Diary
of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 20, No. 4
By
Krishna Kripa Das
(February 2024, part two)
Tallahassee,
Gainesville, Alachua
(Sent
from Tallahassee, Florida, on March 2, 2024)
Where I Went and What I Did
The second 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 during the week. 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 21, I went to Gainesville, and I chanted Hare Krishna at Krishna Lunch midday on Lord Nityananda’s Appearance Day with eleven devotees and across from the University of Florida entrance and along University Avenue in the afternoon with nine Krishna House devotees. In the evening I attended the festival at the Alachua temple. The following day, I chanted Hare Krishna at Krishna Lunch before returning to Tallahassee.
I share quotes from Srila Prabhupada’s Srimad-Bhagavatam, Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, and Teachings of Lord Kapila. I share quotes from Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami’s Japa Transformations, EJW #40: Seeing Krishna Within the Cloud, Day by Day: A Record of a 7-Day Japa Vrata, Tachycardia (Online Journal), and Beginning at Second Avenue. I share quotes from lectures by Hridayananda Dasa Goswami, Niranjana Swami, Ramiya Prabhu, Devaprastha Prabhu, and Govinda Kaviraja Prabhu. I share a quote by Krishna-bhajana Prabhu from an unpublished manuscript.
Thanks to Purusartha Prabhu, who kindly took a photo of me chanting Hare Krishna at Krishna Lunch and gave me a ride to Alachua. Thanks to Govinda Kaviraja Prabhu for driving me back to Tallahassee from Alachua.
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
A young Mormon woman doing her 1½ years of missionary work came up to my table on the campus. I encouraged her to attend our Krishna Lunch, along with her two friends, reminding her that their scripture deprecates eating meat. She knew the reference in Doctrine and Covenants 89:12–13 saying meat should be eaten only ‘sparingly’ and ‘only in times of winter, or of cold, or famine.’
One guy rejected my invitation to our vegetarian lunch program, saying that he was a bodybuilder and he needed his meat to work out. I told him to search Google for vegetarian wrestlers and vegetarian runners. A few days later he stopped by and said he did that and was impressed by a vegan wrestler who got his protein from beans. The guy ended up taking the book Bhakti-yoga and donating $2.
Mera Chitra shared this humorous cartoon on that topic:
Devotees from Tallahassee chant Hare Krishna to bless the new home of Indian woman (https://youtu.be/_d17OqTUOjw):
After several years I saw Sara Black Brown on the FSU campus again. As a Mormon girl from Utah she was captivated by the Holi festivals the devotees do at Spanish Fork. Thus as a music grad student at FSU, she did her Ph.D. thesis on “Kirtan at Hare Krishna Festivals” and made a documentary including kirtans from Alachua. She presently teaches music at Tallahassee Community College and said she played a kirtan video for her students just last week. She told me she would send me her latest paper on kirtan. I always tell the Mormon missionaries I meet about her.
Speaking of Mormon missionaries, I met the young Morman woman again who I had previously talked with about the verses depreciating meat eating in their scripture. She read the entire “On Chanting Hare Krishna” I had given her and liked it. I told her I mentioned her on Facebook, she asked to see it, and she liked what I said. This time she got a blueberry halava to share with a friend.
Satyaraja Govinda Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at ISKCON Tallahassee Saturday program (https://youtu.be/Gy-IqCTE1Y0):
I often invite the traveling book distributors to join me for evening kirtan, but usually they have their own sadhana they are attached to and decline my invitation. Not so with Mahotsaha Prabhu, who lives up to his name, and his enthusiastic followers from Krishna Life, who had the liveliest evening kirtan in my memory for a non-program day here in Tallahassee (https://youtu.be/F5WAfLlkZn8):
Mahotsaha Prabhu was happy to have me chant Hare Krishna next to his book table at FSU the next day. He’d already distributed 3 Saptarishis (sets of 7 hardbound books) for $59 when I came at 11:30 a.m.
Before I left three hours later, a student who comes to Krishna Lunch bought an entire Bhagavatam set from him for $285! Amazing! Most people wouldn’t consider selling a Bhagavatam set on a college campus, what to speak of doing it!
Here his partner sells a Saptarishi and teaches a student to chant japa.
