(Week 18: April 30–May 6, 2025)
Where I Went and What I Did
For the eighteenth week of 2025, I continued chanting Hare Krishna in the Paris area for three days. The third day I took the train to Brussels Midi and chanted outside that train station until I did three hours of harinama altogether. The last hour I was joined by Govardhan Prabhu, a devotee from Ukraine, who coincidentally happened by and who later invited me for dinner. On Saturday I did harinama in Ghent with Radhadesh devotees in the afternoon, and then took a couple of trains to Amsterdam to catch the last two hours of the Amsterdam Kirtan Mela. Sunday I attended a holy name seminar in Amstel Park with Sacinandana Swami, and then chanted Hare Krishna with four devotees from there through the streets to the Amsterdam temple for the Sunday feast program, where Sacinandana Swami gave the lecture. Monday was a holiday in the Netherlands, and Rati Manjari Devi Dasi organized a two-hour harinama throughout the city that was attended by about fifteen devotees.
Ananda Vrindavan Devi Dasi organized a two-hour harinama in Rotterdam the next day, also attended by about fifteen enthusiastic devotees. Those last two days I would chant before and after those harinamas by myself to and from the harinama spots as to do three hours each day.
I share quotes from Srila Prabhupada’s The Nectar of Devotion and a quote from a lecture of his. I share some verses from the latter cantos of Srimad-Bhagavatam with translations and purports by his humble servants. I share quotes from Sri Caitanya-bhagavata by Vrindavana Dasa Thakura and its commentary by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati. I share notes on classes by Janananda Goswami, Sacinandana Swami, and Mandakini Devi Dasi. I share quotes from Mukunda Goswami’s Miracle on Second Avenue. I share notes from the Bhaktivedanta Institute legacy talks by Ramesvara and Ranjit Prabhus.
Thanks to the Rotterdam temple congregation, to Ananda Vrindavan Devi Dasi, and another devotee lady of that congregation, whose name begins with “S” for their very generous donations. Thanks to Rati Manjari Devi Dasi for organizing the Liberation Day harinama in Amsterdam and to Ananda Vrindavan Devi Dasi for organizing the Rotterdam harinama, and thanks to them also for the photos and videos. Thanks to Vivek of Lelystad for his transportation, accommodation, and prasadam during my Amsterdam visit. Thanks to Toshan Krishna Prabhu, also of Lelystad, for the rides to and from Amsterdam. Thanks to Vrindaranya Priya Prabhu for allowing me to stay in the Brussels temple. Thanks to Govardhan Prabhu of Ukraine, living in Brussels, for chanting with me for an hour, for the nice dinner, and for assistance in getting to the temple. Thanks to Asta-sakhi Devi Dasi for finding my shoes which disappeared from vision for the week between King’s Day and the Amsterdam Kirtan Mela. Thanks to Rasa Parayana Prabhu of Paris for allowing me to borrow his old phone when I lost mine. Thanks to Murli Gopal Prabhu and Bhaktan Deva for offering replacement phones.
Itinerary
May 7–June 15: NYC Harinam
– May 27–29: Washington, D.C., harinamas with Sankarsana Prabhu
– May 29–30: Baltimore harinamas to promote Ratha-yatra
–May 31: Baltimore Ratha-yatra
mid June–mid August: Paris?
– June 22: Paris Ratha-yatra?
– July 11: Amsterdam harinama?
– July 12: Amsterdam Ratha-yatra?
– July 13: Holland harinama?
Chanting Hare Krishna in Paris
I gave a Srimad-Bhagavatam class in Paris on April 29, the last day of the previous week, and more people liked it than usual, so I am sharing it here (https://www.youtube.com/live/X3_EuEXCDgs):
Revatinandana Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at Place de la République in Paris (https://youtu.be/7wnZ36nM0H8):
Krishna Kumar Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at Place de la République in Paris (https://youtu.be/U1VoQ-iVqMI):
Vidjai chants Hare Krishna at Saint-Michel in Paris (https://youtu.be/-qizAmbUZk0):
Rohininandana Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at Saint-Michel, and devotee ladies dance (https://youtu.be/ZAH_XclQp8Q):
Rohininandana Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at Saint-Michel, and onlookers play shakers and dance (https://youtu.be/Q1X3zuXsxA4):
Param Karuna Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at Saint-Michel in Paris (https://youtu.be/Y_GQnD3KU-U):
Anapurna Devi Dasi chants Hare Krishna at Saint-Michel in Paris (https://youtu.be/BHZAG8eGnKg):
The next day, I planned to chant Hare Krishna for an hour at the Sarcelles market, a place that we would chant at with a party of a few devotees several times a year. Unfortunately, no one joined me, so I just chanted at the Garges Sarcelles train station. It is always austere there as there are people just hanging out, intoxicated to different degrees. One who may have been from an Indian or Bangladeshi background glanced through the French “On Chanting Hare Krishna,” taking out the page with the picture of Krishna on it to keep, before returning it to me.
