One of our distinguished teachers explains that there are three major temptations in this world – temptations that can allure anyone at any stage of their spiritual evolution. In Sanskrit they are termed kanaka, kamini & pratistha. In English, these translate to wealth, the opposite sex, and position & prestige. All negative qualities like anger, greed, envy, criticism, pride, harshness and so on, generally have their roots in one of these desires.

A modern day spiritualist, however, will find it incredibly difficult to refrain from interacting with these three things. It is difficult even within a spiritual community, what to speak of the day-to-day world. However, when we are dealing with matters of money, interacting with the opposite sex and exercising power, influence and control over others, there must be great vigilance and caution. The moment we develop a mood of exploitation and enjoyment of these things, at that time our spirituality is lost, and we descend again into the material realm. Thus, spiritual life is like a tight rope - one must tread very carefully.

It is not that as one advances on the spiritual path, one can feel more security from these allurements. As one’s tree of spirituality grows, the roots of humility, gratitude and feeling of spiritual dependence must also grow deep, lest the tree may extend so big that it topples over. The real spiritualist is not a shooting star, but a pole star. I force myself to reflect on this again and again as I make some feeble attempt to remain on this wonderful and exciting path of spirituality.

I first met Jeff Greene with John Kruth a little while back and we went out to a funky musical instrument store in the Village. There were instruments from all over the world hanging off the walls. When we saw Jeff again at the East West Living fundraiser he invited us over to his apartment to look at his own collection of musical instruments.

Ananta, Caitanya, Rasa and I. You wouldn’t believe it. He has instruments from all over the place - a hurdy gurdy, and a rubab, and a dutar, and a nickelharpa, tonic tamorbourine or something like that…man. Drums from all over. Frame drums and tambourines and kanjeeras and all kinds of stuff. The coolest thing is that Jeff can play them all really well. And his apartment is beautiful. What a fun thing to do on a Sunday afternoon.

Listen to some of the jam!

To listen, click on the links below then press play. To download, Right Click on the word “Download” and select “Save As…” from the menu. Having trouble downloading? Read our Help Section.

• Jeff Greene, Gaura Vani, Ananta Govinda, Caitanya Nitai - Jam (187)

Ila devi dasi: On the auspicious Appearance Day of Lord Nrsimhadeva we wish to announce the launching of the new official website of HH Mahavishnu Swami.

Sridevi dasi: His Holiness Bhakti Raghava Swami will be in New Talavana, MS, USA over the weekend from May 22nd until May 24th, 2009 and will offer a seminar on "Varnasrama."

Karunika dasi: In 2008, His Grace Sarvabhauma Prabhu was invited to Mauritius to speak on Rama Katha during the Sri Rama Nawmi celebrations at Hare Krishna Land, Phoenix.

Isvara dasa: It is our pleasure to announce the reprint of “The Uddhava Gita”. Our first print run of this great book, known simply as “The Book”, has long been exhausted, after the initial release.

Jeevanmukta Das: I picked up a deep concern that Srila Prabhupada had often voiced. The issue I am referring to is ‘science and its stealth battle against religion’ the same, which the BI was instituted to combat.

Antardwip das: Watch Nrsimha Chaturdasi live on www.mayapur.tv this Friday! Featuring extra live cameras, interviews with devotees, and much, much more!

Gour Gopal Das: All Glories to Srila Prabhupada! We at Varnasrama Media Productions (VMP) are happy to bring the copies of two documentaries: 1. 'Save Our Cows-Save Our Villages' and 2. 'Varnasrama Shikshalaya'

By Rita Gupta

The widely popular DVD series, “Memories of Srila Prabhupada,” now has three volumes, with an incredible total of 48 DVDs.

By Padmapani das

Mother Shyama Priya was obviously very devoted to Srila Prabhupada and his great mission of spreading Krishna Consciousness, especially in her chosen service to the ISKCON Prison Ministry.

By Omkara devi dasi

I feel very much blessed to have the shelter and ability to take darshan of Sri Sri Rukmini Dwarkadisha in New Dwaraka. I have lived in and outside of the temple community for over 33 years and throughout the years have had various spiritual realizations.

1957 May 7: "The whole Hindu Muslim conflict, the whole struggle of Gandhi and Jinnah and the whole question of Kashmir problem have arisen from this petty difference of bones only."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1947-64

1957 May 7: "In this age of quarrel and fight everything has to be done by combined force to achieve ready success. We have to combine the different forces of men, money, intelligence and field work to make the spiritual movement a grand success."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1947-64

1966 May 7:
"In the afternoon there was again meeting for teaching Sanskrit. Tonight Keertan in the Ananda Ashram was very much appreciated by all. Mr. Bill has kept my office copy of Back to Godhead for reading. I came back to 92 Bowery in the car of George."
Prabhupada Journal :: 1966

1975 May 7: "Regarding your physical malady, you should do whatever is required to treat it properly. Whatever is most practical. The names for the new child are approved by me. Circumcision is not important."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1975

1975 May 7: "I went to attend the meeting and how I appreciated the grand place of Kuruksetra. I wish to organize this holy spot for spreading Krishna Consciousness all over the world."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1975

1957 May 7: "In this age of quarrel and fight everything has to be done by combined force to achieve ready success. We have to combine the different forces of men, money, intelligence and field work to make the spiritual movement a grand success."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1947-64

1975 May 7: "Regarding your physical malady, you should do whatever is required to treat it properly. Whatever is most practical. The names for the new child are approved by me. Circumcision is not important."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1975

1966 May 7:
"In the afternoon there was again meeting for teaching Sanskrit. Tonight Keertan in the Ananda Ashram was very much appreciated by all. Mr. Bill has kept my office copy of Back to Godhead for reading. I came back to 92 Bowery in the car of George."
Prabhupada Journal :: 1966

1975 May 7: "I went to attend the meeting and how I appreciated the grand place of Kuruksetra. I wish to organize this holy spot for spreading Krishna Consciousness all over the world."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1975

1957 May 7: "The whole Hindu Muslim conflict, the whole struggle of Gandhi and Jinnah and the whole question of Kashmir problem have arisen from this petty difference of bones only."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1947-64

With just one more day to go, we invite all devotees throughout the world make an offering for the worship of Sri Nrisimhadeva in Sri Mayapur on Nrisimha Chaturdasi. Your offering will be made on your behalf and the prasadam sent to you by post.Offerings will be accepted up till 12 noon Indian time on 8th May.

All the festival sevas have already been taken up, still prasada seva slots are available. Following are updated list of details of services available that you could offer to Sri Nrsimhadeva.

read more

For the benefit of devotees, who could not be physically present in Mayapur, Sri Nrsimha Caturdasi Maha abhisheka and other programs will be available LIVE from Sri Mayapur dhama. Devotees from various temples, congregations have assembled in Mayapur to take part in the celebrations. Special series of lectures are continuing for past three days on Nrsimhadeva pastimes and teachings of Prahlad maharaj. Devotees will go on Jala Yatra by today evening to fetch water from Ganges for bathing the Lord.

read more

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura has written five beautiful prayers in “Sri Navadvipa Bhava Taranga” for receiving the mercy of Lord Narasimha. These prayers are certainly assurance to all sincere devotees that the worship of Lord Narasimha is purely in the line of aspiring love and devotion to Sri Sri Radha and Krsna. Those prayers are as follows.

read more

Dressed by: Sachimata dd., Chaitanya Lila das & Gaurangui Radharani. Video and Anthem music produced by: Dj. Prada Khan Dedicated to: Gaurangui Radharani, Sachimata dd., and my spiritual an…

A drama by the ISKCON Swansea players on Gaura Purnima 2009, depicting one of the pastimes of the young, naughty Nimai. Bhatka Steve - Narrator Bhakta Andy - Nimai Bhakta Adam - Puppy Mother Kilim…

May 6, 3:35 A.M.

I slept the whole night through. I’m up now at a late hour for chanting japa.

Japa essay

Enough for now. Go and chant and pray to Krishna. This writing requires humility, and japa does also. All arts require humility and honesty. I am begging for attraction to the holy name.

There’s nothing to say except, “Please help me.” Other than that, I’m saying to myself, “Here are some ideas on how to help yourself.” And I’m saying, “Here are some obstacles.” And I’m saying, “This is what is happening” (when I write as a reporter on reality).

From Forgetting the Audience (1993): “Today is Rama-navami, appearance day of Lord Rama. We are not in a temple, and we will have no formal observance except to fast from breakfast. I here offer my humble obeisances to Lord Krishna in His form as Rama, ramadi murtisu. I remember reading the Ramayana in 1967 and liking it so much that I wrote “The Glories of Ramacandra” for BTG. I used to sing to Hanuman at night in my perch in the Boston storefront. I wanted to be a brahmacarî and to be brave against the demons in my world—to be strong and yet an obedient servitor of Lord Rama. Hear the exploits of Hanuman, hear the ideal leadership and responsibility of Ramacandra. Everyone would like to be guided by an ideal Rama-raja government, but it’s not possible without Krishna consciousness.

Bow down to Him. My ‘bhava’ is to worship Krishna in Vraja, but I see how Rama is attractive to His followers. I will not have occasion to enter rama-lila today, except maybe we will have a reading. That would be nice. Don’t just fast and feast.

Coming to the end of this notepad and this session.

Krishna is the proprietor. All work and its results should be offered for His pleasure. You are so careful to always tell us how you feel. Please also tell us how Krishna feels.”

8:30 A.M.

