Radhe Krishna Prema

Love in Separation

2020-12-09T12:00:00.002-06:00

Hare Krishna!

Have you ever loved someone? Have you ever had the feeling of missing them? I have and I'm going through this experience in my life right now.

I recently filed for divorce after I found out my ex-wife was cheating on me and having illicit affairs. It's been one of the hardest and most painful experiences of my life. I would not wish for anyone to go through it. What has been harder though is seeing the kids post-divorce.

That's where the above question comes in - I love my kids dearly, they are my life and soul. They have been my life and soul ever since they came into my life. I have lived my life with Krsna in the center and making decisions with the kid's welfare always in mind. With the divorce, suddenly, my time with the kids has been cut in half. I feel I have been robbed of my time with my kids, whom I dearly love, in half. It's very cruel, especially the days when I have to drop the kids off at their mom's house. I miss them dearly and wish I could have them with me so I could be part of their every moment growing up. I've had many emotional moments alone thinking about them and missing them.

Material life is such - it's not a place of happiness. There is always pain and suffering in the world. Padam padam vipadam - at every step there is suffering. I have come to realize that. Through this painful experience of life, I feel materially exhausted and I feel very grateful to my Lord. Lord Sri Krsna.

I feel this is Krsna's plan to help me realize:

Everything in this world is temporary.
The relationships I have are not permanent.
The kids for example are sometimes with me and sometimes not with me.
This has given me a glimpse of love in separation. My love for them has increased more and more due to this separation.
The separation also has taught me the importance of time.
The time I spend with them is precious, and I must make use of every moment with them.
Help them develop into big strong boys with Krsna in the center of their lives. As Krsna is the source of all happiness.

I also reflected on the thought of Love in Separation. The Srimad Bhagavatam says that Love in Separation is more intense than love in union. What does that mean? Does it mean that when you are with someone, you get carried away and forget that you are going to lose them soon? Does it mean we take them for granted? Does it mean that the intensity we feel being connected to them, with them is less than the intensity we feel when they are away? Do we think about them more when they are away than when they are with us? Yes, I have felt these feelings. Some hint of what the Gopis felt when Krsna left them. That feeling of separation. I can only imagine how the Gopis must have felt when their life and soul, the very person of their existence left them, they must have literally died. It must have made them think of Krsna all the time - 24*7. I believe that is what Krsna is trying to teach me with this experience. How to revive my love for Krsna in separation. Currently, we are separated from Krsna as we have forgotten Him. We are so tied into this material world. Through chanting the Holy Name, Reading SB we realized who we really are - A spirit spark and part of Krsna. We are not this body, but this soul who always has an eternal relationship with Krsna and we need to be able to think of Him 24*7 to again revive that love and relationship with Him.

I pray at the lotus feet of the Vaishnavas, to kindly pray for me so, through this experience, I can realize that Love in Separation for my dear Lord Krsna and also share this with my kids whom I dearly love.

Hare Krishna!

Fearlessness through Awareness

2020-03-19T03:18:00.002-05:00

Video link - https://www.facebook.com/vaisesikadasa108/videos/222850512435068/

- Aim of session is "Spiritual fitness" and moto is "All things must pass"
- Awareness capacity is very important.
- Ways in which we can expand our awareness to go beyound the plane of fear
- Practicalities of developing an awareness program
- When we see that we are helpless we get humble and feel vulnerable.
- These points are said in BG - Humility and Pridelessness and being vulnerable are qualities to develop which will help in our spiritual journey.
- "This too shall pass"
- Story of King and ring which will make sad happy and happy sad.
- If someone is feeling sad and morose and we hear this too shall pass then
- We should also remember this saying This too shall pass.
- We should be steady in happiness, distress - BG and this too shall pass.
- Earthworm conciousness: All the creatures of the world have no concerns.
- When we want things to go our way and it goes the other way really fast that's called a disaster.
- Lifespan of different creatures - beginning, middle and end of the field of activities.
- Same way in our lifespan we have an beginning and an end and things are going against us for example we are getting old.
- So we feel that we won't die and we will live forever but when we realize how our material bodies one day are going to die that gives us a different perspective and we start to realize that This too shall pass.
- Then, this won't grip me. We just need to observe it but not feel like yanking it back.
- Embrace reality
- Distinguishing reality from illusion for the welfare of all.
- Lowest are the senses interacting with the matter
- Above is the mind clearing house of all the senses
- Above this is Intelligence which has vivek (discriminations) - accept or reject based on how we condition our mind.
- When the intelligence becomes developed then we are able to discriminate.
- Above that comes the atma or the conciousness.
- How do we do this = Chit samadhi, spiritual practice, even a moment we take to understand we are not the life situation, we are the life. We are only observing all things around us.
- We are a concious being and we can being concious about being concious.
- It's beyound time and that will help us not get caught into the gears of material life, because if we put are finger into the gear, it will take our hand.
- Right now we are OK, but my mind is saying I'm not OK in future.
- We should always be in the moment. With the practice of not burdening ourselves always thinking what's going to happen, what's going to happen, we can live in the moment.
- Freedom is got through discipline.
- When the child goes to school and has discipline and then later on has the freedom to do whatever they want to do.
- Karma Yoga = do my work but do it selflessly
- Ex of a forest => forest fire - when there is a breakdown then there is a reconstructed unity. When everything fall apart, it actually helps to become much stronger. There are periods in the nature that things break down and then things get reconstructed, it's not the end of the world.
- From the chaos comes a different perspective.
- Krsna says in the BG that things are always changing and we should not ask why is this issue happening to me but ask the question - what is the lesson, try to understand what is the lesson.
- When difficulty comes just ask the question what is the lesson.
- Look from a higher perspective so when things break we can see from a higher place. Let's look and see how to make improvements and take this opportunity.
- We are the life and not the life situation. The life situation is always going to change but we are the life and that is not going to change.
- We can see that if we have a good home practice. Guidelines of home practice => 21 day fitness challenge - Body, Mind and Soul
- Hence mind becomes more peaceful.

- Summary of the practical tips:
- Take advantage of the rich soil after a forest fire.
- Be aware of who you are - using the 21 day challenge using the body (vehicle to take us around), mind (Sadhana) and soul (Atma)
- For Body what's most important is Sleep. Wake up before the sun comes up and regulate your mind by not overstimulating it before you sleep, Eat health and walk daily.
- Mind - wake up to an affirmation, mind is very vulnerable when we wake up. First thing we say is an afforism. Greet the day with a map - be more deliberate on the priorities of the day and manage screen time - be deliberate on why you are going online.
- Spirit - Do mantra meditation (very powerful in uplifting our spirit), Listen to the sound and bring mind back to the mantra, Selfless service (Do service with no remuneration) Don't take any recognition, Gratitude journal - start by jotting down all items we are grateful for and start with the most mundance things and that's a great place to be.
- Mantra meditation is so powerful because it comes from a different plane. It's like medicine. If we take medicine and trust the medicine, it hasn't worked yet but I know it will work. Just knowing that this medicine is going to work it will give us solace.
- Do the 21 day challenge regularly and practice, hear the mantra and let the mantra work itself.
- Tie the mind as a horse to the pole around the mantra.
- Take time everyday to create a sacred place because it will stick with us.

- Mantra Meditation
- Japa is a kind of self practice which you can transport anywhere.
- Ancient traditions like padma purana say meditation starts with the tongue and if we can control the tongue then we can control all the senses.
- By engaging the tongue on saying the Mantra it will help us to keep it engaged.
- Takes about 7-10 minutes for a round.
- Sankhya purvaka => Always count the mantras.
- Primary practice sitting, also walking is OK 3Ps(Posture, Pronunciation, Prayer - I need help)
- Be aware when we are chanting. Our tongue might be doing it but our mind has run away. So be aware to the mantra and try to keep bringing it back to the mantra so we are being mindful to it.
- Mantra is 100 and thousands of years old 3 words only
- Hare = Energy of our original divine source
- Krsna = Attractive feature, beyond the darkness of this material world all light
- Rama - Spiritual happiness
- Whatever goes into your ear goes into the bay of your heart
- The medicine goes into the ear, goes into the heart and from the heart a purification process takes place.
- It's normal for the mind to take off and going back into the ocean of misery and one of the practice if to bringing back the mind to the mantra.
-The point of absorbtion or samadhi is when we don't worry about the time factor. That is the point so we can go deeper and will help us in our journey.
- When doing this practice on a regular basis will help us train the mind.
- In NOI says that this is like a medicine similar to taking the medicine for jaundice. Keep taking the medicine and as we are getting cured we start to getting cured. Just keep taking it and at some point we feel, wow that tasted us good.
- Always keep the vibration going and where attension goes energy flows.

Get your Bhajan On!

2020-03-17T16:52:00.001-05:00

Don't Budge from your Bhajan
Regulate Count Associate
Keep all your books/reading/Slokas lined up
Count all your reading/books/slokas/chanting - Around 50/75 times we get to see that we now know the verses etc.
Have a goal so the minds know the goal to reach
Associate with devotees - emulate those devotees and we will be enthused by them.
Index cards - Carry these 7 cards everywhere we go and revise our index cards
Develop your cabinet of devotees you want to associate with.
Develop muscle memory and practice a lot - when you keep practising and going deeper in your study then it all makes sense. Do deeper in your Sloka book and get all the verses memorized.
Make up all your rounds + All Gayatri (20 years to catch up + 6 months *3)
Write down why I am doing my Bhajan - My sankalpa (Have a Cabinet + Magna Carta - I'm the head of my Cabinet)
When you can take advantage, do more and go deeper into bhajan.
Refresh memory
Bhava comes from Bhajan, don't let your Bhajan change from anything external going on.

Relationships

2020-02-04T09:30:00.000-06:00

Recently I went through a very difficult phase of my life. When someone very close to you cheats you, it hurts you a lot. It make you feel dis-respected, sad, bring low self esteem, hurt, pain, shattered dreams, broken heart, sorrow, tears, betrayal etc....

It made me realize:

What we are going through is due to our own karma
Krsna is putting us through this for my own purification
If I didn't have Krsna in my life, it would have been far worse
Krsna is helping me so I can come closer to Him
All relationships in this world are temporary
No one is your true friend other than Krsna who is closest to you, living in your heart
Surrender to Krsna and He will take care of me.
Never Forget Krsna and Always Remember Krsna - No matter what!
No body can be trusted in this world.
Don't have any expectations on anybody. When you have expectations, we get hurt when they are not met.
Krsna loves all jivas equally as everyone is Krsna's dear child
When someone hurts you, try to pray for them to Krsna, so they can become a better person.
Have faith in Krsna and keep your determination on Sadhana, Krsna has a plan for me.
Always pray to Krsna for HELP
Pray to Krsna every morning remembering we are not the proprietor of anyone or anything. The reason Krsna has put us in a particular situation is to purify myself and you help everyone around me to come closer to Krsna.
Pray to Krsna and be grateful in the situation we are in, Krsna has handpicked it just for us to help us come back to him.
Disturbances come in the material world and there is no way to know why they come, they will come.
We need to have patience and determination for Krsna to reveal what we need to learn from each situation.
Just stick to devotional practice and in time everything will be revealed.

Time Running Out

2019-12-19T13:40:00.000-06:00

Realizations:

Last year in February, we got to know that there was a wedding in the family later in November that year. We were all very excited and started preparing for the wedding. I have put on some weight in the last few years and I decided I should shed a few pounds before the wedding. I also thought I have 9 months which was enough time to get into shape.

I noticed, initially I had the motivation to stick to a healthy diet and exercise, but soon I lost sight of my goal and without knowing how time flew it was 2 weeks to the wedding and I hadn't lost any weight!

I realized, how I had wasted my time by not doing a little bit everyday and now the wedding was at the doorsteps and it was way too late. Made me draw a parallel to human life and purpose of human life which is to realize who we are, who is God and what is our relationship with Krsna:

Life is very short.
We need to take advantage of our human life and take up the process of devotional practices very seriously
Doing small things everyday, will allow to make big effects in life overall.
Never lose sight of the goal.
Reading SB regularly, helps us to realize everything around us is temporary and why taking up to KC is so important otherwise we will be just caught up in our day to day lives with maya taking over.
If we waste our time, when death is knocking, which can happen at any moment of time, we will regret not taking this process seriously. Instead take advantage of every moment to remember Krsna.
Associate with like minded devotees who can always help you remember Krsna.