He kissed the picture of Krishna before putting it in his pocket. He and some friends also took invitations to the temple with its Sunday feast, just fifteen minutes away by bus. Later I chanted another half hour at Gare du Nord, as I waited for my budget train to Brussels.
Chanting Hare Krishna in Belgium
I only chanted Hare Krishna an hour and a half in the Paris area before my train to Brussels, so I decided to chant for another hour and a half outside Brussels Midi, between the train station and the buses and trams. Govardhan Prabhu of Ukraine, who was passing by, joined me for the last hour (https://youtu.be/xYi7XJCUcH4):
I decided to collect donations in my hat, which I positioned upside down on the pavement in front of me, and give them to the temple. Within a minute I got my first donation, and within three minutes two young women played the shakers. Both groups accepted the French “On Chanting Hare Krishna,” as did three other people that day.
I was starving since in my hurry to leave, I left my lunch in Paris, and Govardhan Prabhu offered me a very nice dinner after harinama. Then he went with me to the Brussels temple.
I took the train to Ghent and wandered around the city for half an hour until I found the harinama party, which was said to consist of half Radhadesh devotees and the other half from elsewhere in Belgium. Janananda Goswami says Ghent is the best city in the Benelux for harinama because of the alternative people there.
Here Amita Krishna Prabhu chants Hare Krishna at St. Michael’s Church in Ghent (https://youtu.be/e_LHWkN8aZ4):
Amita Krishna Prabhu chants Hare Krishna along a street in Ghent (https://youtu.be/Vuv0RNneQG8):
Here Sandipani Muni Krishna Prabhu, attending a youth retreat at Radhadesh, chants Hare Krishna in Ghent (https://youtu.be/B3-t7C_vd4M):
Sandipani Muni Krishna Prabhu chants Hare Krishna in a square (https://youtu.be/U1fL5qQXWBw):
In another square in Ghent, as Sandipani sang, onlookers danced with devotees (https://youtu.be/xDAdZZ25Q8Q):
At one point, devotees and onlookers danced in a circle (https://youtu.be/rbe5xRQ-IsM):
Later Sandipani engaged some people who had danced with us in chanting the Hare Krishna responsively (https://youtu.be/1xaOecFbY0Y):
Gopinath Prabhu of Radhadesh chants Hare Krishna in Ghent (https://youtu.be/hKq5Cw-Tbcs):
Many people in Ghent were happy to see the harinama, to take photos of it, and to accept the prasadam, invitations, and books the devotees distributed.
After an hour and a half, I had to leave to catch my trains to Amsterdam for their kirtan mela.
Chanting Hare Krishna in Amsterdam
Here Sacinandana Swami chants Hare Krishna at the Amsterdam Kirtan Mela (https://youtu.be/ocBxa8UUleo):
Toward the end of his kirtan, devotees got up and danced (https://youtu.be/5SdC-KRO6uI):
Tarana Caitanya Prabhu chants the final Hare Krishna kirtan at Amsterdam Kirtan Mela (https://youtu.be/F-bM7fz2SiA):
Sacinandana Swami chants Hare Krishna at Amsterdam Holy Name Retreat (https://youtu.be/z8kbxlqfyN0):
On Sunday I was happy that I found four devotees to do harinama between Sacinandana Swami’s holy name seminar in Amstel Park and the Amsterdam temple where we had a Sunday feast program. Here Mantrini Devi Dasi leads the Hare Krishna chant (https://youtu.be/cwK7ijKjHto):
In Amsterdam so many more people take invitations than in New York and Paris, three just in this short video.
Sacinandana Swami chants Hare Krishna at Amsterdam Sunday feast program (https://youtu.be/Eo7OBu_eHhw):
Because our Monday harinama was scheduled for two hours and I like to do three, I decided to chant on the way to the harinama and on the way home. As I was walking through Amsterdam Zuid train station playing the shakers and chanting Hare Krishna, a young woman asked if I could sing her a song. I said I only know Hare Krishna, and I gave her some shakers, and her friend filmed her playing the shakers with me as I chanted Hare Krishna. I got to the harinama site twenty-one minutes early. One man chanted Hare Krishna upon encountering me. He was a regular customer for prasadam at our temple’s previous address and was happy to learn of the new location. Later two young women moved to the music, so I offered them shakers and they played along. Then another devotee arrived, and I encouraged the women to chant the response along with that devotee, and they did. As they left I gave them an invitation to the Sunday feast program and an “On Chanting Hare Krishna.”
