The following e-mail came to my inbox yesterday as part of a discussion between several devotees regarding Srila Prabhupada’s wishes for how initiations would be conducted after his disappearance. I haven’t seen any responses yet, but I found his point of view very relevant. It is reprinted here with permission. Hare Krishna.
……………….

From: Gary Lund (Gauridasa Pandita Dasa)
Sent: Wednesday, March 25, 2009 10:40 PM
To: …
Subject: Re: Proper Initiation

Dear Goura Kesava & all Prabhus,

Please accept my respectful obeisances.
All glories to our jagat guru Srila Prabhupada!

The debate goes on. I’ve been watching on the sidelines this internet istagosthi and now I had to jump in. I will be short and to the point because I am typing on my iphone.

I was personally serving Srila Prabhupada back in 1977 when he first decided he was going to leave the planet. I heard him say that he wanted the ritvik initiation system for his movement after his departure. This is documented in the July 9th 1977 Newsletter to all Temple Presidents and G.B.C.’s. That letter was dictated from a July 7th 1977 Garden conversation which I heard. That is our sastra! That is specific. You say we must follow sastra; there it is. Is there anymore sastra after that date that would change anything?

We need the guru to explain the sastra to us; otherwise we will pick and choose whatever suits us and end up not following the real orders of the spiritual master. Srila Prabhupada warned us about ‘over- intelligence’ and I think that is what we have here. Instead of us trying to figure out how initiations should go on from (which) sastra we should instead try to figure out what our guru said and did. He had the ritvik system up and running for years before he left, physically and he wanted that to continue as he said on July 7th 1977. It’s on tape!

I have been trying to speak to the GBC for 32 years now but so far my requests have fallen on deaf ears. They say they have no time every time every year I ask to attend their meetings to discuss this most important issue. Most of them are initiating on their own so you can imagine why they won’t discuss it. It might mess up their retirement plans. Profit, distinction and of course adoration.

If we leave it up to the new devotees to check out their gurus they will be misled. Then later if their ‘guru’ falls down they will probably be disheartened and leave KRSNA Consciousness altogether as so many have. That is why Srila Prabhupada most intelligently set up the ritvik initiation system for his movement.

If someone wants to be a diksa guru he or she must be able to deliver them back to Godhead. They must have full KRSNA prema. They must do this in their own temples; not Srila Prabhupada’s! That is Vaisnava ettiquette. Srila Prabhupada did not try to become a diksa guru in the Gaudiya Math. The self-efullgent acharya can attract the souls and build his/her movement from the ground up. That’s what Srila Prabhupada the acharya did; that’s what we need to do.

We’ve got guru fever. Sikas gurus we can and should be but diksa guru is one for ISKCON, Srila Prabhupada! It’s simple for some but complicated for the over-intelligent speculators. I hope this helped.

Haven’t seen you for many years since you were with Dristadyumna I’m Hawaii. Glad to see you are hanging in there but have faith in His Divine Grace; he’s there also if you let him.

Hoping this meets you and all the Vaisnavas well and advancing in KC Your servant, Gauridasa Pandita Dasa

By Paramatma Dasi

On March 22nd and 23rd, in the Aula Magna of the Bhaktivedanta Foundation, took place the sixth Seminar of the CSB Counseling three years Course.

Dr. Andrea Boni (Anantadeva Dasa) and Dr. Priscilla Bianchi (Paramatma Dasi), respectively Coordinator and Director of Studies of the CSB Counseling School, spoke on the theme The Influence of Conscience on the Individual and on the Environment: Reality as a manifestation of our Desires.

The purpose of this Seminar was mainly to explain and prove how the individual's conscience models the reality around us, and how thoughts and desires, ideas and dreams, are at the base of physical events that show up in our life.

The human brain, explained Andrea Boni – who talked from a quantistic-scientific perspective – is programmed for our evolution. It is a sophisticated “instrument”, which is 1000 times faster than the fastest computer of the world and contains as many neurons as the stars in the Milky Way (about 100 billions). The human brain has an amazing plastic capacity, which allows it to remodel its synaptic structure depending on the experiences lived by the subject.

However our awareness of the information processed by the brain, is very little and there is a high risk to develop a narrow vision of reality, like the one of the frog in the well, as the ancient tail explains, retold by the speaker. With reference to it Dr. Boni talked about fragmentation and wholeness, considering cultural and social implications. But if all is relative, what is reality? Reality is connected to a superior order of things and mainly to conscience. Our reality consists of multiple, infinite possibilities; the one that “collapses” is the reality on which we will direct our attention. Among the various themes considered, a rather important one was the relation between observer (conscience) and observed, discussed also with the help of explanations and examples taken from the quantum physics and Patanjali Yogasutras. Conscience is the creator of reality, and the self (atman) is the protagonist of life, even if when it is embodied must deal with the archetypal forces of Nature (gunas), which determine its present and future situations. The final part of the conference held by Andrea Boni suggested the hints for the continuation of the complex and fascinating theme, carried on and integrated, on the following day, by Priscilla Bianchi, according to a phylosophical and psychological view.

To begin with, the urgency to become aware and to learn how to handle our inner processes is a must: this was explained by Priscilla Bianchi, who often referred to the Indovedic sources. The existance of universal and psychological laws driving our lives and creating physical reality is something we have to understand very clearly. Our mental images and contents determine reality around us and produce corresponding emotions.

Everyone attracts what is “connected to” with one’s own thoughts and desires; this is confirmed by the law of attraction, well known to the ancient vedic knowledge and commented by Priscilla Bianchi also by quoting Upanishads and Bhagavad-Gita's wisdom. To modify the situations outside, we have to make a deep work inside us with an intense act of will. After going through the five categories of man’s needs (as explained by Maslow), Dr. Bianchi concentrated her speech on the six phases of will-power, enriching her explanations with stories and practical examples. The same as the morning before, many and various questions were asked by the audience that attended the Seminar with special attention.

The afternoon workshops centered on exercises of role-playing, visualization and group discussion, which helped a lot to improve students' ability to listen to themeselves and to others.

Next Counseling Seminar will take place on April 18th and 19^th, always in the Aula Magna of the Bhaktivedanta Foundation.

Sunday, 18th Jan, 2009. “Wake up boys.” The now familiar call of HG Vijaya Prabhu fills our ears. Me and Kanapati were crashed out. I was reminiscing Vijaya Prabhu’s class about being the most fallen, dealing with the false ego. I wasn’t feeling the ecstasy this morning. I was probably exhausted but I didn’t realise it at the time. I couldn’t get into that nectar of the kirtana this morning but I was into the class. HG Aniruddha Prabhu was speaking of Krsna’s forms in the Satya Yuga and Treta yuga. I tried to pose an intricate question, proving myself to be a hopeless jnani.

I rocked back to the ashram and the kulis were rolling in. We started up some kirtana. We were shortly distracted from our ecstatic melodies for some ecstatic van unloading. After this Domo sent us on another one of those quests…Vishnu, KC and I assembled as a Kuli Clan and we hit the neighbourhood searching out the ashram belonging to the Prabhu in the…grey area. Or in this case I think the colour is something like yellow. We were looking for Rupa, divine book distributor, but I suspected he was already on a jet plane before we even started our reckless search.

After doing a tour of the neighbourhood I hung out in the boys room for a while. Task master Domo was out. After this it was lunch time I suppose. We met up with some new Kulis, one’s name was Rupa, but not the Rupa we were after. After downing a cup of sweet rice for lunch, watching Brett talk some strange things and making young girl Varuni tell me about Krsna we hit the beach to dodge the heat (in more ways than one).

We hit the pier for some jump ins. I was well dressed in my robes. After a little jump in me and Kana were on the books, reading. He was stuck into Gita and I was working that sweet maha Bhagavatam. A man was curious and came over to ask. He was a bit into philosophy. We spilled a few taste teasers on what we were reading and where the temple was at. Most of our talk with him was on the topic of reincarnation, which seemed to be his thing.

After the cool down we picked up some instruments and had some laid back Lord praising in the ashram courtyard. After some warming up we hit the temple room to spice it up. I found myself on the good ole wampers clanging away that syncopated rhythm. When the kirtana was over we hit the deck for some obeisances, when I arose there was a mic in front of me. Someone caught me singing Nrsmha prayers in the courtyard I suppose and thought I volunteered to do it in the temple also. I don’t know how I went but I had a good time, always love singing that tune.

After some reading and sweet rice I came to realise that the kirtana we just had was only a teaser. We returned to the divine temple of Radha Balaba for another pumping kirtana. It was a fast rattle on the kartalas for me this time. Me and Vish, who was on drums, were doing some of that kirtana talk which is never done with words, only with gestures. KG was bringing the kirtana to full level. What a treat it was.

Speaking of treats, when we were done with kirtana the tour group was being called upstairs. I jumped out of my little Kuli bubble and back into the tour crew. HG Radhacaran Prabhu was showing us a sneak preview of his new book, not yet released, with many pictures of HH Tamal Krsna Goswami’s life events. It was a pool of nectar that went on for a good while. We bathed our eyes in the glories of a pure devotee at work.

I asked Prabhu if he had heard my father’s story of his experience with Tamal Krsna Maharaja but he was well acquainted with my father already. When my father was Temple President in New Gokul Tamal Krsna Goswami was scheduled to come. He asked my father to find a strategy to keep the kids busy in class. My dad opted for hot air balloons outside. Unfortunately the kids brought them inside and balled out tears when they lost them to the ceiling. So it didn’t exactly turn out so well. I was also crying at this time but I stayed outside at least (I was 4 when this happened). In relation to this Swami, my eldest brother Nitai received his first grains from HH Tamal Krsna Goswami and sucked on his finger.

After all the nectar I procrastinated some of the night away. You don’t get tired too early when you are on tour, which is a shame because you are usually lacking sleep. One of the twins, Lal was hanging about with me. He tried to explain as well as he could that I was like a brother to him or a cousin or some form of relation. Besides him being a Russian and a twin, I felt the same way. I hit the rack sack after this little warm moment.

A phone went off. This was a common occurrence in our room. Phones going off all night and all morning at all inappropriate times. All of us boys being to tired or too lazy to pick them up or hit the snooze buttons. This time though, it was my phone. It was Radha Balaba and Kamalaksi’s parents, wondering why their daughters had neglected to keep in touch. I decided to pass that message on the next day and hit the hay.

Monday, 19th Jan, 2009. I awoke. It doesn’t seem like HG Vijaya Prabhu is here. I was cheering that I didn’t wake up early…but then I realised I did because now my body clock was jammed. I struggled out of the slumber chamber. I sorted my self out and caught some Sri P class kirtana. I noted one Indian Prabhu clapping off time something crazy. After this it was class and Sri P was getting into the deep mellows of Krsna and his different flutes.

We were rushing after class to make a harinam appointment. I wasn’t even sure if it was going to happen. Just to be sure I had a quick breakfast, just 2 cups of warm milk. I didn’t seem to have time to fathom anything else. In the end I would have had the chance. It was taking a while to round the troop up (as always). I came out to see HH Indradyumna Swami in the driver’s seat of the boy’s bus. He must be keeping the seat warm for Domo it seemed.

I soon learned that Domo had other plans and that Maharaja was going to be driving us today! He and Gaura were playing with the GPS navigator. They kept calling it “Tomtom” who was our old navigating friend from Sydney but I kept suggesting to them from the back that it’s name was “Garmin”. I didn’t trust this impostor. It may have fooled Gaura and even Maharaja was playing along with it’s little games but I was not to be fooled. Gaura took Garmin into his car and was to lead the assault on maya.