Realization of devotee from ISV

2019-11-13T14:48:00.001-06:00

Foreword:
Realization of devotee from ISV
As many of you know, 7 weeks back, I was involved in a good-sized accident. I live today, to write about it, only due the wonderful prayers of all Vaishnavas', the blessings of Sri Sri Radha Madanmohanji and the nourishing prasadam so many devotees graciously provided to me, for many days.

Myself and my family are deeply grateful to each and every devotee of this wonderful ISV community, who supported us in so many ways and helped us get through this tough situation. We cannot thank you all enough for the timely help.
As I was getting through and over this, some good thoughts and words were given to me through various ways. We definitely see all the devotees here are very exalted and don't need any fundamentals. However, just to move forward this amazing good "akarma" that we received from you all, and in sincere and deep gratitude to all devotees who helped us, we request to share some learnings we had with all of you. If at all, it helps any single person to plan their life, then may be Krishna will accept our "thank you".

Core:
I was quite busy the last 6 months, in work, sadhana, seva and home. It seemed the right combination. I was doing quite good at office, things were moving nicely with some good work hours. And it had a good work-life balance, where I could give the weekends for some nice devotional service. And with it, I was managing to give some good time at home as well. Sadhana front was going according to the guidelines of initiation. Not super strong - the minimum requirements were being met, but unfortunately "studying" Srila Prabhupada's books is not part of the vows for initiation. So I knew this was a missing aspect. However, with all the above other things going good, I didn't feel it extremely urgent to be thinking or working on this last one. The technical name of this aspect I later learned is "Svadhyaya (Enlightening Study of Scriptures)".

September 20th 2019. It was a usual day, work done, seva almost done and going back home. Just a bit late in the night. I had been through this kind of a day so many times. Absolutely usual. All of a sudden, no consciousness. The next second could have been another life. A one-way travel, for which I surely was not packed right. Why? We will know a few words later.

Of course, Krishna's arrangement, I was mercifully given a second chance. Consciousness came back and got to know I have a few ribs fractured and things will be better. The only medical help needed was going to be pain management, as fractured ribs can pain a lot. Pain was mandatory, but suffering was optional. I must tell that many many thanks to Srila Prabhupada's ISKCON and the blessings of vaisnava's, I managed to have zero suffering. Because I became busy in packing right, for my travel. A travel, that I was now convinced, can happen any time.

Now, I began to recognize the sense of the following verse, which Srimad Bhagavatam says:

samāśritā ye pada-pallava-plavaṁ
mahat-padaṁ puṇya-yaśo murāreḥ
bhavāmbudhir vatsa-padaṁ paraṁ padaṁ
padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadāṁ na teṣām
For those who have accepted the boat of the lotus feet of the Lord, who is the shelter of the cosmic manifestation and is famous as Murāri, the enemy of the Mura demon, the ocean of the material world is like the water contained in a calf’s hoof-print. Their goal is paraṁ padam, Vaikuṇṭha, the place where there are no material miseries, not the place where there is danger at every step. (SB. 10.14.58)

The folks with "param padam" as their destination, have already packed well for their travel. Whereas, I was not yet there. Being here, in the material world, where there is definitely danger at any step, and being a house-holder, with a few dependents to take care of, I was really not packed right, as my knowledge of the destination was not yet complete.

So a motivation kicked in to pack right for this possible travel, knowing very well that I am not a pure devotee. And by packing right, I mean, to pack what we really can take and not-pack what we can't really take with us. And organize both - what we can take and what we leave behind.

The pointer for this comes from Krishna's definition of Yoga: to be balanced well in life.
yoga-sthaḥ kuru karmāṇi
saṅgaṁ tyaktvā dhanañ-jaya
siddhy-asiddhyoḥ samo bhūtvā
samatvaṁ yoga ucyate
Perform your duty equipoised, O Arjuna, abandoning all attachment to success or failure. Such equanimity is called yoga. (BG 2.48)

The following 2 factors came forward, for this balancing and preparation for the anytime possible one-way trip:
Spiritual readiness for this life and for the next life (The non-tangible, yet The Real Stuff)
Material readiness for this life (The Practical Stuff, but temporary)

Let's talk about the second one first, for a change:

#2 Material Readiness in this Life:
This is applicable more for the married couples and for those who are going to enter into the married life. Since there is danger at every step, we are talking about readiness thinking that the danger is going to hit for sure. As Srila Prabhupada says, death rate is a 100%, for a person who is born, he/she is sure to die.

If the Husband dies untimely: There is both emotional trouble and financial trouble. Emotional help and support is and can be nicely received from Krishna Consciousness and the spiritual family around, however, financial help won't last for long.

If the Wife dies untimely: There is emotional trouble, but mostly not financial. (Assuming the bread-winner is the husband. Else, previous case applies). And emotional help and support is there from Krishna Consciousness and the spiritual family around.

So Financial planning wrt to the person who is the bread-winner of the family is very important, even for devotees. Arjuna did not give the reins of his chariot to Krishna and then relaxed back in there. As Krishna was driving him, he was also fully engaged in fighting the war. Even in the Damodar-lila pastime, Mother Yasoda had to put in her effort and then the mercy of Krishna came in. Similarly, in our life as well, we should do our best and then only leave the rest to Krishna. So on the long run, finanical support has to be planned out. Can't really depend on society. And when it is planned out well, then there is one immediate fruit: our daily sadhana can really be a focused one!

[Ref 4] Based on the Analysis of a successful Stock-Broker and a powerful devotee, today, essentially 5 things one must have, to secure oneself and their family financially:
Term (Life) Insurance for Family Breadwinner
If employer given Life-insurance is there, its great.
It is preferable to take supplemental life-insurance as well, when available
If possible, it is also good to buy a personal term insurance (that which is not dependent on your employer). Because in the unforeseen case of unemployment, this insurance will help sure your dependents have a corpus amount to be dependent on
This is not very expensive, if we go for the basic term insurance.
Accidental Death and Dismemberment, Insurance for Family Breadwinner
Cases like mine. Anyone driving a lot for daily affairs needs to have this one
Health Insurance for entire family
Home Insurance (If you own your home)
To protect against natural and unnatural disturbances
Recurring Account Balance

A few other practical things, that we should not miss to keep up-to-date:
Setting up beneficiaries correctly
Making sure all this information is known to both the husband and the wife, and all related papers, insurance numbers are available in a location easily accessible to husband and wife. (Because, in times of emergency, like the husband's death, the wife shouldn't find it hard to get this information out, so they know what financial help has been nicely arranged by the husband for the family).
Plan what you leave behind well
Don't leave folks in chaos. Plan our material life, that today if I leave, things should be ok for my family. Don't leave them to pay off our loans. Make arrangements for them to be taken care of. (Example, have your life and supplemental life insurance enough to cover the loan of the home. So in case of your early departure, the insurance amount can pay off the loan and at least the family will have a place to live in. Living expenses can be handled with not so great difficulty in America.)
Clean up as you leave
Try to keep as less loans as possible
So when we leave, we don't burden the family even more

With the above things done, we can be rest assured, that our daily sadhana will be good. Because all eventualities have been planned well for. At least, we have done our best, taken care of our duty well. Rest is up to Krishna!

#1: Spiritual Readiness in this Life and for the next life:
So #2 above were some things that we can’t pack to take with us, in this one-way trip. So we also need to focus and take care of the things that we can really pack with us. Something that will come with us forever!

The temples established by Srila Prabhupada, give us this very opportunity. To hear, to serve, to chant and to grow the spiritual bank balance. If we are doing this, it is great! If we are not, we should begin it as soon as possible.

In this life, as HG Vaisesika Prabhuji mentions many times, "Your Seva will Save You". For me too, this was true. All the kirtan and lounge paraphernalia I was carrying in my car for the seva, took the direct hit, hence saving me from the pressure. I am sure here the seva only saved me. So being engaged in a regular devotional service is always something that will be helpful for this life and those credits will also go with us for the next life. Pack it up!

Avoid the LAG, to move forward well here: Lust, Anger and Greed. It may appear as a very repetitive thing Srila Prabhupada mentions all over the Bhagavad-Gita. But it takes time to understand why this is being repeated so many times. Because its that important. And we need the 3 D's to help us in here: 1) Discrimination, 2) Determination and 3) Discipline

Discrimination: We learn this by reading scriptures. This is where Svadhyaya comes in picture. Regular enlightening study of the scriptures like Bhagavad-Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam. They give us the discerning power, when choices come in front of us in our daily lives. And that's pretty much throughout every day. So I did learn that this is the reason they say: "nityam bhagavata sevaya". Constantly reminding us that we need to prepare not just to be well situation in this life, but also to be well situated after this life.

Determination: We learn this by Chanting the Hare Krishna Mahamantra sincerely every single day. I learned simple chanting is not enough. Focus is needed, a sincere cry to the holy names is needed. And all this best happens during brahma-muhurta, the early morning hours. That’s why our Guru parampara stresses the fact that we need to utilize the morning hours to have this dialog with Krishna, before our day begins where throughout we have a dialogue with Maya.

Discipline: "One thing at a time"! It implies: Chant while you chant, Eat while you eat, Drive while you drive. Don't think of office while chanting and don't think of chanting while in office. This simple discipline will let us focus on the Holy name when we chant and work when we work.

However, in my life, as I had put the excuse before, it is quite possible that our daily life and duties might keep us so very occupied, that this #1 activity mentioned above might go into the background and might not even get any processer time of our body's CPU. In such cases, we need the help of our loving game - Cricket! As another wonderful devotee mentioned - tuk-tuk khelthe jao (bit by bit, keep the game on and the score-card ticking). Those single runs every day is good to do. This is a place where we see HG Vaisesika Prabhuji's practical methods to spirituality are very helpful:
CHAD for BG or CHAD+
Reading Srila Prabhupada's books may be 15 mins every day (Example, through "Be a sage, page by page")
Japa Circle: Chanting your prescribed rounds of Hare Krishna mahamantra sincerely

Then for sure, Krishna will provide the bigger opportunities: chakka chauka lagegha (the fours and sixers will happen)
Actually, Krishna has already provided for it, once every 15 days comes Ekadasi
Ekadasi is Krishna's wonderful boon, for us sadhana devotees [Reference: 5, Scientific basis of Ekadasi]
Twice a month a chance to hit fours and sixers in our sadhana
Scientifically as well, it has been proved through the Noble prize winning "Junk DNA" discovery, of how we can live longer by fasting on the 11th day of the waxing and waning moon
And we can utilize that time by diverting to better our reading and chanting
So, at least my plan is to take a half-day off every Ekadasi and concentrate on increasing the sadhana that day
Once every year, comes Karthik month
More chanting, more studying of Srila Prabhupada's books in Karthik Month
Following in the footsteps of acharya’s, if we go do Holy Dham, it is great. Else, we can take 2 weeks off and have focused study of our scriptures right here in Silicon Valley

The above things are simple pointers, to help us pack the real stuff for the one-way travel. They are sure to come with you and will make your destination a very good one. That is not a promise from me, it is a promise from Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead and our param-guru Srila Prabhupada!

Of the above, now we know, #1 are the things which we have packed to take with us. And #2 are the things we will leave behind. However, we leave them behind with good planning. So the folks we leave behind will at least be financially stable. And that will also let us leave unattached to the material aspects of life. This will help us in our travel, as it makes it a whole bit more lighter!!

My many many humble thanks and regards to all the people, who helped give pointers to put the above together. They are all mentioned in the references below! Whatever has come above, is the mercy and blessings of our Guru parampara. My personal hope is to read this every now and then, so I don't forget the urgency of Krishna consciousness. Yes, we have to maintain the material life, but we also need to keep pedaling the spiritual cycle. This balance will make sure we are ready for the take off, any time that it may come!