I have been getting into distributing blueberry halava most of the time. I’ve met people allergic to banana, and others who didn’t like banana or chocolate. Years ago if we wanted to impress people at an outreach program, we’d always have blueberry halava. It is now our Thursday dessert at Krishna Lunch at FSU, and it is one of my personal favorites.
This UF student, who is a regular at Krishna Lunch, was happy to encounter my Krishna Lunch table at FSU in Tallahassee where she was playing a game that night. She was recalling all the great halava flavors she had in Gainesville, but she hadn't had blueberry before I gave it to her today.
Amazingly enough, at FSU the following day, I met another woman wearing a UF Volleyball shirt who loves Krishna Lunch. Now she works for UF, but she started eating Krishna Lunch as a student in 2016. She chanted for me the names of the halavas for each day of the week like it was a mantra that she practiced. She was also excited to try our blueberry halava as it is one they don’t have at UF. Her sister goes to FSU, and she texted our flyer to her sister so she can go to Krishna Lunch here.
On the sunny days, many students would be on Landis Green, even on the weekend.
Here is my harinama report for the month of February:
Chanting Hare Krishna in Gainesville
Mitra Prabhu plays guitar and chants Hare Krishna at Krishna Lunch on Lord Nityananda’s Appearance Day (https://youtu.be/7JnKMtaB-Ss):
Later, as Mitra Prabhu chanted Hare Krishna, Bruce danced (https://youtu.be/ZqOudHDlg28):
Then a larger group of devotees came (https://youtu.be/EBiMg4SwQz4):
Stephen Spahn chants Hare Krishna there too (https://youtu.be/TbT0AjlTQ68):
Purusartha Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at Krishna Lunch on the Appearance Day of Lord Nityananda (https://youtu.be/X0UAbtMehho):
Amrita chants Hare Krishna there too (https://youtu.be/PHNTnfajXOU):
Nistha chants Hare Krishna across the street from the University of Florida entrance on the Appearance Day of Lord Nityananda with devotees from Krishna House later in the afternoon (https://youtu.be/6hc8I-Pwh5Q):
She also chanted “Nitai Gauranga” there too (https://youtu.be/lEidvfsT1b8):
Advaita Acharya Prabhu also chanted Hare Krishna there (https://youtu.be/tXemfG8cR0A):
Sruti Sagar Prabhu chants Hare Krishna along University Avenue with Krishna House devotees on the Appearance Day of Lord Nityananda (https://youtu.be/rmlLkkb95eM):
Chanting Hare Krishna in Alachua
Bhadra Prabhu chants Hare Krishna in the evening kirtan on the appearance day of Lord Nityananda in Alachua (https://youtu.be/95y7yyghTB8):
Photos
The 150th anniversary of Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura’s appearance day was on February 29, and I made laddus to celebrate. I made them vegan with coconut oil so more of the students could eat them. With the coconut oil, the laddus really melt in your mouth.
I like to take the kofta balls from Krishna Lunch at FSU on Wednesday and break them into pieces, and mix them with the chili and rice from Thursdays. Try it. You’ll like it!
I never saw a plate of prasadam decorated with a crown on a temple shoe rack before. Later I learned a friend had placed the crown on his plate of prasadam because he didn't want anyone to steal it!
Medical marijuana is big in Florida, with different dispensaries popping up here and there. Of course, the real life that comes from cannabis is different from the real life of Krishna consciousness.
Insights
Srila Prabhupada:
From Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.6.32, purport:
“The mahatmas, or great souls, have no business in life except singing the transcendental glories of the Lord.”
From Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.25.11:
“Even if he be distressed or degraded, any person who chants the holy name of the Lord, having heard it from a bona fide spiritual master, is immediately purified. Even if he chants the Lord’s name jokingly or by chance, he and anyone who hears him are freed from all sins.”
From Srimad-Bhagavatam 7.15.24, purport:
“One cannot avoid the sufferings inflicted by providence, and therefore when suffering comes one should fully absorb oneself in chanting the Hare Krishna mantra.”
From Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, Madhya 3.41, purport:
“This is the ideal householder’s life. The husband and wife live together, and the husband works very hard to secure paraphernalia for worshiping Lord Vishnu. The wife at home cooks a variety of foods for Lord Vishnu, and the husband offers it to the Deity. After that, arati is performed, and the prasadam is distributed amongst family members and guests. According to the Vedic principles, there must always be a guest in a householder’s house. In my childhood I have actually seen my father receive not less than four guests every day.”
From Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, Madhya 10.119:
“O ocean of mercy, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu! Let there be an awakening of Your auspicious mercy, which easily drives away all kinds of material lamentation by making everything pure and blissful. Indeed, Your mercy awakens transcendental bliss and covers all material pleasures. By Your auspicious mercy, quarrels and disagreements arising among different scriptures are vanquished. Your auspicious mercy pours forth transcendental mellows and thus causes the heart to jubilate. Your mercy, which is full of joy, always stimulates devotional service and glorifies conjugal love of God. May transcendental bliss be awakened within my heart by Your causeless mercy.”
[This above verse is from Sri Caitanya-candrodaya-naṭaka 8.10).]
From Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, Madhya 25.30:
“In this Age of Kali, one cannot attain liberation without taking to the devotional service of the Lord. In this age, even if one chants the holy name of Krishna imperfectly, he still attains liberation very easily.”
From The Nectar of Devotion, Chapter 25:
“Anyone who becomes exhilarated by hearing of the pastimes of Lord Krishna when He was present on this earth with His associates is to be understood as nitya-siddha, eternally perfect.”
From The Nectar of Devotion, Chapter 30:
“The gopis were advised by their superiors to bolt the doors at night, but they were so carefree that they did not carry out this order very rigidly. Sometimes, by thinking of Krishna, they became so confident of being out of all danger that they would lie down at night in the courtyards of their houses.”
From The Nectar of Devotion, Chapter 34:
“Whenever there is a recitation of poetry or a dramatic play on the different pastimes of Krishna, the audience develops different kinds of transcendental loving service for the Lord. They enjoy different types of vibhava, anubhava and sañcari-bhava.
“No one, while remaining on the material platform, should discuss these different descriptions of bhava and anubhava by quoting different statements of transcendental literatures. Such manifestations are displays of the transcendental pleasure potency of the Lord. One should simply try to understand that on the spiritual platform there are many varieties of reciprocal love. Such loving exchanges should never be considered to be material. In the Mahabharata, Bhisma-parva, it is warned that things which are inconceivable should not be subjected to arguments. Actually, the transactions of the spiritual world are inconceivable to us in our present state of life. Great liberated souls like Rupa Gosvami and others have tried to give us some hints of transcendental activities in the spiritual world, but on the whole these transactions will remain inconceivable to us at the present moment. Understanding the exchanges of transcendental loving service with Krishna is possible only when one is actually in touch with the pleasure potency of the Supreme Lord.”
From Teachings of Lord Kapila, Chapter 13, Text 30, purport:
“If Krishna sees that someone is sincerely chanting Hare Krishna, He will help. He is within everyone, and He can understand whether one is sincere or not. Krishna helps a sincere devotee internally and externally. Internally He helps as Paramatma by giving intelligence from within. Dadami buddhi-yogam tam. Externally he helps as His representative, the spiritual master.”
Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami:
From Japa Transformations:
“Japa is its own world, contained as if within a glass ball … Think of Radha and Krishna in a simple way. Have faith that They are hearing you and reciprocating with you. They want you in Their pastimes, and this can be achieved by chanting. Never underestimate the miraculous potency of harinama.”
“Japa is an art. It’s a gift from Krishna. We have to take advantage of it. You have to put your heart into it and not just chant off rounds mechanically. Feel your chanting, believe in it, adhere to it, and be sorry you’re not doing better. But rise to the occasion. There’s always another chance, another bead, another round.”
From EJW #40: Seeing Krishna Within the Cloud:
“Nothing is simpler (or starker) than simply chanting and hearing and leaving all discourse or feeling aside. Don’t dwell on how ‘I’ feel. Just be there and say the mantra. When the mind wanders, bring it back to the simple act of vibrating and hearing Hare Krsna mantra.”
