Radha Govinda Temple and The Bhakti Center, and passersby participate by smiling, waving, clapping, dancing, and even chanting (https://youtu.be/3G5nWU9H_h0):
Kavicandra Swami chants Hare Krishna on the downtown 4 train from Manhattan to Brooklyn after the Brooklyn Bridge harinama (https://youtu.be/iEWO50bwjFs):
Prahladananda Swami chants Hare Krishna after guru-puja at ISKCON NYC, and devotees dance (https://youtu.be/eZW2mUTf7Jo):
Jakub chants Hare Krishna in Atlantic Avenue / Barclays Center subway station, and young ladies dance (https://youtu.be/dl6U3zvvTQk):
Here Jakub chants Hare Krishna some more (https://youtu.be/XkTaWyaF7GQ):
One lady who does astrology and has attended kirtans by non-ISKCON groups declined an invitation to look at our book table saying she had to go home and find her cat. When she gave a dollar, I went to give her a book.
She followed me to the table, picked up Coming Back, and sat on the floor reading it for over half an hour as Arjunananda led the chanting of Hare Krishna (https://youtu.be/Hz4wIzZoGpA):
And she continued reading while Natabara Gauranga Prabhus led the Hare Krishna chant (https://youtu.be/cdrTkDtz9dk):
She said she liked Coming Back, and before she left, Kavicandra Swami sold her a Science of Self-Realization.
Prahladananda Swami chants Hare Krishna (https://youtu.be/
Hq_3-20btZU):
Rama Raya Prabhu chants Hare Krishna in Atlantic Avenue / Barclays Center subway station, and young ladies play the shakers and dance (https://youtu.be/-FUKXYLUzSw):
Chanting Hare Krishna in Tampa
Then we went to the Tampa Riverwalk, where we encountered a few more people.
Here Kishor Prabhu chants Hare Krishna on the Tampa Riverwalk, and a couple who were passing by danced with our party, the guy being especially into it (https://youtu.be/Fkm9G61sqz0):
Kishor Prabhu chants Hare Krishna on the Tampa Riverwalk, and people interact with our party (https://youtu.be/i__K4iMpSFI):
Here is a clip with the phone held vertically (https://youtu.be/Ad2slpGwyHI):
The night I arrived in Tallahassee the devotees were having a special program to say goodbye to Aditya, who had been living there several months, but was now leaving.
Kaliya Damona Prabhu led the chanting of Hare Krishna at that program (https://youtu.be/a6WOc-yxvuU):
I am always happy to be chanting Hare Krishna at Landis Green at Florida State University to promote Krishna Lunch at FSU, our programs at the local temple, and the chanting of Hare Krishna and reading of Srila Prabhupada’s books (https://youtu.be/XcSokWWCQtk):
We sold out of kofta balls that day, twelve new people came to the lunch, and seven students took small books on the green. One youthful lady named Badia, who has attended the temple 6 weeks, who was distributing lunch invitations on campus, chanted the response while taking the above video.
After chanting on green I honored the lunch, highlighted by the koftas in amazing sauce and blueberry halava, in the sun on our temple lawn. Thanks to Jorge Enrique Arias for the photo.
A couple students from FSU came to our 7 a.m. program one day for the first time and really got into the kirtan which is very rare (https://youtu.be/ls6srOr-Eeo):
They stayed for tulasi puja, class, and breakfast. It is nice to see people appreciate the joyful process of bhakti-yoga we are sharing. Thanks to Badia, wearing the blue skirt, for taking the first part of the video.
On Saturday I chanted three hours at Lake Ella with a book table. One spiritual seeker came by and looked at the book, Spiritual Yoga. After reading a couple pages, he said reading it made the hairs on his body stand up. Now that does not happen every day!
A guy hit me up for money for food when I stopped at the Dollar General after my Lake Ella harinama to pick up a spatula because I could not find one in the kitchen. I don’t like to give people money, so I proposed that after I finished shopping I go home, heat up some chili for him, and come back. He doubted I would return, and when I did, he said, “There are some real people left.” I gave him the chili and “On Chanting Hare Krishna” and said, “If you recite this prayer, you will not have to beg. God will provide for your needs.” Looking at the pamphlet as he left, he said, “Oh, I have heard of Hare Krishna before!”
Jorge and I went to the house of Umesh on Sunday for prasadam and kirtan. He was very happy I reached out to him. I feel as though I had missed connecting much with him on my previous visit to Tallahassee, so I wanted to correct that.