“Frantic Fancies.” This is Bud at his most rapid, his famous, long fingers dancing up and down the piano, on the beat. Why does he have to be frantic? Because he’s driven, like artists and musicians are. A devotee has something frantic about him, too. He’s sober, of course, and composed. But when the kirtana starts or when he hears the sweet pastimes of Krishna, he feels frantic, and he perspires. His hairs stand on end. Caitanya Mahaprabhu was often frantic, dancing with His devotees, especially at Ratha-yatra. His eyes poured tears like a syringe, wetting everyone around Him, He jumped high in the air, and Lord Nityananda had to stand by to catch Him. I would call that frantic. Wouldn’t you? As for the word “fancies,” they’re not something whimsical. They’re just the delights, the tasty pastimes, the qualities. The beauty of Radharani’s decorations and dress and natural features. They create frantic fancies in Krishna’s heart. And vice versa, when She sees the Lord. The demigod drummers beat their dum-dum drums, and everyone is happy in all the worlds. This is the kirtana of the liberated souls. One man is doing it on his piano in the material world, but there’s a resemblance to the spiritual because he’s so sincere and talented and swinging.

“Bud on Bach.” This is a rare thing. It’s the jazz pianist Bud Powell playing in the style of Johann Sebastian Bach. Bach was very religious, played songs to God. And here’s Bud, playing like Bach. You can have so many mixtures in this world when talented people are involved. Bud playing like Bach. But still, it’s jazz. I wonder what Krishna thinks of it. I wonder what Bach would think of it. And how does Bud feel? He likes Bach, and that’s why he plays this way—rapid, Bach-like notes. Takes you to the spiritual world.

“Idaho.” Here, Bud is accompanied by the trombone of Curtis Fuller. As much as Idaho is identified with potatoes, America is identified with jazz. I don’t know why exactly this state is chosen. It’s just a song someone wrote to celebrate Idaho, and the jazz men have picked it up for their own purposes. They can do that. They can take honey out of poison. They can take a cliché and turn it into a rare thing. They can make you feel so good, just like the feelings you get when you’re God conscious. Prabhupada said the artistry of philosophers and musicians and painters was God conscious in that they were sincere. Their sincerity was their God consciousness. Prabhupada said the potato is the king of vegetables. When they’re served mashed or French fried in ghee—now that’s something special. This “Idaho” is rolling, upbeat, with lots of improvisation. But it’s got a basic tune. Something about Idaho.

“Don’t Blame Me.” Don’t blame me. Blame the stars in your eyes. Don’t blame me for falling in love with you. It wasn’t the night, it wasn’t the dress you were wearing, it wasn’t some special maya I was in. It was just you, so it’s not my fault. That’s what this song’s lyrics are about. The tune is like it, too. It’s soft and gentle. He’s saying that he’s honest. He didn’t have the wrong motivation. Radha and Krishna are not at fault. They naturally love one another. Don’t blame Krishna for trying to trick the gopis. He loves them because they’re so devoted to Him. They shouldn’t blame Him for His tricks. There’s no one at fault. It’s all natural. It’s all pure love. Don’t blame Him. Don’t blame her. When love is as pure as this, no one’s at fault. There’s no wrong motivation. There are no dirty tricks. He didn’t do it “on purpose.” He’s not a “wolf.” He’s not a seducer. And she’s not playing a coquette. It’s all as pure as the purest water, as the purest sky. It just happened because pure love happens. Don’t blame me for falling in love with you. You can blame the stars in your eyes and the beauty of your face and the charm of your ways, but I wasn’t up to anything. If anyone’s to blame, it’s you. It’s your loveliness. I didn’t do it on purpose. They just fell in love because they were meant to be in love eternally, and anyone who follows them is also not to blame.

9:00 A.M.

My Dear Lord Krishna...

Yesterday, when I submitted “My Dear Lord Krishna” prayer to my editor, he suggested I call it an essay. His reasoning was that my writing talked about prayer but that I did not directly address You. He said this was the first time I had written this way. I submitted to his suggestion to call it an essay, but I was disappointed. I don’t want to write about praying to You, Krishna, but I want to write to you directly. The other day, I received a letter that encouraged me in this regard: “I must say that I am grateful for one one who might put into words the feelings born of the yearning to be fully with Krishna, as Prabhupada is, yet still encased in flesh and blood and mind, as we are, for the purpose of showing to those in different stages of faith and hope (or despairing thereof...) that this tangible existence, this consciousness of our Lord is right here, right now. And by this practical example, one may live on in Him, whatever the condition may be, with and for Him, through thick and thin and for better or worse, and we may see and hope to know and love Him, even as we are now.”

I thought the person who wrote the letter hit the nail on the head as to what I am trying to achieve. Even a lowly person can speak directly to You; it’s not only for one who knows You intimately. You are the best friend of all living entities, and they have a right and a responsibility to communicate with You. I have love for You, and I have feelings in my relationship with You. As my dearmost friend and master, I confide these things to You. And I try to break through my dullness.

I assert my worship and affection for You, but ultimately, I have to ask You to help in praying. Please enable me to find my heart and open it to You.

As for my failings, I can only weep for them. Why don’t I chant Your holy names in ecstasy? Why do I waste my time in frivolous thoughts which are not directed to You? Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati said we must “soak our couch with tears.” But I am dry-eyed. I ask You to move me toward remorse for failing You. Today I am way behind in my japa quota, and I will probably chant them mechanically to catch up. This is not good. I have nothing more important to do than chant with attention and devotion. I should never have the mentality of chanting to “get them out of the way.”

I am praying for a more personal relationship with You. When I write “My Dear Lord Krishna,” I do not want to write an essay about the nature of prayer and the varieties of prayer. No. I want to speak with You personally and come into Your presence, even if it means failure. I want to fail in the attempt to address You and not succeed in doing something else.

You are my sweet Lord. I really want to see You. But it takes a long, long time. I have to be clear of all material dirt and filled with desire to serve You and Your associates in Goloka Vrndavana. I have to gain the qualification to hear Your flute and to see Your sat-cid-ananda form by the bank of the Yamuna. I can do this by yearning for You and crying Your names with quality. I do not deserve any special favor, yet I pray to You for a benediction. I know You are kind to Your devotees if they are sincere. My spiritual master used to say that I was sincere, and I pray that I have not lost that quality over the years and while making blunders on the path of devotional service. Please remember my service to Srila Prabhupada and see some good in the activities I continue to carry out in his name.

the yellow submarine, my bhajana kutir #63→

There is an mp3 file of my first ever production in Logic Studio 8 down toward the end of this post.

It didn't take me much study to realize that the Boss BR-1600CD that I've been using for the past few years, while a great workhorse for live kirtan recording sessions, was not going to cut the mustard for the serious audio production that will be necessary for an album.

When I got to reading about the Haas effect I checked the ability to configure the delays in the BR-1600 (you need to have different delay times on the left and right channels), and found that it's not possible.

That's just one of a million other things, like not being able to view waveforms or see automation graphically represented through time.

After that I decided to use a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation). I had read an article in Recording World about Ragani and the home recording setup she uses to produce her albums, and thought: "OK, so it's possible, and that's how you do it."

She uses Protools, but after discussing it with a friend I decided to go with Apple's Logic Pro, which is natively developed for the Mac.

Recommendation: Start with Garageband and go to Logic Pro when you hit the wall

Like magic, Allans Music ran a seminar on Garageband and Logic Pro on Monday. I booked a spot and rocked up. A guy from Apple in Sydney was there giving a demo and sharing his knowledge and experience. I twittered the whole thing, if you were paying attention. [Note to self: use hashtags in future.]

His advice? Use Garageband until you reach its limitations, then switch to Logic Pro. The file formats are compatible, and the interface is similar, although Logic's exposes more complexity.

Rather than buying Garageband and then the Jam Packs, he advised buying Garageband, then Logic, which includes all the Jam Packs. Even if you buy Logic Express, then upgrade to Logic Studio, you'll only be penalised $20 over buying Studio outright.

Two years ago Logic Pro 7 alone cost $1500. Today you can get Logic Studio 8, which includes Logic Pro 8 and a whole swag load of other stuff, including 30,000 loops - 45GB in total, for only $649.

Logic Studio 8 was used to compose and produce the soundtrack to Slum Dog Millionaire, so it's not just a toy.

I try, and fail, to follow this recommendation

When I got home I fired up my 2005 G4 ibook and reinstalled Garageband from my OS installation CDs. It only has an 80GB hard drive (1.33GHz CPU, 1 GB RAM), so I'd wiped a lot of utilities, applications, and operating system components that I didn't use to make room for photos and music. After installing, Garageband turned out to be Garageband version 2, a far cry from the Garageband '09 he had been demoing.

After mucking around for a few moments and digging the overdriven harmonic distortion of the one of the Synth Leads (I think it was called Synth Nice), I decided to see if I could install the Jam Packs that come with Logic Studio to try out some ethnic loops and instruments in Garageband.

It turns out that you can only install the Logic Jam Packs if you install the whole Logic Studio. So I tried that. I didn't expect Logic Pro to work, but I figured that since the Jam Packs would be installed, I could play with them in Garageband.

After brutally eliminating practically everything on the hard drive to make space to install, and 4 hours of transferring data from the 6 DVDs to the hard drive, I had Logic installed.

However, Garageband didn't work anymore. The newer file formats used in Logic 8 are not compatible with Garageband 2. So I fired up Logic Pro 8 - and it worked.

I needed to get a larger monitor to make it useable - 1024x768 was too small. I went to 1280x1024 on an external monitor and started to play.

Here's a shot of my little setup:

I started working my way through the small "Getting Started Guide" that comes with Logic. Logic Studio ships with a huge amount of documentation, and it's quite well written too (speaking as someone who does software documentation for a living).

In one evening (last night) I produced this:

• First cut with Logic Studio 8

With this I used some of the 30,000 included loops, three synths tracks with some basic riffs I recorded, some piano roll editing to tidy up the timing of the recording, fader automation to change levels on the fly, and the looping and arranging tools. I'm just getting the hang of the environment and the toolset at this point. Recording actual audio instruments will come later. It's another level of complexity that I'll tackle when I'm proficient and comfortable with the first.

