Dear Devotees:
Hare Krsna! Please accept my most respectful obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.All glories to your services.
What an AMAZING festival! Its not me who is saying, this statement is coming from the heavens :) The demigods are showering flowers at all of you for puting together such a wonderful festival for the pleasure of Srila Prabhupada and Sri Sri Radha Kujabhiari ji!
We wanted to put our observation about the festival in few words for the pleasure of all the devotees and express our heartfelt appreciation for all the services rendered.
When we arrived Saturday morning, we couldn't wait to see all the devotees. When we arrived at Swapnil Prabhu and Shephali Mataji's house we saw every one engrossed in their respective service. Shephali Mataji and Dipti Mataji were busy cooking the dinner prasadam for the devotees. Swapnil Prabhu and Sanjay Prabhu busy working on the CDs. Shankararanya Prabhu and his team of devotees working on the alter. What a sight to behold, everyone working together for the pleasure of Srila Prabhupada. Shankararanya Prabhu told me how the devotees have worked so hard to put the alter together and that one Tanvi Mataji, Shephali Matajis friends had helped a lot in putting together the alter and inspite of her pregnancy, how Tejasvini Mataji had worked so hard in making all the arrangments for the alter. What a dedication!. Shephali Mataji and Dipti Mataji prepared some nice Bhel Puri for everyone. We just felt so much at home. Bloomington is our second home anyways :) Then we were eager to move on to the next destination the abode of Sri Sri Nitai Gaura Hari where Vrindapati Prabhu his wife and others were busy making preparations for the Prasadam. When we arrived there, we saw Vrindarani Mataji as usual enthusiatically performing her services with the help of other matajis. Vrindapati Prabhu servered us some nice hot Pav Bhaji Prasadam, We just ate and ate and ate. Vrindapati Prabhu very lovingly engaged me in some menial services, although I was trying my best to escape it a conditional soul like me is always trying to run away from Krsna's services, but devotees are so kind that they bring us back to our original service. Service to Krsna! We then left that place and came back to where the devotees where working on alter. Although it was so late I didn't see any sort of tiredness or anyone not wanting to do any services. Everyone was blissfully engaged in their respective service. I was then on to my service of putting Gaurangi to sleep in the process I also fell asleep :) When I woke up, it was morning.
The first anxiety for many devotees on the festival day is to get their chanting of 16 rounds done as there will not be time during the day as everyone will be engaged in so many services. So many devotees stayed in their respective homes and finished their rounds in the morning and then I was onto Vrindapati Prabhu's place to work with him on the final preparation. While we were discussing my phone rang and to my surprise it was a call from HH Radhanath Swami Maharaj from New York. I felt like a dejavu, as last year something similar happened when I was discussing the details about Janmasatami with one devotee, Maharaj had called. Maharaj gave us his profuse blessings for the success of this event and he was remembering each and every devotee he knows. Then shortly there after Shankararanya Prabhu arrived and we continued our discussion about the event and then as usual Krsna has his ways to put devotees in anxiety, there was some confusion about the sound system not working properly so Shankaranaya Prahbu had to leave and get that sorted out, we found out later that things are in control. I was busy working on my talk for the evening, while I was doing that I could hear the matajis in the kitchen who were cooking prasadam for the evening event, singing the Hare Krsna Maha mantra while they were doing their cooking service. It was very pleasing to here them sing. We had lunch prasadam at Vrindapati Prabhu's place which was very nicely prepared by Shephali Mataji. Then everyone rushed to the load the Uhual van for transporation. All the prabhus were gathered there. Our Baba Prabhu has this service every year to rent the van and take full responsibilites of transporation and he does this so WELL. We all hurried to the Center so we could arrange everything on time. When I arrived there devotees were already busy decorating and arranging everything. Pani Prabhu and his wife had the service of bringing the deities Sri Sri Radha Kunjabhiri from Chicago, they had already arrived. When the alter was ready for them to reside, we brought the deities inside the hall. Shankararanya Prabhu led some nice kirtan for their pleasure. Devotees were so much in the mood of service, I remember so many devotees coming to me asking for more service, especially Arvind Prabhu, he was so full of energy willing to do anything asked of him.
The event opened with singing of the Hare Krsna Maha Mantra by Vrindarani Mataji, then Shephali Mataji led and then Vrindapati Prabhu led the Nrshima Prayers to remove any obstacles on our path for the success of the event. Vrindapati Prabhu did a fine Job of making the guests comfortable he made the initial announcements and explained everyone about the schdeule. He garlended Sunil Madhava Prabhu our special guest, the Ex- Temple President of our Chicago temple. He spoke few words of appreciation and about the event. Guests were slowly coming to the event and the hall was getting filled up. The best part of the event was our Drama so wonderfully directed by Shankararanya Prabhu, we decided to do this when the house is full. So we switched the play to the end and the lecture before the play. The Drama was the highlight of the event, each and everyone did a fantastic job, Vikas-Devotee,Prakash- Kali, Baba-Greed, Anubhava-Madness (Yippe), Shrikant- Fascination, Sharad- Envy, Seenu-Anger and the lethal weapon Lust(is must) - Girish. Shanakararanya Prabhu you really put out a great show in the form of this play. The moment the play was over all the actors had to rush to perform the seva of Prasadam distribution. I personally witnessed some amazing enthusiasiam from all the devotees thruout the festival. Arvind Prabhu in the end approached me and mentioned as to how happy and blissful he was doing the menial services asked of him.
We personally want to thank each and everyone for doing everything you have done to put out a great show.
Unlimited Gratitude and thanks to Vrindapati Prabhu and his wife Vrindarani Mataji for managing the overall cordination of the festival and prasadam.Special Thanks and gratitude to Shankararanaya Prabhu and Dipti Mataji for inspiring everyone to work on the alter and the drama and putting together the childrens programs
Our sincere and unlimited gratitude and thanks to Vikas Prabhu and Krishna Mataji for their extra ordinary services that they have rendered year after year, festival after festival. They are a storehouse of energy.Swapnil Prabhu and Shephali Mataji, Thanks for working on the CDs and preparing prasdam for devotees and yes, thanks to Anaya for keeping everyone entertained :)Dhananjay Prabhu and Tejasvini Mataji our special gratitude and thanks for doing everything you have done on the alter front and many other services that you have performed during the festival, especially opening the doors of our home so we could mess it :)Sharad Prabhu and Swati Mataji, Special Gratitude for your sacrifice that you did inspite of your sick daughter. You will always be remembered for this, as without you the crowd would have missed out on this most deadly enemy within (ENVY).Prakash Prabhu, Seenu Prabhu, Shrikant Thank you very much for everything you all have done. Very soon we will have a new addition to our yatra, keep guessing, or ask Prakash Prabhu.Randhir Prabhu, Dulari Mataji as always no matter what these 2 devotees are always there for any service asked of them. Our unlimted gratitude to both of you for everything you have done.Anubhava Prabhu and his wife Thanks for everything
Sunil Prabhu, Thank you very much for all your hardwork.Arvind Prabhu and Sindhu Mataji - Gratitude and heartfelt thanks for your helping with cooking prasadam and the services you rendered at the hall.Tarun Prabhu and his wife - Gratitude and special thanks for your enthusiasm in rendering various services.Girish Prabhu and Shweta Mataji - Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!Sachin Prabhu and his wife - Haribol Prabhu, Thank you for everything. We will miss you next year.
Sanjay Kundu and his family Thanks for your wonderful services.
Special Thanks to Rajeev Makhija Prabhu, Vrindapati Prabhu mentioned how he has so enthusiastically come forward and done many many services for the event.
Lastly, Special Thanks to Vinod Prabhu for managing the sound system and providing the collar mikes for the drama.
I am sure I might have missed many in the list, but our heartfelt gratitude and thanks to all those heros who did a lot of service in the background.
Finally we our offer our Unlimited Gratitude to our Spiritual Master H.H. Radhanath Swami Maharaj who has saved us and kept us engaged in his service and Unlimited Gratitude to the saviour of the whole world Srila Prabhupada for engaging all of us in these services so we can get a drop of attraction to the most beautiful divine couple Sri Sri Radha Gopinathji and perfect our lives.
Let us all examine our hearts and see deep within "Have I developed some attraction for the lord and his devotees after this festival". The real success of this festival is when we have developed some faith and attraction to hear and sing the glories of Sri Sri Radha and Gopinathji! Haribol!
Please forgive us for such a Loooooooooooong email and bore you.
All glories to all the devotees of Madhuban Bhakta Vrinda!
Your most insignificant servantsBalarama dasKishori Lila devi dasiGaurangi & Nityananda
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Monday, August 4, 2008
Volume 9, Chapter 8
Diary of a Traveling Preacher
Volume 9, Chapter 8
By Indradyumna Swami
July 5 - 12, 2008
"The Curse"The devotees were in high spirits after our resounding success with thefestival on the beachfront. The next day we drove to Mrzezyno, the site ofour next program. Several devotees asked me whether we could go out chantingearlier than usual.I smiled. "Conserve your energy," I said. "We've got 43 more festivals togo."At no other time of the year do we all work so hard for such an extendedperiod. We put on a major event every day of the week, except Monday, fornearly two months. In other places, devotees may take days to recover fromRatha-yatra or Gaura-purnima, but on the tour, each day is a major festivalwith another the next day.How do the devotees do it? By enjoying each other's company and sharingtheir good fortune with those who are not yet devotees. It's not surprising.It's been going on for hundreds of years.Sri Narahari Chakravarti Thakura writes: "News of how countless persons werebeing converted to Vaisnavism spread throughout the land. All of thedevotees became enlivened because of this. Harinama das and Ramakrishna dashappily engaged themselves in performing sankirtan. As a result, they becamecompletely indifferent towards materialistic life after gaining the mostvaluable wealth of devotional service to the Lord. Having become devotees,they began to stay with Balarama Kaviraja so that they could always beengaged in hearing and chanting the glories of the Lord."[Narottama-vilasa, 10th vilasa]That morning, our Harinam party chanted down the beach giving outinvitations and telling people of the coming event in the evening. Thedevotees didn't have to wait long to see the effect of their sincereefforts. As we passed a family sitting in deckchairs on the sand, the mancalled me and one of my disciples over."We're thrilled that you're having your festival while we're on vacationhere," he said. "We came last year and really enjoyed it. In fact, we can'tforget you even for a day. Our four-year-old daughter is your biggest fan.All year long, every day, she sings your song, even in her sleep.""Which song, Sir?" I asked."Marta," the father said, "sing the song."Little Marta stood up with a big smile and bright face. She began singing:Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna,Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare,Hare Rama, Hare Rama,Rama Rama, Hare Hare.She sang the verse not once, but repeatedly. We excused ourselves and ran tocatch up with the kirtan party, which had moved farther down the beach.A little later, as we came off the beach onto the boardwalk, we saw a10-year-old boy doing yoga with a collection box in front of him. I wasimpressed. His limbs were so subtle that he was easily performing yogicasanas that only an accomplished yogi might tackle."Where did you learn this?" a devotee asked him."I didn't learn it from anyone," the boy replied. "It came naturally. I justknew how to do it from when I was very young. I try to teach yoga at myschool, but most of the kids aren't interested. They're just into footballor chasing after girls all day. Some of them even take drugs. They're sostupid. I'm alone most of the time. I'm trying to collect money here so oneday I can go to India and learn yoga from a guru in the Himalayas."As we walked away, two verses from Bhagavad-gita came to my mind:"The unsuccessful yogi, after many, many years of enjoyment on the planetsof the pious living entities, is born into a family of righteous people, orinto a family of rich aristocracy.""On taking such a birth, he again revives the divine consciousness of hisprevious life, and he tries to make further progress in order to achievecomplete success, O son of Kuru."[Bhagavad-gita, 6.41,43]After four hours, I brought the Harinam party back to the festival site. Ourprasadam van had just arrived, and the devotees ate with gusto. They thentook a few minutes to rest on the grass before going on to their festivalservices. I marveled at their stamina: after four hours of Harinam they werebeginning five hours of festival duties with only a short break.As I walked close to the stage Bhakta Dominik approached me with disturbingnews."Two nuns were just here, walking around and appreciating the festivalsite," he said. "But when they were told that we are Hare Krsna devoteesthey suddenly became outraged and began cursing us. 'You're a dangeroussect!' one of them screamed. 'You've brought the Devil to our town!'"The other nun yelled, 'God will personally smite you down! He'll punish youand everyone who comes to this festival! We curse you! We curse you thatyour event will be destroyed even before it begins!'"Then they went away. A number of people were watching and some left withthem. It was very unpleasant."I walked around the festival site to be sure all the tents were open and thedevotees in their places. Guests were flooding in, and the opening bhajanonstage was just beginning. The sweet music permeated the entire area,creating a wonderful atmosphere.Suddenly the sound and lights onstage went dead. Our three-ton generator hadground to a halt. Dominik and three boys from the maintenance crew ranbackstage and began working frantically.I was at a loss to understand how a practically new generator could breakdown. After 20 anxious minutes the audience was becoming restless. ThenDominik came over and told me they couldn't find the problem."Dominik," I said, "we've got five hundred people in front of that stage.They'll leave unless we can continue."I sat watching the crowd. Another 20 minutes passed and people started toleave. Suddenly a big puff of white smoke belched from the generator.Dominik, his body half inside the machine, turned and gave me a thumbs-up.Electricity returned to the stage."Start the show," I hollered to the stage crew. Within seconds the bhajanbegan, but moments later the lights failed again.One of the boys from the stage crew called out to me. "Maharaja," heshouted, "should we stop the show?""No," I shouted. "The sound is working. Continue without the lights."It was overcast, making it difficult to see what was happening on the stage,but we had no choice. Dominik and his crew were now under the stage workingon the lighting system. Fifteen minutes later the lights came on again. Butagain the generator stopped, along with the program. Having seen at leastpart of the show, the crowd was graciously patient as the boys workedfuriously to fix the generator. Ten minutes later, it started up again."Nothing like this has ever happened before," I thought. I looked at thethousands of people milling around our festival site, and I prayed that thiswas the end of our difficulties.The very next moment Dominik came running up. "Maharaja," he said, "Iinexplicably left all the CDs for the stage performances back at the base. Isent someone to get them, but it will take two hours."I was dumbstruck. We had no choice but to play CDs from last year. With acapacity crowd the problems that kept appearing were more thandisappointing. I decided not to dwell on them and headed to the restaurant.On the way, I saw a man sitting down, leaning against a trash can. From historn clothes, unshaved face, and sad appearance, I could tell he was ahomeless person. Coming closer, I was surprised to see him drawing abeautiful picture of the festival with colored pencils."You're very talented," I said to him.He looked up. "Thank you," he said. "I draw only the beautiful things of theworld. That way I maintain some hope in my miserable life.""Where did you learn to draw like that?" I asked."It's always been a hobby," he said. "I'm an accountant by profession. I wasonce wealthy with a prestigious job, a beautiful wife, children, and my ownhouse, but I lost everything.""But surely a gifted and intelligent man like you can pick himself upagain," I said."Not if it's my destiny to remain like this," he said. "I hope to havebetter luck in my next life.""Do you believe in reincarnation?" I asked."Yes, I do," he said. "Every day I read the Bhagavad-gita. It's my onlypossession. Many years ago I bought it from someone who was distributingbooks on the street. It had the original Sanskrit, translations, andpurports by Swami Prabhupada. I wasn't really that interested, but I kept itat home. It's the only thing I took with me when everything fell apart. It'sin my backpack in the forest, under a tree.""That's amazing," I said. "Did you know this festival is based upon theteachings of Bhagavad-gita?""I can see that," he said.I excused myself and continued walking to the restaurant. Two hours laterthe same man approached me as I was watching our now fully functional stageshow from a distance."Excuse me," he said. "Someone told me you're the guru.""Yes," I said, "I am the spiritual master for some of these devotees.""Thank you for taking the time to speak to me," he said. "I didn't realizewho you were.""I'm no one special," I said. "I'm just fortunate to have met the person whotranslated the Bhagavad-gita you are reading.""I do feel fortunate to have met you," he said. "I'd like to ask you severalquestions but I have to leave now. Is it possible we could meet at the nextfestival in three days? I know the location.""It's a long way," I said."I'll manage," he said. "It's that important to me.""Then I'll see you there," I said.That evening a devotee asked a question. "Guru Maharaja," he said, "some ofthe devotees are saying that we had so many problems at the beginning of thefestival because the nuns cursed us. Do you think that's true?""That's ridiculous," I said. "Devotees are always protected by the Lord.What's more, this festival is just like Vaikuntha, the spiritual world. Oneobtains only good fortune here. Curses are ineffective."Srila Prabhupada writes:"Because of the curse of Daksa, Narada is never allowed to live continuouslyin one place. Sridhara Swami, however, has pointed out, na tasyam sapadehprabhavah: in Dwarka there is no influence of curses or other such evils,because Dwarka is the abode of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and isalways protected by His arms, as shown by the word govinda-bhuja-guptayam.The conditioned souls are struggling within the kingdom of maya against thecruel laws of material nature, such as birth, death, old age and disease,but if such conditioned souls have the good fortune to enter the city of theSupreme Personality of Godhead, whether Dwarka, Mathura or Vrindavana, andlive there under the direct protection of the omnipotent arms of the SupremeLord, Krsna, they will experience the unlimited transcendental bliss of reallife, which is eternal and meant to be lived in the personal company ofGod."[Srimad-Bhagavatam 11.2.1, purport]
