“3) One should chant the holy name of the Lord in a humble state of mind, thinking oneself lower than the straw in the street; one should be more tolerant than a tree, devoid of all sense of false prestige, and should be ready to offer all respect to others. In such a state of mind one can chant the holy name of the Lord constantly.”
“What is it that makes a [human] life “divine”? Surely if this special quality characterizes [a human being], it must in some sense be recognizable. The “divine” life is, in fact, characterized by a faith which frees [a human being] from all forms of servitude, even and perhaps especially in religious matters (see [Paul's epistle to the] Galatians’ passim).
“This faith brings [a human being] under the direct guidance of the Holy Spirit of love living in the Church of God. The “divine” [human being], or the “son [and daughter] of God,” is then, paradoxically marked by a great humility and self-effacement. He [or she] is not violent but forgiving and kind (Matthew 5:43-48). He [or she] is free from any need for aggressive self-assertion. He [or she] does not worry about his [or her] own needs, but trusts completely in God for everything (Matthew 6: 19-34).
“The [human being] who leads a “divine” life is, then a perfect son [and daughter] of God in imitation of Christ, who in all things looked only to the will and love of His Father. The divine [human being] lives in constant contact with an inner source of divine life, or as Meister Eckhart would have said, with ‘the divine birth within us.’ “
Thomas Merton. Love and Living. Naomi Burton Stone & Patrick Hart, editors (New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jonvanovich, 1985): 108-109.
Posted in Thomas Merton
“So when Krsna says in the Bhagavad-gita, “These material elements,” bhumir apo ‘nalo vayuh [Bg. 7.4], earth, water, fire, air, they are My energies, so if one has studied Krsna, then as soon as He sees a great ocean, He sees Krsna: “Oh, this is Krsna’s energy.” As soon as sees a big anything, fire, water, anything, He sees Krsna, nothing but Krsna because He knows.”
Room Conversation With Three College Students — July 11, 1973, London
During the last period of below normal temperatures we received some snow, then it got just warm enough in the atmosphere so it rained but was freezing as fast as it hit the ground, covering the exiting snow and all shrubs and trees with a layer of ice. After that we got more snow.
After another week or so of below average weather we had enough of a warm day that the surface snow in our front yard melted, but because it couldn’t drain through the ice, refroze during the night.
The next morning dawned clear and warm. The sun was bright and low in the sky so its reflection was scintillating off the ice, golden in hue and almost blinding. It reminded me of the sun reflected off water anywhere, but especially off the ocean when we recently visited the Gulf Coast of Florida.
A regular camera just can’t do justice to the goldenness of it, it is too bright to record, the image is washed, but I am sure you have seen what I am talking about.
For those living near or traveling to bodies of water on a regular basis, this may be the same old same old, but for me it was quite wonderful and a great memory to visit.
Standing by the ocean on a sandy beach is like being at the corner of Ephemeral Street and Eternal Avenue.
On the one hand there is this completely primal experience being in the raw presence of pure unmanifest earth in the bare beach, fire in the form of the sun, air in the form of wind, and water.
When I stand on a sandy beach looking out across the ocean, I am seeing and experiencing exactly the same thing men have experienced for thousands and/or millions of years. Even if the consumer society continues to careen to destroying all life forms on the planet, sun on the ocean will continue to look golden and wind will make waves which will sweep the beach clean. It is eternal as it gets in the material world.
Yet, simultaneously, the beach is the most ephemeral of places. Tracks made by passersby will be gone in a matter of minutes, or when the tide next changes. Even standing where the waves came in I could feel the sand being eroded from around my feet as the water receded.
Everything that comes to that beach is soon washed away. What could be more transient than the footprint of a tourist on a beach walking where the waves are lapping?
Even this blog post with a picture of the ocean, although enshrined in some server somewhere, will eventually be lost — if not sooner, than later.
The ocean’s edge, at once both the most enduring and the most transient place on the planet. Easy to see Krishna there.
scintillating sea
in the sand footprints
of a tourist
On Friday evening I went to our temple in the west end of London. It was Nityananda Prabhu’s appearance day on the Saturday, and I’d been asked to give the morning class. So I thought I’d stay overnight so that I could have good japa meditation through the morning. The alternative was to struggle with London Underground connections early in the morning or to drive to the city. Neither appealed to me - as neither of them help to focus the mind on the Holy Names.
The brahmacaris have a flat a few minutes walk from the temple and they’d made me up a bed in a room overlooking the chimney pots of London. I awoke at 3.30 am and was surprised to find that many other people were already awake and celebrating in the streets outside. Then I remembered: this is the ‘city that never sleeps’ and what was my early Saturday morning was still their Friday night! I walked to the temple chanting and arrived in time for the first service of the day: mangala-arati.
Now, I must confess that I am accustomed to walk while chanting my daily rounds of japa. This has been my practise for many years. On this occasion though, I sat and chanted for over an hour and my legs remained peaceful.
I led the devotees in one of my favourite songs, Dalalera Gita, or ‘The Song of the Broker,’ which compares the great soul Nityananda to a market trader in that bazaar - hatta - where there is only one commodity: the holy name of Lord Krishna. His price is simply the shraddha - faith - of the devotee and in this type of trading both buyer and seller make their profit. No recession in the Nama Hatta.
Due to the enthusiasm of the devotees I spoke for two hours, after which I had private talks with other members. The temple was crowded for the abhisheka, (the ceremonial bathing of Gaura-Nityananda) the home-made theatre, and feast. In the evening I gave another class to a fresh group of congregation members then led the sandhya-arati. Here in London this is a very lively event and the temple was packed.
On this day we all had a chance to remember parama karuna, the merciful Lord Nityananda, by whose grace we can come closer to Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
10th Feb 2009: We are happy to welcome HH Radhanath Swami,HH Gopala Krishna Goswami,HH Vedavyasa Priya Swami, HH Bhanu swami, HH Ramai Swami, HH Bhakti Caitanya Swami, HG Ravindraswarup prabhu and some of the deputy GBC members in Mayapur. On his way to Sri Mayapur, HH Radhanath Swami visited Sri Jagannatha temple in Rajapur, where we had an ecstatic Jagannath Maha Prasadam festival.
by Rasa Rasika (noreply@blogger.com) at February 10, 2009 02:28 PM
by letters (wmdean@btopenworld.com) at February 10, 2009 02:08 PM
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by letters (wmdean@btopenworld.com) at February 10, 2009 02:01 PM
Doubt is the motor of the modern mentality, the indefatigable engine that drives the spirit of our age. Such doubt was honored with an early recognition in the essays of the Renaissance courtier Michel de Montaigne: “We are, I know not how, double within ourselves, with the result that we do not believe what we believe, and we cannot rid ourselves of what we condemn.”
During Montaigne’s time, religious wars of unbearable cruelty rent Europe. The absolute certainty of the raging antagonists began to taint conviction itself with bad odor. But Montaigne saw deeper. He descried the doubleness within the very certitude of the religious partisans. He recognized their zeal as a kind of cover up, overcompensation for a hidden, an unacknowledged, lack of faith: “We do not believe what we believe.”
In modern times, disbelief has so far entered into the essence of our existence, that both faithlessness and faith have become fundamentally two varieties of faithlessness.
It is the secret unbelief of true believers that energizes the armies of the night in Mathew Arnold’s poem of 1867:
The Sea of Faith
Was once, too, at the full, and round earth’s shore
Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled.
But now I only hear
Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night.
William Butler Yeats delivers the ominous news in his prophetic, apocalyptic 1919 poem “The Second Coming”:
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Others, of course, celebrated unbelief—it bestows liberation—and proselytized it. Leave it to Friedrich Nietzsche to push it as a jagged little pill: “Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies.” (Aphorism 483, Human, All Too Human: 1878 )
So it happened that, as a child of the times, and all too human, I swallowed the pill. I served at the altar of doubt. Unbelief became my credo.
It took half a dozen years in academia for me to recognize that unbelief—skepticism, relativism, nihilism—had itself become dogma. Departments of religion were pledging themselves en masse to the hermeneutics of suspicion. To confess any conviction other than mistrust of all convictions was to court anathema.
All joined in choir to hymn unwavering faith in faithlessness. This dogmatism began to rankle me. Something was wrong. I brooded, irritably.
And then, my breakthrough: We doubters were failing at doubt. We had failed to take our doubt far enough. If we are going to be thoroughly skeptical, then we must be also skeptical about our own skepticism. If all things are relative, then so must be our relativism itself.
I stated my case at an informal religion department gathering.
“You must feel like you’re walking a tightrope over an abyss,” responded a fellow grad student, only recently a nun.