Here Rati Manjari Devi Dasi chants Hare Krishna in Amsterdam on Liberation Day (https://youtu.be/MY3uFxMRS9c):
Sometimes we stopped walking for a while, and the devotees danced (https://youtu.be/WfBS_HqHnag):
At Dam Square, Bhaktin Laura led the Hare Krishna chant (https://youtu.be/Aquk7vMxdsw):
Some devotees danced during her kirtan (https://youtu.be/pswQokBOXCo):
The people in Amsterdam are so much more interested in accepting invitations, prasadam, and the free literature than in Paris and New York which was refreshing.
The next day I chanted Hare Krishna and played my shakers while I waited for about three quarters of an hour at Amsterdam Sloterdijk for the Flixbus to Rotterdam. An older lady from Winnipeg, Canada, asked if I was a monk, and what kind of a monk I was. I said I was a Hare Krishna monk. She asked to take a photo of me. I asked if she was interested in spiritual topics, and she said yes so I gave her “On Chanting Hare Krishna.” I said I had a friend who had walked across Canada, not just once, but four times. I said she could find out about his interesting story on the internet by searching for “walking monk”.
Chanting Hare Krishna in Rotterdam
Of all the placed I visited, Rotterdam got the award for hospitality.
There Narayani Devi Dasi cooked a feast for my lunch with three sabjis, chapatis, soup, spring rolls, samosas, fruit, and sweet rice. I had to really discipline myself not to eat too much. There was enough for dinner and my entire journey to New York the next day. Three people also gave me donations.
Rotterdam devotees used to have a weekly harinama followed by a feast every Saturday, but with the disruptions caused by COVID, that came to an end, and they hadn’t done harinama in quite some time.
I chanted Hare Krishna at the beginning of the harinama (https://youtu.be/fM2XhQJStjA):
Here Harinama Devi Dasi chants Hare Krishna in Rotterdam (https://youtu.be/WOoxpguIoYc):
While Harinama Devi Dasi was chanting Hare Krishna, passersby played shakers and danced (https://youtu.be/56DN0Rj0iM0):
Many, many thanks to Ananda Vrindavan Devi Dasi, playing the drum in the above video, for enthusiastically arranging for the harinama and my visit, and thus showing herself to be a loyal disciple of Janananda Goswami, one of the most enthusiastic supporters of harinama in ISKCON.
Insights
Srila Prabhupada:
From The Nectar of Devotion, Chapter 24:
“Persons who can give themselves to anyone are called magnanimous. No one could be more magnanimous than Krishna, because He is always prepared to give Himself completely to His devotee. Even to one who is not a devotee, Krishna in His form of Lord Caitanya is prepared to give Himself and to grant deliverance.”
From The Nectar of Devotion, Chapter 25:
“A person who has attained the stage of attraction for Krishna and who is not freed from the material impasse, but who has qualified himself to enter into the kingdom of God, is called sadhaka. Sadhaka means one who is cultivating devotion in Krishna consciousness.”
“When a devotee is never tired of executing devotional service and is always engaged in Krishna conscious activities, constantly relishing the transcendental mellows in relationship with Krishna, he is called perfect.”
“There is the following nice statement in the Third Canto, Fifteenth Chapter, verse 25, of Srimad-Bhagavatam, describing a devotee who achieves perfection by regularly executing devotional service: A person who is freed from the false egotism of material existence, or an advanced mystic, is eligible to enter into the kingdom of God, known as Vaikuntha. Such a mystic becomes so joyful by constant execution of the regulative principles of devotional service that he thereby achieves the special favor of the Supreme Lord. Yamaraja, the mighty superintendent of death, is afraid to go near such a devotee; so we can imagine the potency of advanced devotional service, especially when devotees sit together and engage in talking of the pastimes of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Those devotees express their feelings in such a way that they automatically melt with ecstasy, and many transcendental symptoms become manifested in their bodies. Anyone desiring advancement in devotional service must follow in the footsteps of such devotees.”
“Persons who have achieved eternal, blissful life exactly on the level of Sri Krishna, and who are able to attract Lord Krishna by their transcendental loving service, are called eternally perfect.”
“When one is found shedding tears by hearing of the pastimes of the Lord, it is to be understood that the blazing fire of material existence will be extinguished by such watering.”
“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 26:
“To be attracted by the qualities of Krishna means to be attracted by Krishna Himself, because there is no real distinction between Krishna and His qualities. Krishna’s name is also Krishna. Krishna’s fame is also Krishna. Krishna’s entourage is also Krishna. Krishna and everything related with Krishna which gives stimulation to love of Krishna are all Krishna, but for our understanding these items may be considered separately.”