Indradyumna.swami@pamho.netwww.traveling-preacher.com
Audio lectures: www.narottam.com
Volume 9, Chapter 8
By Indradyumna Swami
July 5 - 12, 2008
"The Curse"The devotees were in high spirits after our resounding success with thefestival on the beachfront. The next day we drove to Mrzezyno, the site ofour next program. Several devotees asked me whether we could go out chantingearlier than usual.I smiled. "Conserve your energy," I said. "We've got 43 more festivals togo."At no other time of the year do we all work so hard for such an extendedperiod. We put on a major event every day of the week, except Monday, fornearly two months. In other places, devotees may take days to recover fromRatha-yatra or Gaura-purnima, but on the tour, each day is a major festivalwith another the next day.How do the devotees do it? By enjoying each other's company and sharingtheir good fortune with those who are not yet devotees. It's not surprising.It's been going on for hundreds of years.Sri Narahari Chakravarti Thakura writes: "News of how countless persons werebeing converted to Vaisnavism spread throughout the land. All of thedevotees became enlivened because of this. Harinama das and Ramakrishna dashappily engaged themselves in performing sankirtan. As a result, they becamecompletely indifferent towards materialistic life after gaining the mostvaluable wealth of devotional service to the Lord. Having become devotees,they began to stay with Balarama Kaviraja so that they could always beengaged in hearing and chanting the glories of the Lord."[Narottama-vilasa, 10th vilasa]That morning, our Harinam party chanted down the beach giving outinvitations and telling people of the coming event in the evening. Thedevotees didn't have to wait long to see the effect of their sincereefforts. As we passed a family sitting in deckchairs on the sand, the mancalled me and one of my disciples over."We're thrilled that you're having your festival while we're on vacationhere," he said. "We came last year and really enjoyed it. In fact, we can'tforget you even for a day. Our four-year-old daughter is your biggest fan.All year long, every day, she sings your song, even in her sleep.""Which song, Sir?" I asked."Marta," the father said, "sing the song."Little Marta stood up with a big smile and bright face. She began singing:Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna,Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare,Hare Rama, Hare Rama,Rama Rama, Hare Hare.She sang the verse not once, but repeatedly. We excused ourselves and ran tocatch up with the kirtan party, which had moved farther down the beach.A little later, as we came off the beach onto the boardwalk, we saw a10-year-old boy doing yoga with a collection box in front of him. I wasimpressed. His limbs were so subtle that he was easily performing yogicasanas that only an accomplished yogi might tackle."Where did you learn this?" a devotee asked him."I didn't learn it from anyone," the boy replied. "It came naturally. I justknew how to do it from when I was very young. I try to teach yoga at myschool, but most of the kids aren't interested. They're just into footballor chasing after girls all day. Some of them even take drugs. They're sostupid. I'm alone most of the time. I'm trying to collect money here so oneday I can go to India and learn yoga from a guru in the Himalayas."As we walked away, two verses from Bhagavad-gita came to my mind:"The unsuccessful yogi, after many, many years of enjoyment on the planetsof the pious living entities, is born into a family of righteous people, orinto a family of rich aristocracy.""On taking such a birth, he again revives the divine consciousness of hisprevious life, and he tries to make further progress in order to achievecomplete success, O son of Kuru."[Bhagavad-gita, 6.41,43]After four hours, I brought the Harinam party back to the festival site. Ourprasadam van had just arrived, and the devotees ate with gusto. They thentook a few minutes to rest on the grass before going on to their festivalservices. I marveled at their stamina: after four hours of Harinam they werebeginning five hours of festival duties with only a short break.As I walked close to the stage Bhakta Dominik approached me with disturbingnews."Two nuns were just here, walking around and appreciating the festivalsite," he said. "But when they were told that we are Hare Krsna devoteesthey suddenly became outraged and began cursing us. 'You're a dangeroussect!' one of them screamed. 'You've brought the Devil to our town!'"The other nun yelled, 'God will personally smite you down! He'll punish youand everyone who comes to this festival! We curse you! We curse you thatyour event will be destroyed even before it begins!'"Then they went away. A number of people were watching and some left withthem. It was very unpleasant."I walked around the festival site to be sure all the tents were open and thedevotees in their places. Guests were flooding in, and the opening bhajanonstage was just beginning. The sweet music permeated the entire area,creating a wonderful atmosphere.Suddenly the sound and lights onstage went dead. Our three-ton generator hadground to a halt. Dominik and three boys from the maintenance crew ranbackstage and began working frantically.I was at a loss to understand how a practically new generator could breakdown. After 20 anxious minutes the audience was becoming restless. ThenDominik came over and told me they couldn't find the problem."Dominik," I said, "we've got five hundred people in front of that stage.They'll leave unless we can continue."I sat watching the crowd. Another 20 minutes passed and people started toleave. Suddenly a big puff of white smoke belched from the generator.Dominik, his body half inside the machine, turned and gave me a thumbs-up.Electricity returned to the stage."Start the show," I hollered to the stage crew. Within seconds the bhajanbegan, but moments later the lights failed again.One of the boys from the stage crew called out to me. "Maharaja," heshouted, "should we stop the show?""No," I shouted. "The sound is working. Continue without the lights."It was overcast, making it difficult to see what was happening on the stage,but we had no choice. Dominik and his crew were now under the stage workingon the lighting system. Fifteen minutes later the lights came on again. Butagain the generator stopped, along with the program. Having seen at leastpart of the show, the crowd was graciously patient as the boys workedfuriously to fix the generator. Ten minutes later, it started up again."Nothing like this has ever happened before," I thought. I looked at thethousands of people milling around our festival site, and I prayed that thiswas the end of our difficulties.The very next moment Dominik came running up. "Maharaja," he said, "Iinexplicably left all the CDs for the stage performances back at the base. Isent someone to get them, but it will take two hours."I was dumbstruck. We had no choice but to play CDs from last year. With acapacity crowd the problems that kept appearing were more thandisappointing. I decided not to dwell on them and headed to the restaurant.On the way, I saw a man sitting down, leaning against a trash can. From historn clothes, unshaved face, and sad appearance, I could tell he was ahomeless person. Coming closer, I was surprised to see him drawing abeautiful picture of the festival with colored pencils."You're very talented," I said to him.He looked up. "Thank you," he said. "I draw only the beautiful things of theworld. That way I maintain some hope in my miserable life.""Where did you learn to draw like that?" I asked."It's always been a hobby," he said. "I'm an accountant by profession. I wasonce wealthy with a prestigious job, a beautiful wife, children, and my ownhouse, but I lost everything.""But surely a gifted and intelligent man like you can pick himself upagain," I said."Not if it's my destiny to remain like this," he said. "I hope to havebetter luck in my next life.""Do you believe in reincarnation?" I asked."Yes, I do," he said. "Every day I read the Bhagavad-gita. It's my onlypossession. Many years ago I bought it from someone who was distributingbooks on the street. It had the original Sanskrit, translations, andpurports by Swami Prabhupada. I wasn't really that interested, but I kept itat home. It's the only thing I took with me when everything fell apart. It'sin my backpack in the forest, under a tree.""That's amazing," I said. "Did you know this festival is based upon theteachings of Bhagavad-gita?""I can see that," he said.I excused myself and continued walking to the restaurant. Two hours laterthe same man approached me as I was watching our now fully functional stageshow from a distance."Excuse me," he said. "Someone told me you're the guru.""Yes," I said, "I am the spiritual master for some of these devotees.""Thank you for taking the time to speak to me," he said. "I didn't realizewho you were.""I'm no one special," I said. "I'm just fortunate to have met the person whotranslated the Bhagavad-gita you are reading.""I do feel fortunate to have met you," he said. "I'd like to ask you severalquestions but I have to leave now. Is it possible we could meet at the nextfestival in three days? I know the location.""It's a long way," I said."I'll manage," he said. "It's that important to me.""Then I'll see you there," I said.That evening a devotee asked a question. "Guru Maharaja," he said, "some ofthe devotees are saying that we had so many problems at the beginning of thefestival because the nuns cursed us. Do you think that's true?""That's ridiculous," I said. "Devotees are always protected by the Lord.What's more, this festival is just like Vaikuntha, the spiritual world. Oneobtains only good fortune here. Curses are ineffective."Srila Prabhupada writes:"Because of the curse of Daksa, Narada is never allowed to live continuouslyin one place. Sridhara Swami, however, has pointed out, na tasyam sapadehprabhavah: in Dwarka there is no influence of curses or other such evils,because Dwarka is the abode of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and isalways protected by His arms, as shown by the word govinda-bhuja-guptayam.The conditioned souls are struggling within the kingdom of maya against thecruel laws of material nature, such as birth, death, old age and disease,but if such conditioned souls have the good fortune to enter the city of theSupreme Personality of Godhead, whether Dwarka, Mathura or Vrindavana, andlive there under the direct protection of the omnipotent arms of the SupremeLord, Krsna, they will experience the unlimited transcendental bliss of reallife, which is eternal and meant to be lived in the personal company ofGod."[Srimad-Bhagavatam 11.2.1, purport]
Indradyumna.swami@pamho.netwww.traveling-preacher.com
Audio lectures: www.narottam.com
Thursday, July 31, 2008
A Picture in my wallet after all those years
A ticket collector in a train found an old worn out wallet in a compartment full of people. He looked inside to find the name of its owner. There was no clue. All that there was in it was some money and a picture of Krishna. He held it up and asked, “ who does this wallet belong to?”
An old man said, “that’s my wallet, Sir please give it to me.” The ticket collector said, “ you will have to prove that it is yours. Only then I can hand it over to you” The old man said with toothless smile, “ It has picture of Krishna in it” The ticket Collector said “ That is no proof; anyone can have a picture of krishna in his wallet. What is special about that? Why is your picture not there in it like most normal people?” The old man took a deep breath and said, “let me tell you why my picture is not there in it. My father gave me this wallet to me when I was in school. I use to get a small sum as pocket money then. I had kept a picture of my parents in it.”
“When I was teenager I was greatly enamored by my good looks. I removed my parent’s picture and put in one of my own. I loved to see my own face and thick black hair. Some years later, I got married. My wife was very beautiful and I loved her a lot. I replaced my picture in this wallet with a picture of her. I spent hours gazing at her pretty face. When my first child was born, my life started a new chapter. I shortened my working hours to play with my baby. I went late to work and returned home early too. Obviously, my baby’s picture occupied the prized position in my wallet.”
The old man’s eyes brimmed with tears as he went on. “ My parents passed away many years ago. Last year my wife too left her mortal coil. My son, my only son, is too busy with his family. He has no time to look after me. All that I had ever held close to my heart is now far, far away from my reach. Now I have put this picture of Krishna in my wallet. It is only now that I have realized that He is the eternal companion. He will never leave me. Alas! If only I had realized this before. If only I had loved the Lord all these years with same intensity as I loved my family, I would not had been so lonely today!”
The ticket collector quietly gave the wallet to the old man. When the train stopped at the next station, he went to the bookstall at the platform and asked the salesman, “ Do you have any picture of God? I need a small one to put in my wallet!”
An old man said, “that’s my wallet, Sir please give it to me.” The ticket collector said, “ you will have to prove that it is yours. Only then I can hand it over to you” The old man said with toothless smile, “ It has picture of Krishna in it” The ticket Collector said “ That is no proof; anyone can have a picture of krishna in his wallet. What is special about that? Why is your picture not there in it like most normal people?” The old man took a deep breath and said, “let me tell you why my picture is not there in it. My father gave me this wallet to me when I was in school. I use to get a small sum as pocket money then. I had kept a picture of my parents in it.”
“When I was teenager I was greatly enamored by my good looks. I removed my parent’s picture and put in one of my own. I loved to see my own face and thick black hair. Some years later, I got married. My wife was very beautiful and I loved her a lot. I replaced my picture in this wallet with a picture of her. I spent hours gazing at her pretty face. When my first child was born, my life started a new chapter. I shortened my working hours to play with my baby. I went late to work and returned home early too. Obviously, my baby’s picture occupied the prized position in my wallet.”
The old man’s eyes brimmed with tears as he went on. “ My parents passed away many years ago. Last year my wife too left her mortal coil. My son, my only son, is too busy with his family. He has no time to look after me. All that I had ever held close to my heart is now far, far away from my reach. Now I have put this picture of Krishna in my wallet. It is only now that I have realized that He is the eternal companion. He will never leave me. Alas! If only I had realized this before. If only I had loved the Lord all these years with same intensity as I loved my family, I would not had been so lonely today!”
The ticket collector quietly gave the wallet to the old man. When the train stopped at the next station, he went to the bookstall at the platform and asked the salesman, “ Do you have any picture of God? I need a small one to put in my wallet!”
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Properly remain within the association of devotees ...
Properly remain within the association of devotees ..….... Nectarean Mellows
Sometimes we slip, sometimes we are inattentive, sometimes due to our previous conditionings, even if we are sincere, maya overcomes us. If we simply learn how to properly remain within the association of devotees then however times we may slip and even fall, by the association of merciful vaishnavas, we will again be picked up and we will again continue on that path. Like children learning to walk, we may fall many times, but as long as we are in the atmosphere of properly associating with devotees, we will continue to get up and proceed forward. But without that association, without that satsang, when we fall down, we stay down. When the seed of bewilderment enters into our heart, if we simply remain in that association, even if that seed starts growing, it cannot grow very long. That association will cut it down and ultimately uproot it. It is because of what you're saying that Maya is so strong and we're so weak, that we absolutely have to learn how to associate with devotees; because without that social atmosphere around us, we have absolutely no hope of continuing on the path of Bhakti. And if we think that we do, we're in the greatest illusion. So Maya may deviate us 100000 times, but if we're properly associating, if we just don't let her take us away from that satsang, if we can just avoid letting her do that to us, then we will go Back to Godhead in due course of time.