Indradyumna Swami handed me all his paraphernalia to look after while he drove the chariot. I had his beads and his coat. I felt like the small boy with a pillow holding a king’s crown. The guys in front started snacking out. It had been a long wait now and my stomach was now informing me that 2 cups of milk was not sufficient enough to sustain me today. I was not a yogi in the forest.

We were off. We were lost. Garmin was getting us lost. I was butting in to Maharaja’s and Sri P’s conversations when they were claiming “Tomtom is getting us lost”. “It’s Garmin! Not Tomtom!” I would cry from the back. We were heading off to Toukey to advertise our last show. We had decided to add a final show to the tour, charging per head to see how it would run as an idea for next year. We were going to advertise by doing harinam in the town of the event and surrounding areas, like we always do. Were we going to make it to Toukey with Garmin leading the way? Only Krsna knew the answer to that one. Garmin, similar to maya was throwing his web of illusion over our party but, unlike maya, Garmin wasn’t fooling me.

We finally made it with a lot of extra time wasted. Garmin may have won this round but it was preaching time. Or was it? Where is everyone? This is a ghost town. The town was nothing more than a trendy beach spot with a single Woolworths and some dead streets to feed the hungry surfers. The surf wasn’t even up today so it was generally all dead through the sleepy town of Toukey. (Who knows how to spell Toukey?!)

Me and Mathuranatha went around store to store to place up posters. I thought this was a good time to juice up some sankirtana skills. I practiced being totally confident, totally polite and very much detached from the result. Strangely enough 90% of people took them. Those who didn’t take were generally sad they couldn’t oblige due to some silly laws. The girls even set some posters up in the butchers! I met one girl who had Krsna Conscious flatmates. The town was a lovely little fizzer and it was well drenched in harinam in under 20 minutes. It was time to find some other turf.

When we jumped back in the rocket ship Maharaja commented that it was his shortest harinam ever. On the way to the neighbouring village of Lourne Indradyumna Swami told Sri P to speak to him about Vrindavana. I had front row seats to the epic tails of Krsna’s usual day, which was far more exciting than my usual day! He talked how the animals would wait at the forest edge as Krsna would return home, the birds would fly overhead and spy on Krsna to bring back reports to the animals so they could live till the next day. He talked of Krsna’s evening activities at home, how Krsna would push codes to tell the venues for his midnight meetings and how after dinner Krsna’s uncles would take him to see theatre. Maharaja asked if they had Le Carnaval Spirituel play for Krsna.

We hit Lourne. It was sleepy but much more bustling in comparison to Toukey. Me and Mathuranatha finished posters in no time. Everyone was exhausted and hungry it seemed also. Maharaja took a quick nap while the harinam started. Me and Mathuranatha snuck off to have some chips after we had done our service. I needed SOMETHING, ANYTHING. I had the 2 cups of milk and a couple rolls I stole earlier but it wasn’t sufficing.

We snuck under the bank of the footpath facing the sea to stay out of sight. Mathuresvari caught us while she was on fliers and gave little chuckle. We caught Lal running off to the sea in his bathers. We met up with Vraja Kumari and Radha Valaba from the other poster party. They confessed to sneaking off to have ice creams after finishing their posters. They ran out on their end of town so we had some more to do if we so desired.

The harinam party was coming down to the beach so I took cover. I finished my chips, washed up and went to get some more posters. I rushed up to the box, Indradyumna Swami caught me and ordered me to help throw out fliers on the beach. I went to explain that I wanted to put some posters up. “Maddy don’t speculate. Start doing fliers” he said. I got the spiritual saucing. I wasn’t into the flier idea because they seemed well onto it and I am pretty clumsy at doing sankirtana and flier distributing in with a high density of distributors. Within no time Indradyumna Swami was in my ear again “what are you spaced out Maddy? Go up front!”

I zoomed up front, struggling in my aussie footwear. We dealt them out to the people and made great distance ahead of the party and so had to slow down. Near the end I met a man on the grass who wanted to take a whole bunch of fliers for his friends. He said they would definitely be interested in the show.

After all the sweet surrender it was picnic time in the park. I jerked some more Vrindavana Sanga out of Sri P, boo yeah milin that nectar! In the car there was a message on the phone for HH Indradyumna Swami. Prahlad was dictating it to him and I was overhearing. HH Bhakti Vidyapurna Swami, I think, was asking Maharaja if he wanted to go to Kasakstan with him. We were in close vicinity to New Nandagram farm on the way home but everyone was too tired to go there for a leg stretch. Maharaja was asking me something about the local…wildlife: “hey Maddy what are these flies called? Blow Flies?” I explained them to be plain old flies with no special name.

I smashed some reading in on the ride home. I was falling behind since Peat’s Ridge on my daily hour’s quota. We were racing our neighbouring van also, Gaura and Garmin were eating our dust. My mummy deary gave me a call just to check up on her long gone son. I explained the usual ecstatic stories as everyone is accustomed to read up on. Another day, another few harinams. Some more souls, not so many more souls, heard the holy names. We had HH Indradyumna Swami driving our chariot just like Krsna drove Arjuna’s and we all had a pretty full on day at the helm of the preaching mission of Lord Caitanya. Not even Garmin could make us miss that one.

Battlefield Bhajans Vol. 36

Dedicated to HDG A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Pretoria, South Africa

I arrived in South Africa and was greeted by the wonderful Pretoria devotees and off to the temple to have some of the best prasadam I have ever tasted.  After honoring prasadam it was off to a program at the university. The program was nice and I gave a talk about true happiness. Lots of nice questions were asked and the audience seemed to enjoy the talk.  I answered many questions afterwards. One girl asked about the nature of the soul, another asked how come there are so many wars in the world. I explained as best as I could and in the end distributed two small books to them.
The next day was Gaura Purnima, the Appearance Day of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. I gave morning class from the Sri Caitanya Caritamra and discuss about how Lord Caitanya has given us the process to attain pure love of God, and that our focus should be to give that process to all we met, regardless of caste, color, gender , etc.  All of us temple devotees decided to do a harinama and visit some of our ISKCON temples around the area. In Lenasia we had a very fired up kirtana and bhajans and in Soweto we were given audience of the most merciful Sri Sri Gaura Nitai Deities in South Africa. Soweto is an African township and HG Mahaprabhu has turned his home into a temple; making many people favorable.  After some wonderful bhajans we decided to head home to Pretoria to spend Gaura Purnima with the congregation at our base temple.
My time is South Africa is limited and I want to make the best use of this time. I spoke with the temple president about getting some books for African preaching and found out I would need someone to donate to be able to give the books away for free in the poor townships. After some debate with the devotees in charge of the books, I left went to my room and gave the last of my money for books. Anyhow, it’s not my money it’s Krsna’s and I was engaging it in His service, so I didn’t mind at all. The next day we did combined a harinama with Food for Life in the city. The turn out was great and devotees were happily singing, dancing, serving prasadam and distributing Srila Prabhupada’s books. The country of South Africa is ready for an explosion of spiritual life, and I could see it in every person I talked with. Some dug deep into their pockets to find some laksmi to give. I never experienced how powerful Prabhupada’s books are combined with the harinama. When I would walk up to one person to explain about our books, a crowd of around ten people would gather around to hear about the books and ask if they can receive one. Overall, I felt the day was success over three hundred plates of prasadam distributed and over  one hundred free books.

Soweto, South Africa

We made arrangements to perform a harinama in a township called Soweto. It was my first time there and I really didn’t know what to expect. At first the harinama party lead by HG Braja Vallabha Prabhu started a slow melody and as we walked up and down the streets, more and more people came to the streets to greet the party. Before long, kids were following the harinama party, old women were dancing, old men, young kids , etc. It was truly amazing to see Lord Caitanya’s mercy entering the hearts as we went along the route. The devotees were all smiles and absorbed in the mood of giving the mercy to others. Some would distribute books, and others would just wave. I looked around the area and I noticed how happy everyone was to hear the Holy Name of Krsna. One old women came running out of her house to ask a devotee for a book. As we finished the harinama, I understood why Srila Prabhupada meant by stressing the need to preach to African bodied souls. On our way back to the temple, and reflected on the day. These townships are a great place to push the movement of Lord Caitanya.

Durban, South Africa

I was in the Jo’burg airport waiting for my flight and a man sat next to me, he asked if I was a bhuddist and I explained no. We began to have a very conversation and a few others gave their opinions and realizations. They were very favorable to Krsna consciousness. One man asked me for a book and a pulled out a few small books and explain that we are distributing these literatures all over the world for the benefit of man kind. Everyone took a book and gave a small donation. What a nice start to the trip. I was greeted at the airport by my god brother Vibhu Caitanya Prabhu. We caught up for a little bit and then he explained my schedule while visiting. That evening I went with him to a small group discussion on the Science of Self Realization. The group was small but very nice and they asked many nice questions about how to practice Krsna consciousness in our everyday life. The next day, I had a preaching program at an all African school. The group was about forty students, and they were so noisy, but as soon as the chanting started they settled down and really got into singing the maha mantra. I began my talk, and just gave a basic explanation about Krsna and Bhakti Yoga. They asked if anyone could practice Bhakti yoga and I explained, that of course. Just look at my two friends Gaura Dasa and Jamuna Devi Dasi, they are getting married. I used them as an example because Prabhu is in a white body and Jamuna is in a black body. The kids loved it and started laughing and yelling ooooo. It was pretty funny, but they clearly understood that this movement is for all races, all creeds, all genders.
The next day, I gave Srimad Bhagavatam class. The class was on devotional service. I used a few example and stories from Iraq to prove that one who engages in devotional service to Krsna, automatically has no fear in death. The devotees asked many questions and I attempted to answer them as best as I could. Later that day, I had another university program. This program was at Yadurani Devi Dasi’s school. There was only a few students there and I spoke on unlocking one true potential. The students enjoyed  some nice prasadam and we finished very late. The next day I again was asked to give morning class, and I again went with the theme of devotional service and how engage others in devotional service to Krsna. After class, I had two programs, one was at one university and the other was an evening program at a Bhakti Yoga Society. Both programs went every well. The day program was in a school for aspiring teachers. I spoke on true happiness and one boy was sitting in the front row. He was very interested and asked a few questions. After the program he said he didn’t even know there was a program. He was in the room surfing the internet and when everyone walked in, he was trying to figure out what was happening. He sat in the class and google everything about Krsna, Prabhupada and everything else he could think of. In the end he was favorable and expressed his desire to come again for the following weeks meeting. That evening I went to another bhakti yoga club. These clubs are very nice and this one was especially sweet. Students kept come in and we had a very nice discussion on the goal of life and how we can bring ourselves to a higher level of consciousness. The students asked many intelligent questions, about life, love, why I became a monk. Some came for the first time and had a favorable impression afterwards.
Today was my final day in Durban. I only had one class to give today, and that was a home program. I spent the day reading and spending time with new friends. That evening I spoke on Lord Caitanya’s pastime with King Pratruparudra. The point I was trying to convey was that by doing some service to Jagganatha, Lord Caitanya is very pleased on us and will bestow mercy on us.  The Durban Ratha Yatra is happening soon, and I wanted to encourage everyone to get involved and serve Lord Jagganatha in some way. We ended the evening with some prasadam and I headed back to the ashram to pack and get ready to head out the next day back to Pretoria. I was looking forward to getting back to Pretoria and seeing the devotee. In one sense I liked it there very much.  On the plane ride, I thought of how much Srila Prabhupada wanted to get this message to the masses of Africa, as well as other countries. These devotees that arranged all these programs have certainly understood this instruction of Srila Prabhupada.