Josie, a jolly young lady from Gainesville, majoring in dietetics, was happy to hear about our Krishna Lunch at FSU. She had developed a taste for our Krishna Lunch at UF, and so she immediately went to The Globe and got a plate to go, passing by me while looking for windless, sunny spot on Landis Green to eat it.
We have a Wednesday kirtan program, and Kaliya Damona Prabhu led the chanting of Hare Krishna there (https://youtu.be/iDnsO1WGuks):
I looked him up online, and he’s chairman of the marketing department at the FSU Business School!
We do not serve Krishna Lunch at FSU on Fridays, so I decided to go to Gainesville and chant at their Krishna Lunch, as I was on my way toward Orlando anyway. As it turned out, I also did an afternoon harinama with the Alachua devotees and an evening harinama with the Krishna House devotees, so it was a very lively day. Beyond all that we did kirtan for an hour or so on the Krishna House porch after that final harinama. Saturday six devotees chanted with me in the course of my three-hour harinama at Depot Park, before my bus to Orlando.
Here Kalakantha Prabhu, disciple of Srila Prabhupada and temple president of Krishna House, chants Hare Krishna at Krishna Lunch on a Friday, and I dance (https://youtu.be/YYV1MdLDszQ):
Video by Satyahit Prabhu, disciple of Srila Prabhupada and regular participant in Krishna Lunch kirtan.
I also took my own video of Kalakantha Prabhu chanting Hare Krishna (https://youtu.be/0otGyYUE7P8):
I also chanted Hare Krishna (https://youtu.be/wBYSsPKAOHc):
Devavan Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at Krishna Lunch (https://youtu.be/iJoSO7__eJk):
Devavan Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at Krishna Lunch, and Robert plays ukulele (https://youtu.be/UqLkgPh1QYw):
I chant Hare Krishna with Alachua devotees across University Avenue from the northeast corner of the University of Florida campus (https://youtu.be/k7LTEHKmiEI):
Krishna House devotees chant Hare Krishna past the shops across from University of Florida in Gainesville (https://youtu.be/M2EcNGeeTXQ):
Janaki Devi Dasi chants Hare Krishna on the Krishna House porch after harinama on Friday night (https://youtu.be/JaqmBYk0FcI):
Her kirtan was so lively that by the end devotees were dancing (https://youtu.be/Qj8SK8Lo7cg):
Jeremiah chants Hare Krishna (https://youtu.be/y4jw9lp6DwA):
Saturday I chanted with six devotees over the course of three hours at Depot Park.
Satyahit Prabhu chants Hare Krishna with Krishna House devotees at Depot Park in Gainesville (https://youtu.be/O6xAGoje6AE):
Earlier as Satyahit Prabhu offered an “On Chanting Hare Krishna” to a girl passing by, I said, “There is a lot of joy in the chanting. It is very experiential.” She replied, “I know. I can feel it in my heart.” Turns out she was vegan and a lover of our Krishna Lunch!
Jeremiah chants Hare Krishna with Krishna House devotees (https://youtu.be/oRXBoWz0YjM):
Ananta Vallabha Prabhu chants Hare Krishna (https://youtu.be/7Nwvgnk7xQI):
While the Krishna House devotees were there, Amrita distributed several books. Seeing her success, I encouraged her to come out every Saturday.
Last year when Krishna House devotees were doing programs in Orlando we had some very nice harinamas at Lake Eola, so I decided to invite some of the local devotees to do harinama there on Sunday, the day they often have a Farmers Market near the lake. My main reason for going to Orlando was to chant in the largest Martin Luther King parade I had encountered in Florida, which Ananda Kirtan Prabhu and I chanted in the previous year. The Martin Luther King parades in Tallahassee and Gainesville are very small, but the parade in Apopka, a city of over 40,000, near Orlando, had over 73 entries in it this year, so I thought we should take advantage of the opportunity of sharing the chanting of Hare Krishna with the larger number of people. Four devotees from Krishna House came to join the eight devotees in Orlando, so we had a group of thirteen altogether.
Here Gopal Govinda Shyam Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at Lake Eola in Downtown Orlando, and a passerby chants with the devotees (https://youtu.be/EuNSY9pE9Nk):
While Gopal Govinda Shyam Prabhu was leading the Hare Krishna chant, he also taught several passersby the mantra (https://youtu.be/XxZdTdXPM8E):
The black lady with the dog ended up purchasing Bhagavad-gita As It Is and getting prasadam from Rasika Madhava Prabhu.