To produce this track took me about 5 hours from a cold start (I did go to the 2 hour seminar, and read the first two chapters of the Logic User Manual before installing).

In contrast, I spent two weeks trying to get my Linux machine into a state where I could run the open source DAW Ardour and get it to produce sound without clicking. At the end of those two weeks I still hadn't succeeded - which lead to my surrender to Apple.

I have to say that I don't regret it. Free (as in speech) software is only free (as in beer) if your time is worth nothing. I don't have a lot of time, I need things that just work, and Apple's gear - both hardware and software - does that.

"Where's that cooking dude?" I hear you say. Still here, too busy to blog.

What have I been up to? Well, my son went back to school, and I've held four classes in one week: two in Perth, one in country Victoria, and one in downtown Melbourne.

Warm and friendly vegetarians Lyn and Michael Sykes run a vineyard and a cellar-door cafe at Bickley in Western Australia's Perth Hills. I was invited over (a five-hour flight across the continent) to hold two classes. That's our first Perth crew above.

Cool-headed and efficient Michael presents our Syrian Pomegranate and Walnut Muhammara & Vegetable Platter, gorgeously decorated by some of the ladies in the class.

Our crew engage in some synchronised herb cutting. A seriously enthusiastic group, I might add.

Lunch is served in the warm Perth hills. That's Lyn, mid-bite far right.

The next day we did it all again, new menu, and concluded with an evening class. When the sun set, the temperature dropped considerably, so we were all happy to indulge in the warm vegetarian delights that we had lovingly prepared.

The following weekend I flew off to Melbourne, spending the night in my all-time favourite abode, the beautiful Melbourne Hare Krishna Temple in Albert Park.

On a chilly Saturday morning, my son and I set off to Flinder's Street Station for a train to Ringwood and a taxi to Warrandyte and the home of Alison (above, right) for an ebullient return cookery event.

The final class of the series was at Gopals Restaurant in Swanston Street, downtown Melbourne.

Gopals is where it all started for me, way back in 1979 and my very first cookery class. Three thousand classes later, it's all still loads of fun.

'Strange Encounters of the Cauliflower Kind'. After inserting a probe to test for signs of life, the specimen is carefully dissected. Don't stand too close...

Evie, donning her surgical gloves, peels a juicy rhizome of fresh turmeric.

When you have a crew of 27 you have enough manpower to bifurcate cashews. Lucky I didn't ask them to peel the peas.

Never too many hands when it comes to poories. I think they were hungry.

The perfect end to a perfect weekend - the Feast!

Want to indulge in a cookery class with Kurma. Find out more...

May 6 2009

“A priceless treasure house of Vaisnava lore…” – Srila Prabhupada 1972

An exciting new ISKCON project is taking birth in Kolkata, the city of Srila Prabhupada’s birth.

The location is four-story building in the heart of Kolkata.

The building was donated to ISKCON in 2000 by Sri Madan Chanda Shamsukha and his wife Srimati Geeta Mukherjee Shamsukha.

Praharana dasi, Ravindra Svarupa dasa, Mr. MC Shamsukha, Hari-sauri dasa, Mrs. Geeta Mukherjee Shamsukha.

Mr. Shamsukha getting the blessings of HH Jayapataka Swami for the project.

Known as “Gita Bhavan” the building is being transformed into a major research centre and guest house. The Bhaktivedanta Research Centre (BRC) is an exciting new facility aimed at providing a ‘one-stop’ resource for the world-wide academic and Vaisnava community concerned with Vedic studies and in particular, Gaudiya Vaisnavism.

The library has five main sections:

•    Vedic library, containing the Vedic literature and the commentaries of the leading acaryas along with all Srila Prabhupada’s books.

•    Gaudiya Vaisnava original literature and commentaries

•    Vedic cosmology

•    Old manuscripts and rare books identification and preservation

•    Bhagavad Gita library with all language translations of Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad-gita As It Is, plus the commentaries of the previous acaryas.

HH Bhakti Charu Swami visited the work in progress on the library on April 2 2009—seen here with Acyuta dasa (center) and Mr. Shamsukha.

As well as the library there is a temple cum meeting hall for seminars etc.

and three other floors are dedicated to a guest house for visiting scholars to stay.

Srila Prabhupada’s desire

Vedic Library

The inspiration to establish the BRC was born out of the direct desire of Srila Prabhupada. In August of 1976 Srila Prabhupada met with the temple president of Bombay, Giriraja dasa Brahmacari, and his former servant Nitai dasa, to discuss the establishment of a library in the new Bombay Juhu temple:

Hari-sauri dasa recorded this meeting in Volume 4 of his Transcendental Diary series:
August 15 1976 – Bombay

“There was no darshana this afternoon, although Srila Prabhupada did go up onto the roof to sit for a while with a few devotees. Then it began to rain so he returned to his sitting room. There he met with Giriraja and Nitai prabhus to discuss requirements for a library for the new building. Nitai has been given Rs. 4,000 by the temple to purchase books for it. Srila Prabhupada said the library should contain all his own books, those of all the acaryas, as well as the Upanisads and other bona fide Vedic texts. He said even those of Sripad Sankaracarya could be included — but not anything from Gandhi, Vivekananda or Rama-tirtha. “They are all rascals,” he said. “The Vedas instruct us that we should not even look at their faces.”
I was puzzled. “Doesn’t Caitanya Mahaprabhu instruct that if anyone read’s Sankaracarya’s books he is doomed?”
“Not if he reads with proper understanding,” Prabhupada said. “We can read to know what is their philosophy.”
[end quote]

Later in 1976 in a meeting with Dr. Theodore Kneupper, professor of oriental philosophy at Slippery Rock University, Arkansas, the idea of this Vedic library was again mentioned:

November 6 1976 - Vrndavana
[Srila Prabhupada’s secretary Jagadisa dasa is reading a news article about ISKCON to Srila Prabhupada and Dr. Kneupper]

“In fact, many Westerners come here to discover the real India for themselves, (indistinct) life experience. For this reason we are building a model Vedic community at our Juhu center in Bombay, providing all the modern amenities for scholars, students, and sophisticated inquirers from abroad as well as from India who can study the original Indian culture and practice. The center will include a Vedic library, theater, prasadam restaurant, gurukula school, an international guesthouse, as well as a temple and asrama.’
[end quote]

Unfortunately for various reasons the work was never completed. To this day ISKCON has no such library facility and this will be a major provision of the BRC.

Vedic Cosmology

The necessity for a library dedicated to Vedic cosmology became apparent as soon as Srila Prabhupada started talking about building the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium (TOVP) in Mayapur. Ravindra Svarupa prabhu recalls discussing the planetarium concept with Srila Prabhupada in Mayapur and then going into Calcutta to study the idea further. He had the realization that unless we have a library of all materials dealing with Vedic cosmology, the TOVP would not be taken seriously by the very people it was meant to attract–scholars and cosmologists from around the world. The history of delay in the building of the TOVP need not be dwelt upon here, but after many years, the realization of Srila Prabhupada’s dream seems immanent and the need to establish the library is imperative.

Purchase of cosmology books has already begun

Several years ago a cosmology team was formed to begin the research for the TOVP. With funding from Ambarish prabhu the team began talking seriously about establishing a library and last year in February 2008 the cosmology team were given the facility of a large 1100 sq. ft. hall in the building in Kolkata.

Gaudiya Vaisnava studies

Another aspect of the center was developed in conversation with Sriman Pranava dasa from Gothenburg Sweden who is completing his dissertation on the life of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura this summer (2009). He has had a long held ambition to establish a center for studies related to Lord Caitanya and the Gaudiya Vaisnava movement. In cooperation with the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies (OCHS)

    

Pranava prabhu has proposed the following:

“To initiate an ongoing and long term project in cooperation with the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies (OCHS) for the mapping, collection, digitization, translation and study of literature belonging to or dealing with the Vaishnava tradition that developed from Caitanya (1486-1534) from the 16th century up to the present.  The literature is written mainly in Bengali, Sanskrit, Hindi and English. The first aim is to collect a body of resources and bibliographies of primary and secondary literature at the OCHS. The second is to conduct research and translation of these resources. The third is to make available these materials to the larger academic community and the general public. The project may facilitate research in a number of more specific areas as theology, sociology, history of ideas, philosophy, gender studies, anthropology and science. The project may also result in closer cooperation between a properly run center such as the Bhaktivedanta Research Centre and relevant academic departments and universities in India and around the world.”

The BRC is now working with Pranava prabhu and the OCHS to make this proposal into a reality.

Manuscript preservation

The inspiration for the final component for the center came from an exchange of letters between Srila Prabhupada and his disciples in 1972 regarding some hand-written manuscripts of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura which at that time were in the hands of his son, Srila Lalita Prasada Thakura:

Srila Lalita Prasada Thakura, Acyutananda Swami, Gurudasa and Srila Prabhupada

In a letter to Acyutananda Swami dated  12 June, 1972 Srila Prabhupada told him:

(more…)

When it comes to matters of what is true and what is not true, we have got to be strong. We should not be weak and compromising. When maya or illusion is presented as the truth we have to get tough on maya and defeat it. One of the most dangerous illusions floating around is the idea that God is impersonal. But this idea does not make any sense. How...

Every Town and Village is our ongoing attempt to fulfil the instruction of Caitanya Mahaprabhu to chant the Holy Name in every town and village. Our definition of a "town or village" is a suburb with a distinct postcode. Since 2007 we have chanted in more than 50 of Brisbane's 150 postcodes. You can read more reports here

A small group this week, just four of us. The sky was leaden and heavy with clouds, but the sun was shining at the same time. Towards the end it began to rain while the sun was shining, an event described in Pancaratra-pradipa as auspicious. In Morocco this occasion of simultaneous rain and sunshine is known as "The Wedding of the Wolf".