From The Nectar of Devotion, Chapter 27:
“In the Padyavali there is a statement by some devotees: ‘We shall not care for any outsiders. If they should deride us, we shall still not care for them. We shall simply enjoy the transcendental mellow of chanting Hare Krishna, and thus we shall roll on the ground and dance ecstatically. In this way we shall eternally enjoy transcendental bliss.’”
From The Nectar of Devotion, Chapter 28:
“The chanting of Hare Krishna, however, is so nice and transcendental that it will eventually melt even the hearts of persons who are impersonalists.”
From The Nectar of Devotion, Chapter 29:
“In Dana-keli-kaumudi Srimati Radharani addresses one of Her friends in this manner: ‘My dear friend, if I cannot hear of the glorious activities of Krishna, it is better for Me to become deaf. And because I am now unable to see Him, it would be good for Me to be a blind woman.’ This is another instance of disappointment due to separation from Krishna.”
From a lecture on Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.1.10 in Dallas on May 21, 1973:
“The brahmanas and ksatriyas, they require very magnificent training. Because they will administer the whole affairs of the society.”
From the humble servants of Srila Prabhupada:
From Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.32.20, purport:
“Lord Krishna intensifies our love for Him by apparently separating Himself from us, and the result is that we achieve what we really wanted and prayed for: intense love for the Absolute Truth, Krishna. Thus Lord Krishna’s apparent negligence is actually His thoughtful reciprocation and the fulfillment of our deepest and purest desire.”
From Srimad-Bhagavatam, SB 10.33.35, purport:
“What fault could there be if the Lord goes with the gopis to a secret place, since He already dwells within the most secret part of every living being, the core of the heart?”
From Srimad-Bhagavatam, SB 10.33.36, purport:
“Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura glorifies the Lord’s conjugal pastimes, stating that these romantic affairs have an inconceivable spiritual potency to attract the polluted heart of conditioned souls. It is an undeniable fact that any pure- or simple-hearted person who hears narrations of the loving affairs of Krishna will be attracted to the lotus feet of the Lord and gradually become His devotee.”
From Srimad-Bhagavatam, SB 10.33.39, purport:
“It is by the causeless mercy of Lord Krishna that He exhibits His rasa-lila within this world. If we become attached to this narration, we will experience the bliss of spiritual love and thus reject the perverted reflection of that love, which is called lust.”
From Srimad-Bhagavatam 11.2.36:
“In accordance with the particular nature one has acquired in conditioned life, whatever one does with body, words, mind, senses, intelligence or purified consciousness one should offer to the Supreme, thinking, ‘This is for the pleasure of Lord Narayana.’”
Vrindavana Dasa Thakura:
From Caitanya-bhagavata, Madhya 16.116:
“Who can recognize a recipient of Lord Caitanya’s mercy? Only one who is favored by the Lord is able.”
From Caitanya-bhagavata, Madhya 16.137:
[Lord Caitanya to Suklambhara:] “Know for certain that prema-bhakti is my life and soul.”
“The topics of Madhya-kandha are like drops of nectar. By hearing these one’s atheistic mentality is vanquished.”
Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura:
From Caitanya-bhagavata, Madhya 16.108, commentary:
“The Supreme Lord is controlled by the love of His devotee in proportion to the devotee’s endeavor to engage in His service.”
“Due to their piety, the devotees of the Lord become free from the inauspiciousness of unrestricted sense enjoyment, fruitive activities, and mental speculation.”
From Caitanya-bhagavata, Madhya 16.135, commentary:
“The Lord accomplishes His mission of distributing the holy names and love of God through the Vaishnava tridandi-sannyasis, who under the shelter of Sri Caitanyadeva wander about on the pretext of begging alms.”
From Caitanya-bhagavata, Madhya 16.140, commentary:
“It is certainly the duty of the residents of a devotional Matha to engage everything in the service of Sri Gaurasundara. This propensity is worthy of being called prema.”
From Caitanya-bhagavata, Madhya 16.148, commentary:
“Vaishnavas always consider the concepts of attaining material objects to be as insignificant as the concepts found in the state of dream and the attainment of perishable objects to be as insignificant as the state of awakening in this material world.”
From Sri Caitanya-bhagavata, Chapter Seventeen:
“Mahaprabhu told Nandana Acarya to keep His arrival a secret. Nandana Acarya informed the Lord that even though He lives in the hearts of the living entities as Supersoul and hides Himself in the ocean of milk in the form of Ksirodakasayi Vishnu, the devotees find Him in the innermost regions and reveal Him before the people of the world; therefore how could he keep Him concealed? In this way Nandana glorified the actual truth of Mahaprabhu. Being pleased with Nandana’s words, Mahaprabhu spent that night at his house discussing topics of Krishna.”
From Sri Caitanya-bhagavata, Chapter 17.5, commentary:
“Domination over others to nourish one’s false ego by persons who are expert in material considerations is called ‘pride.’”