References:
HG Vaisesika Prabhuji's Lectures, at ISKCON Silicon Valley
HG Radheshyam Prabhuji Lectures for the Youth
HG Yugal Kishore Prabhuji's personal suggestions
HG Ananda Vrindavan Prabhuji's amazing seminars on "Managing Spiritual Health and Material Wealth"
HG Amarendra Prabhuji's lectures on Srimad Bhagavatam and on Ekadasi

With gratitude,
your servant,
Srikumar

Sri Sri Radha Govindadev in Jaipur

2019-10-26T13:23:00.000-05:00

When we enter the dhaam, the mood we should have is to serve the devotees and the dhaam. We are only here to serve the dhaam. Also, hear the glories of the Lord and the devotees of the Lord. Also, we should have enthusiasm in devotional service. Enthusiasm comes from the mercy of the Lord. Enthusiasm is very important for our devotional service. We should try to minimize the material attachments and desires.

After Lord Sri Krsna left from Prabhas Kshetra, Maharaja Yudishtir also left the world, at that time he coronated Maharaj Parikshit and also Maharaj Vrajanabh became king of Mathura. He wanted to install deities of Krishna everywhere. He sat under a Kalpa Vrksha tree and prayed to Radha and Krisha for mercy. By the mercy of the desire tree, he got the mercy of Radha and Krshna. He called Visvakarma for carving the deities.

Uttara when she saw the beautiful forms she explained.

Feet are exact in Sri Sri Radha Madanmohan Sambandha

Waist, chest, flute are exact in Sri Sri Radha Govindadev Abhideya

Smiling face of Sri Sri Radha Gopinath are perfectly revealed. Prayogana

Gauranga came to spread the love of Krsna to everyone and he asked Gosvamis to excavate the last places and important places of Krshna lila. Srila Rupa Gosvami searched everywhere for the deity of Sri Sri Radha Govindadev. He was sitting by the Yamuna sad and a small boy approached him and asked why he was sad. Rupa Gosvami explained he's searched for the deity. Boy said there is a very special place where a cow comes every afternoon and willingly lets her milk down and Radha Govindadeva keeps himself hid there. Then the boy personally took Rupa Gosvami there and then suddenly disappeared. Rupa Gosvami on coming back to conciousness immediately had tears in his eyes and then he revealed the desire of the Lord. Then he told the devotees to excavateand then there was a voice from the sky, that was the voice of Lord Balaram and then they dug very carefully and then they found the transcendental form of Sri Sri Radha Govindadev. Everyone chant!

Millions of people came to this hill. Even Lord Brahma and many demigods disguised to come and see Lord Govindadev. Rupa Gosvami immediately sent a letter to Gauranga. On receiving he was oversome with ecstacy. He couldn't believe the news. Kashishvar pandit personally was instructed to go to Vrindavan and personally serve Lord Govinda. He was the disciple of Ishwara puri or God brother of Gauranga. After Kashisvar Pandit and Govinda to render personal service to Gauranga Mahaprabhu who were his God brothers and hence Gauranga checked with Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya who said the orders of the spiritual master should be taken as our life and soul. As he had to leave Gauranga, Gauranga Mahaprabhu for the first time gave himself in a deity form Gaura Govinda by the power of the love of Kashishvar. He placed on the right side of Sri Govindadev and he served both deities for the rest of his lives.

Radha Madanmohan and Govindadev appeared alone, the son of Maharaj Prataprudra wanted very much to have Radharani worshipped along with Madanmohan and Govindadev. Pujari had a dream where Radharani shared with him that the smaller deity was Her and the larger deity was Srimati Lalita Sakhi. Radharani was at the left of MadanMohan. When Puroshattamjana (son) also wanted to send a Radharani deity to Govindadev. Radharani appeared in the dream that in the Jagganath temple the deity of Laxmi is being worshipped as the concert of Jagannatha is actually me, Srimati Radharani, you should take that moorti to Vrindavan for Govindadev.

It is explained that long before this, Srimati Radharani came to Othkala in a village called Radhanagar, there was a brahmin who was a pure devotee Brhadbhanu, worshipped the form of this Radharani. He served Her like his own daughter, very devotional.In this way he spent his life in pure devotional service. This deity of Srimati Radharani went to Sri Govindadev.

Killing our internal enemies

2019-09-05T09:57:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we had a wonderful lecture by HH Giriraj Maharj on the occasion of Ram Navami. He discussed the verse SB 9.10.20 - https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/9/10/20/. This is the day we celebrate killing of the demon Ravana, the embodiment of Lust and Envy, by Lord Rama.

In the purport, Srila Prabhupada says - Therefore Kṛṣṇa instructed Arjuna, mām anusmara yudhya ca: “Think of Me and fight.” We should fight our enemy to the best of our ability, but for victory we must depend on the mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Maharaj made the point that to kill our internal enemies namely lust, anger, greed, pride and illusion we have to depend on the mercy of Krishna. Chief mercy of Krishna in Kali Yuga comes in the form of chanting the Holy Names of the Lord. Best way to chant the Holy Names of Krishna is to wake up early before Brahma Muhurata and chant attentively.

We have a very short time left in this material world and we need to make every second count, otherwise we are going to miss the bus and will have to take a material birth again to go through all the miseries we have undergone in this and past lives.

Hare Krishna!

32 ways not to chant Japa

2019-08-09T13:43:00.000-05:00

Japa is the name of the mediation a Krishna devotee does while using beads. A string of beads has 108 beads on it and the complete Hare Krishna mantra (link to our webpage here) is chanted on each bead. When you complete 108 beads you have done 1 round, which usually takes about 7 minutes. Devotees who have taken first level vows chant 16 rounds or more every day. That is 108×16 = 1726 mantras each day. If done properly this is a powerful meditation that purifies the heart and mind, and awakens love for Krishna. Mostly we don’t chant properly and therein lies the problem. Mahatma Prabhu offers a pointed and humorous reminder to help us do better.

From The Japa Workshop by Mahatma das

1. To Do List Japa – Meditating on your to do and shopping lists, sometimes adding and deleting items between mantras. This may also include mentally balancing your checkbook or mentally going over which bills you have to pay. Caution: This process can cause you to lament about how many bills you have to pay, and thus changing your prayers from “Oh Lord, please engage me in your service,” to “Oh Lord, please add a few more zeroes to the end of my bank balance.”

2. I Hate Him Japa – While chanting, meditating on who hurt you, how badly you were hurt, how much you hate that person, and what you’ll do to get back at him. By the end of 16 rounds your hatred has increased tenfold and you have developed excellent plans and strategies to take revenge.

3. I am Right Japa – Meditating while chanting on how right you are and how wrong someone else is, and with every mantra you become more convinced how right you are. Also know as “Pump Your Ego Japa. ”

4. Watering the Weeds Japa – Chanting so poorly that by the time you finish you feel disgusted, depressed and miserable. Gone are the days of “Chant and Be Happy.” Now it is, “Chant and Be Miserable.”

5. Beat the Clock Japa – You chant as fast as possible in an attempt to get those bothersome rounds over with, sometimes trying to break your previous record of one round in 3 minutes 59 seconds – which was formerly thought to be humanly impossible – until you proved it could be done if one is intensely motivated to get his chanting over with as soon as possible!

6. Robot Japa – You chant like a robot. Chanting while totally disconnected from the mood of the mantra. You sometimes wish another devotee or a robot could chant your rounds for you.

7. Firing Blank Mantras Japa – Krsna’s name is chanted, but your mind and heart are somewhere else – and so is He. The sound Krsna comes out of your mouth, but because there is no consciousness, it is like firing blank mantras.

8. Killing Time Japa – Chanting, but thinking of things to entertain yourself with while you chant so you won’t be so bored just listening to the mantra. In this way you kill time while chanting and thus make chanting 16 rounds quite tolerable by making it much less painful than usual.

9. Creative Japa – Using japa as a time for brainstorming, thus doing some creative thinking, generating new ideas, and finding solutions to your problems. It is useful to have a pen and paper handy to write down your ideas. Although you may get very few rounds done, and you won’t get the nectar of the name – you have spent the past two hours in a such a high degree of passion that you will definitely have a long list of good ideas. (But is it really a good idea to ruin your japa to get some good ideas?)

10. Novocain Japa – Your heart is so numbed that you feel absolutely nothing when you chant.

11. Driving Japa – Chanting while distracted by the task of driving, sometimes accompanied by cursing at people who cut you off (i.e. the anti-trnad api sunicena mantra). Of course, the reason you chant while driving is that you get up late.

12. No Japa, Japa – While holding your beads you converse with another devotee, moving your beads as you talk. In this way you sometimes finish a so-called round or two by the end of the conversation. (Oh God, help us!)

13. Prajalpa Japa – You chant a few mantras and then speak a few words of prajalpa (gossip) to your friend. You chant a few more mantras and then listen as they speak some prajalpa to you. Then you respond with some even more juicy gossip. This process often continues for the entire japa session.

14. Call and Response Japa – You talk to someone, and while listening to you they chant japa. Then they reply and while listening to them you chant japa.

15. Reading Japa – Reading and chanting at the same time. (Note: This would not be a problem if you had two or more heads.)

16. Left Hand Japa – Chanting japa while doing something with your left hand (cleaning, cooking, tinkering, organizing, washing your car, etc.). This is very useful for developing left arm strength.

17. Bubblegum Japa – Chanting in a way that sounds like you are chewing bubble gum while chanting Hare Krsna.

18. New Mantra Japa – Chanting a new form of the Hare Krsna mantra, such as “here kitty, kitty, here kitty, kitty,” or “nish, nish, ram, ram, ari, ari.”

19. Entertainment Japa – Chanting while watching TV or a movie. Note: watching TV while not chanting, but chanting during the commercials is also no good! (And, Krsna conscious video is also included in TV Japa.)

20. Internet Japa – A few mantras and a few emails, sometimes chanting and reading at the same time. Inevitably, the beads get put on the table and the right hand lands on the keyboard.

21. Window Shopping Japa – Chanting while window shopping (this commonly happens when making the attempt to knock out some rounds while in the shopping mall).

22. Boredom Japa – You are so bored while chanting that you feel like killing yourself.

23. Relaxing Japa – Lying down or relaxing in a hammock while chanting (often accompanied by coconut water in your left hand).

24. Slumber Japa – Taking advantage of japa to get a good nap. Another variety of “Slumber Japa” is trying to fight off sleep, but continually failing. This is also known as “Dive Bomb Japa” due to the head constantly rising and falling (diving).

25. Bitter Medicine Japa – Your experience of the holy name is like bitter medicine and your face turns in disgust as you chant.

26. Painful Japa – Your mind is so out of control that it is painful to try to control it. Thus, the expression on your face while chanting appears similar to the expression of a person with a knife in their back (or a person with severe constipation).

27. Shaking Japa – (Also known as “Ants in Your Pants Japa”) – You chant as if you were a toy monkey that was just wound up.

28. Radar Japa – Looking around at anything and everything – and everybody – while chanting.

29. Audio Japa – Chanting japa while listening to a lecture, kirtan, song, or the radio. This is especially challenging while listening to the radio (unless, of course, it is one of your favorite songs or some juicy news).

30. Sightseeing Japa – Walking or driving and chanting while doing some serious sightseeing.

31. Shopping Japa – Nish, nish, ram, ram, ari, ari-ing your way through the supermarket or mall.

32. Apathy Japa – Chanting with absolutely no desire or enthusiasm to chant.

How to prevent the itch of lust

2019-07-23T13:36:00.000-05:00

It's always difficult to talk about one's areas of weakness, even with those who are close to us. Sex especially is a sensitive topic since our modern society is so dysfunctional and hyper-sexualized.

A verse with me from Hari Bhakti Vilasa where Sanatana Goswami permits sex within marriage, not only for the purpose of bearing children:

ti matvā sva-dāreṣu
ṛtu-matsu budho vrajet
yathokta-doṣa-hīneṣu
sa-kāmeṣv anṛtāv api

Translation: Knowing well the dangers of sex outside marriage, an intelligent soul must engage in sex with one’s spouse during the prescribed times of the month. Such sex is also allowed at proper faultless times when the spouse desires it. (Hari-bhakti-vilāsa 11.173)

The point is that the sexual urge is strong and very difficult to give up. Furthermore, given the modern situation where we often have to associate with non-devotees, who are basically constantly contemplating sex, to practice strict celibacy within marriage is very, very difficult, and only possible at a fairly advanced stage of devotional practice.