“The Lord says in Bhagavad-gétä (18.55), bhaktyä mäm abhijänäti yävän yaç cäsmi tattvataù: “One can understand the Supreme Personality as He is only by devotional service.” Prahläda Mahäräja ultimately instructed his class friends, the sons of the demons, to accept the process of devotional service by preaching the science of Kåñëa consciousness to everyone. Preaching is the best service to the Lord. The Lord will immediately be extremely satisfied with one who engages in this service of preaching Kåñëa consciousness.” (Purport SB: 7.6.24)
Sadhana:
Chanting: up early, chanting all my rounds before Mangala Arati.  On Sundays, we strive for 64 rounds.
Reading: reading one Chapter of SB and one chapter of the BG. We should absorb ourselves in studying in Srila Prabhupada’s books.
Solkas: I am still finding verses that I find inspiring and memorizing, then on Sunday and offer to my Lords for Their presence.
Sankritan: BOOKS! BOOKS! BOOKS!

I am still trying to figure out how to distribute books in this country. Crime is very high here, so I always have to be on alert
Maha big: 13
small: 71

Our new life has started, and I have to admit that it is very different from I pictured. I still can’t believe I have left the US military and am not engaged full time in Lord Caitanya’s sankritan movement. Please bless me that I will never take the devotee or Krsna for granted, nor will I ever leave ISKCON.

Yours in the service of Srila Prabhupada,
Partha-sarathi dasa

If dedicated transcendentalists are compared to swans, it should come as no surprise that committed materialists are likened to crows.

Today HH Jayapataka Maharaja was on his way to Juhu ISKCON temple and during his vehicle ride dictated the following report about himself through a phone call. Shiromani mataji was repeating Guru Maharaja’s words as I took the notes.

“My right side of the body is not fully paralysed but temporarily paralysed and weak. Initially my right hand no feeling and now there is a little feeling as a result of acupuncture, massage and occupational therapies.

read more

Srila Prabhupada has told us that we must become transparent via media to Krsna and the disciplic succession. We have also heard that a guru takes on the sinful reactions of disciples. But Krsna burns up our sinful reactions.
It is said in the Brahma Samhita, 5.54

yas tv indragopam athavendram aho sva-karma-
bandhanurupa-phala-bhajanam atanoti
karmaei nirdahati kintu ca bhakti-bhajaa
govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami

read more

Dear Aruna DD,

Trust this mail finds u in the best of everything. Just thought would drop in a mail and tell u things in general.

During the last month, I have visited ISKCON vrindavan two times, the latest of this trip happened last Sunday.
I just didn't have any plan to visit the temple and this Friend of mine had called and he tells me that u wanna go to Vrindavan and I don't know how but that yes automatically came out. this conversation happened at about 12.30 am.
At 1.45 am we started from my place in Gurgaon (a place 25 kms from New Delhi). We had planned that we should be on time for the Mangla Arati (which takes place at 4.30 am). Finally we reached there at 4.10 am just in time for the arati. I had thought that there will not be a lot of people in the temple, since its so early in the morning.

As I stepped in the temple, I knew I was wrong. There were so many devotees and every body had this blissful look on their face. 4.30 am the mangla aarti started, trust me on this I have never seem so many people at once dancing in Ecstasy. After the mangla arati, there was tulsi arati.
Post the arati's we were told about the program for the day, the books sales there were made on the day before, about the srimad bhagvatam class, about the fact that it was ekadeshi and about the temple darshan.

Then there was a small class on methodology of chanting, which I attended. the class was being taken by Narahari dasa, he taught us the methodology of how to chant. thereafter he just asked who all chants, and I raised my hand. He just looked at me and said that I will talk to you in the end, please wait on the side if you are not in a hurry (which I was surely not).

Meanwhile he attended to other people, I was just soaking in the environment and honestly I felt that may be I should be here and live in this temple. I don't know the reason why I felt like that.
Then I had a conversation with Narahari dasa, he asked me how frequently I chant and how many rounds, do Iread / study the Bhagavad Gita daily etc. I told him about you that I have this friend of mine who is a devotee. I try and read her blog on a daily basis, and I didn't like to miss it. I also told him that you had suggested that I should start with doing four rounds daily. I told him that I do it off and on and there is no regularity in my chanting, to which he said that you just need to make up your mind, decide and be firm on it. He asked that i should commit and I stick to the number of rounds that I commit for, so I happily committed to two rounds with a promise that I will review them dynamically and try to increase them. Thereafter, he took my personal details on a form, and he said that some body from the temple would get in touch with you (though it might take some time) and hand hold you towards understanding of the faith (that s what I took as a meaning, though he didn't literally say it). He then said that he had to leave for his chanting.

He left, and I was there in the temple premises for some more time. After that temple another aarti started (pardon me I have forgotten the name now). I attended all of it, at the end of the aarti the devotees took the parikrama / rounds around the temple three times singing and dancing to the name of the lord. It all seemed surreal to me, people dancing / singing / some of them crying and I thought that you being a devotee should also visit Vrindavan and be blessed. I pray that you get an opportunity soon. Subsequently, I had breakfast which was french fries and fried peas.

Then we left for Delhi and reached back home in two and a half hours. Since the time I have been back, the scene of devotees dancing / singing / crying continuously has been flashing before my eyes. I think finally the lord has given me the opportunity to serve him . Just wanted to share all this with you because you have been of great help all through, you have clarified so many doubts and helped me.

V

Ebben a részben egy néhány másodperces betekintést nyerhettek az egyik előadásba. Elengedgetetlen a prasadam képek bemutatása is. Majd meghallgathatjátok Maharani mataji tapasztalatait, aki egy konferencia miatt ma utazott vissza Magyarországra.

My Hawaiian Homeboy, Shiva das, writes:

Interaction of material elements operating under natures laws makes the rain fall.
Interaction of material elements operating under natures laws makes the sun rise.
Interaction of material elements operating under natures laws makes the different bodies
Interaction of material elements operating under natures laws makes computers
Interaction of material elements operating under natures laws makes space shuttles
Interaction of material elements operating under natures laws makes robots
Interaction of material elements operating under natures laws makes apple pie a la mode
Interaction of material elements operating under natures laws makes Seinfeld
Interaction of material elements operating under natures laws makes Beethoven's 5th Symphony
Interaction of material elements operating under natures laws makes the insane beauty where I live

"Interaction of material elements operating under natures laws makes" is my new worshipful God, because not only is it the cause of gravity, weather, and snowflakes, but also anything else in our world that appears to be the product of intelligent planning -- no matter how complex -- because "scientists" say God should have no place in our efforts to understand how this world functions. After all they are our betters cuz they're so smart, so we should all accept their word for it because they say so, and theyz smarter thin us dum peepil. -- thanks for the enlightening discourses, keep em coming!

I think that last part is tongue-in-cheek...

Here's my reply:

Your conclusion of "Interaction of material elements operating under natures laws makes" is my new worshipful God" does not follow from the premises.

Understanding that the interaction of material elements under natural laws manifests the things we perceive, the question then becomes: where does material nature come from? And who sets the laws? And what is it that experiences the perception of them?

This is the topic of Vedanta-sutra and its natural commentary Srimad Bhagavatam:

Merely to understand the physical mechanisms by which things operate is not a complete explanation. Even scientists acknowledge this. Science recognizes the need to understand the origin of the universe in order to have a complete understanding of reality.

Last word to Sri Krishna:

Only the ignorant speak of devotional service [karma-yoga] as being different from the analytical study of the material world [Sāńkhya]. Those who are actually learned say that he who applies himself well to one of these paths achieves the results of both.

- Bhagavad-gita 5.4

Here's a bonus video. It's a guerilla video featuring a rapping Dick Dawkins (Professor Richard Dawkins) which plays on the "scientists think they are so much smarter than us common people" meme:

Rapping scientists rock. My personal favorite is the fly MC Hawking.

There will be an open meeting to discuss the Radha Vrndavana Candra Temple Library.

The history, location, facilities, management and its functioning as an asset for both devotees and guests are the agenda topics.

The meeting will be held on March 30, Tuesday evening at 6 pm in the main prasadam hall.

Prasadam will be served after the meeting.

All interested devotees are encouraged to attend.

Anyone with a proposal is encouraged to put it in writing and bring it to the meeting.

>>> Ref. VedaBase => Interview -- March 9, 1968, San Francisco

Ajita Krishna das writes:

The foolish person thinks that nature is working automatically, but such an atheistic theory is not supported in the Vedic literature. Nature is working under the superintendence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā, and we also find here that the sun shines under the direction of the Lord, and the cloud pours forth showers of rain under the direction of the Lord. All natural phenomena are under superintendence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Viṣṇu.

- Srimad Bhagavatam 3.29.40 purport

What is being described here is not how things are going on, but rather who is ultimately responsible for doing it. It's not an empirical explanation, but a metaphysical one.

Science is concerned with how things happen. It describes the mechanisms.

A problem arises when an explanation of who is ultimately in control and responsible as the prime cause (janmady yasya) is confused with an explanation of how things are done.

When this happens religionists will see an explanation of a mechanism as an atheistic attack on the existence and supremacy of the Supreme Being, and scientists will come to see their explanations as doing away with the necessity of God!

The Prison House Analogy

If I say that "this prison operates under the superintendence of the President of this country", this statement is:

• a) True
• b) Not contradicted by explanations of the working of the prison that do not involve the President personally

In fact, that last statement is pretty much the argument put forward as to why Visnu is hardly mentioned in the original Vedas, and Indra gets all the props. Who do you expect to see more of in the news (aside from election times): the President, or Britney Spears?

The Srimad Bhagavatam itself says:

There is no direct engineering by the Lord for the creation and destruction of the material world. What is described in the Vedas about His direct interference is simply to counteract the idea that material nature is the creator.

- Srimad Bhagavatam 2.10.45

The Supreme Lord is ultimately responsible for everything going on here, but He's not personally and directly responsible. In terms of personifications this distinction goes to one of his subordinate saktis, Durga.

This material nature, which is one of My energies, is working under My direction, O son of Kuntī, producing all moving and nonmoving beings. Under its rule this manifestation is created and annihilated again and again.

- Bhagavad-gita 9.10

"God does it" - appropriate and inappropriate application

So to say that "God does it" is a metaphysical statement about ultimate causality (janmady yasya yatah). However, it is not an empirical explanation about the mechanisms by which something is done.

On the grounds of metaphysics it can be used as an authoritative statement. It has little value as an empirical explanation, however, and when it is used as such, it causes problems:

Explanations of things like the mechanism of gravity become heretical - "Gravity? Blasphemy! It's God who makes the planets rotate around the Sun!".

Empirical explanations of phenomena that produce solid experimentally verified predictions are then seen as "disproving" the existence of God: "We no longer need God in our model".

As science advances, the more religion is played as an empirical explanation, the more it will come under attack. It comes to represent pre-scientific ignorance, rather than the deep and powerful metaphysical system that it is.

The necessity of Science and Religion

We live in an age of guided missiles and misguided men. Science can describe the fluid dynamics in a turbulent flow of a cool stream on a hot summer's day, and also the trajectory of a bullet as it penetrates the skull of a small child caught in crossfire. However, it can't tell us the meaning of these things.