Mukunda Goswami:
From Miracle on Second Avenue, Chapter 34 (“Pop Idols”):
“I couldn’t understand most of what he was saying, but I could read the concentration on the faces of the teenagers. Even through their layers of intoxication, they seemed alert to his words. When he called out each word of the mantra, they repeated it back to him with an exactness I’d never heard before in a crowd. The same thing happened when he taught them how to dance. He swayed back and forth, crossing one leg over the other as Prabhupada had taught us, and they copied his movement with uncommon precision. When he clapped, they clapped, and when he put the chanting, dancing and clapping together, they followed like an army division.”
“By the time the kirtan sped up again, I felt such a warm rapport with the audience that I thought we should jump off the stage and into their ranks. I conferred with the others over the noise of the kirtan, and they agreed that we should stop being a spectacle and should participate with this audience the way Lord Chaitanya had kirtan. He was never on a stage; He was always in the midst of the chanters.
“I looked at my watch. We had fifteen minutes to go.
“When we jumped down and ran to the center of the floor, the audience looked startled but then joined in more enthusiastically than ever. Members of the audience swung their arms around our necks and shouted smiling comments in German.”
“In the van on the drive back to the Hamburg temple, Suchandra said, ‘Hey, you know, one kid asked me if there was a temple in Bremen, and when I said no, he asked if he could start one!’”
“After the success of the ‘Hare Krishna Mantra’ forty-five, George Harrison suggested that we put together a longplaying record, which we later called The Radha-Krishna Temple.”
[That album was special for me because it is the cause of my first hearing of the Hare Krishna mantra.]
Janananda Goswami:
Most people aren’t looking for opportunities for anything beyond this body and this world.
Even if people get such opportunities, they do not take advantage of them.
We have emotions because of the soul.
As soon as one desires Krishna, Krishna, who is in the heart, directs one to the spiritual master.
Everyone is busy trying to make their coverings better. People spend so much money just on haircuts. But this is just focusing on the bodily covering of the soul.
The advanced devotees have no interest in gaining anything. They just want to give everyone the chance to connect with Krishna.
Have you ever tried to wake up someone who is trying to be asleep?
It is nice to hear spiritual knowledge or material knowledge but unless you put it into practice you do not get the full benefit. It is like giving a hungry person a cookbook instead of a meal.
The spiritual master gives us the recipe, but we have to follow it.
It is completely normal to want a higher taste and to not want to die, but in the material world these desires are misdirected.
Even the reflection of the reality on our consciousness purifies our consciousness.
Suppose every day someone punches you in the face, and then apologizes saying he didn’t mean to. If we realize something is displeasing to God, we should be praying for the ability to give it up.
If one wants to change his heart, that is good. If he wants everyone else to change, that is bad.
We think of the Lord as svarat, completely independent, but here He says He is completely dependent on His devotees.
Here Krishna says He can’t enjoy His opulence without His devotees. Even Arjuna was saying that he could not enjoy the kingdom if his friends were killed in the battle.
It is not so much what we do, but the intention behind what we do which matters to Krishna.
Whatever service we do, we can become attached to the praise we receive from doing it, except possibly management, where we usually just receive criticism.
Ambarisa Maharaja wasn’t praying to the Lord, “This rascal, Durvasa, has sent a fiery demon to kill me. Please save me!” Rather he epitomized mood expressed by Lord Brahma in Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.14.8: “My dear Lord, one who earnestly waits for You to bestow Your causeless mercy upon him, all the while patiently suffering the reactions of his past misdeeds and offering You respectful obeisances with his heart, words and body, is surely eligible for liberation, for it has become his rightful claim.”
Durvasa was so proud of his own body that he was willing to kill the body of Vaishnava.
Srila Prabhupada said, “Hitler said, ‘My form of sense gratification is the best.’ And Churchill said, ‘No, my form of sense gratification is the best.’ And thus they fought.”
People are fighting over everything nowadays, just like little kids.
If you see a lack of determination, you will also see an attachment to sense enjoyment that is its cause.
Everyone throughout all the planets of the universe is affected by fear, but Krishna can protect us from fear.
One Christian lady with terminal cancer was challenged by atheists, “What is your God doing for you?”
She replied, “I am just thinking of Jesus in the heart, and I have absolutely no fear.”
I asked one of these artificial intelligence programs, “What is my eternal constitutional position in the spiritual world?”
Its reply was, “You have to find a self-realized guru to learn that.”
Ambarisa Maharaja was 24/7 engaged in selfless devotional service.
Krishna wants the mood not the food.
Nothing belongs to us, so we cannot give it up.
Sanatana Goswami wanted to give up his body, but Lord Caitanya told him it was not his to give up.
A problem a lot of devotees have is imitation.
