Rupa Goswami said, “I do not know how much nectar this name ‘Krishna’ contains.” He had reached the pinnacle of success, wherein the utterance of the name of Krishna was putting him into an ecstatic state. Hare, Krishna and Rama combine to put an attentive chanter into a state of bliss and deep absorption. You can do it in the beginning stages if you just put your mind to it, remind yourself of the importance of the act and comfortably repeat the names. There is no better exercise than chanting Hare Krishna.
Satsvarupa dasa Goswami - June 10, 2:46 A.M.
I woke up early at 2:00 A.M. after a peaceful night. I enjoy sleeping here because the evenings are quiet. The bed is nice. I called for Narayana, who was fast asleep, he said, but he came right up and did his morning duties. Now I’m chanting my rounds.
3:26 A.M.
- Early-morning japa log
At first I felt annoyed at the duty of chanting japa. Then it began to dawn on me what I was doing, how important it was to do the early-morning japa. I didn’t count the time it took me to chant the first three rounds because Narayana was present in the room, but when I chanted the fourth round, it came out to be ten minutes! I then got on the stick and chanted the next round in five minutes. After that, I lost count for two rounds and chanted the fourth round in 5 minutes, 58 seconds. I was chanting barely audibly but could hear the sounds. I paid attention to the names with not much distraction to other thoughts. I bore down my concentration and awareness on how crucial it is to chant good rounds. It’s a great shame when I don’t do them well because once the early-morning rounds are done, there’s no chance to get at them again. But at least I wasn’t thinking of baseball games or anything like that. I was tuned into the sound vibration of the mantras and was repeating them rapidly. I trust the potency of the names were working, even without my full awareness. Now I have time to chant some more rounds before Narayana comes up at 5:00 A.M. Oh holy names, please pick me up and hold me in your embrace.
- Japa essay
The worst thing is being spaced out and unaware of your chanting. It goes by mindlessly. It’s almost wasting your time. So I catch myself and listen to every sound vibration and treasure it. I tell myself to be aware that this is Radha and Krishna and that They are the goal of my life. I’m not just fiddling around with an early-morning exercise, I’m diving into the most important portion of my day, praying to God and His Consort to bring me into the circle of love of God. It’s such an easy practice it can mislead you into thinking it’s not important. But we need it easy because we’re so slow and lazy. We need an easy practice, and Lord Caitanya has emphasized it, just because He knows we’re so unqualified to do something more strenuous or complicated in this age of Kali. We’re poor candidates for things like yoga or meditation. We should be grateful for the ease of reaching Krishna by reciting His names over and over. It’s not a boring practice or trivial, but once you get into the groove, it becomes fun, it becomes absorbing, it becomes deep and spiritual. You become excited by the accumulation and the speed. You keep it up like a jockey on a winning horse. You feel happy and triumphant. You feel like you’re winning a prize. This is the result of decent morning chanting. Rupa Goswami said, “I do not know how much nectar this name ‘Krishna’ contains.” He had reached the pinnacle of success, wherein the utterance of the name of Krishna was putting him into an ecstatic state. Hare, Krishna and Rama combine to put an attentive chanter into a state of bliss and deep absorption. You can do it in the beginning stages if you just put your mind to it, remind yourself of the importance of the act and comfortably repeat the names. There is no better exercise than chanting Hare Krishna.
- Chanting Hare Krishna, forgetful boy remembered what he was doing
- and returned to the thoughtful praise. Nama Prabhu picked him up,
- and he sailed into outer space,
- leaving behind the mundane dirt.
- He cleansed his mind, like a new shirt.
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- He became happy just by sitting in his chair.
- The air became purified
- along with his mind and heart.
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- He thanked the Lord for the gift of the name
- and pursued his numerical strength.
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6:43 A.M.
A sunny day, seventy degrees. Two swimmers in the ocean. We chanted our japa and we walked. I am above my sixteen rounds. I’ve been getting headaches again. I treat them with medicine and lie back in bed. Dattatreya has medicine for his cough. Narayana still doesn’t have a good lumbar belt for his back. We received an email from Baladeva in Vrndavana. He wrote, “I love youse guys, but Vrndavana is good too. It’s good for my religious life and my mental sanity.” He said he is reading The Yellow Submarine and he envied us here. I said, “I envy you in Vrndavana,” but I really didn’t mean it. I’m content to stay here. The yellow submarine is a good place to chant my early rounds. And reading Brhad-bhagavatamrta is a treat. Gopa-kumara has just gone to Satyaloka, where he faints in ecstasy on seeing the thousand-handed form of Lord Vishnu. But wherever he goes, he grows dissatisfied and wants to go somewhere else. In his mind, he yearns for Vraja and the form of Madana-gopal, whom he worships with his mantra.