Camera work: Prahlad, Param Satya, and Sita-pati

Srimad Bhagavatam 11.8.12 - A saint among politicians but a politician among saints is not a real mahatma.

The following is a bhajan and lecture given by H.H. Bhakti Charu Swami on 5 May 2009 in Towaco, USA.

To download the lecture, right click on the download link and choose either “Save link as” or “Save target as”

The following is a bhajan and lecture given by H.H. Bhakti Charu Swami on 5 May 2009 in Towaco, USA. To download the lecture, right click on the download link and choose either ldquo;Save link asrdquo; or ldquo;Save target asrdquo;

The following is a Śrīmad Bhāgavatam class given by H.H. Bhakti Charu Swami on 5 May 2009 at Towaca, USA.

To download the lecture, right click on the download link and choose either “Save link as” or “Save target as”

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 10.2.34 - Chapter 2: Prayers by the Demigods for Lord Kṛṣṇa in the Womb

The following is a Śrīmad Bhāgavatam class given by H.H. Bhakti Charu Swami on 5 May 2009 at Towaca, USA. To download the lecture, right click on the download link and choose either ldquo;Save link asrdquo; or ldquo;Save target asrdquo; Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 10.2.34 - Chapter 2: Prayers by the Demigods for Lord Kṛṣṇa in the Womb

The following is the speech H.H. Bhakti Charu Swami gave at the United Nations Headquarters, New York City, NY, USA for the Panel Discussion on “Forgiveness: a pathway to human transformation”.

The following is the speech H.H. Bhakti Charu Swami gave at the United Nations Headquarters, New York City, NY, USA for the Panel Discussion on ldquo;Forgiveness: a pathway to human transformationrdquo;.

The local council I work with has asked me to present to them and a number of heads of religious education Krishna Conciousness, including available resources. I have under a month to get ready for it is there any suggestions or advice from senior devotees for me?

One who is situated in devotional service is certainly the controller of his senses, and thus he is a liberated person. When such a liberated person, the pure devotee, hears of the transcendental qualities and activities of the Lord's incarnations for the performance of various pastimes, his hair stands on end on his body, tears fall from his eyes, and in his spiritual realization his voice falters. Sometimes he very openly dances, sometimes he sings loudly, and sometimes he cries. Thus he expresses his transcendental jubilation.

When a devotee becomes like a person haunted by a ghost, he laughs and very loudly chants about the qualities of the Lord. Sometimes he sits to perform meditation, and he offers respects to every living entity, considering him a devotee of the Lord. Constantly breathing very heavily, he becomes careless of social etiquette and loudly chants like a madman, "Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna! O my Lord, O master of the universe!"

The devotee is then freed from all material contamination because he constantly thinks of the Lord's pastimes and because his mind and body have been converted to spiritual qualities. Because of his intense devotional service, his ignorance, material consciousness and all kinds of material desires are completely burnt to ashes. This is the stage at which one can achieve the shelter of the Lord's lotus feet.

SB 7.7.34-36, texts

Lecture on Srimad Bhagavatam, Canto 1, Chapter 2, Text 16 by Giriraj Swami.

Dallas, TX
2009-03-20

TRANSLATION

O twice-born sages, by serving those devotees who are completely freed from all vice, great service is done. By such service, one gains affinity for hearing the messages of Vasudeva.

PURPORT

The conditioned life of a living being is caused by his revolting against the Lord. There are men called deva, or godly living beings, and there are men called asuras, or demons, who are against the authority of the Supreme Lord. In the Bhagavad-gita (Sixteenth Chapter) a vivid description of the asuras is given in which it is said that the asuras are put into lower and lower states of ignorance life after life and so sink to the lower animal forms and have no information of the Absolute Truth, the Personality of Godhead. These asuras are gradually rectified to God consciousness by the mercy of the Lord's liberated servitors in different countries according to the supreme will. Such devotees of God are very confidential associates of the Lord, and when they come to save human society from the dangers of godlessness, they are known as the powerful incarnations of the Lord, as sons of the Lord, as servants of the Lord or as associates of the Lord. But none of them falsely claim to be God themselves. This is a blasphemy declared by the asuras, and the demoniac followers of such asuras also accept pretenders as God or His incarnation. In the revealed scriptures there is definite information of the incarnation of God. No one should be accepted as God or an incarnation of God unless he is confirmed by the revealed scriptures.

The servants of God are to be respected as God by the devotees who actually want to go back to Godhead. Such servants of God are called mahatmas, or tirthas, and they preach according to particular time and place. The servants of God urge people to become devotees of the Lord. They never tolerate being called God. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu was God Himself according to the indication of the revealed scriptures, but He played the part of a devotee. People who knew Him to be God addressed Him as God, but He used to block His ears with His hands and chant the name of Lord Vishnu. He strongly protested against being called God, although undoubtedly He was God Himself. The Lord behaves so to warn us against unscrupulous men who take pleasure in being addressed as God.

The servants of God come to propagate God consciousness, and intelligent people should cooperate with them in every respect. By serving the servant of God, one can please God more than by directly serving the Lord. The Lord is more pleased when He sees that His servants are properly respected because such servants risk everything for the service of the Lord and so are very dear to the Lord. The Lord declares in the Bhagavad-gita (18.69) that no one is dearer to Him than one who risks everything to preach His glory. By serving the servants of the Lord, one gradually gets the quality of such servants, and thus one becomes qualified to hear the glories of God. The eagerness to hear about God is the first qualification of a devotee eligible for entering the kingdom of God.

Download: 2009-03-20 - Priti and Sam Home Program - 4 - Giriraj Swami - Lecture on SB 1.2.16.mp3

1971 May 6: "I have come to Malaysia. This place appears to be very prospective for our preaching work. People are inclined to give us land and a house. I'll try to open a branch immediately, either in Kuala Lumpur or Ipoh or Teluk Anson."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1971

1973 May 6: "I am very glad to know that Ananda Prabhu is staying with you. Please offer my dandabats. He is my old god brother. Sincere Vaisnava. Please treat him like your father. Do remain in full cooperation."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1973

1973 May 6: "Please continue to send men out into the interior, village to village and town to town. I am very glad to hear how our festival program is going on so nicely in Germany. That you have opened one branch in Stockholm, Sweden is very good to hear."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1973

1968 May 6: "Now you have to find out some person who can distribute our literature. If we have no outlet for selling the books it will be a problem. If there is nice distribution arrangement, then at least two to four new books we can publish every year."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1968

1969 May 6: "There are at least twenty-five important cities in your country, so if we distribute at least 1,000 copies in each city, that is 25,000 copies in your country alone. So it requires only organization."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1969

1970 May 6: "I tried to give aural reception to the words of my Spiritual Master and thus I tried to engage my tongue in repeating the same words without any change. I delayed to execute His order by so many years. But it was better I began late than never."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1970

1973 May 6: "As GBC member it is your duty to carefully make a broad program for implementing Krsna Consciousness in every sphere of life, in this way we will become respected as the most important members of human society."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1973

1973 May 6: "They are simply cheating the mass of men by making false propaganda. We must expose these rascals by strong preaching and profuse distribution of these Krsna Conscious literatures."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1973

1968 May 6: "Now you have to find out some person who can distribute our literature. If we have no outlet for selling the books it will be a problem. If there is nice distribution arrangement, then at least two to four new books we can publish every year."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1968

1969 May 6: "There are at least twenty-five important cities in your country, so if we distribute at least 1,000 copies in each city, that is 25,000 copies in your country alone. So it requires only organization."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1969

1970 May 6: "I tried to give aural reception to the words of my Spiritual Master and thus I tried to engage my tongue in repeating the same words without any change. I delayed to execute His order by so many years. But it was better I began late than never."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1970

1971 May 6: "I have come to Malaysia. This place appears to be very prospective for our preaching work. People are inclined to give us land and a house. I'll try to open a branch immediately, either in Kuala Lumpur or Ipoh or Teluk Anson."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1971

1973 May 6: "Please continue to send men out into the interior, village to village and town to town. I am very glad to hear how our festival program is going on so nicely in Germany. That you have opened one branch in Stockholm, Sweden is very good to hear."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1973

1973 May 6: "As GBC member it is your duty to carefully make a broad program for implementing Krsna Consciousness in every sphere of life, in this way we will become respected as the most important members of human society."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1973

1973 May 6: "They are simply cheating the mass of men by making false propaganda. We must expose these rascals by strong preaching and profuse distribution of these Krsna Conscious literatures."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1973

1973 May 6: "I am very glad to know that Ananda Prabhu is staying with you. Please offer my dandabats. He is my old god brother. Sincere Vaisnava. Please treat him like your father. Do remain in full cooperation."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1973

“THE SCIENCE OF MEDITATION”

Lecture by Matsya Avatara Dasa

Naples, Castello Angioino, 20th December 2008

Conference “The Science of Meditation”

THE UNCONSCIOUS "PEOPLE"

During our introspective journey we encounter a number of experiences that the individual lives unconsciously, almost unknowingly, but that keep interacting with him every day. These unconscious experiences can be individual or common to various creatures, and constitute an integral part of this universe in its entirety. This is the case of the collective unconscious described by Jung. The collective unconscious constitutes the world of archetypes, the world of symbols, where eventually an American, an Indio, a person who lives in Cape of Good Hope, an Eskimo or a Chinese, have the same essential reference systems: this is indeed the universal nature of symbols. Such is the crucial importance of the concept of memory or remembrance, in Sanskrit smritaya: what can be remembered both at conscious and unconscious level.