First we have to understand that we belong to Krishna. Later we can think that Krishna is ours.
When you use the bathroom sink do not give others the privilege of cleaning it after you.
Winston Churchill says communism is equal distribution of miseries.
People fight over next to nothing, and they kill over next to nothing.
Whether he was being whipped or being praised, Haridasa Thakura was just chanting Hare Krishna.
A pure devotee feels pain seeing the suffering of others, no matter who they are.
We may not be attached to Krishna, but we are attached to the activities of Krishna consciousness.
When you offend someone, you have to go to that person to ask for forgiveness. You cannot go to someone else.
If you blaspheme someone on social media, it is not enough to ask the person for forgiveness. You have to admit you are a blasphemer on social media, and you have to apologize.
C (by Narottama Prabhu): I find I have none of the 26 qualities of a pure devotee.
A: If you cultivate attachment to Krishna through the different devotional activities, you will gradually acquire the 26 qualities.
Generally we try to concentrate on the sound of the syllables of the holy name and concentrate on our service and not worry about the permutations of the false ego.
We have to see that our minds are not taken away from the chanting.
Q: I feel that if I have these qualities of a pure devotee I will be exploited.
A: Actually those who do not have these qualities are exploited by the material energy.
Comments by me:
You were talking about how wealth is no guarantee of happiness. It reminded me that in one famously wealthy Indian family the son committed suicide because his parents would not let him marry the girl he liked.
Vaiyasaki Prabhu interviewed devotees who had left and concluded in all cases the cause was failure to act as recommended in Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.14.8.
Sudama Brahmana is someone whose wealth did not corrupt him.
Sacinandana Swami:
From a holy name retreat:
Depression has increased by 218% in the last two years.
We need to talk about sadhana, not theoretically but practically.
We need to develop a real taste for sadhana, because we always find time for that we have a taste for.
It is here in the heart that the real you, who is part and parcel of Krishna, resides.
It is the pure soul in the heart who sings and not the troubled mind.
I had a shocking realization 23 years ago. I had given up my duties in the West, and I was planning to live in Vrindavan for several years. They gave me the night shift on the 24-hour kirtan, from 10 p.m. to 4 p.m. It was the most difficult thing I have done in this life. I had a harmonium player, a mrdanga player, and two karatalas players. First the harmonium player fell asleep, and then the mrdanga player fell asleep. Then one of the karatalas players excused himself to answer a call of nature and never returned. Then the other left. I did not hear the bell ring every hour, so the chowidar must have fallen asleep too. I myself was struggling. I could see without taste for the holy name, I could not keep this up. I always ended up falling asleep, but I returned the second and third day. After some time, I developed a taste for the chanting, and those who assisted me also acquired some taste, and we did not understand how the time from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. had passed.
When my mind and heart can connect with Krishna in the eternal spiritual plane, then I am beyond the influence of time.
Sambandha means totally bound.
If I want to do japa I have to bring my mind back to the reality that I am eternal, Krishna is eternal, and I want to go there.
Chanting is not about finishing your rounds. It is about praising the Lord.
Our minds can act in two ways.
(1) A very enthusiastic Krishna conscious way.
(2) Absorbed in fault-finding, distraction, etc.
In bhakti about 10% is our own effort, and 90% is Krishna’s mercy. We should not be despondent. We should just give whatever we can.
As part of an Ayurvedic program, we did one hour of yoga each day. The instructor was very good. After some time, the yoga instructor asked me for instruction on bhakti.
If Krishna takes us, everything is possible. We only have to try our best.
When the devotee chants the name of the Lord, the Lord’s mind dwells on him, and He decides to give him full protection.
Sridhara Swami, the original commentator on the Bhagavatam, says the Lord delivered Ajamila, although he chanted the holy name to indicate his son, so how much more likely is He willing to deliver one who chants the holy name just to please Him.
In the Adi Purana, Krishna tells Arjuna, “When one chants My holy name, with or without faith, that person’s name will remain forever in my heart. I will never forget such a soul.”
While I chanted Hare Krishna in my residence in Vrindavan for a month in seclusion, I heard a devotee enthusiastically chanting very attentively every day nearby. After the month, I asked him his secret. He replied, “The name goes from my heart through my lips to the ears of the one whose name I am chanting, and He decides to give me some mercy.”
You need to maintain bodily cleanliness and cleanliness of the environment, and also to keep the mind pure.
Do not allow your mind to become a garbage heap of negative thoughts.
The desert retreats bring what is in a person out.
Mauna for Gaudiya Vaishnavas is not avoiding material sound but vibrating spiritual sound.
Some people practice chanting only the holy name for a month.
We also practice the silencing of the mind’s chatter when we chant japa, and this is very important.