H H Radhanath Swami Maharaj
guru-mukha-padma-väkya, cittete koriyä aikya, är nä koriho mane äsä
*************************************************************************************************
Sometimes we slip, sometimes we are inattentive, sometimes due to our previous conditionings, even if we are sincere, maya overcomes us. If we simply learn how to properly remain within the association of devotees then however times we may slip and even fall, by the association of merciful vaishnavas, we will again be picked up and we will again continue on that path. Like children learning to walk, we may fall many times, but as long as we are in the atmosphere of properly associating with devotees, we will continue to get up and proceed forward. But without that association, without that satsang, when we fall down, we stay down. When the seed of bewilderment enters into our heart, if we simply remain in that association, even if that seed starts growing, it cannot grow very long. That association will cut it down and ultimately uproot it. It is because of what you're saying that Maya is so strong and we're so weak, that we absolutely have to learn how to associate with devotees; because without that social atmosphere around us, we have absolutely no hope of continuing on the path of Bhakti. And if we think that we do, we're in the greatest illusion. So Maya may deviate us 100000 times, but if we're properly associating, if we just don't let her take us away from that satsang, if we can just avoid letting her do that to us, then we will go Back to Godhead in due course of time.
H H Radhanath Swami Maharaj
guru-mukha-padma-väkya, cittete koriyä aikya, är nä koriho mane äsä
*************************************************************************************************
Properly remain within the association of devotees ...
Mayavad's poisonous effect can destroy our devotional service ….....….... Nectarean Mellows
Bhagavatam describes how the living entity seated within the heart, sometimes they are under the illusion that they are god and they try to create a false doctrine on the basis of material logic. But it is impossible for the Supreme Controller of all energies to ever come under the control of His own energies. There is no logic to the mayavad philosophy to a person who has a clear common sense. However the mayavad philosophy is so strategically designed to present things through world jugglery that just by hearing it you loose the desire for devotional service. Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu said even a very advance person, who had great attachment to Krsna, if he hears submissively Mayavad philosophy he will fall down. Even if you are a resident of the spiritual world, if you hear the Mayavad philosophy with an attentive heart you may fall down. Of course in the spiritual world, no one wants to hear Mayavadi philosophy, but even if that is, the power of illusory energy that is manifested in this doctrine of monism, it is so powerful. So this mayavad philosophy, due to the jugglery of words, if one hears it, even though intellectually you may be thinking oh this is all just nonsense, I don't believe it, but still in your heart it actually can have the effect of disturbing the desire to serve the Lord, if you hear it submissively. And we have actually seen that some devotees, who are not actually advanced, but who thinks they are very advanced not because they have realisations of the transcendental form of the Lord but because they have mundane scholarship, they actually read mayavad books, because mayavadis actually are tremendously, the good ones at least, they are tremendously skilled at allegories, examples and actually most of Krsna conscious philosophy and Mayavad philosophy is exactly the same as far as the laws of nature, karma and all of these other things, it is the same philosophy, its only the conclusion that is different; that ultimately God is impersonal, His form, His pastimes, His names, His devotional service are ultimately an illusion, ultimately the only thing that is real is the impersonal form Brahman and there is no variegatedness than Brahman everything is one; that is their conclusion; but on almost every level they speak the same things we do, you have to give up sense gratification, the body consisting of the five gross elements and three subtle elements must be transcended; so therefore the examples that they give are often in time very pertinent to our own explanation of philosophy; so sometimes people read books to get this type of information. However it is explained by Srila Sanatana Goswami, even if you have a very, very fresh cow milk, if it is touched by the lips of a serpent, it has a poisonous effect; you may not taste the poison, it may taste like very nice milk; however the poison is there and you will not know until later; at first if you drink this milk you feel very nourished and strong and you see it is not so bad, it taste good, I am strong, full of energy, ready to go out and do my service but after some time without your intellectual understanding the poisonous effect will start to act. What is the poisonous effect of Mayavad philosophy? Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu explained the poisonous effect is it disturbs your service attitude, gradually we don't want to be servants anymore, we want to be an enjoyer, we want to be a lord, our faith in the path of real bhakti is destroyed and it may take many, many births to take it back.
H H Radhanath Swami Maharaj
Bhagavatam describes how the living entity seated within the heart, sometimes they are under the illusion that they are god and they try to create a false doctrine on the basis of material logic. But it is impossible for the Supreme Controller of all energies to ever come under the control of His own energies. There is no logic to the mayavad philosophy to a person who has a clear common sense. However the mayavad philosophy is so strategically designed to present things through world jugglery that just by hearing it you loose the desire for devotional service. Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu said even a very advance person, who had great attachment to Krsna, if he hears submissively Mayavad philosophy he will fall down. Even if you are a resident of the spiritual world, if you hear the Mayavad philosophy with an attentive heart you may fall down. Of course in the spiritual world, no one wants to hear Mayavadi philosophy, but even if that is, the power of illusory energy that is manifested in this doctrine of monism, it is so powerful. So this mayavad philosophy, due to the jugglery of words, if one hears it, even though intellectually you may be thinking oh this is all just nonsense, I don't believe it, but still in your heart it actually can have the effect of disturbing the desire to serve the Lord, if you hear it submissively. And we have actually seen that some devotees, who are not actually advanced, but who thinks they are very advanced not because they have realisations of the transcendental form of the Lord but because they have mundane scholarship, they actually read mayavad books, because mayavadis actually are tremendously, the good ones at least, they are tremendously skilled at allegories, examples and actually most of Krsna conscious philosophy and Mayavad philosophy is exactly the same as far as the laws of nature, karma and all of these other things, it is the same philosophy, its only the conclusion that is different; that ultimately God is impersonal, His form, His pastimes, His names, His devotional service are ultimately an illusion, ultimately the only thing that is real is the impersonal form Brahman and there is no variegatedness than Brahman everything is one; that is their conclusion; but on almost every level they speak the same things we do, you have to give up sense gratification, the body consisting of the five gross elements and three subtle elements must be transcended; so therefore the examples that they give are often in time very pertinent to our own explanation of philosophy; so sometimes people read books to get this type of information. However it is explained by Srila Sanatana Goswami, even if you have a very, very fresh cow milk, if it is touched by the lips of a serpent, it has a poisonous effect; you may not taste the poison, it may taste like very nice milk; however the poison is there and you will not know until later; at first if you drink this milk you feel very nourished and strong and you see it is not so bad, it taste good, I am strong, full of energy, ready to go out and do my service but after some time without your intellectual understanding the poisonous effect will start to act. What is the poisonous effect of Mayavad philosophy? Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu explained the poisonous effect is it disturbs your service attitude, gradually we don't want to be servants anymore, we want to be an enjoyer, we want to be a lord, our faith in the path of real bhakti is destroyed and it may take many, many births to take it back.
H H Radhanath Swami Maharaj
Vikas Pr visit to new vrindavan 24Hr Kirthan
My dear devotee friends,
My pranaams to all of you amazing devotees.
I thank you for your kind wishes on my birthday. I am grateful to you for taking your most precious asset, your time to wish me. I am moved by your well wishes and compassion upon me, especially a highly proud person like me, who has absolutely nothing to be proud of, yet has so much pride and sense of being better than everybody else. But in one sense, there is no reason to be moved, for I have learnt from advanced devotees that being most merciful to the most fallen is the hallmark of our sampradaya, and by being merficul to me, you are keeping the torch of this principle of our sampradaya of Sri Chaitainya Mahaprabhu shining bright. I will do my best to catch the mercy and blessings that you are so compassionately showering upon me.
It is my service to Srila Prabhupada to serve the devotees and thus please him. If in my service, there were, are or will be shortcomings or errors, or what we sometimes refer to as offenses, they may please be generously forgiven. Srila Prabhupada’s love passed on to his followers, disciples, grand followers and grand disciples is my inspiration, and I am sure is also yours. Everything and anything good that you saw in me as described in your well worded mails is not my credit, it is to the credit of HDG Swami Prabhupada and his disciples and grand disciples and to yours.
I will also take this opportunity to try and give a humble presentation of my experience to New Vrindaban, where I spent my birthday and the following few days.
We reached New Vrindavan on Thursday afternoon. We had anticipated some difficulty in securing a room to stay, but as the devotee at the lodge put it, if you have a genuine real strong desire to stay in the holy dham, then Krishna makes the arrangements. Lord Krishna reciprocated the strong desire of my traveling companions, and as a result, I shared their ‘karma’, and was awarded with facility to stay in the dham.
We attended the morning program next day starting with mangal arti at 5 a.m., followed by Narasingha arti, Tulasi arti, japa, Shringar arti, Guru Puja, Bhagvatam class (by HH Varsana Swami) and then prasadam.
There was a 24 hour Kirtan utsav planned to start on Sat morning at 9 a.m. The bulk of the devotees started to trickle into New Vrindaban only Friday afternoon onwards. So until Friday afternoon, there were just very few guests/devotees like us, and we experienced the tranquility of the place. One of the few general visitors from New Jersery described in a casual conversation to us that this was the best temple in North America he visited in his trip from India. It being summer season, the place was draped in a cloak of greenery on all sides, as far as one’s eye could see until the clear blue expanse of the sky. For those of you who may not know, the campus is miles away nestled in the forested wooden hills miles away even from the nearest village. On quiet days like this, one can even hear a normally sounded conversation happening nearly 50-100 metres away. Try to imagine listening into the glorious kirtans at arti times in the temple in this atmosphere. However, the best part has not yet even started. Much about the same time, as more and more devotees trickled in, HH Radhanath Swami Maharaj also arrived, though somewhat clandestinely. Suddenly Swapnil prabhu saw that Maharaj was in the temple hall offering obeiances to all the Deities and there was hardly anybody else. Thereafter he took a stroll around the campus, chatting along the way with groups of devotees. We were fortunate to stop by couple of times and talk with him. It is indeed rare and fortunate gift to receive even a few minutes of time from him, whose time is so valuable, who is cherished by thousands of people in the world. Even more fortunate are Anaya and Ashish, who received his blessings. Gradually, more leaders also arrived and present at the place of pilgrimage were the who’s who of ISKCON world viz., HH Jayapataka Swami, HH Niranjan Swami, HH Chandramauli Swami, HH Varsana Swami, HH Romapada Swami, HH Amiya Vilas Swami, HH Sivaram Swami, HH Chandrasekhar Swami, Mother Malati, and other disciples of Srila Prabhupada and others whom I may not know or forget. The occasion was the 24 hour Kirtan presentation by ‘Gurukulis’ with some of the leaders also participating. The Kirtan festival was inaugurated on Saturday morning with some shlokas to remove obstacles after a Bhagvatam class on the holy name by HH Jayapataka Maharaj. Now, know that most of the gurukuli kirtainyas are young boys or girls. However their devotional sentiment in their calling out to the Lord in their melodious kirtans with their expert playing of flute, kartals, mrindangas, harmonium and other instruments surpassed any limitation of age or whatsoever and arrested the attention of the sannyasis and all the devotees. By the Lord’s arrangement, there was no electricity supply available during the evening and night hours. It was an incredible sight to take darshan of the Deities in the dimmer lamps. The Deities also looked so happy and smiling listening to the Kirtan. Radhanath Maharaj led the Kirtan for couple of hours on Sat evening and for about half an hour on Sunday morning, with devotees lovingly dancing around. Radhanath Maharaj remarked that the singing of the gurukulis was not just excellent from the viewpoint of devotional feelings, but was also perfect from the point of view of singing and playing the instruments expertly. The old devotees took rest at night, but some of the younger gurukulis stayed up all night for the Kirtan. Maharaj said that these children had got the extremely rare and fortunate gift of having a taste for the holy name, and asked them to cherish it, and in that sense they were our gurus. The goal of the festival was to help all assembled get a taste of the holy name. One disciple of Srila Prabhupada had remarked that he had never seen such nice kirtans so expertly sung and played with devotion in all this life in the history of ISKCON. From my perspective, if these are the kirtaniyas who are the future of ISKCON, the future is great and promising, bright and brilliantly shining. I can say that we were lucky to be a witness to the preview of the explosion that this Kirtan group can bring about in the world. How can I describe the morning Kirtan raga that went on as the sun rose? I felt at that time that in that sense, New Vrindavan is THE SAME as being in Vrindavan, India. That moved and melted the hearts of the devotees. After the 24 hour festival concluded, HH Radhanath Maharaj gave morning class on verse 8 of Nectar of Instruction. He spoke about how the Krishna consciousness movement is a movement to train our minds to remember Krishna 24 hours a day, how one may reside in a holy place and take shelter of a spiritual master and advanced senior devotees. We left soon after, naturally with more mercy, and spiritual charge than we came with. Let us all desire that we may all together once go to the holy place in the future.
More experiences will follow from the other devotees.
Srila Prabhupada ki Jai.
New Vrindavan, place of pilgrimage, in North American Khand ki Jai.
Ys,
Vikas
My pranaams to all of you amazing devotees.
I thank you for your kind wishes on my birthday. I am grateful to you for taking your most precious asset, your time to wish me. I am moved by your well wishes and compassion upon me, especially a highly proud person like me, who has absolutely nothing to be proud of, yet has so much pride and sense of being better than everybody else. But in one sense, there is no reason to be moved, for I have learnt from advanced devotees that being most merciful to the most fallen is the hallmark of our sampradaya, and by being merficul to me, you are keeping the torch of this principle of our sampradaya of Sri Chaitainya Mahaprabhu shining bright. I will do my best to catch the mercy and blessings that you are so compassionately showering upon me.
It is my service to Srila Prabhupada to serve the devotees and thus please him. If in my service, there were, are or will be shortcomings or errors, or what we sometimes refer to as offenses, they may please be generously forgiven. Srila Prabhupada’s love passed on to his followers, disciples, grand followers and grand disciples is my inspiration, and I am sure is also yours. Everything and anything good that you saw in me as described in your well worded mails is not my credit, it is to the credit of HDG Swami Prabhupada and his disciples and grand disciples and to yours.
I will also take this opportunity to try and give a humble presentation of my experience to New Vrindaban, where I spent my birthday and the following few days.
We reached New Vrindavan on Thursday afternoon. We had anticipated some difficulty in securing a room to stay, but as the devotee at the lodge put it, if you have a genuine real strong desire to stay in the holy dham, then Krishna makes the arrangements. Lord Krishna reciprocated the strong desire of my traveling companions, and as a result, I shared their ‘karma’, and was awarded with facility to stay in the dham.
We attended the morning program next day starting with mangal arti at 5 a.m., followed by Narasingha arti, Tulasi arti, japa, Shringar arti, Guru Puja, Bhagvatam class (by HH Varsana Swami) and then prasadam.