Good Science without Good Religion is like a blind man - extremely powerful, but with no idea where it's going. Good Religion without Good Science, on the other hand, is like a lame man - aware of what we are, where we come from, and what it all means, but without the tools to create a favorable material environment. Also, religion without science easily becomes superstition and dogma. Science without religion can become dogmatic also.

It's always healthy to admit that there are some things that we as yet don't know, and the most that we can say about them at this stage with certainty is: "Ultimately, God does it".

An correspondent writes:

Many people clamor for an "alternative narrative." But to be honest with you, I don't see the point. First of all, science is filled with unsolved mysteries for which there are many contending theories. We don't think of it like this but before Darwin's time there were many theories of how life evolved on earth. Darwin's theory just had a persuasive power that swept the field. Because we've lived with evolution so long we are accustomed to having this kind of royal theory enthroned. But dethroning evolution doesn't mean we need a new emperor. It just means we can revert to the democracy that science has always hailed. It would return it to the status of most scientific inquiry: That a few people putting forward competing theories that lots of others disagree with.

Secondly, I fail to see the logic as to why it should be beholden on us to present an alternative theory. If I can substantially prove that A plus B does not equal C, why should society run around saying "Until you prove what A plus B actually equals, we're just going to say it equals C anyway."? Why can't we just be honest and say we don't know what A plus B equals? The argument by theists is generally that science has ruled out discovering what A plus B equals from the onset. A plus B equals G-O-D. But from the onset Science has ruled out any reference to G-O-D. Perhaps Quantum Physics will change that, but until it does, let's just be honest and say science has failed to discover what A plus B equals. Who knows, maybe opening up the field will create the space for enough ingenuity and inspiration that people will come up with a more accurate answer as to what A plus B equals.

David Jorm writes me separately, and his letter answers the points of the first correspondent:

Interesting to read what you recently said on your blog about science
promoting the doctrine of evolution with the same dogmatic fervor as religious zealots push their scriptural version of events. You're correct, the scientific community does rally around the established theory as the point of truth. As Kuhn points out in "The structure of scientific revolutions", this phenomenon is a natural outgrowth of using the scientific method to develop knowledge. If one wishes to add bricks to the wall, it must be done by fitting in with the layers which underlie them. Scientific revolutions come about when one knocks down the entire wall. This cannot be done simply by picking the bricks out from underneath it one by one, but by simultaneously presenting a complete new theory which can supplant the dominant one. This is where the "intelligent design" movement fails. It picks holes in evolution, but does not present such a complete alternative theory. Science needs a working theory, so evolution is the only game in town.

Additionally: Science is all about describing the physical mechanisms by which things take place, using simple principles and natural processes. Previously the answer to everything that was not understood was "God does it"

God makes the rain fall.
God makes the sun rise.
God makes the different bodies

(In monotheistic religions it was "God", in pantheistic ones, including part of the Vedic tradition, it was "the Gods")

To propose any other explanation was at one point considered heretical and scientists were persecuted by religious authorities.

Today we know that the universe operates according to systems built up from simple principles. This is not to say that we have done away with God, for wherefrom does the universe come, with its simple principles?

As the astronomer Carl Sagan put it: "If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you have to start by making the universe"

However, simply saying "God does it" can no longer by used either as a replacement for a mechanical explanation for a natural phenomenon, or as a "proof of God's existence".

March 25, 2:40 A.M.

Early-morning japa log

I slept all right, but when I woke, I still had that pain in the right eye. I also had a pain in the top of the head. I took two kinds of medications and skipped listening to the Bhagavad-gita in the bathroom. I got up at 2:00 A.M. I don’t know if I’ll be able to chant my rounds. But I’m sitting in my chair ready to go at 2:40 A.M.

3:37 A.M.

I experienced considerable pain, and it didn’t diminish. But I persisted in chanting eight rounds. I chanted them silently. The head pressure was a distraction to paying attention to the mantras. On a scale of ten, the pain was seven. I chanted at an average of under seven minutes per round.

6:29 A.M.

Yesterday I wrote twelve pages. Today I will not be able to write so many because I still have a headache, I’m way behind on my japa rounds, and Paramatma dasa is coming for a visit. Yesterday afternoon I wrote my prayer for today, so at least I have that. Right now I could do some free writing with random sentences, but will it be worthwhile?

I lived for five consecutive years in Ireland, and it was a very wonderful time. That was my most prolific painting time. I wrote volumes of Every Day, Just Write and lectured once a week and mixed with the devotees. But it was basically a hermit’s life in a peaceful country. It ended with a bang and a whimper, and am afraid I’m not really welcomed there anymore.

Life in California was good. Aghari Prabhu supported me. He built me a wonderful cabin admist the forests and the mountains. That was also isolated living, and I wrote books. Aghari gave me counseling, and we became good friends. I was so isolated, I even grew a beard. Some senior ISKCON men came out to see how I was actually doing. They concluded that I was relatively harmless and that I should be left alone.

After some blissful years there, Aghari and a few others decided that we should all move to Mexico and start a community there. That was a mistake. At first we had a lively group who were working together, but eventually they began to disagree. Some of the Americans found they had to go back home to get jobs to support themselves. The community dwindled down to only a very few persons, and I finally left too.

I came to Delaware, and Sastra has given me a house to stay in. Things are working out pretty well here. In Mexico, I had no headaches. That was extraordinary. But I didn’t do much of anything there. In Delaware, I became more active, working hard on A Poor Man Reads the Bhagavatam and seeing more people. Coincidentally, I started getting headaches again. That has kept up to the present day. That compromises the othewise satisfactory life I’m following here. I mainly live for the website, concentration on japa, and now the added spice of poems. I make my minimum quota of appearances at ISKCON festivals and gatherings, and I receive visitors. I make my prayers, and I’m very happy that we post the writings every day. And apparently we have many visitors to the site. Dattatreya reads sastra to me three times a day, and that’s a treat. I mix with him and Baladeva and sometimes Sastra and Prahlada and Mahahari, our Delaware neighbors. On rare occasions, Mahahari invites us to his house for sumptuous prasadam. Otherwise, Baladeva cooks wonderfully here at the house. I like my quiet life in the yellow submarine.

Charlie Parker

Legendary Bird is the all-

time great in pioneering jazz.

His alto is the Roadrunner whom

no one can catch up to.

He led a tragic life on

heroine and died too young.

He spawned a generation of

disciples.

Salt Peanuts

With Dizzy, telegraphic

codes, rapid notes ripped

through, twosome.

He’s wirey, wired,

burning the candle at both ends

no one can play the notes

as rapidly. Dizzy reaches highest

notes in fast-some.

Telegraphic: “Salt Peanuts.”

“Hot House” is a sweet ride the twosome again

trumpet and alto.

Bird paces himself and slides out so many

notes you can’t count them.

His horn is fluid.

The trumpet is his friend,

Parker-like in this

medium blues. Rolling

on a carnival ride

sweet and swift.

“Koko” is fast beginning with

trading the alto and trumpet.

Bird digs in like the

robin in the grass. He’s

so sure and deft, can’t

stop for no one, rippling

tones and superspeed,

accomplished beat.

What can you say?

He’s the boss. Plays

to love, loves to play.

“Koko” is a playful

piece.

“Anthropology” begins with the

trumpet muted fast again and

Bird picks it up masterfully

connecting line to line seamless

seems he’s got the masterpiece

up his sleeve. Squeeks sometimes

just to make it more interesting.

Why does he call it “Anthropology”?

No one knows. It’s man-

study, rapid study of the

human species in jazz

story.

Symphony for Improvisers

Don Cherry leads a band

of wild improvisers. No

set melody, just pleasant

chaos.

Cherry’s rapid notes lead us

down a road uncharted,

vibes, bass, tenor of Pharoah

Sanders is wild abandon.

A symphony for improvisers,

perfect title for this piece.

A grand orchestra of unplanned

themes. Jazz in the ‘60s.

Each one contributing on his own

with rapid drum solo the only

beat. Cherry’s playing like

a classical trumpet on top

of staccato bass notes.

You have to be restless to like this;

it’s not “Home on the Range.”

It’s exploring space and time

to see what you come up with.

All together now,

not figured out beforehand

but a harmony of

newness.

Wild world music

blended with some

wisdom of modern jazz.

11:00 A.M.

My dear Lord Krishna...

I’m waiting int he car outside the doctor’s office while Baladeva is getting his treatment. You are with me in the car. That may sound spooky, but it’s natural. You are with me everywhere. Two women are outside talking and smoking cigarettes nearby. They disturb me. I want to be alone with You for now. I want to contemplate Your glories and Your personhood. I’m getting a headache as I write this, and that doesn’t help either. But You are with me, and You give me comfort.

You are the Lord of all the universes. Who is such a fool that he doesn’t seek Your shelter? We have so many sastras in which to find You and be with You. I want to take advantage of them. Please help me to read. Help me to think of You just by sitting and being with You. Encourage me to chant Your names.

In Vraja, Your home quarters, You are at Your happiest and most perfect. All the gopis and gopas love You more than they love their own lives. They will do anything to please You. That is the place I aspire to. But first I must clear myself of all my unwanted things (anarthas). I am hearing of Your pastimes and becoming attracted to You. My material desirs are diminishing. That is only natural, because my body is becoming older and I cannot squeeze much pleasure out of it. But material desires stay even with the old man in subtle and gross forms. I have to work hard with my remaining strength to become pure. It is not easy. It is easier to remain complacent and waste my precious months and years.

I need holy inspiration to improve. That comes from You. And it comes when I make the effort. I must not be ease-loving in my last years but strive, as in the example of my spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada. He wants to see me making the effort at sadhana bhakti up until the very end. Then, through his blessings, I can attain You.

So I am sitting in the car with You, waiting for Bala and thinking of You. My body feels discomfort in the head, but my spirit rests in You. More and more, I am getting to know You and want to be with You. I write to You as a way to communicate and induce my love for You. It is a gift You have given me. Let me write to You in earnest and make it something that others can benefit from. Let them read my letters to You and agree they are sincere.

I will end this one now and wait for my friend. The world is empty without You. When I connect with You, I am alive and my spirits rise. You are Krishna, my beloved, and the Lord of my spiritual master. Let me worship You and contribute to his mission.

sdgonline.org: the yellow submarine, my bhajana kutir #21 →

Badahari das singing a Hare Krishna bhajan.  Mukunda Datta das playing the mrdanga.

Dallas, TX
2008-03-05

Lecture on Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 8, Chapter 3, texts 31-33 by Mukunda Datta das.  This is the Chapter's conclusion. 

Dallas, TX
2009-03-05

Badahari das singing the Jaya Radha Madhava Prayers.

Dallas, TX
2009-03-05

By Matsya Avatara Dasa

(From the book "Vedic-Puranic Cosmogony")

Modern man is confused, without precise and stable reference points that allow him to sail peacefully through the waves of life. He is full of anxieties and fears that seem impossible to overcome, fragile and unstable in his psyche, and pitifully exhausted by neurosis of various nature and origin, that drain much energy from him, by secretly absorbing them. He is also sadly isolated and constantly tossed around and dragged to unknown directions by tragic and uncontrollable events and aberrant ideas imposed on him by stronger and violent individuals who, like a storm of powerful winds, sweep him away and his fragile ship wrecks... its unrecognizable remains drifting away at high sea.