Srila Prabhupada told a devotee who said he could not control his mind to go out into the field and chant the holy name so loudly it drowns out everything.
The constitutional position of the mind, in which it is most satisfied, is silence.
Do not believe everything you think. It is someone else talking, not you.
The Amsterdam Kirtan Mela yesterday was better this year for two reasons:
(1) The hall was filled with devotees.
(2) The devotees were more into it.
Krishna transforms our chanting from mechanically moving the lips and vocal cords into a divine event.
I could see many really absorbed people with blissful smiles. This is what we need. We need philosophy to move in the right direction, but experience speaks louder than words.
That kirtan mela yesterday was the real thing.
Atidesa is used by Jiva Goswami to indicate the transference of spiritual qualities to something that thus becomes spiritualized.
Much research shows that those who have meaning in their lives have a much different experience of life than those who do not. Such people are able to go through any difficulties they encounter in life.
We are standing before Krishna, and we are asking Him, “Please accept me in Your service.”
If you can chant with the meaning of the mantra in your mind, you will survive.
During COVID things slowed down, but afterward things continued double speed.
If you have taste, your japa will be without haste.
There are deeper topics regarding the holy names, but until we improve our practice by including the items we discussed today, you will not be able to assimilate these.
The sixteen names of the maha-mantra are like sixteen pots of nectar. Gopal Guru Goswami tells about these. You can find on Google.
There is a secret to the chanting. The chanting is open to everyone, but only those who know the secret get the full benefit. It is like a match box. Unless you know to take the matches out of the box and to strike them against the side of the box you do not get the benefit of the match box.
From a Sunday feast lecture in Amsterdam:
Whenever we start to chant, we are invited to recognize in the holy name something that we have not recognized before.
I was chanting at the house of Carl Jung in Zurich, and it was one of the most powerful kirtans I encountered in the West.
Brahmanas were seen to be intermediaries between God and man. However, Lord Caitanya taught that everyone can directly connect God by chanting His holy names. This was revolutionary. The brahmanas were disturbed as their monopoly on religion was challenged.
When you dance in kirtan you should dance beyond the mind, dance beyond your neuroses.
Students would chant the holy names when they opened their books to study. However, after Lord Caitanya returned from Gaya, when he heard His students chant the holy names He went into ecstasy.
Lord Caitanya was concerned with the purity of the kirtan.
First he chanted in the house of Srivasa Thakura. Then He encouraged his followers to chant on the thresholds of their houses. Then He took the chanting to the streets.
People who heard His chanting were captivated and began to follow Him.
He was so influential that Muslim rulers were inspired to accept Him as the Supreme Lord.
More than merely being a miracle worker, He was changing the people and making them lovers of God.
Srila Prabhupada was challenged by an Indian man in India at a pandal with 20,000 attendees to show some miracle. He pointed to his disciples who were formerly addicted to all kinds of materialistic habits but who were now chanting Hare Krishna, and he told them to begin kirtan. Inspired by the kirtan, everyone in the crowd began to dance.
When viewing a religion, people are most afraid of dogma and a sectarian onlook.
When our Gauranga Band played in Warsaw, Poland, years ago, people were so inspired they would chant Hare Krishna on the trams on their way home. While chanting they would dance, moving from one side of the tram to the other. In the course of the evening, two or three trams became unbalanced and overturned, and it created a sensation that was written up in the newspapers.
Transformation of the heart is the goal of spiritual practice.
Prabhupada said that Gandhi funded his movement through gold made by an alchemical progress.
Five items of spiritual practice:
1. follow a path
2. follow certain restrictions
3. accept a name that you chant
4. get the gayatri mantra
5. do some worship like deity worship or sacrifice
See if your heart is transforming to that of a servant of God. If not, then inquire what you are doing wrong.
Q: We preach broadly in a universal way that we can become purified by chanting any name of God. People become attracted, but when they attend our programs, they see our worship is quite specific, and they find that a negative thing. How do we get past this?
A: By maturity and pure realizations.
I see religion like this:
Suppose a river has very pure water.
Some people bottle the water and market it as Hindu water.
Others bottle the water and market it as Christian water.
But it is all the same water.
Humility means you see the greatness of Krishna, and you see yourself as small in comparison. Thus it is based on absorption in Krishna. Low self-esteem is based on absorption in our failings but is not focused on the greatness of Krishna.
Krishna’s mercy is greater than my capacity to make mistakes.
Mandakini Devi Dasi:
In the sixties when I met the devotees everyone was looking toward the east. Everyone was interested in liberation. We were studying different tribes and their spiritual engagements. We heard from a Mayavadi guru. We decided to go to India. We got a job to raise money. A young French man with a tuft of hear saw us reading these Mayavadi books and asked if we were interested in spiritual topics. We said yes. He showed us Srimad-Bhagavatam which he said could give us liberation from samsara.