So, if the sexual urge is not satisfied within the marriage then there is a great risk of lusting after other women who are not one's spouse, and this is a grave danger. It is much better if one can simply find shelter for his/her lustful urges in the sanctity and safety of the marriage. I believe this constitutes "licit" sex-life and I don't think it is sinful, particularly when seen next to the alternative of lusting after other women.

However, also pointed out that scripture does give the other perspective in many places, such as:

evaṁ vyavāyaḥ prajayā na ratyā

Translation: Religious sex life is also permitted, but only in marriage for begetting children, and not for sensuous exploitation of the body. (Śrīmad-bhāgavatam 11.5.13)

Srila Prabhupada wrote many letters to disciples wherein he prohibits or strongly discourages them from having sex except for the purpose of bearing children. Also our acaryas comment on the well-known "kamo-smi" statement in Gita (7.11) that this refers only to sex for the purpose of bearing children with one's spouse.

However, it is my belief that this applies specifically to the brahminical class of men. As aspiring Vaisnavas, we must see whether or not we are able to follow that standard with integrity. We should be mature enough to acknowledge where we are at and also what is the ultimate goal, i.e. total celibacy in pure Krsna consciousness. However, it's not that there is one standard of dharma for all mankind. What is dharmic and adharmic depends largely on one's position, or adhikara. In this regard there is a very relevant verse from Srimad Bhagavatam:

sve sve ’dhikāre yā niṣṭhā sa guṇaḥ parikīrtitaḥ
viparyayas tu doṣaḥ syād ubhayor eṣa niścayaḥ

"Steadiness in one’s own position is declared to be actual piety, whereas deviation from one’s position is considered impiety. In this way the two are definitely ascertained." (SB 11.21.2)

I think there is sastric support for religious, regulated sex life within marriage, and that by striving for this one will gradually experience a lessening of the lustful urge, specifically in proportion to their increase in Krsna conscious practice. However, as Sanatana Goswami advises, it should only be done at "proper faultless times" and, we can add, in a prayerful mood, so that in case a child is conceived, he/she will be a good-natured devotee of the Lord.

Here is one additional quote / word of caution from Srila Prabhupada:

"Sex life, licit or illicit, is practically the same, but through illicit sex one becomes more and more captivated. By regulating one’s sex life there is a chance that one may eventually be able to renounce sex or renounce the association of women. If this can be done, advancement in spiritual life comes very easily." (SB 4.25.62)

It is important for spouses to discuss sex so that both are on the same page. Otherwise it may cause friction or even serious problems in the relationship if one partner feels differently than the other. Also it is important for each spouse to find the words to express his/her feelings in an honest way, and to humbly make requests of the other spouse when necessary, without imposing demands or expectations. And of course we must always trust in Krsna and Sri Guru that the situation we have at present is best for us. They will gradually guide us to higher and higher stages of Krsna consciousness and, when necessary, help us to change our circumstances to facilitate our spiritual practice (for instance, in order to reduce jana-sanga).
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To divert the itch I would recommend reading descriptions of the conjugal pastimes of Radha and Krishna, or of Krishna with the gopis. This is the prescription of SB:

"Anyone who faithfully hears or describes the Lord’s playful affairs with the young gopīs of Vṛndāvana will attain the Lord’s pure devotional service. Thus he will quickly become sober and conquer lust, the disease of the heart." (10.33.39)

Srila Prabhupada confirms this in the purport: https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/10/33/39/

In addition to Srimad Bhagavatam, there are numerous other books which have been written or translated by Srila Prabhupada's disciples that present the writings of the six goswamis on the topic of Krishna's pastimes with the gopis in Vrindavan.

By reading such transcendental literatures with a humble and sincere heart, and taking shelter of Srila Gurudeva, then I think the mundane lustful urge will very quickly go away.

You could also try reading and contemplating the pastime of Krishna's killing Pralambasura. According to Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, Pralambasura represents mundane lust.

Here is a link to a book compiled by HH Bhakti Caitanya Swami on the topic of Krishna's killing the different demons and the various anarthas they represent:

https://bcais.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Demons_in_Vrindavana_Lila-1.pdf#page=41
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There is also this nice story told by Srila Prabhupada, printed in the SSR under the section "Truth and Beauty."

https://vedabase.io/en/library/ssr/1/

Why does our consciousness change suddenly from devotional to sensual?

2019-06-05T14:38:00.000-05:00

By Chaitanya Charan das

Question: At one moment we are absorbed in devotional thoughts and then suddenly at the next moment we become submerged in sensual, even immoral, thoughts. Why is spiritual life so unstable?

Answer: It is not spiritual life that is unstable; it is we who are unstable in our spiritual life. And our instability is due to our having not yet recognized the gravity of gravity in spiritual life.

The gravity force in spiritual life

The force of gravity is a simple, real, undeniable fact of existence. If we neglect this force, we will naturally, obviously, inevitably be pulled down by it and will fall to disaster.

Material desires comprise a similar gravity force that acts on us by dragging our consciousness down to the material level. If we neglect this force, our consciousness will naturally, obviously, inevitably, be pulled down by it to sensual contemplations, and we will fall from our devotional standards to disaster.

The difference between these two gravity forces is not so much in how they act on us as in how we react to them. Our recognition of the reality of the gravity force that acts on physical objects is default and deep-rooted, so we take the necessary precautions instinctively. If we are standing and need to be seated, we don’t lower ourselves into thin air; we lower ourselves onto a chair.

However, our recognition of the reality of the gravity force that acts on our consciousness is usually casual and superficial, so we rarely take the necessary precautions instinctively. If we are doing a devotional activity that absorbs ourselves in remembrance of Krishna and need to engage in a worldly obligation, we rarely think whether that activity will preserve our devotional consciousness; we just start doing it. Metaphorically speaking, we shift from a standing position to a sitting position without checking whether there is a chair to sit on. No wonder then that the gravity force of our habitual material desires starts immediately acting on us and pulling us towards worldly indulgences. Consequently, our consciousness that was at one moment peaceful, even blissful, becomes at the next moment turbulent, even malevolent. The cause for this disconcerting change is straightforward: gravity.

Generating an anti-gravity force

If we don’t’ wish to be pulled down, we need to first contemplate on the reality and the gravity of this gravity force. This contemplation will impel, even compel, us to take seriously the Bhagavad-gita’s direction (8.7) to keep remembering Krishna even while doing our worldly activities. Remembering Krishna generates an upward anti-gravity force that can not only arrest our fall but can also propel us up.

We may wonder: how can we do both these things – remember Krishna and do our worldly duties – simultaneously? It is an art that we learn by practice and experience. Foundationally, learning the art requires an authentic and pervasive devotional intention, wherein we truly want to offer our full heart, our whole life, our entire being to Krishna. When this honest and fervent intention permeates our very existence, then all our activities – even our worldly obligations – will have a devotional purpose. Thereby we will be able to meditate on how the particular activity that we are doing is connected to Krishna, indeed, is meant for Krishna. This meditation will keep our consciousness at the spiritual level – or at least somewhere near it.

Of course, a life-defining devotional intention doesn’t appear automatically overnight; it needs to be carefully nurtured to maturity. For most of us at present, this intention is likely to be in a nascent stage. To ensure that it grows smoothly and swiftly, we need to invest adequate time in core spiritual activities that nourish us with divine happiness and thereby strengthen our devotional intention. These core spiritual activities include chanting, hearing and studying scriptures, engaging in Deity worship and rendering direct devotional service.

Investing adequate time in core spiritual activities doesn’t mean only weekend visits to spiritually vibrant temples or occasional pilgrimages to energizing holy places. It also means diligent engagement in our daily morning spiritual practices or sadhana. This sadhana acts as a daily generator of an anti-gravity force that counters the unavoidable effects on our consciousness of our worldly engagements. Our daily worldly activities expose us to material desires that pull our consciousness down towards materialism. In protecting contrast, our daily devotional practices engender within us spiritual desires that pull our consciousness up towards Krishna. If we don’t engage in sadhana daily, then we will have no force to counter or even check the gravity force of our default material desires. Consequently, we will fall freely, quickly, disgracefully to sensuality and immorality. Even if we engage in daily sadhana, but don’t engage in it diligently – if we engage in it ritualistically or mechanically or perfunctorily just to get it over with, then such sadhana will not generate an adequate upward force to cancel out the downward force. We will therefore undergo a slow downward fall that may eventually terminate in devotional misfortune. Our daily sadhana needs to be so intense that it generates a sufficient upward force, sufficient to not only reverse the daily downward motion but to also slowly but surely push us upwards closer and closer to Krishna.

Spiritualizing our worldly obligations

In addition to our daily sadhana, we need to spiritualize our remaining day as much as possible. Most of us can’t engage in directly devotional activities throughout our entire day – or even for a majority of the day. We spend much of our daily time in professional, familial or bodily activities. Though these activities may not be in themselves spiritual, they are still spiritualizable.

While trying to spiritualize these activities, we need to take a vital, indispensable precautionary measure: stay away from, or at least minimize contact with, stimuli that exert an overwhelming gravity force on our consciousness. These stimuli will vary depending on our specific history of past lapses and indulgences. We need to carefully ensure that we don’t unwittingly allow that black past to darken our present and future. If, despite our best efforts, we somehow get subjected to these provocative stimuli, we need to have an emergency action plan ready to counter their insidious effects. This action plan – which is essentially our personal SOS call to Krishna – can include earnest chanting, heartfelt praying, contemplating on an illuminating scriptural passage, recollecting an inspiring spiritual experience or contacting a trustworthy spiritual mentor or devotee-friend.

On a more positive note, the means for spiritualizing our worldly activities range over a broad spectrum that can include the following:

Having, whenever possible, a background devotional stimulus like spiritual music or a picture of Krishna or a fellow devotee as our work-partner
Taking, whenever practical, periodic short breaks to remind ourselves of our devotional purpose
Consciously offering to Krishna at their starting and ending those worldly activities whose nature and pressure makes it difficult to remember him while doing them

There is no set standard formula for how each one of us can remember Krishna. This is not a deficiency, however. It is a facility, an opportunity to exercise our individuality and creativity within the scriptural framework for the practice of Krishna consciousness. Because all of us are unique and the worldly circumstances in which we function are also unique, we will need to improvise and innovate to find the ways that work best for us in preserving our devotional consciousness. If we show Krishna the sincerity and intensity of our desire to remember him, he will guide us, as he promises in the Bhagavad-gita (10.10). His guidance may come in the form of penetrating insights that enable us to see demonstrations of his teachings even in worldly events. Or it may come in the form of ideas and techniques by which we can remember him more and better while being externally engaged in worldly activities. Or it may come in many other ways – all of which make life in Krishna consciousness unpredictably exciting.

To summarize, by carefully cultivating remembrance of Krishna, we will not only prevent its dangerous yo-yo-like swings but will also preserve its steady upward trajectory towards Krishna.

From Lust to Love–With Krsna’s Mercy

2019-05-15T11:56:00.000-05:00

By Giriraj Swami

We read from Bhagavad-gita As It Is, Chapter Three: “Karma-yoga.”

TEXT 41

tasmat tvam indriyany adau
niyamya bharatarsabha
papmanam prajahi hy enam
jnana-vijnana-nasanam

TRANSLATION

Therefore, O Arjuna, best of the Bharatas, in the very beginning curb this great symbol of sin [lust] by regulating the senses, and slay this destroyer of knowledge and self-realization.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

The Lord advised Arjuna to regulate the senses from the very beginning so that he could curb the greatest sinful enemy, lust, which destroys the urge for self-realization and specific knowledge of the self. Jnana refers to knowledge of self as distinguished from non-self, or in other words, knowledge that the spirit soul is not the body. Vijnana refers to specific knowledge of the spirit soul’s constitutional position and his relationship to the Supreme Soul. It is explained thus in Srimad–Bhagavatam (2.9.31):

jnanam parama-guhyam me
yad vijnana-samanvitam
sa-rahasyam tad-angam ca
grhana gaditam maya

“The knowledge of the self and Supreme Self is very confidential and mysterious, but such knowledge and specific realization can be understood if explained with their various aspects by the Lord Himself.” The Bhagavad-gita gives us that general and specific knowledge of the self. The living entities are parts and parcels of the Lord, and therefore they are simply meant to serve the Lord. This consciousness is called Krsna consciousness. So, from the very beginning of life one has to learn this Krsna consciousness, and thereby one may become fully Krsna conscious and act accordingly.

