Dear Devotees, Well wishers

Please accept my most humble obeisances

All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

All glories to Sri Sri Guru and Gauranga.

It is with very sad and heavy heart, that I convey the news that HG Vraja Bhakti Vilas Prabhu (53 Years), senior disciple of HH Lokanath Maharaja and one of the most profound Vaishnava Purohit of ISKCON has left his body on Tuesday 8th March at 7:40 am in Vraja Mandal Dham at Kosi Kalan. He left the world with all auspiciousness around him – Srila Prabhudpada Japa playing in his ears, devotees chanting around him, and having Vraja-raja and Ganges Water in his mouth and over his head.

He was being treated for liver failure at ILBS hospital Delhi under the care of devotees of Delhi-NCR. His sudden departure has left the devotee community across the world in great sorrow. The last rites were performed on the banks of Yamuna at Kesi Ghata in Vrindavan.

He was presently serving as Co-President of ISKCON Ghaziabad Temple
(INDIA). He is survived by his wife, a daughter, and a son. He had dedicated his entire life in serving the mission of Srila Prabhupada.

Born in a Vaishnava Brahmin family of South India, he joined ISKCON at a very young age in mid 80s. He received his Harinam Diksha in 1991 and Brahmin Diksha in 1992. He had served in many capacities in ISKCON Delhi which includes Sankirtan department, Head Pujari, Life Member preaching, and as Vice-President. He then served as Temple President of ISKCON Noida and contributed significantly with great determination and vigour for building the project. He is remembered by devotees as being soft spoken, caring, and as one of the most profound devotee for Bramhinical services like performing vaishnava Yagna, Deity installation, and diksha ceremonies. He was the head priest during the deity installation and opening festivals of many temples such as ISKCON Delhi, Aravade, ISKCON Kanpur, and ISKCON Alachua. We are all blessed to have such exalted souls on the planet with us.

As Krishna says in Bhagvada Gita “antakale ca mameva smarana muktva …”, One who remembers me at the time of death comes to my personal abode. The devotees who were closely serving HG Vraja Bhakati Prabhu in the hospital, could hear him chanting the shlokas and remembering the Lord of Tirupati, and this was when externally he was in great pain. This showed his mood of surrender towards Lord.

Let’s pray to Their Lordships Sri Sri Radha Govind to give Their eternal service to Vraja Bhakti Prabhu and give strength to his immediate family to bear this great loss. Also let’s join hands in serving the remaining family of this Great Vaishnava devotee of Lord.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

Your servant, Krishnabhakta Das

For Roger Siegel, the last half-century has been the proverbial long, strange trip. It started in New York, where, as an idealistic college dropout in the early 1960s, he tutored Harlem schoolchildren. It included civil rights marches in Alabama and peyote hikes in the Nevada hills.

It took a major turn in San Francisco in 1967, when Mr. Siegel became Gurudas, a disciple in the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, or Iskcon, a.k.a. the Hare Krishnas.

Read the rest of the article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/06/business/retirementspecial/krishna-devotees-look-to-provide-for-this-life.html?_r=1

March 11. ISKCON 50 – S.Prabhupada Daily Meditations.
Satsvarupa dasa Goswami: Dependent on Krishna.
He would record every amount received; yet Prabhupada didn’t worry about the money at all. When he moved from one place to another in 1966, he didn’t worry about the rent money, but simply depended on Krishna. American hippies were accustomed to living as mendicants too, but their renunciation was more an act of irresponsibility, and therefore, simply another variety of materialism. Prabhupada was purely renounced in Krishna’s service.
It is an amazing feature of Prabhupada’s surrender and dependence on Krishna that he came to the West completely alone with no material backing. Because the Gaudiya Matha had become divided after his spiritual master left this world, there wasn’t enough solidarity among his godbrothers to fund him from his Guru Maharaj’s institution. If someone pressed him about what religion he was representing, or about who sent him, he couldn’t claim anything other than a philosophical and spiritual connection with the Gaudiya Matha.
Prabhupada didn’t demand his disciples to do what he did – to go alone to a new place without any income – but it inspired us to think that he founded the movement on his complete dependence on Krishna.
To read the entire article click here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=20490&page=6

Distributing Srila Prabhupada’s books in Russia (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: We can ask favor from anyone, but we must know that nobody can favor us unless sanctioned by the Supreme Person. Suppose we approach a rich man to favor us with some contribution. Krishna is there within, and if He says, “You give him this money,” the man will give us. If he is not so fortunate now; therefore Krishna did not dictate him. So there is nothing to be sorry. This should be our principle. Mayapur March 22, 1976.

BY SRILA BHAKTIVINODA THAKUR

The history of the establishment of the great temple in Puri, and the hypocrisy of temple priests as opposed to sincere devotional worship in pure love of God. Written by the Thakur in English, 1871.

There is not a Hindu who has not heard the name of this temple. The old and the young, the male and the female, the Rajah and the ryot, and the weak and the stout, all visit this temple out of a religious curiosity. Three hundred and one miles south-west of the Vice-Regal palace at Calcutta, stands this famous temple close to the seashore affording an object for a telescopic observation to the new-comer on broad the ship bound for Bengal. It stands on a platform measuring 20 cubits in height from the level of water. The platform itself is 375 cubits by 400 cubits made of huge stone cemented with a mortar composed of lime and sand. The temple itself is 92 cubits in height of a structure purely Indian. The pilgrims sees its towering head from the distance of 7 miles where the shrewd Panda takes a rupee from him by showing him the holy Chakra.

This temple was erected by Raja Ananga Bhimbdeb about 800 years ago in place of another one, then in state of dilapidation. In old accounts we find this temple styled Niladri or the blue hill. From this it appears that the former temple which was probably raised by the emigrating Rajah Indradiumna was a blue or dark coloured one. Otherwise we cannot account for the name Nilachala unless we take it for granted that the name was after the Nilgiri Hills, a small range which runs through this Province from one end to the other.

The Utkalakhanda in the Puranas, the Niladri Mahodadhi, and the Matla Panjee (an account regularly kept by the temple officers) declare that Jagannatha is a very ancient institution amongst the Hindus. Whatever may be the value of the authorities quoted, we are inclined to believe that Puri was considered sacred even at the time when the Puranas were written, because we find in Wilson’s copy of the Vishnu Purana that one Kandu Rishi resorted to a place called Purushottama for the purpose of divine contemplation. At all events Rajah Indradyumna, to whom the whole affair is generally ascribed, lived a long time before Rajah Vikramaditya, the contemporary of Augustus Caesar of Rome. We are sure, that Puri is not so old as Benares and Gaya, of which repeated mention is made in all the Puranas and the Mahabharata, yet it is not a place of recent origin created after the commencement of the Christian Era. We cannot believe that the institution originated in pure stupidity of the religious sentiment; for we cannot but observe a great deal of wisdom in the man with whom the idea of Jagannatha first originated. We do not profess to belong to any of the sects of religion under the sun, we believe the absolute Faith, founded upon instinctive love of God, natural in all human souls.

There are two great sects of religion all over the world who fight with each other without any advantage whatever. One of them holds that it is absolutely necessary to believe that God is without any form whatever and believers in the form are but, idolatrous. The other class maintains that God has out of kindness shown His form to the pious in order to be worshipped by them. Both of them are wrong, because both of them fight on a purely material point. The most unsectarian view of the point is, that God is neither a form nor a formless object but is purely spiritual. Matter alone can embrace the idea of form; consequently all positive and negative assertions with regard to it must naturally be material. Those who worship the form and those who describe God as formless, are both idolatrous and superstitious, and consequently can never form an idea of the spiritual Deity. Sectarians of the same class are expected to hate each other, but those, who have nothing in common with them, have no reason for hatred. We therefore cannot, like the fanatics of the formless class consider all idols as unsacred and hold the worship of a formless Deity (identifying Him with something like space and eternity) to be the natural worship of God. We go so far as to maintain that the worshipper of the spiritual God in an idol is infinitely superior to a mere believer in a formless existence who considers that formlessness is one of the attributes of the Spirit.