The Man of Tradition, who builds his life on a traditional set of values, had and has a cosmogonic vision: he sees and understands the universe, and is therefore able to point out, precisely and safely, his own position in the vast expanse of the cosmic manifestation. The so-called modern man, on the other hand, has lost these references and paradoxically, although he made giant steps in the field of technology and especially in the sector of communication, finds serious, indeed, almost insurmountable, difficulties in communicating with others and even with himself.

Having gradually lost the organic vision of reality, the consciousness of its solid wholeness, of the connections between the parts and the whole, he engrossed himself in an obstinate and repeated study of fragments, of micro-realities cut off from the whole. Although he has become capable of inventing microscopes and other very powerful instruments of research¹, he finally has to acknowledge, with surprise, dismay and even a bit of frustration, that material nature keeps escaping from his futile efforts to know it, as if mocking him. In fact, Nature is comparable to a series of Chinese boxes: as soon as we discover one aspect we immediately see another, contained inside the previous one.

Modern man, therefore, risks suffering an overwhelming confusion, full of anxiety, a subtle and pervasive “malaise” that is becomes increasingly bitter and deep (especially in the youngest generation). His condition becomes more serious as it becomes apparent that there are no satisfying answers that can explain his vast reality. Certainly the various religions are not giving such answers, as often they are employing their enormous energies and resources more in search of wider popular support than in giving satisfactory answers to the painful questions on the meaning of the entire cosmic process. In fact they focus most of their interests on the mere anthropological sphere - on man and his problems. In their reductively anthropocentric attitude, they try their best to elaborate a policy for man, down to the smallest details and with complicated (and often unrealistic) economic and social plans, while neglecting the simple basic truth that man, when he is not able to locate himself in his socio-cosmic context and does not know himself because he is not able to perceive himself in his essence or transcendental reality, will not be able to trace a feasible project for his own development and growth². It is therefore necessary to indicate with the greatest precision possible the cosmogony or universal design, and the escatology or ultramundane goal of existence.

The Vedas offer an extremely wide picture of the universal project, starting from the description of the four objectives of evolved human life³; dharma, artha, kama and moksha. To attain these goals, a good quality person organizes in the best possible ways his efforts and resources. The art of life consists in attaining these goals and living them in a balanced way, making them all - one after the other or simultaneously - a successful realization.

Dharma is the Cosmic Order, God's Law, the Will of the Lord, the harmony and tuning of and with whatever vibrates, the force that sustains all, the life principle and the laws that support it. Without dharma, the planets could not remain in their orbits, and we would not even be able to breathe without a connection with dharma.

Dharma is also religiosity, without which it would be impossible to execute any action; it is the acquisition of a minimum level of piety and good sentiments enabling us to face life, and that will be expanded at the utmost; anyway, it is necessary to have at least a minimum quality for an individual to be able to live amidst people, in creation and all creatures.

The Sanskrit word bhuta, in this context, indicates the created being; in fact the root bhu means both ‘being’ and ‘becoming’, but if we add the suffix ta it comes to mean ‘created’. Since the soul is immortal⁴, who is created? The bodies are created, while the life principle, the atman, is not created: it is not born and it does not die.

All creatures are born and die only apparently; in fact what is born and dies is the bodies, those wrappings made of matter (prakriti) inhabited by the immortal beings, and which always remain distinct from the being in all circumstances. In Bhagavadgita Krishna states that the eightfold matter⁵, that we perceive as forms and names, is separated from Him⁶; and we could add, from us, too: organs, tissues, cells are in fact aggregates of matter that is separated from our real being. Dharma is absolutely required to bring clarity in this alienated environment where confused masses, overwhelmed by a terrible crisis of identity believe they are bodies, and totally identify with prakriti.

Dharma offers some fundamental directives called yama and niyama⁷, to live consciously in any place, but especially in those places where the atmosphere has become “incandescent” due to passion (rajo-guna) and darkened by ignorance (tamo-guna)⁸.

When the consciousness of the self is developed in the proper way, according to dharma, the individual becomes dharmya, a bearer of dharma or supporter of dharma, and at the same time he is also ‘supported’ by dharma

In a passage of Mahabharata⁹ it is strongly stated that one who supports dharma is supported by dharma, while one who tramples upon dharma becomes crushed by dharma.

The support of dharma enables us to attain the second goal: artha or economic prosperity, which does not have any negative meaning in itself¹⁰, unless it involves a gross behavior that drags its author into brutishness and makes him forget his prescribed duties that are supposed to lead him to spiritual realization. The shastras¹¹ recommend to pursue this goal, because it is necessary to earn the resources required to take the path of perfection. When the union of the Divine will be stable and final, only at that time we will not need any specific efforts to pursue artha: the Lord will provide directly.

Everything depends therefore on building one's existence on the principles of dharma, the celestial rule, the divine law, the highest Order that supports all. By careful observation of the natural cycles, we can detect the presence of this divine Order: trees blossom again and again each spring; days and night follow each other regularly; the sun never leaves its orbit - because if it changed it, deviating of even a small distance, everything would catch fire, water would evaporate, all plants would disappear and all living entities who depend on water for survival would also die, including the human beings. It is dharma that supports the sun and all stars and planets in their orbits and makes life possible on the planets. The source of dharma is the Supreme Being who, through dharma, stipulates a rightful pact with all the creatures, without favoring or disfavoring any of them. It is in fact only according to the way we relate to dharma that we will have to face the positive or negative consequences of our good and bad actions. This is the fundamental principle regulating the law of karman, the strict eternal law of remuneration of actions.

Therefore the man of Tradition pursues the tangible and practical development of the fundamental principles of dharma, constantly and sincerely striving to apply its theory in daily life, as he does not recognize any real importance to the philosophical activities in themselves, when they are separated from reality and unable to deliver the living being from the fundamental problem of bodily existence -- his own suffering. He thus seeks an intimate and genuine internalization of the laws of dharma and their genuine expression in thinking and in speaking to others, in commenting on events and changes that happen in society and nature, and in his own actions as well.

After attaining artha on the basis of dharma, we attain kama, a term that indicates in this context the search for pleasure and joy. If these pleasures are developed from artha, pursued with one's own means instead of others' means, and through means based on dharma, or moral, ethical and spiritual rules¹², we attain joy, a sense of satisfaction that follows the experience of pleasure. To be more precise, we should say that the research of pleasure ceases to be an obsession and he then becomes free from the mental conditions that pushed him to make wrong choices in the pursuit of sensory stimulations. When they are obtained in harmony with the Divine Order, the so called pleasures are potentially able to make him thoughtful and reflective, leading gradually to detachment from material attachments, allowing him to dedicate himself, serenely and lucidly, to pursue the fourth goal that is characteristics of the evolved man: moksha, the final liberation from illusions, from identification with matter and mundane attachment, the sources of suffering¹³.

Therefore, giving man a wide, universal frame of knowledge, not only on the spiritual dimension but also on the variety of the cosmic manifestation, is necessary to reveal to him dharma and its fundamental laws. All this immediately offers him the essential instruments to determine, plan and build, day after day, his own future. Offering such instruments constitutes the highest humanitarian activity that benefits not only man, but all creatures and well as the environment, as micro and macro sphere.

A vision of the universe that is based on a strongly and openly anthropocentric conception would be a disconcertingly reductive proposition, implying a drastic limitation on the capabilities and potential of spiritual realization.

Man does not have a central position. The Vedic-Vaishnava conception of the universe is theocentric: God is the motor of the universe, and everything is taken care of due to the supreme and sweet will of God. And if all creatures, and especially man, would put the Lord in the center of their attention and care, of their thoughts and words, whatever they wanted to attain would come almost spontaneously, with much less difficulties in proportion to the concentration on the contemplation of God; and all actions performed in this way would benefit not only humans, but as we mentioned, all creatures.

On the other hand, if by some kind of anthropocentric obsession or other species feticism, man would be induced to consider only his own species as worthy of care and attention, he wouldn't even be able to maintain the health of this planet and would become the cause of continuous and serious ecologic crises, since the environmental balance can only be maintained if we work for the benefit of “all” creatures, allowing each one of them to freely express its own nature.

Usually man is considered the sovereign of creatures, but the real Sovereign is God, who also rules over man. Man has the duty to guide less intelligent and evolved creatures. This means giving a role to each of them without taking undue advantage of anyone, otherwise the result would be exploitation instead of guidance.

It is therefore urgent and necessary to seriously revise the concepts of progress and evolution, sociology, well-being and economy, and even history.

Thinking that human beings are the only rightful citizens of this planets is much too limited a concept; we should extend the habeas corpus to animal species as well. We speak so often about love: why should we limit love to mankind only? Putting mankind in the center of the universe is a typical mistake of modern philosophy.

So... this ceremony with fruits and flowers and a fire, and the assembly of devotees here before our beloved Lordships, before the exalted Vaisnavas, is meant to impress upon us the seriousness of accepting this sampradaya, of officially entering within this.

The Atlanta Temple, his family and friends will be coordinating the funeral service of Harish das. With the passing of our dear friend Hari Kirtan das aka Harish, we stop to pray to the lord for his safe journey home. The service will be on Saturday the 28th of 2009 at 2pm at the Wages & Sons Funeral Home in Stone Mountain, Ga.

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Question: What am I reading?

Answer: Anything written by Ravindra Svarupa.

I enjoy his writing. You might like to check out his website, So It Happens.

(Ravindra Svarupa Dasa (William H. Deadwyler) joined the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) in 1971 in Philadelphia, PA where he has served for most of his devotional career. He is an initiated disciple of ISKCON’s founder-acharya, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Ravindra Svarupa dasa earned his B.A. in philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania, and his M.A. and Ph.D. in religion from Temple University. He has been a member of ISKCON’s ecclesiastical board, known as the Governing Body Commission, since 1987. )

trnad api su-nicena
taror iva sahisnuna
amanina mana-dena
kirtaniyah sada hari

Translated by Srila Prabhupada as "One who thinks himself lower than the grass, who is more tolerant than a tree, and who does not expect personal honor yet is always prepared to give all respect to others can very easily always chant the holy name of the Lord."

But the following verse underscores the importance of this verse; herein Krsna dasa Kaviraja says in his poetic way, that it should be a form of constant meditation.

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Friday, 16th Jan, 2009. Vijaya woke me! It’s 6 o’clock and he sounds disappointed. He is an ecstatic transcendental book distributor with the full sadhana and he is shocked to find me on my “tour program”. There is a confusion of the rasas. I struggle out. I decided to hook into some sadhana myself, to keep in touch, rather than spoil myself with the ripe fruits of Krsna Consciousness and embellish myself in the pleasure potency that is Melbourne kirtana.

I caught some of Vijaya’s class. It was nectar on smashing the false ego. For me this is something like using an ice pick to cut through a concrete slab. But hey, 8,400,000 life times I reckon I could do that. What do you think? I stopped philosophising with myself and decided it was time to “honour prasada”. The next best thing from a morning kirtana in Melbourne temple is morning prasada at Melbourne temple. (Take note that I will miss a kirtana for sadhana but not prasada, catching myself out here.)

After a decent feast I rolled up through Prabhupada House to see HH Indradyumna Swami with the kiddies playing away at them and working the old Krsna Conscious brain wash session early in their lives. It wasn’t my scene so I snuck off into the boys room to join Gaura Hari, Sri Prahlad and HH Hridayananda Swami from within Sri P’s laptop. Govinda Gi was also present (The supreme personality of Godhead in Shalagram form).

