Anish singing a Hare Krishna bhajan.

2008-12-31
Dallas, TX

Download: 2008-12-31 - 08 - 12 hr Bhajans - Anish - Hare Krishna.mp3

Today is the day! The 44th  President of the United States of America will be sworn in and from this day forward, Utopia will begin!

Srila Prabhupada: "Our only request is that every one of you, you try
to understand God, love Him and be happy. The final conclusion in the
Bhagavad-gita is that if you want to be peaceful, if you want the peace
of your mind, you should understand three things. That three things are
that to understand that God is the supreme enjoyer. This is one. He is the proprietor of everything, and He is friend of everyone.
If you learn these three things only, very scientifically, that God is

read more

When Dhruva Maharaja was humilatedby his step mother,his real mother told him,Maamangalam taata pareshu Amamsthaah - Do not think inauspiciousness for others.

Similarly,after the destruction of Ravana, Hanumantha approaching Sita asks her,'oh mother! Shall I destroy all these raksashis who troubled you.'

In reply Mother Sita Says,Oh Hanuman! Na Kashchinaparaadyate' - who does not commit mistakes?'

We are ever ready to forgive ourselves but never others.Why Can't we learn to forgive others?

Hare Krishna

Well it must be true I’ve had several initiated devotees say the some thing it’s time I left ISKCON and may be get initiated by someone like Narayana Maharaja after all there is less hindrances and regulations they will meet you at the stage you are at. HUM! Is this an advisory? Another statement that surprises me [...]

From the latest Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies newletter, Winter 2009 (http://www.ochs.org.uk)

Hindu studies in China

The Department of Cultural and Religious Studies (CRS), at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), - the oldest department of religious studies in the Chinese speaking world - has raised funding for a professorship in Indian Religions and Culture. This post was held by OCHS Fellow, Dr Kenneth Valpey in its inaugural year.

Students taking Dr Valpey's courses were from different academic and cultural backgrounds (from Hong Kong, Mainland China, and overseas). In addition to formal teaching, Dr. Valpey also organised several film appreciation meetings for students and staff to introduce the Hindu traditions in an enjoyable way.

N from Brisbane asks:

"How to make rice chakki? It looks like 'Jalebi'."

Kurma answers:

"I have no idea. Any expert Indian housewives out there that can shed some light?"

darsan aroti in ISKCON Mayapur temple - Govinda…

This past Sunday, we showcased a presentation, "2008 - A Year in Review at ISKCON Toronto". We have placed this presentation on YouTube

The video contains touching footage and images of the early days of the Hare Krishna movement.

The message is that the Hare Krishna movement has been around, in the west, for over 40 years and while it seems that so much has changed, we're still doing a lot of the same wonderful things.

We hope you enjoy the presentation!

Somehow I accidently deleted this post, so I’m reposting this lovely essay written by Mother Hare Krishna dasi for BTG back in 1997: 1997—The Year of the Ox By Hare Krsna dasi (Back to Godhead 1997) According to the East Asian calendar, 1997 is the Year of the Ox. And as one devotee has put it, [...]

Tuesday, 30th Dec, 2008. Gaura awoke me from my deep slumber. The room invaders seemed to have retreated. I slowly readied myself for another day in the battlefield of Maya. Before I showered Sri P prompted me. “Can you shave me Maddy?” he asked. I thought he was joking but was shocked out of my mind that he was serious. He wanted me to buzz him, which was a little less scary than razor shaving (I suppose). Most people think “Gurukuli” and think, shaving, mrdanga, bhajans, kaupins…but I was a Westy Kuli. I grew up in the lush family supported life with ample food and cooshy bedding. I was shaved by teacher or parent. I had never buzzed anyone or anything (“anything” is for the record). I started off making sure to make a nice clean patch around his sika. My biggest paranoia is people cutting my sika. As far as I have been told, this is a handy handle that Krsna can pull us out of the ocean of material suffering. I have had personal experience testing this thing out. When I was 3 or 4 I disappeared into a murky lake at New Gokul. We were having a little swimming excursion or something and I just vanished in the deep end or something. People were searching and fearing the worst. Eventually one mataji reached her hand in and felt something strange. All of a sudden I was pulled out by my sika and my life was saved. I was good at near death experiences at the ages of 3 and 4. Eventually Sri P had realised I had no idea of how to shave anyone and some how I had failed to learn the simplistic science in the 5 minutes that had passed. At this point the Shaving King emerged (Gaura) and saved us all from nescience. I quickly learned my lack of technique and Sri P was spiky like an echidna (Aussie porky pine). After this Gaura sent me on a mafia money collection. I went to the treasury in search of one prabhu. I entered, found my prabhu, 4 rasagulas and the shiftiest eyed brahmacari I had ever set my regular non-shifty eyes on! I made the transaction and found no false reason to postpone my leaving. My Maha thief brain had kicked in though. This was the Maha thief’s dream job. I had to steal a container of 4 rasagulas off a shelf in plain sight of 2 people! Fortunately I had a pre planned diversion. Besides the door of the treasury was the door of the kitchen. Besides the door of the kitchen was the Maha Plate. It was well scavenged from earlier but the sweet rice/kiar was wrongfully neglected. I scooped it into a cup and decided to enjoy it in the treasury. Suspicious eyes were on me. “What are you doing?” one asked. “Oh nothing” I said. “Just enjoying your association prabhus.” I downed the contents of my cup as slowly as I could. Their gaze was strong and penetrating but they made no connection with the milk sweets. My mere persona was making them suspicious. Eventually one prabhu went back to his emails. The shifty eyes were ever shifty though. I downed the last portion of my cup and held it high above my head. Most people would just be satisfied with a cup of sweet rice but not me, if it was not stolen it was not enough! Finally in my last ounce of Maha enjoyment the shifty eyes shifter away. I skilfully turned to exit, gliding my chadha over the shelf and picked up the maha on the way. When I was a metre out of the room I ran like road runner out of the temple to safety. Gaura rolled up with a van of matajis. I went to his door. We both had a look of business. “How many milk sweets do you want?” I asked. I had planned to give them away, seeing as I had just had a cup of sweet rice and it was more enjoyable sharing stolen milk sweets than anything else. “How much ice cream do you want?” he replied. We banished the girls and sat in the front seats. I dished out half my stash and he dished out half his stash. Nothing like burnt milk sweets and chocolate ice cream in the morning. After some instigating we were soon off. I assembled my familiar troop and hit the road, trailing behind Gaura in the van. I nearly lost the van and our way to Peat’s Ridge, only catching up at the accusations of “dodgy” driving. My main experience of driving was country roads and highway speeding so I was a little insulted by the mistrust of the troop but totally understood it otherwise. They had, after all, only been driving with me in the city so had all rights to build an opinion of me. Everyone exited the car and rushed to the site. Tribi volunteered to help me with books but I was too long for his patience as I organised the mess of the previous day. I only had to carry two boxes of books and so I decided to do it all in one trip. The boxes were in such a way that they were very long and open at the top. I could only hold them a certain way and had to use a couple fingers to support each. This developed into an arm seizing, muscle tearing, painful carry of the books. It was totally worth all the unknowing permanent ligament damage I had done for a stress free day on the books. Jambavati Mataji/Jambas had already set up the table also. It was bliss and nectar from now on. I scoped out the crowd from the book table. I met a man with so many malas. I complimented them. He had tulsi and Rudra Malas and whatever else he could find. He seemed to be attracted to our tent but was not totally comfortable in his pursuit. His appearance was almost as impressive as the hat of dreadlocks a man had from the Jamaican tent next door. I spaced out for a little and then gazed up as some people approached the table. First person I saw was Shyama Makunda, Gurukuli friend from New Govardhana who had moved to New Gokul (normally people move from N Gokul to N Govardhana). He was quickly followed by his wife, Nandini, and the little crew of Sati and Sita. It was such a great chance to meet up again. I failed to make it their way when I popped through New Gokul and was regretting it. Now they rocked up to the cruisiest festival of our tour and I was on book table. An empty book table becomes a very good base for general catch up sessions and pajalpa sessions. Sati entertained herself by constantly finding Indradyumna Swami and seeking his divine association while the rest of us caught up. Sita was treating me like a stranger till the re warm up period seized up. I rushed off for play make up. Behind the tent was large field between us and the Dub Shack (Jamaican tent). This was back of house, or more so where we mucked around out of sight of public. I found myself challenging Gaura to a kung fu ninja show down utilizing this ample battle ground. Me and Gaura were throwing around a few warm up moves. A bicycle flying kick here, a crane pose there and a bit of Brazilian dance moves. Domo caught glimpse of the action and the theme changed. Domo removed his shoe and held it high like a knight’s sword and charged into battle. It was obvious at this point that it was two on one and my fight or flee instincts manifested. I selected…FLEE!! After an epic chase scene it came down to battling on the ground. I parried strike after strike (Domo trying to make me honour his Maha shoe with my mouth) and we all calmed down a little. The Peat’s Ridge insanity was starting to manifest… We did our performance in a laxed mood. We seemed to be more interested in trying to make each other laugh than give our best in the performance. I was caught out by Balesvari when she stuck her tongue out when her face was hidden and mine was not. It was a scene where we were all frozen, I was in centre stage and I doubt anyone missed the little bursting smirk on my face. I think in the end I chose to get Bali back through her husband, making a face at him but it was not the same. After play Chandra was finally threatening to get me back for slapping him so hard in our scene. I was eager to receive the loving exchange. It is all the more fun in violent plays if, in a sporting mood, your opponent gives you a little something back. Our make up removers had been replaced with wet tissues. After the play I was using them to fake a crying act to whomever would become audience to it. Eventually I had little Sati concerned, “why are you crying Maddy?” she was asking so innocently. By some strange turn of events this had me chasing her as if I was a monster and cornering her and some other child in a tent and terrorising them from the outside. I am an eternal kid. I was back on the book table. A lady bought a CD and a Gita. This was a normally cool combination at our other shows but was a rare thing to see at Peat’s Ridge. I was happy to see her walk away with the two main souvenirs of our show. After this purchase I met Hamish. Hamish was a cool young guy. He said he was reading the Gita and “digging” what he was reading. I asked him where he purchased it. He informed me he received it from our Mona vale show in Sydney. I was so happy to hear this. I had nothing more in the book world to recommend him until he was well and done in his Gita pursuits so I offered instead my email. He was very happy to exchange and even commented that he read in the Gita that you should inquire from someone who has knowledge on the subject. This was worth the whole festival for me. At one point a guy named Scotty came to the table. He was very much interested in who Krsna was. His first question was what the maha mantra meant. I explained it to him and he was quite satisfied. He then glimpsed a bit at Krsna book and Gita. I started some talking with him. He had grown up in a Christian school and felt a bit…well Bible bashed is the term given. He was force fed a bit of information he was not totally confident with and not left with a fully satisfying answer of who God was as a person. In the end he chose to take my email so he could talk to me about it further. I thought he was such a cool guy and pretty sharp and it was worth a book for me if he got back to me. In moments like this I realised most religion and spiritual pursuit, even the more authentic, really lack the personal feature, something that I all my life took totally for granted. People only knew of God as a title or a position and nothing else about him. It was a sad prospect and I felt glad to be of assistance to an genuine seekers. After this nectar dosage it was back on stage for a second Gita show. It was in and out and just felt like clock work. After I found myself in the changing tent with a few of the boys. Sadhu Sastra popped in for some business. Chandra was on some side track thought and was attacking Sadhu with Kung Fu moves. Sadhu acted oblivious, kept talking with whomever he was talking and then plummeted Chandra across the tent. He came flying in my direction and found himself finally resting on a pile of things. Everyone, including Chandra, was laughing their head off. He was a little shocked but otherwise ok to continue on his Chandra adventures. Back stage I found Shyam and Nandini saying their farewells to Maharaja. Shyam was expressing his interest in helping out in the Polish tour and their girls were also taking advantage of the saintly association. I got some good pics of the girls getting in there and hanging out with the maharaja and the who family seemed very pleased with their little trip to the strange little valley show. This was the top of Grehasta, kids being trained up so well that they were seeking the association of pure devotees. I was happy to see my little family in such a good light and it was a good surprise to lift up the day. We finished off again with the reggae concert. I decided to love the book table from afar and the whole crew got in there to create the right atmosphere (actually put people on the dance floor). It was good to let loose for a bit and dance like a loon. I combined dancing and searching for my shoes to fill up the remainder of the night. The show was over, it was the quiet time. Although this quiet time allowed people to open up and voice themselves. I was back at the table. A mildly (excessively) drunk man came to the table. “Have you got anything about astral travelling?” he started. I began to warn him of the dangers of this mystical exercise and instructed him about subtle things. He was to drunk to be interested in purchasing anything besides alcohol but it was good ground to spin some interesting philosophy. After my astral travelling friend travelled his way off, Mala Man came in. He was one of the only outsiders who took full advantage of our VOP concert and now he was loosened up for some philosophical discourse (he was also mildly drunk so I think that loosened him up a bit also). It was tough. I spent time with him. He was such a nice man and he was really crying out inside. He had been following so many different impersonal and voidist philosophies that he had sort of lost track of where the path was leading. I didn’t want to stop talking to him, I didn’t want to loose him. Eventually Domo pointed out I had a car of extremely tired people to return home and to talk some other time. I was caught in the moment. I held out as long as I could. In Gita Prabhupada explains violence in connection with ahimsa (non violence). A devotee does not cause violence if he can help it. Violence is not always physical, it can be mental and spiritual. He comments that causing confusion is a sense of violence. I felt deep pain for the violence that has been caused to this man of many malas. He had such a bright attitude but he was so confused and it looked like it was frustrating him. It was sad to say goodbye because there is always the chance that I may never get the chance again to interact with such persons. I prayed hard for this man’s resolution and tried to detach myself. Its times like this you want to use the danda on the mayavadis. They had done such harm to this man’s chances. We rolled out of the valley and I still had the whole thing on my mind. It was shook off by more prevalent events. Some car behind me was flashing their lights. I couldn’t make out why. Eventually the colours blue and red were flashed. I was being tailed by the police and they wanted me to pull over. I did and they were yelling from their car and on their sound system. I couldn’t make out what they were saying but everyone was getting restless. Eventually I realised they wanted me to keep driving till I found a more appropriate spot. I picked a nice little slot off the road and I had my first highway interview. They were randomly stopping people for breath tests. I counted to ten for them. I handed my licence and I knew that was the downfall. The Police were on their “Christmas Marathon”. In Sydney temple that means going around to people with a bucket and asking for money. In the government world that means going around flashing lights at people and handing out maximum fines. I was given a big wappa for the simple lack of displaying provisional licence plates, a slack law in Australia. Technically I could have payed the same money the fine was worth to update my licence to full and not have this apply. This to me was just silly money hording. I otherwise was positive and polite to our blue friends because I was representing Srila Prabhupada and Vaisnavas alike. I got home. Me and Gaura were fizzling off our energy from the festival. I was curled up inside from talking to Mala Man. Gaura was just a little too affected by his awake drink he used to prevent sleeping at the wheel and slaying a large number of matajis, an expert kirtana leader and a pure hearted Swami. We talked about preaching and it was total nectar and then did some serious snooze factor. Tomorrow was our last day of Peat’s Ridge.