Rasika would talk to interested people during the harinama.
Kheshav Prabhu chants Hare Krishna (https://youtu.be/A5QJen5WbcU):
Avinash Prabhu chants Hare Krishna (https://youtu.be/02vxZGmKv0E):
Gopal Govinda Shyam Prabhu chants Hare Krishna before the Apopka Martin Luther King Parade (https://youtu.be/CfHFxNO2SR0):
Upananda Prabhu chants Hare Krishna before the parade (https://youtu.be/-SW_d8w48PI):
Upananda Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at the beginning of the Apopka Martin Luther King Parade (https://youtu.be/q37Nx-5ESc4):
Kheshav Prabhu chants Hare Krishna in the Apopka Martin Luther King Parade, and onlookers show appreciation by smiling, waving, and dancing (https://youtu.be/E9ZZ242ToHU):
Kheshav Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at the end of the Apopka Martin Luther King Parade, and locals interact with the devotees favorably (https://youtu.be/NbfIKr5UMe0):
Kheshav Prabhu chants Hare Krishna after the Apopka Martin Luther King Parade as we return to our vehicles (https://youtu.be/PvvG3Oxu1qM):
The organizer of the parade thanked us for participating again this year as we promised we would.
During our harinama back to our vehicles, a whole family chanted and danced with us (https://youtu.be/Wqi5YOvkdQg):
Midway through our journey, two boys were attracted to move to our music (https://youtu.be/aAE_gzgIo_k):
Later three kids danced to the sound of the kirtan (https://youtu.be/p1hyX2Olvx0):
There is a private university in downtown Tampa called University of Tampa.
Kishor Prabhu and I found a busy street on the campus with many students rushing to their 8 a.m. class, and we chanted there for a total of five minutes before the campus security told us to stop.
We were in front of a building called Sykes Chapel and the Center for Faith and Values. I was thinking that we were stopped indicated something about their faith and values!
Then we chanted on the border of the campus at the suggestion of the security guard, but it was not crowded enough. On our way to check out the Riverwalk, we found a street called North Blvd. with many students on it, and we may try doing harinama there in the future.
Funny Photos
I know some people do not believe that students put Krishna Lunch salad dressing on their entire lunch, even the halava, thus I share this candid photo of a University of Florida student and his plate of Krishna Lunch.
I knew my friend Devavan Prabhu was into music, but his room surprised me. I never saw so many musical keyboards in a private dwelling in my life! How many can you count?
Insights
Srila Prabhupada:
From Sri Isopanisad 13, purport:
“Srimad-Bhagavatam (1.2.17) says, ‘By hearing of the activities of the Lord, the devotee draws the attention of the Lord. Thus the Lord, being situated in the heart of every living being, helps the devotee by giving him proper directions.’”
“The Lord’s inner direction cleanses the devotee’s heart of all contamination produced by the material modes of passion and ignorance.”
“When one attains brahminical qualifications, he becomes happy and enthusiastic to render devotional service to the Lord. Automatically the science of God is unveiled before him. By knowing the science of God, one gradually becomes freed from material attachments, and one’s doubtful mind becomes crystal clear by the grace of the Lord. One who attains this stage is a liberated soul and can see the Lord in every step of life.”
“Worship of the mass of humanity by rendering bodily service, which can never be perfect, is less important than service to the soul. The soul is the root that generates different types of bodies according to the law of karma. To serve human beings by medical aid, social help and educational facilities while at the same time cutting the throats of poor animals in slaughterhouses is no service at all to the soul, the living being.”
“Real service to humanity is rendered when one teaches surrender to and worship of the Supreme Lord with full love and energy.”
From Sri Isopanisad 14, purport:
“Material scientists and politicians are trying to make this place deathless because they have no information of the deathless spiritual nature. This is due to their ignorance of the Vedic literature, which contains full knowledge confirmed by mature transcendental experience. Unfortunately, modern man is averse to receiving knowledge from the Vedas, Puraṇas and other scriptures.”
“Many men are advertised as great scholars of the Bhagavad-gita, but they overlook the Gita’s message, by which material nature can be pacified. Powerful nature can be pacified only by the awakening of God consciousness, as clearly pointed out in the Bhagavad-gita (7.14).”