Spirit is not exactly the opposite of matter, but it is certainly something different from it. it is difficult indeed to decide what is the exact relation of the Spirit to matter, space and time, and it is not given to us to know. It would indeed be the height error to conceive that all the opposite qualities of matter, space and time are in Spirit. Hence we must look to some other attributes for Spirit. Love and wisdom are certainly spiritual attributes which are not opposite qualities of matter. Man must be wise and love God. This is the religion of the soul. All debates about the essence of God (e.g. God is formless or with a form) are but sectarian. Now we allow men to love God wisely, i.e. spiritually while their eyes are on idol as well as while they contemplating an Infinite thing like the space. When the soul worships, the mind also finds an employment. The mind can never conceive of anything that is not material. It is therefore exceedingly difficult for man in his present state to separate himself from idolatry. What man is obliged to do, is his lot and hence we must put off the meaning of idolatry to some other process. We therefore conclude that he that worship the idol as God (whether the idol be formless or form) is idolatrous, but he that worships the spirit in wise love (however near he may be to an idol of form or of no form) is a worshipper of Sprit. But we go further to tolerate all these classes if they be sincere.

God accepts the worship of all those who worship their highest ideal, whether it is form, formless or Spirit, and it is under some regular processes that the idea of God becomes purer and purer in every soul and not by fits and starts. That man has no heart for his brother and consequently for God also, who sneer at the highest ideal of another behind him, is idolatrous. A war against the idol worshippers either in words or action is not a crusade but a fit of rash, loveless and ambitious fanaticism of a very unphilanthropic character. We therefore, with all our due attempts at the spiritual reformation of our erring brothers, tolerate all classes of idolatry from the worshippers of formlessness to the worshippers of man, or matter as God.

We are opposed to the atheists alone who live and enjoy for themselves. Those who are anxious for the blessing of God are our brothers in faith, whatever error there may be in their ideas and forms of worship. Love of God, however misdirected it may be, does by force of its own natural strength, rise higher and higher in the scale of spiritual progress. Its want is the degradation of the soul alone. Those who do not love God have an opposite course from us and are objects of pity with all classes of theists. God save them. We were led to these remarks by a desire to show that we are candid examiners of the institution of Jagannatha without that hatred to the idolatrous (who are not prepared to understand the philosophy of Purushottam Tattva) which is perceivable in the short sighted and rash reformers of our country.

The system of Jagannatha is viewed in two different ways. The superstitious and the ignorant take it as a system of idolatry by worshipping the idols in the temple as God Almighty appearing in the shape of a carved wood for the salvation of the Urias. But the Saragrahi Vaishnavas find the idols as emblems of some eternal truth which has been explained in the Vedanta Sutras of Vyasa. Within the temples in which are to be found the idols of Bimala, Shiva, Ganesha and Surya, the big, towering temple of Jagannatha stands in the middle of the compound. Those who examined the system of Hindu Theology with a philosophic eye, are well aware that there are five different forms of faith comprised therein.

* The first form of faith is Shaktaism or the worship of nature as God.
* The second is the worship of Surya or the sun which is identified with heat; the only active element in lifeless matter.
* The third teaches one to worship the Spirit in its most unsatisfactory form of development in the lower animals. In this form, the elephant-man or Ganesha is the object of worship.
* Man is the object of worship in fourth stage of Hinduism. The soul, well developed as it is in the man, is worshipped in Shiva in whom the human souls is said to be observed after salvation.
* In the fifth stage alone, the Infinite God distinct from the human soul, is perceived and worshipped. Here commences Vaishnavism.

In these five stage are shown the whole history of Hindu Theology, nay, the whole history of Theology in general. All sorts of creeds that have come to existence since the creation of man, are included in these five stages. Name any system of faith that man has discovered and we will find no difficulty in classing it with any one of the five, viz. Materialism, Elementalism, Fetishism, Man worship and God worship. This is summing up of all systems of faith philosophically and not instructing people to believe in any one of them except the last. The visitor of the temple of Jagannatha will find a similar display of these systems in their proper places. Consequently we find the temple of Jagannatha in the middle of the compound, and our remarks will now relate to Jagannatha exclusively.

We have several times entered the shrine of Jagannatha, and, approaching the sandal bolts, have observed in the middle room an elevated seat on which stand four different forms viz. Jagannatha, Balaram, Subhadra and Sudarsan. According to the Vedanta, God is without a second, but He has infinite energies and attributes which are not fully known to man. But then man perceives only three energies in God, because he has no other corresponding sides to understand the other powers. From one of the energies proceeds matter in all its different forms and properties and this energy is styled Maya Shakti of God. From the second energy proceeds all spiritual creation, in all its relations and phases. This power is entitled the Jiva Shakti of God. The third energy perceivable by man is the energy of Will, which is called Cit Shakti. God moving in creation is what is meant by this infinite energy.

Jagannatha is the emblem of God having no other form than the eyes and the hands. They mean to show that God sees and knows and creates. Balarama is the source of Jiva Shakti of God; Subhudra, the Maya Shakti; and Sudarshana is the energy of Will. We cannot form any ideas of these energies and hence it is worship of Jagannatha that depends upon the collection of these four forms on the same platform. Here we see God analyzed in the shape of forms for the sake of those who want to conceive of Him. It is the same thing to see Jagannatha as to study the Vedanta in all its Branches. The temple and its institution appear to me to be a book for those who can read it, to the foolish the institution is useless except as a means of reminding them of the Deity who created the world.

There is one more thing in the temple which explains the philosophical superiority of Jagannatha over all other Hindu institutions. We mean the Mahaprasad system. Rice dedicated to Jagannatha is sold in the Bazaar to all pilgrims. Brahmins and the Khettries, Vaishnavas and Shaktas, the Sannyasis and the Grihastas, all accept it without any hesitation whatever. Brahminical aristocrasy has no rule in the temple. This shows that when people get wise, they need not obey the foolish dictates of the Brahmins which are mainly intended for those who are unable to chalk out ways for themselves. When man admits the superiority of Love to God to all other systems of rule and ethics, he is not bound to work according to the Shastras intended for lower order of men. The common bonds of the inferior Dharma Shastras of Manu and Yagnavalkya have no influence on the free Vaishnavas who are God’s own soldiers in the crusade against evil. The system of Mahaprasad is not only emblematic of the superior life of the Vaisnavas, but it is a part of the worship which ordinary theists cannot fully understand. The ordinary men are very much inclined to preserve the superiority of Reason over intuitive feelings of man towards the God of Love. We must now proceed to show with healthy arguments that our intuitive feelings want us to offer everything we eat to the God of our heart. We must first examine the arguments of the antagonist. The Rationalists holds that God is infinite and without wants, and consequently it is foolish to offer eatables to such Being. It is sacrilege to offer created things to the Creator and thereby degrade the Divinity of God into humanity. These are reasonable arguments indeed, and one who has heard them will certainly be inclined to declare to others, “Down with the Mahaprasad.”These conclusions, however reasonable, are dry and destructive. They tend to separate us from all connections with God in the form of worship. When you say that the infinite wants nothing, you forbid all contemplation and prayer. The Infin ite does not want your grateful expressions or, in other words, flattery. Utter a word to the Unconditioned and you are sure to degrade Him into a conditioned Being. Hymns, prayers and sermons are all over! Shut your temple door and the church gates , because our Rationalist has advised you to do so. Believe a creating principle and you have done your duty! Oh! What a shame! What a dreadful fall! Theists, beware of these degrading principles!

Now the Rationalists appears in another shape and admits prayers, sermons, psalms and church going, saying that these things are wanted for the improvement of the soul, but God does not want them at all. We are glad that the Rationalists have come towards us and will make further approaches in course of time.

Yes, the progressive Rationalists has admitted a very broad principle in Theology, viz. whatever we do towards God is for our own benefit and not for the benefit of God, who is not in want of any such thing. But the Rationalists is a Rationalists still and will continue to be so, as long as he will seek self-interest. We know for certain that religion promises to give eternal felicity to man and it is impossible to conceive of any religion which has not at its bottom self-interest. This view however, smells of utilitarianism and can never claim to be theistic. We must love God for God’s sake, however unreasonable our action may be. Our love must be without any object whatever that concerns ourselves. This must be a natural emotion to the Deity as our Lover without inference or experience. Salvation, dear as it is, should not be the object of this love: what then about other shapes of felicity? “Love of God” is its own reward. Salvation as a concomitant consequence, must be a hand-maid of Love, but we must not look on it as its main object. If Rationalist be prepared to believe this, he becomes a Theist of the Vaishnava class; but the mere assuming of the name is of no consequence. Though fully aware that the unconditioned has no conditions whatever, yet our holy and sweet principle of love take a quite different view of the matter. Reason says one thing but Love prescribes its contrary. Reason tell me that God has no sorrow, but Love sees God in tears for those of His sons that are misled to evil. Reason tells me that the strict laws of God reward and punish me in a cold manner, but Love reveals that God slackens His laws to the repentant soul! Reason tells me that with all his improvements, man will never touch the Absolute God; but Love preaches that on the conversion of the soul into state of spiritual womanhood, God, the unconditioned as He is, accepts an eternal marriage with the conditioned soul of man! Reason tells me that God is in infinite space and time, but Love describes that the all-beautiful God is sitting before us like a respected relative and enjoying all the pleasures of society.