What is it with Hare Krishnas and all you can eat meals? They seem to go hand in hand. Saturday night, after working up an appetite eating fresh picked citrus, we headed over to Krishna House for the $8 a plate sit down all you can eat dinner extravaganza.

The meal was plentiful, with preps too abundant to count. I am happy our friends Naveena-Shyam and Krishna-priya clued us in to this excuse to get out of the house. Really, I'm always enthusiastic to eat someone else's cooking. And our kids, who dined for $4 a plate, were grinning ear to ear. They like the restaurant experience.

The temple's Folk News magazine (Feb-May 09) was recently mailed out to recipients.

In FOLK News you will find advance notice of festival programs, background stories to those festivals and Le Carnaval Spirituel, news from the farm, and more.

Your feedback and original contributions are always welcome.

If on site access proves useful to you, I can begin publishing the PDF of the next issue in colour.

Should you be unable to read the PDF file, you can download a free Acrobat reader here.

Srimad Bhagavatam 11.5.28 - We should identify and improve our strengths.

Strawberries are prolific in Sydney at present. Since my store of Sabjimata's plentiful pots of pectin-laced peccadillos is long exhausted, I'll make some of my own.

Here's the way I do it. Dead simple.

Slice the berries

Splash of water + lemon juice & cook with lid till soft

Raw sugar is added

Cook over full heat

Remove when 'just right'

Ready for cooling and storage

This past week I have had the opportunity to learn so much in the way of gratitude and appreciation. I haven't been posting and writing a lot because we just finished our module on dress making. For those who know me well, things that require a lot of patience just really aren't up my alley! But despite that, for some reason I ended up deciding to make a simple but complicated pattern for my outfit for Gauranga. It took a lot of embroidery work. Why did I choose that? I really don't know. On one hand I don't like to shy away from a challenge but on the other I knew that it would really test my determination. I am happy to say that I was able to complete it and in the process learned a little more patience! :D

But that being said, all of us had a lot of help from the wonderful devotees who make Radha Madhava's outfits here in Sridham Mayapur. For example, I had finished all the embroidery late on Sunday evening and I was taking it over to the sewers so that could stitch it up with velcro. You know the first thing they did? Two boys took a look at it and saw that I had not had a chance to put some sequins on the cadar and immediately started to work on it. In a matter of 15 minutes they were finished and I was just in awe. These devotees didn't have to do anything. They were under no obligation to help us since there was nothing in it for them, but just out of the kindness of their hearts they wanted to help us. And it wasn't just for me. For every single devotee who went to get help stitching up their outfits, they would help out in any way possible that they could.

It makes me realize how easy it is to actually help other people. It doesn't take a lot of wealth, knowledge or power. All it takes is an open heart. The sad thing is that, I can see for myself, I'm so busy trying to get others to help me that I never try to help anyone else. As HH Candramauli Swami was saying yesterday, "Whatever we give out, we attract." So if we willingly and lovingly give ourselves to others, just imagine how Krsna will reciprocate!

I had another instance of feeling completely overwhelmed with gratitude today. I was reading an offering a friend had written for Srila Prabhupada where the devotee was praying to Srila Prabhupada to help them find their spiritual master. It made me recall that not even four years ago I was in the same position and I got to experience something HH Sacinandana Swami once said to me, "Auspiciousness is all around you, all you need to do is look for it." I was actually able to feel the auspiciousness. How can someone like me deserve to have a spiritual master who is so loving, magnanimous and so compassionate when I am the complete opposite of that! That is mercy. I was also in so much appreciation for this friend to actually pray to Srila Prabhupada with such a wonderful request.