Srila Prabhupada said if you chant your 16 rounds in the morning, you will be protected by Krishna as if you are in a spiritual bubble.
If you look at the news, you will hardly see any good news.
We are fearful because we identify with our bodies, and we are fearful of losing something we are attached to.
The KGB considered communism had three enemies: rock’n’roll, Cola-Cola, and Hare Krishna.
When Ananta Shanti Prabhu, the first Russian devotee, was threatened with torture for a third time, he felt like he could not take it anymore. Then two Bhagavad-gita verses suddenly appeared in his mind, and he became fearless: “The soul can never be cut to pieces by any weapon, nor burned by fire, nor moistened by water, nor withered by the wind. This individual soul is unbreakable and insoluble, and can be neither burned nor dried. He is everlasting, present everywhere, unchangeable, immovable and eternally the same.” (Bhagavad-gita 2.23–24)
When my friends and I saw Srila Prabhupada get very angry at a man who said Krishna had no form, we decided to leave. We thought that God had no form and that sadhus should not become angry so Prabhupada did not seem to be the guru we were looking for. We packed our bags, but before we could leave, Yamuna told us Srila Prabhupada wanted to see us. Srila Prabhupada was so kind in his dealings with us, after meeting him, we had no desire to leave. Thus Srila Prabhupada saved us from Mayavadi philosophy.
Srila Prabhupada said that in the celestial planets the residents are so beautiful we would faint if we saw them.
When we suffer as devotees, Krishna is not punishing us. He just wants us to be aware that this world is a miserable place.
Sometimes we meet an unexpected challenge in our spiritual lives. One preacher says that is what kept us from going back to Godhead in our previous life. He advises that we should be tolerant and absorb ourselves in our spiritual practice to get beyond it.
In Vrindavan no one reminds Krishna that He is God. He is happy just accepting their love there.
If we pass tests with gratitude and humility, Krishna rewards in a big way.
Q: How do we recognize the tests of Krishna?
A: For a devotee all the tests are tests of Krishna. They are meant to help us to become perfect in our service to Krishna.
Comments by me not made due to time:
You were talking about all the wars in the world. There is a web site called warsintheworld.com that lists dozens of them.
You mentioned how the Hare Krishna mantra protects us from fear. Laura, the first president of our Krishna Club at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, would chant eight rounds a day as a beginning devotee. When finals came, she decided she would stop chanting and use the time to study. She then felt incredible anxiety. She had not realized that the whole semester her chanting had been protecting her from this anxiety, and after her finals she eagerly resumed her chanting.
Once I shut my hand in a van door. I remember thinking, “Krishna, I know this world is a miserable place. I do not need this to happen to remind me!”
Ramesvara Prabhu:
From his Bhaktivedanta Institute legacy speech:
“For Origins magazine Prabhupada had told me: I want a book about reincarnation or about proving that life did not start, human life didn’t start 500,000 years ago, or a million years, or whatever it was that the current scientists were teaching, anthropologists and whatever. From that instruction that I got, Sadaputa teamed up with Drutakarma, and they moved to San Diego and did this amazing research, which we paid for, and ended up publishing the book Forbidden Archeology, which is a real challenge to scientists in that field. Sadaputa branched out and expanded the mission of the Bhaktivedanta Institute, and the BBT was funding both camps. I wanted to share with you that history. I just fell in love with Sadaputa because he liked the idea of smashing, in an eloquent way.”
Ranjit Prabhu:
From his Bhaktivedanta Institute legacy speech:
“Speaking of Sadaputa’s background as a mathematician, I was at a Sunday feast when I was living in Prabhupada Village in North Carolina, and we had a guest at the Sunday feast who was a math teacher at North Carolina University. He had been in the same mathematics class with Sadaputa at Cornell University when Sadaputa was an undergraduate. I asked this professor, what is your impression of Sadaputa, of Richard Thompson?
“He said: Well, it was like this – the professor would give his math students different problems, and he would give them a week to present him with a solution to the problems. Sadaputa would take that problem, and he would turn it around that afternoon and present it. This professor acknowledged in a way that Sadaputa was head and shoulders above the rest of his class. He was in his own league.”
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I am writing this on the disappearance day of Jayananda Prabhu. I recall he had a verse book, and Bhagavad-gita 8.14 was written in it. In that verse, Krishna tells how He is easily attained. If you want to attain Krishna easily, follow this instruction of His. The verse is also a favorite of mine.
ananya-cetah satatam
tasyaham sulabhah partha
nitya-yuktasya yoginah
“For one who always remembers Me without deviation, I am easy to obtain, O son of Pritha, because of his constant engagement in devotional service.” (Bhagavad-gita 8.14)