Lust is only the perverted reflection of the love of God which is natural for every living entity. But if one is educated in Krsna consciousness from the very beginning, that natural love of God cannot deteriorate into lust. When love of God deteriorates into lust, it is very difficult to return to the normal condition. Nonetheless, Krsna consciousness is so powerful that even a late beginner can become a lover of God by following the regulative principles of devotional service. So, from any stage of life, or from the time of understanding its urgency, one can begin regulating the senses in Krsna consciousness, devotional service of the Lord, and turn the lust into love of Godhead—the highest perfectional stage of human life.

COMMENT by Giriraj Swami

In the beginning of the movement in America, one of the first young men to come forward to serve Srila Prabhupada was Bruce Scharf, who was later initiated as Brahmananda dasa. Brahmananda had taken a class in English literature, and the professor had asked the students to give an interpretation of the motives of a character in a story. Brahmananda told Srila Prabhupada that he had interpreted the motivations of the character in a cosmic, or spiritual, way and that the professor had explained the motives in terms of lust, or sex desire. Srila Prabhupada replied, “Your professor was right: In the material world everything is impelled by lust.”

Because of lust, we remain encaged in the physical body, which is full of misery. Both the gross body and the subtle body, which includes the mind, suffer pain and anguish. We want to become free from the bondage of the material body. As long as we are imprisoned in the material body, we have to suffer greatly. And we never know what may come next. Things may go well for a while—for years even—but then all of a sudden something we never expected goes wrong. And the result is that we suffer great pain—physical, mental, or both.

A sober, intelligent person will think, “As long as I am in this material body, I am subject to so many miseries, but my nature as a spiritual soul, is joyful.” The soul is by nature eternal, full of knowledge, and full of bliss (sac-cid-ananda). But the body is the opposite: asat, acid, and nirananda—temporary, full of ignorance, and full of misery. The eternal soul imprisoned in a temporary body is in an awkward position, an incompatible situation. Therefore an intelligent, wise, sober person will endeavor to become free from the bondage of material existence, from the cycle of birth and death in the material world. And as long as we identify with the body and act on the impulses of the body to enjoy the senses, we will have to take birth again.

Contemporary society has made much propaganda in favor of enjoying the senses without restriction. They say that there is no problem with sensual gratification; the problem is that we feel guilty about it, and if we can get rid of the sense of guilt, we can really enjoy the senses. This theory may sound attractive to materialistic persons who want to enjoy the senses, and we also don’t insist that you should avoid sense gratification because it is “bad” or “evil.” There is sense gratification even in the spiritual world—spiritual sense gratification. But the problem with material sense gratification is that it increases our material attachment and bondage, which extends our duration of suffering, our prison sentence, in this material world. And it is not true that the sense of guilt or shame in relation to sense gratification or sex is just a false imposition by society.

Every culture has restrictions on sex indulgence, and the general rule is that if one wants to have sex he or she should get married; the husband should be responsible for the wife, and the wife should be faithful to the husband. There is restriction, regulation, as indicated in the verse (niyama). But even such regulation does not qualify a person to be liberated from the repetition of birth and death. The only qualification for that is Krishna consciousness.

So, regulating the senses means not only that a man limits himself to his wife and a woman limits herself to her husband; it means that they engage their senses in devotional service in Krishna consciousness. That is what it means to regulate the senses. Yes, there is restriction, but the ultimate regulation is to always engage the senses and mind in the service of Krishna. Krishna consciousness will purify the mind and ultimately liberate the soul from material bondage.

And we should engage in Krishna consciousness from the very beginning (adau). As Srila Prabhupada explains in the purport, the living entity is naturally endowed with pure love for Krishna (nitya-siddha krsna-prema), but when the living entity comes in contact with matter, that pure love for Krishna becomes perverted into lust, selfish desire; and when lust is frustrated, it turns into anger, and there is a whole cycle. But that lust is just an inverted reflection of the living entity’s original, pure love for Krsna. And just as pure love can be transformed into lust by contact with material nature, so too lust can be purified by engagement in devotional service. Thus kama—“lust,” or “desire”—can be transformed by desiring Krishna’s happiness. We cannot stop desire. But we can transform selfish desires for sense gratification into desires for Krishna’s happiness. Basically, kama means the desire for my own happiness, and pure love (prema) means the desire for Krishna’s happiness.

atmendriya-priti-vancha-tare bali ‘kama’
krsnendriya-priti-iccha dhare ‘prema’ nama

“The desire to gratify one’s own senses is kama [lust], but the desire to please the senses of Lord Krsna is prema [love].” (Cc Adi 4.165)

So, we do not try to eradicate desire—we cannot kill it—but we do attempt to change the quality of the desire. Instead of desiring personal happiness in the bodily conception, we desire Krishna’s happiness. Instead of working to gratify our senses, we act to please Krishna’s senses. And thus, lust becomes purified and transformed into love. And when we have pure love for Krishna, we are always happy, always eager to sing His glories, hear His pastimes, serve His devotees, and worship His Deity. We are always eager to think of Him and engage in devotional service.

It is natural that when you are in love with someone you think of the person all the time. It comes naturally; it is not an effort. Sometimes lovers have a quarrel or one partner leaves the other, and the partners suffer terribly. One partner may want to forget the other but can’t—because of attachment. In the same way, when we become attached to Krishna, when we fall in love with Krishna, we will think of Him constantly; we won’t be able to forget Him.

On a very high level of love of God in Vrindavan, the devotee, out of intense affection, forgets that Krishna is God and simply loves Him as a friend loves a friend or a parent loves a child. And on the highest level, the devotees—the young gopis, led by Srimati Radharani—love Krishna as their dearmost beloved. When Krishna left Vrindavan to go to Mathura, all the residents of Vrindavan were plunged into an ocean of separation. Of course, that ocean of separation was really an ocean of bliss, because on the absolute platform separation also means meeting. Still, within the variegatedness of spiritual emotion, they felt separation.

One day, when a bumblebee began to hover around Srimati Radharani, the greatest lover of Krishna—She was like a lotus flower, and the bumblebee wanted to taste that flower’s nectar—Radharani, in Her ecstasy, took the bumblebee to be a messenger from Krishna. And in Her intense love for Him in separation, She apparently criticized Him:

yad-anucarita-lila-karna-piyusa-viprut-
sakrd-adana-vidhuta-dvandva-dharma vinastah
sapadi grha-kutumbam dinam utsrjya dina
bahava iha vihanga bhiksu-caryam caranti

“To hear about the pastimes that Krsna regularly performs is nectar for the ears. For those who relish just a single drop of that nectar, even once, their dedication to material duality is ruined. Many such persons have suddenly given up their wretched homes and families and, themselves becoming wretched, traveled here to Vrndavana to wander about like birds, begging for their living.” (SB 10.47.18)

She said that people gave up their families, their hearths and homes, which ordinarily were very difficult to leave, to come to Vraja to search for Krishna, but that in Vrindavan too they were miserable, because Krishna didn’t give Himself to them. They were aggrieved. They had left everything to find Krishna, but they didn’t get Krishna either. Or if they did get Him, He left them. Thus they wandered about Vrindavan like homeless birds searching for food.

But learned scholars have revealed the inner meaning of Srimati Radharani’s words. These birds—who are they? They are paramahamsas, the topmost, liberated souls, who have gone beyond the dualities of material existence and given up fleeting material attachments. And they are always filled with transcendental ecstasy in separation from Krishna.

In Her ecstatic mood of love, Srimati Radharani criticized Krishna—for His pleasure. Everything the Vraja-vasis—especially the gopis—do is for Krishna’s pleasure. And some authorities say that Krishna Himself came as the honeybee to drink the sweetness of Srimati Radharani’s speech.

In another verse, Radharani says that Krishna had been cruel even in His past lives, as Rama and Vamana:

mrgayur iva kapindram vivyadhe lubdha-dharma
striyam akrta virupam stri-jitah kama-yanam
balim api balim attvavestayad dhvanksa-vad yas
tad alam asita-sakhyair dustyajas tat-katharthah

“Like a hunter, He cruelly shot the king of the monkeys with arrows. Because He was conquered by a woman, He disfigured another woman who came to Him with lusty desires. And even after consuming the gifts of Bali Maharaja, He bound him up with ropes as if he were a crow. So let us give up all friendship with this dark-complexioned boy, even if we can’t give up talking about Him.” (SB 10.47.17)

She criticized Krishna, saying, in effect, “If Krishna can live without us, we can live without Him.” The messenger may have responded, “If Krishna is so bad, why don’t You just forget Him? Why do You always talk about Him?” And She would have replied, “We can live without Krishna, but we can’t live without talking about Him.”

That is love. When there is love, no matter one’s condition, one cannot but think of the beloved. You can’t forget the person. Even if you want to forget and try to forget, you cannot—out of love.

The love of the devotees for Krishna is not shaken in any condition. Sometimes devotees face trials and tribulations, but their love for Krishna never wavers. In the Mahabharata we see how the Pandavas were insulted, sent into exile, and put through so many difficulties, but their love for Krishna never wavered. While they were in exile, Krishna, unannounced, came to where they were and approached Arjuna. And when Arjuna saw Him, he was immediately overwhelmed with ecstatic love. He didn’t waver for a moment. He never thought, “Oh, Krishna, we are suffering so much. Why are You making us suffer so? Why are You allowing us to suffer?” No complaint. Only pure love—completely spontaneous. Sometimes we see someone we don’t like, or someone with whom we are angry, and we have to make an effort to be polite. It wasn’t like that, and there was no complaint—just pure love, causeless love. Devotees love Krishna without any material motive. In fact, if there were some material motive, it wouldn’t be love. If I love you to get something from you, it is not pure love; it is lust. I am actually thinking of my own desires, what I can get from you to gratify my senses. It is not love, but lust. Pure love is causeless and thus is never disturbed by material affliction.

Srila Prabhupada says that in the material world the boy says to the girl, “I love you,” and the girl says to the boy, “I love you,” but that as soon as there is some disruption in their sense gratification, there is quarrel, separation, divorce, because there was some material motive. But in prema the only motive is to make Krishna happy. There is no question of personal gain or loss. Our only interest is to please Krishna. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, echoing the sentiments of Srimati Radharani, said, “If, by my suffering, Krishna becomes happy, I will take the greatest suffering to be the greatest happiness—because Krishna will be pleased.” That is Srimati Radharani’s mood:

na gani apana-duhkha, sabe vanchi tanra sukha,
tanra sukha-amara tatparya
more yadi diya duhkha, tanra haila maha-sukha,
sei duhkha-mora sukha-varya

“I do not mind My personal distress. I only wish for the happiness of Krsna, for His happiness is the goal of My life. However, if He feels great happiness in giving Me distress, that distress is the best of My happiness.

ye narire vanche krsna, tara rupe satrsna,
tare na pana haya duhkhi
mui tara paya padi’, lana yana hate dhari’,
krida karana tanre karon sukhi

“If Krsna, attracted by the beauty of some other woman, wants to enjoy with her but is unhappy because He cannot get her, I fall down at her feet, catch her hand, and bring her to Krsna to engage her for His happiness.” (Cc Antya 20.52, 53)

And such is Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s internal mood of surrender, as expressed in His Siksastaka (8):

aslisya va pada-ratam pinastu mam
adarsanan marma-hatam karotu va
yatha tatha va vidadhatu lampato
mat-prana-nathas tu sa eva naparah

“Let Krsna tightly embrace this maidservant who has fallen at His lotus feet, or let Him trample Me or break My heart by never being visible to Me. He is a debauchee, after all, and can do whatever He likes, but still He alone, and no one else, is the worshipable Lord of My heart.” (Cc Antya 20.47)

A devotee wants only Krishna’s happiness. He has no separate, selfish interest. And he can desire and work for Krishna’s happiness in any situation. No material impediment, no condition, can stop one’s service or mood of service to Krishna, to please Krishna.