“Yeah, but I’m not sure there’s a rope either,” I said. Everyone laughed.
Let us be bold enough to remove the very ground we stand on and miraculously levitate on nothing.
And so we come full circle. Doubting our own doubting, we find a surprise awaiting us: a tiny crack opens for the possibility of faith.
Just the possibility. Even less—just the openness to the possibility.
This turns out to be a crack even God can squeeze through.
One thing led to another. Several years after the manifestation of the crack, I joined—to my permanent amazement—a high-demand “organized religion.” A religion committed to preaching. Labeled by one academic as “evangelical Hinduism.” (For a systematically misleading expression, this is spot on.)
Then came a time, fifteen or twenty years later, that I realized that I was utterly and completely certain that, as they say, “God exists.” (For a systematically misleading expression, this is spot on.) I did not merely hold that a feasible case for divine existence could be made, that “God exists” can be reasonably affirmed, that the assertion is true with (of course) the possibility that it just might be false. Not at all. I was absolutely, totally certain.
This upset me.
I’m still a modern person. I assailed my own conviction: How could I be so sure? What right did I have to be so certain? How was it possible? How was I entitled to such a degree of certitude? What was wrong with me?
I attacked my own faith, and it repelled my assaults. I couldn’t shake it. It was as if it were simply there of its own accord, an irrevocable fact; it really didn’t depend upon me.
I put the matter before some judicious devotees. “It’s Kṛṣṇa’s causeless mercy,” said one. “It’s a gift,” said another. A Ph.D. who once taught Christian theology to divinity students, she cited the distinction between certainty and certitude.
These conversations relieved me of my anxiety and allowed me to accept the gift wholeheartedly.
Yet—not to look the gift horse in the mouth—I found myself still impelled to understand better what I had been given.
I began my inquiry with this question: Is there anything at all that every person can be absolutely certain of? The question, of course, summoned me back to the origins of modernity, to the very “father of modern philosophy,” Rene Descartes, who turned Montaigne’s doubt into a methodology. Sweeping away, in his Discourse on Method, everything dubitable, he was left with only his own indubitable existence as a cognizant being. He could doubt everything except that he was doubting. Cogito, ergo sum, he famously wrote: “I think, therefore I am.” Descartes explained that by “thought” he meant “what happens in me such that I am immediately conscious of it, insofar as I am conscious of it.” His own existence as a conscious subject was absolutely certain.
Here I got my own clue and cue: Start, like Descartes, with myself.
But in this, it seemed to me, I was able to be more clear that Descartes. To “start with myself” means, to be precise, to start with ātman, the conscious self.
Continued Next Week…
Midnight came not with the striking of a clock, but with the blowing of a conch-shell. The auspicious sound rang through the temple room of Radha Govinda Mandir and announced that a new year had come. Everyone began to dance as the kirtan started.
It soon became a kirtan where no one led and the leader would simply rotate to whoever had the microphone for that specific mantra. There was joy and excitement in the air, ushering in this New Year that everyone had high hopes for. People danced back and forth, in circles and with their arms raised. Everyone sang as loudly as they could. We prayed for the blessings of our spiritual masters so that we would be able to carry on this year and be the best that we could.
Some rededicated themselves to what they held dearest in their lives. I took another look at how blessed I truly was just to be able to do kirtan all the time, even if it wasn’t everyday or what I was able to do for my full-time job. It was clear that people were ready for 2009. I hope that we all make plans to live more, love more, show our joy more fully and engage in kirtan completely.
Live your kirtan!
Acyuta Gopi
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This past Saturday, ISKCON Toronto, the Hare Krishna Centre, celebrated the Appearance Day of Lord Nityananda. This particular festival continues to be a favourite for local devotees and this year's festival was marked by some special features. by Vijay Teli (noreply@blogger.com) at February 10, 2009 11:13 AM
Reaching out to everyone who needs help
That photo came from the Parks Indigenous Officer and this accompanying text:
“The Ash Wednesday Fires in South Australia and Victoria in 1983 burnt 2,000 square kilometres. 260,000 farm animals died or had to be destroyed. And billions of wildlife perished, as well as their habitats. Just a one acre fire will burn literally millions of animals from insects and spiders to skinks, lizards, snakes, and nesting birds and all the small mammals that cannot flee, like echidnas, koalas and possums. As well as the damage to native animals’ homes and food supply, there is of course the immense destruction to homes & property and loss and suffering of domestic pets and human life”.
This current bushfire is the worst the country has seen. If you would like to help out the suffering animals in any capacity, please visit: http://www.rspcavic.org/campaigns_news/news_bushfires.htm
by Subuddhi Krishna das, Chicago (noreply@blogger.com) at February 10, 2009 06:47 AM
Sri Sri Sad-gosvamy-astaka
By Srila Srinivasa Acharya
1.
krsnotkirtana-gana-nartana-parau premamrtambho-nidhi
dhiradhira-jana-priyau priya-karau nirmatsarau pujitau
sri-caitanya-krpa-bharau bhuvi bhuvo bharavahantarakau
vande rupa-sanatanau raghu-yugau sri-jiva-gopalakau
Like oceans of loving ecstasy, they chant and dance in Krishna sankirtan
Granting freely Gauranga’s grace to all the world, assuaging all affliction.
Beloved to both the good and bad, worshipped by all, free from malevolence.
To Rupa, Sanatana, both Raghunathas, Gopal and Jiva, my obeisance.
2.
nana-sastra-vicaranaika-nipunau sad-dharma-samsthapakau
lokanam hita-karinau tri-bhuvane manyau saranyakarau
radha-krsna-padaravinda-bhajananandena mattalikau
vande rupa-sanatanau raghu-yugau sri-jiva-gopalakau
Expertly establishing from all scripture the essence of real religion
Shelter to all throughout all the worlds they bestow the highest benediction.
Ever enrapt with euphoria, serving Krishna in total loving trance.
To Rupa, Sanatana, both Raghunathas, Gopal and Jiva, my obeisance.
3.
sri-gauranga-gunanuvarnana-vidhau sraddha-samrddhy-anvitau
papottapa-nikrntanau tanu-bhrtam govinda-ganamrtaih
anandambudhi-vardhanaika-nipunau kaivalya-nistarakau
vande rupa-sanatanau raghu-yugau sri-jiva-gopalakau
Fully grasping Gauranga’s transcendental truths that they narrate perfectly.
Freeing all fallen souls from all of their sins by Govinda’s pure eulogy.
Growing the ocean of bhakti bliss, and from mukti, our safe deliverance.
To Rupa, Sanatana, both Raghunathas, Gopal and Jiva, my obeisance.
4.
tyakva turnam asesa-mandala-pati-srenim sada tuccha-vat
bhutva dina-ganesakau karunaya kaupina-kanthasritau
gopi-bhava-rasamrtabdhi-lahari-kallola-magnau muhur
vande rupa-sanatanau raghu-yugau sri-jiva-gopalakau
Abandoning aristocracy as meaningless, they mendicants became.
Living simply in loincloths, to save all souls from suffering their one aim.
Swimming in a sea of ecstasy, in the pure mood of the gopis’ romance.
To Rupa, Sanatana, both Raghunathas, Gopal and Jiva, my obeisance.
5.
kujat-kokila-hamsa-sarasa-ganakirne mayurakule
nana-ratna-nibaddha-mula-vitapa-sri-yukta-vrndavane
radha-krsnam ahar-nisam prabhajatau jivarthadau yau muda
vande rupa-sanatanau raghu-yugau sri-jiva-gopalakau
Always worshipping Radha Shyam in Vraja dhama, bright abode of all beauties.
Where Peacocks, swans, cranes, and cuckoos call among the gems found round flowering trees,
Bestowing the boon of life’s greatest goal upon all souls, in great jubilance.
To Rupa, Sanatana, both Raghunathas, Gopal and Jiva, my obeisance.
6.
sankhya-purvaka-nama-gana-natibhih kalavasani-krtau
nidrahara-viharakadi-vijitau catyanta-dinau ca yau
radha-krsna-guna-smrter madhurimanandena sammohitau
vande rupa-sanatanau raghu-yugau sri-jiva-gopalakau
Spending their days chanting Krishna’s name and bowing down in a regulated way.
Ever enchanted by the loveliness and love, that Radha Krishna display.
Meek and mild with subdued senses they ever were emblems of all tolerance.
To Rupa, Sanatana, both Raghunathas, Gopal and Jiva, my obeisance.