Yesterday Narayana made a delicious lunch Mexican style with stuffed tacos. Sastra ate many tacos. We discussed whether I should go see another orthopedist and get a second opinion on my broken collarbone, since it’s so slow in mending, and this doctor isn’t doing anything but waiting. For now, I have decided to stick with our doctor and not seek a second opinion. I do handwriting now, but I don’t risk drawing with crayons, as it requires too much pressure on the shoulder.
Caitanya-candrodaya has suggested putting my japa writings from The Yellow Submarine into a book like Japa Reform Notebook, and we’ll probably do it when we have enough material collected. I might also make a book called My Dear Lord Krishna, from my collected prayers.
8:30 A.M.
“Strollin’.” Krishna likes to stroll. He walks along the paths in Vraja with His friends. They pick flowers and minerals, with which they decorate their bodies. They stroll with their cows. It’s fun walking along with Krishna. Sometimes we stroll in this material world with a friend. That’s also fun. But to walk with Krishna is something unimaginably sublime. He dotes on His friends and shows them so much affection. They swim in bliss. Strolling with Krishna in the pastures of Vraja is the wished-for goal of every living entity, except we don’t know it. We look for something else. Krishna cries out sometimes when He walks, and the boys laugh. Sometimes while strolling they walk right into a demon, but there’s nothing to fear. Krishna finishes him off playfully, like breaking a toy doll, and they resume their strolling. They stop only for lunch. Otherwise, you’ll find them strolling through the pastures, up the hill, by the riverside, moving the cows before them at a leisurely pace. This piece is by Keith Jarrett, who is on piano, with Gary Peacock on double bass and Jack Dejohnette on drums. They make it very pleasant and take you for a walk.
“You Took Advantage of Me.” We did this one once before. The boy or girl claims that the other one took advantage of them. You attracted me to you, and then took advantage of me. You used me for your own purposes. Is this serious? Radharani doesn’t mean it seriously. She likes it when Krishna takes advantage of Her. She wants only to please Him. In the material world, it’s different. A man really takes advantage of a woman, uses her for his selfish purposes, for his sense gratification, and then he leaves her. Or the woman does it to the man. But in krsnaloka, it’s all play. Krishna took advantage of the gopis when He took them out on the boat. He told them the boat was too heavy and they had to throw out all their butterpots, and even their heavy jewelry. They were in the middle of the river with Him, and so He took advantage of them in their precarious situation. But when they found out that the boatman was actually Krishna, they were delighted and glad to be taken advantage of. Many times, Krishna took advantage of the gopis, using His superior power, and they appeared peeved and angry. He even arranged rendezvous with Radharani and then didn’t show up. She got angry with Him and called him a lampat, a debauch. But in Her heart, She never changed Her steady love for Him. Keith Jarrett romps on this one, and the audince applauds. Then Gary Peacock takes a solo, talking on his double bass. He makes it sound like conversation. Sometimes Keith Jarrett shouts out while he plays. He takes so much delight in the music. They really rock. The drummer beats up a storm. Then back to the simple head. You took advantage of me. He draws it out in improvisations, delays the ending, delights the audience. He’s not taking advantage of them but giving a pleasing musical piece. They applaud with enthusiasm.
“Yesterdays.” This is a soft ballad, recalling past days. Reminisce. Sometimes it’s sad or wistful, because those days are gone now, those good times that you had. Especially when you were young. You can’t do those things anymore. In the spiritual world, it’s not like that. Everything is eternally present. Yesterdays are today. It’s an eternal present. The killing of Aghasura takes place again and again. Mother Yasoda ties up Krishna again and again. He moves eternally from universe to universe and plays His pastimes eternally. So He doesn’t have to think back sorrowfully to days that used to be when He was in college and had a girlfriend. When He was a little boy and played in the yard with His father. Those times are all still with Him. Nevertheless, He can have the sweet, reminiscent feelings, too, because He’s not without anything. When He leaves Vrndavana, He thinks about it, how He used to roam the fields. But then He returns there and does it again. Keith Jarrett is playing many notes, although not at a sped-up tempo. He’s a masterful pianist. He’s using his voice over the notes, too, making vocal sounds. Gary Peacock takes a solo, filled with a reminiscent quality. He can put that emotion into his playing to make you feel it. The yesterdays, the times you enjoyed, the years when you were younger. They surcharge the music with that feeling. Thinking back... it almost makes you want to cry. The yesterdays were sweet and are gone.