From Day by Day: A Record of a 7-Day Japa Vrata:
“You are a counter of holy names. You can always come back to this. Write your writings, and of course read Prabhupada’s books. But now I hope you won’t be so neglectful of the big thing to do, which is chant Hare Krishna. Then you can tell people to chant Hare Krishna because you do it yourself, and you can feel righteous. And you can feel that you’re doing the best that you can towards reaching the highest stages of Krishna consciousness. There’s a connection between japa even as you do it now, and the crying of the gopis for Krishna when they call His holy names in the forest of Vṛndavana. Remember in Krishna book how the gopis could not find Krishna and then they just sat together and chanted His holy names, Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare / Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare.”
From Tachycardia (Online Journal):
“Preaching and sadhana come together in good japa. One who has enthusiasm, taste and steadiness in chanting will progress beyond offenses and will also become a potent preacher.”
From Beginning at Second Avenue:
“In his lectures, he implored the audience to chant. He promised peace and prosperity, and he assured us it didn’t cost anything. He begged us to chant the holy name anywhere—in the factory, in the subway, in hell. How could we have chanted without Swamiji’s japa lessons? He was happy to give them to us. More than anything, he wanted us to chant. This is how he hoped to satisfy his guru and all the acaryas. It had to start with us practicing sadhana.”
Hridayananda Dasa Goswami:
From a Bhaktivedanta Institute for Higher Studies conference on cosmology on November 17–19, 2023:
“The fossil record is science, but its evolutionary interpretation is philosophy.”
Niranjana Swami:
From a class on “Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura’s Final Instructions” on January 3, 2021, in Mayapur:
Many people could advise one to give up hypocrisy and serve Hari, but because Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Ṭhakura acted on that platform his preaching was forceful.
Why does Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Ṭhakura advise to follow Rupa and Raghunath? Because they taught the service of Srimati Radharani.
Krishna wants us to serve Him selflessly so He has the opportunity to reciprocate our love.
Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Ṭhakura advises to keep fixed on the goal of Krishna’s pleasure in this brief life although most people cannot appreciate it.
We must be careful not to minimize selfless service. We must always hear about it.
“This is the world of duality. Krishna consciousness is the world of transcendence.”
Ramiya Prabhu:
Without Lord Nityananda Prabhu we cannot attain Radha-Krishna. We can see this because Lord Caitanya is Radha-Krishna Themselves, and by the grace of Nityananda one can attain Lord Caitanya.
This day of Nityananda Prabhu’s appearance day is a special opportunity as Lord Nityananda ignores our disqualifications and enables us to connect with Lord Caitanya, and ultimately, Radha Krishna.
The sentiment “Who in this world, other than Lord Nityananda Prabhu, could show His mercy to such an abominable person as me?” which is expressed by Krishnadasa Kaviraja Goswami, is something we should grab on to.
Although Jagai and Madhai were such sinners, after They surrendered to Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityananda, Their devotees completely accepted them as great Vaishnavas.
It is the mercy of Lord Nityananda that He does not see anyone as disqualified.
In this world you cannot just accept the happiness, but you have to accept the distress too.
People in this world are trying hard to forget Krishna, but Krishna is sitting in their hearts.
Make a checklist each day, and make sure that you are doing each of the five most important items of devotional service.
Krishna-bhajana Prabhu:
Quoted in Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami’s soon-to-be-published, Renewal:
“Satya-sara and I do a lot of traveling and often we find ourselves in places where there is no temple, so we visit the Catholic churches. And if there’s nobody around, we’ll even chant our rounds in them for a little while, because we like the spiritual atmosphere of the place. That way we are still kind of in touch with the Catholic Church. We don’t see ourselves as Christians or Catholics in any way but at the same time we see the Catholics as worshiping Krishna, and if they have got a nice church, we take advantage of it.”
Devaprastha Prabhu:
There is no reason that we have to accept all the ideas that arise in our minds as reality.
Malati Prabhu once told me, “Discouragement is a gift from maya, and we do not have to accept it.”
Sacinandana Swami, when he saw Giriraja Swami, told him, “I am so happy to meet you because I feel I have a lot to learn from you.” Giriraja Swami smiled and said, “I was thinking the same about you.”
When we see everyone as advanced, it is easy to have advanced association.
If we see everyone as more advanced and we serve them, we will always be safe.
Mukunda Goswami’s humility was so natural for him, he would treat me like a friend. I had to remember that he was my guru, and it would not be good for me to treat him as a friend.