On one morning walk in Chicago, Srila Prabhupada commented on a car called a Thunderbird. “Is there any bird called thunderbird?” he asked. Some devotees ventured, “It’s a bird from American Indian legend. Sometimes their chiefs are called Thunderbird.” Srila Prabhupada said, “We have got an idea of thunderbird. The bird flies near the cloud in expectation of water, and he is not afraid of thunder.” He said that the example was given by Rupa Gosvami: “The cataka bird will not take water from the ground. He will take water only from the cloud. So, in the beginning of every cloud there is thunder. And this bird, because he is expecting water, although the cloud is giving him thunder, still he will not take water from the ground.” When a devotee askedwhat the example illustrated, Srila Prabhupada replied, “A devotee will take mercy only from Krishna, not from the material world. Even if there is thunder—Krishna . . . puts him into difficulty—still he will not take any mercy from the material world.”

Srila Rupa Gosvami wrote this beautiful verse:

viracaya mayi dandam dina-bandho dayam va
gatir iha na bhavattah kacid anya mamasti
nipatatu sata-kotir nirmalam va navambhas
tad api kila payodah stuyate catakena

“O Lord of the poor, do what you like with me, give me either mercy or punishment, but in this world I have none to look to except Your Lordship. The cataka bird always prays for the cloud, regardless of whether it showers rains or throws a thunderbolt.”

The devotee will not look for shelter in the material world, but he will tolerate the thunder and lightning and wait for Krishna’s mercy, those nectarean drops of pure rain.

And the devotee also takes the thunderbolt as Krishna’s mercy. Srimad-Bhagavatam says that when a devotee is put into difficulty, into distress, he patiently suffers the reactions to his past activities, expects the Lord’s mercy, and serves the Lord with body, mind, and words. And if he passes his life in this way, he will earn the right to enter the kingdom of God.

tat te ’nukampam su-samiksamano
bhunjana evatma-krtam vipakam
hrd-vag-vapurbhir vidadhan namas te
jiveta yo mukti-pade sa daya-bhak

“My dear Lord, one who earnestly waits for You to bestow Your causeless mercy upon him, all the while patiently suffering the reactions of his past misdeeds and offering You respectful obeisances with his heart, words, and body, is surely eligible for liberation, for it has become his rightful claim.” (SB 10.14.8)

This verse is very significant. In the Bhagavad-gita (18.66) Lord Krishna says, sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja/ aham tvam sarva-papebhyo moksayisyami ma sucah—“If one surrenders unto Me, I deliver him from all sinful reactions.” For a devotee, there are no sinful reactions. So, when a devotee suffers, what is actually happening—what does it mean that “he patiently suffers the reactions to his past deeds”? Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura explains that a devotee knows that his present happiness is due to past devotional activities and that his present distress is due to past offenses. Thus he peacefully endures all happiness and distress and patiently awaits the mercy of the Lord. Or he takes his present happiness and distress as the Lord’s mercy on him. As Srila Prabhupada writes, “He accepts all miseries as the mercy of the Lord, thinking himself only worthy of more trouble due to his past misdeeds; and he sees that his miseries, by the grace of the Lord, are minimized to the lowest. Similarly, when he is happy he gives credit to the Lord, thinking himself unworthy of the happiness; he realizes that it is due only to the Lord’s grace that he is in such a comfortable condition and able to render better service to the Lord.” (Gita 2.56 purport)

Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti explains further that a devotee thinks, “As a father sometimes mercifully gives a cup of milk to his small son and at other times mercifully gives him bitter medicine, at other times embraces and kisses him and at other times spanks him, so the Supreme Lord, who is like my father, knows what is actually good and bad for me, who am like His son. I do not know myself.” Thus, as a service to His dear child, for the child’s benefit, the loving supreme father administers both happiness and distress.

Prthu Maharaja prays,

tvan-mayayaddha jana isa khandito
yad anyad asasta rtatmano ’budhah
yatha cared bala-hitam pita svayam
tatha tvam evarhasi nah samihitum

“My Lord, due to Your illusory energy, all living beings in this material world have forgotten their real constitutional position, and out of ignorance they are always desirous of material happiness in the form of society, friendship, and love. Therefore, please do not ask me to take some material benefits from You, but as a father, not waiting for the son’s demand, does everything for the benefit of the son, please bestow upon me whatever You think best for me.” (SB 4.20.31)

It is a beautiful thing—Krishna consciousness. It is different from ordinary life. In ordinary life, “Sweets yea! Bitter medicine nay!” That is not the vision of a devotee.

Krishna’s supreme quality is His affection for His devotees—bhakta-vatsalya. The word vatsa means “calf” or “dear child.” Cows are so affectionate, so loving and caring, to their calves. And the word vatsalya comes from vatsa. Krishna is so loving and caring, so kind and compassionate to His devotees, that the question may be raised: Why should He put them into suffering?

As the acharyas explain, there is a great purpose behind the material creation: to rectify the living entity’s tendency to enjoy without the Lord, so that he becomes fully purified and liberated. When a person engages in a sinful activity, he suffers a reaction that is meant to purify his heart of the desire to commit that sin. Although a devotee who has surrendered to Krishna no longer engages in sinful activities, he may have some lingering trace of the enjoying spirit, of wanting to enjoy independent of Krishna, so even though he doesn’t actually engage in a sinful activity, the Lord, out of His mercy, will give His devotee a punishment that resembles a sinful reaction, to remove the last traces of the devotee’s sinful mentality. So, the misery suffered by a sincere devotee is not technically a karmic reaction. Rather, it is the Lord’s special mercy for inducing him to completely let go of the material world and return home, back to Godhead. And the devotee, completely cleansed in heart, becomes fully absorbed in loving service to Krishna and in the end returns to Him—the devotee’s goal. The devotee’s deepest desire is to attain the Lord’s association in loving service.

When a devotee’s only desire is to serve and please Krishna, he becomes eligible to go back home, back to Godhead. As stated in the purport, “A sincere devotee earnestly desires to go back to the Lord’s abode. Therefore he willingly accepts the Lord’s merciful punishment and continues offering respects and obeisances to the Lord with his heart, words, and body. Such a bona fide servant of the Lord, considering all hardship a small price to pay for gaining the personal association of the Lord, certainly becomes a legitimate son of God, as indicated here by the words daya-bhak. Just as one cannot approach the sun without becoming fire, one cannot approach the supreme pure, Lord Krsna, without undergoing a rigid purificatory process, which may appear like suffering but which is in fact a curative treatment administered by the personal hand of the Lord.” (SB 10.14.8 purport)

If one passes his life in this spirit, he will attain the lotus feet of the Lord. As a legitimate son needs only to remain alive to gain his inheritance from his father, one who simply remains alive in Krishna consciousness, following the regulative principles of devotional service, becomes eligible to inherit the kingdom of God.

That is how a devotee lives. He is like a cataka bird. He awaits the Lord’s mercy, and even if for some time the Lord gives thunder and lightning, still the devotee doesn’t go anywhere else; he simply awaits the Lord’s mercy. He expects the Lord’s mercy (su-samiksamana) and offers obeisances to the Lord with heart, words, and body (hrd-vag-vapurbhir vidadhan namas te). These two processes are so potent that they can bring the devotee back to Godhead.

Thus our lust is purified and transformed into its original state of pure love. The enjoying spirit means lusty, selfish desires. And any remnant of that enjoying spirit can impede our progress. We want to become completely purified, perfectly Krishna conscious. And if we accept whatever remedial measures Lord Krishna arranges to purify us, however painful they may be, as His mercy, and expect further mercy in terms of attraction to Krishna—that is the real mercy, not that the pain will stop. Of course, the pain may stop, but the real mercy is that one is able to think of Krishna without deviation, which really means to develop love for Him. If you love someone, you naturally always think of the person, and that state of pure Krishna consciousness will carry us back home, back to Godhead, to the lotus feet of the Lord. And that is why we are here—to practice and preach Krishna consciousness, pure love for Krishna.

Hare Krishna.

Are there any questions or comments?

Devotee (1): Thank you for your talk. You said that if you are fond of Krishna you should talk about Him.

Giriraj Swami: The gopis said, “We can live without Krishna, but we can’t live without talking about Him.” That is our business, to talk about Krishna. Especially in separation, one finds solace by speaking about Krishna.

Maha-sakti dasa: Thank you, Maharaja. I think the example about the bird was really neat. Is the bird cakora or cataka?

Giriraj Swami: Cataka. The cakoras like the moon; they subsist only on moonlight. Manasa-candra-cakora. Krishna is the candra, moon, for the cakora bird of the devotee’s mind (manasa). As the cakora bird goes to the moon, so the devotee’s mind goes to Krishnachandra.

Maha-sakti dasa: I was thinking that the example of the cataka bird is so powerful, and very appropriate. We do austerities in Krishna consciousness, but they are not really austerities. There is always something related to Krishna to replace what we give up. Prabhupada would say, “Don’t stop talking; just talk about Krishna.” Or “Don’t stop eating, but eat only krsna-prasada.” The functions of the tongue are to vibrate and to taste, and Srila Prabhupada explained how to engage both in relation to Krishna: vibrate krsna-katha and taste only krsna-prasada. It is a simple yet extremely powerful point. Our tongue wants to taste so many things, and the tendency is to eat anything we like: “Oh, I want this tasty food, or that tasty food.” By allowing our tongue to taste any type of food, we are letting it drag us to hell. And by accepting the austerity of tasting only krsna-prasada, by that simple agreement to accept that vrata, we are raising ourselves back home, back to Godhead. We are becoming Krishna conscious. And it is not that prasada is bad-tasting; it is incredible. But it is an austerity that we follow.

So, getting back to the example of the cataka bird, if prasada is not there, a devotee will not take something else. He would rather fast or wait for something that he can offer as prasada. It is that loyalty that qualifies him.

Giriraj Swami: Yes. Very good. Srila Prabhupada made the same point: The cataka bird drinks water when the rain falls; otherwise he will die of thirst. He will never accept any water from this earth. In the same way, a devotee will never accept materialism, even if he has to die of starvation. “There are still mainly saintly persons in India who do that,” Prabhupada said. “If some food comes, they eat; otherwise, not. They just sit in one place and chant or meditate without any concern for bodily necessities.”

Tamal Krishna Goswami said, “We see, Srila Prabhupada, that you also have no such concern, but just to deliver the whole world you are taking on this concern.” And Prabhupada replied, “This is for Krishna. We are constructing buildings and begging money only for this purpose: People may become Krishna conscious. That is the only idea.”

Syamananda dasa: You were describing from the Tenth Canto how a devotee patiently tolerates the difficulties that he is going through because there are these little anarthas left and Krishna is correcting him by giving him some mercy, which seems like pain. I was wondering, if the devotee is sincerely endeavoring and practicing, why can’t the Lord make him . . . like when Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came, He just gave mercy without any requirements. One may have lust—one may have anything—but He just gave them love, and because of receiving that love, the rest, all the bad qualities, just fell away. So, I was wondering why the Lord doesn’t always do that.

Giriraj Swami: The acharyas have addressed the same question in relation to a similar verse:

yasyaham anugrhnami
harisye tad-dhanam sanaih
tato ’dhanam tyajanty asya
svajana duhkha-duhkhitam

[Lord Krishna said:] “If I especially favor someone, I gradually deprive him of his wealth. Then the relatives and friends of such a poverty-stricken man abandon him. In this way he suffers one distress after another.” (SB 10.88.8)

So, the question can be raised, Why does Krishna have to purify him in this way? Why can’t He do it in a less painful way?