So I leave you with these wonderful words...."Auspiciousness is all around you, all you have to do is look for it."

Ananta koti vaisnava vrnda ki JAI!

I was reading Indradyumna Swami's latest diary and came across this beautiful song that I just had to blog about. This is perfect for any harinama enthusiasts:

Kamoda-raga by Narahari Dasa
(Translated by Kusakrata Dasa)

aju gora nagara kirtane sajiya calaye priya parikara sane

“Surrounded by His dear devotees, Lord Gaura performs sankirtana in the city.”

angera su-besa bhala sobhe nace nana bhangite bhubana-mana mohe

“His well-dressed form is glorious. Dancing in many graceful ways, He charms the hearts of everyone in the world.”

prema barisaye anibara bahaye ananda nadi nadiya majhara

“He continuously showers the bliss of ecstatic spiritual love. He makes a river of spiritual bliss flow in Nadiya.”

deba-gana misa-i manuse braise kusuma kata manera harise

“The demigods stay amongst the human beings. Their hearts are joyful. How many monsoons of flowers do they shower?”

nagariya loka saba dhaya manera manase goracandra guna gaya

“The people run to greet Him. With all their hearts they sing Lord Gaura’s glories.”

mudhegana suni simha-nada ha-iya birasa mana ganaye pramada

“Some bewildered people, their hearts withered by fear, think the tumultuous kirtan is a host of lions roaring.”

lakhe lakhe dipa jwale bhala upama ki abani gagana kare alo

“Millions and millions of glistening lamps shine. With what shall I compare the light that fills the ground and sky?”

narahari kahite ki jane matila jagata ke-u dhairaja na mane

“What shall Narahari say? He does not know. The whole world has become wild with bliss. No one is peaceful at heart.”

Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura tells the following story of a certain magician who exhibits the trick of dying:

"In front of a great king, a magician approaches a stack of valuable garments, jewels, coins and so forth, all placed there by the king. Taking a jeweled necklace, the magician tells the king, 'Now I am taking this necklace, and you can't have it,' and he makes the necklace disappear. 'Now I'm taking this gold coin, and you can't have it,' he says, and makes the gold coin disappear. Next, challenging the king in the same way, the magician makes seven thousand horses disappear. Then the magician creates the illusion that the king's children, grandchildren, brothers and other family members have attacked each other and that nearly all are dead from the violent quarrel. The king hears the magician speaking and at the same time observes these things taking place before him as he sits in the great assembly hall.

"Then the magician says, 'O King, I no longer wish to live. Just as I have studied magic, so also, by the mercy of the lotus feet of my guru, I have learned the mystic meditation of yoga. One is supposed to give up one's body while meditating in a holy place, and since you have performed so many pious activities, you are a holy place yourself. Therefore I shall now give up my body.'

"Thus speaking, the magician sits down in the proper yoga posture, fixes himself in pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana and samadhi and becomes silent. A moment later, a fire generated from his trance blazes forth out of his body and burns it to ashes. Then all the wives of the magician, distraught with lamentation, enter into that fire.

"Three or four days later, after the magician has returned to his own province, he sends one of his daughters to the king. The daughter tells him, 'O King, I have just come to your palace, bringing along with me, invisibly, all your sons, grandsons and brothers in good health-along with all the jewels and other items given by you. Please, therefore, give me whatever you consider fitting remuneration for the wisdom of the magic that has been exhibited before you.' In this way, even by ordinary magic one can simulate birth and death."

It is not difficult to understand, therefore, that the Supreme Personality of Godhead, although transcendental to the laws of nature, exhibits His illusory potency so that ordinary fools will think the Lord has left His body like a human being. Actually, Lord Krsna returned to His abode in His own eternal body, as confirmed throughout the Vedic literature.

>From SB 11.31.12 ppt.

My friend Nitai is organizing what look like an awesome Gaura Purnima Festival at New Vrindavan with H.H. Indradyumna Swami and wanted me to pass along the information.


Sacred Journeys
Seminars by HH Indradyumna Swami and HH Varsana Swami
March 6-8, 2009

Visiting holy places is a cherished principle on the path of devotion. Devotees of the Lord regularly visit such auspicious locations as Vrindavan, Mayapur, and Jagannath Puri, where the Lord and His associates have appeared.

Discourses describing the significance and pastimes of the holy sites, visiting ancient temples, worshiping the Deities of the Lord, and congregational chanting are the heart and soul of their sacred journeys.

Join His Holiness Indradyumna Swami, His Holiness Varsana Swami and hundreds of sincere devotees as they take you on a narrative journey to the great spiritual regions of India to search out the most rare and valuable treasure: Pure love of God.

Seminars and Prasadam
$108 by March 1st
$151 after March 1st
Proceeds Benefit Viva Kultura Foundation

Lodging Special Price
Full Weekend Adult - $25
Kids under 12 - $10
Under 5 - Free

Must Reserve by March 1st

For registration, lodging or volunteering
Contact: sacredjourney108@gmail.com
www.newvrindaban.com

Sukumar das singing the bhajan "Hey Govinda Hey Gopal".

2008-12-31
Dallas, TX

Download: 2008-12-31 - 07 - 12 hr Bhajans - Sukumar das - Hey Govinda Hey Gopal.mp3

Today's Sunday Feast recording can be viewed by clicking the image below. As a reminder, the recordings from our weekly live web broadcasts are stored on our new ISKCON Toronto Video Archive Blog.

By Indradyumna Swami

Our festival programs continued in the Sydney area with great success. I had come with twenty-eight devotees from various countries, and many of them were staying in rooms at the Sydney temple. Devotees from other parts of Australia were also staying there for the Christmas Marathon.

Spend this Gaura Purnima absorbed in the pastimes of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu!

Sacred Journeys
Seminars by HH Indradyumna Swami and HH Varsana Swami
March 6-8, 2009

Visiting holy places is a cherished principle on the path of devotion. Devotees of the Lord regularly visit such auspicious locations as Vrindavan, Mayapur, and Jagannath Puri, where the Lord and His associates have appeared.

Discourses describing the significance and pastimes of the holy sites, visiting ancient temples, worshiping the Deities of the Lord, and congregational chanting are the heart and soul of their sacred journeys.

Join His Holiness Indradyumna Swami, His Holiness Varsana Swami and hundreds of sincere devotees as they take you on a narrative journey to the great spiritual regions of India to search out the most rare and valuable treasure: Pure love of God.

Seminars and Prasadam
$108 by March 1st
$151 after March 1st
Proceeds Benefit Viva Kultura Foundation

Lodging Special Price
Full Weekend Adult - $25
Kids under 12 - $10
Under 5 - Free

Must Reserve by March 1st

For registration, lodging or volunteering
Contact: sacredjourney108@gmail.com
www.newvrindaban.com

Krishna and the soul are 'invisible' to our materialistic eyes. Srila Prabhupada has called the soul and God (jiva and iswavar)
"correlative" terms. In London on 29August 1975 he said, "Atheist means
one who does not believe in the soul and God. These are correlative
terms. If you understand what is soul, then you can understand what is
God."

For the KuliMela in Radhadesh, I hosted a Japa Workshop. I received amazing feedback, and I felt inspired to hear this all from gurukulis, who have a hard time especially with japa. My good friend Kapila, though, e-mailed me the following letter some time later, and I found it beautiful... and essential to understanding that japa is, well, the holy name, and the holy name is pure.

Saturday we went to Kanapaha Botanical Gardens in Gainesville with the kids and some friends. My husband had been before but it was my first time there. Admittedly, the coldest week of the year is not the optimal time to visit a garden.  But we made it work.

The danger of scientific modeling is the theory of generalization. Through inductive reasoning, we induce a theory based on sample data hoping the sample represents the entire population. That’s right hope - there is no accurate fool proof way to measure the representative-ness of a sample to the whole population. I am of the opinion that no two people are alike…having said that how can a representative sample actually represent a true population. This major assumption in science today limits science. Still, however, scientists make grave generalities attempting to solve population wide issues.

By Mayapur Sasi dasa

For the pleasure of Srila Prabhupada this file contains the following North American results for the month of December: North American Totals, Monthly Temples, Monthly Weekend Warriors etc., Monthly Top 100 Individuals, Monthly Top 5, Cumulative Countries, Cumulative Temples, Cumulative Top 100 Individuals, Cumulative Top 5

Over the past few weeks my car has been undergoing some repairs following a small crash during this time the insurance company gave me a hire car, a like for like equivalent so they said so I was somewhat amused and perplexed when a Ford focus turned up (I can not see how this is [...]

A halál biztos?

Many people have children to carry on their legacy. I just wanted someone cute to kiss and cuddle. But lucky, lucky me--I get the best of both worlds.

Dear Devotees,

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

On Dec. 26 I met a nice Indian gentleman at our San Fransosco Harinama. He said that he was a devotee of Krishna his whole life and now he was facing some hard times. He had lost his job and had no where to sleep. He said that he was losing his faith.

We were standing at the book table when he asked, "What can you tell me? I don't know what to do." He asked if he could stay at our Temple, but I explained that it is very small and there may not be any room. I really did not know what to do, but somehow I could not let him leave without some words of encouragement. I gave him 2 small books, an ISO and a Civilization & Transendence, and I told him that if you have Krishna then you have everything. I could tell that he had a renewed sense of hope when he took the books. I gave him my personal phone number and told him that if you get into trouble please call me and I will come and get you and bring you to my apartment. A few days later he called and said he was staying at a friends house for a few days. He told me that he had graduated with a Hotel and Restaurant Managament degree from India and was desperate to send money back to his family.