These memories are all the more conditioning when they are unconscious, because a memory or a conscious thought can be temporarily or voluntarily put aside by a person who may be trying to concentrating on something else, while an unconscious memory, precisely due to its nature, cannot be directly and consciously managed by the individual, who becomes agitated by such memories. Similar experiences stored in the deep unconscious or karmashaya are called samskara, where sam means "together" and kara comes from the Sanskrit root kr meaning "to do". In themselves these experiences have no positive or negative value, but their importance is in the powerful influence they have on the individual, who generally and incorrectly thinks that he is the author of his actions. Similar experiences attract one another and dig deep grooves into the unconscious psyche, veritable paths on which the individual always treads, reinforcing them more and more. Such psychic grooves are constituted by the individual tendencies, vasanas, that are also positive or negative. So we are often agitated by the unconscious without knowing it, pushed by our tendencies that may be artistic, scientific, harmonizing or oppressing, pacific or hostile, and obviously in order to really become the masters of ourselves, we must clean out such tendencies, especially the negative ones. There are very precise and effective techniques that enable us, through the use of will power, to transform the contents of the unconscious: a fundamental work in order to engage in the path of meditation. Only in this way we will be able to free our intuition power, the "path of the heart", that we can successfully walk only if the heart has been properly purified.

INSTRUMENTS OF KNOWLEDGE: INTUITION BEYOND PERCEPTION

In order to attain knowledge we can not depend on sense perception, that as we have seen already, allows us to know maybe the 0.1% of the external and internal reality, and we cannot even depend on the information broadcast in society, especially in a society like the one we live in, highly technological, completely extroverted and finalized to the realization of external projects, where judgments are often prejudices. In this case discrimination constitutes the application of Socrates' motto, "knowing we do not know", and is an invitation to question oneself, to not accepting something blindly only because it appears to our senses or to our reason, to constructively question our deep beliefs. In this way it will be possible to overcome the concept of reality that is anchored to the physical and psychic world, overcoming the mere rational function, the "short-winged" intellect (in Dante's words) and by rediscovering the pure intuition faculties, typical of the child psyche, that are at the basis of modern scientific research. In this perspective we do not want to deny intellect in general, the "treasure of intellect" (again, in Dante's words), because it constitutes a valuable instrument of research when it is not misused to damage other channel of knowledge, that must be properly used but with detachment - just like in pole jumping, the athlete must use the pole to make the jump and then drop it in order to complete the leap. 

All the great discoveries come from brilliant intuitions and only later they are verified experimentally through positive sciences such as mathematics, physics and chemistry, so that they become evident for all and not only for those who have "given birth" to them in the first place. Explaining, or sharing our discoveries and realizations with others, constitutes the sentiment of compassion, karuna, and transmitting them in a convincing manner with the typical respect of the spirit of offering, is fundamental for the growth of the individual as well as for the good of others around us. Because whatever we give to others always comes back to us, and there is no better way of benefiting ourselves but doing good to others, offering them what is most precious for ourselves.

Jim Kohr was the all-American boy. Handsome, strong, intelligent born in an upper middle-class family. A good student, he took a degree in mechanical engineering from Ohio State University.

The following is the speech H.H. Bhakti Charu Swami gave at the United Nations Headquarters, New York City, NY, USA for the Panel Discussion on “Forgiveness: a pathway to human transformation”.

United Nations Headquarters

What I will present here today is the Vedic perspective of forgiveness and the appropriate means to cultivate and demonstrate that noble quality. Vedas is the wisdom that descended from the spiritual reality, since time immemorial – since the time of creation. Just as, along with a machine comes the operation manual describing what is the purpose of the machine and how to operate it, the Vedas describe the purpose of this material nature, how it functions and how we should achieve our desired goal here.

Vedas generally do not deal with the immediate effect, rather with the cause behind the effect. For example, the Vedic branch of medicine, “Ayurveda,” does not deal with the symptoms of the disease only, rather with its inherent causes. It deals with the three elements of the body – mucus, bile
and air, whose imbalance manifests in the form of disease.

According to the Vedic understanding, we act according to the three modes of material nature, namely, the mode of goodness, the mode of passion and the mode of ignorance.

Goodness is motivated by spiritual understanding; passion is motivated by the desire to enjoy this world and ignorance is total oblivion of the actual reality. For example, one person gets hit by a bicycle. If he is in the mode of ignorance he will start crying due to pain. If he is in passion he will grab the cyclist by his throat and start beating him up. However, if he is in goodness, he will brush the dust off his body and will tell the cyclist that everything is alright and there is nothing to worry about. Those who are in the mode of goodness are generally known as “saintly”. Qualities such as tolerance, mercy, compassion and forgiveness are their natural ornaments.

One of the most wonderful demonstration of compassion and forgiveness is when Jesus was being crucified. He was praying to the Lord, “Please forgive them because they do not know what they are doing.”

How could one display such tolerance and compassion? It is because of his love for them. Although they were treating him in such a brutal way, he just saw them as his brothers who did not know what they were doing. Just as an elder brother sees the wrong doings of his younger brothers, and when fails to correct them in spite his repeated endeavors. Knowing well how angry the father will become, he appeals to the father to forgive them because they do not know what they are doing.

One can develop such an attitude only when he becomes situated in the mode of goodness. Then only he becomes saintly by being enlightened with true knowledge of understanding God and developing his loving relationship with Him.

People in general are acting in the mode of ignorance. They have to be reminded about their mistakes and help them to rectify their mistakes. They must be brought to the platform of knowledge. They have to be educated.Punishment alone will not achieve that noble cause. We have to make them understand that for their own benefit as well as for the collective benefit of the world, they should refrain from such actions.

In order to assume the role of the elder brothers and guide them on a proper path, we ourselves have to become situated in the mode of goodness first; we have to become saintly and develop the qualities that will truly benefit the misdirected civilization of today.

In order to develop this universal brotherhood, we have to recognize our Supreme Father. It does not matter by which name we identify Him or call Him, but we have to recognize His presence and His affectionate influence in our lives. Then only can we develop our loving relationship with each other.
Subsequently the divine qualities such as mercy, tolerance, compassion and forgiveness will become the natural ornaments of our noble characters. At that time we will be able to help this planet to become transformed into paradise.

Coming back to New Vrindaban after being away since August, we (that’s Ananda Tirtha and family) were pleasantly surprised to notice many improvements:

This one was a long time in the works but the end result is a vast improvement on the previous cluttered room.

While it’s sad that Jamuna’s Health Food store is no longer, this has given the snack bar a much-needed chance to expand.

Even the laundry looks great!

And finally, we have lights all around the lake, another much-needed and long-time-in-the-making project! Not only do they look pretty, but an evening stroll around the lake is much safer now, especially for those unfamiliar with the area.

In the last two weeks the trees have suddenly burst forth with greenery, flowers are a-blooming and the pre-festival cleanup and preparations are going on in full swing!

Perfect preparation for the Festival of Inspiration in a few days, TP-GBC meetings the week after, 24 Hour Kirtan on June 20-21, etc! Now all we need is for you all to attend. . . . And of course, the main reason to come is, as always:

At the end of last school year, a parent brought sugar cookies decorated with faces in for a farewell treat. Since my kids are on an eggless diet, they knew those cookies were not for them. But could you blame a kid for desiring? As per their request, I baked up a few batches of eggless face cookies for them to delight in last year.

Please share your realisations with other devotees from around the world...simply send me an introduction email and I will be happy to make you a member:

rasa108@gmail.com

ys

Rasa Rasika dasa

Radha Krisna prabhuval itt vagyunk a reptéren, úton New York felé. Onnan tovább megyünk Új Vrindavanba a “Festival of Inspiration” rendezvényre. Hogy miért is megyünk arról a következo napokban fogok mesélni. Ha sikerül, errol az útról lesz videós beszámoló. Persze, ha érdekel valakit…

Örömmel tudatom veletek, hogy kiadtuk Srila Indadyumna Maharaja “Egy utazó prédikátor naplója” sorozatának első két könyvét. Ez a két könyv egy kötetben jelent meg, 190 oldalas kiadvány lett, melynek szövegét újra lektoráltuk. Maharaja nagyon örült, hogy mostmár magyar nyelven is elérhető lett a könyve és reméli, hogy minél több bhaktához eljut.

Ezen a linken, illetve a templomi shopokban megveheted.

Felmerül a kérdés, hogy miért vegye meg az ember, ha online is elérhető a napló?

1. A neten elérhető verziókat a tanítványok fordították, hogy mihamarabb elolvashassák a bhakták. Sajnos nyelvi lektorálásra nem volt idő, ezért a Gabhira prabhu sok-sok órát fordított arra, hogy a könyvben található anyag elkészüljön.
2. Egy könyvet a kézbe fogni és olvasni még mindig más érzés, mint egy monitoron olvasni. Nem tudom, hogy mások ezzel hogy vannak, lehet, hogy csak én vagyok ilyen maradi.

A könyvet online, ezen a linken vásárolhatjátok meg.

It is once again time for a guided meditation on the ripened fruit of the tree of Vedic knowledge, the Srimad-Bhagavatam

I humbly ask you to read first the translation and Bhaktivedanta purport to today's verse, the 10th verse from Ninth Chapter of the Third Canto of the Srimad-Bhagavatam.

ahny āpṛtārta-karaṇā niśi niḥśayānā

nānā-manoratha-dhiyā kṣaṇa-bhagna-nidrāḥ

daivāhatārtha-racanā ṛṣayo 'pi deva

yuṣmat-prasańga-vimukhā iha saḿsaranti

Such nondevotees engage their senses in very troublesome and extensive work, and they suffer insomnia at night because their intelligence constantly breaks their sleep with various mental speculations. They are frustrated in all their various plans by supernatural power. Even great sages, if they are against Your transcendental topics, must rotate in this material world.