“Shaw’nuff.” Sure enough. This is played at a rapid tempo. It’s got gusto. It means... it means... well, it means “sure enough!” You sure got the stuff. You’ve got the fun. You’ve got the verve. You’ve got the good times. Sure enough, we’re having a good time. Sure enough, we’re not missing anything. With fast music like this, you’re satisfied that you’ve got the good stuff. Sure enough, Krishna had the good time. He cries out like Keith Jarrett, “Yeah!” Everything is rolling and rocking. The boys are having a good time doing somersaults and wrestling and running down the hill. The gopis and Krishna are spraying water at each other, and colored dyes. Sure enough, there’s plenty of fun in the spiritual world. There’s nothing missing. Even if you like to fight, there are fights there, but no harm. There are wild drum solos. There are wild piano runs. Sure enough, in our spiritual world, it’s not just angels playing harps or worshipping God sitting on a throne. It’s boys and girls running around having a great time.
11:00 A.M.
- My Dear Lord Krishna...
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I wish to be more consistent and compassionate to my roommates. Sometimes I fail to appreciate their efforts, and I impose my will too harshly on them. Please let me be more kind.
I also need to pray better to You. I should pray to serve You and please You. Can I do it by writing? Yes, that is one way. I can address You in eloquent words. I can praise You in plain, sincere words. You are the master of all life and my worshipable Deity. I love You as father and guru and as best friend. I see You in the water like a giant fish and in the sky as a white cloud. I see You as my material father in his fire captain’s uniform. I see You in the fantasy writing form. You are present in the hearts of the tiny sparrows we see gathering at the beach.
Of course, You have a spiritual energy and a material energy, and You are present in both. Are You a grammarian? Do You exist in the arguments of the atheists and theists both? Sometimes people misunderstand You and say, “It is not to Krishna that we have to surrender but to the undying impersonal within Him.” People who think like that don’t know Your inside or Your outside. People try to know You by pranayam. They put their finger over their left nostril and breathe in. Then they hold their breath and exhale through the right nostril. Then they breathe through the right nostril. By pranayama, yogis approach You, but they cannot come close.
You are present in the tiniest insect and in the gigantic whale. You are present in the largest planets and in the smallest microbes. You are music, and You are silence. You are always happy, but sometimes You show anger. Your anger is transcendental.
I am writing to You in the present, I have written to You in the past, and I will write to You in the future. When I write to You, I capture only a fragment of Your being. It takes a pure devotee to write to You and capture You wholly (although You can never be captured wholly). But if Srimati Radharani writes or speaks to You, she captures You wholly. As Lord Caitanya, You know everything past, present and future.
I praise You as the greatest person. Everything originates from You, and You maintain everything. At the end of universal time, You will destroy everything and wind it up in Your form as Mahavishnu. Then after a long period of time, You will awake and start another creation into motion. Meanwhile, in the spiritual world, Your playful actions will go on undisturbed by the destruction and recreation of the material world. You will play as a young cowherd boy by never growing old, and Your associates will share Your blissful pastimes with You. You have revealed all this in the Vedic literatures and past it down in the oral tradition of acharyas or spiritual masters. Some of these acharyas are with You in spiritual forms in krsnaloka, and they assist You in Your pastimes. Some of them are gopi-manjaris and assist You in Your most intimate pastimes with Srimati Radharani and Her sakhis.
Writing to You or about You is a comprehensive endeavor. It can occupy a devotee’s full time and capacity. As I write this piece, I am getting a headache, and so I have to stop. Otherwise, I could go on forever describing different aspects of Your being, Your rule, Your abode, Your kindness, and Your mysterious nature. Please give me more chances to write to You when I feel better. Let me write freely and happily about You, and let me love You. And may it please You.
from #98→
By Jaganmohini Devi Dasi
By Bhakti Purusottama Swami
I humbly request all the devotees worldwide to respond to this urgent appeal to help us to continue the Free Prasada distribution during this year Ratha Yatra on 24th June 2009 at Puri dhama. For last five years ISKCON Puri has been distributing prasad to around 15,000 to 20,000 pilgrims who visit Puri for attending Ratha Yatra. Many religious institutions usually distribute dry prasda on this Ratha Yatra day but only ISKCON feeds the pilgrims a full meal prasada. ISKCON Free Prasad distribution Camp will be set up on the Grand Road inside a big dharmashalla, with the facility for pilgrims to sit and have prasada. Prasdam distribution takes place non stop from morning till evening.
The most merciful 500 year old ancient deities of Rajapur, Sri Jaganath, Baladeva and Subhadradevi kindly allowed Themselves to be bathed continuously for four hours by His loving devotees. This ceremonial bathing of the Lordships before the Ratha yatra or Chariot festival is called Snana Yatra or Devasnana Purnima. According to Skanda Purana when Raja Indradyumna installed the deities in Puri, he arranged this bathing ceremony. This day is considered to be the birth-day of Lord Jagannath.
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