7.
radha-kunda-tate kalinda-tanaya-tire ca vamsivate
premonmada-vasad asesa-dasaya grastau pramattau sada
gayantau ca kada harer guna-varam bhavabhibhutau muda
vande rupa-sanatanau raghu-yugau sri-jiva-gopalakau
Sometimes seen around Vamsivat and Radha Kunda and by the Yamuna’s shore.
Divine symptoms of delirious love of god manifesting more and more.
Always absorbed in the glories of Govindaji in blissful song and dance.
To Rupa, Sanatana, both Raghunathas, Gopal and Jiva, my obeisance.
8.
he radhe vraja-devike ca lalite he nanda-suno kutah
sri-govardhana-kalpa-padapa-tale kalindi-vanye kutah
ghosantav iti sarvato vraja-pure khedair maha-vihvalau
vande rupa-sanatanau raghu-yugau sri-jiva-gopalakau
All around sacred Vrindavan seeking their Lord, their loud shouts were heard each day.
Dear son of Nanda, Dear Radhika, Dear Lalita, where now your wondrous play?
By Goverdhan or Yamuna’s banks, where shall we see your sports of transcendence?
To Rupa, Sanatana, both Raghunathas, Gopal and Jiva, my obeisance.
Here is Maharaja's itinerary to date:
Right from Mangalarati at 4:30am. till the middle of the afternoon and
beyond, devotees hungry for Nityananda Mahasaya's mercy
enthusiastically engaged in His service. 
by course@ultimateselfrealization.com at February 10, 2009 03:30 AM
This is the Schedule of the Satsang Seminars (Without Service Charges) to be held as part of the Gaura Purnima Festival 2009 in Sri Dham Mayapur.
Feb 24 - 27, 2009
(Without Service Charges)
Dude, this is so totally going to become part of my "Internet Addiction" presentation...
Last night Prahlad and I read the following in Bhaktivinode Thakur's Jaiva Dharma:
Lahiri: There are two kinds of people in this world: those who are spiritually awake and those who are spiritually unconscious. The sastras have praised secondary results for the benefit of those who are spiritually unconscious, and who do not perform any pious activity unless they can visualize a forthcoming result. However, the sastras do not intend such people to remain satisfied with secondary results; rather, their attraction to secondary results should induce them to perform virtuous acts, which will hasten their contact with sadhus. Then, by the mercy of the sadhus, they will come to know of the primary results of hari-bhajana, and taste for those results will awaken within them.
Devidasa: Then are we to understand that Raghunandana and the other authors of the smrti-sastras are spiritually unconscious?
Lahiri: No, but the system that they have prescribed is for the spiritually unconscious. However, they themselves seek the primary result.
Devidasa: Some sastras only describe the secondary results and do not mention the primary results at all. Why is this?
Lahiri: There are three types of sastra, corresponding to the varieties of adhikara (eligibility) among human beings: sattvika, of the nature of goodness; rajasika, of the nature of passion; and tamasika, of the nature of ignorance. The sattvika-sastras are for people who are imbued with the nature of goodness (sattva-guna); the rajasika-sastras are for those enveloped by the nature of passion (rajo-guna); and the tamasika-sastras are for those engrossed in the nature of ignorance (tamo-guna).
Devidasa: If that is the case, how should one know which directives of the sastra to have faith in? And how may those of lower adhikara (eligibility) attain a higher destination?
Lahiri: Human beings have different natures and faiths according to their different levels of adhikara. People who are impelled primarily by the mode of ignorance have natural faith in the tamasika-sastras. Those affected primarily by the mode of passion have natural faith in the rajasika-sastras, and those in the mode of goodness naturally have faith in the sattvika-sastras. One’s belief in a particular conclusion of the sastra is naturally in accordance with one’s faith.
As one faithfully carries out the duties for which one has the adhikara, he may come into contact with sadhus and develop a higher adhikara through their association. As soon as a higher adhikara is awakened, one’s nature is elevated, and one’s faith in a more elevated sastra will follow accordingly. The authors of the sastras were infallible in their wisdom and composed the sastras in such a way that one will gradually develop higher adhikara by carrying out the duties for which one is eligible and in which one naturally has faith. It is for this reason that different directives have been given in different sastras. Faith in the sastra is the root of all auspiciousness.
Srimad Bhagavad-Gita is the mimamsa-sastra of all the sastras. This siddhanta is clearly stated there.
Devidasa: I have studied many sastras since my childhood, but today, by your grace, I have understood their purpose in an entirely new light.
Lahiri: It is written in Srimad-Bhagavatam (11.8.10):
anubhyas ca mahadbhyas ca sastrebhyah kusalo narah
sarvatah saram adadyat puspebhya iva satpadah
An intelligent person will take the essence of all the sastras, whether they are great or small, just as a bumblebee gathers honey from many different types of flowers.
My dear son, I used to call you an atheist. Now I don’t criticize anyone, because faith depends on adhikara. There is no question of criticism in this regard. Everyone is working according to their own adhikara, and they will advance gradually when the time is appropriate. You are a scholar of the sastras dealing with logic and fruitive action, and since your statements are in accordance with your adhikara, there is no fault in them.
Devidasa: Until now, I believed that there were no scholars in the Vaisnava sampradaya. I thought that the Vaisnavas were merely fanatics who concerned themselves solely with one part of the sastra, but what you have explained today has completely dispelled my misconceptions. Now I have faith that some of the Vaisnavas have truly understood the essence of the sastra.
- Jaiva Dharma, by Bhaktivinode Thakura, chapter 5
My thought: let gays have their own scene where they can have standards, rather than making it "all or nothing" out of a fear that it will destroy ISKCON's standard.
There is no need to transform temple (brahminical) standards, but at the same time, in order to create a path of progressive elevation we have to have secondary structures.
Without this we create a situation where as a gay person there is no difference between having 1 partner or 100 partners - both are equally outside the purview of any structure. And the fact is that there is a difference between those two scenarios, both socially and individually.
Give devotees like Amara prabhu the blessing to help people to rise to the platform of devotional service and to support them in their practice and gradual purification.
This is not transformation of ISKCON's core, but expansion of its mission. In addition to the brahminical temple we need the wider society with infrastructure and standards for people at all levels of spiritual development.
There were many comments on this site that had not been approved for a long time, and they are all now approved. If you want your comments to immediately appear, register as a user, and they will appear immediately when you post them. Sorry for the delay.
>From Living with the Scriptures by SDG
by Vrndavana Vinodini dd (noreply@blogger.com) at February 09, 2009 08:28 PM
Today is the appearance day of Narottama das Thakur. Last year at this time I was lucky enough to be in Vrindavan, and go for my second visit to the Radha Vrajmohan temple, where his deities are still being worshipped. It is a beautiful place, set deep within a series of turning alleys. The chaotic buzz of the bazaars fades into the distance, and the air is peaceful. The first time I went, we set off confidently from the other side of Vrindavan, only to find ourselves going round and round in circles, getting more and more frustrated with our rickshaw wallah, who had insisted (of course) that he knew where to go. This time we still got a little lost, but the alleys and brightly painted doors were more familiar, and eventually, we pulled up in front of the small entrance to the temple.
Inside, the pujari was cleaning the altar, but stopped when he saw us come in. ‘Ah!’, he said. ‘You came here before! Some time ago, yes?’ I was surprised at his memory, but nodded, assuming he said the same to any guest who looked vaguely familiar. He paused, looking thoughtful. ‘It was, during Kartik - on the disappearance day of Narottam Das Thakur, no?’ I was amazed that he remembered. Then again, I suppose redheads aren’t so numerous in rural Uttar Pradesh.
He ushered us up to the altar to see the deities. They are beautiful in a very simple way - not finely carved or expertly decorated, but they exude a sweetness and love that is often rare to come across.
Part of their beauty comes from knowing that they were worshipped with incomparable care by Narottama Das Thakur, who inspires me so much. He was the epitome of a pure devotee of Krishna, using his ability to glorify him through words and music in a way that has benefited all who encounter his poetry and songs. He played six instruments, and developed rigorous classical methods of playing them, as a way of ornamenting the chanting of the Lord’s names. I find his writings an endless source of inspiration, but don’t read them nearly often enough. This morning, my Dad and I took a few minutes out of the day to sing ‘Sri Krsna Caitanya Prabhu’ together. It’s one of my favourites, and it was wonderful to read the translation after singing it, as it is a truly heartfelt and exemplary prayer. As Srila Prabhupada is often quoted saying: ‘The prayers of Narottama dasa Thakura - this sound is above the material platform. It is directly from the spiritual platform. And there is no need of understanding the language. It is just like a thunderburst. Everyone can hear the sound of thunder-there is no misunderstanding. Similarly, these songs are above the material platform, and they crack like thunder within your heart.’