As a father in his amusements with his young children, God is spreading all sorts of delicious food all over the earth and expecting that His sons should gather all the scattered blessings and, without the exercise of reason in consequence of a strong feeling of love, offer all the blessing to the Father whom they love more than their lives. The Father again, in reply to their kind feelings, gives back the blessings to the children and tells them these kindlier words, “O! My children! These blessings intended for you! Out of your natural love you bring them to me for my enjoyment; but I have naturally no wants to supply. But then I have accepted that part of your offering which corresponds with me, viz. your unmixed love and disinterested affections for which alone I am exceedingly anxious. Take back these sweet things and enjoy them.” This process of disinterested love, which dry reason can never brook, sanctifies the food we take, and leaves us to harmless enjoyment for all the days of our natural life! This is the system of sincere worship which theists of a higher class alone can act upon. We cannot express the joy we often felt when we took the holy Mahaprasad in the temple! The holiness we attach to it is its sweetness and often pray that all men may enjoy it. To the Saragrahi Vaishnava, the temple has such thrilling charms which the ordinary Rationalist can never understand. We do not mean to say that Reason is a foolish principle. On the contrary we do not find better admirers of Reason than our humble selves. We hold that man’s superiority amongst all created beings consist in man’s possessing the noble gift of Reason.

What we maintain in this, that independent of this noble principle there is another higher gift in man which goes by the name of Love. Reason helps Love to maintain its proper bounds in the Spiritual world. Love often tends to degrade itself by exercising its functions on objects other than God and converts itself into lust for woman, wine, meat and gold. Here Reason advises her to rise higher till she reaches her proper sphere above. Thus we find that the object of Reason is to help Love and not to create it. Reason may be properly styled as the servant of Love and must always be subject to her in all her hopes, aspirations and holy works. The Rationalist on the contrary considers Reason as all in all. This is degradation of humanity. The progressive Rationalist, on the other hand, believes in the principle of love, but attempts to make her the maid-servant of Reason. This is another error. He makes spiritual love sometimes a prisoner in the Jails of Reason. Love wants to soar on her spiritual wings to a realm where the Jailer (Reason) cannot go and the latter is sure to tie up her wings for fear lest she goes to an unworthy place. Love utters sounds of a spiritual character peculiar to herself, but Reason, having no previous experience of it, mistakes it for a disease and administers medicines for her cure. Thus it is that the natural strength of the Queen of our Soul is crippled by artificial administrations of the dry principle of Reason and she rests in us as if a bird taken in a cage.

Oh. What a havoc doth Reason commit by abuse of his power. Oh. Shame to the Rationalist. God, help the man. Theists take care of those amongst you who mix with you only by assuming the name of Theist but are in fact Rationalists of very dry character. They are divisible into two classes viz. the designing and the dupe. The designing Theist is he who is in fact a Rationalist but by assuming the name of a Theist want to degrade the sincere by his bad influence. He that calls himself a Theist in order to get rid of the name of a Rationalist but still holds Love in subjection to Reason is a dupe because he is unable to find out his own position. The sincere theist should however take care of both of them and preserve the sovereignty of Love over Reason and his comrades. We will now show that others, who have allowed their Love to degrade without caring for the proper instructions of Reason on the other hand, have gone down to a gross idolatry and superstition. The Temple of Jagannatha is under the superintendence of the local Rajah of Puri whom the foolish men worship as an incarnation of the Deity. Under his superintendence there are 36 classes of servants at the temple who are styled the Chhatrisha Niyoga. There are six hundred families of Suars (Soopakars) or cooks in the temple. It is needless here to enumerate all these classes of servants. Several Pandas, Pariharis, Pashupals and Suars send their servants to different parts of India to collect pilgrims to the temple. These agents or Gomasthas (as they are called) visit the gentleman of the places they go to and give some sweetmeat Mahaprasad proposing that they are ready to take pilgrims to Puri under their care. By this means, the agents collect a large number of souls (amongst whom the greatest number are woman of an advanced age) and march on with the sound of Haribol. We must admit that the Pandas and their Gomasthas (generally of the Kayestha class) take a great deal of trouble for the sake of their pilgrims and sometimes advance money for their expenses on the road. The Bengal Jattris generally visit Puri at the Snana Jattra and the Ratha Jattra festivals but the upcountry men come to Puri at all times in the year. When the pilgrims arrive at Purithe Panda, whose agent brought them, visit them with some Mahaprasad near the Narendra Tank at the approach of the town. The pilgrims see Jagannatha on the very day that they arrive and perform the ceremony of Pancha Tirtha on the following day or the day after that. By Pancha Tirtha is meant the business of bathing in the Tanks of Markandeya and Indradyoomna and in the sea and, after performing Sradha in those three places, seeing the emblems of Jagannatha and Balarama in the temple. The Panda all along keeps silent, but on the last day he is sure to take everything that the pilgrim has and sometimes to take a bond for an amount according to the circumstances of the pilgrim. That day the Panda with all his usual gravity takes the pilgrim to an elevated roof in the northern part of the temple called Koili Vaikoontha and there utters his Mahabakya and Shufala in order to persuade the pilgrim to pay whatever he or she has with him or her. Thus the pilgrim returns to his native place without anything but a patara of sweetmeat Mahaprasada and a few slips of Jagannatha’s likeness in rude paintings!

In fact the temple servants, one, and all, are not a bit a better than Brahminical priests who deal with the next world as a means of gain. They are rude in the extreme and quite ignorant of Hindu Theology. They never attempt to teach or learn, but often rove in quest of money. Most of them are fond of drinking a liquor prepared from Bhang and hence they have (nearly all of them) a swelling of their legs sometimes coming up to the stage of disease called elephantiasis. With all their gains, the temple servants can never store wealth because they are very careless. Besides the temple they generally keep a place called an Akhra where they meet together for the purpose of drinking Bhang and seeing the dance of young boys clad in the dress of females! We will try to give you an account of all the Akhras in Puri in my next paper, and as this paper has become much longer than we at first intended, we take leave of you for the present.

By Kaviraja Shanti Prakash Dasa

During our residence on this planet, humanity has experienced many horrors- slavery, apartheid, concentration camps and many other nasty histories. Many countries celebrate independence from foreign subjugation, which were in many cases far from peaceful. Thus we can see what can go wrong when we become dependent on selfish leaders- Exploitation. Exploitation may be gross or subtle. People fear exploitation, but in general, we find exploitation everywhere. Some people are exploited and these same people may in turn exploit others. This reveals the innate desire for the conditioned soul to lord over material nature and of course other living entities. This is the flipside of our desire for independence. So we find people who are being exploited desiring freedom and we find the exploiters desiring to exert their independence over others. This is how society has been in our recent history and it will probably continue if we do not change our attitude. This is the reality of the Material World.

Since we have heard, seen or experienced exploitation, we may have reservations about authority. The Ultimate Authority is God but of course we are hesitant to accept theistic ideologies or philosophies because we fear exploitation by these people in the name of God.

However this should not dissuade the true seeker from the search of the Truth. If we see a man who is blind due to cataracts, it is ludicrous to recommend removal of the affected eyes. The prudent advice is to simply remove the cataracts, allowing the blind man to see. There may be pseudo spiritualists, but the there are real spiritualists too. In order to really understand any knowledge, it is necessary to learn it from one who is proficient in it. In the spiritual sphere this acquisition of spiritual knowledge from true spiritualists is essential for our divine eyes to see, since our gross senses have no entrance in the transcendental reality.

The desire for freedom or independence remains ingrained within us. It may not be a physical struggle against slavery. It may be our financial or physical constraints, relationships or just plain boredom etc, but the quest for freedom continues to haunt us. We have human rights and laws to protect them. We have the United Nations and many organizations dedicated to preserving peace. We have lotteries and casinos feeding off the hope of financial well being. We have jobs which never give us what we deserve. We have clubs, movies and other places of entertainment for people wanting express their independence. All this is available but still the quest for independence remains. Actually we find that the very means people use to gain independence causes them to become dependent.

We desire absolute independence, but we should understand that we can never be absolutely independent. Our independence is relative. We do have free will and we are able to make decisions that may change our lives but there are always limits to this. This is like when we are on a flight: We are have some options, such as sitting, walking or watching a movie but we are unable to play soccer or go ice skating etc.