There was a 24 hour Kirtan utsav planned to start on Sat morning at 9 a.m. The bulk of the devotees started to trickle into New Vrindaban only Friday afternoon onwards. So until Friday afternoon, there were just very few guests/devotees like us, and we experienced the tranquility of the place. One of the few general visitors from New Jersery described in a casual conversation to us that this was the best temple in North America he visited in his trip from India. It being summer season, the place was draped in a cloak of greenery on all sides, as far as one’s eye could see until the clear blue expanse of the sky. For those of you who may not know, the campus is miles away nestled in the forested wooden hills miles away even from the nearest village. On quiet days like this, one can even hear a normally sounded conversation happening nearly 50-100 metres away. Try to imagine listening into the glorious kirtans at arti times in the temple in this atmosphere. However, the best part has not yet even started. Much about the same time, as more and more devotees trickled in, HH Radhanath Swami Maharaj also arrived, though somewhat clandestinely. Suddenly Swapnil prabhu saw that Maharaj was in the temple hall offering obeiances to all the Deities and there was hardly anybody else. Thereafter he took a stroll around the campus, chatting along the way with groups of devotees. We were fortunate to stop by couple of times and talk with him. It is indeed rare and fortunate gift to receive even a few minutes of time from him, whose time is so valuable, who is cherished by thousands of people in the world. Even more fortunate are Anaya and Ashish, who received his blessings. Gradually, more leaders also arrived and present at the place of pilgrimage were the who’s who of ISKCON world viz., HH Jayapataka Swami, HH Niranjan Swami, HH Chandramauli Swami, HH Varsana Swami, HH Romapada Swami, HH Amiya Vilas Swami, HH Sivaram Swami, HH Chandrasekhar Swami, Mother Malati, and other disciples of Srila Prabhupada and others whom I may not know or forget. The occasion was the 24 hour Kirtan presentation by ‘Gurukulis’ with some of the leaders also participating. The Kirtan festival was inaugurated on Saturday morning with some shlokas to remove obstacles after a Bhagvatam class on the holy name by HH Jayapataka Maharaj. Now, know that most of the gurukuli kirtainyas are young boys or girls. However their devotional sentiment in their calling out to the Lord in their melodious kirtans with their expert playing of flute, kartals, mrindangas, harmonium and other instruments surpassed any limitation of age or whatsoever and arrested the attention of the sannyasis and all the devotees. By the Lord’s arrangement, there was no electricity supply available during the evening and night hours. It was an incredible sight to take darshan of the Deities in the dimmer lamps. The Deities also looked so happy and smiling listening to the Kirtan. Radhanath Maharaj led the Kirtan for couple of hours on Sat evening and for about half an hour on Sunday morning, with devotees lovingly dancing around. Radhanath Maharaj remarked that the singing of the gurukulis was not just excellent from the viewpoint of devotional feelings, but was also perfect from the point of view of singing and playing the instruments expertly. The old devotees took rest at night, but some of the younger gurukulis stayed up all night for the Kirtan. Maharaj said that these children had got the extremely rare and fortunate gift of having a taste for the holy name, and asked them to cherish it, and in that sense they were our gurus. The goal of the festival was to help all assembled get a taste of the holy name. One disciple of Srila Prabhupada had remarked that he had never seen such nice kirtans so expertly sung and played with devotion in all this life in the history of ISKCON. From my perspective, if these are the kirtaniyas who are the future of ISKCON, the future is great and promising, bright and brilliantly shining. I can say that we were lucky to be a witness to the preview of the explosion that this Kirtan group can bring about in the world. How can I describe the morning Kirtan raga that went on as the sun rose? I felt at that time that in that sense, New Vrindavan is THE SAME as being in Vrindavan, India. That moved and melted the hearts of the devotees. After the 24 hour festival concluded, HH Radhanath Maharaj gave morning class on verse 8 of Nectar of Instruction. He spoke about how the Krishna consciousness movement is a movement to train our minds to remember Krishna 24 hours a day, how one may reside in a holy place and take shelter of a spiritual master and advanced senior devotees. We left soon after, naturally with more mercy, and spiritual charge than we came with. Let us all desire that we may all together once go to the holy place in the future.
More experiences will follow from the other devotees.
Srila Prabhupada ki Jai.
New Vrindavan, place of pilgrimage, in North American Khand ki Jai.
Ys,
Vikas
The cause of all miseries is our perception ….....…....
Nectarean Mellows The living entity is actually part and parcel of Krsna, sat-chit-ananda vigrahah. However the living entity in this material existence misidentifies himself for something he is not. Srila Prabhupada defines the word maya as that which is not. Maya means the illusory energy of the Lord. This illusory energy of the Lord causes the pure souls, full of knowledge, to identify himself with something or someone he is not, it is not that the soul is polluted; that soul can only be pure as it is part of Krsna, but the soul's identification with something, that is not, is the pollution. When we are chanting Hare Krsna, we are not purifying our soul; the soul is pure, we are purifying the mind, which is causing the misconception of the soul; like a mirror, you may be perfectly, perfectly clean but if you look in the mirror that is dirty, it doesn't make you dirty but your perception of yourself is dirty; does that make sense? Hare Krsna. So the problem, that is the cause of all miseries, is our perception; we are looking through the mirror from our mind, which is filthy, dirty with material desires and attachments and we are thinking that, that is I. Just as Maitreya Rishi gives the example; if you dream that your head is being cut off, is your head being cut off? In the dream you are watching with your own eyes that someone else with a sword is cutting off that head. Now how could you see it? Your eyes are on your own head but you are seeing your own head somewhere else being cut off and you are actually coming in terrible misery 'my head is being cut off'! We don't think that how am I seeing it if it's over there? Hare Krsna. It is an illusion, it is a dream, it is a misconception, it is not really your head somebody else's head is being cute off but you are thinking that it is your head and therefore you are suffering.H H Radhanath Swami Maharaj
You went for your PhD without going to KG ….…..
"G u r u m u k h p a d m a v a k y a"
You went for your PhD without going to KG ….….. Nectarean Mellows
The loving affairs of Radha Krsna are very, very difficult to understand for who is still on the bodily concept of life. As long as there is even a tinge of false ego in the heart we cannot truly understand the transcendental affairs of Radha and Krsna, anyabhilasita- sunyam jnana-karmady- anavrtam anukulyena krsnanu- silanam bhaktir uttama this the qualification to actually enter into the understanding of Radha and Krsna's pastimes that we must have unmotivated pure devotion, untinged by philosophical speculations or the desire to enjoy the fruits of our activities. Bhagavad Gita says, avajananti mam mudha manusim tanum asritam param bhavam ajananto mama bhuta-mahesvaram that fools deride Me when I descend into the human form, they do not know My transcendental nature, My Supreme dominion over all that be.
I remember, I will never forget; I once gave a lecture and there were many esteemed guests in that lecture; one was an American man who received his PhD, his thesis was Gita Govinda by Jayadeva Goswami. He received his PhD at a Banaras University in Varanasi and after the lecture I just spoke basic philosophy; he said, "I have a question for you swamiji". "Yes, what is your question? "Of all the gods why do you worship Radha and Krsna?" He said, "I am an authority, I have my PhD and the study of Radha and Krsna and I know what they did in those bushes of Vraja, I know what kind of love affairs they had, they weren't even properly married. Why do you want to worship such a lusty god?" Hare Krsna!! Anyways he was telling me this as he was smoking a cigarette and I said to him that my dear sir, with all due respect, I think you went for your PhD without going to KG (kindergarten) , I think you forgot and skipped over the first standard, the second standard. KG for us is no illicit sex, no intoxication, no gambling and no meat eating and no smoking cigarettes. And besides that Bhagavad Gita is the preliminary study dehino 'smiyatha dehe kaumaram yauvanam jara tatha dehantara-praptir dhiras tatra na muhyanti, Do you know the difference between the body and the soul? And if you do, why are you so much attached to the things of this body? The transcendental love affairs of Radha and Krsna are the highest expressions of pure unalloyed ecstasies in the spiritual world; they do not even have the slightest tinge of material contamination. As I was speaking, his wife was pulling him saying it is time for breakfast we should go and he said I have to go and eat breakfast and he told me what was on the table waiting for him. Hare Krsna! !
So Krsna says avajananti mam mudha manusim tanum asritam param bhavam ajananto mama bhuta-mahesvaram; fools deride Krsna, they do not know His transcendental nature, His Supreme dominion over all that be.
H H Radhanath Swami Maharaj
You went for your PhD without going to KG ….….. Nectarean Mellows
The loving affairs of Radha Krsna are very, very difficult to understand for who is still on the bodily concept of life. As long as there is even a tinge of false ego in the heart we cannot truly understand the transcendental affairs of Radha and Krsna, anyabhilasita- sunyam jnana-karmady- anavrtam anukulyena krsnanu- silanam bhaktir uttama this the qualification to actually enter into the understanding of Radha and Krsna's pastimes that we must have unmotivated pure devotion, untinged by philosophical speculations or the desire to enjoy the fruits of our activities. Bhagavad Gita says, avajananti mam mudha manusim tanum asritam param bhavam ajananto mama bhuta-mahesvaram that fools deride Me when I descend into the human form, they do not know My transcendental nature, My Supreme dominion over all that be.
I remember, I will never forget; I once gave a lecture and there were many esteemed guests in that lecture; one was an American man who received his PhD, his thesis was Gita Govinda by Jayadeva Goswami. He received his PhD at a Banaras University in Varanasi and after the lecture I just spoke basic philosophy; he said, "I have a question for you swamiji". "Yes, what is your question? "Of all the gods why do you worship Radha and Krsna?" He said, "I am an authority, I have my PhD and the study of Radha and Krsna and I know what they did in those bushes of Vraja, I know what kind of love affairs they had, they weren't even properly married. Why do you want to worship such a lusty god?" Hare Krsna!! Anyways he was telling me this as he was smoking a cigarette and I said to him that my dear sir, with all due respect, I think you went for your PhD without going to KG (kindergarten) , I think you forgot and skipped over the first standard, the second standard. KG for us is no illicit sex, no intoxication, no gambling and no meat eating and no smoking cigarettes. And besides that Bhagavad Gita is the preliminary study dehino 'smiyatha dehe kaumaram yauvanam jara tatha dehantara-praptir dhiras tatra na muhyanti, Do you know the difference between the body and the soul? And if you do, why are you so much attached to the things of this body? The transcendental love affairs of Radha and Krsna are the highest expressions of pure unalloyed ecstasies in the spiritual world; they do not even have the slightest tinge of material contamination. As I was speaking, his wife was pulling him saying it is time for breakfast we should go and he said I have to go and eat breakfast and he told me what was on the table waiting for him. Hare Krsna! !
So Krsna says avajananti mam mudha manusim tanum asritam param bhavam ajananto mama bhuta-mahesvaram; fools deride Krsna, they do not know His transcendental nature, His Supreme dominion over all that be.
H H Radhanath Swami Maharaj
Volume 9, Chapter 1
Diary of a Traveling Preacher Volume 9, Chapter 1 January 19 - 28, 2008 By Indradyumna Swami "A Perfect Ending"The devotees on our tour were tired from seven weeks of festivals throughoutAustralia and New Zealand, but they looked forward to the final twoprograms, to be held in Hong Kong.But we almost didn't make it. The day before our departure from Auckland,our Russian and Ukrainian devotees had not yet been granted visas for HongKong. That night I called Chandrasekhar das, one of the leaders in thetemple there."It's 9 PM," I said. "We're due to fly out in nine hours. Have the visascome through?""Not yet," he said, "and the situation doesn't look good. We've been tryingto contact the immigration office all week, but it's impossible to getthrough. Our lawyer is trying to reach them through special channels. I'llcall you if something happens."I understood Chandrasekhar's anxiety. He and a team of local devotees hadbeen organizing the festival for six months. At great cost they had rentedan auditorium with 1,000 seats for two evenings at a prestigious universityin downtown Hong Kong. Never before had the small yatra attempted such abold preaching program. A number of special dignitaries, including theConsul General of India would be attending."We have to start making alternative plans now," I said to Santi Parayanadas after the call with Chandrasekhar. "Our visas to New Zealand arefinished tomorrow morning. Either we fly to Hong Kong tomorrow or back toEurope. Call our travel agent at her home and see if our flights can beredirected to London."I told the rest of the devotees to go to bed.Hours passed. I fell asleep. At 2:30 am my cell phone rang. I grabbed it."The visas have been granted!" said Chandrasekhar excitedly. "It's amiracle.""Wow!" I said, instantly awake. "How did it happen?""Somehow our lawyer got through to an immigration official in Hong Kong," hereplied. "It was after hours and the official just happened to be in hisoffice. She impressed upon him the importance of the event. He replied hewould need time to think about it. She called him back three times in anhour and kept repeating the urgency of the situation. Finally he agreed.They'll have someone waiting for you with the visas when you get off theplane.""That's as close as they come," I replied. "Three and a half hours beforedeparture."I ran into the room where the men were sleeping."Everybody up!" I said loudly as I turned on the light.The men slowly opened their eyes and sat up."Where are we going?" said Gaura Hari das, rubbing his eyes. "London or HongKong?""Hong Kong," I said with a smile. "And we're out of here in 45 minutes."We made it to the airport with no time to spare. As we were on severaldifferent flights, I gave the devotees final instructions on how to fill outimmigration cards when they arrived.One girl spoke up. "Guru Maharaja," she said, "is the Hong Kong harbor stillfull of those boats they call junks, the ones with the big sails?""Maybe there's a few for the tourists," I laughed. "But Hong Kong is amodern city. It's one of the business capitals of the world."I had also had had a romantic idea of Hong Kong before visiting the citylast year, but on my arrival I found an ultra-modern, efficient, andsurprisingly clean city. China had ceded Hong Kong to the British after theOpium Wars in the late 19th century, and got it back in 1997. Although muchof the old Chinese culture disappeared under British rule, many aspects ofit are still present, and as my troupe of devotees soon discovered, thereremains a blend of old and new even today.The day after our arrival we split up into two Harinama groups to advertisethe festivals. One hundred and twenty devotees from various places joinedus. I took out one party and my Godbrother Bhakti Bringa Govinda Maharaja,who was also visiting, took out the other.As my group chanted and danced blissfully down the crowded streets, westopped to chant in front of a large convenience store. Our devotees wereshocked when they read the signs advertising the products inside:"On special today: Dried gizzards, snakehead soup, and Chinese caterpillarfungus."The streets were crowded, and it was hard to move along, but people kindlyaccepted our invitations. After several hours I saw very few on the ground."It's a hopeful sign," I thought.That evening Govinda Maharaja led a long bhajan in the small temple. Many ofthe Chinese devotees had never experienced such a blissful kirtan before,and they chanted and danced with great pleasure. As the kirtan continued, Iwent to speak to Chandrasekhar in his office."It's an ambitious plan to try and fill a thousand seats two nights in arow," I said."I'm hoping we can do it," Chandrasekhar replied. "Nowadays a number ofpeople in Hong Kong are expressing an interest in Indian culture. Since2004, over 30 schools and colleges have visited our temple. And yoga studiosare springing up all around the city."The next day we took a large Harinama to Sai Kung, a town just outside HongKong. Much less commercial than Hong Kong itself, it represented the normalChinese culture outside the cities. But whereas people in Hong Kong showedsome interest in our chanting party, people in Sai Kung busied themselveswith their work and hardly seemed to notice us."It would have been wiser to continue chanting in Hong Kong," I thought.As we were about to finish, we passed an old Chinese temple."Can foreigners go inside?" I asked a local Chinese devotee."Let's see," he replied.With five or six devotees following us, we entered the temple."How old is it?" I asked quietly.The devotees looked at some inscriptions on the wall. "It's 140 years old,"someone whispered.The temple was dimly lit, and I had to squint to see the altar. Finally Icould make out a deity of a tall, bearded man with long hair."Who is that?" I asked a devotee."Guan Gong," he replied, "He's a famous warrior who defended this area fromoutside warlords, centuries ago."There was an abundance of incense burning on the altar. "Do they worshiphim?" I asked."Oh yes," the devotee replied. "People come here to pray to him forprotection. They believe that some special persons attain divinity afterthey die and have supernatural powers."I glanced around the temple and saw old wall hangings, bells, and articlesfor worship. The walls were thick with black soot from 140 years of incensesmoke."Look over here," the devotee continued. "People take these two woodenpieces, the size of your fists, and throw them in front of him. If thepieces both land with the smooth side up, it means he agrees to answer aquestion."You ask a question and then pull a wooden stick from this pile of numberedsticks. You check the number on your stick and then go over there, where yousee a pile of old parchments. You take the parchment with the correspondingnumber on it and read the answer to your question. Do you want to try?""No thank you," I replied respectfully.We walked out of the temple. "Maharaja," said a devotee, "there is nothingthat corresponds to this type of worship in Vedic Culture, is there?""Actually," I replied, "there is for a certain class of men. This is akin toworship of the ancestors. Krishna says in Bhagavad-Gita:yanti deva vrata devanpitrn yanti pitr vratahbhutani yanti bhutejyayanti mad yajino'pi mam'Those who worship the demigods will take birth among the demigods; thosewho worship the ancestors go to the ancestors; those who worship ghosts andspirits will take birth among such beings; and those who worship Me willlive with Me.'"