Their Lordships Shri Shri Gaura Nitia and Shri Shri Radha Ksira-Chora Gopinatha looking stunning on the Appearance Day of Sri Nityananda Prabhu. Darshan of my deities from the festival can be found in my gallery.by Vijay Teli (noreply@blogger.com) at February 09, 2009 07:05 PM
These necklaces are easy to make and the technique can be modified to add or subtract tiers. This style creates the look of multiple necklaces but because it is a single piece you don’t need to worry about different necklaces getting tangled, making dressing really simple.
Supplies:
Step 1: Begin by double stringing a generous length of the sewing thread on to your needle and tying a stop bead (simply tie a knot around a seed bead) towards the end, leaving a 3-4 inch tail. 
by Vijay Teli (noreply@blogger.com) at February 09, 2009 06:50 PM
The official opening of the temple in Aravade is set to turn the usually quiet bucolic village into a buzzing, spiritual wonderland, with thousands of cosmopolitan devotees from all over the world descending to engage in the festival, unarguably a first for this pastoral land.
There is a revolution building. It started five hundred years ago and has been slowly leaking into cracks and crevices ever since. It’s slow moving, but very patient. It needs no one to thrive, but a chosen few are given the gift of being able to spread it. This revolution uplifts the heart and makes it dance, makes it sing, makes it laugh. It has the power to transport anyone to the best place ever. A place where there is nothing but love, where every word is a song and every step is a dance. This revolution is kirtan. We take up war against pride, envy, and greed every time we do kirtan and we re-dedicate ourselves to the cause: being loving, gentle, humble more full human beings. Our battle-cry and our armor is the Hare Krsna mantra and we can be heard singing at the top of our lungs. We sing into battle and defeat our opponents with dance, taking over their hearts and holding them captive. We hold onto our prisoners of war and only ask that they help take up our mission and spread kirtan as far and wide as they possibly can. This is As Kindred Spirits, this is our revolution. Our mission was the theme of the kirtan at the East Village Temple Yoga Studio performance. We implored that people look at the revolution that has been getting bigger and bigger and to become a part of it. We negotiated with them, telling them all the good points about it, and in the end, we did the one thing that we knew would capture them fully and bring them whole-heartedly to the cause…we did kirtan. (more…)
by letters (wmdean@btopenworld.com) at February 09, 2009 02:25 PM
by letters (wmdean@btopenworld.com) at February 09, 2009 02:25 PM
by letters (wmdean@btopenworld.com) at February 09, 2009 02:24 PM
by letters (wmdean@btopenworld.com) at February 09, 2009 02:24 PM
by letters (wmdean@btopenworld.com) at February 09, 2009 02:23 PM
by letters (wmdean@btopenworld.com) at February 09, 2009 02:14 PM
by letters (wmdean@btopenworld.com) at February 09, 2009 02:13 PM
Mukunda Datta das singing the Mangala Arati Kirtan.
2008-12-31
Dallas, TX
by Rupa Schomaker (rupa@rupa.com) at February 09, 2009 02:12 PM
Hare Krsna everyone. We had very nice sessions in the Japa Room and were blessed by nice and rare association of devotees. One good topic that struck my attention was the importance of prayer so we could be forgiven for our offenses. In order to avoid the offensives and inattentive chanting, we should pray....pray to our spiritual master to help us....to Srila Prabhupada and also to the Holy Names so we could be freed from the root of all other offenses and be able to chant nicely.by Aruna (noreply@blogger.com) at February 09, 2009 01:39 PM
We were invited by our dear friend Ray Ippolito to perform at the Chapel of the Sacred Mirrors (CoSM) one last time on New Year’s eve. This being the last time because CoSM is closing down it’s location in Manhattan to Upstate NY. We had a great jam session with master of bass and drums Sri Shyam and Gaura Vani on flute, vocals and harmonium. (more…)
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Aravade India—This small village of 5,000 residents, approximately 250 kilometers south of Pune, Maharashtra, is expected to increase its population 10 fold by the end of today, the last of a four day celebration opening the newest ISKCON temple in India. |
Never did I realize that when I wrote the last article (114), the bush fire scenario would get so bad. As I walked the streets on Saturday, I could sense that something was wrong. The heat was too strong, the wind was heavy, the entire sky was muddy. And in the distance I saw some smoke but I never connected it to a bushfire - one that would end up being Australia’s worst. My friend, whose property was in the line of fire, brought to my attention that the fire was barely 2kms from the city centre, where I was in the morning. But then the wind had changed its direction and we ended up not being affected.
Phone calls and emails flow in from friends and relatives everywhere. In a small community like where I live in, everyone knows someone who has been affected. Radio, TV, newspaper, websites and word of mouth have only one thing to report as priority - the Victorian bush fires and the Queensland flood. In some way, it has brought the entire community, in fact the whole country together. Some are looking up to the government to do the needful. Others have left it in the hands of God. And many others have decided to work together and get out of this situation quickly or eventually.
As I write this article, I understand that the weekend fire toll has now risen to 134 with over 700 homes destroyed. My thoughts and prayers are with those affected and the brave fire fighting authorities who have a very tough job at hand. You can see some visuals of the damage at http://www.abc.net.au/news/photos/2009/02/06/2484555.htm
The sky I saw last evening
We will be posting the happenings in Sridham Mayapur in a daily basis beginning from today. Pictures, interviews, videos, stories and official announcements will make you feel that you are in Sridhama Mayapur, though physically you may be miles far away. These reports will also be sent to Pamho conference and Mayapur live. If you wish to receive these mails by e-mail, please register with us. Just type in the subject line, “register me” and we will add you to our mailing list. We will be happy to assist you with any festival information or queries.
We are pleased to announce that issues #194 and 195 of Sri Krishna Kathamrita Bindu magazine have been posted. You can read or download from the link included
Dear devotees, disciples and friends,
Please accept my blessings. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
I am writing to you from Aravade, the birthplace of His Holiness Lokanatha Maharaja. We are just concluding the grand festival for the installation of the Deities Sri Sri Radha Gopala, and the opening of their beautiful temple here. It’s been an amazing experience.
As we were leaving Minsk Bhaktin Natasha, one of the devotees who came with me for our parikrama of Sri Vrindavana Dhama in October and November, approached me asking how she could keep that mood of parikrama and being in the dhama in her heart, and not lose it due to having to deal with household duties and so on. I told her she should get all the photos she could find of her own and from other devotees, of our visit to Vrindavana and put them together in a slide show on her computer, and then watch them every day and remember the places and the pastimes there.
I told her she could also print the best ones and put them all around her house so she can see them every day. Then I told her a story of Srila Raghunatha das Goswami in his relationship with Lord Caitanya. Srila
Raghunatha das Goswami wanted to leave home and join the Lord, but Lord Caitanya thought he was not ready to do that, and also his family was not ready to let him go. But the Lord told him a special strategy he could adopt which would help him.
Lord Caitanya told Srila Raghunatha das Goswami he should be like a married woman who has a boyfriend. She doesn’t want her husband to suspect anything, so she does her housework so nicely that he thinks she is the ideal housewife, but internally she is always absorbed in remembering her beloved boyfriend. Similarly we must function nicely in our worldly duties, but we have to keep remembering Krishna and His holy dhama always.
I flew back to Durban and on Sunday January 25th we had a wonderful boat festival in the moat surrounding Sri Sri Radha Radhanatha temple. It was a rather grey day, and as we were about to begin a few drops of rain fell.
That day I actually did the Sunday programme in our Phoenix temple in Durban, New Jagannatha Puri, being driven there and back by my disciple Rasamrita devi dasi and her 12 year old daughter (Jivani) Devaki. On the way back Jivani became ill and we thought she was going to vomit on us or faint, but somehow she made. As soon as we got back I had to go into the moat and push the boat around, along with a few of the adult devotees and some children, when suddenly Jivani appeared in the water, laughing and smiling as she helped push the swan boat around. A miraculous recovery!
As I was coming back from Europe I came to a conclusion on an important subject. I need to go on a diet. As I grow older I’m less able to digest rich prasadam nicely, and almost every day I have to undergo some minor
indigestion and nausea, and now I decided that enough was enough.
Previously I had been on a diet of soup and salad, with occasional baked vegetable, all with a minimum or even zero oil, and it helped tremendously, so I decided to do it again. My assistant, Nitai prabhu started informing the devotees who cook for me, and we got off to a good start with a simple but tasty pea soup the first day. This is going to be good, I thought.