I sent an email to my friend Michelle who is the owner of an award winning restaurant here in the city. Now he has a job interview on Monday. I could tell by the tone of his voice that his faith in God is renewed by his experience with the devotees. We really made a difference in his life. He was so happy to see the devotees on Harinama.

Every time we go on book distribution, we eradicate ignorance and bring auspiciousness to everyone we connect with.

My whole life all i wanted to do is help people. This Sankirtan movement is the best way to really help....in fact it is the only way to help people. As Vaisesika Prabhu has said," Let's leave everyone with a good impression. Everyone we meet should feel that they have met a spiritual person." Let us not be afraid to go the extra distance to make our preaching more personal. Sometimes just giving someone your phone number can really encourage them to get reconnected to Krsna Consciousness. We should approach everyone with an open heart, ready to do what is necessary to help. Those who are receptive will appreciate your effort.

Everyone is looking for Krishna everywhere.

All Glories to the Sankirtan Devotees!!! Your servant, Bhakta Jorge (Text PAMHO:16744223) --------------------------------------

------- End of Forwarded Message ------

Dear Devotees,

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

On Dec. 26 I met a nice Indian gentleman at our San Fransosco Harinama. He said that he was a devotee of Krishna his whole life and now he was facing some hard times. He had lost his job and had no where to sleep. He said that he was losing his faith.

We were standing at the book table when he asked, "What can you tell me? I don't know what to do." He asked if he could stay at our Temple, but I explained that it is very small and there may not be any room. I really did not know what to do, but somehow I could not let him leave without some words of encouragement. I gave him 2 small books, an ISO and a Civilization & Transendence, and I told him that if you have Krishna then you have everything. I could tell that he had a renewed sense of hope when he took the books. I gave him my personal phone number and told him that if you get into trouble please call me and I will come and get you and bring you to my apartment. A few days later he called and said he was staying at a friends house for a few days. He told me that he had graduated with a Hotel and Restaurant Managament degree from India and was desperate to send money back to his family.

I sent an email to my friend Michelle who is the owner of an award winning restaurant here in the city. Now he has a job interview on Monday. I could tell by the tone of his voice that his faith in God is renewed by his experience with the devotees. We really made a difference in his life. He was so happy to see the devotees on Harinama.

Every time we go on book distribution, we eradicate ignorance and bring auspiciousness to everyone we connect with.

My whole life all i wanted to do is help people. This Sankirtan movement is the best way to really help....in fact it is the only way to help people. As Vaisesika Prabhu has said," Let's leave everyone with a good impression. Everyone we meet should feel that they have met a spiritual person." Let us not be afraid to go the extra distance to make our preaching more personal. Sometimes just giving someone your phone number can really encourage them to get reconnected to Krsna Consciousness. We should approach everyone with an open heart, ready to do what is necessary to help. Those who are receptive will appreciate your effort.

Everyone is looking for Krishna everywhere.

All Glories to the Sankirtan Devotees!!! Your servant, Bhakta Jorge (Text PAMHO:16744223) --------------------------------------

------- End of Forwarded Message ------

Srimad Bhagavatam 11.5.27 - Unique features that make meditation on Krsna easier.

Many devotees, having despaired of getting fair, generous, and consistent treatment in ISKCON, and of its affairs being conducted in an intelligent manner corresponding to the society's stated goals, have turned their backs on it. I am not one of them. Although I do not foresee a paradigm shift soon, I maintain the faith that ISKCON is overseen by higher powers and that it is the duty of its members, especially its leaders, to continue existing and serving as best we can within the society and to pray for the change of outlook that must take place if again ISKCON is to get on track and be intensely focused on fulfilling Srila Prabhupada's desires. Also, despite ISKCON's warts, I do not see that there is a better alternative.

My oven door makes me sad. Repeatedly milk has boiled over from my stove top and made its way down into the oven door vents, streaking the inside of the oven door glass panels in a very unsightly way. I couldn't figure out a way to get in there and clean up the mess without spending money on a service call.


Inspired by his dutiful kitchen service, I wanted to reciprocate with a very dairy lunch. Not for the vegan hearted.

Srila Prabhupada is reputed to have said "Work now, samadhi later."
Although this phrase is not to be found within the Bhaktivedanta
Database, the idea is that devotional service is to be part of our
lives and that we are to be ghostianandies, not bhajananandies.
Some may argue that Rupa and Sanatana Goswami were bhajananandies,
living in caves, beneath sacred trees, near holy lakes and rivers, at
hallowed shrines, aloof from the general public. But what was their
purpose? "Lokanam hita-karinau tri-bhuvane," It was to

read more

Each week I select a verse from the Bhagavad-gita and compare/contrast four different translations. These translators all subscribe to the Gaudia-Vaisnava philosophy. This examination isn’t to prove one more superior to another, but to highlight the similarities and learn from the differences in ideologies.

The four Gitas are:
-Bhagavad-gita: As It Is by Srila Prabhupada (1972 edition)
-Bhagavad-gita: It’s Feeling and Philosophy by Tripurari Swami
-Srimad Bhagavad-gita by Narayana Maharaja
-Bhagavad-gita: The Beloved Lord’s Secret Love Song by Garuda dasa (Graham Schweig)

Though I’m hardly qualified to do so, I dissect each translation, sometimes interjecting my own unsolicited commentary. More on this can be found here.

This week’s verse comes from Chapter 9: Raja-Guhya-yoga, also called The Yoga of Hidden Treasure and the King of Secrets. This chapter deals with the most important knowledge.

The Bhagavad-gita is a conversation between Krishna (God) and Arjuna (His devotee). Arjuna is asking questions and Krishna in answering them. Arjuna’s last question was at the beginning of Chapter 8. Since then, Krishna has covered a lot of topics, from the importance of our last thought to explaining the entire material existence. He’s on a roll.

He just finished up teaching Arjuna the proper ways to worship Him. After He speaks this verse, He continues explaining worship and its rewards. This verse gives a small glimpse into God’s nature and position.

samo’ham sarva-bhutesu
na me dvesyo’sti na priyah
ye bhajanti tu mam bhaktya
mayi te tesu capy aham

I envy no one, nor am I partial to anyone. I am equal to all. But whoever renders service unto Me in devotion is a friend, is in Me, and I am also a friend to him.
-Srila Prabhupada

I am impartial to all beings. I hate no one and I favor no one. However, those who worship me with devotion are in me, and I am also in them.
-Tripurari Swami

I am equal to all living beings and am neither inimical nor partial to anyone. But as those who serve Me with bhakti are attached to Me, so too am I bound by affection for them.
-Narayana Maharaja

I am the same
    towards all beings;
    no one is either hated
    or dearly loved by me.
Yet those who,
    with an offering of love,
    offer their love to me -
    they are in me
    and I am also in them.
-Garuda dasa (Graham M. Schweig)

Translating from the Sanskrit is no easy task. Each of our esteemed authors must make tough decisions about where to place which phrases. Garuda dasa chooses to follow the Sanskrit poetical flow as closely as possible. Tripurari Swami seems to keep it as simple as he can, adding no extra content to the verses. Srila Prabhupada and Narayana Maharaja both take liberties not only in placement of phrases, but in the addition of ideas to explain the verse.

The first line, samo’ham sarva-bhutesu is similarly translated by all four: “I am equal to all.” Srila Prabhupada choses to translate the second line before the first line, but his verses often have to be taken as a whole.

Tripurari Swami translates samah as “impartial” rather than “equal.” Srila Prabhupada and Narayana Maharaja are, of course, not indicating that Krishna is equal to us, that we are the same, that we are God. The meaning is that Krishna is impartial. Garuda dasa (whose edition provides no word-for-word analysis of the original Sanskrit) seems to have translated it as “the same towards.”

Srila Prabhupada placed the second line before the first. In his edition, Krishna explains that He envies no one and that He is not partial to anyone. He then states that He is equal to all. Prabhupada actually translates samah as “equally disposed” in his word-for-word.

Tripurari Swami translates na me dvesyo ’sti na priyaha, the second line, as “I hate no one and I favor no one.” “Hate” has been translated from dvesyah. Narayana Maharaja also translates it as “hated,” though chooses the word “inimical” in his verse. Garuda dasa also uses “hated.”

While Srila Prabhupada glosses dvesyah as “hateful,” he choses to verse it as “envy.” This is interesting that he is equating envy with hate. We usually think of envy as a strong form of coveting or even obsessive admiration. But true envy cannot exist without hatred (and often that is also hatred of oneself).

Three of our translators chose the word “dear” from priyah. In their verses, they used “partial” or in Tripurari Swami’s case, “favor.” However, Garuda dasa oddly chose “dearly loved.” His exact line is: “no one is either hated or dearly loved by me.” This seems a bit extreme. True, when something is dear to you, it is loved by you. So it’s not that his translation is incorrect. But saying that God does not love anyone seems a bit misleading.

That is, however, the nature of this verse. It is contradictory. In the first two lines, Krishna is telling us that He is impartial, that He favors nobody over another. But that all changes in the second part of the verse.

With the tiny Sanskrit word tu, Krishna throws a monkey wrench into the whole thing. Tu means “but” or “yet.” So even though all of this may be true, that Krishna is impartial and doesn’t favor one person over another… tu. There is an exception. Who is this exception?