[Bhagavad Gita, 9.25]Just outside the temple, we passed a large furnace where a priest wasoffering different articles made of paper into the fire."What in the world is he doing?" I asked a local devotee."People believe you can send things to your ancestors this way," he replied."For example, if you want to send them a car, you offer a paper car into thefire with certain prayers.""Let's get back to the pure chanting of the holy names," I said. "I can hearthe kirtan party just around the corner."The next day we continued advertising the festivals with a big Harinamaalong a boardwalk near the port. Devotees got tired after some time, but Iwas determined to keep them out as long as possible."I'll be happy if we can fill just half the hall each night," I thought.While chanting down the street we were again reminded of local tastes infood. As we passed a big restaurant we saw a large array of live seafoodswimming in huge aquariums outside the restaurant. There were octopuses,eels, water snakes, huge crabs, and a bizarre assortment of sea fish I hadnever seen before.Customers would stop and indicate to an employee which creature they wanted.The employee would reach in and catch the aquatic and quickly take it backto the kitchen. A half hour later it would be on the customer's table readyto eat.When a large family of 12 people chose a fish almost as big as I am, I toldthe kirtan leader to quickly move on.I turned to Gaura Hari. "It's Lord Caitanya's mercy," I said. "Even peoplewith habits like those can become devotees."I quoted a famous verse from Srimad Bhagavatam:kirata hunandhra pulinda pulkasaabhira sumbha yavanah khasadayahye'nye ca papa yad apasrayasrayahsudhyanti tasmai prabhavisnave namah"Kirata, Huna, Andhra, Pulinda, Pulkasa, Abhira, Sumbha, Yavana, members ofthe Khasa races and even others addicted to sinful acts can be purified bytaking shelter of the devotees of the Lord, due to His being the supremepower. I beg to offer my respectful obeisances unto Him."[Srimad Bhagavatam 2.4.18 ]"Maharaja," said Gaura Hari, "'Khasa' refers to the Chinese. But 'ye 'nye capapa' means 'others addicted to sinful acts.' That would include Westernerssuch as us, wouldn't it? Think of what they serve in the restaurants inAmerica."I felt humbled. "Yes," I replied, "you're correct. We were also addicted tosinful activity before coming to Krsna consciousness. We're not better thanthey are, just more fortunate, that's all. We have already come to KrishnaConsciousness."The next morning, our festival group and a number of local devotees went tothe auditorium to begin setting up the stage. When we walked in we werestunned. One thousand seats cascaded gracefully down towards an immensestage, which was complete with every imaginable lighting, curtain, andfacility needed for a professional show."This dwarfs the Melbourne City Hall we performed in," said a devotee.I couldn't help staring at the impressive stage. "Our show deserves such asetting," I said. "We're presenting the highest culture. With such afacility, people will be able to appreciate our presentation much more. Butlet's hope we get enough people. This place will look empty even if 500people show up.""Maharaja," said a devotee, "Chandrasekhar said ticket sales have been goingwell the last couple of days as a result of the Harinams."The devotees were dressed and ready two hours before the show. Everyone wasexcited. It would be a fitting end to our two months of preaching.Spontaneously I called a meeting with all of them."I'll be leaving the morning after the last program," I began. "I justwanted to thank all of you for the wonderful service you've performed duringthe last two months. I'm sure all of us will cherish memories of this tourfor the rest of our lives.""We worked hard spreading the message of Lord Caitanya," I continued."Sometimes it was like drinking hot sugar-cane juice: so hot it burned thelips, but so sweet we couldn't stop.""And we had so many nice morning programs," said a devotee. "We reallyenjoyed chanting our rounds together and discussing Srimad Bhagavatam.""And great prasadam," added another.Then there was a moment of silence as everyone realized the tour was almostover.Suddenly the devotees looked sad. "The only consolation," I said, "is thatwe'll all be together again in a few months for the summer festival tour inPoland."A big cheer went up."Now let's get ready to go on stage," I said enthusiastically. "The showstarts in a few minutes."The moment we had been waiting for all week was at hand. I decided to take apeek through the giant curtain on the stage and see how many people hadcome. I went before the curtain, paused for a moment, and pulled it slightlyback.What a jolt! The hall was almost full. Row after row of Chinese people weresitting, waiting patiently for the show to begin. In the front row I saw anumber of dignitaries, including the Consul General of India, the ViceChancellor of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, a number of professors,and several prominent Hong Kong businessmen.For a moment I felt a tinge of nervousness. "We'll be performing in front ofa number of distinguished guests and a crowd of 900 people," I thought.Then I laughed. "We've performed in front of hundreds of thousands of peoplethrough the years," I thought. "And they almost always appreciate the show.Why should this program be any different? In fact, with a hall like this itcan only be better."And better it was. The program that night was flawless, and the audienceloved every minute of it. The VIPs seemed to applaud the loudest.The next day the hall was just as full and the festival even better. It wasthe last show on the tour, and the devotees gave it everything they had.Early the next morning Chandrasekhar drove me to the airport."So how did you like the festivals?" he asked."A perfect ending to a wonderful tour," I replied."What's next?" he asked."I'm going to Bali, Indonesia," I replied. "The devotees there have invitedme to come and preach for a week.""Oh, that's very nice," he said. "It's a tropical island. Do you plan totake a break as well?"I reflected for a moment."Next life," I said with a laugh. "For now, I'm too happy preaching in theassociation of so many loving devotees of the Lord."As I boarded the plane, I thought of something Srila Prabhupada had written:"Try to remember Krsna always by following the principles as you know them;namely rising early, taking bath, cleansing, attending aratika, readingscriptures at least one hour or two hours daily, chanting sixteen rounds onbeads of Hare Krsna mantra, going for street sankirtana, offering all yourfoodstuffs to Krsna, like that. In this way very quickly you will makeprogress in Krsna Consciousness and become very, very happy in your life."[Srila Prabhupada, letter to Susan Beckam September 29, 1972]Indradyumna.swami@pamho.netwww.traveling-preacher.comAudio lectures: www.narottam.com
The power of God can do anything …………..
"G u r u m u k h p a d m a v a k y a"
The power of God can do anything ………….. Nectarean Mellows
Krsna has unlimited transcendental opulences and the spiritual world there are forts of his opulences. In the spiritual world there are innumerable Vaikuntha planets. We think that there is a lot of planets within this material existence; the scientist will never be able to even calculate how many planets are within this little universe. There are 14 planetary systems and so many planets in each system, the stars in the sky, can anyone count the stars in the sky? that is just what we just can see within this universe and yet this universe is like a one little mustard seed in a huge barrels of mustard seeds. This universe is quite insignificant. In fact Sri Caitanya Charitamrita describes this universe that we cannot fathom with all its planets and with all of its variedgatedness is a four headed Brahma's universe; this is one of the smallest of all universes. When Brahma went to Dwarka to visit Krsna, 'I want to see Krsna'. 'Who are you?' 'I am Brahma.' The gatekeeper went to Krsna and said 'Brahma wants to see You'. Krsna said 'Ask him which Brahma?'. Krsna knows how to expertly make everyone humble, even Lord Brahma, just these words; just like if Gauranga Prabhu comes to my door and says 'I want to speak' and I say, 'who are you?'; he would feel very insignificant. So in this way Brahma said 'the 4 headed Brahma", because everyone in this world has one head so he has a very special position and he has four heads, he could see all the four directions, but Krsna just to make his devotee very humble, He called for other Lord Brahmas; and Brahma saw there were some Brahmas with 10 heads, some with 20, some with a 100, some 1000, 10000, 100000, million, 10 million heads; and you may say impossible, you cannot even control one head and here is 10 million heads but everything is possible. For a little insect to think I can pick up this lotus impossible, but for us it is very easy. So we must understand that the power of God can do anything and can you imagine what type of a wonderful experience it would be to see Brahma with 10 million heads chanting and dancing in ecstasy in kirtan!!! a beautiful sight!!! just one person can have a great kirtan, 10 million mouths Haribol! His bhajans, when he sits to chant bhajans himself, it is like a roaring sankirtan. It is said that the Brahma with the four heads is always chanting Hare Krsna; so all Brahmas with their heads are chanting Hare Krsna. So this universe is very small size universe, so can you imagine how many planets are in the bigger universes and yet how many Vaikuntha planets are in the spiritual sky. The Vaikuntha planets in the spiritual sky are more numerable then all the planets in the entire cosmic manifestation and Krsna is performing super excellent wonderful pastimes in all of these Vaikuntha planets forever and in each of the Vaikuntha planets, the different forms of the Supreme Personality of Godhead cannot be counted. So who could possibly describe sufficiently the glories of the Supreme Personality of Godhead?
H H Radhanath Swami Maharaj
The power of God can do anything ………….. Nectarean Mellows
Krsna has unlimited transcendental opulences and the spiritual world there are forts of his opulences. In the spiritual world there are innumerable Vaikuntha planets. We think that there is a lot of planets within this material existence; the scientist will never be able to even calculate how many planets are within this little universe. There are 14 planetary systems and so many planets in each system, the stars in the sky, can anyone count the stars in the sky? that is just what we just can see within this universe and yet this universe is like a one little mustard seed in a huge barrels of mustard seeds. This universe is quite insignificant. In fact Sri Caitanya Charitamrita describes this universe that we cannot fathom with all its planets and with all of its variedgatedness is a four headed Brahma's universe; this is one of the smallest of all universes. When Brahma went to Dwarka to visit Krsna, 'I want to see Krsna'. 'Who are you?' 'I am Brahma.' The gatekeeper went to Krsna and said 'Brahma wants to see You'. Krsna said 'Ask him which Brahma?'. Krsna knows how to expertly make everyone humble, even Lord Brahma, just these words; just like if Gauranga Prabhu comes to my door and says 'I want to speak' and I say, 'who are you?'; he would feel very insignificant. So in this way Brahma said 'the 4 headed Brahma", because everyone in this world has one head so he has a very special position and he has four heads, he could see all the four directions, but Krsna just to make his devotee very humble, He called for other Lord Brahmas; and Brahma saw there were some Brahmas with 10 heads, some with 20, some with a 100, some 1000, 10000, 100000, million, 10 million heads; and you may say impossible, you cannot even control one head and here is 10 million heads but everything is possible. For a little insect to think I can pick up this lotus impossible, but for us it is very easy. So we must understand that the power of God can do anything and can you imagine what type of a wonderful experience it would be to see Brahma with 10 million heads chanting and dancing in ecstasy in kirtan!!! a beautiful sight!!! just one person can have a great kirtan, 10 million mouths Haribol! His bhajans, when he sits to chant bhajans himself, it is like a roaring sankirtan. It is said that the Brahma with the four heads is always chanting Hare Krsna; so all Brahmas with their heads are chanting Hare Krsna. So this universe is very small size universe, so can you imagine how many planets are in the bigger universes and yet how many Vaikuntha planets are in the spiritual sky. The Vaikuntha planets in the spiritual sky are more numerable then all the planets in the entire cosmic manifestation and Krsna is performing super excellent wonderful pastimes in all of these Vaikuntha planets forever and in each of the Vaikuntha planets, the different forms of the Supreme Personality of Godhead cannot be counted. So who could possibly describe sufficiently the glories of the Supreme Personality of Godhead?
H H Radhanath Swami Maharaj
The battlefield of Kuruksetra is
"G u r u m u k h a p a d m a v a k y a"
The battlefield of Kuruksetra is everywhere………… Nectarean Mellows
So many impediments will come from within; in the form of laziness and doubt and envy and unwillingness to co-operate, so much false ego; all these comes as an impediments within and so many impediments without. Social pressures people try to make you feel guilty what to speak all the attacks of various objects of the senses and temptations of lying propaganda. The battlefield of Kuruksetra is everywhere but if we remain always with Krsna and always understand that if we simply live by His words, remain honest and remain sincere and stay together co-operatively and perform this wonderful sankirtan of this holy name then (Sudarshan) Chakra of the Lord will always protect us and all obstacles will only bring us near and dear to Krsna and this is the path of bhakti. We must have this conviction that the highest perfection of religion and of life is simply to become attracted to Krsna. Krsna conscious life is to be orchestrated in such a way that everything we do is meant to make us more attracted to Krsna.
H H Radhanath Swami Maharaj
The battlefield of Kuruksetra is everywhere………… Nectarean Mellows
So many impediments will come from within; in the form of laziness and doubt and envy and unwillingness to co-operate, so much false ego; all these comes as an impediments within and so many impediments without. Social pressures people try to make you feel guilty what to speak all the attacks of various objects of the senses and temptations of lying propaganda. The battlefield of Kuruksetra is everywhere but if we remain always with Krsna and always understand that if we simply live by His words, remain honest and remain sincere and stay together co-operatively and perform this wonderful sankirtan of this holy name then (Sudarshan) Chakra of the Lord will always protect us and all obstacles will only bring us near and dear to Krsna and this is the path of bhakti. We must have this conviction that the highest perfection of religion and of life is simply to become attracted to Krsna. Krsna conscious life is to be orchestrated in such a way that everything we do is meant to make us more attracted to Krsna.
H H Radhanath Swami Maharaj
What is the art of all work?
"G u r u m u k h p a d m a v a k y a"
What is the art of all work? ………….. Nectarean Mellows
Today we are reading the beautiful verse from Bhagavad-Gita, Krsna is explaining how by engaging in devotional service we can free ourselves from all the good and bad actions of this life and previous lives. Herein Krsna explains that the art of all work is to offer the fruits of action in the service of Lord Krsna. Prabhupada very nicely translates the art of all work. A good artist is one who takes basic raw materials and creates something very, very beautiful. A good artist can take some dyes, some minerals from the ground and make it into paint; a good artist can take the bark of trees and make it into canvas, a cloth cotton and by combining them they make beautiful, beautiful painting. Another type of artist will take a piece of crude stone from the mountain and crave it to a beautiful, beautiful deity or a statue; another artist will just take musical notes; Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La, Ti, Do; these seven notes and the notes between those notes and with those notes he will make a whole symphony, beautiful, beautiful song. Another artist will take just going to a jungle or a field and make it into a beautiful architectural masterpiece of gardens, homes and parks. So really what an artist is one who takes a very crude more or less useless raw materials and makes it into something so wonderful, which has a tremendous value. If you go to France there is a museum, the painting of Mona Lisa; the canvas is probably not worth more than a few marks and the paint that was used was not worth more than a couple of marks but because Leonardo De Vinci took this paint and took this canvas and put them together in such a wonderful way now that little combination of canvas and paper and paint, that is worth a few marks in materials, is worth 100s of millions of dollars; the big piece of stone is not worth so much but when Michael Angelo carved this big statue, it is worth 100s of millions of dollars, there is no price, they cannot even buy it because of what he did with it. So this is the glory of an artist, to take crude materials which are worth practically nothing and to make it something that is very, very priceless.