Independence has been a natural desire since childhood. In our childhood we are restricted in so many ways by our parents or guardians. We would especially experience this during adolescence. At that time we may even attempt to take some independence but always awaiting freedom at the end of the tunnel in the shape of adulthood. As an adult however we may appreciate the restrictions by our beloved guardians. We can see that these impositions were not intended to be exploitative but were imbued with care and affection.

God or Krishna is our eternal guardian. However because of our rebellious attitude, He patiently and attentively waits in the core of our hearts for us to desire Him. When we use our independence to serve God or His devotees, then the Lord, who is absolutely independent, takes a more active role in guiding us. However He can only guide as much we let Him, in order to honor our minute independence.

As all surrender unto Me, I reward them accordingly. Everyone follows My path in all respects, O son of Prtha. (Bhagavad gita 4.11)

By this process if we are sincere, the Lord sends His bona fide representative to guide us in more detail. This is actually the greatest benediction for human society. Since we have no real vision of spirit and can only see matter, the Lord understanding our plight sends divinity in the form of another ‘human’ so that we may be linked to the divine. Thus our interaction with the Spiritual Master, who is always the devotee of the Lord, is actually interaction with God, but in the beginning it is not mature or obvious. By following this guidance with our life and soul we gradually advance in Krishna consciousness to the point of serving on the Absolute platform. The Spiritual Master may appear in more than one form, and this principle is never abandoned in practice or perfection.

In all relationships we find some element of dependence. However the dependence is voluntary. This dependence may lead to both happiness and distress because of the temporary nature of relationships or the actual relationship itself may be volatile or imperfect. Also we may find as the relationships continue, we become bored, or rather it is taken for granted. The actual reason for all this is because we are falsely accepting the body as our actual identity. We want pure happiness but never seem to be satisfied yet we have a desire for it. Since we are spiritual beings in material machines, these material relationships cannot give the satisfaction we seek. All these relationships are actually mirages of our real relationship with Sri Krishna, which is the oasis of pure pleasure. In this eternal relationship, we also voluntarily depend on Krishna and/or His bona fide representative(s), but we find an ever increasing satisfaction in this surrender to the perfect. It is utterly free from all exploitation and there is no limit to its sweetness, because Krishna, Himself becomes dependent on His devotee too. This is indeed what we were looking for and is the best use of our independence.

Thus I have explained to you knowledge still more confidential. Deliberate on this fully, and then do what you wish to do. (Bhagavad gita 18.63)

Declaring Dependence upon the Holy Name.
Romapada Swami: Is there anything that exists that we can say is ours? We can’t say that the body is ours because it can be taken away. Our mind is not ours because it is not under our control. Our possessions are certainly not ours. Even the soul itself is the property of Krsna. So what can we say is ours? Our acharyas give us the answer: the one thing we can say is ours is our relationship with Krsna. It can’t be taken away from us, just like the free-will of a living entity. Our relationship with Krsna is constitutionally given to us. So one of the statements or declarations of full surrender unto Krsna is to declare that nothing is mine. Another is to say that, “Krsna, I am Yours, and You are mine”. That is the platform of full self-surrender, wherein one thinks himself as Krsna’s property. That is declaring our dependence upon Krsna.

In this age, the form of Krsna that is most accessible to everyone, regardless of the modes of nature or the condition of life one is in, is the holy name. So, as we are dependent upon Krsna for our deliverance, we are particularly dependent upon the holy name, because the holy name not only delivers us but it also delivers everything of the spiritual world: Krsna’s form, qualities and His pastimes. In the very elevated stage, simply through the chanting of the holy name, the pastimes of the Personality of Godhead are enacted within one’s heart.

So by chanting of Krsna’s holy name, the Hare Krsna maha-mantra, we are declaring our dependence on Krsna. Declaring dependence means we serve, because when we are dependent on someone, we naturally serve them. Even in ordinary life, if someone is very kind and munificent to us, we want to reciprocate and serve them. Similarly, Krsna is the Supreme father who is maintaining all of us. Recognizing Krsna’s position, one should want to serve Krsna, especially in the form of the holy name. So declaring one’s dependence on the holy name means to pray to “let me become situated once again in my relationship of love on the spiritual plane, with You Krsna, eternally”. That is the spiritual reality, where we are fully dependent upon Krsna.

– From a lecture by HH Romapada Swami titled ‘Real Independence - Declaring Dependence upon the Holy Name’ during a seminar on 'Festival of Holy Name’

By Radhanath Swami

(SB 11.10.17)

Translation

Although the performer of fruitive activities desires perpetual happiness, it is clearly observed that materialistic workers are often unhappy and only occasionally satisfied, thus proving that they are not independent or in control of their destiny. When a person is always under the superior control of another, how can he expect any valuable results from his own fruitive actions?

Purport

Although materialistic persons reject Kṛṣṇa consciousness and instead pursue temporary sense gratification, even that sense gratification is often beyond their reach. If a person could really control his destiny, why would he create problems for himself? No intelligent person would impose death, old age or disease upon himself or his loved ones. One should recognize that these unwanted miseries are forced upon one by a higher power. Since we are all obviously under superior control, the atheistic philosophy advising one to simply perform fruitive activities and create a happy life is most imperfect.

Due to the influence of time, happiness and misery are created. When a woman becomes pregnant, her husband, relatives and friends eagerly await the birth of the child. As time passes and the child is born, everyone feels great happiness. But as the child grows into old age and eventually dies, that same passage of time is a cause of suffering. Ignorant persons vainly seek help from scientists who work feverishly and fruitlessly in their laboratories to stop death. In modern times, inventions have been created to eliminate the inconveniences of life, but the maintenance and production of such conveniences has proven to be unbearably inconvenient for hundreds of millions of people throughout the world. Only the most foolish person will propose that there is no superior controller and that one can achieve favorable results by expert performance of material activities. Ultimately all material activities are useless because they end in annihilation. If one is driving a car but has only limited control, the situation is most dangerous and must lead inevitably to disaster. Similarly, although we are trying to direct the material body to happiness, we are not in full control of the bodily demands, and therefore there will inevitably be disaster. As stated in Bhagavad-gītā (9.3),

aśraddadhānāḥ puruṣā

dharmasyāsya parantapa

aprāpya māḿ nivartante

mṛtyu-saḿsāra-vartmani

“Those who are not faithful on the path of devotional service cannot attain Me, O conqueror of foes, but return to birth and death in this material world.” If one is not a devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa, the eventual result of his activities is simply mṛtyu-saḿsāra — repeated birth and death.

This chapter is entitled as The nature of fruitive activities. It is herein explained by the Lord, how illusion of material life is that we are the controllers of our destiny. In the process of fruitive activities, people are thinking that they are the cause of the results of their actions. Krishna says in the Gita that this is Ahankaar, this is false ego. The foolish living being thinks himself to be the cause of the results of his actions. But actually they are carried out by the nature. They are carried out by the higher powers and the evidence of this is very clearly explained in the purport that in everyone’s performance of actions in this world they are seeking pleasure, they are seeking health, they are seeking long lives. But yet Mrtyu samasara comes upon everyone- the repetition of birth and death and the frustration. So ultimately there is higher power we are all under the control of.

Story of Cyavana muni

In Srimad Bhagavatam in ninth canto, there is a story of Cyavana muni. He was very powerful yogi. Millions of time more powerful than any materialist today in his ability to fulfill his material desires. He had attained very great mystic powers. And of course when one becomes very powerful spiritually or materially, the tendency is to become very proud and in pride the greatest danger is that we can offend saintly persons. So Chyavana muni , as it is described, somehow offended the great devotee Garuda. By doing this, although he was very respected for his very high position, if Krishna does not protect us then nobody however great we are , however advanced spiritually we are, we cannot control our senses even from the grossest activities. It is not possible. The greatest illusion even in spiritual life is to think that by spiritual advancement we can protect ourselves from falling into clutches of Maya, but the fact is

rāga-dveṣa-vimuktais tu

viṣayān indriyaiś caran

ātma-vaśyair vidheyātmā

prasādam adhigacchati

(BG 2.64)

It is only by the mercy of Krishna that we can maintain any spiritual position at all. It is only by the mercy of Krishna that we can control our senses, even from the slightest temptation of illusory energy . It is not by our own power. Of course we must follow the rules and regulations of Krishna Consciousness in spiritual life according to our capacity and when Krishna sees that we are sincere and we are humbly attempting and trying, He will give us the power to control our senses and overcome the temptations of illusion. But without Krishna’s help, we cannot do anything.