Ye bhajanti tu mam bhaktya - However, those who worship Me with devotion….

Devotees of God are the exception.

As Narayana Maharaja and Tripurari Swami translate bhajanti as the more traditional “worship,”
Srila Prabhupada translates bhajanti as “render transcendental service.” All Gaudia-Vaisnavas agree that service to God is worship, but Srila Prabhupada often drove this point home. Here is another such example. Instead of simply translating bhajanti as worship, he translates it as “devotional service.”

I usually enjoy Garuda dasa’s translation. Sometimes it may be quite different from (though never at odds with) the other translations. He truly captures the poetry contained in the Bhagavad-gita. Oddly, In this case I guess I just don’t get it. “Yet those who, with an offering of love, offer their love to me…” The purpose in his translation was to follow the Sanskrit as closely as possible. He nearly always takes it line-by-line, and though he may sometimes choose words that seem strange, he rarely, if ever, departs from the flow of the original poetry like he does here.

Maybe it’s a typo. His typical four lines are now an inexplicable five with two of the lines repeating the same idea. “With an offering of love, offer their love to me” just doesn’t make any sense. Maybe he was trying to decide between the two lines and accidentally left them both in. Though sloppy, that would at least explain it. “Yet those who offer their love to me…” makes sense, even if it has no mention of worship or devotional service. I’m honestly baffled by this one.

Moving on, mayi te tesu capy aham is a very sweet line. I find Srila Prabhupada’s to be the sweetest here: “… is a friend, is in Me, and I am also a friend to him.” Narayana Maharaja puts it similarly, “… are attached to Me, so too am I bound by affection for them.” In the original Sanskrit there is no mention of attachment or friendship. It is simply, as Tripuari Swami and Garuda dasa both put it, “… are in me, and I am also in them.”

Though there is no specific mention in the verse of such a reciprocal relationship, a devotee understands that “I am in them and they are in Me” is very reciprocal.

We, as Gaudia-Vaisnavas, believe in a personalist philosophy. God isn’t just all around us or somewhere off in heaven. We believe that He is a person and that we have a relationship with Him (and He with us). This verse confirms that if we love God, He reciprocates. While He is fully impartial to everyone, He favors those that favor Him. Isn’t this natural?

Srila Prabhupada concludes his purport by saying, “Devotional service of the Lord is not an activity of this material world; it is part of the spiritual world where eternity, bliss and knowledge predominate.”

All three of the purports to this verse (Garuda dasa’s translation contains only the verses - without commentary) are very worth reading. Any honest student of the Bhagavad-gita would be greatly benefited by obtaining and studying at least these three books.

Call it what you want – economic crunch, financial meltdown, apocalypse now – the world in general, and the USA in particular, is not exactly rolling in wealth. The recession began, according to the National Bureau of Economic research, in December 2007. By 2008, the prices of commodities such as oil and food had gotten so high that they were causing genuine economic damage – oil prices peaked at $147 a barrel in July, and a gallon of gas cost over $4 across most of the USA.

In remarkable semblance to Jayapataka Swami's recent health crisis, ISKCON guru Radha Govinda Maharaja is currently recovering from a brain hemorrhage in a New Delhi hospital. While traveling by train on January 8 from Vrindavana to Ludhiana, Punjab, where he was scheduled to give a talk, Maharaja stopped off at the town of Jalandhar to visit the local ISKCON temple.

Within the next few months, ISKCON will move to its new temple in Sarcelles, a multi-ethnic and multi-religious suburb on the northern outskirts of Paris and near the famous Charles de Gaulle International airport. For the first time in over twenty years, ISKCON will own temple property in the Paris area. The presiding Deities, Sri Sri Radha Parisishvara, were installed in 1973 by the Founder-Acarya of ISKCON, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

Balabhadra Dasa, co-managing director of ISCOWP (International Society for Cow Protection) along with his wife Chayadevi, is currently in a stable condition at home after suffering an unexpected heart-attack.

As they do every year, over eight hundred disciples and congregational devotees celebrated the fifty-second Vyasa-puja, or birthday, of ISKCON guru Bhakti Vikas Swami this January 3rd. But hospitality from a different branch of Vaishnavaism added a twist. This year's event was hosted by the Madhva Sampradaya and held in Udupi, the south Indian town where Madhvacharya "one of the greatest Vaishnava teachers of all time" lived eight hundred years ago.

Mukunda Goswami introduces Padyatra India. This is a video made in the very beginning of the Padayatra festival in 1984. This is when Pradayatra was just in India. It was planned to trace the footsteps of Lord Caitanya who also travelled all over India from village to village by foot. It started in Dwarka down to South India then up to Sridhama Mayapur in 1986 to coincide with the appearance day celebrations of Lord Caityanya Mahaprabhu and the culmination of all the festivities for the celebration of the Srila Prabhuapda Centennial.

If the selection above is hosted by YouTube then after the video plays there will be several links presented to other videos. ISKCON News Weekly has no control over the selections presented and is not responsible for their contents.

By Bhaktin Sue

ISKCON Mayapur is launching its brand new exciting project “Mayapur Worldwide”, a project that at one point none of us could ever have imagined how it was going to emerge or whether it was ever going to happen at all but it has and we hope that you will be as exited by it as we are.

If the selection above is hosted by YouTube then after the video plays there will be several links presented to other videos. ISKCON News Weekly has no control over the selections presented and is not responsible for their contents.

If the selection above is hosted by YouTube then after the video plays there will be several links presented to other videos. ISKCON News Weekly has no control over the selections presented and is not responsible for their contents.

A Christian bus driver has refused to drive a bus with an atheist slogan proclaiming "There's probably no God". Ron Heather, from Southampton, Hampshire, responded with "shock" and "horror" at the message and walked out of his shift on Saturday in protest.

Michael Newdow, the atheist attorney best known for trying to remove the words "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance, announced he is filing a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, to forbid references to God during the presidential inauguration ceremony for Barack Obama, January 20.

Sam Silverman is co-captain of his high school football team — a safety accustomed to bruising collisions. But that's nothing compared with the abuse he gets for being a vegetarian. "I get a lot of flak for it in the locker room," said the 16-year-old junior at Westborough High School in Massachusetts.

KATHMANDU: Hundreds of people cried and sang in jubilation on Thursday as Hindu devotees began a victory march to celebrate the return of Indian priests to Nepal's 17th century Pashupatinath temple and the pledge by the humbled Maoist government not to interfere in its management.

1968 January 18: "We want only one moon at night, and we don't care for millions of stars. Character building is the groundwork for seating Krishna Consciousness."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1968

Children and young teens should spend no more than two hours playing video games or watching TV a day, according to an Australian study which is sure to strain domestic relations. Dr Louise Hardy, of the University of Sydney, said her study sought to test the two-hour "small-screen time" guideline issued by the American Academy of Paediatrics in 2001.

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1968 January 18: "And because we are a little bit strict, we have not a very large number neither do we want any large number of nonsense followers."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1968

1970 January 18 : "We are staying at the Magh Mela, at the Prayag pilgrimage. Our pandel is very big. We are having daily artik many times with kirtan, prasadam distribution, Sankirtan, and so many activities."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1970

1971 January 18 : "We want to present the pure thing as taught by Caitanya Mahaprabhu. That will bring in a real change. If this is successful, the whole world will see the transcendental potency of the pure Sankirtana Movement."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1971

1972 January 18 : "I think you should very quickly join us. I am going to Africa and it is quite likely that I shall not be returning to India for some time. So you can come here to Jaipur and meet me for taking your initiation."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972

1975 January 18: "Regarding the controversial talks going on, this kind of talk is not befitting my advanced students. This is childish. The pure devotee never minimizes the importance of other devotees."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1975

1975 January 18: "Everyone should feel proud of becoming sincere servant of Krishna. One devotee may be proud that his process of service is the best. That is not inglorious. This is called transcendental competition."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1975

1975 January 18: "There is no more the question of inferior or superior. Krishna is the enjoyer of varieties of service. It is not stuck up with any particular type of service. Everyone should be very very sincere."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1975

When we are in line with, or have the same desire that Krsna has for us, then we feel a sense of satisfaction and alignment.

Futility engraves itself in every move
Get hit by a tsunami, become a loner among friends,
diseases knocking on your door,
Sadly nothing makes you realize,
the futility of this endless cycle.