However one devotee he couldn’t get through to was Bhaktin Cheron, whose place I had been invited to on Wednesday the 28th, along with Raghava Pandita prabhu and Jai Sacinandana prabhu, and some of the other senior devotees from Sri Sri Radha Radhanatha temple. Nitai was going to tell her that I am on this special diet of only soup and salad, but as a special concession we would allow her to also do some baked vegetables. Fortunately or unfortunately he couldn’t get through to her, and as a result she very kindly prepared a major feast with a printed menu. The following is the menu. You may not be able to believe it, let alone be able to eat all of the things on it.
Basmati Rice with Cashew Nuts Petite Pous Peas Mini Corn Cobs and Lemon
Wedges
Whole Green Moong Dhal
Black Chick Pea Soup
Karela with Blanched Almonds and Grilled Coconut
Bhindee with Roasted Potatoes and Macadamia Nuts
Blue Pumpkin
Bhaji and Sautied Chick Peas
Aubergines ( Brinjal/ Eggplant) with Grilled Halloumi cheese
Cauliflower Koftas with Farfalloni Pasta
Sweetcorn and Paneer with Hokkien Noodles
Grilled Asparagus with Black Pepper
Pizza Scrolls/Mediterranean Pizza
Corn Bread
Fresh Fried Spiced Mealies
Baby Marrow Patty Pan Parisienne Carrot and Potato Pie
Nutty Wheat Puris
French Loaf
Mixed Fresh Salad
Mint Chutney with Ground Apples and Chillies
Thengai Thuvaiyal (Coconut Chutney)
Carrot and Spinach Brownies
Broccoli Carrot and Molasses Ginger Bread Spice Loaf
Banana and Date Cake
Carrot Hearts
Mini Loaves
Peach Banana Cinnamon
Mango Pistachio Kulfi
Assortment of Fresh Fruit
Chevda
Sarishas’ Original Strawberry Marshmallows
Assortment of Health Bars
Carob Teddy Bears/Discs/Chess Chocolates
Butter/Mint Toffees
Soft Scoop Caramel Swirl ice cream
Soft Scoop Strawberry ice cream
Soft Scoop Vanilla ice cream
Blueberry Cheesecake Milkshake
Ginger Beer
Grapetizer
Still Valpre Mineral water
Decaffeinated Coffee
Assortment of Chai Tea
Somehow we survived.
After some days of preaching around the Durban area I flew to Mauritius on my way to India for the opening of Lokanatha Maharaja’s Radha Gopala temple at his birthplace, Aravade in Maharastra, about 600 kms south of Bombay, and then on to the GBC meetings in Mayapur.
I didn’t really sleep on the plane from Mauritius on the 5th night, and practically as soon as I arrived in Aravade, after flying from Bombay in the late morning of the 6th, I had to go on stage with Radhanatha Maharaja to tell some Nityananda katha, as the 7th was His appearance day.
Anyone who knows Radhanatha Maharaja knows that he is the ultimate reservoir of pastimes from Krishna lila and Caitanya lila, and this was to be no exception. Maharaja talked for about 90 minutes about Lord Nityananda, and as I watched the audience from time to time I saw some of the devotees in tears, such was the transcendental sweetness and richness of his speaking. At the end he told the story of Jagai and Madhai in such detail it was like we were seeing the pastime in front of us. But then he turned it over to me.
After something like that it can be very difficult presenting anything else. As they say in material life “it’s a really hard act to follow”. But anyway I thought I should say something for his and the other devotees’ pleasure. I carried on the story of Jagai and Madhai, talking about the experience of the demigods when they were watching the pastime from the heavenly planets. Yamaraja, the judge of the human beings was watching, Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityananda deliver Jagai and Madhai, who were famous for being the greatest sinners and demons, and he then turned and asked his chief secretary, Citragupta:
“What is the extent of sin that these two persons have committed, and what does it mean that they have been delivered from them?” Chaitragupta replied, “O Yamaraja why pursue this matter, it is futile?
“If my assistant writers sit down to write down the sins of these two they will never finish even after a month and if you want to sit and hear their sins, if even after hearing many millions of them you want to hear more then it is up to you. All the writers constantly write down their sins, so much that they always feel harassed unable to cope up with the voluminous scores of sins.”
Citragupta said, “The amount of sins they commit forces us to the brink of complete exhaustion and break down from writing them. The bottomless pits where these records are kept will bear witness to my plight. These two have made us writers weep. But now so easily Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityananda have absorbed all their mountable pile of sins, now please give me permission to throw them into the ocean.”
Such is the mercy of Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityananda.
That evening we went on a procession through Aravade. First we unveiled the new name of the road in front of the Radha Gopala temple - Bhaktivedanta Swami Marg - and then we walked through the town with an elephant, horses and hundreds and hundreds of devotees.
It was a truly amazing experience. From practically each house people came out and offered us arati and then sugar and fruit prasadam. Most houses sent out a 10 litre container of water to wash the feet of Lokanatha Maharaja, Subhaga Maharaja, Radhanatha Maharaja, Candramauli Maharaja, Hari Sauri prabhu and I, and there were fireworks being set off on all sides. In several of the small squares around the village we had to stop for spectacular and dangerous fireworks exhibitions. Everywhere throughout the village there was sanji (pictures and designs done in coloured powders on the ground). What an evening!
The most wonderful thing was visiting Lokanatha Maharaja’s family home. It’s a very simple one room village house, and outside was a sanji picture on the ground of him taking birth. I’ve included a photo of it in the photos accompanying this letter.
When I had asked Maharaja how long the procession would take he had said about half an hour, but by the time we got back to the temple nearly 3 hours had passed!
The following day was the installation of Radha Gopala. It was one the most wonderful installations I’ve taken part in, with a wonderful abhiseka, particularly with water coloured with metallic green, orange, yellow and red. Everyone cried out when these colours went over the Deities. I’ve also included some of those photos with this letter.
During the prana pratishta ceremony of requesting the Deities to accept service, I was fortunate enough to hold little Srimati Radharani’s lotus feet while all the mantras were being chanted. As I watched Her from a few inches away I was meditating on Srila Raghunatha das Goswami’s verse to Srimati Radharani in Vilapa Kusumanjali:
“I am Yours! I am Yours! I cannot live without You! O queen, please understand this and bring me to Your feet. O restless-eyed girl, Your lake is the eternal home of You and Your beloved. My residence is there. There I stay. O beautiful lake, my queen eternally enjoys amorous pastimes with Her beloved on your shore. If you are most dear to Them, then, please mercifully show me now the girl who is my life and soul. My queen will not leave your company for even a moment. Because You are both the same age you are the realm of Her playful joking pastimes. O girl with the beautiful face, O Visakha, please show me my queen and save the life of me, on the verge of death because I am separated from Her.”
Of course I’m not on that level at all, but still, being so close to such a beautiful little Deity reminded me of those prayers.
There is a little more to say about the festival, but I’ll include it in the next letter. Tomorrow I leave for Mayapur. I’ll tell you what happens there shortly.
Hoping this meets you well.
Your ever well wisher,
Bhakti Caitanya Swami
by Subuddhi Krishna das, Chicago (noreply@blogger.com) at February 09, 2009 07:03 AM
I recently gave a talk at the Krishna Fest at Gaura Yoga on the “Vedic System of Self-Development”. Thanks to Sivarama Swami for the inspiration for this talk.
You can view the talk synchronized with slides here:
or download the source AAC file vedic system of self-development.m4a
or download the source MP3 file vedic system of self-development.mp3
by course@ultimateselfrealization.com at February 09, 2009 03:44 AM
Wednesday, 7th Jan, 2009. Me and Sadhu found ourselves up in an uba late session. We didn’t quite make it to mangal arti but it was ridiculous. On tour you tend to loose your body clock. You also tend to build up a lot of energy and adrenaline (KC translation: Mode of Passion) and so you vent it out with a few to many ice creams and having a sleeping pattern resembling the introspective sage of introspective sages.
I awoke feeling spectacular. Sarcasm in this case is a virtue. I settled off the sloth with a good ole fashion Gujarati breaky. After breakfast I did a little computer wonder. It just became apparent to me that Sita Pati Prabhu was feeding my diary from face book onto his site Planet ISCKON. I was talking to Mother Driti from New Govardhana on face book and she broke me the news. I had people all over the world, more particularly all over Brisbane area and New Govardhana, reading my diaries. I was sitting there next to feeds from prestigious devotees and Swamis like HH Indradyumna Swami’s diaries and a feed from HH Mukunda Goswami! I felt not exactly worthy to be posted to such Krsna Conscious saints with my not so Krsna Conscious diary about ditching seva and eating ice creams. I toyed with the idea how great it would be to be a tour writer. It would be cool to just be sponsored to go to all the happening festivals and shpiel about them but that was a pipe dream.