As explained in the purport, “The beloved devotees of the Lord do not regard as very troublesome the suffering He imposes on them. Indeed, they find that in the end it gives rise to unlimited pleasure, just as a stinging ointment applied by a physician cures his patient’s infected eye. In addition, suffering helps protect the confidentiality of devotional service by discouraging intrusions by the faithless, and it also increases the eagerness with which the devotees call upon the Lord to appear. If the devotees of Lord Visnu were complacently happy all the time, He would never have a reason to appear in this world as Krsna, Ramacandra, Nrsimha, and so on.”

For example, Vasudeva and Devaki were imprisoned by Kamsa, their children were mercilessly massacred in front of them, and they suffered tremendous pain. But when Krishna finally appeared and ultimately delivered them—killed Kamsa and delivered them—they appreciated the Lord’s presence more than if everything had been very comfy and cozy.

Srila Prabhupada discusses the same question in Krsna, Chapter 88: “If the Supreme Lord is all-powerful, why should He try to reform His devotee by putting him in distress? The answer is that when the Supreme Personality of Godhead puts His devotee in distress, it is not without purpose. Sometimes the purpose of putting the devotee in distressis that in distress a devotee’s feelings of attachment to Krsna are magnified. For example, when Krsna, before leaving the capital of the Pandavas for His home, asked Kuntidevi for permission to leave, she said, ‘My dear Krsna, in our distress You were always present with us. Now, because we have been elevated to a royal position, You are leaving us. I would therefore prefer to live in distress than to lose You.’When a devotee is put into a situation of distress, his devotional activities are accelerated. Therefore, to show special favor to a devotee, the Lord sometimes puts him into distress. . . . Besides that, it is stated that the sweetness of happiness is sweeter to those who have tasted bitterness.”

“Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti here counters a possible objection: ‘What fault would there be in God’s incarnating for some other reason than to deliver saintly persons from suffering?’ The learned acarya responds, ‘Yes, my dear brother, this makes good sense, but you are not expert in understanding spiritual moods. Please listen: It is at night that the sunrise becomes attractive, during the hot summer that cold water gives comfort, and during the cold winter months that warm water is pleasing. Lamplight appears attractive in darkness, not in the glaring light of day, and when one is distressed by hunger, food tastes especially good.’ In other words, to strengthen his devotees’ mood of dependence on Him and longing for Him, the Lord arranges for His devotees to go through some suffering, and when He appears in order to deliver them, their gratitude and transcendental pleasure are boundless.” (SB 10.88.8 purport)

And as explained by Srila Prabhupada in Krsna, when the devotee is bereft of material riches and is deserted by his relatives, friends, and family members, because he has no one to look after him he completely takes shelter of the Lord. And from within his heart, the Lord inspires him to surrender to His devotees:

sa yada vitathodyogo
nirvinnah syad dhanehaya
mat-paraih krta-maitrasya
karisye mad-anugraham

“When he becomes frustrated in his attempts to make money and instead befriends My devotees, I bestow My special mercy upon him.

tad brahma paramam suksmam
cin-matram sad anantakam
vijnayatmataya dhirah
samsarat parimucyate

“A person who has thus become sober fully realizes the Absolute as the highest truth, the most subtle and perfect manifestation of spirit, the transcendental existence without end. In this way realizing that the Supreme Truth is the foundation of his own existence, he is freed from the cycle of material life.” (SB 10.88.9, 10)

Krishna says,“My devotee is not deterred by any adverse conditions of life; he always remains firm and steady. Therefore I give Myself to him, and I favor him so that he can achieve the highest success of life.” (Krsna Chapter 88)

Although it is true that Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu gave the holy name and love of God without any condition, one can accept these gifts fully only if one’s heart is completely cleansed of material desires and attachments. Therefore Locana dasa Thakura, a great acharya almost contemporary to Lord Chaitanya, requests everyone, bhaja bhaja bhai, caitanya-nitai: “My dear brothers, I request that you just worship Lord Chaitanya and Nityananda with firm faith and conviction.” He sings,

bhaja bhaja bhai, caitanya-nitai
sudrdha visvasa kori’
visaya chadiya, se rase majiya,
mukhe bolo hari hari

Explaining this verse, Srila Prabhupada says, “Don’t think that this chanting and dancing will not lead to the desired goal. It will. It is the assurance of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu that one will get all perfection by this process. Therefore one must chant with firm faith and conviction (visvasa kori’). But what is the process? The process is visaya chadiya, se rase majiya. If one wants to be Krishna conscious by this process, one has to give up his engagement in sense gratification. That is the only restriction. If one gives up sense gratification, it is sure that he will reach the desired goal. Mukhe bolo hari hari: one simply has to chant, ‘Hare Krishna! Hari Hari!’ without any motive of sense gratification.”

And we are not alone in our efforts. The Lord, the scriptures, the devotees, the acharyas, the Deities, the holy names—they are all here to help us.

Hare Krishna.

The Role of Sex in Spiritual and Religious Life: A Vaishnava Perspective

2019-04-05T11:54:00.000-05:00

An article by Bhakta Luke prabhu - http://www.dandavats.com/?p=77653

Q&A about Inattentive Chanting

2019-03-28T11:51:00.000-05:00

Questions about INATTENTIVE CHANTING and answers by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura from his books:
Q. What is the main impediment blocking one from developing attachment for chanting?
A. If one gives up all the offenses in chanting, but remains inattentive, he can never develop attachment for chanting. (Sajjana Tosani 11/1)
Q. What are the various definitions of inattention while chanting?
A. O Lord! All anarthas are produced when we do not pay attention to our chanting. The exalted devotees have defined inattention as indifference, laziness, and restlessness. (Harinama-cintamani)
Q. What is the symptom of a restless chanter?
A. Those who are afflicted with restlessness try to finish their prescribed rounds as soon as possible. One should be extremely careful not to commit such an offense while chanting. (Harinama-cintamani)
Q. How can laziness be destroyed?
A. The characteristic of a saintly person is that he does not waste time. By seeing such character in another, one will certainly hanker after it. One will think, “Alas! When will I become fortunate enough to chant, sing, and remember the holy names of the Lord like this saintly person?” Such enthusiasm in a lazy person’s mind will destroy his laziness because he will remember Krsna. (Harinama-cintamani)
Q. Why does one become indifferent to chanting the holy names?
A. If the desire to accumulate wealth, enjoy the association of women, name and fame, to cheat others, and to seek victory over defeat fills one’s heart, that will naturally make one indifferent to chanting the Lord’s holy names. (Harinama-cintamani)
Q. Why is inattention in chanting the source of all offenses?
A. O reservoir of all transcendental qualities! If one chants the holy names of the Lord but his attention is elsewhere, how can he benefit? If even such a person chants one hundred thousand holy names of the Lord, still a drop of the mellow of ecstatic love will not be attained. O Lord! This is the definition of inattention while chanting the holy names. This offense is deeply rooted in the hearts of materialists. (Harinama-cintamani)

How can we convert our mind to be our friend through association?

2019-02-14T00:00:00.000-06:00

From HG Vaisesika Dasa Gurudeva's excellent class - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pv3fkxXIktE&t=1341s

"For him who has conquered the mind, the mind is the best of friends but one who has failed to do so, for him the mind will remain the greatest enemy."

Goal of Yoga is to pacify the mind. When the mind is thinking about how to satisfy the senses then it's our enemy, but when the mind is the friend it has the concept that I'm spiritual. When you start thinking I'm this body then mind is our enemy. So can we train the mind?

The first and most important is good association. When we have association with Sadhus then it's the speech that cuts away SB 11.26.26.

SB 11.26.26 states:

tato duḥsaṅgam utsṛjya
satsu sajjeta buddhimān
santa evāsya chindanti
mano-vyāsaṅgam uktibhiḥ

Translation
An intelligent person should therefore reject all bad association and instead take up the association of saintly devotees, whose words cut off the excessive attachment of one’s mind.

Words of a Sadhu are like a sharp instrument. They cut all the excessive attachement of one's mind. The method of the Sadhu is by Sharpened topics and their words are sharp. They help us wake up from false ideas we have.

Your attitude is determined by the association you keep. If you have good association you will have a good attitude, if you have bad association you will have a bad attitude. Hence, it's very important to associate with devotees and *reject* the bad association.

How can we control and train the mind?
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1. Hearing the words of a Sadhu. They cut through one's mind's attachments to the material world ex - Krsna's words to Arjuna; Mahaprabhu's words to Sarvabhauma, His sharp words cut through. Same way Mahaprabhu asked us to go out door to door and share this knowledge with everyone and speak Krsna's words.

2. Regularly reading the SB and BG. Krsna says He himself resides in the heart of one who reads the SB as He is so interested to hear. Read from SB and BG everyday, so the mind gets trained everyday. When mind is directed towards Krsna then it's our friend. Both 1 and 2 work very closely as Sadhus only speak from BG and SB. SB is very intimate as it melts the heart. By chanting and hearing regularly our heart melts!

How to make your heart change? By the transcendental sound vibration:

Heart is the chariot driver of the body. Heart melts by chanting the Holy Name, it's given in the SB.
Srila Isvari puri taught Mahaprabhu this verse at the time of his Initiation and asked him to memorize it.

SB 11.2.40
evaṁ-vrataḥ sva-priya-nāma-kīrtyā
jātānurāgo druta-citta uccaiḥ
hasaty atho roditi rauti gāyaty
unmāda-van nṛtyati loka-bāhyaḥ

By chanting the holy name of the Supreme Lord, one comes to the stage of love of Godhead. Then the devotee is fixed in his vow as an eternal servant of the Lord, and he gradually becomes very much attached to a particular name and form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. As his heart melts with ecstatic love, he laughs very loudly or cries or shouts. Sometimes he sings and dances like a madman, for he is indifferent to public opinion.

3. Learn Toleration. Tolerate the minds plans by dovetailing with Krishna's plan. Matra sparsah tu kaunteya - Irrespective of anything, we should continue doing our duty. For example:

Whatever happens complete your rounds - Complete your vow- ALWAYS COMPLETE YOUR ROUNDS AND DO WHATEVER YOU CAN TO COMPLETE IT!!!

From Shastra Visvanath Chakravarti says It's very difficult in Kali so people get disturbed in their practices but he says don't worry keep going.
Also SB it's said from Karbhajana muni that devotees will fall down from their practice sometimes but all we need to do is pick it back up and just start chanting and do your rounds gain. Just keep chanting and bring it back again.

Whatever happens never miss your daily reading - Srimad Bhagavatam and BG.
Whatever happens always offer your food to Krsna.

This helps us to overcome our mind's plan making on how we want to become comfortable and mind's imaginations. Imaginations with various combinations to make us more comfortable in this material world. Hence, SP says dovetail your plan with Krsna's plan.

Get a list of mentors and take their help when hard decisions come. Have senior devotees as your mentors.

Realizations from last week...

2019-01-14T14:41:00.000-06:00

- This world is a temporary place and everything around you is false except the Holy Name.
- Only by Chanting the Holy Name offenselessly can we realize everything about Krsna and only by His Mercy - Form, Qualities, Pastimes and achieve the purpose of life.
- Tolerate all naggings in material life and consider it a blessing from Krsna for you to come closer to Him.
- Nobody, NOBODY is your friend in this material world - except Krsna and his associates who want to help you come back to Him, because Krsna is really missing me. Missing me more that I miss Him
- Always take the humble position and consider yourself the servant of everyone. You are here to serve Krsna's kids whom he loves dearly.
- Make your lifetime successful by chanting and reading Srila Prabhupada's books. Also, when you read or hear make the information change to transformation. Transformation of your heart.
- Book distribution, Slokas and Philosophy is very dear to Gurudeva.
- By doing something regularly, it becomes second nature eg - Brahmasamhita learning and Evening aarti
- To grow in Bhakti, we need to hide our Bhakti
- Simple living, High thinking
- Prasadam is mercy, don't look to honor opulent prasadam, just have simple prasadam and always consider it mercy.
- Cooking for Krsna is mercy of Srimati Radharani and do it with love.
- Service you get, take it with care and love, it can be taken away from you anytime!