Monday, 29th Dec, 2008. It was 3:30am when Domo’s text woke me up. Show time. Today was the first day of Peat’s Ridge Festival. I had a list of things I had to collect before heading off. I noticed there was someone else in the room. The bhaktas and brahmacaris were jumping on our rooms in the notion that we would all be gone so I had some sneaking suspicions. I was relieved when I heard Gaura’s familiar groan (translating into “I’m so flipping tired?!). He gave me an epic story of how he couldn’t sleep in the van due to the non permanent appearance of winter and summer seasons (ie it was to hot with the window closed and to cold with the window open). I may have scored 3 hours sleep but I trust he only scored around 2. I jumped in the shower. Some little Indian gentleman, although I was to tired to be shocked, popped his head through the curtains. I picked up the brahmacari fanatic’s concept of always being decently dressed so I was not too alarmed standing there in my gamsa (if this is to intimate of a ashram scene I apologise). “Prabhu I need to go to Mongal Arti” the man said. “Prabhu I need to go to Peat’s Ridge” I replied. I laughed at the concept that someone was urging someone, who only just made it into the shower, that he needed to go first to get to mongal arti. I know it is important, and am sorry I miss so many on tour, but it was not enough to kick someone out of the shower so you can beat them to mongal arti. Anyway I had some fun with it for a while but suspected something else from the encounter. My main task was moving the books to the car. This was one of the times on tour and in my Krsna Conscious life where I got to become familiar with the terms: surrender, austerity, penance. The last thing I want to do at 4am in the morning, after minimal sleep and previous physical exhaustion, is cart many boxes of books. I didn’t actually have the physical energy, what to speak of the mental energy, but I some what transcended the modes and plotted along. I cruised through the kitchen to find my little Indian Gentleman in the pujari room. “Oh he needed to DO the Mongal Arti” I thought to myself. The whole awkward situation made sense and my suspicions were revealed. After I had all the essentials I thought it safe to have a snooze in the car. I triple checked my mental check list and then went deep under cover. I was eventually woken by Rajesvari, who was to be my passenger on the trip to Peat’s Ridge. She was standing with Bridge, our newest recruit from South Africa. It was pleasant introductions as I shook off the sleep face and pretended I was totally conscious and alert. Gaura returned, we assembled the troops and we hit the battlefield. We approached the festival. We were lead through all sorts of blockades and formality conditioning. It was all a little silly as the people in charge were all hippies and young teenage volunteers. For once I felt I wasn’t the least responsible person to be sighted. We were supposed to present individual ID, which was a trip for our international crew, but in the end found it was all “no worries mates” and we were just let in anyway. Tribi looked disappointed as he put away his secret agent fashioned ID card. Gaura had been given some incorrect directions and we circumambulator the very much negative holy place that was Peat’s Ridge. The chaos only seemed to intensify as we entered further. We quickly received word the our on site crew had been up all night digging holes. The stage company dropped us off a stage that was too high and took off before they had to do anything about it. It was exhaustion from phase one of the festival and it could only get more taxing. I set up my book table. My main pleasure on tour, when I have the energy to appreciate it, is setting up a good book table. I had the matais help me out and supervised the whole arrangement. Once they left I noticed the table was not totally level and Domo noticed also. I had to secure some wood to fix it up. I dug back stage and found my footings. Once that was done I noticed the table was flimsy. I stepped down to a humble position and started to investigate. So there I was in the dark underneath the table trying to secure little clips and fiddling with the legs. They folded one way or the other and there was not much sense to them. I got some hands on and tried to meal them into a place where I could clip the whole yantra together. Eventually the leg folded itself…only my palm. I pulled out and checked damage control. The contraption had pinched my skin and there was now a fair sized hole in my hand with vision of the inner tissues. This was not at all handy (pun intended). I started to cup the large amount of blood now exiting my palm. I could now safely use the phrase “oh it’s just a flesh wound”. I tipped some excess into the waste dispensary as I looked for some competent assistance. I casually went to the service charges and showed them a handful of blood asking “what should I do with this?” I was shown our very much lacking first aid kit. It didn’t look promising. At this rate I was going to have to pick my coffin. Finally some witch doctor prabhu told me to throw some turmeric on the wound. Like a neophyte and a semi bored casualty patient I blindly agreed. So there I was, at the medical tent of the festival looking for someone to patch me up. There was no one. Some other girls came with a small burn trying to steal some ice. I told them not to take it from the esky as it was for the organs, most likely livers. Eventually an ambulance drove past, blatantly ignoring us and then returning. He was looking for someone who had cut open their foot. They gave me my first ride in an ambulance and dropped me at the security station. The only non hippie people on the festival set up crew were the security and so they had some sense. They patched me up in after a lengthy 15 minute wait and I was back in action. I returned to a totally out of it book table location and a play practice. I was all white with bandage as we casually did a run through of our play. Chandra was not yet at the festival so we had to make some modifications. I had to self arm lock myself for Chandra and throw myself on the ground. We were all laughing at the whole thing and casually threw ourselves through the motions. I sat back in my book tent. I stared out at the beautiful Shyam coloured clouds. Maharaja also came into the tent and relaxed on a chair. Then I thought for a moment “doesn’t Shyam coloured clouds mean monsoon clouds?” Within only a few minutes it was poring down rain by the bucket loads. Maharaja turned to me and inquired “this will clear up soon” as if I was the authority on the weather. I had good luck at not being right about things people expected me to know on tour and I was hoping this was not one of those times. “Yeah it’s probably just passing through” I said in return. I gulped and hoped I was right. I watched as all the alternates and hippies ran for shelter, hoping this might insight them to start wearing what I classed as “clothes”. This whole calamity opened up to some light conversation between me and HH Indradyumna Swami. He began to ask me a few questions about myself so I felt pretty honoured. “So what are you doing after tour?” asked Maharaja. I fumbled a reply about doing some sankirtana in Sydney, Mayapur. “Are you coming to Brazil with us next year?” He asked also. This was ecstatic because that basically meant I was invited. I was still hesitant about the idea and felt completely obliged now that he was asking and I mentioned myself at least coming to Polish tour. “Oh so you are coming on Polish Tour again” Maharaja noted. Maharaja then seemed to enquire in himself and produced one final question in curiosity. “How old are you?” He asked. When I mentioned I was 20 he gave an astonished glance. “You’re just a kid” He said. This was a nice reciprocation. I had been trying to make it obvious from our first trip that I was indeed just a young gurukuli (or granule as my auto spell check insists I call myself). I always suspected Indradyumna Swami of favouring the young bloods so I was glad I was now labelled as a “kid” as I eternally am. I was so happy that my nervous prayers had come true. The clouds moved on and this called for the move on of Indradyumna Swami. I had barely saved the books from being soaked and was glad I still had a functioning book table remaining. Two young ladies came into the tent, asked about the program and some yoga they had heard rumours about. One passed on to the prasad but another, Julie seemed more interested in what was on the table. She asked sweet questions and was genuinely searching. I tried to feed her everything she was after and went through so many strange angles of the philosophy due to her distinct questions. She eventually processed the ideas of each book and picked out the Gita. We exchanged emails and I happily saw her off. I was so happy to find such an intelligent person in this mass of half naked maniacs. Our festival at Peat’s Ridge consisted of our main tent and our tiny book tent to the side. Our main tent had a stage on one side and a catering buffet at the other side. They were separated by chairs and matts for viewing and feasting. The catering featured the basic prasad and a refreshing lemonade, which I binged through the whole festival. We named our cups to save dosh. Day 1’s cup was entitled “The Mind”, Day 2 “The Mind Episode 2” and Day 3 “The Mind, Siva, Brahma, Police Man.” We decided prior to the thunder storm to start our program earlier. This took effect as of the clearing of the sky. We started with kirtana. I quickly got someone to mind the table as I visited the medical tent, now staffed. I was awarded a nice skin colour bandage and a white “sympathy” wrap. This was great because I could use the skin colour for dramas and use the bandage wrap to beg help for my book table. At least half of this plan worked. The drama went down a treat. After Le Carnaval Spirituel hit the stage a lady came to the book table asking if she could speak to “the Yogi”, indicating HH Indradyumna Swami (and not Braja Sakha or Lal Krsna). Gaura escorted her to the Holy Yogi for a mysterious discourse (ie I have no idea what went down). Eventually Domo insisted I move the book table into a more flow zone. I tried to gesture Sri P and Gaura to help us out, being some of the more responsible guys on tour. It was all a big mix up and the table was proving to be nothing but a mix up through the whole day. We some how got it there as the light went dim. I looked back at my little book tent with it’s pre fixed light fitting and internally cried as my book table became a mysterious darkness. Rupa Ragunatha Prabhu set up a paraphernalia table in profit of the tour. I was happy but I suspected he would sell nothing. He pained at writing out a price list so that I could use the table for the other 2 days of the festival and I was pained even more knowing it would be unpractical seeing as I was failing to maintain a simple book table by my self. I was a little saddened on this day that not so many people wanted to get involved in Prabhupada’s favoured books but I suspected that they may have seen it more as a sitting and waiting game which not to many people are into. Near the end of the night a girl eagerly breezed through the cook books insisting she would come back and I received a hand shake from a Justin who also said I would see more of the likes of him. Over all the book table was a big flop on the Charity Gig of Charity Gigs that was Peat’s Ridge but I felt it was all worth the turmoil for that gem like reciprocation I received on day one. Eventually the night grew late and Village of Peace hit the stage. Talking with people at the table was now a thing of the past. I chilled back, sung along and laughed at Sri P forgetting some of his lyrics. I realised how much I listened to my VOP CD as I was singing on. After this it was all over. I had to franticly hide books and take what I could to save them from the moisture. Julie, who had bought a book earlier, almost changed her mind as she had found all the Gita’s had lost shape due to the humidity and I didn’t want to waste a few hundred dollars of Srila Prabhupada’s nectarine books on weather damage. I was too young to let such a thing become part of my life experience. By this time I had totally lost the plot. I carted 8 boxes of books, single handily (quite literally as one of my hands was bandaged). I was carrying 2 boxes at a time half way across the festival site to my car. I was almost hyperventilating and was physically used up to begin with. The lack of sleep, blood loss, humidity and hippies had all got to me. I snapped out at anyone who protested or possibly even offered assistance and basically busted out some genuine vaisnava aparadha. I was questioning if I was going to be able to make the drive home after this crazed ordeal. We summoned the troop, almost loosing Raja, much to her traumatizment (I say that’s a word!), and hit the windy road around Peat’s Ridge. By the end of the circle I had regained sanity and we exchanged some nice sat sanga on the way home. Everyone was attentively talkative as they suspected me of falling asleep at the wheel. There was no chance though. Miraculously I was fully energized. There is one thing that isn’t in the Bhakta Manual and that is that it’s very hard to sleep when you surcharge your body full of adrenalin after hauling 8 boxes of books yourself across a hippie rave festival. When me and Gaura entered our room we found it filled with two bhaktas, eager to seize the real estate while they suspected we were gone. I turned the light on, as if I was coming home to my empty room, wished them a haribol, hesitated to see if they would properly vacate and then turned it back off when I realised they didn’t care or were to tired. Gaura retreated to the van and I picked out an empty slot and vibed them out from my deep sleep. If anyone tried to wake me up for mongal arti I was sure to reveal my Ugra Maddy form. I was over all happy with my day. I got to show a really cool person a Gita, which is a life changing experience for anyone who takes advantage of it and I got to physically sacrifice myself to the efforts of book hauling, the unmentioned sport of the Vaisnavas.

