Diary
of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 20, No. 3
By
Krishna Kripa Das
(February 2024, part one)
Tallahassee,
Gainesville, Alachua
(Sent
from Tallahassee, Florida, on February 17,
2024)
Where I Went and What I Did
The first half of February, I mostly stayed in Tallahassee, chanting Hare Krishna for an average of three hours each day on the Florida State University campus. I would pass out free cups of halava to promote our Krishna Lunch program at the university, and I would also tell people about our campus and temple programs. I would have Srila Prabhupada’s books on my table for a donation, and I would give out “On Chanting Hare Krishna” for free. I had many nice experiences which I tell about.
On February 2, I went to Gainesville to sing at Krishna Lunch midday and with the Alachua devotees across from the University of Florida entrance in the afternoon. The following day, I went to a Bhaktivedanta Institute for Higher Studies meeting in Gainesville. Sunday I chanted at Depot Park during the afternoon, and then I went to the feast program in Alachua. I returned to Tallahassee for the rest of the first half of the month of February, except for February 15.
That was Advaita Acharya Prabhu’s appearance day, and I chanted at Krishna Lunch in Gainesville.
I share quotes from Srila Prabhupada’s Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, which the disciples of Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami are reading during breakfast and lunch, and The Nectar of Devotion, which I listen to when I wash pots in Tallahassee. I share notes on My Dear Lord Krishna by Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami. I share notes on classes by Bhaktimarga Swami and Govinda Kaviraja and Satyaraja Govinda Prabhus. I share an amazing item from Facebook, where a devotee quotes Saint Theresa telling of an experience of what appears to be Goloka Vrindavan. I share a couple humorous items I posted on the Facebook group called “Official Hare Krishna Humor.”
Thanks to Hugh and Jon for driving me around Gainesville. Thanks to Gopal Prabhu for driving me to Krishna House from the Alachua temple and to the Greyhound bus stop. Thanks to the Bhaktivedanta Institute devotees for letting me stay at their place one night and the Krishna House devotees for letting me stay at their place two nights.
Itinerary
January
8 – April 11: harinama
and college outreach in Tallahassee
– March
2: Bhaktivedanta Institute presentation on Parallels,
Chapter
2 (online)
–
March
6: Tampa, USF harinama
and program'
–
March
7–17: NYC Harinam during spring break (March 9 talk at 26 2nd Ave.)
–
April
6: Tallahassee Ratha-yatra
April
12: Gainesville harinamas
April
13: St. Augustine Ratha-yatra
April
14–23: take care of mother in Albany
April
24: fly to Amsterdam
April
25: Brussels harinama?
April
26: Kadamba Kanana Swami Vyasa-puja in Radhadesh
April
27: King’s Day harinama
in
Amsterdam
May
4–5: Birmingham 24-Hour Kirtan
Chanting Hare Krishna in Tallahassee
Govinda Kaviraja Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at the beginning of the ISKCON Tallahassee Saturday evening program (https://youtu.be/zrvp_kvw9yc):
Govinda Prabhu is a great cook and made an impressive sabji for the program.
I am starting a new phase of my promotional halava program. I have halava packaged to go as well as halava that is ready to eat. I bring seven plastic containers each day for those who want to take their halava to eat later.
A guy got two bouquets and gave one to the girl he was with and the other to me. I gave him a halava to go and told him to share it with the girl. We offered the flowers to Gaura Nitai at mangala-arati, starting on Valentine’s Day.
One Christian preacher often comes to Landis Green, displays his signs, and in a loud voice tells students to give up their sins and accept Jesus. I hate having to sing over him, but on February 13, amazingly enough, he just set up his signs and did not say a word. Maybe that was his offer of love to me for Valentine’s Day.
The Christian preacher wrote a message with chalk on the sidewalk which is consistent with Krishnadasa Kaviraja’s statement on love and lust:
“The desire to gratify one’s own senses is kama [lust], but the desire to please the senses of Lord Kṛṣṇa is prema [love].” (Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila 4.165)
Before driving to Alachua County so Govinda could go to his dentist appointment in Alachua and I could chant at Krishna Lunch in Gainesville, we offered some sweets I made, some sweets others had donated, and some fruits to Gaura Nitai on the auspicious appearance day of Advaita Acarya.