I just wanted to appreciate and offer some meditations on a recent class done by our esteemed guest HG Damodar Gopal Prabhu of Montreal and Chowpatty on this verse. I hope I may add something to his already wonderful and profound observations.

I must admit I'm always tickled with these kinds of verses, in which the minute fallacies of our contemporary civlization of vice and conceit are placed in the proper light of the parampara.

After all, what is more revolutionary that "you are not your body, you're spirit soul!" Every activist group of progressive minds is actually aiming at this ideal, this liberation, this freedom against the clearly perceived injustices of our material existence.

The complete vision that Prabhupada has given us actually makes him the supreme activist, the one who can give us what we really lack and want: our selves, in real, eternal freedom, and what's more, he can give us our loving relationship with Krsna once again, if we sincerely desire it.

Our contemporary post-modern hodge-podge of gadgets, guns, and gonzo living is a veritable monster, on the loose, devouring our forests, hedge funds, idealistic politicans, and so many senses of decency and piety. It is a monster of lust, a capitalistic, industrialized, over-technological creature of comfort.

We are its victims as well as its confidants, its bridegroom and its divorcee. Prabhupada could clearly see this from the core of his vision, and his strong and crystal-clear writings on the precarious situation we have put ourselves in as a collective people stand with and above all such revolutionary expressions.

In the purport to this verse, Prabhupada writes:

"As described in the previous verse, people who have no taste for the devotional service of the Lord are occupied in material engagements. Most of them engage during the daytime in hard physical labor; their senses are engaged very extensively in troublesome duties in the gigantic plants of heavy industrial enterprise.

"Factory" is another name for hell. At night, hellishly engaged persons take advantage of wine and women to satisfy their tired senses, but they are not even able to have sound sleep because their various mental speculative plans constantly interrupt their sleep. Because they suffer from insomnia sometimes they feel sleepy in the morning for lack of sufficient rest. By the arrangement of supernatural power, even the great scientists and thinkers of the world suffer frustration of their various plans and thus rot in the material world birth after birth."

We think this is normal. We rotate our entire lives around the expectations of some such temporary pleasure to be derived from this vicious cycle. And Prabhupada clearly states that even the so-called "great minds" are not immune. Indeed they are often the ones, consciously or unconsciously, creating the social and economic spheres for the monster to stomp around on us.

It boils down to hankering and lamenting. This is the essence of the material nature. We are trying to enjoy seperately from Krsna, and we are in a world filled with so many different varieties of sensual delights.

We desire, we obsess, we think, we feel, and we act. In Calcutta on 1-27-73, speaking on verse 7:1 from the Gita, Prabhupada spoke the plain truth about this:

"Because in the karmi stage we have got two diseases: hankering and lamenting. Whatever you have got, if it is lost, then I lament. "Oh, I got this and that and it is now lost." And whatever we do not possess, we hanker after. So for possessing, we hanker, we work so hard. And when it is lost, we again lament and cry. This is karmi stage. So brahma-bhutah stage... Jnäna stage means he has no more lamenting or hankering. Prasannätmä. "Oh, I am, aham brahmasmi. What I have got to do with this body? My business is to cultivate transcendental knowledge, brahma-jnäna. So in that stage, brahma-bhütah prasannätmä na socati na känksati samah sarvesu bhütesu [Bg. 18.54]. That is the test. He has no lamenting. He has no hankering. And he's equal to everyone. Panditah sama-darsinah."

Again, what is more revolutionary than this? This is the summit of all progressive human aspiration, and beyond.

Another point that Damodar Gopal Prabhu made was that our contemporary system of education is the feeder into this ideology of impersonal and demonic exploitation. As I can relate from my own experience, your normal everyday, idealistic young college student is fed into a spiral of credit and debt, consumption and need...a veritable slaughterhouse.

Prabhupada writes from "The Art of Dying" from The Science of Self-Realization:

"The modern setup of human civilization is a risky one because it offers no education about relevant inquiries into the essential principles of life. Like animals, people do not know that they are going to be slaughtered by the laws of nature. They are satisfied with a bunch of green grass, or a so-called jolly life, like the waiting goat in a slaughterhouse. Considering such a condition of human life, we are just trying to make a humble attempt to save the human being by the message of Back to Godhead. This method is not fictitious. If there is at all to be an era of reality, this message of Back to Godhead is the beginning of that era."

It is our spiritual foundation, the house that Prabhupada built, that is our gift to all progressive-minded living entities. To dovetail our aspirations for a more just, humane, and equitable world into the vision that Prabhupada has given insures that our efforts will rise above the modes of nature.

Without a God-centered core, the modes of nature, the monster, will gradually and with great steadiness eat away at all of our energies and sincerity.

Prabhupada's vision is a mix of the urban and the rural. The lynchpins are book distribution (and all the dynamic city preaching and shelter that comes along with it) and self-sufficient, spiritually centered farm communities. This could save the world...at least temporarily, in a Golden Age kinda way.

It could save many souls, giving them back exactly what they are looking for in their protests, occupations, petitions, hunger strikes, martyrdoms, etc.

Satsvarupa Maharaja states this excellently here in an excerpt from his book Living With The Scriptures:

When the devotees regularly produce excellent books and magazine articles, and as they continue to distribute Prabhupäda’s books more and more, and when they establish successful farm communities, and when they solve their own problems of education, marriage, and community cooperation, and when they demonstrate the perfect Vaisnava etiquette of ladies and gentlemen–not just with a handful of members, but with thousands–then eventually the dull brains of the suffering population of Kali-yuga will come to realize Prabhupäda’s message, and we can be satisfied by fulfilling his request.

If there is truth in the homely proverb “Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door,” then it should not be very long before the practical ability of devotees to solve their problems and the problems of other people in the world begins to manifest more clearly to everyone, and the world’s citizens begin a mass movement of beating their path to the Krsna consciousness movement and back to Godhead.

My heart always remains connected to the progressive vibe, to the movement of the people. I pray very humbly, knowing I have little ability on my own, to Guru and Gauranga, for the guidance and ability to serve these striving humans and spirit souls by allowing them to understand the sublime message of Krsna Consciousness.

By Deena das

For the pleasure of the devotees this coming Nrsimha Caturdasi, below is Chapter 231 of the Garuda purana, where Mahadeva Shiva calls on Lord Narasimhadeva.

By Akruranatha das

The volunteers were members of Pancajanya Project (www.MotelGita.org), a branch of ISKCON dedicated to placing at least 1 million Bhagavad-Gitas in guest rooms across the U.S. and Canada.

Based on a talk with H.G. Atmatattva Dasadhikari. On the 24th of March, 1984, at 12:20 a.m., thirty-five dacoits armed with weapons and bombs attacked Sri Mayapur Chandrodaya Mandir. They harassed the devotees and treated them with derision. But the greatest shock came when the dacoits decided to steal the Deities of Srila Prabhupada and Srimatl Radharani. Fearlessly, the devotees challenged the attackers. How could they see Srila Prabhupada and Srimatl Radharani carried away? Shots were fired, a few dacoits fell, and their plans were foiled. Srila Prabhupada was rescued, but that beautiful form of Srimati Radharani would no longer grace the main altar.

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Some of us have experienced life in a desert. Statistics reveal how increasing desertification is a sign of deteriorating environment. This is written in the Srimad Bhagavatam as part of the sinful reaction land had to accept in an exchange with Lord Indra.

Suhki Krsna Prabhu’s bhajan on Gaura Purnima 2009. ISKCON WALES.

Interesting article from the BBC which shows the increasing use of alcohol in the UK; including a shift in the age group that drinks the most, read it here: Female binge drink rates \"Double\" Interesting though they do not look at the reasons why although the long term medical effects are know by most, intelegance is not [...]

We have just received this letter from a searching soul that was finally united with Srila Prabhupada’s guidance in the form of his books. Name and names of places are withheld.

Dear Friend,

Greetings and Hare Krishna from my home in Xxxxxxx. There is much I would like to talk with you about and ask you, though I am not exactly sure where to begin. This letter being the first of what I hope to be several correspondences, I suppose it makes sense for me to start at the most recent and significant turning point in my spiritual development and continue on through the present. I must first admit that even though I am extremely eager to learn about the Krishna consciousness movement, I am equally uneducated in terms of self-realization and spirituality in general, and apologize for any ignorance on my part. Thank you for taking the time to read this letter and hopefully respond to my inquiries.

 

A little over a year ago while in the midst of one of my darkest times of overwhelming sadness, anxiety, and depression, a book entitled A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose was placed in my hands by my father who had sensed how much I was suffering and struggling with life at the time. Judging by the cover, my first impression was that it appeared to be some sort of self-help book; a topic in which I had little faith in at the time and did not want to hear much about while experiencing my intense mental anguish. Also, being endorsed by Oprah’s Book Club (a person for whatever reason I had developed a sort of contempt for) I was skeptical to say the least. It is safe to say that on any other day I would have paid it no mind at all had I not been feeling so beaten down and broken. I decided I had nothing to lose by reading it, and in fact, ended up gaining much more than I could have imagined.

I won’t go into too much detail here about the content of this book, but the important thing is that it seemed to be the catalyst I needed to begin discovering my true nature as a spiritual being. He spoke clearly and eloquently about how we are not actually who we think we are (”we” being those who are still completely associated with the physical realm of form) and that our imagined selves, or the ego, was created as a result of us being lost in the world of thought and sensations. He also spoke about how humanity as a whole was suffering from this common “mental illness” of materialism and uncontrolled thought. Every word seemed to resonate with truth in my heart, and as I read, what I originally thought to be myself was slowly peeled away to reveal the essential truth beneath. I was becoming conscious of myself, my true self.