From Bhagavad-gita 2.23, purport:
“The individual souls are eternally separated parts of the Supreme Soul. Because they are atomic individual souls eternally (sanatana), they are prone to be covered by the illusory energy, and thus they become separated from the association of the Supreme Lord, just as the sparks of a fire, although one in quality with the fire, are prone to be extinguished when out of the fire.”
“Even after being liberated from illusion, the living entity remains a separate identity, as is evident from the teachings of the Lord to Arjuna. Arjuna became liberated by the knowledge received from Krishna, but he never became one with Krishna.”
From Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.18.16, purport:
“There are many instances in the transcendental histories of the world of an impersonalist who has later become a devotee. But a devotee has never become an impersonalist. This very fact proves that on the transcendental steps, the step occupied by a devotee is higher than the step occupied by an impersonalist.”
From Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.18.22:
“Self-controlled persons who are attached to the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna can all of a sudden give up the world of material attachment, including the gross body and subtle mind, and go away to attain the highest perfection of the renounced order of life, by which nonviolence and renunciation are consequential.”
From Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.18.22, purport:
“Self-controlled means not indulging in sense enjoyment more than is necessary. And those who are not self-controlled are given over to sense enjoyment. Dry philosophical speculation is a subtle sense enjoyment of the mind. Sense enjoyment leads one to the path of darkness. Those who are self-controlled can make progress on the path of liberation from the conditional life of material existence. The Vedas, therefore, enjoin that one should not go on the path of darkness but should make a progressive march towards the path of light or liberation. Self-control is actually achieved not by artificially stopping the senses from material enjoyment, but by becoming factually attached to the Supreme Lord by engaging one’s unalloyed senses in the transcendental service of the Lord.”
“Every living being is dependent on someone else because he is so made. Actually everyone is dependent on the mercy of the Supreme Lord, but when one forgets his relation with the Lord, he becomes dependent on the conditions of material nature. Renunciation means renouncing one’s dependence on the conditions of material nature and thus becoming completely dependent on the mercy of the Lord. Real independence means complete faith in the mercy of the Lord without dependence on the conditions of matter.”
From Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.18.24–25, purport:
“One has to give up all attachment for worldly relations before one is able to go back to Godhead, and thus when a devotee is too much absorbed in worldly affairs, the Lord creates a situation to cause indifference.”
From Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.18.26, purport:
“The jñana process theoretically speculates about the reality of the soul. But bhatki-yoga factually engages the spirit soul in activities.”
From Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.19.16:
“I pray that if I should again take my birth in the material world I will have complete attachment to the unlimited Lord Krishna, association with His devotees and friendly relations with all living beings.”
From Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.19.20, purport:
“Prahlada Maharaja, while praying to Lord Nṛsiṁha, said, ‘O my Lord, I am very much afraid of the materialistic way of life, and I am not the least afraid of Your present ghastly ferocious feature as Nṛsiṁha-deva. This materialistic way of life is something like a grinding stone, and we are being crushed by it. We have fallen into this horrible whirlpool of the tossing waves of life, and thus, my Lord, I pray at Your lotus feet to call me back to Your eternal abode as one of Your servitors. This is the summit liberation of this materialistic way of life. I have very bitter experience of the materialistic way of life. In whichever species of life I have taken birth, compelled by the force of my own activities, I have very painfully experienced two things, namely separation from my beloved and meeting with what is not wanted. And to counteract them, the remedies which I undertook were more dangerous than the disease itself. So I drift from one point to another, birth after birth, and I pray to You therefore to give me a shelter at Your lotus feet.’”
From Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.1.15, purport:
“As one changes an old garment, so the individual living being also changes his body, and this change of body is called death. Death is therefore a process of changing the body at the end of the duration of the present life. An intelligent person must be prepared for this and must try to have the best type of body in the next life. The best type of body is a spiritual body, which is obtained by those who go back to the kingdom of God or enter the realm of Brahman.”
“After death one forgets everything about the present bodily relations; we have a little experience of this at night when we go to sleep. While sleeping, we forget everything about this body and bodily relations, although this forgetfulness is a temporary situation for only a few hours. Death is nothing but sleeping for a few months in order to develop another term of bodily encagement, which we are awarded by the law of nature according to our aspiration. Therefore, one has only to change the aspiration during the course of this present body, and for this there is need of training in the current duration of human life. This training can be begun at any stage of life, or even a few seconds before death, but the usual procedure is for one to get the training from very early life.”
From Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.2.30:
“The highest perfection of life is to enjoy life constantly in the association of the Lord, and one who can relish this does not aspire after any temporary enjoyment of the material world via other media.”
From Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.3.23, purport:
“Srimati Radharani is a tenderhearted feminine counterpart of the supreme whole, resembling the perfectional stage of the worldly feminine nature. Therefore, the mercy of Radharani is available very readily to the sincere devotees, and once She recommends such a devotee to Lord Krishna, the Lord at once accepts the devotee’s admittance into His association. The conclusion is, therefore, that one should be more serious about seeking the mercy of the devotee than that of the Lord directly, and by one’s doing so (by the good will of the devotee) the natural attraction for the service of the Lord will be revived.”
From Bhagavad-gita 2.29, purport:
“Some people who are inclined to hear about the soul may be attending lectures, in good association, but sometimes, owing to ignorance, they are misguided by acceptance of the Supersoul and the atomic soul as one without distinction of magnitude. It is very difficult to find a man who perfectly understands the position of the Supersoul, the atomic soul, their respective functions and relationships and all other major and minor details. And it is still more difficult to find a man who has actually derived full benefit from knowledge of the soul, and who is able to describe the position of the soul in different aspects. But if, somehow or other, one is able to understand the subject matter of the soul, then one’s life is successful.
“The easiest process for understanding the subject matter of self, however, is to accept the statements of the Bhagavad-gita spoken by the greatest authority, Lord Krishna, without being deviated by other theories. But it also requires a great deal of penance and sacrifice, either in this life or in the previous ones, before one is able to accept Krishna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Krishna can, however, be known as such by the causeless mercy of the pure devotee and by no other way.”
From a letter to Sudama written in Los Angeles on February 17, 1970:
“The potency of spreading Krishna Consciousness is everywhere the same. That was experimented by me in your country, where I came alone without any support; and Krishna is so kind that He has sent me so many boys and girls like you. Lord Caitanya said that every village and town on the surface of the world will know the message of the Sankirtana movement. This very statement affirms that in every village and town all over the world there are many candidates who are awaiting this message.
Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami:
From A Poor Man Reads the Bhagavatam, Volume 2:
“It doesn’t really matter how death comes to this body; the body belongs to the material nature, and material nature will arrange to reclaim it. Real life is the soul.”
“Merton says that prayer is sacred and that God’s care for the saintly person is a secret between them.”
“The questions have already been answered, the perfect counsel given, but that restlessness both questioner and answer-man feel has not been addressed. Maybe it’s because they didn’t reach down to the human element. Maybe they even suppressed their human feelings to come up with the absolute response. They played a role but didn't allow themselves to speak from the heart.”
From ISKCON in the 1970s: Diaries:
“Concerning social elevation, why be so eager to elevate within the prison from third-class to first-class prisoner? Everyone in material life is a prisoner. Vedic society teaches us how to become free and go back to Krishna, never mind sudra, vaisya, whatever—He takes everyone. But we are more concerned with the prison facilities. No knowledge.”
From Obstacles on the Path of Devotional Service:
“There is also sometimes a thin line between a brahmacari’s obligation to protect his celibacy and his obligation to be kind to women devotees. When a brahmacari becomes fanatical in his behavior, he exhibits the ‘love-hate’ syndrome, manifesting attraction to women by displays of hatred for them. A moderate but strict approach is advisable.”
From The Wild Garden: Collected Writings 1990–1993:
“After finishing the first volume [of Srimad-Bhagavatam], he [Srila Prabhupada] went back to Vrindavan and completed the second. He wrote quickly. He was in samadhi working on this project, and that samadhi is possible for any of us if we sincerely and intently follow the orders of our spiritual master.”
From Imperfection, Purity Will Come About: Writing Sessions While Reading Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s Saranagati:
“He is serious. I am too. Why else would I be up at this desk at midnight writing?
‘Is it difficult?’ asked a technician at the Ayurvedic clinic.
‘No,’ I said, ‘because I want to do it. I have a serious purpose.’”
From Srila Prabhupada Nectar, Chapter 2, Number 25:
“PRABHUPADA TELLS SHORT STORIES
“Prabhupada wanted his devotee-scientists to form the Bhaktivedanta Institute. By writing books and giving lectures, they should destroy the theories that life comes from matter and that there is no supreme being. The atheistic scientists will be very stubborn, he warned them. To illustrate the stubbornness of the materialists, Prabhupada told the story of ‘scissors philosophy.’