I kicked back and waited for the call. I was going to pick the boys up and take them for harinam in the city. Eventually the call came through and I was to return to Sakhi’s with my troopers. When I arrived I was excited to see Sakhi Roy himself, in the flesh. He had been travelling overseas. We had last seen him on a freak night in Sydney. He looked a bit jet lagged but otherwise joyful.
We were waiting while Indradyumna Swami was watching a vid on Polish tour. I slipped in the room when there were enough of my friends from the tour crowding that I didn’t feel I was obstructing. It was up to Woodstock. It was a great big flash back and exciting to see some old friends. I caught a single glimpse of myself in the kirtana tent dancing in a small circle of punks. I remembered the incident on the third night when the punk boys initiated their own dance circle and invited me in. I was not sure if they realised I was a devotee or thought I was a punk. It was hard to tell by the way I was dressed.
The video came to an end. The whole tour group was almost all cram packed into the little room. It was time for harinam. We mounted our chariots and rode into the city. It was a whole case with parking. We dropped the paratroopers in and then found yourself a landing strip. The pilots excited their vehicles and we assembled. It was Domo, Gaura, Sakhi and I. We rolled out of the car park and sniffed the air for a scent of our harinam party.
The 4 of us split up. Gaura and Domo went one way and Me and the main man Sakhi hit the other block. It was a race who could find the harinam first. We caught the lead when we started to find stray fliers on the ground. It was like following bread crumbs. We quickly found the party and got stuck into it. I found myself with kartalas and a load of enthusiasm.
We danced and sang on the streets of Brisbane. We gave it our all. The party was trying to slow and we were building a mighty thirst. Just as it looked like we would droop off our epic pace we passed something miraculous. The new NW (Nutrient Water) company was doing a promotional give away. They were throwing bottles out by the van load. Gaura caught on and nudged Gurudeva who lead by example. We all sculled down our share and even stashed a few for later. We were all bursting with a buzz of Vitamins: B3, B5, B6, B12 and C. It was more than a couple bananas in pyjamas for us. The drinks were also filled with the extra essentials like Echinacea and of course pyridoxine hydrochloride.
We passed some interesting sights on the way including the notable: Christian supply store. A lady came out and was shocked to see what must have appeared to be “an army of cultist sect members”. We went past some Irish club also. Gurudeva tried to push Gaura Hari back to his natural environment. It was like those sad Disney films where they have to finally say goodbye to some furry friend as they release them back into the wild. It was not a sad ending though as Gaura decided to stay.
We rolled into Govindas after for a well needed restock. Maharaja was hooking into some cake. Niti, Sakhi Roy’s daughter, was getting a little worried Maharaja was consuming to much cake. Her and sister Shruti were making it everyday it seemed. I was feeling only a little peckish so I followed maharaja’s example. I sweet talked my into pacifying my sweet tooth on a tasty honey cake.
After a good feed it was time to head…to the zoo? We found ourselves parked in the bus bay at a local wildlife sanctuary. After relocating out parking we were out and Sakhi shouted us a trip to see some native Aussie wildlife. This was a big event for all our internationals and was a good chance to chill out with some of my rellies. The first mission was to find Gurudeva a koala. We found a few of the sleepy guys hanging round. After scoping the dopes we found our way into a large enclosure full of kangaroos and other novelties.
While the crew distracted themselves on the kangaroos I was trying to bring an emu over to socialise. We dubbed my emu friend Jhotis after my Manipruri friend. He was pretty cool once the crew warmed up to him. I didn’t manage to get anyone to have a staring contest with him (knowing that this would most likely incline the animal to either bite or head butt them). After waving goodbye to Jhotis we moved to the side of the enclosure.
On the side fence we found a closed enclosure with some really big red kangaroos. Indradyumna Swami was a little disappointed at their inactivity and wanted to bring them to life some how. I took this opportune chance to produce I piece of carrot I had robbed from an emu feeding bay (I know. I am sick). Maharaja accepted it quite quickly and thrust it towards the kangaroos. It rustled through some foliage and woke all the kangaroos with a startle.
After scaring the giant kangaroos we decided to hit the road back home. We all walked off back through the enclosures and said goodbye to our furry Aussie friends. On the way we stagnated in the gift shop. People were deciding which boomerang was worth buying. The decision was based on: how big it was, how heavy it was, if it would return when thrown, the over all look and it’s damage capability. Maharaja and Gaura Hari took home some serious weapons of mass confusion home with them.
We all assembled at Sakhi Roy’s establishment. There was an surprise ishta goshti. We found most of the tour devotees in Sakhi’s lounge room. We were all anxious. There was some energy in the air. Gurudeva seemed to be pretty excited. Maharaja started talking. It unfolded like I would have never expected. We started with some formalities and thanks for all on the tour and then it moved on into some “transcendental irresponsibility”. Indradyumna Swami proposed a world tour! From the Polish tour we would travel on for 9 months. Poland, Ukraine, Russia…I lost track on the countries we would travel in Asia, a trip to Bali, Hong Kong, New Zealand and four months in Australia. Then Maharaja became excited and suggested 3 more months in China! He then asked us all individually “what do you say Maddy. Would you like to come?”
I was totally on board. I might have had the laxmi to make at least half of it but either way I was on board. I was thinking of it over and over as I dropped the boys back at the temple and made my way home. I called my family in the car and told them the news. They were excited and in full support. I must have startled them with my excitement. I proposed to Indradyumna Swami before I left that I would like to take my older brother along also. Nitai had been travelling even longer than I had and he would be more useful in such a tour so I thought, what’s better than one Durr brother is two. The idea was not concrete but it was enough to bring me back some enthusiasm to plot along at a new pace.
I came home to find Sadhu watching BOLLYWOOD!? I cut into all the singing and dancing and slander of Indian culture to tell Sadhu the plans he had missed out on hearing. After telling him this I quickly removed myself from the brain drain of Indian Western pop culture and did some reading.
For those who watched the Le Carnaval Spirituel on our first tour would remember our MC quoting “if you Google such and such you will come up with so many hits.” So if you Google your own name how many hits will come up? In the old days I would say zero but now there were TOO MANY. Most of them were coming from Planet Iskcon. I couldn’t hide now. All those secret agencies that were out to arrest me would now know where I was hiding.
I found Ajita online and sought his blessings. Ajita Prabhu is my TP (for the short amount of time when I stay in one place). With no protest I was set for another world tour. I had blessings from all the gurus. I could hear our hosts and Domo upstairs now having philosophical debates while eating large portions of ice cream. I was offered to attend but I was ready to sleep. I had a lot on my mind. A world tour? Now I had a lot to write about. I just had to keep up with it all. For now I still had two more festivals in Brisbane and the whole Melbourne leg.
by madhavi (noreply@blogger.com) at February 08, 2009 11:26 PM
>>> Ref. VedaBase => Room Conversation -- December 31, 1976, Bombay
On Friday I was interviewed by pop singer Chico who is making a documentary for television. He wanted to film the temple and talk about God. Although you wouldn’t expect the singer of songs like Chico Time and Curvy Cola Bottle Body to have a really deep spiritual side (or maybe you would) Chico certainly does - and he isn’t afraid to let it show.
Chico is a Sufi. He grew up in Morocco and has a Sufi spiritual master there with whom he is regular contact. After reading our compilation book Science of Self Realisation he was very impressed with Srila Prabhupada and understood him to be a genuine spiritual master. Chico seeks the divine in all traditions and recognises that the externals of a tradition are less important than the esoteric reality that is its heart.
He filmed kirtan in the temple - and gladly joined in, as Sufis love singing - and then we filmed inside the kitchen and Tulasi house. He appreciated everything he saw, all that he heard, and thought the hour-long interview went well and would make a good segment for his documentary.
His own favourite show at the moment is Around the World in 80 Faiths which, I must admit, has got me watching too. The premise is a good basic idea: Church of England vicar tours the world stopping to film the weird and wonderful - and very moving - ways in which we humans contact the divine and create sacred tradition.
I first came across the Reverend Peter Owen-Jones when he was the presenter of The Battle for Britain’s Soul, a dynamic history of religion in Britain through the ages. I had not heard of the show but was given recordings of the series by the producer Ged Gray, who wanted to make a programme called The Guru of Suburbia where the ‘guru’ (which was to be me) gets put in a house for 30 days and has to help as many local people as he can. Now that for me would have been a reality show. The programme wasn’t made but as a result of meeting Ged I got to see the Reverend in action.