Humility is understanding that whatever ability I have is Krishna’s ability.
We are supposed to associate with people who encourage us to surrender more to Krishna. If our present situation is not encouraging us in that way we have to consider if it is because we are not seeing it properly or if it means we should change our situation.
Comment
by Sruti Sagar
Prabhu: I
asked Sesa Prabhu, “If I follow Lord
Caitanya’s
Siksastaka
3 instruction
to be humble like the grass and tolerant like a tree,
couldn’t people take
advantage
of me?”
He replied, “Don’t
you think if you follow Lord
Caitanya’s
instruction that He
will protect you?”
Comment by Rasika: I told my guru that the praise the younger men give me disturbs me, and he said, “That is because you take it for yourself, rascal! You are supposed to give it to guru and Krishna!”
Comments by me:
You asked why we follow the Vaishnava etiquette, and different devotees gave different answers. The first thing that came to my mind was, “To please Lord Caitanya.” Lord Caitanya said, “My dear Sanatana, although you are the deliverer of the entire universe and although even the demigods and great saints are purified by touching you, it is the characteristic of a devotee to observe and protect the Vaishnava etiquette. Maintenance of the Vaishnava etiquette is the ornament of a devotee.” (Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, Antya 4.129–130)
The first two items of knowledge given by Krishna are humility and pridelessness (Bg. 13.8). This supports Rasika’s point that humility is the gateway to spiritual advancement.
I first saw Krishna Kshetra Swami before he took sannyasa but after he had become an initiating guru. He was so carefully filming the Nrsimha Caturdasi festival at Simhachalam in Germany, I asked him if he was the official photographer for the event. He chuckled and said, “No.” Later that day I learned he was an intiating guru. He was so humble I did not realize it.
You were glorifying Lord Nityananda for delivering the most fallen. Actually He does that to demonstrate power of the mercy of Lord Caitanya, and thereby to glorify Lord Caitanya in that way.
We are challenged in our practice of properly facilitating our superiors when we have studied for a class for an hour, and then a senior devotee comes, and we have to allow him to give the class instead.
You mentioned that Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura advised beating the mind morning and evening. Another strategy is to neglect the mind.
You were mentioning how bad the desire for fame is. Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura compared it to the dung of a boar. The boar survives by eating the dung of other animals, so its dung is the most disgusting!
You mentioned that if we follow Srila Prabhupada’s instructions, more will be revealed to us. Srila Prabhupada writes in the preface to the Nectar of Instruction: “In all spiritual affairs, one’s first duty is to control his mind and senses. Unless one controls his mind and senses, one cannot make any advancement in spiritual life. Everyone within this material world is engrossed in the modes of passion and ignorance. One must promote himself to the platform of goodness, sattva-guna, by following the instructions of Rupa Gosvami, and then everything concerning how to make further progress will be revealed.”
Although praising people could cause them to become unnecessarily proud and thus be bad for them, it could also encourage them to continue doing their service nicely and thus be beneficial for them.
Govinda Kaviraja Prabhu:
My wife gave prasadam from Lord Nityananda’s feast to my parents who are not devotees. That night my mother had a dream in which the devotees were chanting Hare Krishna. Thus we can see the power of prasadam.
In the Nrsimha prayer first the Lord’s blessing Prahlada is mentioned and later His killing of Hiranyakasipu. Thus we see that the Lord’s giving pleasure to His devotee is more important than His chastising the demoniac.
Our philosophy is very practical. Sometimes I have had to hire people to help out. If I get a worker in the mode of ignorance, I can only give him services involving destruction. If I ask him to create something, he cannot do it.
-----
This verse tells how purifying the chanting of the holy name is. Even if chanted improperly it frees us from so much bad karma. Srila Prabhupada wanted his followers to chant in public at least an hour a day to bless the people in general in this way.
sanketyam
parihasyam va
stobham
helanam eva va
vaikuntha-nama-grahanam
asesagha-haram
viduh
“One who chants the holy name of the Lord is immediately freed from the reactions of unlimited sins, even if he chants indirectly [to indicate something else], jokingly, for musical entertainment, or even neglectfully. This is accepted by all the learned scholars of the scriptures.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 6.2.14)