No one showed up for our weekly Bhakti Yoga Club meeting on the campus after half an hour that night, so I decided to do a ½-hour harinama instead, as I had only chanted at Krishna Lunch in Gainesville that day but not at all in Tallahassee. I met a guy who listens to me chant Hare Krishna for a minute or two whenever he hears me on campus because it removes the stress from his mind. He accepted “On Chanting Hare Krishna” and a Krishna Lunch flyer and asked to be informed of our meetings. Another guy, who had read a lot of our literature, said, “I love your music.” Thus on Advaita Acarya’s Appearance Day, I thought the Lord really reciprocated in a big way with me because I did that extra evening harinama.
Chanting Hare Krishna in Gainesville
Adi Shyam Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at Krishna Lunch at University of Florida in Gainesville (https://youtu.be/2Szwr5Onb1o):
Nistha chanted Hare Krishna at Krishna Lunch, too (https://youtu.be/S_E6O_uus8U):
Ekadasi Vrata Devi Dasi chants Hare Krishna with Alachua devotees across from the UF entrance in Gainesville (https://youtu.be/rygTtQgMffk):
A runner dances as Man Mohini Devi Dasi chants Hare Krishna across from the university (https://youtu.be/RTP9Cwe3sb8):
Parijata Devi Dasi chants Hare Krishna there also (https://youtu.be/Km6r3GGDuEs):
When I went to chant at Depot Park, I met a yoga teacher who was familiar with kirtan and had been to different temples. I mentioned that I was based in Tallahassee and that I promote our Krishna Lunch there. She said she had a friend who was studying neuroscience at FSU and who liked Krishna Lunch at UF, and I gave her a copy of our Krishna Lunch at FSU flyer to give to him.
I never saw someone do puja to their guru’s photo displayed on their cellphone before!
Nistha chants Hare Krishna during mangala arati at Krishna House (https://youtu.be/8FUR2JAQVic):
I was very happy to be chanting Hare Krishna at Krishna Lunch on Advaita Acarya’s appearance day.
His glories are summarized in this verse:
advaitam
harindvaitad
acaryam
bhakti-samsanat
bhaktavataram
isam
tam
advaitacaryam
asraye
“Because He is nondifferent from Hari, the Supreme Lord, He is called Advaita, and because He propagates the cult of devotion, He is called Acarya. He is the Lord and the incarnation of the Lord’s devotee. Therefore I take shelter of Him.” (Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, Adi-lila 1.13)
Here Govinda Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at Krishna Lunch at University of Florida in Gainesville (https://youtu.be/jU4_jcRpCi8):
Next Nistha chanted Hare Krishna at Krishna Lunch (https://youtu.be/pAzpZhOV1io):
And finally, Amrita chanted Hare Krishna at Krishna Lunch (https://youtu.be/cwNzWNnMqZY):
Chanting Hare Krishna in Alachua
Bhadra Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at the Sunday Feast in Alachua (https://youtu.be/UtFxWwu7rZo):
Photos
Here is Aristasura, the bull demon, killed by Krishna, as he appears in a play of that pastime by the devotee kids at the Alachua Sunday feast.
Kofta balls are a treat at Krishna Lunch both at UF and also at FSU. I like the way we have them at FSU better, with a tomato sauce having broccoli and eggplant in it. I break the koftas into pieces so they mix with the sauce better.
Insights
Srila Prabhupada:
From Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, Adi 7.76, purport:
“Chanting the holy name of the Lord immediately renovates the transcendental relationship of the living being with the Supreme Lord.”
From Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, Adi 7.83, purport:
“In this verse it is explained that one who chants the Hare Krishna mantra develops bhava, ecstasy, which is the point at which revelation begins. It is the preliminary stage in developing one’s original love for God. Lord Krishna mentions this bhava stage in the Bhagavad-gita (10.8): aham sarvasya prabhavo mattah sarvam pravartate iti matva bhajante mam budha bhava-samanvitah – ‘I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from Me. The wise who know this perfectly engage in My devotional service and worship Me with all their hearts.’ A neophyte disciple begins by hearing and chanting, associating with devotees and practicing the regulative principles, and thus he vanquishes all of his unwanted bad habits. In this way he develops attachment for Krishna and cannot forget Krishna even for a moment. Bhava is the almost successful stage of spiritual life.”
“Sometimes when our students of the Krishna consciousness movement chant and dance, even in India people are astonished to see how these foreigners have learned to chant and dance in this ecstatic fashion. As explained by Caitanya Mahaprabhu, however, actually this is not due to practice, for without extra endeavor these symptoms become manifest in anyone who sincerely chants the Hare Krishna maha-mantra.”
From Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, Adi 8.79, purport:
“This is the position of a pure devotee. One should not take any responsibility on his own but should be a soul surrendered to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who will then give him dictation as the caitya-guru, or the spiritual master within. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is pleased to guide a devotee from within and without. From within the Lord guides him as the Supersoul, and from without He guides him as the spiritual master.”
From Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, Adi 17.23, purport:
“It is our practical experience in the Krishna consciousness movement all over the world that many millions of people are factually coming to the spiritual stage of life simply by chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra regularly, according to the prescribed principles. Therefore our request to all our students is that they daily chant at least sixteen rounds of this harer nama maha-mantra [Cc. Ādi 17.21] offenselessly, following the regulative principles. Thus their success will be assured without a doubt.”
From Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, Adi 17.28, purport:
“This practice of forbearance (taror api sahisnuna) is very difficult, but when one actually engages in chanting the Hare Krishna mantra, the quality of forbearance automatically develops. A person advanced in spiritual consciousness through the chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra need not practice to develop it separately, for a devotee develops all good qualities simply by chanting the Hare Krishna mantra regularly.”
From Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, Adi 17.203, purport:
“Despite all the activities of these pasandis [atheists], however, the prediction of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu will triumph: prthivite ache yata nagaradi grama/ sarvatra pracara haibe mora nama. – ‘In every town and village, the chanting of My name will be heard.’ [CB Antya-khanda 4.126] No one can check the spread of the Krishna consciousness movement because upon this movement is the benediction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu.”
From The Nectar of Devotion, Chapter 19:
“In the Narada Pañcaratra it is clearly stated that when lust is completely transferred to the Supreme Godhead and the concept of kinship is completely reposed in Him, such is accepted as pure love of God by great authorities like Bhisma, Prahlada, Uddhava and Narada.
“Great authorities like Bhisma have explained that love of Godhead means completely giving up all so-called love for any other person. According to Bhisma, love means reposing one's affection completely upon one person, withdrawing all affinities for any other person. This pure love can be transferred to the Supreme Personality of Godhead under two conditions—out of ecstasy and out of the causeless mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself.”
“In the Narada Pañcaratra Lord Shiva therefore tells Parvati, ‘My dear supreme goddess, you may know from me that any person who has developed the ecstasy of love for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and who is always merged in transcendental bliss on account of this love, cannot even perceive the material distress or happiness coming from the body or mind.’”
From The Nectar of Devotion, Chapter 20:
“This relishing of transcendental mellow in discharging devotional service cannot be experienced by all classes of men, because this sweet loving mood is developed only from one’s previous life's activities or by the association of unalloyed devotees. As explained above, association with pure devotees is the beginning of faith in devotional service. Only by developing such faith in the association of a pure devotee, or by having in one’s previous life executed devotional activities, can one actually relish the mellow of devotional service. In other words, this transcendental bliss is not to be enjoyed by any common man unless he is so extraordinarily fortunate as to be in association with devotees or to be continuing his previous birth’s devotional activities.”
Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami:
From My Dear Lord Krishna:
“I do not claim to have the higher taste (ruci) for chanting, but it is the practice I want to work on with dedication, the practice I want to improve. I like it because it is so easy and pleasant and because the sastras give such importance to harinama. Just by the offenseless chanting of the holy names, we can achieve krishna-prema. Just by chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra, we can realize not only the names but also the form, quality, and pastimes of Radha and Krishna. It is the one great quality that makes the age of vices auspicious. Why should I not be attracted to this easy, all-potent practice?”
“I want to be under Your protection. You say, ‘My devotee will never be vanquished.’ You say that You protect what Your devotee has and that You supply him what he lacks. You take very good care of Your devotees. You assure them that if they think of You at the time of death, they will return to You. I want to be among that number.”
“To be loyal to You means to fight the doubts that arise within oneself until there are no doubts at all.”
“In a 1968 lecture, Prabhupada said that taste (ruci) is when you like Krishna consciousness so much that you go out and perform sankirtana in the streets.”
“May You protect me from calamities and keep me on the strict path. I long to please You.”
“You are the Supreme Pure, the Supreme Wise, the Supreme Powerful. ISKCON doesn’t measure up to You, but it has the most sincere followers of Prabhupada, who is a soul dear to You. Therefore I am still loyal to ISKCON.”