Anyway, the Rev has a dream ticket. One year to see all the religions of the world (well, the ones that make good TV at least) and the fun of knowing that you’re going to be the ‘Indiana Jones of Religion’ after it. Chico was in awe - and I must admit that so was I. The Rev is doing a good job of it, and is very respectful to all he meets. Neither snobby anthropologist nor reserved Christian, he engages with all the faith traditions and makes every attempt to fully understand them, and share in their experiences.
He seems to go all over India without noticing Vaishnavism, but I gather that ‘Hare Krishna’ will be mentioned as part of his journey through Russia. And why not? Devotees are probably more numerous there than anywhere outside India.
I’m sure it would be great fun to be a television presenter of religious themes. Maybe there’s still time for me to do that. So far I’ve done bits and pieces, here and there; the occasional documentary. And what about the online classes and now the satellite Bhagavad-gita classes. Ah yes, alright, Krishna does indeed fulfil all our desires. But if you’re reading this blog then I am very happy to have you as a viewer - and you are all that counts.
by noreply@blogger.com (Devadeva Mirel) at February 08, 2009 05:04 PM
by Devadeva Mirel (noreply@blogger.com) at February 08, 2009 04:48 PM
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Laura was exhausted. By the drama, by the tension, by the pain of heartbreak. She wanted to be free, and she knew that God was the only one who could help her do that. She searched for Him, both in the temple – where devotees, thinking she was looking for their celibate monk Jaya Govinda, still gave her the cold shoulder – and in the church. “I need you now,” she beseeched Jesus angrily one day. “I need to know if you are God or not.” |
It is also an offense to not have complete faith in chanting the holy name and to retain material attachments even after understanding so many instructions on this matter.
by Rasa Rasika (noreply@blogger.com) at February 08, 2009 03:14 PM
by Sutapa das (sutapa.kks@hotmail.com) at February 08, 2009 02:42 PM
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.
I seem to keep coming back to Chapter Four - Jnana Yoga; Transcendental Knowledge. There’s quite a bit of good here. Krishna does a lot of explaining and it’s definitely a good place to start. In the Padma Purana, Lord Vishnua glorifies the fourth chapter specifically. Must be important.
This verse, 4.7, is one of the more popular. It’s often pulled out for Sunday Feast classes on appearance days. I first heard it in 1994 or ‘95 in Philly for Nrsimhadeva’s Appearance Day.
yada yada hi dharmasya
glanir bhavati bharata
abhyutthanam adharmasya
tadatmanam srjamy aham
Whenever and wherever there is a decline in religious practice, O descendant of Bharata, and a predominant rise of irreligion - at that time I descend Myself.
-Srila Prabhupada
Whenever, O descendant of Bharata, dharma is diminished and unrighteousness is on the rise, at that time I myself manifest.
-Tripurari SwamiO Bharata! Whenever there is a decline of dharma and an increase in adharma, at that time I manifest My eternally perfect form in this mundane world.
-Narayana MaharajaIndeed, whenever there is a decline of dharma, O Bharata, And an emerging of what opposed dharma - at that time I send forth my Self. -Garuda dasa (Graham M. Schweig)
From the translation of the first line, yada yada hi dharmasya, we immediately find a difference between the translations. I’ve said before that Srila Prabhupada’s Gita is more of an interpretation than a direct translation. This certainly isn’t a bad thing. A neophyte, for example, could read only the verses of all four of our translations and come away from the experience having learned more for Srila Prabhupada’s edition. He provides exposition and explanation within the verses, whereas the other translators give a pretty straight-forward translation.
Some folks will see this as a fault. Thankfully, there are alternatives for them. But for our purposes, it’s a blessing to have a variety to work with.
Srila Prabhupada translates yada yada as “whenever and wherever.” The others simply translate it as “whenever.” Even in his word-for-word, he glosses the first yada as “whenever” and the second as “wherever.” The word yada means whenever, but he is taking a liberty to further explain that it is also whenever.
The next word, hi, seems to have been left out of all of the translations. It means “assuredly” or “certainly.” Nothing like that appears in any of the verses. This is a mystery since I don’t really know Sanskrit. My best guess would be that Krishna is assuring Arjuna that what He is saying is true.
The line ends with dharmasya. The second line begins with glanir. This is actually one thought, split by the poetry of Bhagavad-gita. Dharmasya glanir, according to Srila Prabhupada, means “a decline of religious practice.” Tripurari Swami puts it to mean that “dharma is diminished.” Narayana Maharaja and Garuda dasa both translate it as “a decline in dharma.”
Dharma is a word often used, but rarely understood. On the surface, it means religious practices. But deeper than that, it means “spiritual duty.” Many Hindus will use it like “my dharma is to be a doctor” or some such silliness. Dharma does not equal job, dharma equals spiritual duty, or at the very least, religious practices.
The first two lines set up the verse. “Whenever there is a decline in the practice of spiritual duty….” The second line ends with bharata. Here, that is a name that Krishna calls Arjuna meaning “son of King Bharata.” King Bharata was the ruler and sort of founder of Vedic India. The term bharata was placed in different locations of the first part of the translated verse, depending on the style of the author. Both Srila Prabhupada and Garuda dasa keep it at the end of the second line. Narayana Maharaja and Tripurari Swami place it at or near the beginning.
Not only does there have to be a decline in religious practice, but there must be abhuyutthanam adharmasya, a rise of “irreligion,” as Srila Prabhupada coined. Tripurari Swami simply translates, “unrighteousness is on the rise.” Narayana Maharaja keeps with the Sanskrit terminology of adharma, the opposite of dharma.
Garuda dasa has an interesting angle on it. He translates the third line with “And an emerging of what opposes dharma.” What the other translators cover as a rise of unrighteousness or irreligion, he throws in a nearly personal touch. Something is in opposition to how it should be. It’s not just that things aren’t right, there is something knowingly making these things not right.
Krishna delivers in the fourth line, tadatmanam srjamy aham, “at that time, I [Krishna] manifest myself.” The word atmanam means “self” (or in this case, Self). Srjami is glossed by all as “manifest,” though Srila Prabhupada uses “descend” in his verse. Garuda puts it as “send forth” rather than “manifest” or “descend.” I feel it’s an odd choice. “Manifest” is probably most proper, though “descend” is a bit more specific.
Within his purport, Srila Prabhupada again hits upon his use of the word “wherever” in the first line. He knew that while much of what he was bringing could be seen as strictly Indian that God, Krishna, was not an Indian God.
“It is not a fact that the Lord appears only on Indian soil. He can advent Himself anywhere and everywhere, and whenever He desires to appear. In each and every incarnation, He speaks as much about religion as can be understood by the particular people under their particular circumstances. But the mission is the same - to lead people to God consciousness and obedience to the principles of religion. Sometimes He descends personally, and sometimes He sends His bona fide representative in the form of His son, or servant, or Himself in some disguised form.”
One of the last videos of Sadaputa prabhu where he presents the Vedic point of view of creation together with Drutakarma prabhu
Fridays are always interesting. On Fridays, while many Torontonians lurch home from a tough week at work, looking forward to weekends filled with partying, sleeping and God knows what else, devotees have a special way of spiritualizing their weekends. by Keshav (noreply@blogger.com) at February 08, 2009 10:57 AM
This Friday evening, February 6th, the Hare Krishna Temple will be celebrating the appearance of Lord Varahadeva, the boar incarnation of Krishna. Srimad Bhagavatam describes the wonderful pastime when Lord Krishna once assumed the form of a splendid, gigantic boar (Varaha) and dove to the bottom of the universal ocean to gently lift up Mother Earth on His tusks to the surface.by madhavi (noreply@blogger.com) at February 08, 2009 10:56 AM
The Panca Tattva Abhiseka of the Holy Name calls upon all pure devotee kirtana singers from around the world to attend the Fifth Annual hari-nama-sankirtana festival commemorating the installation of Their Lordships Sri Sri Panca Tattva!
Along with the special maha-abhiseka of the large Panca Tattva Deities this year, we will also hold 72 hours of nonstop maha-hari-nama-sankirtana for the divine pleasure of Sri Sri Panca Tattva and the inspiration of the worldwide community of devotees.
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama
Rama Hare Hare. All Glories to Sri Guru and Sri Gauranga! Camp:ISKCON
Mombasa,Kenya. Mob 00254 726210683
(blog:http://mahavishnuswami.wordpress.com)
My Dear Ramagura Prabhu,
Please accept my blessings!All Glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Thank you for your letter. Please excuse my reply delay.Things got quite
unregulated. But Tour going well all the same.