So Chayavan muni, although was very advanced in the yogic process, because of this pride he offended a great devotee and therefore Krishna simply withdrew His mercy and if Krishna can withdraw His mercy from a great spiritualist like this then what to speak of the gross materialist who is trying to look for pleasures in this world. Such a powerful yogi he was. He was in the Yamuna under the water for thousands of years performing meditations. Who of us could do that? Such power of control that he even had the power to control his breath. He did not even have to breathe air for thousands of years. This is the power he had to control his senses.

While he was living under the water one day, he saw a male and female fish enjoying the pleasures of sex together. Now what is our position in comparison to his as far as the ability to control our senses. And when we see birds or insects or fish having sexual pleasure together, does it disturb our minds? We just go on walking, doesn’t mean anything to us, but illusory energy of the Lord is so powerful, that if one is not protected by the lord then even something so insignificant as that, can completely infatuate one’s attention . So Chayavan muni was thinking when he saw all this that “Oh! the pleasures of sex are so wonderful .Look at how these fish are enjoying.” He thought I must have this facility. He came out of the water, simply hunting for a consort to enjoy material pleasures with and he came across some beautiful damsels who were princesses. He approached their father who said,” You are an old man and my daughters are not attracted to you. Besides being very old and having long-matted grey hair, and because he was under water for so long, his skin was all wrinkled from too much exposure to water. They were not at all attracted. After all young ladies do not wish to have a husband who is an old sadhu . They like someone who is very strong, handsome and wealthy. So by his mystic power he transformed his form into the most young beautiful, handsome prince . Who of us could do that? Then when he came, all the princesses wanted him. So he expanded himself to satisfy each and every one of them. In this way he married, he enjoyed like anything. He was given tremendous wealth , tremendous powers. By his mysticism, he was able to create beautiful kingdoms, wonderful wonderful facilities to enjoy. He had literally at his control everything he wanted by his mystic powers and by the inheritance of what he had been given by his father -in- law. With these beautiful princesses, to the extent that anyone could imagine, he was enjoying material life. But after a short time of doing like this, he realized that no matter in how many forms I expand myself, no matter how much wealth I create by my mystic powers, no matter how beautiful these young girls are, he is frustrated and they were frustrated. He could understand what a great mistake he had made and he realized that this is because I had offended this great devotee of the Lord that I lost all my intelligence completely. Ultimately he and his wives all renounced everything and accepted the renounced order. So what is there to be learnt from this story. First of all whoever we are, however great we are, unless we are humbly taking shelter of the lotus feet of the Lord it is not possible for us ultimately to control our senses because we are all under His power. He can take away our intelligence. He can cover us by Maya. He can cover us by yoga maya. He can do anything He wants. We are eternally His servitors.

Story of Vishvamitra muni

We read a similar story in the life of Vishvamitra muni. He was such a great powerful yogi that he was able to sit in meditation in the winter in the peaks of the Himalayas with breaking ice and keeping his body up to his neck in the ice for 6 months at a time. Sometimes we are afraid of a cold bath which lasts about 15 or 20 seconds . He spent 6 months in ice without being disturbed, such was his power. But by the power of the illusory energy, just the tinkling of the ankle bells of Menaka was able to bewilder his mind and cast him deeply into the abyss of the material sense enjoyment. But it is described that Srila Haridas Thakur, even the personification of Maya with all of her potencies came before him to try to dissuade him from his wows. Because with great humility he was taking shelter of Krishna through His name, ultimately Maya became his disciple. Ultimately she surrendered to him. So the conclusion is that the devotee of the Lord understands that it is only by the power of God, it is only by the power of Krishna that we can do anything. It is only by power of Krishna that we can be protected and therefore, the devotee with all humility is always seeking shelter of the lord. Therefore such a devotee is never vanquished by the material energy. But those foolish materialistic people and even those less intelligent spiritualists who are dependent on their own powers, on their own abilities, on their own opulence, they are birth after birth after birth frustrated , frustrated by the inflictions of the modes of material nature.

Depending on Krishna

The greatest, most powerful materialistic heroes in the world throughout history- where are they now? They have all succumbed to death. They have all succumbed to old age. They have all been defeated. Material nature defeats every one and this is the essential principle in the 11th chapter of the Gita, where Krishna manifests His universal form to show that I am devouring everyone, I am consuming everyone. In my form of time, everyone is completely under my control and nobody can escape it even for a second and the greatest illusion it is to think that we have escaped it. The difference between the sura or the asura, the demoniac and the devotee is simply that. And therefore I will act independent of Krishna’s will. In the universal form of God He showed that He is devouring every living being from the greatest most powerful heroes to the insignificant insects in His form of time. Devotee accepts it. Devotee admits it ,“Yes , KRISHNA You are in control. You have created, You are maintaining and you will annihilate. I surrender to you”. Srila Prabhupada used the example that a cat keeps a rat in her mouth holding with her teeth and the when rat looks when she looks upon that cat in great fear and horror, the rat is seeing this cat as death personified. The same cat when she is holding her kittens with the same mouth, the kitten sees the cat as the most protective loving mother. What is the difference? This is difference of perception. Because the rat is trying to act independent of the will of the cat. What is that saying, when cat is away the rats will play? Because the rat has a separate interest trying to enjoy separate therefore sees that cat as death personified and ultilmately is killed by the cat. But the kitten , because the kitten has learned to take shelter, to surrender to the cat, the same cat appears to the kitten as the most loved, blessed, protected mother. So similarly this human society is called rat race. What does rat race mean? That means when the cat is away the mice and rats will play. We are thinking there is no God. We are thinking that God is not in control therefore either the God doesn’t exist or He is somewhere else and therefore we are all doing our own thing. We are all trying to make our arrangements, our own grand plans for material enjoyment, for progress and civilization. Therefore when death comes, we view death as the most cruel, terrible cheater taking everything away. Krishna says,’ I am death personified. For a devotee’ , but because a devotee is conscious that I can do nothing without Krishna , Krishna is everything, I can only be His servant. Let me just serve His will and whatever the result is. We are not attached to the results of our activities. We understand that the results are in the control of Krishna This is the teaching of karmaṇy evādhikāras te mā phaleṣu kadācana(BG 2.47). A devotee simply does his service for the pleasure of the Lord and is not at all attached to the fruits of his actions because he knows ultimately Krishna is in control. Whether I am a success or a failure, it is not in my hands. It is in God’s hand. I simple have to try my best. Such a devotee who is always absorbed in loving , humility in devotional service, such a devotee understands that death is but my Lord so kindly taking me back to His eternal abode. Devotee is not afraid of death. Devotee sees Krishna in life and sees Krishna in death because the devotee is taking shelter of Krishna.

bhajahū re mana śrī-nanda-nandana
abhaya-caraṇāravinda re

My dear mind, please take shelter of the lotus feet of the Lord. Surrender to Him. Be His servant. Only in this way you will be free from fear, anxiety, frustration and suffering. But any other arrangement we try to make be it on any various spiritual or material path, ultimately we will end in frustration and anxiety unless we learn to take shelter in all humility of the service of the Lord. Whoever we are, whether we are bramhacharis, grahasthas, vanprasthas,or sanyasis we must know that we do not have the power to control the mind, our senses even for a moment without the help of God, without the grace of God. Krishna’s illusory energy is so powerful. Even lord Shiva, the greatest of all vaishnavas and expansion of Lord Himself was completely mad after Mohini murti. Chasing after a young woman, even so intoxicated by this that Mohini Murti ran by his own disciples great sanyasis who were saying Om Namah Shivaya and performing great tapasya, giving up all forms of sensual experiences and here the lord they were worshipping comes by them running after a young woman, what is this? Lord Shiva what are you doing? We have given up all these things for you and you are doing. They could not understand. Ultimately lord Shiva became so completely intoxicated by the beauty of Mohini murti and finally in the end when he came back to his senses he was not even ashamed. He was proud. He was proud that my Lord is so great, that if He wants to take away my intelligence and make me into a complete sense enjoyer that is His glory. He was not ashamed thinking, oh I have lost my reputation. He was thinking no no if My lord wants to do like this, this is His power. I am completely subordinate to Him. So what to speak of us, our position. If Krishna wants to protect us nothing came disturb us and if Krishna wants to disturb us nothing can protect us. So therefore we simply have to try to please Krishna. Devotee has no other ambition. He doesn’t want to be great spiritualist. He doesn’t want to be powerful. He doesn’t want to attain mystic power. He doesn’t want to perform tremendous tapasya. He simply wants to please Krishna . If Krishna is pleased with our humble service nothing can harm us. If Krishna is not pleased then it is just the matter of time till through His illusiory energy we must succumb. So therefore this is the difference between the material consciousness and spiritual consciousness. One surrenders understanding our complete dependence on the Lord.
Real meaning of Independence