What I found most beautiful about this book was that it did not seem to be a “new” teaching or religion, as there seems to be a new school of philosophy or spirituality packaged and churned out every week, but more or less a re-teaching or simplification of what the heart of all world religions seem to be pointing towards. Whatever the reason, it definitely awoke something in me that had been dormant for my whole life. This was my first actual experience of recognizing and realizing my true essence as a spiritual being and my eternal connection with God. For the next week or so after awakening, I walked around in a state of pure bliss and clarity, and spoke to all who would listen about this wonderful experience that had happened to me. I felt like I had been gifted with the most significant piece of knowledge and that virtually all my friends and family were missing out on this vital realization.

Eventually, this feeling of unity and unconditional love began to slip away from me and the sensual pleasures and pains of life once again crept into my life. This vision of clarity had all but disappeared when I began searching frantically to find this level of consciousness again. I poured through as much literature as I could about spirituality, philosophy, religion, science, and the metaphysical. I attempted volunteering at a local church and homeless shelter, spoke with friends, family, and acquaintances about spirituality, and even tried experimenting with hallucinogenic substances to try to recapture the gem I had lost. All these things seemed to hold bits and pieces of the answer, but not the answer itself. Though I could attain intermediate states of self-realization, I could not hold on to this feeling for more than a day or so before once again becoming confused and lost in the world. This has more or less been the state of things for the last year; swinging between glimpses of enlightenment and selfishness and despair.

The ideas of quitting my job, getting rid of what few physical possessions I have left, and leaving my home, family and friends in pursuit of a spiritual guide and a spiritual life have been on my mind ever since I had this first taste of God. My original plan was simply to set out with the faith that wherever I needed to be, I would end up. Literally the same day that I made the decision that I was actually going to take the leap of faith and embark on this spiritual journey, I noticed a book sitting on a friends cluttered desk entitled The Science of Self-Realization by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada which I’m sure you are familiar with. I began reading and immediately felt a direct connection with what was being taught. After reading through twice cover to cover, I have come to believe that Krishna consciousness could be the path I have so desperately been searching for in order to develop and sustain my connection with God.

What I am now looking for is a physical place where I can go to study and practice this lifestyle and be surrounded with others whose purpose is one and the same; to know, love, and serve God. It is my understanding that I can practice this path from home or wherever I may be, but I feel it is imperative for me at this point to be in the center of this movement until I have a firm grasp and understanding. I do not want to run away from the problems going on in my life, but I feel that it is important for me to distance myself geographically (at least for a while) from my current unclean way of living and let go of certain unhealthy relationships if I want to find any lasting peace in life. I keep getting the feeling that removing myself from my current life situation would be most conducive to spiritual growth, but I’m just not sure where to go. Is there a place where I can come to learn and practice this pure way of life, or do you recommend I stay in my own community and try to cultivate this practice on my own? Is there a center for new and serious devotees to congregate, live, and grow together? Do you know of any sort of Krishna conscious community in Xxxxxxx? Where do I go from here? These are the questions that have been foremost on my mind the last couple of weeks, and I would love to get some feedback on them from someone with a little experience. Once again, thank you very much for taking the time to read this and I hope we can open a line of communication so I am not feeling so anxious and alone right now in my spirituality. As I’m sure you’ve probably realized, most people (at least in my experience) are not interested at all in this kind of talk or have absolutely no idea about what I’m trying to say. At times I feel rather alone on my quest for truth. Thank you!

Hare Krishna,
Xxxxx Xxxxxx

"Udgirna" means, "erupting". We should deeply cultivate our bhajan in such a way that the pressure in our heart increases more and more, until it explodes like a volcano.

Such eruption from the heart is real preaching in the line of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

Not that our bhajan, and preaching are like a fireworks display -- an artificial show that looks impressive, but lacks substance and duration.

================================================================== Thought for the Day--Wednesday 6 May 2009 ================================================================== Our purpose is to help everyone awaken their original Krishna consciousness, which is eternal, full of knowledge and full of bliss. Such a global awakening will, in one stroke,...

Savarana-Sri-Gaura-Pada-Padme ( Prayer to the Lotus Feet of Sri Gauranga - from Prarthana, Sri Narottama Das Thakur)

Srimad Bhagavatam 11.8.11 - Perfection of renunciation is yukta vairagya.

On Thursday, May 7th 2009, Toronto's Hare Krishna temple will be celebrating Nrsimha Caturdasi. This is the appearance day of Lord Nrsimhadeva, Krishna’s half-man half-lion incarnation. Lord Nrsimhadeva appeared in order to deliver the saintly child Prahlada from the persecutions of his father, Hiranyakashipu.

In the summary to chapter nine in the Srimad Bhagavatam's sixth canto, we find this passge, written by Srila Prabhupada:
"Because women accepted one fourth of the sinful reactions, they are untouchable during their menstrual
period."

Toronto, Ontario

When Antonio Banderas came to Toronto to shoot “Take the Lead”, a film based on a true story of a school teacher who took some ghetto kids and jacked-up their spirits through dance, he not only “cut the rug” but the movie producers tore up the rug to replace it for a good hardwood floor.

The two owners of this old ballroom located on floor 3 at 2 Carlton St. are two happy yoga teachers, a sister team, Cynthia and Kimberly. “This large room received a new floor,” they explained to me as we were talking about the success of this evening’s program. Where Antonio had strutted his stuff, we now conducted an entire bhakti program, which included chants by bhajan band “Gaura Shakti’, a talk about devotion, eating marvelous prasadam (veggie food) and ecstatic dancing by an entire yoga community. The floor was put to good use.

Deva Datta, whom I sometimes call the moody monk, was the principle organizer. He did a splendid job. Because of his powerful presence, a beautiful orchestration of mobilizing people took place. To the beat of the mrdanga drum, folks took to dancing like ducks take to water.

My morning was equally as exciting. I spoke to a group of Unitarians from Brooklin (not to be mistaken for the mammoth city in the U.S.) about the philosophy of Krishna Conciousness. From their gentleness and kindness I could appreciate that here were a group of brahmans. And I told them what I thought. “You are brahmans by nature and you know by your own inclinations that you are caring people. People are drawn to you for your strength of character. By the qualities that are outlined by the speaker of Bhagavad-gita, Lord Krishna, you are brahmans. And brahmans have an obligation to inspire others and to give.”

In any event I spent a day with brahmans and yogis. That’s good company.

7 Km

May 5, 2:00 A.M.

I didn’t get much sleep last night. I woke up in the middle of the night with a headache, took a medication and went back to sleep. A few hours later, I woke up with another headache and decided to get out of bed. At 2:00 A.M., I took more medication for headache and gradually began to get better.

4:16 A.M.

It’s now 4:16 A.M. I’ve chanted over eight rounds.

I got the name Satsvarupa dasa from Srila Prabhupada in 1966. He said it meant the inner form of truth. So that means that I am not the inner form of truth, but I am the servant of the inner form of truth. Another time, he told me the name means the truth personified. So I’m a servant of the truth personified, who is Krishna. In 1972, he added on the name Goswami. That was when he gave me sannyasa. I asked him what my name would be on taking sannyasa. He said, “Just add “dasa Goswami.” So I always favor keeping the first name of diksa initiation and just adding “Swami” for those who are taking sannyasa because that’s what Prabhupada did. I don’t know how long I’ll last night, being able to chant without getting sleepy, but so far, so good. I hope I’ll be able to write today. There are so many things to write about, but they’re not all Krishna conscious. I’ve been noticing the birds lately. It’s springtime. But it’s been wet and cold. I’ll ask Baladeva to come up at 5:00 A.M., and we’ll go out to the beach.

Life is actually nice living in the yellow submarine and following my daily routine. The broken shoulder is an inconvenience, and that irritates me in all different ways, so that I don’t have enthusiasm for acting and writing. It seems to rob my mind and distract me. But it’s supposed to heal in a few weeks. Let’s see if it does. Baladeva wants me to get a three-wheeled bicycle and continue bike riding around the neighborhood, but I’m a little hesitant about it.

I hope I’ll be able to write a prayer to Krishna today. Yesterday I just didn’t have it in me. You should always be able to pray to your Lord, even if it’s a simple prayer. I’ll try. I wrote a book called Forgetting the Audience in 1993, but in this writing of the journal, I’m speaking to an audience. But it’s not a formal address, like at a graduation exercise. I’m speaking to myself, and at the same time, speaking to my friends. I’m telling them where I’m actually at, my failings and shortcomings and trying to encourage them by showing them that I’m still struggling despite the deficits. That’s my style.

I had been happy to be writing a poem about japa every day, but now I can’t use my hand to write, and it’s hard to compose a poem in your mind. My chanting this mornign was in my mind and mechanical, but it was fast—under six minutes. I’m so grateful to Baladeva for being like a fireman and being ready to answer my call at any time of the day when I need him. I couldn’t get around without him nowadays. Dattatreya helps, too. He does the life-saving work of typing the journal every day. The journal is my main service, my main source of satisfaction. I’m receiving letters from people who say they like it, and that’s nice. So I’ve got to keep it up, both for my own joie de vivre and for my audience. Now I’ll go back and do a little more chanting.

4:30 A.M.

From Forgetting the Audience (1993): “With these japa retreat diaries in March, 1993, I am going a step beyond writing a book of my self-discovery intended to be shared with friendly readers. Now I am freer to write just because I write. To see it more for what it is as a raw exercise—and not at that same time try to shape it into usable literature in the form of a book.

“The artist has predominated in other free-write books. Now even he is taking a back seat. Writing is writing itself.

“If I want to write, I will; if I want to pause and not write, I will—I like to think I have those options. I’m not driven to communicate or express. I’m free. (I shouldn’t hold on to a ‘romantic’ or even ‘tragic’ or ‘heroic’ image of myself as an artist-writer who is compelled to write by a higher source of power.)

“I’m going a step further. But still a writer. Just doing it as bhajana—I hope it will be acceptable to Krishna as such.”