> Addis Abeba,+251911213795
> Mr Mohan Sajnani has sponsered all the books I have brought.I am
> distributing books free and at reduced price to the Africans.He is
> willing to sponsore more books.
Wonderful news.This is the spirit.This is solid progress. Thank you. Please
convey my sincere thanks to Mohanji.
> By your mercy I am distributing books and soon the books will be
> finished.As it is spiritual books it is difficult to bring books in the
> country.
My idea is that at this stage be more interested in making relations with
local people sincerely interested in self realisation.Maybe an Indian
contact is a student at the AA University and you can go with him to meet
his local friends at the students Union or an Internet cafe. Under these
circumstances with the limited time and books at your disposal it is good to
show the books as a bait that we have some substantial knowledge to
give.Then tell those likely candidates about this knowledge in the books.In
other words,now you must become guru yourself by giving your heart to them
for Krishna’s service.Surely Lord Chaitanya must now be ready to send an ET
person who is ready to hear the BG nectar from you and can even be ready to
embrace the mission by helping you.You must be on the lookout and praying
for such a relationship to happen by Their Lordships mercy.That is even more
important strategically even than the books. I pray for that.
When we first went to Lubumbashi in DR Congo,we found such a closet devotee
and others who had somehow or other got Prabhupada’s books allready.Vikash
had been praying for years that devotees would come. It was truly amazing to
see Srila Prabhupada’s mercy.Devotees are probably just waiting in ET too!
Waiting in every country in fact! You are surely under the divine energy
with this pioneering spirit.I am very proud of you.
I just heard a nice morning walk by Srila Prabhupada about how we should try
and pick up the most intelligent persons-”See the intelligent persons and
convince them. Yad yad äcärati shresthas. Pick up the best man”:-
Prabhupäda: What is that empirical fact?
Satsvarüpa: That after you die, you take another body.
Prabhupäda: Apart from that, why, how the baby is becoming a boy? This is a
fact. How a baby is becoming a child, a child is becoming a boy, a boy is
becoming young man, a young man is becoming middle aged? Does it mean… Is
it a particular type of religious system? Why this nonsense? What kind of
intelligent person they are? It is a fact. Now we come to the old age. So I
have come to the point of old age body after so many stages. Then where is
the next? The next is tathä dehäntara: he’ll get another body. This is very
common sense.
Madhudviña: They won’t accept that.
Prabhupäda: That means a rascal. Why should you not…? You answer, then
what is next?
Madhudviña: They will say he is finished.
Prabhupäda: No, how it can be finished? How it can be finished? If you have
come stage by stage by stage… It is finished to your eyes. Just like the
sunshine is there. In the evening there will be no more sun; it is finished.
What is this nonsense? Is it finished? A rascal may say it is finished.
Rüpänuga: Out of sight, they say it is finished.
Prabhupäda: Yes. So this thing you have to convince them. Why should you
allow them to remain a rascal? Now the sun is rising. Does it mean all of a
sudden a sun is created? So these are the examples. You have to preach like
that. Simply believe your eyes? You believe also there was no sun; now it is
sun. That means all of a sudden a sun became created. See the intelligent
persons and convince them. Yad yad äcärati shresthas. Pick up the best man.
Caitanya Mahäprabhu, He picked up the best men, Sanätana Gosvämi, Rüpa
Gosvämi. So His movement became successful. Sanätana Gosvämi was not an
ordinary man. Very educated, learned brähmana and minister, Caitanya
Mahäprabhu picked up. Similarly Rüpa Gosvämi, similarly Jiva Gosvämi. Picked
up means by His preaching they became converted. So similarly pick up a
person like Sanätana Gosvämi, intelligent, in position, and try to convince
him. Why he will not be convinced, if he’s a human being? This is not
religion. . Morning Walk — March 16, 1976, Mäyäpura
————————————-
> I have money for books and I can can write to Giri and he can
> send books from Nairobi.
I will meet Giri tomorrow night (Monday evening) Please send him a request.I
will request him too.But time may be short.
> Can Mr Daniel Hume(Mahaprasad Prabhu) be of
> some help.Can he give any clue as how to bring books in the country.Has
> he ever done before?.Can he please give any contact of any address of
> Africans in Addis.Mahaprasad Prabhu did not send address of any
> Africans in Addis.I would be happy to meet them.Can Mahaprasad prabhu say
> is it possible to send books to any African people address in Addis.
I am forwarding this letter to Mahaprasad Prabhu.I am sure he will reply
asap with some details if he has any relatives or friends. But his family
friends may only be conventional and not so eager to be involved.When is
your flight out to India-I forget?
Alternatively how about some University club -yoga or alternative music or
vegetarian group?Maybe they would be happy to help get our books sent to
them.Please look around for symptoms of spiritual enquiry especially amongst
the young people.When Prabhupada went to USA he naturally gravitated to the
young hippie scene because although we certainly had some bad habits like
drugs etc we were trying to expand our consciousness to discover a higher
reality. Athato brahma jignasur.And they in fact welcomed Prabhupada.
Prabhupada said he made the hippies into happies. Later in the UK it was
George Harrison of the Beatles pop group which really gave us a boost .I
feel there may be some groups of searchers who are ready to welcome the
gift of Prabhupada’s teachings which you have mercifully brought.
For instance the Rastafarians (Bob Marley) originate from ET and they are
mostly vegetarian and mystical though they have ancient Christian roots and
some strange ideas.At the festivals I have been to in UK and elsewhere I
have seen that the Rastafarians offer sincere respects to us Hare
Krishna’s.Of course we are not going to become Rastas and smoke ganga but
they are often friendly people. Just an idea.Maybe they can help you import
the books. Please have a look around for alternative scenes,art galleries
or bookshops.Especially alternative bookshops (in our days “headshops”) were
places where like minded people often met and talk to get the latest
liberating literatures or music.Maybe now its internet cafe’s in Addis.
Basically Kaliyuga has got everyone hooked into sense grat consumerism
globally.But even in Addis I am sure there are some sincere souls praying to
God to send them true knowledge. Such searchers seek birds of a feather and
you may find such a group.Then you can chant a bit and give prasadam.
—————–
Tamäla Krsnaa: Only you are that powerful, Çréla Prabhupäda. We’re like…
Prabhupäda: Why you are not? You are my disciples.
Tamäla Krsna: We’re like the bugs.
Prabhupäda: Like father, like son. You should be. Gauräìgera bhakta…,
jane. Everyone. Therefore Caitanya Mahäprabhu said, ämära äjïäya guru haïä
tära’ ei deça [Cc. Madhya 7.128]. He asked everyone, Just become guru.
Follow His instruction. You become guru. Ämära äjnäya. Don’t manufacture
ideas. Ämära äjnäya. What I say, you do. You become a guru. Where is the
difficulty? And what is Your äjna? Yäre dekha täre kaha krsna-upadesa [Cc.
Madhya 7.128]. Bas. Everything is there in the Bhagavad-gétä. You simply
repeat. That’s all. You become guru. To become a guru is not difficult job.
Follow Caitanya Mahäprabhu and speak what Krsna has said. Bas. You become
guru.F. Room Conversation with Ratan Singh Rajda M.P. Nationalism and
Cheating — April 15, 1977, Bombay
____________________________________________________
> would also like to meet him when I am in India.
Yes lets try and meet Mahaprasad in India.
May Lord Chaitanya empower youand protect you in your ET mission.
Thank you.
Hoping that this finds you all well in Krishna Consciousness,
Your wellwishing,
Mahavishnu Swami
by letters (wmdean@btopenworld.com) at February 08, 2009 10:08 AM
by letters (wmdean@btopenworld.com) at February 08, 2009 10:07 AM
by letters (wmdean@btopenworld.com) at February 08, 2009 10:07 AM
by letters (wmdean@btopenworld.com) at February 08, 2009 10:07 AM
by letters (wmdean@btopenworld.com) at February 08, 2009 10:06 AM
by letters (wmdean@btopenworld.com) at February 08, 2009 10:05 AM
by letters (wmdean@btopenworld.com) at February 08, 2009 10:04 AM
by letters (wmdean@btopenworld.com) at February 08, 2009 10:03 AM
 |
In ISKCON, traveling festivals are one of our main methods of outreach with devotees traveling cross-country to share their spiritual food, music and philosophy with others. So wherever you are, and whatever time of year it is, if you feel like attending a Hare Krishna festival – you’re likely to find one close to your location soon. |
In his book Contemplative Prayer, Thomas Merton implores those in the life of prayer to not be afraid to go deep.by Club 108 (noreply@blogger.com) at February 08, 2009 08:00 AM
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