I thought I would slack some precious time by checking my email on Gaura’s PC. I logged onto my email account. “OH MY GOD!” I was in shock. I had 108 emails! This was an auspicious amount of inconvenience indeed. I decided now was not the time and decided, like an ostrich with his head in the ground, that if I forgot about them maybe they would go away.

I found Bhakta Harry and we did some chilling. After a trip to the lights store again me and Harry did some more chilling. If it wasn’t obvious by our chillage session, we needed to be engaged. Domo had just the mission. Yes it was time to start our first show in Melbourne!…well time to set up our first show. First sweet surrender and then…I’ve never really thought what happens after that?

Me and H to the B (Harry) hit the trams. We stopped by at crossways, the coolest spot in the city of Melbourne, for some halava and custard. After two servings to stir in our previous ice cream we hit the trams yet again. We arrived in good time and Domo decided to send us on one of those quests that only Domo can send you on. One of those quests for something so insignificant yet it seems to take you all day.

So me and Harry were off again. We had to find some…rope. Fitzroy, the town of choice for our Le Carnaval Spirituel extravaganza was a trendy type of neighbourhood. You had swanky coffee shops, happenin little places where people would sit, chat and “be merry?” and all that bogus stuff. But a decent hardware store? Maybe if we had a car but we were on foot. None the less, this was to be an epic quest rivalling all those other expensive movie blockbusters like LOTR, etc…

We searched high and low. Up and down. Stationary stores? Coles? Who has the simple necessity of rope?! Harry was often being distracted by graffiti. The man was into the street art. I at least appreciated the painting of a man who was sleeping on a bench but otherwise it was all to much colour and twirl and concrete for me. Plus I come from a punk town like Murwillumbah. If I was to admire the street art there…I would either be shocked to find none or be overspending time reading tags everywhere I went.

After some helpful tips from locals and a hell-a-lot-a walking, we found our precious rope. Now normally in a quest like this I will return with the goods and it will be the wrong thing. Poor Domo for hiring an incompetent assistant like. And my rate is pretty high dollar, considering if you want my services you have to spend time with…me!

When we returned we found that Domo was pleased with our find and was getting into some monkey business of his own. The curtain bars of the theatre were such so, via mechanical means, you could lower them to the ground and then raise them back to the roof. This was interesting because you could also hang a Domo upside down off one and take him up to the ceiling.

After this little shenanigan the people started to roll in, the support crew that is. The prasadam bay was being set up and the decoration crew was well into it. Unfortunately for me, the decoration crew brought a little bit to much “shortness” this time and I had to do all their high decorating. This for some reason left me hanging off a railing, upside down, with I can’t remember who-holding me. The things we do in this line of service are questionable at best.

The trendy people of Fitzroy township began to finally arrive. They were a funny bunch indeed. The first group we decided to entertain at the book table were a couple high and mighty, how to say these days?…I wouldn’t class them as emos, as they were a bit more well built, they had a personality and their outfits didn’t look like they bought them from their parents allowance. I wouldn’t say punks, although this may be the class but these guys weren’t ripped in the muscles or the jeans. And I wouldn’t say Goths, they looked to happy to be suicidal and I don’t think they were blood drinkers. So we had a couple guys with old fashion clothes, black with white trims and a few too many skulls hanging about.

One of the matajis on our follow up table, courtesy of Melbourne yatra, was starting some small chat. When I saw such interesting characters who were light in conversation I decided to butt in. It was all very lovely. I tried to show them my books. One of them, the leader it seemed, was well read. He knew a little more than most about Indian mythology and philosophy and all that jib-jab. It seemed his other friend already had srimad bhagavatam in some volumes also. But before I could bring in some interest, some of our local devotees were locked into a light debate with one of our potential, customers, devotees, however you want to say. I kept a positive relationship with the man claiming my accomplices were just crazy Hare Krsna cultists but I think he was a little deterred to mingle with the tables for too much longer.

So while the table was becoming a little wild I glanced over to see the prasada team. HH Indradyumna Swami was well into the divine service of serving the prasada to all the conditioned souls coming to see our show. Maharaja knows how to get the mercy, being a reasonably experienced devotee one might say. He also served the devotees prasada on Polish tour many times.

It was show time! I slotted back stage for make up. We smashed off another Gita extravaganza. We exited to our usual music, I danced like usually do to our awesome music and Gaura Hari rushed like anything to start kartalas for the Manipuri drummers like usual. The only problem was I was dancing a little bit too much this way and Gaura was running a little bit too much that way and…SMASH! Gaura was in pain, I was unharmed, but if I didn’t move I think he might of changed that situation. In a moment’s fury due to some unexpected pain Gaura cast his Krsna garland dramatically to the ground as he tried to express his moment’s agony.

There were fake flowers and beads all over the ground. After the dust had settled I trotted to the other side of the stage to check on my brother deary Gaura Hari. I begged his pardon and checked on his injury. I had done some serious bendy business to his big toe and it was well bloody. This case and many others suggest that preaching work is a dangerous business. To date we had a total of: Mathuresvari’s fall off stage-a bad arm for the rest of the tour, my battle with a book table at Peat’s Ridge-leaving a permanent stigmata scare on my left palm, Sadhu’s knife wound at the closing of Peat’s Ridge festival-who knows how that went and now this-leaving Gaura all bloody and a bit upset for the time being.

We all chilled back stage after this. We gazed at our epic large stage mirror which was a little out of place in the boys changing room. We did some ASAP toe recovery procedures on Gaura just to make sure he would live till the end of the night. Sri P was dancing around with his mobile phone? I think he was indicating how late the show was running but it was hard to tell. It all generally got a bit loose. The twins were eating rice with lassi in the background (just to add to the craziness). Just at the climax of the insanity, when we decided to take photos in our large vintage mirror, HH Indradyumna Swami entered. There we are all posing like mad aliens and god knows what else and the pure Swami from Vaikuntha rolls in. We were all worried with his shocked face. How will he react? He quickly shook off his bewilderment and joined in the snaps.

We patiently watched as Maharaja gave his first epic speech in Melbourne and then it was time for me to change up and hit the book table. It was madness. Many people were purchasing books. We sold off our last Krsna books! Some crazy lady was causing some trouble. She wanted things free it seemed and she didn’t look totally sober and didn’t look like all the lights were on. While others were getting books signed by maharaja she was getting a paper signed. She kept insisting me that Maharaja said she could have some free Cds but I confirmed it with him on the down low and he just insisted that she was mad. She ended up STEALING both of our Cds. A loss for Tribi and a loss for the tour back pocket.

We packed up after the big rush. There wasn’t so much work to do as we were to return to the same venue the next night. It was like Polish tour in that sense. It was a big success all up. I scored a lift home and stuck into my remaining rounds…for a while. The boys came back and someone wanted ice cream. I was naturally the go-getter. I RAN down to the 7/11 and RAN back. I had all my rounds and all my ice creams finished by the time Cinderella lost her glass slipper. Tomorrow was something to look forward to. It was another festival!

Saturday, 17th Jan, 2009. Oh no Vijaya woke me up!? Little did he know I had just done a marathon last night and rest was a crucial consideration. He was a hard man to live with but boy would I like to do books with him. I struggled out and did my morning business. By the time I stumbled out of the ashram and over to the temple it was class time. Sri Prahlad was giving class and the verse was…the same one as the other day? It was one of those verse mix ups that you can have in ISKCON temples sometimes.

After some class nectar and some prasada nectar I decided to face my ever growing email count. Fortunately I found out that most of it was photo tag notifications from face book and that it was all big fat illusion created by maya to discourage me from my holy service of net surfing. I filed away all the junky bogus information and sorted through my REAL emails.

I spent some time with Vishnu Gurukuli and discussed some epic plans for youth preaching and taking over Australia with travelling sankirtana. It was lunch time by the time Harry rolled in. We decided to take a walk to the beach. When we returned it was time to roll off to the hall for some early rehearsals. Our good friend, Brett (for those who know him), was crying a scene that he was not able to help. Some of the guys had to explain that his excess mala he wore and his consistent ecstatic symptoms were not understood by the general public.

I found myself sitting in the audience while the guys practiced a new outro to the show. We were bringing on all the cast. Even Radha Valaba was going to come on stage although her services didn’t have her up there otherwise. All the acts were going to come up one at a time and bow. Everyone means, of course, everyone but me. It was a little sad but someone did need to stand by at the book table with Mathuranatha and this was my main excitement for the show. If it meant sacrificing name and fame to do books than I suppose it would be the best service.

After the practice we had a nice intimate little ishta goshti. After this little touch of personalism I took off to find some kulis and do what kulis do best, nothing…I mean hanging out. After this I sat myself at my book table. The people started to arrive. I met a young lady who had come the night before. She claimed to be our biggest fan and wanted to know how to join the tour. She was enthused and into yoga. She even had her own yogi name: “Yoga Sidhi”. It was nice to finally meet one of the really inspired audience members. Naturally Indradyumna Swami gets to meet all those but because he wasn’t around I got to get the special mercy.

Soon after she moved on into the show my cousins, Wendy & Tina, rolled in! They were calling early and looking to be late but in Melbourne we were starting half an hour earlier. Lucky I gave them a bit of false advertisement otherwise they would have missed the start. I rushed off to do my thang on stage. It all cruised along with a familiar flare. I was wham smack back on the book table after it all rolled out.

I had some discussion with one of the local matajis. She seemed to think the crowd wasn’t as good this night. I was in disagreement. In the end the whole Le Carnaval Spirituel crew also agreed with me and indeed we had about 100 more people this night, filling the hall past its capacity. I paused from the discussion when I heard an amazing applauding and cheering from the audience. I rushed to the curtain side to have a look. Our newly practiced outro was on the show and the people loved it. All their favourite performers were coming out to say one last goodbye.

We had madness with our book table! The crazy lady from the night before was back! She wanted a Gita this time, for free!? A devotee finally bought her one to calm her down. My cousins couldn’t even catch up with me it was such an ocean of bodies. I had to wave them goodbye for another time. Kamalaksi managed to finally get her Gita signed she wanted so bad. I was ecstatic to report that we had topped our Gita sales at this show. We beat New Town, Sydney, where we sold the most Gitas so far.

All was finishing up. I was adding up the sales and book scores. I told Gaura our result on the Gitas and he was jubilant. It all seemed to be right and merry but than our crazy friend returned. She wanted to swap her Gita for a CD?! “But you already have both the Cds. You stole them last night?!” I cried. Not only that but the CD was $5 more than a Gita, what to speak of the 50$ she owed from the stolen merchandise. She was so persistent that I just had to let her go with the trade, just as Mathura had to let her go the night before with the Cds. I regretfully returned my report to Gaura that we didn’t have a new Gita record. He seemed saddened by this information. You win some you loose some. I shook the little chip off my shoulder and soldiered on.

I scored a cab back to the temple with some devotees. The driver was Indian. I took the time to show him “now you know where the temple is you can come for prasada”. I do this either they do what I say but more so to wake the modern Indian bodied men to COME BACK TO YOUR OWN CULTURE! I was happy to hear that he was keen to check it out some time. I rolled into the ashram and quickly slotted on my diary notes for the day, so that I could remember it fresh when I had to write the diary 2 months later. Vijaya caught me and chastised me for being up late on the computer as he slipped past to the bathroom. 5 minutes only was I on but it looked like I was on there for hours.