Recently we were at the rainbow gathering and the 4th of July came and we were discussing this idea that throughout America this is a very holy day. It is the day of independence. I think the 4th of July was the day when first the American politicians wrote the declaration of independence. They wanted to declare their independence from the British. Then there was a great war, the revolutionary war and ultimately the American colonies were victorious and they gained independence. Every year on 4th of July there is this great celebration, ‘Independence Day’. They are blowing off the fireworks, and all sorts of speeches and celebration. But what type of independence. First of all we came here and we took away the independence of American Indians. What is this? First, some Europeans came and then they fought war with the American Indians to take away their independence. Then the British came and took away our independence . Then we fought against them and took our independence. But the fact is that of all those people who signed the declaration of independence, is anyone of them here today to tell us about their independence. They have all succumbed to the repetition of birth and death . They have all attained what every materialist must attain – old age, disease and death. Therefore what sort of independence. Real independence comes when we declare from the core of our hearts that we are utterly and completely dependent on Krishna, dependent on God. The greatest illusion, an obstacle for real happiness and joy in this entire existence is that we are independent. Therefore every day devotees celebrate beginning at 3 or 4 in the morning, we are to celebrate that we are 100% , 24 hours a day, dependent on the mercy of Krishna. And in that dependence we recognize that dependence and glorify who we are depending on in everything we do and everything we say and potentially in everything we think.

Krishna is everything. We are His insignificant parts. He is nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām eko bahūnāṁ yo vidadhāti kāmān (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13) . That one Supreme Creator and controller of all that exists is completely masterminding this entire creation and all living beings are utterly dependent on His control. That is bhakti, to recognize that and to surrender. Bhagavad Gita gives this message. Arjuna wanted to act independently and what was the result. With all of his good qualities he was utterly frustrated but then he simply admitted that Krishna, You are my Lord, You are my Master, You are the creator, You are the maintainer, You are the destroyer, I surrender to You. What is Your will? Let me please You. Let me serve You. In that we are independent of all the material miseries. In total dependence on Krishna, on total dependence on the words of Guru we are completely independent of the illusions and frustration of this world. To the extent we are not surrendered, to that extent we must suffer the illusions of this world. So therefore a devotee sees only in these terms. He does not see that all I need is this and this and only if this happens and only if that happens then everything will be alright. The devotee understands that to the degree I am suffering it means to that degree I am not surrendering my will.

Sarva dharma parityajam mam ekam sarva vraja. Krishna says abandon all other occupations , all other dharmas, all other religions, just surrender with utter dependence on me. I will protect you from all sinful reaction, do not fear.

Thank you very much!

Hare Krishna!

HH Tamal Krishna Goswami Disappearance Festival 10-03-16 (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: I am aware that you are feeling my absence just as I am feeling the absence from you. But in the meantime this must be so and Krishna will provide for you as long as you keep chanting Hare Krishna. Letter to Devotees, March 30, 1967.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/TCPDLQ

“So you are good Vaisnava. You do not find fault with anyone.”
“So in your letter you are not finding fault with anyone. So you are good Vaisnava. You do not find fault with anyone. This is the qualification. We should always think ourselves very humble and meek. This you must know.

So we have to all cooperate amongst ourselves, otherwise what will people think if we ourselves fight with one another? A devotee is always ideal in behavior.”
(Srila Prabhupada letter, December 12, 1974)

Ayodhyadeva dasa: If with devotees we
become like flies
and feel the “need” to criticize
tell outrageous lies
their “faults” advertise
falldowns publicize
or we heavily chastise
dislike or even despise
stigmatize
demonize
scandalize
minimize
polarize
or want to terrorize
maybe even ostracize
it may come as a surprise
but
the wise
advise
and emphasize
that we have to realize
and recognize
the need to apologize
with tears in the eyes
otherwise
as our enthusiasm dies
and our own problems arise
this attitude will cause our demise,
the boat we are on is going to capsize
our spiritual life we will surely jeopardize
anything we have achieved will vaporize
and thus we can wave our own bhakti bye byes

“Forever indebted to Srila Prabhupada for the teachings of the Golden Avatar”
Varsana Swami: “In 1974, my spiritual enthusiasm increased as Srila Prabhupada inundated us with new nectar – the printing of the entire Caitanya-caritamrta which was then coming to light for the first time in the English language. Whenever a new volume arrived fresh off the printing press, I would read and relish it from cover to cover. I literally hid in the barn’s corn crib to avoid being detected or interrupted in reading during work hours, which was strictly prohibited by the management. Nestled in amongst the golden corn kernels, I imbibed the message of Lord Gauranga, the Golden Avatar.
The arrival of the seventeen volumes of CC within two months sparked such a revolution in consciousness by opening a dimension of Srila Prabhupada’s movement that had not been so clearly revealed before – the sacramental nature of agriculture. Being a plow boy from a farming background, I was so charmed by Srila Prabhupada’s translations and purports describing Lord Caitanya as a gardener, delivering His fruits and flowers of devotional service to this world.
In this context, “cultivating the field” means preparing the heart. “Planting the seed” means impregnating the fertile heart with the bhakti-lata-bija. “Humility” means humus, the fertile soil in which the seed can take root. The “necessary rains” are the spiritual sacrifices we perform. And the “wind, whispering through the growing vine” is the breath of life, the Holy Name. The “harvest festival” is the coming together to share the fruits of the spirit in nama sankirtana.
It has long been known even to western theologians that the pen of spiritual authors is an expansion of the original sacramental plow. In this light, creating lines on the page parallels the plowing of furrows in a field, which opens and softens terrestrial regions for cultivation prior to planting seed. The spiritual author softens and prepares the heart and then plants the seed, the Word of God. By the grace of the guru who uses his pen as a plow, we are able to experience the mercy of Sri Baladeva Who uses His plow to soften the hardness of our hearts.
True theologians are aware of this reality and thus submit their hearts, like the open field, to be impregnated by the seed of truth. The rare person who knows Krishna in truth loves his Lord, and wishing to share that love, draw others into the wake of the furrow. In doing so, they follow in the footsteps of Sri Guru Who guides the plow.
I found it intriguing that such a grasp of the sacramental dynamics of agriculture could be found in a sadhu from Calcutta. It was clear that the culture Srila Prabhupada represents is not of this world.
The culture of Vraja overflows with the flavor of bhakti and instills prema in those whom it touches. The essence of vraja prema is the life force flowing through the branch of Sri Rupa Goswami. Sri Rupa alone could detect the essence of love contained in the infinite depths of Lord Caitanya’s heart.
Srila Prabhupada is the perfect Rupanuga. He presents the crystallized form of the bhava flowing through that line, compiled in a scientific manner which even logical, rational minds can appreciate and follow.
It was in Srila Prabhipada’s spirit of humility, surrender, and sacrifice that the seed of Lord Caitanya’s love found the fertile soil it needed to establish roots for a world-wide movement. Srila Prabhupada came to deliver this mercy to us and for this blessing we praise him. We are solely and forever indebted to Srila Prabhupada for the teachings of the Golden Avatar. Without Srila Prabhipada’s contribution, who would have ever known the glories of the Golden Avatar, the most unique, merciful, and rare incarnation of Godhead?”
– Varsana Swami

Navadvipa Mandala Parikrama Begins.
Sri Jiva Goswami started from his residence at Candradvipa to Navadvipa & throughout this journey, streams of tears were flowing from his eyes. While crying he called out with a loud voice, “O life of the living entities, O Sri Gauranga, O Nityananda Prabhu, when will You bestow Your mercy upon me and give me Your darsana? ( Navadvipa dhama Mahatmya)
This is the mood of Sri Jiva Goswami, when he set out to Navadvipa to visit pastime places of Sri Gauranga, under the guidance of Sri Nityananda Prabhu. The same mood manifesting very much with every devotee that set out today for Navadvipa Mandala Parikrama- mood of a beggar begging for a drop of that mercy in a wonderful sadhu sanga. The powerful vibration of holy name resounding through the nine islands of Navadvipa! International group will be walking at the holy island of Kirtanam-Godrumadvipa, hindi group will perform kirtan at Koladvipa, Namahatta group will relish Jagannatha katha at Simantadvipa, Gita study group meditating on Nityananda’s namahatta at Surabhi kunj, i.e, you go anywhere in Navadvipa, you will meet up with devotees performing Gaura bhajana.
Sitting at any corner of the world, you too can take part in Navadvipa Parikrama, by watching it live in mayapur.tv, browsing through festival pictures at mayapur.com or by offering Prasada seva to devotees who are walking on Parikrama.
Imagine thousands of devotees, sanysasis and dhamvasis, take prasada together, sitting in the dust of the holy dhama, on the banks of Ganges, offer you blessings- a whole sale opportunity to receive mercy of Sri Pancatattva, Vaisnavas & the most merciful Navadvipa dhama.