So Krsna is explaining here what is the art of all work or in another words the art of living. In this world people are eating, sleeping, mating and defending. There are scholars, there are warriors and politicians, there are farmers and there are businessmen and there are workers who are doing their occupation but ultimately all that they are doing and the materials that they are using are worthless. Whatever a person does in this world in their work, whatever they earn, through the power of time by the time of death everything is taken away and all is left is a one big zero. But a devotee lives in the same world and engages in the same type of activities but because he knows the art of offering it to Krsna everything that he does is of a priceless eternal bound; it cannot even be estimated by any of this wealth in this world.
H H Radhanath Swami Maharaj
What is the art of all work? ………….. Nectarean Mellows
Today we are reading the beautiful verse from Bhagavad-Gita, Krsna is explaining how by engaging in devotional service we can free ourselves from all the good and bad actions of this life and previous lives. Herein Krsna explains that the art of all work is to offer the fruits of action in the service of Lord Krsna. Prabhupada very nicely translates the art of all work. A good artist is one who takes basic raw materials and creates something very, very beautiful. A good artist can take some dyes, some minerals from the ground and make it into paint; a good artist can take the bark of trees and make it into canvas, a cloth cotton and by combining them they make beautiful, beautiful painting. Another type of artist will take a piece of crude stone from the mountain and crave it to a beautiful, beautiful deity or a statue; another artist will just take musical notes; Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La, Ti, Do; these seven notes and the notes between those notes and with those notes he will make a whole symphony, beautiful, beautiful song. Another artist will take just going to a jungle or a field and make it into a beautiful architectural masterpiece of gardens, homes and parks. So really what an artist is one who takes a very crude more or less useless raw materials and makes it into something so wonderful, which has a tremendous value. If you go to France there is a museum, the painting of Mona Lisa; the canvas is probably not worth more than a few marks and the paint that was used was not worth more than a couple of marks but because Leonardo De Vinci took this paint and took this canvas and put them together in such a wonderful way now that little combination of canvas and paper and paint, that is worth a few marks in materials, is worth 100s of millions of dollars; the big piece of stone is not worth so much but when Michael Angelo carved this big statue, it is worth 100s of millions of dollars, there is no price, they cannot even buy it because of what he did with it. So this is the glory of an artist, to take crude materials which are worth practically nothing and to make it something that is very, very priceless.
So Krsna is explaining here what is the art of all work or in another words the art of living. In this world people are eating, sleeping, mating and defending. There are scholars, there are warriors and politicians, there are farmers and there are businessmen and there are workers who are doing their occupation but ultimately all that they are doing and the materials that they are using are worthless. Whatever a person does in this world in their work, whatever they earn, through the power of time by the time of death everything is taken away and all is left is a one big zero. But a devotee lives in the same world and engages in the same type of activities but because he knows the art of offering it to Krsna everything that he does is of a priceless eternal bound; it cannot even be estimated by any of this wealth in this world.
H H Radhanath Swami Maharaj
Price of Krishna Consciousness....
The price of Krishna consciousness
Excerpt from a lecture by HH Radhanath Swami Maharaj
Sridhar swami in his commentary, he explains that the word sattvena, which means the mode of goodness, in practical application means that we must be patient. This is one of the most essential items of devotional service. Patience.
Rupa Goswami says that we must be enthusiastic with patience and confidence. Patience is a symptom of surrender. Without patience, our surrender is hollow and incomplete. We must execute Krishna conscious principles with great great enthusiasm. But we are not fruitive workers. We are not doing business with Krishna . When Lord Nrsimhadeva offered Prahlad maharaj benedictions, he could have chosen to go back to Godhead or anything.
But he said, my Lord, I am not here to do business with you. I am not a fruitive worker that I have performed my service and remained faithful with the expectation that you'll give me something. I have done it for your satisfaction. The one thing a devotee wants is a pure heart.
narayana-parah sarve
na kutascana bibhyati
svargapavarga- narakesv
api tulyartha-darsinah
(SB 6.17.28)
For the devotees of Lord Narayan, whether they are in heaven, hell or in mukti, it makes no difference. Their only concern is to serve. So we want a pure heart. Because purer the heart, the more pleasing our service will be. Whether Krishna wants to send us to heaven or hell to Goloka or Vaikuntha, wherever He wants me to please Him, I'll be there. But just give me a pure heart, so I just have that motive, that sincerity of purpose.
But after years of hearing and chanting, after years of working so hard, after years of giving up so much of what is precious to ordinary beings - our health, our youth, still the ego is there. The lust, the anger, the envy the pride, the illusions are there. Why? I've tried once, I've tried twice? How many times have I dressed Radha Gopinath? How many times I've completed my 16 rounds? How many times have I bowed down and said Vancha Kalpa tarubhyas ca to the Vaisnavas, How many books have I distributed? How many risks have I taken? How many people have I brought to Krishna Consciousness? How many times have I become sick, invalid, and gone on with my service? But still my heart is not pure.
Patience means Krishna , "I am going to be always examining and re-examining the quality of my service and the intentions of my service. Because if I am not pure, perhaps I am not doing it right. Perhaps there is some flaw. Perhaps I am making offenses". So we can't just be patient. If you're making aparadhs, if you're negligent of certain vaisnava principles, you could be patient for millions of births.
So we always have to be scrutinizingly examining and re-examining what is the quality of my sadhana, my bhajana, my seva, my relationship with Vaisnavas, and what is the inner content of my heart when I am performing it. Am I doing it for pratistha? For recognition? Or am I doing it to please Krishna , to please Guru, to please Vaisnavas. And while carefully practicing this way, if it takes our whole life, if it takes hundreds of millions of births, it doesn't matter, because I know, when it is pleasing to Krishna , He will deliver me. I am His servant.
na dhanam na janam na sundarim
kavitam va jagad-isa kamaye
mama janmani janmanisvare
bhavatad bhaktir ahaituki tvayi
[Cc. Antya 20.29, Siksastaka 4]
"O Almighty Lord, I have no desire to accumulate wealth, nor to enjoy beautiful women. Nor do I want any number of followers. What I want only is the causeless mercy of Your devotional service in my life, birth after birth."
I do not want money, I do not want women, I do not want followers, disciples. I don't even want liberation. I only want to serve you birth after birth after birth unconditionally. Unconditional service means patience. Whenever Krishna desires, He will deliver me. It is His promise:
man-mana bhava mad-bhakto
mad-yaji mam namaskuru
mam evaisyasi satyam te
pratijane priyo 'si me
(BG 18.65)
Always think of Me, become My devotee, worship Me, and offer homage unto Me and in this way you'll come to Me without fail.
Srila Prabhupada explains the essence of patience. "Patience is necessary for developing the confidence that Krsna will certainly accept me because I am engaging in devotional service. One has only to execute service according to the rules and regulations to insure success."
We worship the Deities as Krishna Himself. We honor every living entity as part of Krishna . We worship and respect every Vaisnava with maturity. And we carry on this way, chanting the holy name, hearing the glories of the Lord, serving His devotees, with patience and faith. Never to give up. If ever we give up, that means, we are not worthy of Bhakti. If our intention is clear, I'll go on as long as you want Krishna and when you want to purify my heart, that's Your business, I'll never give up. It is that consciousness, that is the price of Krishna consciousness.
Thank you very much.
Excerpt from a lecture by HH Radhanath Swami Maharaj
Sridhar swami in his commentary, he explains that the word sattvena, which means the mode of goodness, in practical application means that we must be patient. This is one of the most essential items of devotional service. Patience.
Rupa Goswami says that we must be enthusiastic with patience and confidence. Patience is a symptom of surrender. Without patience, our surrender is hollow and incomplete. We must execute Krishna conscious principles with great great enthusiasm. But we are not fruitive workers. We are not doing business with Krishna . When Lord Nrsimhadeva offered Prahlad maharaj benedictions, he could have chosen to go back to Godhead or anything.
But he said, my Lord, I am not here to do business with you. I am not a fruitive worker that I have performed my service and remained faithful with the expectation that you'll give me something. I have done it for your satisfaction. The one thing a devotee wants is a pure heart.
narayana-parah sarve
na kutascana bibhyati
svargapavarga- narakesv
api tulyartha-darsinah
(SB 6.17.28)
For the devotees of Lord Narayan, whether they are in heaven, hell or in mukti, it makes no difference. Their only concern is to serve. So we want a pure heart. Because purer the heart, the more pleasing our service will be. Whether Krishna wants to send us to heaven or hell to Goloka or Vaikuntha, wherever He wants me to please Him, I'll be there. But just give me a pure heart, so I just have that motive, that sincerity of purpose.
But after years of hearing and chanting, after years of working so hard, after years of giving up so much of what is precious to ordinary beings - our health, our youth, still the ego is there. The lust, the anger, the envy the pride, the illusions are there. Why? I've tried once, I've tried twice? How many times have I dressed Radha Gopinath? How many times I've completed my 16 rounds? How many times have I bowed down and said Vancha Kalpa tarubhyas ca to the Vaisnavas, How many books have I distributed? How many risks have I taken? How many people have I brought to Krishna Consciousness? How many times have I become sick, invalid, and gone on with my service? But still my heart is not pure.
Patience means Krishna , "I am going to be always examining and re-examining the quality of my service and the intentions of my service. Because if I am not pure, perhaps I am not doing it right. Perhaps there is some flaw. Perhaps I am making offenses". So we can't just be patient. If you're making aparadhs, if you're negligent of certain vaisnava principles, you could be patient for millions of births.
So we always have to be scrutinizingly examining and re-examining what is the quality of my sadhana, my bhajana, my seva, my relationship with Vaisnavas, and what is the inner content of my heart when I am performing it. Am I doing it for pratistha? For recognition? Or am I doing it to please Krishna , to please Guru, to please Vaisnavas. And while carefully practicing this way, if it takes our whole life, if it takes hundreds of millions of births, it doesn't matter, because I know, when it is pleasing to Krishna , He will deliver me. I am His servant.
na dhanam na janam na sundarim
kavitam va jagad-isa kamaye
mama janmani janmanisvare
bhavatad bhaktir ahaituki tvayi
[Cc. Antya 20.29, Siksastaka 4]
"O Almighty Lord, I have no desire to accumulate wealth, nor to enjoy beautiful women. Nor do I want any number of followers. What I want only is the causeless mercy of Your devotional service in my life, birth after birth."
I do not want money, I do not want women, I do not want followers, disciples. I don't even want liberation. I only want to serve you birth after birth after birth unconditionally. Unconditional service means patience. Whenever Krishna desires, He will deliver me. It is His promise:
man-mana bhava mad-bhakto
mad-yaji mam namaskuru
mam evaisyasi satyam te
pratijane priyo 'si me
(BG 18.65)
Always think of Me, become My devotee, worship Me, and offer homage unto Me and in this way you'll come to Me without fail.
Srila Prabhupada explains the essence of patience. "Patience is necessary for developing the confidence that Krsna will certainly accept me because I am engaging in devotional service. One has only to execute service according to the rules and regulations to insure success."
We worship the Deities as Krishna Himself. We honor every living entity as part of Krishna . We worship and respect every Vaisnava with maturity. And we carry on this way, chanting the holy name, hearing the glories of the Lord, serving His devotees, with patience and faith. Never to give up. If ever we give up, that means, we are not worthy of Bhakti. If our intention is clear, I'll go on as long as you want Krishna and when you want to purify my heart, that's Your business, I'll never give up. It is that consciousness, that is the price of Krishna consciousness.
Thank you very much.
The ultimate aspiration and goal of our life
"G u r u m u k h p a d m a v a k y a"
The ultimate aspiration and goal of our life ……….. Nectarean Mellows
Arjuna was such a great devotee. He asked Krsna show me the Virat Rupa. Krsna said 'No one could see this Virat Rupa unless I give them the eyes to see'; Krsna gave Arjuna the eyes to see this Virat Rupa with unlimited heads, arms, legs, mouths. All devouring time was right before him; Arjuna said 'I see no beginning and I see no end to this form'; he was completely feeling himself incompetent to perceive to understand what he was seeing. And that was Arjuna who was actually given the eyes by Krsna to see it. And we don't even have the eyes and yet we think we are very, very expert in describing the glorification of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. And that Virat Rupa is only a temporary manifestation of the Lord's material potency. The more we understand Krsna, the more we become completely humbled how insignificant we are!! If you have false pride that is the symptom that you don't understand Krsna properly. How can you be proud when you are standing before the Lord who is unlimited? Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, He didn't pray to be God or the great seer of the truth; Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu in His sikshaktam is praying to be one atomic particle of dust at the lotus feet of Lord Krsna. That is the ultimate aspiration and goal of our life: just to be that atomic little particle of a dust at the lotus feet of Krsna, or to be a dust particle at the feet of the servants of the servants of the servants of the devotees of Krsna. This is real knowledge: to have this aspiration.
H H Radhanath Swami Maharaj
The ultimate aspiration and goal of our life ……….. Nectarean Mellows
Arjuna was such a great devotee. He asked Krsna show me the Virat Rupa. Krsna said 'No one could see this Virat Rupa unless I give them the eyes to see'; Krsna gave Arjuna the eyes to see this Virat Rupa with unlimited heads, arms, legs, mouths. All devouring time was right before him; Arjuna said 'I see no beginning and I see no end to this form'; he was completely feeling himself incompetent to perceive to understand what he was seeing. And that was Arjuna who was actually given the eyes by Krsna to see it. And we don't even have the eyes and yet we think we are very, very expert in describing the glorification of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. And that Virat Rupa is only a temporary manifestation of the Lord's material potency. The more we understand Krsna, the more we become completely humbled how insignificant we are!! If you have false pride that is the symptom that you don't understand Krsna properly. How can you be proud when you are standing before the Lord who is unlimited? Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, He didn't pray to be God or the great seer of the truth; Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu in His sikshaktam is praying to be one atomic particle of dust at the lotus feet of Lord Krsna. That is the ultimate aspiration and goal of our life: just to be that atomic little particle of a dust at the lotus feet of Krsna, or to be a dust particle at the feet of the servants of the servants of the servants of the devotees of Krsna. This is real knowledge: to have this aspiration.
H H Radhanath Swami Maharaj
Chastity of our consciousness …………..