Srimad Bhagavatam 11.5.24-26 - Spiritual awakening will naturally occur if given the opportunity..

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura says that a devotee does not care about his own happiness and distress; he is simply interested in seeing that Krsna is happy, and for that purpose he engages in various activities.

A pure devotee has no way of sensing happiness except by seeing that Krsna is happy in every respect.

If Krsna becomes happy by giving him distress, such a devotee accepts that unhappiness as the greatest of all happiness.

Those who are materialistic, however, who are very proud of material wealth and have no spiritual knowledge, like the prakrta-sahajiyas, regard their own happiness as the aim of life.

Some of them aspire to enjoy themselves by sharing the happiness of Krsna.

This is the mentality of fruitive workers who want to enjoy sense gratification by making a show of service to Krsna.

- Sri Caitanya Caritamrta, Antya 20.52 Purport

I am very glad to learn that you are all working peacefully together. This is the most favorable atmosphere for cultivating our Krishna consciousness. And if people see us working together nicely, they cannot criticize anything against our Krishna consciousness movement.

>>> Ref. VedaBase => Letter to: Prabhavisnu: -- Bombay 3 December, 1974

You may have heard of 'Pascals wager'. The French philosophers stance doesn't necessarily prove anything, but is definitely food for thought. Basically summarised, his argument is as follows:

1) One does not know whether God exists.
2) Not believing in God is bad for one's eternal soul if God does exist.
3) Believing in God is of no consequence if God does not exist.
4) Therefore it is in one's interest to believe in God.

If the followers of God continue living a moral, dutiful life in this world, then even if it turns out that God never existed they are not losers. If the purpose of life was simply to 'have a good time', then if they managed to do that through their faith then great. However, if God did turn out to be a reality then they did really well!

On the other hand, the nonbeliever, according to Pascal, is in a slightly more precarious position. If life was simply a one time show, then the nonbeliever has not lost anything, much like the person of faith. However, if God was a reality then his existence would surely take a turn for the worse.

Pascal posits that a person should "wager" as though God exists, because so living has everything to gain, and nothing to lose. Not everyone will agree, but it is an interesting position...

The Client emailed me around Monday, letting me know that he would be by to pick up his stuff sometime later in the week. My entire upstairs kitchen was devoted to cooking for him and although intellectually I know it will be good for me to clear out his stuff and take back the space, I can't help but think how empty the place will look once his stuff is finally out of there.

By Deena Bandhu dasa

We would like to invite everyone to come and join the 6th Annual Festival of the opening of Vrinda Devi's new Temple from Feb. 9th to 22nd. This is the best time of year, the weather is perfect.

Hare Krsna everyone. I hope your week has been full of meditation on the lotus feet of Lord Gauranga and Sri Radha Krsna. Today I acknowledged the importance of cleaning our inner space so we can chant more effectively. This is something we should meditate on before our chanting. We all have this problem of the wandering mind, thinking of many things while chanting and so on, but if we try to clean our minds just by meditating on our constitutional position, then it will help to have our internal space prepared before japa.
We have every day 33 thousand different thoughts which form our mental climate...our mood. By thinking on so many things and sometimes, if we are visual intelligent, we may picture some of our thoughts and this will be much harder to forget. It's just like a room full of furniture, food, toys, etc, that you can't even enter and do something.

So here, the basic point Lord Krishna is making to Arjuna, is that we should not rush people, to try to push them too quickly to a level which is higher than what they are capable of maintaining.  The devotee, understanding the futility of material existence may feel so enthusiastic to help the conditioned soul to achieve the transcendental platform, that he may push them too hard.  But first of all a person…well, a child… before the child can run, the child has to learn to walk. Before the child can learn how to walk, the child has to learn to crawl.  And if a runner, someone who can run very quickly, and who knows the benefit of doing that, tells the child, “Come on, just run.”… But if the child is not even able to walk, and if you let the child stand up, and then let go and say “run!”, the child will immediately fall flat on the face!  So it is a nice sentiment, we would like everybody to get the maximum out of Krsna consciousness as quickly as possible, but we have to understand what levels people are on, and then try to help them in ways, which are relevant to them as individuals, in terms of their particular position.

I remember many years ago in England, in 1973, George Harrison had just bought one big building for our movement, and he was very enthusiastic about Krsna consciousness.  He came to see Srila Prabhupada in that new building and he said, “Prabhupada, I would like to shave my head.  I would like to move into the temple.  I would like to become a celibate monk.  And help your movement in that way.”  So it is a very nice sentiment.  And Prabhupada expressed some appreciation for that.  But he told George, “Actually you know, you should just carry on the way you are, and sing about Krishna, and present Krsna consciousness to the young people through your musical medium.  So, George Harrison did that.  As a result, he was able to influence millions of people.  If he had done what he had suggested he might do…stop his music, and perhaps…I don’t know…go out on the Harinam party, that would have been nice, but it would not have had the impact of continuing in the way that he actually did.

So Krsna consciousness… it is a very personal process.  When we say “process”, immediately of course, that term indicates that there is a “system”, there’s a type of mechanics which have to be applied.  And in certain respects, that is true.  Everybody, whoever they are, they should all chant Hare Krsna.  Everybody, whoever they are, they should read Bhagavad Gita.  Everybody should associate with devotees, and take part in Krsna conscious programmes.  So of course this is in the broad sense.  But at the same time we have to understand everyone is an individual.  There is a saying in English…it goes…”one man’s meat….”, well, we will say, “one man’s food is another man’s poison.”  So every individual is in a certain position in terms of their development of their material consciousness.  Some are attached to some things…

Actually, I remember also, in 1973, Srila Prabhupada in Bhaktivedanta Manor, in London…different people, famous people, came to visit him.  And some, from the point of view of spiritual life, some quite unusual people came.  I don’t know if you have ever heard of Graeme Hill.  He was the Grand Prix racing champion of the world…motorcar racing.  So you know, it may be a little hard to imagine driving these fast fast cars, like madness screaming around the racetrack, and spiritual life.  But anyway, somehow, this man came to meet Srila Prabhupada.  Well, he obviously didn’t know what to expect, Mr Hill.  He sat down with Srila Prabhupada.  Srila Prabhupada started talking to him about motorcars.  Then gradually he took the discussion in the direction of spiritual topics.  So like this, we have to be… Krishna is saying here…  We have to be very sensitive to people and the situations…the conditions they are in.

Another person who came to see Srila Prabhupada at that time…this is the middle of 1973… was a famous-at-the-time singer, named Donovan.  At the time, he was extremely famous.  Now I think everyone has forgotten about him.  He was the British answer to Bob Dylan.  Anyway, he came to see Srila Prabhupada, and actually he was very spiritually minded.  So he was listening to Srila Prabhupada talk about Krsna, and he was loving it.  But unfortunately, his girlfriend was there, and she was hating it.  And she was making these snide comments whenever she got a chance…and saying to Donovan, “What time are we going?”

So eventually she said something to Prabhupada.  “Why you shave your head?  Why you wear those long robes?  Isn’t your head get cold?”…and she was wearing a supa-dupa mini skirt…You know, it was just too much actually, completely in bad taste by any bystanders.  And she had very long, quite bushy hair.  So Prabhupada looked at her… you know, she had her bare legs completely bare!  So Prabhupada said, “Better to have warm legs with robes on…better to have warm legs and a cool head, than cold legs and a hot head!!”  Well, I can tell you she was not happy.  She just got up and walked out.  And poor old Donovan, he didn’t know which way to go.  But eventually he had to go with her.

Then later, some people from the British “Rationalists” Society came to meet Prabhupada.  They are atheistic philosophers.  So they sat down with Prabhupada, and Prabhupada didn’t really know who they were, but he just started talking about Krsna consciousness.  And this one man, after perhaps one minute, one man interrupted him.  He said, “You know, look, we are atheists.  We’re not interested in God.”  They were also ready just to walk out.  But Prabhupada, being so astute, and so tuned into people… Prabhupada said, “Oh, you’re atheists!  That’s wonderful!  I really like talking with atheists.  These religionists, modern-day religionists, they’re just sentimentalists.  They just believe in things.  They have no philosophy.  But you atheists, you think.”  Wow, these men, they were really pleased.  Then Srila Prabhupada started to preach Bhagavata Gita to them, but without saying anything about God, religion, or any of these types of ideas.  And these men…they maybe stayed for half an hour or forty-five minutes…they were so impressed.  When they walked out, they said, “Thank you so much.  That was one of the most interesting discussions we have ever had.  We thought you were also just these religious fanatics who believe in things, but now we can see you are real thinkers and philosophers.”