Ecstatic International Harinamas in Mayapur (Album with photos)
Devotees from all over the world chant and dance with local residents glorifying Lord Chaitanya and Lord Nityananda in Iskcon Mayapur.
Srila Prabhupada: “it was the desire of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura that Europeans and Americans would come here and chant Hare Krsna mantra. That prophecy is now being fulfilled, and that is my satisfaction”
Find them here: https://goo.gl/Xddpp8

March 12. ISKCON 50 – S.Prabhupada Daily Meditations.
Satsvarupa dasa Goswami: Prabhupada is In Our Hearts.
Prabhupada expands in each of our hearts. He is present simultaneously with his many followers as they worship him in his murti, or read his books, and when they remember his exchanges, his intense desire to preach, his book distribution or the way he took prasadam. If we panic when Prabhupada seems distant, then it is meant to be an impetus to propel us forward in our remembrance of him. There are so many ways to be with Prabhupada, we should be grateful to him that he has made himself so available to us and pray to be recognized by him out of his infinite kindness.
Prabhupada, please relieve me of my forgetfulness. I offer my obeisances to His Divine Grace, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. He is very dear to Lord Krishna. His goal was to absorb the minds and hearts of his disciples in love of God, and in this, he represented the Six Gosvamis of Vrindavana.
If Prabhupada is shining in each of our hearts, we will automatically love each other more. As a result, people will be drawn to take part in this mystic sanga, which will increase tenfold when we chant and hear together. Prabhupada will be approving us, and we will all feel accepted and purified in his presence.
To read the entire article click here: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=20490&page=6

Parikrama Adhivas plus First day (Album with photos)
After 4 days of wonderful Sravana Utsava, 5 days of blissful and amazing kirtan Mela, we left the temple room and the boundarie of ISKCON Maypur campus to make Connections. What does it mean?
Make connections with the Kalpa Vriksha trees, the birds, the cows, squirellss and dhamvasis. Having prasada in open air and share the holy name around to have an inner experience by walking in the sacred land of Navadwipa Dham.
This Parikrama we have many good speakers like the powerful Bhakti Dhira Damodara Maharaj, the steady Bhakti Vijana Vinas Narasimha Swami, Rajendranandana prabhu, Pancharatna prabhu and others. HH Jayapataka Maharaja came and gave an amazing speech in Nrisimha Palli, Pancharatna prabhu put a drama on Nrsimhadeva lila, and one devotee recite a very powerful prayer to the Lord Nrsimha. The devotees loved.
In the morning peacefully the crossed the Jalangi river. Our Kirtan leader Sulocana prabhu is doing and and amazing service, always following vaishnava etiquette he engages those who are senior and qualifed to leade kirtan, making kirtan an ecstatic experience for the devotees on Parikrama.
In Parikrama if we can put Katha and Kirtan as the main activities it completely enhances the spiritual experience of the pilgrim devotees.
The first day we visited Amghata, Suvarna Bihar temple, Nrsimha palli and we end up in Hari Hara Ksetra with the beautiful deities of Hari Hara.
We are around 1300 devotees, and the kirtan is very enlivened, powerful.
Find them here: https://goo.gl/YBbeAQ

By Madhava Smullen

In July 1966, after braving thirty-five days at sea on a cargo ship, two heart attacks, and months of struggles in New York’s Bowery with little money to his name, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada established the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.

Some of his main purposes for the Society included “to systematically propagate spiritual knowledge to society at large,” and “to bring the members of the Society together with each other and nearer to Krishna.”

Fifty years later, residents of his first rural community, New Vrindaban, are celebrating his Society’s Golden Jubilee with a packed year of events that intend to spread spiritual knowledge and deepen connections with devotees, the general public, and local municipal leaders.

Senior Prabhupada disciples, Soma das and Jaysri dasi, bathe Nrsimhadev and Prahlada Maharaj on Nrsimha Caturmasi 2015.

The first event will be a two-day festival on May 20^th and 21^st celebrating the 30^th anniversary of the installation of New Vrindaban’s Nrismha-Prahlad Deities, the only full-sized such Deities in North America.

Sculpted and molded by local devotee artists and installed in 1986, the ferocious half-man half-lion Lord with His deep black skin and golden mane stands seven feet tall.

“We plan to invite devotees from all over North America to come celebrate this unique festival with us,” says ISKCON New Vrindaban president Jaya Krsna Das. “Together, we’ll bathe the full-size Deities of Lord Nrsimhadeva and Sri Prahlad in an abhisekha ceremony. And we will ask senior devotees to come and share their memories of the installation.”

The first stage reading of The Ramayana by Kripamaya Prabhu, June 2015

Next, on June 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th will be the premiere of a two-hour epic Ramayana musical by longtime New Vrindaban resident Kripamaya Das.

Devotees from neighboring cities will join New Vrindaban residents and students in the audience, packing out West Liberty University’s 230-seat Kelley Theater in nearby Wheeling.

“I’ve been working on this off and on my whole life,” says Kripamaya Das, who began his dramatic career with New Vrindaban’s Brijabasi Players in the early 1980s. Currently enrolled in a music and theater program at West Liberty, he is delighted to finally see his dream come to fruition. And on a professional stage, with a cast of some fourteen students and devotees, no less.

“We plan to invite some theater directors and producers to see it, and if they like it, we hope to go on to have it produced in Pittsburgh or enter musical festivals in New York,” he says.

Kulimela 2016 Schedule

From June 15^th to 19^th, meanwhile, will be one of New Vrindaban’s biggest festivals of the year. The tenth anniversary of the first Kuli Mela will be celebrated back-to back with an event that was born from its bhajan kutir — the 24-Hour Kirtan festival.

Kuli Mela will epitomize New Vrindaban’s aim to build deep relationships during the 50^th anniversary year, with “celebrating family” and “building community” as its main themes. Around 1,000 people from the first, second, and third generations of ISKCON are expected to attend for three days full of seminars, activities, bhajans, and entertainment.

Radhanath Maharaj playing mridanga at 24 hour kirtan 2013

For the 24-Hour Kirtan festival on the weekend, attendance is expected to remain high, with Kuli chanters like Amala Harinama and the Mayapuris joining senior Srila Prabhupada disciples such as Bhakti Charu Swami, Radhanath Swami, and Agnidev Das.

Of course, for ISKCON’s 50^th anniversary, New Vrindaban devotees are also looking to do a large outreach event to connect with the local public. Residents have celebrated their own Rathayatra at New Vrindaban since 1973, but this year will see the first Festival of Chariots in local town Wheeling on Saturday July 16^th.

Ratha Yathra Celebration in New Vrindaban 2015

Organizer Vrindavana Das will give interviews about the event with newspapers and TV stations in advance, emphasizing the importance of ISKCON’s 50^th anniversary year and highlighting Srila Prabhupada’s achievements. On the day, New Vrindaban’s over five-foot tall Jagannath Deity will parade through Wheeling on his 30-foot high chariot, followed by a stage show on the Ohio River waterfront.  The show will include a welcome and lecture, a dance, a drama, and kirtan, followed by prasadam.

“This is about making ourselves visible to the public again,” says Jaya Krsna. “We already have the Festival of Colors on September 17th where they come to us, but with the Rathayatra we’re going to them. It’s our offering to the city and its residents.”

Srila Prabhupada visiting New Vrindaban in early 1970’s

ISKCON’s 50^th anniversary is also the perfect time to reintroduce the “Prabhupada Festival” that was celebrated at Prabhupada’s Palace over Labor Day Weekend from 1979 until the mid ‘80s.

Hundreds of previous residents of New Vrindaban from its early days will be invited for the September 30^th to October 2^nd weekend event, and hosted as honored guests.

“It will be a revival of giving special attention to Srila Prabhupada and to the devotees who helped build his Palace and first developed New Vrindaban,” says Jaya Krsna.

During the festival, devotees will spend a whole day at the original New Vrindaban farm. There are plans over the summer to renovate the farmhouse where Srila Prabhupada stayed for one month in 1969, and to decorate it with photographs of old times. The festivities will take place under a pandal nearby, including devotees telling many stories of their experiences in those pioneering years.