How to cook for Krsna:

I love to cook for Krishna and when you love ,you want to please and do your best for your beloved 🙏❤

Cooking for Krishna
Three essentials are consciousness, cleanliness and timeliness:

CONSCIOUSNESS OF KRISHNA
A LOVING EXCHANGE
Cooking is a loving exchange with Krishna. We get to make something with our own hands to feed to the Lord, beg Him to eat it, and then accept whatever He gives to us in return as prasadam. Actually, our love is the most essential item

LITTLE THINGS COUNT
Cooking should be done, therefore, with as much care and attention as possible. For example, if a pot has a little spot on it from not having been cleaned properly, cleaning it before using it only takes a minute. For this reason and in case of other contamination in the meantime, it is also a good practice to rinse everything before using it. Also sifting through the bhoga like dahl and spices will ensure no foreign matter is mixed in. All the bhoga chosen for the offering should be as fresh and pure as possible.

HEARING, CHANTING, REMEMBERING PASTIMES
It is said that a cook's "mood goes into the food". Praying and chanting mentally helps. Or keep a recording in the kitchen, playing devotional music and lectures

CLEANLINESS
PERSONAL CLEANLINESS
It's best to take a bath, change into clean clothes and tie and cover one's hair before cooking

Another thing is while cooking, one must be careful not to engage in conversation. This is to ensure no saliva accidentally falls from one's mouth into a preparation. And it is much easier this way to focus on quality and meditate on making the offering pleasing for the Lord.

CLEANING WHILE COOKING
The kitchen should be clean before one cooks, while cooking and immediately after. A helpful rule is to "Clean while you cook". This may include rinsing after use everything that needs only rinsing, while leaving in the sink for washing afterwards (or as soon as possible) only the things that need to soak or are greasy.

TIMELINESS
Timeliness is yet another sign of love. Preparing offerings on time, as regularly as possible, means caring about the Lord and others who may be hungry.

Yes, we still have a material body that sometimes feels very tired, or the weather may be very hot, but it is helpful to remember that while others may simply drive to a fast food joint for lunch, Krishna is especially pleased by all the effort and sacrifice made instead, to prepare something nice for Him. Feeding His devotees afterwards can serve as a pretty good indicator about how much this is true. And sure, this may all sound troublesome to some, but it is always voluntary; it is the way of love.

5 lessons for life plans

2018-12-04T14:39:00.000-06:00

1. Make spiritual plans increased Sadhana and Seva (Sankirtan seva)
2. Be aware of what you are after. What am I asking for - when I get it will I be peaceful.
3. Follow the Shastra for perfection. Don't catch the dog's tail!
4. Pray for help. Pray very very hard to Krishna
5. Be patient. Study how Krishna thinks, how he works, study what He says and have complete trust in what He says. Krishna knows! Wait for Him to do His part, He knows what to do, when to do it.

Karthik Realization

2018-11-18T16:32:00.000-06:00

After intense prayers to Sri Sri Radha Kalachandji, my desire to take the family to Vrindavan, Mayapur and Puri was granted by the mercy of Gurudeva and Gauranga. This year, we had the opportunity to go to the Dhaam during Karthik. The real treat was seeing the faces of the kids as they visited all the places we had spoken about - Kaliya ghaat, Yamuna, Vrindavan desire trees, Panchatattva in Mayapur and so many many beautiful places.

We tried to serve the Dhaam by visiting the holy places and also reading about the glories at each place. There is so much mercy flowing in the Dhaam and we just need to enlarge our pot to take in the mercy.

After leaving the Dhaam, we have been missing it. Gurudeva shared - If you can't be there, feel there! Additionally, Gurudeva also shared that Srila Prabhupada has created so many Kunjas here that we can live in the Dhaam while being here in the material world.

All we need to do is immerse ourselves and as soon as we close our eyes we will be transported there.

Jayo Radhe, Jayo Krishna, Jayo Vrindavan....

New Car; Accident; Realizations

2018-08-31T08:50:00.000-05:00

I recently met with an accident and the whole experience was very profound. We had bought a brand new car and I was feeling very protective of it. Making sure I wipe off fingerprints, using all the new features etc. I was so protective that I started feeling that it's "My Car". Krishna sure enough again helped me to get out of this mood.

One fine day, I was just driving down the road when I got hit from the side. The hit was so hard that air bags deployed. Immediately, after the impact I remember, sitting in the car, feeling sorry that "My new car" was hit and badly damaged. The car's head console announced that I've been hit and been in an accident and automatically called the emergency numbers.

I remember reciting the Narasimha prayers and praying to Narasimha Dev, while waiting for the emergency respondents to arrive at the scene. At that time I was still so connected to "My car", I was feeling so sad that "my" brand new car had been hit and now I have to deal with it.

After all the fun stuff of talking to the Police, the firemen, the EMT, the insurance, doctors, I had time to reflect on what just happend. I thought, I'm sure Krishna has a plan and He just wants me to have faith. I also remembered Krishna protected me somehow, it could have been much worse and this was Krishna's plan and I should just go with it.

Fast forward - after multiple insurance calls, body shop calls, rental company calls, lawyer calls, I found out that "my car" was completely totalled which meant the amount it would take to fix the car was more than the actual value of the car. I now had to buy a new car but insurance paid me the value of the car.

I was finally able to buy a new car and going through physical therapy. As I look back on the entire episode, I had the following realizations:

1. Nothing belongs to me. I was attached to the car, but it's all Krishna's. In one min the car I was attached to was - GONE!
2. Krishna did it for a reason, even though I don't understand the reason, I need to have the faith in Krishna's plan.
3. Always be devoted to Krishna no matter what the situation and that will please Krishna.
4. Nobody will help you except having firm faith in Krishna and then Krishna reciprocates.
5. In the end, it was for the better and Krishna protected me.

Gurudeva says = Don't love the car, because....the car won't love you back!

Your servant,
Naimisaranya Dasa

Second Initiation

2018-07-15T13:52:00.000-05:00

Sri-gopika got her second initiation today and I feel so indebted and grateful to Sri Sri Radha Kalachandji's. I also feel immense mercy of HH Tamal Krishna Goswami Maharaj. Ever since we've moved to Dallas, I can feel an immense flow of grace. Today, I also realize the power of devotee association and how rapidly Sri-gopika has made progress due to her commitment, firm faith and being pure. Purity is the force. 4 years back before moving to this community our life was completely different and today it is making me realize what a difference it has made for us. HH Giriraj Maharaj has been so kind and merciful to us. I have deep appreciation for him and the more I know him, my appreciation grows deeper and deeper.

I'm praying to dear Sri Sri Radha Kalachandji to always keep me under their kind lotus feet shelter and to always give me their sidelong glances. I pray I'm able to serve the kind vaishnavas at the Kalachandji Dhaam always.

Your servant,
Naimisaranya Dasa

Three stages of the process of purification by chanting the Holy Name

2018-06-08T16:42:00.002-05:00

The chanting is a process of purification. The three stages of chanting are:

1. Clean the mirror of the mind - The mind is the best friend and the worst enemy. For one who has learnt to control the mind it is the best of friends but for one who has failed to do so it is the worst enemy. Due to the long term association, the mind absorbed in material things has become contaminated or dirty, the chanting process purifies the mind.

2. When the mind is cleansed one becomes free from the symptoms of material existence. Material existence means to always hankering and lamenting. The second stage is to be free from this anxiety.

3. Third stage is " He never laments or desires to have any thing; he is equally disposed to every living entity, In that state he attains pure devotional service unto me (Bg 18.54)"

So chant and hear. When you distribute the holy name of the Lord it is like giving charity (Dadati principle), same way one must follow the pratigrhnati principle and be willing and ready to receive the transcendental gift.

Power of Chanting Hare Krsna Maha Mantra

2018-05-28T18:27:00.000-05:00

Srila Prabhupada says in a lecture - Just by chanting the Hare Krsna Maha Mantra and hearing properly, we can achieve all perfection and be able to understand all topics - who is God, Who we are, what is our relationship. Important thing is to chant with that faith and just hear the Holy Name 24 hrs a day.

Sadhu Sanga

2018-04-17T18:25:00.000-05:00

From HH Giriraj Maharaj's class at Sadhu Sanga 2017 - Sadhu Sanga means getting the association of devotees who are more advanced than you. When we take the humble position that everyone is more advanced than you, you can get sadhu sanga from everyone and learn something from everyone and progress in your spiritual life.

Beautiful verse from Śrī Mādhavendra Purī

2018-03-02T12:42:00.002-06:00

https://vedabase.io/en/library/cc/madhya/4/197/

ayi dīna-dayārdra nātha he
mathurā-nātha kadāvalokyase
hṛdayaṁ tvad-aloka-kātaraṁ
dayita bhrāmyati kiṁ karomy aham

Translation
“O My Lord! O most merciful master! O master of Mathurā! When shall I see You again? Because of My not seeing You, My agitated heart has become unsteady. O most beloved one, what shall I do now?”

Purport
The uncontaminated devotees who strictly depend on the Vedānta philosophy are divided into four sampradāyas, or transcendental parties. Out of the four sampradāyas, the Śrī Madhvācārya-sampradāya was accepted by Mādhavendra Purī. Thus he took sannyāsa according to paramparā, the disciplic succession. Beginning from Madhvācārya down to the spiritual master of Mādhavendra Purī, the ācārya named Lakṣmīpati, there was no realization of devotional service in conjugal love. Śrī Mādhavendra Purī introduced the conception of conjugal love for the first time in the Madhvācārya-sampradāya, and this conclusion of the Madhvācārya-sampradāya was revealed by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu when He toured southern India and met the Tattvavādīs, who supposedly belonged to the Madhvācārya-sampradāya.

When Śrī Kṛṣṇa left Vṛndāvana and accepted the kingdom of Mathurā, Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, out of ecstatic feelings of separation, expressed how Kṛṣṇa can be loved in separation. Thus devotional service in separation is central to this verse. Worship in separation is considered by the Gauḍīya-Madhva-sampradāya to be the topmost level of devotional service. According to this conception, the devotee thinks of himself as very poor and neglected by the Lord. Thus he addresses the Lord as dīna-dayārdra nātha, as did Mādhavendra Purī. Such an ecstatic feeling is the highest form of devotional service. Because Kṛṣṇa had gone to Mathurā, Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī was very much affected, and She expressed Herself thus: “My dear Lord, because of Your separation My mind has become overly agitated. Now tell Me, what can I do? I am very poor and You are very merciful, so kindly have compassion upon Me and let Me know when I shall see You.” Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu was always expressing the ecstatic emotions of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī that She exhibited when She saw Uddhava at Vṛndāvana. Similar feelings, experienced by Mādhavendra Purī, are expressed in this verse. Therefore, Vaiṣṇavas in the Gauḍīya-Madhva-sampradāya say that the ecstatic feelings experienced by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu during His appearance came from Śrī Mādhavendra Purī through Īśvara Purī. All the devotees in the line of the Gauḍīya-Madhva-sampradāya accept these principles of devotional service.

Japa Realizations

2018-02-04T14:42:00.000-06:00

Krishna is dancing on my tongue when I chant. He's dancing in the same way like He was dancing on head of Kaliya. I'm praying to Krishna - O Krishna, just in the way you danced on Kaliya's head and removed all the poison from his heart, in the same way please dance on my tongue and remove all the poison - lust, anger, greed, illusion,madness and envy which is so deeprooted in my heart.
Remain on the path firmly just like you are going around Govardhan Parikrama. There will be many paths from the main Parikrama marg, but be firmly situated on the marg so we can reach our goal faster. If we consider the analogy some more, we really aren't getting anywhere than coming back to the same point from where we started. The journey is the same as the goal and hence do it with love and devotion as a service to Krishna.
When going on a parikrama, we are serving Govardhan. How? It's like a big flower garland and we are ornamets going around the big flower garland and seeing us, others get motivated as well and learn the greatness of Giriraj.
Hear the mantra - meditate on the Sanskrit writing.
Remember the lotus feet of Krishna
Eyes of Lord Jagannatha
Pray to Tulsi Maharani, please make me your maidservant.
Posture is very important - 3Ps = Posture, Pronunciation, Prayer
Gundica Marjana - Cleanse your heart, Japa is cleansing the heart so it's ready to pull Krishna's chariot into your heart.
Have a special place to chant, have a special Gambhira in your life. Read Srila Prabhupada's books and spread it.