After such a massive marathon I didn’t feel like I had Prabhupada’s blessings. My seeming tardiness (which is a tiny bit worse than my real tardiness) was seemingly upsetting to a transcendental book distributor. But not to be discouraged in the end. This is just one of those crazy strange rasas that one can only find at 11:30pm on the epic tour of HH Indradyumna Swami. And what success we had over the last two days. I hope there is no wake up call tomorrow though…

Elkészült a második videó. A beszámoló mostantól azzal bővül, hogy egy-egy bhakta fogja megosztani élményeit veletek. Reméljük, így ti is részeseivé váltok az utazásnak és azoknak a tapasztalatoknak, amiben Chowpattyban részünk volt. Ebben a videóban Radhanatha prabhut hallhatjátok.

Another quiet suburb, another small group chanting the Holy Names. The great success in this program is to continue and to complete - every town and village. Some weeks there are a lot of devotees, some weeks there are a few, but the important thing is to carry through.

16 Rounds at Smoke This

One of the obstacles in spreading Krishna consciousness is the tendancy to stay disconnected from the people we are trying to extend Krishna consciousness to. We may consider those people unqualified, fallen, strange, or we may simply have difficulty understanding their situation. If we consider ourselves to be missionaries in the service to Srila Prabhupada, then we should not allow oursleves to fall into this trap. As compassionate missionaries, lovers of God and His parts and parcels, lovers of the living souls that are embodied and conditioned in a wide varieties of ways, we can’t afford ourselves ever getting disconnected from the people who we share the world with.

Srila Prabhupada’s glory stands above all other Vaishnavas because he took the time and truoble to understand the people of America, live in their midst, feel with them, and eventually share the beauty of Krishna consciousness with them. Most of Srila Prabhupada’s godbrothers wrote Westerners off because we were too weird and too wild to them. They were not able to understand or relate to us. Some perhaps dreaded the thought of having to live with us and elevate us to the platform of Krishna consciousness. Sure, many have continued to maintain their purity and that was for their good. Luckily Srila Prabhupada was different. He took the instruction of his spiritual master to bring Krishna consciousness to the Westerners much more seriously. He forwent the personal considerations and difficulties. A 70 year old gentleman took the trobule to live with the crazed youth of America’s 60’s. What compassion! From Srila Prabhupada’s example we must learn to not condemn those that are different, distanced, strange. We need to leave our comfortable situations and extend our Krishna consciouss hands of friendship and love to our neighbors.Otherwise they will stay on one side and we on the other, thus the mission will fail. Srila Prabhupada definitely did not have that in mind for us.

Here at Sastra Dana we are constantly trying to reach out to our contemporary American brothers and sisters. Smoke shops are churches for the modern man. To have such an establishment accept our newspaper is a clear sign to us that we must be doing something right. Two young men, managers of the smoke shop called Smoke This, read our paper, found it interesting, informative, and helpful. At a simple request they let us plant one of our newspaper racks in their shop. How wonderful!

To learn more about it check out this video:

To sponsor the production and distribution of the 16 Rounds newspaper and Srila Prabhupada’s books, go to sastradana.com/donate.

Hare Krishna

 

Your Contributions

San Diego Sponsors:

• Dhamesvara Gaura Dasa $1,714.60
• Bhaktivedanta Cultural Center $660.00
• Jnana Bhakti Dasa $200.00
• Lalit Agarwal $125.00
• Yamunapati & Jayasri $101.00
• Randy & Kripa Mayi $51.00
• Kanka Devi Dasi $25.00
• Anonymous $25.00
• Anonymous $25.00
• Nitin & Jayasri Patel $22.00
• Debbie Nieto $20.00
• Bhaktivedanta Memorial Library $16.01
• TOTAL: $2,984.61 

Los Angeles Sponsors:

• Esekiel Jaggernauth $601.00
• Rafael A. Palma $100.00
• Justin Connor $62.00
• Jiten Patel $42.00
• Balai Devi Dasi $42.00
• Vamsi Dasa’s family $40.00
• Paul & Rosa Wallace $20.00
• Anonymous $5.00
• TOTAL: $912.00 

GRAND TOTAL: $3,896.61 

Distribution to Institutions

5,837 books!!! have been placed in the following institutions:

• 6382 / Lady of The Lake / 3102 University Ave / San Diego
• 6383 / Whole Foods Market / 8825 Villa La Jolla Drive / La Jolla
• 6384 / Trader  Joe / 1200 Hornblend / Pacific Beach
• 6385 / Spiz Café / 5501 Clairmont Mesa Blvd / San Diego
• 6386 / Sri Ganesh Sweet & Spice / 5440 Clairmont Mesa Blvd / San Diego
• 6387 / Cottage Art / 18619 S. Pioneer Blvd. / Artesia
• 6388 / Shreeji Jewellers / 16828 Pioneer Blvd. / Artesia
• 6389 / Dr Jeff Lynn / 3242 Riverside Drive / Chino
• 6390 / ISKCON Laguna Beach Temple / 285 Legion Street / Laguna Beach
• 6391 / India Sweets & Snacks / 23371 Golden Springs Drive / Diamond Bar
• 6392 / Safron Spot / 18744 Pioneer Blvd. / Artesia
• 6393 / Mandir / 16540 Aston street / Irvine
• 6394 / India International Bazaar / 717 South Harbour Blvd. / Fullerton
• 6395 / Radha Raman Vedic Temple / 1022 N. Bradford Ave / Placentia
• 6396 / Diet Nutrition Center / 710 N. Brea Blvd. / Brea
• 6397 / Dr. Whelan Lok / 710 N. Brea Blvd. / Brea
• 6398 / Marty’s Hairline / 710 N. Brea Blvd. / Brea
• 6399 / Bock Orthodotics / 420 W. Central Ave / Brea
• 6400 / XT Message Spa / 710 N. Brea Blvd. / Brea
• 6401 / Dr. Kevin Kuwabara / 340 W. Central Ave. / Brea
• 6402 / Cottage Art / 18619 S. Pioneer Blvd. / Artesia
• 6403 / ISKCON Laguna Beach Temple / 285 Legion Street / Laguna Beach
• 6404 / ISKCON Laguna Beach Temple / 285 Legion Street / Laguna Beach
• 6405 / India Sweets & Snacks / 23371 Golden Springs Drive / Diamond Bar
• 6406 / Radha Raman Vedic Temple / 1022 N. Bradford Ave / Placentia
• 6407 / Dr. Kevin Kuwabara / 340 W. Central Ave. / Brea
• 6408 / Safron Spot / 18744 Pioneer Blvd. / Artesia
• 6409 / Radha Raman Vedic Temple / 1022 N. Bradford Ave / Placentia
• 6410 / Domino Pizza / 103 W. Central Ave. / Brea
• 6411 / James Andrew / 295 W. Central Ave. / Brea
• 6412 / Dr. K-R Chang / 340 W. Central Ave. / Brea
• 6413 / S & H Premium Cigars / 101 W. Central Ave. / Brea
• 6414 / Care more / 340 W. Central Ave. / Brea
• 6415 / Dr. Luke Haung / 340 W. Central Ave. / Brea
• 6416 / Dr. Kevin Kuwabara / 340 W. Central Ave. / Brea
• 6417 / Dr. James Lin / 340 W. Central Ave. / Brea
• 6418 / EZ Mail / 101 W. Central Ave. / Brea
• 6419 / Brea Body Care / 385 W. Central Ave. / Brea
• 6420 / Steve Michael’s Hair & Skin Care / 385 W. Central Ave. / Brea
• 6421 / Dr. Terri Pierce / 385 W. Central Ave. / Brea
• 6422 / NHC Medical Supply / 379 W. Central Ave. / Brea
• 6423 / Plumage Hair Design / 295 W. Central Ave. / Brea
• 6424 / Brea Diagnostic / 379 W. Central Ave. / Brea
• 6425 / Fleetwood Cleaners / 103 W. Central Ave. / Brea
• 6426 / Sy Donuts / 103 W. Central Ave. / Brea
• 6427 / India International Bazaar / 717 South Harbor Blvd. / Fullerton
• 6428 / Dr. Subash Gharmalkar / 1530 Baker Street / Costa Mesa
• 6429 / Dr. Godbole / 12675 La Mirada Blvd. / La Mirada
• 6430 / Hi Thai Asian Cuisine / 9500 Gilman Dr. / La Jolla
• 6431 / Food Coop at UCSD / 9500 Gilman Dr. #0323 (Old Student Center) / La Jolla
• 6432 / Price Center, Food Court at UCSD / 9500 Gilman Dr. #0323 (Old Student Center) / La Jolla
• 6433 / Jitters Express / 510 N Coast Hwy / Oceanside
• 6434 / Swiv Tackle Circus / 530 S Coast Hwy / Oceanside
• 6435 / Santanas Restaurant / 2303 Garnet Ave. / San Diego
• 6437 / Palm Sprongs Liquor / 4301 Palm Ave / La Mesa
• 6438 / Peoplles Organic Market / 4765 Voltaire Street / Ocean Beach
• 6439 / Cottage Art / 18621 S. Pioneer Blvd. / Artesia
• 6440 / Shreeji Jewellers / 16828 Pioneer Blvd. / Artesia
• 6441 / ISKCON Laguna Beach Temple / 285 Legion Street / Laguna Beach
• 6442 / ISKCON Laguna Beach Temple / 285 Legion Street / Laguna Beach
• 6443 / Dr. Subash Garmalker / 1530 Baker Street / Costa Mesa
• 6444 / Safron Spot / 18744 Pioneer Blvd. / Artesia
• 6445 / Safron Spot / 18744 Pioneer Blvd. / Artesia
• 6446 / Safron Spot / 18744 Pioneer Blvd. / Artesia
• 6447 / Dr. Kevin Kuwabara / 340 W. Central Ave. / Brea
• 6448 / Radha Raman Vedic Temple / 1022 N. Bradford Ave / Placentia
• 6449 / Artesia cleaners / 11831 Artesia Blvd. / Artesia
• 6450 / Woodlands Cuisine / 11833 Artesia Blvd. / Artesia
• 6451 / Farm Fresh / 18612 Artesia Blvd. / Artesia
• 6452 / Palm Springs Deli / 8309 Hercules  / La Mesa
• 6453 / Controversial Books / 3063 University Ave / San Diego
• 6454 / Lady of the Lake / 3102 University Ave / San Diego
• 6455 / Sri Ganesh Swet & Spices / 5440 Claimont Mesa Blvd. / San Diego

March 24 4:00 A.M.

Early-morning japa log

I began my japa at 3:00 A.M. My low audibility affects my mental state. It would be better if I could chant loudly from the throat and heart and urge the mantras out with my vocal cords. But I’ve told you why I can’t do that. At least I paid attention to the utterance of the syllables, so I don’t feel so self-disparaging about that. There was an audible whisper. And I’m also encouraged that my mind doesn’t wander and dwell on other subjects. I’m just a chanting machine, chanting and hearing, chanting and hearing. I chanted an average of under seven minutes per round for eight rounds. But on my fifth round, I got a headache and had to take medication. After that, my chanting was barely audible. I glanced at Radha-Govinda and allowed Their association to think that this is a yugala-kisora mantra. It’s about Radha and Krishna, calling to Radha and Krishna, and if you’re fortunate, thinking of Their pastimes. The best thing about the session was that it was “clean,” streamlined, just chanting and hearing with no obstructions. The weakest thing was the low audibility and the absence of deep bhava.