“Two men were arguing about which cutting instrument should be used, a knife or scissors. ‘Knife!’ said one. ‘No, scissors!’ said the other. Their talk became a heated fight.
“‘If you don’t agree,’ said the man who advocated the knife, ‘I will throw you in the river.’
“‘No, I’ll never change my mind. It’s scissors!’ So the knife advocate threw the other into the swift river. He swam for a while but became exhausted and began to sink. But he was so stubborn about holding his point of view, that even after he was sinking under the water to his death, he held up his arm and crossed his fingers back and forth like a pair of scissors cutting.’
“‘The scientists will be like that,’ said Prabhupada. ‘Even after defeating them with all logic, still they will say, ‘Life comes from matter.’ But more sane and innocent people would be convinced by Vedic presentation, that life comes from life.”
From A Poor Man Reads the Bhagavatam, Volume 2:
“Prabhupada was the most renounced because he never claimed his assets for himself. Rather, he used them all—wealth, power, his thousands of disciples—in Krishna’s service. He accepted the responsibility of his austerity. That is, he managed a world movement and traveled widely to maintain it. He stayed up late at night worrying about his disciples and their deviations, rebellions, quarrels, and the growing opposition from the nondevotees. He described his own mood as similar to that of Vasudeva, who feared that Kamsa would kill Krishna. Prabhupada felt the same ecstasy of fearfulness as ISKCON’s protective parent.”
“If Prabhupada enjoyed anything, it was the pleasure he was able to give to his spiritual master through his preaching efforts. He also enjoyed defeating Mayavadis. Prabhupada was a fighter who, like Arjuna, loved to use his warrior spirit in the Lord’s service. Whatever he enjoyed was not sense gratification but a flavor of bhakti. It should not be misunderstood as anything but that.”
From Japa Reform Notebook:
“Srila Prabhupada was chanting Hare Krishna when he came to New York City in 1965. One could have thought, ‘Well, he's Indian, sannyasi. This is his religion. It's not mine.’ But then when you become his disciple, his servant, then you chant Hare Krishna, because he’s the spiritual master and he says that this is the process. And when you become the servant and you chant in that way, then the name will reveal itself to you. But you can't chant without that connection with the spiritual master as his servant. This is the meaning of diksa.”
From ISKCON in the 1970s:
“If we study Prabhupada’s instructions, and if we all act humbly as servants, we can still come before him—at least in spirit—and try to solve our problems.”
“When hearing both sides as to why sannyasis should be allowed to take men from the temples, or why the temples should not be disturbed by the sannyasis, Prabhupada kept emphasizing, ‘Why this party feeling?’ Even more important than the rightness or wrongness of the individual arguments was the need to stop the party spirit, which could crack the movement’s unity. ‘Everyone should be a servant,’ Prabhupada said.”
From From Imperfection, Purity Will Come About: Writing Sessions While Reading Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s Saranagati:
“Prabhupada said of his own writing, ‘Why I get up at night, one o’clock, and do this job? Because I cannot do without it. How will one do it artificially? This is quality. Therefore they like my purports.’ (Conversation With Srila Prabhupada, November 2, 1975).”
From Karttika Moon:
“Spirit goes on to a next body. Where you go is real self-interest, more than what you leave in this world.”
Vrindavan Das Thakur:
From Caitanya-bhagavata, Adi Khanda 8.120:
“He whose remembrance fulfills the desires of all was personally present in the form of her son.”
Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur:
From his commentary on Caitanya-bhagavata, Adi Khanda 8.197:
“Tridandi Gosvami Sriman Prabodhananda Sarasvati has written in his Caitanya-candramrita (36) as follows: “Lord Caitanyacandra has expanded a golden ocean of devotional mellows. The most unfortunate person who is untouched by this ocean is certainly cheated for ages together.”
From his commentary on Caitanya-bhagavata, Adi Khanda 8.199:
“Service to Lord Hari is the highest duty for all people at all times.”
Prahladananda Swami:
The asuras (ungodly people) invite all kinds of things for the destruction of human society.
Instead of using the bull to plow, they make tractors. Tractors need oil. So you need ships to transport the oil. You have to drill for the oil and refine the oil.