“I pray ISKCON can improve and become a movement that You would be proud of. For this to happen, each member will have to become saintly. It cannot be done by GBC resolutions, although the GBC must be there to exert the authority of the movement. Your movement must be broadminded and able to accept the contributions of all its members. Will You guide us and inspire us in this?”
“Let my belief be not mere bhakti sastra textbook answers but deeply realized, unreserved conviction.”
“But it is on another level that I wish to address myself to You about being a refugee. All people in the material world are living as refugees from their true home, the kingdom of God. According to Vedic scriptures, we have all come to this world in rebellion and estrangement from You. We want to act as God, not as servant of God, and so You have given us the opportunity to live in a world apart from You, just to experience our misbegotten desire. Living apart from You has not made us happy. In this material world, we have to suffer birth, death, disease, and old age – conditions similar to that of a refugee in war time. And when we die, our eternal soul has to transmigrate to another body and return to the material world for more refugee living. We take on new parents, and we may even have to be born in a lower species of life for our sinful misconduct. We are indeed in a precarious condition.
“A person who is aware that he is living in a refugee condition outside the kingdom of God and who is making efforts to go back to Godhead is living a progressive life. He may still be a refugee, but he is acting in the right way, attempting to go back to Godhead. You protect such persons and give us assurance that You will provide what we lack and make up for our shortages. The crucial point is to become submissive to You once again. We must take up our constitutional position – that of Your eternal servant. The scriptures describe that conditioned souls are in the clutches of Maya, or the material energy. But Maya will let us go once we show our love for You and engage in Your service. The bonds of life as a refugee will be broken, and we will be returned to our eternal family in the eternal world.”
“Those who have been fortunate to be lifted above the Kali-yuga ignorance have a responsibility to enlighten others of the eternal truths. I want to live up to that responsibility, which was so much emphasized by our spiritual master.”
“I don’t want to answer superficially but from the heart and with some Krishna conscious realization. I have heard and read so many instructions from Prabhupada and his books and through experience. I pray that I may apply them in a personal way, fitting to each individual who writes to me.”
“Jayadvaita Maharaja likes to quote, ‘As the sages say, if it is not one thing, it is another.’”
“When I was the GBC secretary for the southern United States, Srila Prabhupada taught me, ‘Encourage them. Encourage them.’ People need to be encouraged, not discouraged. Inspired preaching means realized words of encouragement.”
“Knowledge of You is available in the scriptures and in the words and acts of self-realized souls. We should seek association with these living mediums of Your mercy and feel their kindness touch our soul.”
“While working in this world to spread peace, we should also be looking to that other world, the eternal abode of bliss and knowledge. Real peace exists only there and in the heart of one who has realized the spiritual world.”
“Krishna consciousness is taught in voluminous literature to satisfy the demands of the deepest religious thinker. But it is also available to a child by the powerful chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra.”
“I don’t pray to You for removal of the pain because You have Your own reasons for handling me as You do, and they are perfectly right. In one sense, it’s just something I have to expect in living in the material world. Please help me to stay transcendental to my chronic condition and not mind it. You state in Bhagavad-gita that a transcendentalist is above pain and pleasure. So I want to be like that. I think I am going to have more bodily troubles in my remaining years, and I want to be prepared to accept them in a Krishna conscious frame of mind.”
Niranjana Swami:
Service to the Supreme Lord is so relishable that the Lord Himself wants to experience it.
Bhaktimarga Swami:
Several devotees here today are taking a step to advance their spiritual life [initiation], and we are happy about that.
Our job is to present this knowledge from the chain of disciplic succession that Srila Prabhupada has created for us.
We are a sharing and caring culture.
We got something out of Krishna consciousness, and we want to share it.
I never talked to Srila Prabhupada. I was too shy, and there were all these militant people with sticks who were guarding him. But in Atlanta I got an opportunity. They needed someone to cook dal for Srila Prabhupada. I had never cooked dal before. I was too shy to ask if he liked it, but since then, many people have told me they liked my dal, so I am thinking that he was pleased with it.
War is unleashed anger, greed, and all these things we are not supposed to be identifying with.
We are not here to have a cozy experience. We are here to be warriors. You have to be a warrior when you chant japa.
We have to confront lust, greed, and anger, and say, “You have been in control too long. Now I am in control, and you are going to serve.”
Lord Caitanya and His devotees show playfulness is there in Krishna consciousness.
Sattva-guna means to be thoughtful. Think before you act.
Second initiates, you have been fighting for a while. Now you are going to keep fighting and step it up.