5:09 A.M.

I finished four more silent rounds before Baladeva came up. They weren’t audible, but they were clear and attentive. The temperature is thirty-one degrees, and Baladeva said that it’s very windy. We will not be able to walk, but we’ll go down to the beach and sit in the car. March mayhem, it’s already spring. I feel alert for more chanting. I really don’t know what the chant is. There are Sanskrit words for Krishna and His consort. It’s a mystery to me. I enunciate them in “foreign” tongue. But it’s not actually foreign, it’s transcendental. I chant with trust in the acaryas and the scriptures. They speak in highest terms of the purifying power of the holy names. It is an offense in chanting to consider the glories of the holy names to be exaggeration. You chant like a little baby, doing what your father and mother have told you to do. Eventually, you’re supposed to grow up and have some realizations of the sweetness and potency. Until it comes, you cry for it. Or until you cry, you pray, “Please let me cry for it.” Until you pray, you are chanting with offenses. But even that is beneficial.

Afro Blue

A flute and then a

congo, McCoy Tyner and

Latin All-Stars—the

familiar tune.

Trane played it at Birdland

roaming hills of Africa.

Lush, a soprano voice comes

in and weaves a snake

charmer’s spell awhile.

The flute... everyone pulsated

by the congo, a trombone...

where’s McCoy? A wooden

flute from the jungle,

this is getting weird.

McCoy is there, his piano underneath.

He was best in the John Coltrane

Quartet, we always remember him

then. But he plays the same,

tinkling rolls and syncopated

chops, he’s a maestra

repeating a riff, two hands

playing all over the keyboard,

favoring the upper registers,

then down low wth the left hand.

The congo doesn’t miss a beat.

takes a solo on hard palms

and sides of hands, two

drums talking.

The familiar theme

nice to hear afro

blue, a blend of

instruments takes it out

cheerful upbeat from

Africa and American

jazz, they fade out

in space, each

instrument speaking a

singular voice, trumpet,

trombone, soprano,

and McCoy fading...

Autumn Leaves

Comes on with a piano beat

then muted Miles takes the

well-known tune at a ballad pace.

Bittersweet. Cannonball is next

flighty blues improvising

Yes and yes and yes he plays

his way with lots of notes

and groovy jazz.

Miles is back creating his

own atmosphere, restrained

and economic; he carries

a beat from line to line

makes you want to dance.

The piano is Hank Jones, a workman keeping the

subdued mellow of the

piece with fingered notes

and not so many chords.

Miles takes the tune to the end

exactly as it was written but

sweetened, and the piano ends

it with upper notes.

We’ve been taken through

the standard in fine fashion

by distinguished players

who treated it with respect.

8:09 A.M.

Somehow we made three laps in bitter cold and gusty wind. I wore a scarf wrapped around my face. Baladeva had his windbreaker. Otherwise we couldn’t have done it. We even stopped for exercise, taking shelter from the wind by the little building owned by the Lion’s Club. The mantras went out to meet the buffets. There was no question of finding the seagulls today. I finished my rounds early, and we left the beach early so I could do my first poem before breakfast. The day is underway.

Bhajana-rahasya explains the good fortune of Kaliya and how he was able to receive the touch of Krishna’s lotus feet. Even Laksmi, the goddess of fortune, hankers for that touch. She left Her husband Narayana and performed severe austerities to gain His lotus feet, but She could not succeed. The only way to attain the touch of Krishna’s lotus feet is to follow the path of the gopis. Then how did Kaliya attain that fortune? Two reasons are given. One is that he had the association of his wives, who were good devotees of Krishna. The other is that he lived in the sacred river Yamuna and received the samskaras (impressions) of that holy abode.

In The Nectar of Devotion, while discussing “further features of ecstatic love for Krishna,” Rupa Goswami quotes from the Hamsaduta: "One day, when Srimati Radharani was feeling much affliction because of Her separation from Krishna, She went to the bank of the Yamunä with some of Her friends. There Radharani saw a cottage wherein She and Krishna had experienced many loving pleasures, and by remembering those incidents, She immediately became overcome with dizziness. This dizziness was very prominently visible.” Srila Prabhupada remarks, “This is an instance of confusion caused by separation.”

In the same chapter, there is a description of bashfulness, as follows: “When Radharani was first introduced to Krishna, She felt very bashful. One of Her friends addressed Her in this way: ‘My dear friend, You have already sold Yourself and all Your beauty to Govinda. Now You should not be bashful. Please look upon Him cheerfully. One who has sold an elephant to another person should not make a miserly quarrel about selling the trident which controls the elephant.’” Srila Prabhupada remarks, “This kind of bashfulness is due to a new introduction in ecstatic love with Krishna.”

Furthermore, the symptom of remembrance is described. “For example, one friend of Krishna informed Him, ‘My dear Mukunda, just after observing a bluish cloud in the sky, the lotus-eyed Radharani immediately began to remember You. And simply by observing this cloud, She became lusty for Your association.’ This is an instance of remembering Krishna in ecstatic love because of seeing something resembling Him.”

9:55 A.M.

I have a headache, but I’d like to write something. I just took a med. I should lie back and let it kick in. Instead, I’ll tell you about Prabhupada’s illness in 1967. He’d made his first triumphant visit to San Francisco, where he initiated a bunch of loving disciples. He did it in only about three months and then returned to us at 26 Second Ave. He did a TV show one night under harsh studio lights. The next day, on Memorial Day weekend, he suffered a stroke. He was partly paralyzed. The devotees had trouble getting a hospital to admit him, but finally, through a lawyer friend named Max Lerner, Brahmananda got him admitted to Beth Israel Hospital, which was within walking distance from our storefront. They took him in an ambulance. The first night there, he was very ill. They gave him all kinds of tests, including a spinal tap. I asked him if the spinal needle hurt, and he replied, “We are tolerant.” He was diagnosed as having had a heart attack and stroke. He recovered from the worst pretty quickly and was soon talking and sometimes sitting up in bed. The devotees maintained a twenty-four-hour watch in his room and brought cooked prasadam (as best we could do) so he wouldn’t have to eat the hospital food. It was a nice chance to serve him intimately. Once I was alone with him, and he was sleeping. After awhile, he woke up, sat up in bed and said, “I do not know Krishna. I only know my Guru Maharaja.” I was astounded and inspired by his devotion. He dictated a letter to me to be sent to his friend Narayana Maharaja in Mathura, asking him to get a certain kind of medicine that Prabhupada thought would help him.

After a few days, Prabhupada thought he was ready to be discharged, but the doctors disagreed. They refused to let him go. They treated him as if he were their property. So Gargamuni removed Prabhupada’s IV needle, put him on a rolling stretcher, and rolled him to the front door of the hospital, where Prabhupada escaped into a waiting car. (I don’t remember where we got the car.) We took him back, and he convalesced at 26 Second Ave., lying on his mat. He said he felt better, and he could walk and talk and eat.

The devotees decided to take Prabhupada to the seaside for recovery. We rented a cottage near the beach in New Jersey, and Gaurasundara and Govinda dasi taking care of him. I visited him there, and when I returned to 26 Second Ave., I had to tell the devotees every little thing Prabhupada had said or done. In general, he was supposed to rest, but he would periodically sit up and start preaching and philosophizing about Krishna. The sunshine didn’t come out much there, so after awhile, Prabhupada decided he would go back to the west coast and look for better weather there. He left and stayed at a place called Stinson’s Beach, near San Francisco. The weather wasn’t so great there, either, although it was becoming summer. He finally decided that he would go back to India and either recover his health by living in Vrndavana or die there! We shocked by his analysis of his condition and his action of returning to India.

He returned from San Francisco and spent a few days with us in New York. The devotees were all sad and frightened at the prospect of being separated from Prabhupada and his going to India, possibly never to return. None of us has been a disciple for more than a year, and we were worried that we might not be able to survive spiritually without his direct spiritual presence. That was when he told us not to worry and that “we will not be apart. You will be chanting here, I’ll be chanting there, and we’ll all be packed up together.” There’s a photo of all the devotees standing around Prabhupada at the airport in New York, just before he left. He took Kirtanananda with him as his servant and left us all in great anxiety about our spiritual master.

In India, he gradually recovered. He wrote back to us that the climate agreed with him. He said he would be back in six months. In the meantime, I went to Boston and opened the center there.

10:45 A.M.

My dear Lord Krishna...

I just wrote a memoir in which I recalled the time Prabhupada sat up in bed and said, “I do not know Krishna. I only know my Guru Maharaja.” I do not know how to take that statement. It was certainly very humble. Prabhupada indicated that he had undertaken his whole preaching mission under the order of his spiritual master and with full faith in his spiritual master, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Goswami Prabhupada. He wrote in the concluding words of Caitanya-caritamrta that he felt his spiritual master was always with him, watching him and guiding him. But Prabhupada made other remarks indicating that he knew You. He wrote in a letter to Tamal Krishna, “There was never a time when I forgot Krishna.” He also said that after the disappearance of his spiritual master, the Gaudiya Math broke up, and some of the Godbrothers won certain temples. Prabhupada said that because he went out and preached, he received the direct mercy (empowerment) of Lord Caitanya. So he could be humble and say that he did not know Krishna, but he could also be bold and say that he knew You. Certainly his Bhaktivedanta purports demonstrate that he was a great, transcendental scholar, like the previous acaryas in line from Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and that he knew Krishna very well. Because he realized Krishna and Krishna consciousness, he was able to effectively convince others to become devotees of Krishna.

In all honesty, I can say that I do not know You and that I only knew my Guru Maharaja. And yet I wrote to You daily. I do so with the permission and blessings of Srila Prabhupada. He told us all to write about Krishna. And Lord Caitanya said to everyone, “Tell everyone you meet about Krishna.” So how could we tell people about Krishna unless we know something about Him?

I do know You because I have faith in the accounts I have read about You. I know You killed the Aghasura demon and that You stole butter from the houses of the elderly gopis in Vraja. I can tell people about this with confidence because I believe it. I know You through hearing, through the proof of sabda-brahman.

There is certainly a large sense in which I do not know You. I have never received your saksad darsana (direct vision of You). You have not spoken to me except through Your words in scriptures. You have not told me the nature of my eternal relationship with You and when I will join You in the spiritual world. Nor have You told me that You are displeased with me and that I will have to return to the material world for many, many births. I do not know these things because my relationship with You is not that intimate. And so in a sense, it is true that I do not know You, I only know my Guru Maharaja. I definitely know Srila Prabhupada, although he too remains a mystery to me. When I would look into his eyes, he was unfathomable to me. But I spoke with him on many occasions and used to sleep only a few feet away from him when I was his servant. I listened personally to many of his lectures and went on morning walks with him. I massaged him many times. He smiled at me and frowned at me. I believe that he still exists in the spiritual world and that he has memory of me. I believe that at the time of death, when I remember him, there will be some connection. He will somehow be involved in how I get transferred to the next world. So knowing Prabhupada is as good as knowing You, Krishna.

And yet I wrote to You. Prabhupada wants me to know You. Once when a devotee asked Srila Prabhupada what he wanted from us, he said, “That you love Krishna.” It is not wrong that I approach you directly. That is my spiritual master’s desire. I approach You through my guru, and yet I approach You. I pray that I not become presumptuous in my prayers to You and that they always be done under the sanction of Srila Prabhupada.

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