"G u r u m u k h p a d m a v a k y a"
Chastity of our consciousness ………….. Nectarean Mellows
Maitreya Muni herein describing so wonderfully what he has heard through submissive oral reception from his spiritual master; Maitreya Muni is giving us a very good lesson here that one should not have a consciousness which is unchaste. To be unchaste means to be exploited and polluted and also exploit others. When a person is unchaste in this world they just exploit others and they are also exploited; that's all. When a woman is chaste; she is protected, she is safe and secure if she has a proper husband or father or elder son but when a woman becomes unchaste (then) big, big problems to the whole society, cheaters and cheated, that's all. So similarly when our consciousness is unchaste we become exploited by maya and all of her representatives and in response we become exploiters even in the name of religion. Maitreya Rishi is describing that his chastity is that he heard submissively from his guru and he is simply repeating the glories of the Lord as he has heard from his spiritual master without interpretation or change; if you change the message you became unchaste, you don't do good to others but rather you exploit others. The conscious which is chaste understands it's real position that we are eternally the servants of Krsna; we are Krsna's property; therefore with our body, mind and words which comprise our very life, we are meant simply to repeat the glories of Krsna as it is and serve the Supreme Lord as He is. This is chastity of our consciousness because it is the natural position of our consciousness. As soon as we speak due to the ferocious uncontrolled tendencies of the conditioned tongue, those things, which are of the material world, which are not in service of Krsna; then we become unchaste to God.
H H Radhanath Swami Maharaj
Chastity of our consciousness ………….. Nectarean Mellows
Maitreya Muni herein describing so wonderfully what he has heard through submissive oral reception from his spiritual master; Maitreya Muni is giving us a very good lesson here that one should not have a consciousness which is unchaste. To be unchaste means to be exploited and polluted and also exploit others. When a person is unchaste in this world they just exploit others and they are also exploited; that's all. When a woman is chaste; she is protected, she is safe and secure if she has a proper husband or father or elder son but when a woman becomes unchaste (then) big, big problems to the whole society, cheaters and cheated, that's all. So similarly when our consciousness is unchaste we become exploited by maya and all of her representatives and in response we become exploiters even in the name of religion. Maitreya Rishi is describing that his chastity is that he heard submissively from his guru and he is simply repeating the glories of the Lord as he has heard from his spiritual master without interpretation or change; if you change the message you became unchaste, you don't do good to others but rather you exploit others. The conscious which is chaste understands it's real position that we are eternally the servants of Krsna; we are Krsna's property; therefore with our body, mind and words which comprise our very life, we are meant simply to repeat the glories of Krsna as it is and serve the Supreme Lord as He is. This is chastity of our consciousness because it is the natural position of our consciousness. As soon as we speak due to the ferocious uncontrolled tendencies of the conditioned tongue, those things, which are of the material world, which are not in service of Krsna; then we become unchaste to God.
H H Radhanath Swami Maharaj
What are the real first priorities of life
"G u r u m u k h p a d m a v a k y a"
What are the real first priorities of life….......….... Nectarean Mellows
In Chaitanya Caritamrita, there is very wonderful example of such a personality, I would like to tell you this story. Please understand that this person I am very doubtful if anybody in this assembly tonight can imitate him; but we could learn from his example and follow in his footsteps and strive for his realization. His name was Vasudeva. And this Vasudeva, he had contracted leprosy, terrible leprosy, very advanced stages. From the top of his head to the bottom of his feet, his flesh was so contaminated by this disease that it became utterly rotten and there was puss, terrible painful foul smelling puss, pouring from every part of his body and there was contaminated blood oozing. He smelled so terrible that no one would tolerate being anywhere near him and his flesh was so rotten that there were hundreds and thousands of worms in every part of his body eating him away, just eating him and eating his body. And when one of the worms would fall, Vasudeva would very carefully pick it up, and place it back and he would think that God has given me this body and Krish na has also given the worm this body to enjoy. So he is actually enjoying better in this body than me. I am suffering but he is enjoying. So let him enjoy physically, he was in the most desperately hopeless, helpless condition. Utter pain and disfiguration and socially his family rejected him, his friends rejected him. The whole society rejected him. Can you try to identify yourself in that position? It was a suffering situation. But in his mind, he was always grateful to Krish na. He was never the slightest bit disturbed. He was simply thinking, " Krish na is so kind, that He is going through so much trouble just to help me always remember Him and He is so kind and He is going through all this trouble just to make me humble and free from prestige and the desire to enjoy this body now."
What happened is, he found that Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had come to a place called Kurma Ksetra and he was living at one Brahman's house. "Mahaprabhu! ! God!! Krishna !! See He has come, I must go. I must have His darsana. I must serve His lotus feet. I must surrender my head at His feet". So as difficult as it was, he walked a long distance and when he arrived, he found that Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had already left. He was already some distance away. He missed the opportunity of his life. And Vasudeva, he never felt distressed by the worms eating his body or all the puss and all the blood and everybody rejecting him. But when he learnt that he missed the opportunity to serve the Lord, he became so completely disturbed in his mind that he fell down unconscious. What is our position? How much are we so anxious for devotional service? And Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, who is the paramatma in everyone's heart understood that this devotee despite the most terrible condition is grateful and never disturbed. But he is terribly disturbed from the point of the verge of death because I am not there to give him my mercy. So Mahaprabhu returned. And when Chaitanya Mahaprabhu returned with great love for his devotee, He lifted him up and embraced him. Who would want to embrace a person like this? But the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He felt great ecstasy in embracing this man because the Lord does not see our physical, material qualifications or disqualification' s. He takes pleasure only in the condition of our heart. And when He embraced Vasudeva, a great miracle took place, this rotten decayed body became effulgent like Gold. All the disease all the leprosy vanished. And his body was youthful full of health full of strength full of energy and it was beautiful like a demigod. Now let me ask you; if you had just been given a miracle like that would you be happy? Raise your hand if you would be happy. Be honest. You are suffering from leprosy, dying dejected by everyone and the Lord embraced you and made you beautiful and young, handsome and healthy. Would you be happy about that? (but) Vasudeva was completely miserable. He was never miserable before, he was never disturbed before. But after he was healed, he became completely disturbed in his mind. Why? Because he was thinking, he said to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. He said, "My dear Lord when I was a useless leper rejected by everyone I had nothing to be proud of so it was very natural for me to just very humbly and helplessly always be remembering You but I know Your nature is as soon as pride enters into the heart of Your devotee whatever service he offers gives You no satisfaction it is only the humility in which it is offered that gives You pleasure and now I am going to be famous everywhere because You have performed a miracle just for me. People are going to think Oh you are a very advanced devotee. The Lord has performed such a miracle to you, such great soul and you are handsome and young and beautiful. Naturally I have something too proud of spiritually because You have performed this miracle. I have something to be so proud of and if I become proud, even one tinge, nothing I do will satisfy You and therefore I am terribly disturbed and miserable when I was a leper, I was very peaceful. Please my Lord, instruct me how I can serve you in this position and never fall victim to false pride and he asked this question yearning and longing for the answer. This is very important. In the Bhagavad Gita as long as Arjuna thought I know something and was presenting his ideas, Krish na did not say a word to him because He knew if I speak now Arjuna will not understand. Krish na just remained silent sometime until Arjuna became completely frustrated ----Karpanya doso pahat svabhava………. Krish na I am completely confused about my duty. I do not know what is to be done and what is not to be done I do not know what is truth what is false. I don't know anything Krish na . I am desperate, I am begging You, please instruct me. I surrender to Your feet. Then Krish na knew because Arjuna was inquiring in the spirit, whatever he said would go right to his heart and would be understood. Most people when they are in a completely calamitous situation they become very helpless and hopeless. And then they turn to God and say, 'please save me!' or they come to the sadhus and say, 'please give me relief.' When Vasudev was in the most opulent condition of life he became like this. Queen Kunti was also like this. Let the troubles happen Krish na then I will always remember you. But now such comforts, complacency, pride and you disappear. So Vasudev begged Mahaprabhu, please tell me how I can always remain your humble servant under all conditions. And Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu replied: yare dekathari kaha…. Krish na upadesh....."Always chant the holy names, Hare Krish na Hare Krish na Krish na Krish na Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. Always seek shelter of the association of the devotees, and whomever you meet, enlighten them with the words of Krish na . In this way you will never fall victim to maya". And Vasudeva took these words as his life and soul. And then all of his anxiety, all of his frustration, all of his disturbance was removed simply by hearing these words of the Lord with a submissive and humble heart.
So a devotee as we are explaining does not take very seriously the conditions of this material world. He only takes one thing seriously, the connection of my Krish na . How am I chanting His names? How am I associating with His devotees? How am I pleasing Gurudeva? These are the real first priorities of life. Everything else we do, the needful and we do it well, perform our duty, we take care of our occupation, but we are doing it for Krish na , we are not attached to the fruits. We are attached to Krish na , we are attached to the service. We are not attached to the result and whatever predicament we are put in this world, its value is only as much as it helps us to remember Krish na and fall at His lotus feet. In any situation that is preventing us from doing that, that situation, is terrible.
H H Radhanath Swami Maharaj
What are the real first priorities of life….......….... Nectarean Mellows
In Chaitanya Caritamrita, there is very wonderful example of such a personality, I would like to tell you this story. Please understand that this person I am very doubtful if anybody in this assembly tonight can imitate him; but we could learn from his example and follow in his footsteps and strive for his realization. His name was Vasudeva. And this Vasudeva, he had contracted leprosy, terrible leprosy, very advanced stages. From the top of his head to the bottom of his feet, his flesh was so contaminated by this disease that it became utterly rotten and there was puss, terrible painful foul smelling puss, pouring from every part of his body and there was contaminated blood oozing. He smelled so terrible that no one would tolerate being anywhere near him and his flesh was so rotten that there were hundreds and thousands of worms in every part of his body eating him away, just eating him and eating his body. And when one of the worms would fall, Vasudeva would very carefully pick it up, and place it back and he would think that God has given me this body and Krish na has also given the worm this body to enjoy. So he is actually enjoying better in this body than me. I am suffering but he is enjoying. So let him enjoy physically, he was in the most desperately hopeless, helpless condition. Utter pain and disfiguration and socially his family rejected him, his friends rejected him. The whole society rejected him. Can you try to identify yourself in that position? It was a suffering situation. But in his mind, he was always grateful to Krish na. He was never the slightest bit disturbed. He was simply thinking, " Krish na is so kind, that He is going through so much trouble just to help me always remember Him and He is so kind and He is going through all this trouble just to make me humble and free from prestige and the desire to enjoy this body now."
What happened is, he found that Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had come to a place called Kurma Ksetra and he was living at one Brahman's house. "Mahaprabhu! ! God!! Krishna !! See He has come, I must go. I must have His darsana. I must serve His lotus feet. I must surrender my head at His feet". So as difficult as it was, he walked a long distance and when he arrived, he found that Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had already left. He was already some distance away. He missed the opportunity of his life. And Vasudeva, he never felt distressed by the worms eating his body or all the puss and all the blood and everybody rejecting him. But when he learnt that he missed the opportunity to serve the Lord, he became so completely disturbed in his mind that he fell down unconscious. What is our position? How much are we so anxious for devotional service? And Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, who is the paramatma in everyone's heart understood that this devotee despite the most terrible condition is grateful and never disturbed. But he is terribly disturbed from the point of the verge of death because I am not there to give him my mercy. So Mahaprabhu returned. And when Chaitanya Mahaprabhu returned with great love for his devotee, He lifted him up and embraced him. Who would want to embrace a person like this? But the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He felt great ecstasy in embracing this man because the Lord does not see our physical, material qualifications or disqualification' s. He takes pleasure only in the condition of our heart. And when He embraced Vasudeva, a great miracle took place, this rotten decayed body became effulgent like Gold. All the disease all the leprosy vanished. And his body was youthful full of health full of strength full of energy and it was beautiful like a demigod. Now let me ask you; if you had just been given a miracle like that would you be happy? Raise your hand if you would be happy. Be honest. You are suffering from leprosy, dying dejected by everyone and the Lord embraced you and made you beautiful and young, handsome and healthy. Would you be happy about that? (but) Vasudeva was completely miserable. He was never miserable before, he was never disturbed before. But after he was healed, he became completely disturbed in his mind. Why? Because he was thinking, he said to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. He said, "My dear Lord when I was a useless leper rejected by everyone I had nothing to be proud of so it was very natural for me to just very humbly and helplessly always be remembering You but I know Your nature is as soon as pride enters into the heart of Your devotee whatever service he offers gives You no satisfaction it is only the humility in which it is offered that gives You pleasure and now I am going to be famous everywhere because You have performed a miracle just for me. People are going to think Oh you are a very advanced devotee. The Lord has performed such a miracle to you, such great soul and you are handsome and young and beautiful. Naturally I have something too proud of spiritually because You have performed this miracle. I have something to be so proud of and if I become proud, even one tinge, nothing I do will satisfy You and therefore I am terribly disturbed and miserable when I was a leper, I was very peaceful. Please my Lord, instruct me how I can serve you in this position and never fall victim to false pride and he asked this question yearning and longing for the answer. This is very important. In the Bhagavad Gita as long as Arjuna thought I know something and was presenting his ideas, Krish na did not say a word to him because He knew if I speak now Arjuna will not understand. Krish na just remained silent sometime until Arjuna became completely frustrated ----Karpanya doso pahat svabhava………. Krish na I am completely confused about my duty. I do not know what is to be done and what is not to be done I do not know what is truth what is false. I don't know anything Krish na . I am desperate, I am begging You, please instruct me. I surrender to Your feet. Then Krish na knew because Arjuna was inquiring in the spirit, whatever he said would go right to his heart and would be understood. Most people when they are in a completely calamitous situation they become very helpless and hopeless. And then they turn to God and say, 'please save me!' or they come to the sadhus and say, 'please give me relief.' When Vasudev was in the most opulent condition of life he became like this. Queen Kunti was also like this. Let the troubles happen Krish na then I will always remember you. But now such comforts, complacency, pride and you disappear. So Vasudev begged Mahaprabhu, please tell me how I can always remain your humble servant under all conditions. And Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu replied: yare dekathari kaha…. Krish na upadesh....."Always chant the holy names, Hare Krish na Hare Krish na Krish na Krish na Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. Always seek shelter of the association of the devotees, and whomever you meet, enlighten them with the words of Krish na . In this way you will never fall victim to maya". And Vasudeva took these words as his life and soul. And then all of his anxiety, all of his frustration, all of his disturbance was removed simply by hearing these words of the Lord with a submissive and humble heart.
So a devotee as we are explaining does not take very seriously the conditions of this material world. He only takes one thing seriously, the connection of my Krish na . How am I chanting His names? How am I associating with His devotees? How am I pleasing Gurudeva? These are the real first priorities of life. Everything else we do, the needful and we do it well, perform our duty, we take care of our occupation, but we are doing it for Krish na , we are not attached to the fruits. We are attached to Krish na , we are attached to the service. We are not attached to the result and whatever predicament we are put in this world, its value is only as much as it helps us to remember Krish na and fall at His lotus feet. In any situation that is preventing us from doing that, that situation, is terrible.