My favorite state was Utah. I had some nice interviews there.
We are here to reduce our sins and to increase our virtues.
Look forward to getting old. Your lust and anger diminish.
The first time I encountered the devotees they mentioned they would like to be old like Srila Prabhupada. I asked why, and they said they would like to be advanced in knowledge and know how to deal with the world.
There are many similarities in the different traditions, but the problem is people want to focus on the differences.
Srila Prabhupada was versatile in his writings. He would pick and choose different words he felt the people were familiar with to make his points.
[To a first initiate:] Can you make one more vow [in addition to the four vows to give up sinful acts]? Don’t gossip. It is evil. It is bad. It is worse than Duryodhana, Ravana, and Kamsa, all put together.
Pundarika Vidyanidhi Prabhu:
From a Facebook post:
“This is incredible! It appears that the great 16th century Catholic mystic, Saint Teresa of Avila, had a vision of Sri Krishna in the eternal Vrindavan! Saint Teresa in Seville recorded in her Accounts of Conscience, chapter 38, August 9, 1575: ‘Suddenly a recollection came to me with such a great interior light that I seemed to be in another world, and my spirit found itself within itself, in a very delightful forest and orchard, so much so that it made me remember what is said in the Song of Songs: Veniat dilectus meus in hortum suum – come He, my beloved, to His garden and eat its delicate fruits.
‘I saw there, in this Eliseo (delicious place where great souls go), a blackish youth with a strange beauty; On top of his head he had something like a garland, not a crown, of great stones, and many maidens who walked there with him, with bouquets in their hands, all singing praises to God. I did nothing but open my eyes so as not to be distracted and it was not possible for me to take my attention off it.
‘There was a music of angels and singing of birds, which the soul enjoyed, although I did not hear it with my physical ears, but the soul was in that delight. I looked as there was no other man there.
‘This lasted for more than an hour and a half – that I could not take my eyes off or my attention, and with great delight, something different from other visions; and what I got from there was more love for God and keeping him more deeply present with that beauty, it is not possible that it was imagination.’”
Govinda Kaviraja Prabhu:
We have one word for love, but in Sanskrit there are prema, kama, sneha, rati, bhava, etc.
In the West people can spend half their lives trying to understand what they are supposed to do, but in India, as soon as you are born, you know what you are supposed to do.
Srimad-Bhagavatam explains philosophy, but also what people are doing and why they are doing it.
Satyaraja Govinda Prabhu:
Even if you do not want to talk unnecessarily, someone will come and engage you in talking unnecessarily. [That very day I had spent 20 minutes unnecessarily talking with a student about history!]
Why do we have garage sales? To get rid of all those things we do not need.
Socrates would reject three kinds of talk, that which is not truthful, that which is not good about people, and that which is not beneficial for his life.
When you want to attract someone, you do something that they like.
Krishna Kripa Das:
Posts on Official Vaishnava Humor Facebook group:
“For a sectarian religionist to say that only those who follow his religion will attain the kingdom of God and everyone else is going to hell forever is as foolish as it is for a student to say that only those who attend his university, have his professor, and read his textbook can get a true degree. All others who claim to have a degree are bogus.”
“I like doing proofreading for the devotees. Finding the mistakes before publication is Vaishnava seva, but finding them afterward is Vaishnava aparadha.”
-----
Krishna gives different strategies for attaining peace in His Bhagavad-gita. This is the first one He mentions. The chanting of the Sanskrit has a beautiful sound to it:
apmuryamaṇam
acala-pratistham
samudram
apaḥ pravisanti yadvat
tadvat
kama yam pravisanti sarve
sa
santim apnoti na kama-kami
“A person who is not disturbed by the incessant flow of desires – that enter like rivers into the ocean, which is ever being filled but is always still – can alone achieve peace, and not the man who strives to satisfy such desires.” (Bhagavad-gita 2.70)
Srila Prabhupada writes, “A Krishna conscious man is not in need of anything, because the Lord fulfills all his material necessities. Therefore he is like the ocean—always full in himself. Desires may come to him like the waters of the rivers that flow into the ocean, but he is steady in his activities, and he is not even slightly disturbed by desires for sense gratification. That is the proof of a Krishna conscious man—one who has lost all inclinations for material sense gratification, although the desires are present. Because he remains satisfied in the transcendental loving service of the Lord, he can remain steady, like the ocean, and therefore enjoy full peace.” (Bhagavad-gita 2.70, purport)