So, like this, we have to try to think, because Krsna is all-attractive.  No matter what type of person a person is, there is something in Krsna, which they will become very attracted to, because Krishna has ALL-attractive qualities, in full.  So it doesn’t matter if they are, you know, sportsmen…Krsna is the greatest sportsman.  And if a devotee uses his or her intelligence, then they will be able to present some part of Krsna consciousness that such a person will appreciate.  If someone is an action movie fan…James Bond/Rambo and I don’t know who else…all those people…then Krsna, he is the top action hero.   If someone, like so many ladies particularly, but all sorts of people, they are attracted to romance.  Then Krsna, the story of Radha and Krsna, is the greatest love story of all time.

So really, all we need to do, is first of all, understand Krsna very nicely.  Then try to understand who we are now trying to present Krsna consciousness to.  And then try to see, what is it in Krsna consciousness that this person will find really interesting?

There is one story I’ve told many times before… one of our devotees were distributing books in Cape Town, South Africa, during Prabhupada’s marathon.  Here in Vilnius…it maybe nearly -10 degrees celcius.  There it was +36 degrees celcius…anyway, that is by the way.  So there she is, distributing books.  And she met this young, heavy metal boy.  And he was really authentic heavy metallist, only wearing black, long ,oily and greasy hair, very pale skin, and on his t-shirt was a little thing…it was a skull.  And it said…I love….well it was “I”, then a heart, and then SATAN.  So he really looked the part…he was authentic.  She stopped him, and handed him a book.  Bam!  He looked at the book, and he said, “Ja, okay, that’s nice.” Then he said, “Haven’t you got something a bit heavier?”

So she had this one book, maybe you’ve got it  here;  it is called “Dharma” by Srila Prabhupada.  In the pictures there, there is a double-page picture of a man dying.  And his family members are there, and they’re all wailing, and grief-stricken.  And the Yamaduttas are there.  Now the Yamaduttas, they make the best heavy metallist look like a “sissie” who goes to church on Sunday…like some, you know…anyway, you know what I mean.  They make Frankenstein look like a philanthropist…you know one of the cannibalistic zombies from the horror movies… (laughs)… The Yamaduttas make them look like nice guys!  So there the Yamaduttas are tearing, pulling him out of his body.  And everyone is screaming…Yes, it’s a pretty dramatic picture.

The young metallist, he looked at that picture, and he said, “Ah, that’s cool!”  And he gave about 20 meters, he took the book.

So many people, when they see a person like that, they’ll think he would never be interested in spiritual life.  But because Krsna is all-attractive and because he has all-attractive qualities in full, therefore there is something for everyone in Krsna consciousness.  And something for everyone means that for everyone there will be something that they will be completely satisfied with.

So Krsna consciousness is truly universal, and we have to just understand Krsna enough, and at the same time be sort of tuned in enough to people.  To understand what is it about Krsna that this person will love?  So yes, it is a matter of tuning in.  Just like sometimes you have to tune in your radio, or television, or turn the dial to get the picture right, and then you get it, and it is right.  But you turn it a little the wrong way, and it looks like rubbish.  Krsna is everywhere, and there is something for everyone in Krsna.  But you’ve got to connect with Krsna in the suitable way.  Otherwise, if you connect in the wrong way, then the person will think, “What is this? I’m not interested in this.”

In regard to tuning in, there’s an interesting story.  Some of you would have heard this before.  This happened during the great American Depression, in the early 1930’s.  It was financial disaster.  Everyone lost their job.  Everyone ran out of money.  And they didn’t know how to live.  And if there was a job available, then hundreds of people would come.  Any job…even if they didn’t know how to do the job…they would take a chance, and try to do a job.  So, the Western Union Company, needed a morse code operator…Morse code is a system of communicating, every letter is dots and dashes.  So this is a way of communicating.  Every letter has the equivalent in dots and dashes.  So they needed a morse code operator and they advertised.  Five hundred people came.  So the boss said, “Ok, look, just line up, and I will see you all one by one.” So they’re waiting there in this big building and there was construction going on around them… people sawing wood, hammering nails, and they are waiting in line.  And you know, one goes in, and when they come out, the next one goes in.  But suddenly, one man right from the back comes running up, right to the front, and he just ran into the boss’s office, and all the other men in the line…they couldn’t believe it!  “How can he do that? He can’t do that.  He’s got to stay in the line.”  And to make it worse, a couple of minutes later, the boss came out with that young man and he told everyone in the line, “Its ok, I’ve given this man the job, you can go.”  So all the people in that line, they wanted to kill that young man.  So then the boss explained why.  He said, “We are looking for someone who knows Morse code.  And you hear these people banging with their hammers? They are banging in Morse code.  And what they are saying is, “If you understand this, just come straight into my office, I’ll give you the job immediately.”  So you see, they were all there and it was going on right around them, but they were not tuned in.  So they missed it.

So Krsna is everywhere and there is something for everyone in Krsna.  But the devotee’s job is to help them connect with Krsna in the suitable way.

Therefore Krsna is saying here, don’t disturb people by trying to just drag them out of the position they are in.  Help them to see how they can apply Krsna consciousness within their existing situation.  And then even if they are ignorant, even if they are very materially attached, but if they start to connect with Krsna nicely, then they will start getting a higher spiritual taste.  And once they start getting that taste, then they will really become attached to Krsna.  Then they will start to make spiritual progress.  But if you just force them out of their position into some situation which they are completely uncomfortable with… “Ok, you’re a family man, forget your family.  You’re coming with us to the Himalayas.  We will be in the Himalayas;  we will meditate 24hrs a day, in the snow…with no clothes on.  And we will not eat for the first three months.  You are going to love it.  It will be really spiritual.”  No, it’s not really a good idea.  But if you show that person how, in your family situation, how you can apply Krsna consciousness and share it with your family, everyone will be very happy…then they’ll accept it.  So like this, presenting Krsna consciousness to people is a science, and we have to learn how to present it in these very personal and very considerate ways, and not just in a mechanical way.  So this is what Lord Krsna is talking about here.

Once I had the experience of pushing someone too far, the wrong way.  I was distributing books in central London.  I met one young hippie.  So I put the book in his hand.  He looked at the book and he said, “Oh, Krsna?  I know all about Krsna.  It’s all one.  So I don’t need your book.  I’m following a spiritual path.  It’s all one, so I’ve already got Krsna, so you keep the book.  So ok, it’s all one.  You follow this path and it’s the same.  You’ve got Krsna, even though you’re not practising Krsna consciousness.  Krsna and you know the impersonal Brahman, it’s all the same.  Buddha or Krsna, no difference.”

So I said, “Ok, look. You’ve got any money on you?”  And he wanted to know why, why is he asking me if I’ve got money on me.  And I said, “Well, I just want you to show me if you’ve got money.”  So he showed me maybe ten pounds.  I said, “Give me the money for a moment.”  He wasn’t very happy about it, but I said that he should give it to me just for a minute and I would give it back.  “Just give it to me for a minute.”

So he gave me the money.  So I said, “Look, you know Krsna or Buddha, it is all one, right?  Doesn’t matter.  Follow Krsna or follow somebody else, it’s all the same.  So this money, if you have it or I have it, doesn’t matter does it?  If I have it, it means you have it also, because we are one.  So I’ll just keep the money.  Thank you.”  So this young man, he started getting disturbed…he started shaking.  It looked like he was going to attack me…so I gave his money back!

So even though philosophically we caught him there, but because it wasn’t done really in the most suitable way, it didn’t really help him in Krsna consciousness.  Because I don’t know what would have helped him actually…maybe just to give him some prasadam.  But this is really the point.  We have to really think about how to help people, in ways which are actually relevant to them.  Hare Krsna.

Sarabha das singing a Hare Krishna bhajan.

2008-12-31
Dallas, TX

Download: 2008-12-31 - 06 - 12 hr Bhajans - Sarabha das - Hare Krishna.mp3

By Bhakin Rita Gupta

In Srimad-Bhagavatam, Canto Four, chapters twenty-five and twenty-six, Prabhupada wrote purports that are considered "controversial" by some commentators. The supposedly controversial purports are simply another manifestation of Prabhupada's transcendental genius.

1968 January 17: "I am old man, I have no objection to death, still I wish to live because I want to see that the mission I have started may be more stronger still before I leave. So I pray to Krishna for this."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1968

1970 January 17: "I duly received estimate of Krishna Picture Book. You have said the price is just at your rock bottom. I have accepted the estimate, and very soon I shall send you the manuscript."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1970

1971 January 17 : "You propose to print Krsna Book in the tens of millions. That is nice, but I think it is still insufficient."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1971

1972 January 17 : "I count you and your godbrothers among those few who are treading seriously the path Back to Godhead. We must maintain such exalted position and not fall back by neglecting our highest standards. "
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972

1972 January 17 : "I am so much depending on you to take full responsibility for teaching others purely. Otherwise, this pure process will gradually become mechanical and fade away like every other so-called religious movement."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972

1974 January 17: "I was surprised you are contemplating canceling the Vrindaban touring. In my opinion it must be carried out. If there is a little inconvenience, still the devotees must visit Vrindaban."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1974

1975 January 17: "If you are not intending to send for food distribution, then do not collect in the name of Food Relief. Whatever is collected for India food distribution, must be sent as soon as it is collected, to India."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1975