H H Radhanath Swami Maharaj
Volume 9, Chapter 2
Diary of a Traveling Preacher Volume 9, Chapter 2 January 29 - February 13, 2008 By Indradyumna Swami "The Mother Temple"On the flight from Hong Kong to Bali, I thought about a conversation I hadhad with my Godbrother B. B. Govinda Maharaja the previous day. We weretalking about seeing Srila Prabhupada at the Detroit airport in 1971. It wasour first meeting with Srila Prabhupada, and I asked Maharaja if heremembered anything from Srila Prabhupada's arrival address."Yes," he said smiling. "Srila Prabhupada leaned forward from his chair atone point and said, 'Please believe me when I say you are not the materialbody.' ""Incredible," I said. "That's exactly what I remember from the lecture."As we sped through the air, I reflected on Srila Prabhupada's words, "Pleasebelieve me." I thought how any preacher in Krsna consciousness is alwayspraying his audience will embrace his message. In that mood, I was overjoyedto read a letter from a disciple while going through my email a few hourslater:"Dear Srila Gurudeva,"Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada."Thank you so much for bringing your festival tour to Australia."My mother was very touched by the lecture you gave at the festival programin Sydney. I was at a family dinner at her house recently, and mybrother-in-law asked how devotees view birthdays. I started to tell him howwe are not these material bodies, but the soul within."Suddenly my mother interrupted. She said, 'Yes, and when you die it's justlike taking off old clothes and putting on fresh, new ones. The body changesbut the soul remains the same.'"I let my mother continue as she was so enthusiastic. For the next fewminutes she quoted many examples straight out of your lecture. For example,how the body is like a car and the soul is the driver. Finally she stood upand when she had everyone's attention said, 'So, we can take birth again inthe material world or we can go back to the spiritual world which iseternal, full of knowledge and bliss.'"She paused and then continued, 'So obviously it's best if we try to go backto the spiritual world.'"Everyone sat stunned. I started to clap and then suddenly everyone elsebegan clapping and cheering. Then my mother quietly sat back down."Before the program she had little interest in Krsna consciousness. Somehow,as a result of your wonderful presentation, her heart changed."Your servant, Vilasa Manjari."The jet engines continued to drone as my attention turned to Bali. I hadbeen there once before, 15 years ago. At that time our movement had beensuppressed by the local brahmanas, who being mainly demigod worshipers sawour worship of Krsna as a threat. Public Harinamas were banned, and devoteeshad to meet in secret. The tense situation was eventually resolved whenBhakti Swarupa Damodar Maharaja met the brahminical community and assuredthem of our desire to work cooperatively.Though Bali is 6,000 kilometers from present day India, Vedic culture hasbeen there for thousands of years. That fact seems to support SrilaPrabhupada's statement that Vedic culture once existed all over the world:"At the time of Maharaja Prithu, the world was ruled by one emperor,although there were many subordinate states. Just as there are many unitedstates in various parts of the world, in olden days the entire world wasruled through many states, but there was a supreme emperor who ruled overall subsidiary states."[Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.16.27, purport]"If I have time," I thought, "I'll look for evidence that India's ancientculture existed in Bali for centuries."Eventually the captain announced we were circling Bali and would soon belanding. When I looked out the window I was stunned by the beauty of theisland from the air. It looked like a greenish-colored pearl set in ashimmering blue oyster shell. As we came in to land, the lush green tropicalscenery seemed to jump out at us.After clearing immigration and customs, I gathered my bags and was metoutside the terminal by a warm tropical breeze and a group of 30enthusiastic devotees having a rousing kirtan. As we drove to the housewhere I would be staying, devotees told me that on Bali the temperaturevaries only a couple of degrees throughout the year, the flowers bloomwithout cessation, and there are no wild beasts, poisonous snakes orspiders, or cyclones."Like heaven on earth," I said as we entered Kuta, a large town and apopular tourist center."Not exactly," said Padma Locan das pointing towards a huge ornate structurewith a long list of names embossed in gold on it."What's that?" I said."The names of the 202 people killed in the Jemaah Islamiyah terroristbombing in 2002," he replied. "Most of them were foreigners."We were silent as we passed the memorial.That afternoon we went for a drive to a different part of the island. Whilepassing through a small village, I asked the driver to stop, so we couldexplore on foot. As we strolled around a market, I saw many exotic fruitsincluding snakeskin fruit, yellow watermelon, and mangosteen. I also noticedthere were many temples."There are more than 11,000 temples in Bali," said Padma Locan.My idea to connect the present religious life of Bali to the spiritualculture of India came to mind. "Are they very old?" I asked."Some of them are several hundred years old," he replied."Not so old," I said."The people here don't know very much about Krsna," said Mahamuni dasi. "Atalmost all the temples in Bali they are worshiping demigods, ancestors, andghosts.""Ghosts?" I said."Yes," she said. "They worship the ghosts so they won't disturb them. Do yousee all these little offerings along the paths in front of the houses?They're called yajna-sesus. They're for the ghosts."I looked and saw offerings of fruits and flowers as well as cigarettes andwine in the leaf cups.After we returned and rested, we traveled to a program at theRadha-Rasesvara temple in the jungle two hours from Denpasar, the capital.It is one of the four main ISKCON temples on the island.The devotees were having a big kirtan when we arrived. Having seen thebeauty of the island, I then gave the first of a series of lectures on howdevotees must remain fixed in Krsna consciousness and not be distracted bythe beauty of this world. I said the only real danger I saw on the heavenlyisle of Bali was that the idyllic nature of the place, could easily make oneforget Krsna. Devotees nodded their heads in agreement.The next day we took a drive around another part of the island to chantjapa. In every village I noticed that in the center of the traffic circleswere large dioramas depicting pastimes of the Lord from the Ramayana andMahabharata. In one place I saw Lord Ramacandra engaged in battle withRavana; in another, Draupadi and her five Pandava husbands. Yudhisthira wasfeatured on the traffic island of a small market town, and Hanuman flyingthrough the air carrying a mountain of herbs for Laksman was the choice of aneighboring village.I realized that although the dioramas were fairly recent they offered proofthat the roots of Vedic culture had existed here for millennia. With thiskind of art all over the island, it would be easy to remember God. It seemedthat Bali had the best of both worlds.The jungle thickened along the route we were taking. Once in a while I'd seecrystal-clear waterfalls flowing into large pools. Monkeys played on therocks, colorful birds flew in and out of the trees, and butterfliesfluttered around.On one occasion Mahamuni turned to me. "Would you like to visit a nearbybotanical garden, Maharaja?" she said."Your whole country is a botanical garden," I said laughing.As the countryside drifted by, I noticed many more temples. They wereconstructed in the open Balinese style, and all had fresh fruit offerings onthe altars. Passing over a bridge, on each of the four corners, I sawferocious carved figures dressed in colorful, fresh cloth."What is that?" I asked."Minor deities who protect the traveler," said Padma Locan. "The people takegood care of the deities, as you can see, and in turn they believe thedeities take good care of them."I was impressed that the Balinese recognized the forces of nature aspersonal, that there were controlling deities behind every aspect of thenatural world. However, I felt disappointed that they didn't seem tounderstand there was a supreme personality who ultimately controlledeverything and to whom everyone owed allegiance. But that was nothing new.The problem was prevalent 5,000 years ago. Krsna says:sa taya sraddhaya yuktastasyaradhanam ihatelabhate ca tatah kamanmayaiva vihitan hi tan"Endowed with such a faith, he seeks favors of a particular demigod andobtains his desires. But in actuality these benefits are bestowed by Mealone."[Bhagavad-gita 7.22]In the evening we attended a program in the Gauranga temple, close to Kuta."There is no need to criticize the people's worship of demigods," I said inthe lecture. "Although the tourists who come here may see it as uncivilized,actually it is a more advanced understanding than that of modern science,which says everything is happening by chance."What we can offer is that if we simply worship Krsna, we please all thedemigods, who are His devotees."The next day as we walked along a beach chanting our rounds, I sat andconsidered that if the Vedic culture actually flourished in Bali thousandsof years ago, there must be evidence of worship of Krsna, or maybe Visnu,for the worship of demigods and the worship of the Supreme Personality ofGodhead have always existed simultaneously in Vedic culture.I went to Mahamuni. "You mentioned there are thousands of temples on Bali,"I said, "but all I've seen is worship of the demigods and ghosts. Is there atemple where Visnu is worshiped?""Oh, yes," she replied. "Pura Besakih. We call it the Mother Temple. It'sthe most sacred place in Bali. Brahma, Visnu, and Siva are worshiped there.""Wow!" I said. "That's what I've wanted to hear. Is it also several hundredyears old, like the other temples we've seen?""No," Mahamuni said. "It's 17 hundred years old."I was speechless. "That's the proof I need," I finally said. "It wouldsupport the Bhagavatam, which says Vedic culture was once worldwide.""It takes some time to get there," Mahamuni said. "It's on Mount Agung, alive volcano. But don't worry. The last time it erupted was in 1964. Manytourists go to see the temple although there are some places they are notallowed. It's actually a large complex of many temples, like a small versionof Angkor Wat in Cambodia.""We should go tomorrow," said Padma Locan. "It's an auspicious day.""There is a festival there every six months," said Mahamuni. "Many Balinesemake the pilgrimage on those days to pray. The people believe that Godspared the temple during the eruption. The lava came within meters of thetemple complex but caused no damage to any structures. Nearby, entirevillages were wiped out. One thousand people perished."That evening there was a program in ISKCON's Sandipani Muni temple inDenpasar. When I arrived, hundreds of devotees were waiting."Wherever we have a program, there are so many blissful devotees," I said toPadma Locan. "How many devotees do we have in Bali?""More than 2,000," he said with a smile.In the lecture I again discussed how all beauty in this world is temporaryand ultimately has to be renounced. But I stressed that real renunciationwas engaging everything in God's service and that the devotees should usethe natural opulence of the island to glorify Krsna.After class a devotee approached me and said, "We dovetail the beauty of ourbeaches by going on Harinamas there every Saturday and having kirtan for thetourists."When he showed me his photographs, I was surprised to see Australian andEuropean tourists chanting Hare Krsna and dancing with the devotees on thebeach. I congratulated him for bringing spiritual life to the attention ofthe sun seekers.Early the next day we left for Pura Besakih. On the long drive throughmountainous terrain covered by jungle on all sides, I marveled that worshipat the temple had been continuing for 1,700 years. I could hardly wait totake in the surroundings and the opportunity to find evidence of a Vedicconnection in Bali's past.Eventually we arrived at a parking area one kilometer from the temple."The tradition is to walk the last kilometer," said Padma Locan. "Walking upthe hill provides time to reflect on the greatness of God and how we are Hishumble servants."The climb was steep, and it was hot and humid. I struggled on the last partuntil we crossed over a little rise. Suddenly the gigantic temple came intoview, framed by the beauty of the jungle behind it."My God!" I exclaimed. "I've never seen anything like this."We walked the final 200 meters and after catching our breath continued up along flight of steps leading to the first assortment of temple structures.The antiquity of the site was overwhelming."I feel like I'm in another age," I said to Padma Locan.As we were walking we could hear priests making offerings in the temples.Like the other temples I had seen in Bali, they were not closed structuresbut open-sided and approachable from all angles."You won't find deities here," said Padma Locan. "It's different from India.They say the gods come only when they are being worshiped."As we walked around the large complex, I was awestruck by the uniquearchitecture. Finally we came to an opening that led into a vast courtyardwhere I could see many priests offering oblations."Tourists can't go in, only the faithful," said Padma Locan, "and beyondhere, where they worship the demigods, is the temple of Visnu.""That's what I came to see," I said eagerly. "I'm dressed as a sannyasi.Will they let me through here?""We can try," he said.I put my hand in my beadbag and started chanting loudly as we entered thecompound. Padma Locan put a traditional Balinese hat on my head. As wewalked into the large courtyard, several priests looked at me suspiciously.I chanted louder.Suddenly, halfway across the compound, an elderly priest approached and saidsomething in Balinese to Mahamuni."Oh, well," I thought, "it was a good try."Mahamuni turned to me and smiled. "If you want to pass through thiscomplex," she said, "you must pray to the demigods."The priest put out a mat with several items of worship including incense, acandle, fruit, and spices."He wants you to offer these to the demigods," said Mahamuni."A strict Vaisnava doesn't worship demigods," I thought as I recalled thewords of Narottam das Thakur:"O brother, I say to you, if you want to become a pure devotee of theSupreme Lord do not hanker for benedictions from the demigods."[Prema Bhakti Candrika]"But if I don't offer some worship," I thought, "I'll never make it to thetemple of Lord Visnu."The priest was becoming uncomfortable with my hesitation. Suddenly I had anidea."Okay," I said. "I'll sit and pray to the demigods."By Krsna's grace I had been reading the 10th canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam andhad recently memorized a prayer that seemed perfect for the occasion. Ibowed down to the nearest altar and then sat up. I lit the incense, offeredit, and prayed:katyayani maha mayemaha yoginy adhisvarinanda gopa sutam devipatim me kuru te namah"O goddess Katyayani, O great potency of the Lord, O possessor of greatmystic power and mighty controller of all, please make the son of NandaMaharaja my husband. I offer my obeisances unto you."[Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.22.4]The priest was impressed and after giving us some caranamrita, happily sentus on our way to the temple of Visnu."What was the object of your prayer?" said Mahamuni."I repeated a prayer of the gopis," I said, "but nothing I'll achieve inthis lifetime."We continued walking through the courtyard and then up several flights ofsteps, finally reaching the top of the hill on which the entire templecomplex was situated. From there we had a direct view of Mount Agung."It must have been terrifying when the volcano exploded," I said."It's still very active," said Padma Locan. "From time to time it belchesthick smoke and ash. It's only a matter of time until it explodes again.""Hopefully not today," I said with a nervous smile.We turned left, and walking a further 50 meters along a stone path finallycame to the temple of Lord Visnu. As we entered I was surprised to find wewere the only pilgrims there."They worship Siva as supreme here in Pura Besakih," said Mahamuni, "notVisnu.""I'm sure it wasn't always like that," I said. "Just look at thismagnificent temple, the intricacy of the stone work. At some point Visnumust have been the principal deity here."Suddenly from around the back of the temple an elderly man appeared, dressedin white."The priest," whispered Padma Locan.He offered a bowl of fruit on the altar to Visnu and said some prayers. Iwaited patiently and when he was finished approached him.With Mahamuni translating I spoke. "Sir," I said, "we are devotees of LordVisnu, or Krsna. We are pleased to see you making an offering to Him withsuch devotion."He humbly bowed his head but didn't say anything."How long have you been a priest at this temple?" I said."Since I was a boy," he replied. "My father was a priest here, and hisfather and his father . . .""How old are you?" I asked."Eighty-three," he replied."You don't look that old," I said."A lady who lives in my village is 225 years old," he said. "She was born in1783."Padma Locan's eyes opened wide in astonishment."In previous generations, many people here lived for well over 200 years,"the priest continued."How was it possible?" I asked.He chuckled. "They worked hard in the fields," he said. "They drank waterfrom the streams, they ate mainly rice and vegetables, and they visited thistemple every day.""Visited the temple every day," I repeated, trying to understand how thatwas connected to longevity.He smiled. "They were happy," he said, "but none of us will live forever.What's important is where you'll go when you die.""Where do you hope to go when you die?" I asked, eager for the realizationof one who had served the Lord his entire life.He paused for a moment looking at the altar. "With Him, of course," he said.The priest fell silent, and just at that moment it started to rain."We have to go," I said. "Your darsan was worth the entire trip here. We'rehappy to have seen this ancient temple which stands as evidence that India'sspiritual culture once reached far beyond its present borders and, mostimportant, is still producing men of your caliber, full of faith in God."Srila Prabhupada writes:"In the modern age people are under the impression that during the Vedicperiod America and many other parts of the world had not been discovered.But that is not a fact. Prithu Maharaja ruled over the world many thousandsof years before the so-called prehistoric age and it is clearly mentionedhere that in those days not only were all the different parts of the worldknown, but they were ruled by one king. It is clear that the kings of Indiaonce ruled all the world and that their culture was Vedic."[Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.21.12, purport]Indradyumna.swami@pamho.netwww.traveling-preacher.comAudio lectures: www.narottam.com
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