Simple living and high thinking is the only sustainable economy.
Prahlada Maharaja says that material solutions to problems actually simply create more problems.
The waves of time will take away all our toys, but the associates of Lord Caitanya will take us by the hand and lead us to a better life.
Krishna is giving us a chance to become devotees or to maintain a demoniac lifestyle. It is not so easy to become a devotee. We may say we want to be devotees of Krishna, but do we accept the economy and the lifestyle that Krishna recommends? Do we really believe they are better?
Technology is for the control of the few to distract the many.
Krishna consciousness deals with principles upon which all true religions are based: the soul and God.
We are different from our thoughts and our feelings which we experience. We are the self.
In the presence of God, we see everything clearly.
Although there are eight billion people on the planet, we are all trying to be special, controlling and dominating our part of the material world.
Human society has made complicated arrangements to achieve what other living beings can obtain very easily. This is beyond foolishness. It is madness.
The more we are in touch with God, by following His instructions, the more we can benefit ourselves and others, and the more we ignore the instructions of God, the more we cause trouble to ourselves and others.
The more we see things in relationship with Krishna, the more Krishna reveals to us.
Q (Gaurav): Things are so bad now, with people having so much difficulty getting the basic necessities of life, why don’t they take to spiritual life?
A: Because of ignorance. They are brought up in a civilization that does not value it.
The third leading cause of death in America is medical malpractice and the side effects of medicine.
Comment by Gaurav: I have seen the degradation in the brief time I have been in America. When I came to America 13 years ago, leaders used to promise the basic necessities of life, but now they do not even promise these things. They just argue that the other potential leaders are worse than themselves.
Living out of harmony with the laws of God, the Egyptian empire disappeared, the Roman empire disappeared, the British Empire disappeared, and so America’s domination will disappear in the same way.
A spiritually minded person may take better care of his body than others.
If we do not produce our own food, we become completely subservient to those who supply us food.
The Ford Company advertised its horseless carriage as a solution to the problem of horse stool pollution on the road, but unfortunately the car pollution is much worse. When two horses collided, not much damage was done, but 30,000 to 50,000 people die in car crashes in the USA every year.
When due to the lockdown, the factories shut down, the polluted Yamuna River became pure again.
We may not be able to change society, but if we chant Hare Krishna, Krishna will give us the intelligence to purify our own lives. We can also change our reactions to the situations that we are in, and we can feel self-satisfied by our spiritual practice so we are not disturbed by the situations around us.
Even though our body changes, we always feel about the same age because we are actually spiritual beings.
If we ignore Krishna’s advice, the solutions that we propose to solve our present problems will only result in more serious problems.
Kavicandra Swami:
The business which is referred to as the occupation of the vaishyas is not any business. Oil, liquor, submarine shops, etc., are not recommended. It means trading agricultural products.
If we repeat what we have heard from Krishna, amazing things can happen.
The president is supposed to be the leader of the army, but he has not been in any battle except the election campaign.
Although Srila Prabhupada was told by his guru to preach to the English speaking people in the West, he was moved by compassion to see the degradation of his own countrymen, and so in addition, he preached extensively in India.
Although we have advanced technologically, our consciousness has not at all improved.
We have advanced in killing more efficiently with slaughterhouses and abortion clinics, but we are unaware of the great karma from these activities.
Many people are not able to change their whole lifestyle, but we can encourage them to refrain from sinful activities and to chant the name of God.
Comment by Prahladananda Swami: We have to present our alternative before it is too late. People may not be able to take it up immediately, but if they become aware of it, in the future they may see how they can apply it in their lives.
Dvaipayana Prabhu:
Krishna put the bhakti in the middle chapters of the Bhagavad-gita, just like the Oreo cookies have the cream in the middle.
In the form of Lord Krishna, He tells people to come to Him. In the form of Lord Caitanya, He tells how to do that.
Our GPS to go to Krishna is the guru-parampara system.
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This famous Srimad-Bhagavatam verse indicates that whatever you aspire for in life, the best way to attain it is to engage in devotional service to the Supreme Lord, and thus it is relevant to everyone.
akamah sarva-kamo va
tivrena bhakti-yogena
yajeta purusaṁ param
“A person who has broader intelligence, whether he be full of all material desire, without any material desire, or desiring liberation, must by all means worship the supreme whole, the Personality of Godhead.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.3.10)