(Composed on the tongue)

Japa man, japa man, chant your merry way.

If you slip, pick yourself up

and continue through the day.

Don’t forget it is your most important duty,

so even when it’s not so pretty,

continue to paint the words.

Krishna likes it in any form,

although He’d like it best.

Japa man, japa man, I give you full support.

Japa man, japa man, I’ll make my little reports.

We’re going to see how we are doing

keeping record of the scores.

Never fail to do sixteen

then you’ll try for more.

6:50 A.M.

My name is Satsvarupa dasa Goswami. I am sixty-nine years old. For the first twenty-six years of my life, my name was Stephen or Steve or Stevie Guarino. My mother gave me the middle name Thomas for Catholic confirmation. Up to about age sixteen, people called me Stevie. As a freshman in college, I insisted on being called Steve. As I think of it, almost all of my life has been spent within institutions—public school, high school, college, and in the Navy, which was a very heavy institution. After the Navy, I exploited my freedom for several years, although I did work in the welfare department of New York City. In 1966, I joined ISKCON. For the first six months, it did not seem like an institution but a family. Gradually, however, it grew into an institution, a religion, a mission meant to take over the world. I was placed by the founder-acharya, Srila Prabhupada, into positions of leadership in the institution. I was an original member of the GBC (the Governing Body Commission) and was appointed to the elite corps of renounced sannyasis. As ISKCON became more of an organization, I began to feel the institutional laws that governed it as similar to the Navy. Dealing with the other young leaders became stressful. Many of them had “alpha” characters—dominating and seeking to increase their powers. My character was just the opposite of alpha, but I had been placed in the elite positions because Srila Prabhupada liked my obedience. He even wrote in a letter, “You are not a good manager, but I keep you on the GBC because you do what I say.”

There were lots of politics among the GBC members, especially at their annual meetings. I was always very quiet at those members, and members would even say to me, “Why don’t you speak?” New assignments were often given out at the yearly meetings. I did not jockey for particular positions or attempt to increase my geographic area of control. But I was given more areas every year. The temple presidents, who were supposed to be subordinate to me, actually acted as controllers and used me to rubber stamp the policies in their temples. This became complicated when I had to accept their estimations of my disciples (I had been appointed a guru), and my disciples sometimes became disappointed in me. Around this time, my health broke down, and I developed a severe case of migraine headaches, which were definitely connected to the work in the institution. The migraine attacks were so painful, I had to resign from the GBC because I could not perform my duties. This did not stop the headaches, which I still have to this day (now going on thirty years). I suffer from a traumatic experience of life in the ISKCON institution, but I maintain my membership out of loyalty to my spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada. For years after leaving the GBC, I remained active as a traveling preacher and writer of books. Due to an act of misbehavior, I have been removed from any remaining managerial roles I held. I’ve also been asked to reduce my spiritual profile and not initiate any more disciples. I now lead a quiet, internal life, writing a daily journal on my website and concentrating on my bhajana of chanting and hearing. This is a little resume of my life in the institution.

“Blue Pearl.” Smooth and sweet and upbeat. Right away you think of Krishna, a blue pearl. Pearls are so rare, but can you imagine a blue one? Krishna used to wear pearls around His neck, and Radharani wore them, too. But the blue pearl, perfectly shaped and colored like a fresh rain cloud, is Krishna. Bud Powell grunts a little as he plays. He can’t contain his ecstasy. Not exactly grunts, but makes a sound, like talking, like chattering. He wrote the melody and makes the improvisations. It’s now very familiar, and yet fresh. It’s not a popular tune. It’s more or less played by Bud alone, Bud and his trio. An ode to the blue pearl. The rarest of gems. Where does it come from? It’s self-manifested, not from an oyster. He plays it twice on this CD because he likes it so much. It has a rich melody. I could think of lots of friends who haven’t heard it and would like it. I’d like to introduce them to it, show them the blue pearl and say, “Isn’t this nice?” Introduce them to Bud’s “Blue Pearl” and the original Blue Pearl. He moves his feet in rhythm and bobs his head as he plays. He lives in his own world when he plays. The miseries of hard life begin when the tune is over. That’s why he wants to play as long as possible. He once went into a night club where someone else was playing the piano and asked him to move over: “Let me play!” The other piano player relented without resentment because he knew Bud was special.

“Keepin’ in the Groove.” This is classic bop. “In the groove”means you’re doing well, you’re swinging, you’re in the right order. It’s an old-fashioned saying now, “that’s groovy.” But the meaning is the same. Like the grooves in the old-time records. Staying with Krishna in parampara. No broken records, please. Stay in the groove. Don’t concoct something, but play it the way it’s laid down. The experts, the acharyas, stay in the groove. They don’t get lost or confused.

“Some Soul.” This is soul music. The word “soul” has become a cliche. Everything is soul. It’s commercial. But the original soul means spirit soul, fresh and eternal. Small as one thousandth the portion of a hair but more powerful than thousands of suns. Out of millions of soul, some soul comes to Krishna. He’s lucky, he’s fortunate. He meets a spiritual master. As for “soul,” it means the blues. We think of it as Afro-American music. It’s right on. It has a feeling of genuine emotion. Soul is similar to spirit soul in that it’s genuine stuff. They play it from the soul. The heart is close to the soul, so when you play from the heart, you’re close to playing from the soul. You’re calling out to Krishna. It’s not fluffy, commercial stuff. And that’s what the spirit is—genuine, non-phony spirit. Not like a bogus yogi. Not like a commercial musician but the piano of Bud Powell playing “Some Soul.” Some soul out of millions. Some souls are all covered over with very little chance of exposing the nakedness, which is needed. Some souls are in the mode of goodness and come back to this world to become a poet or professor again and again. But some souls get free by contact of another spirit soul who’s free. We say, “He’s some soul!” He’s the pure devotee, devoid of interests except the pleasing of the Lord.

My Dear Lord Krishna... A Prayer Essay

Which are better, the prayers which are perfectly written in the sastras or ones which are spoken from the heart of a pure devotee? One is as good as the other. The thing is, they have to be spoken sincerely. If you take a perfect prayer from the scriptures but just recite it in an empty way or with pompous rhetoric, then it’s not so good. The humble prayer, even spoken in broken words, is better if it comes from the heart. But if you can take a prayer that you’ve memorized from the Brahma-samhita and speak it with the same breath as Lord Brahma, then you’re praying perfectly. It’s all a matter of heart.

Prayer means to speak to the Lord, to implore Him, to praise Him, to thank Him. He comes in different flavors. But they should come with some knowledge of who God is, who you’re talking to. You must come with sincerity. The best prayer is the prayer of the heart. The prayer with desperation in it. The prayer with calmness in it. The prayer with the sound as sweet as the flute. The prayer stolen from Krishna. The prayer Krishna makes to Radharani, and you repeat it in His mood. The prayer the spiritual master gave you and that you repeat with obedience and loyalty. The prayers you enact, which he gave you to carry out. The best prayer can be long, like the fourteenth chapter of the Tenth Canto, or it can be just one verse. Some prayers are so wonderful that most devotees are not qualified to say them. There’s that prayer by Radharani which only Madhavendra Puri and Lord Caitanya can say. Others are not qualified to say it. We should pray as we can, not as we can’t. I like the prayers by the gopis, where they’re thinking of Krishna in Mathura, with the sophisticated ladies there. They ask whether Krishna will ever come back to them. Does He think of them? Will He ever touch them with his aguru-scented hand? And I like the prayer by Maharaja Pariksit, where he says to the gathered sages, “Let the snake bird or whatever magical thing come to bite me, but you just go on praising the glories of Lord Govinda.” And in the next verse, he says, “And if I have to be born again in this material world, let me be born in the association of devotees and let me be kind to all living entities, and let me love Krishna more than anything else.” Something like that. From time to time, you have different favorites. The more, the better. And of any choice of favorite prayers, you’d have to pick the prayers written by Lord Caitanya, the Siksastaka. And a little prayer that rose out of your own heart, full of pathos and sincerity. Vandanam is one of the nine ways to perfection in the process of devotional service.

the yellow submarine, my bhajana kutir #62→

1967 May 5: "We have to popularize this movement everywhere. If there are three or four mrdangas played at the park and there are about 20 pairs of cymbals then the kirtana will be more beautiful."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1967:

1967 May 5: "If you can organize the sales of my books then there is no question of scarcity of money. I can go on printing so many books. But because the books are not selling nicely, neither there is sufficient money, so I am handicapped."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1967:

1968 May 5: "So you have got good intelligence, you are born of a great nation, and good family; just utilize this opportunity to finish the business of Krishna Consciousness, without waiting for further incarnation."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1968:

1971 May 5: "So far as distributing the $15,000 donation, I would advise you to send this money to ISKCON PRESS for printing Bhagavad-gita As It Is enlarged edition. So if you can kindly let me know your decision."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1971

1972 May 5: "So far your concern about management, the solution is to be always thinking of Krishna and the Spiritual Master, then maya cannot touch you. If you very strictly follow there is no question of ever falling down."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972:

1972 May 5: "Always there will be obstacles placed in our path by the demons and atheists, but if we can remain pure, nothing will be able to stop this great transcendental movement from spreading God consciousness all over the world."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1972:

1974 May 5: "We have given these houses with the purpose that they should execute devotional service exactly like the Brahmacaris and sannyasis. Otherwise, why purchase houses near the temple?"
Prabhupada Letters :: 1974:

Prabhupada once said, "Why are we distributing all these books? We just want to see our master smile."

SDG: You Cannot Leave Boston 10: October 1969

1971 May 5: "So far as distributing the $15,000 donation, I would advise you to send this money to ISKCON PRESS for printing Bhagavad-gita As It Is enlarged edition. So if you can kindly let me know your decision."
Prabhupada Letters :: 1971