Communications Director Vrindavan das welcomes the Marshall County Convention Bureau to New Vrindaban in September, 2015.

As well as deepening relationships with devotees and the general public, ISKCON New Vrindaban also wants to connect with local municipal leaders and dignitiaries.

Many will be invited to a VIP Dinner on October 27^th, including the mayors of Wheeling and Moundsville, church, business, and law-enforcement leaders, deans of local universities, and celebrated artists in their fields. The event will include a delicious prasadam meal and a cultural presentation.

 “As we work hard to follow Srila Prabhupada’s instructions and gradually improve the image of his New Vrindaban village,” says Jaya Krsna, “We want to be good citizens, to connect with our neighbors. And in the process, we want to let them know about ISKCON’s 50^th anniversary and Srila Prabhupada’s achievements.”

After ISKCON’s 50^th anniversary, more celebrations are to come with the 50^th anniversary of New Vrindaban in 2018. Plans include a book and film on the history of New Vrindaban, more efforts at reconnecting with current and previous residents, and a recreation of Srila Prabhupada’s famous Bhagavat-Dharma Discourses from 1972.

“As we celebrate the 50^th anniversaries of ISKCON and New Vrindaban, we remember that Srila Prabhupada is our spiritual founder,” says Jaya Krsna. “He established New Vrindaban as a sacred village, he gave us so many grand visions and bold instructions, he visited four times, and it’s clear that this community is important to him. And today, of course, we can feel his presence so strongly in his Palace. Therefore our intention should be that everything we do here, we do it for him.” 

“A Month in the Life of Srila Prabhupada”–excellent 50th resource.
Ananda Tirtha das: Thanks to Visnu Murti Prabhu and the Vanipedia team, we can now easily follow Srila Prabhupada’s life from 1966 all the way to 1977 here: http://vanipedia.org/wiki/A_Month_in_the_Life_of_Srila_Prabhupada Please visit this link and share widely. Each month covered includes all of Srila Prabhupada’s letters, lectures, etc. day by day, including audio clips. For example, did you know that today, March 11, 1966, Srila Prabhupada gave one of his very first recorded BG lectures? Visit the site to read and hear more! We owe a debt of gratitude to Vanipedia and the best way to show that is to take advantage of their efforts by following Srila Prabhupada.
Nitya-Trpta devi dasi: Once you find some audio or quote you are into, the entire audio and full transcript may be downloaded freely from: https://prabhupadavani.org/transcriptions/?content_type=Transcripts+with+Audio Each year the Bhaktivedanta Archives makes available all audio and transcript updates available to all. This site is a method of free distribution.
Your grateful servant at the Bhaktivedanta Archives.

Lecture by HH Niranjana Swami at ISKCON Mayapur ON 2016-03-09

Date: 9/3/2016

Reading from SB 1.8. 26

janmaiśvarya-śruta-śrībhir

dhamāna-madaḥ pumān

naivārhaty abhidhātuṁ vai

tvām akiñcana-gocaram

Translation:

My Lord, Your Lordship can easily be approached, but only by those who are materially exhausted. One who is on the path of [material] progress, trying to improve himself with respectable parentage, great opulence, high education and bodily beauty, cannot approach You with sincere feeling.

Purport:

Being materially advanced means taking birth in an aristocratic family and possessing great wealth, an education and attractive personal beauty. All materialistic men are mad after possessing all these material opulence, and this is known as the advancement of material civilization. But the result is that by possessing all these material assets one becomes artificially puffed up, intoxicated by such temporary possessions. Consequently, such materially puffed up persons are incapable of uttering the holy name of the Lord by addressing Him feelingly, “O Govinda, O Kṛṣṇa.” It is said in the śāstras that by once uttering the holy name of the Lord, the sinner gets rid of a quantity of sins that he is unable to commit. Such is the power of uttering the holy name of the Lord. There is not the least exaggeration in this statement. Actually the Lord’s holy name has such powerful potency. But there is a quality to such utterances also. It depends on the quality of feeling. A helpless man can feelingly utter the holy name of the Lord, whereas a man who utters the same holy name in great material satisfaction cannot be so sincere. A materially puffed up person may utter the holy name of the Lord occasionally, but he is incapable of uttering the name in quality. Therefore, the four principles of material advancement, namely (1) high parentage, (2) good wealth, (3) high education and (4) attractive beauty, are, so to speak, disqualifications for progress on the path of spiritual advancement. The material covering of the pure spirit soul is an external feature, as much as fever is an external feature of the unhealthy body. The general process is to decrease the degree of the fever and not to aggravate it by maltreatment. Sometimes it is seen that spiritually advanced persons become materially impoverished. This is no discouragement. On the other hand, such impoverishment is a good sign as much as the falling of temperature is a good sign. The principle of life should be to decrease the degree of material intoxication which leads one to be more and more illusioned about the aim of life. Grossly illusioned persons are quite unfit for entrance into the kingdom of God.

Lecture

I was asked to select the verse which was relevant to the occasion which many devotees are taking part in, which is Kirtan Mela. Therefore I chose to speak on this very wonderful verse spoken by Queen Kunti. I thank the devotees for giving me the opportunity for rendering this service to all of you. I pray, with your blessings I can say something which is actually relevant especially in relationship to such a profound verse and commentary which is been given by Srila Prabhupada specifically about the holy name.

Srila Prabhupada brings out the important point in the commentary about this verse, that there are different ways to chant the name, he specifically states that, those who are aspiring to improve themselves materially, those who are materially satisfied cannot call out the names O Govinda, O Keshava, O Madhava in a helpless mood feelingly.

Therefore he makes distinction between chanting of the names which is executed or performed by those who are materially satisfied or trying to improve themselves materially, and those who have the quality, which is described by Queen Kunti in this verse, those who are materially exhausted, who no longer see any need to pursue such mundane pursuits. Therefore because they have no interest in this world they are feelingly calling out the name, Krishna, and that quality of feelingly chanting Krishna’s name of course is that which attracts the Supreme Lord by the qualities the devotees has in chanting.

First point of course which is important to take note of is, Prabhupada says that those who are intoxicated by wealth janma, aisvarya, suta, shri, intoxicated by these, are generally proud of their wealth. Therefore such proud persons also cannot call out the name feelingly.

There is a verse in 4^th canto of Srimad Bhagavatam spoken by Shiva to Sati, where he describes although the six qualities of education, austerity, wealth, youth, beauty and heritage are highly elevated, but one who is proud of possessing such things loses all sense and the result is they become blind and cannot appreciate the qualities of great personalities. Lord Shiva was speaking this point to Sati trying to explain to her the good reason for not attending the Daksha yajna. He was trying to explain to her the result of those who are proud, puffed by six qualities like wealth, austerity, aristocracy, heritage, youth and beauty they lose all good sense they can’t really deeply appreciate the Lord and they cannot actually approach the Lord. They cannot approach the Lord feelingly which is the point Prabhpada is making in this purport.

This is one of the results of pride which arises from possession of these things. It doesn’t mean that sometimes when we read this verse a person thinks if I give away all these things or I don’t have these things then automatically I am spiritually qualified. Not like that, that is not the criteria and we are going to discuss some of these points if there is sufficient time.

There is another verse also in 4^th canto of Srimad Bhagavatam spoken by Narada Muni, he says the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Krishna is very dear to those devotees who have no material possessions and who are fully satisfied and possessing only one thing: devotional service to the Supreme Lord. Indeed the Lord relishes the activity of these devotees. He takes great pleasure in these activities. He gives his attention to these devotees who are hankering not for improving themselves with bodily beauty, respectful parentage. He actually relishes those devotees who are only interested to possess service, devotional service to Krishna. And then Narada Muni goes on to explain those who are puffed by their wealth, their aristocracy, by their beauty, they are generally proud of possessing such things and they often times deride genuine devotees of the Lord.

And then Narada Muni says something profound. He says even if such persons offer worship to the Lord, the Lord will never accept it. Not inclined, He is not inclined to accept their worship. Due to their pride they can’t appreciate these great personalities or they deride such devotees who manifest genuine humility, who genuinely cry out for Krishna’s name.

There are so many examples you can find in the shastra. It happened to Haridas Thakur when he manifested ecstatic symptoms by hearing Krishna’s name being chanted, and then one proud brahmana thought he would, when he saw all attention the people gave to Haridas Thakur, they were offering respects to him when he fell on the ground and he lost external consciousness. So the proud brahmana was thinking why is he getting so much attention and the result is he is thinking I will try to steal the attention away, he fell on the ground starting crying out Krishna!!!, Krishna!!! manifesting ecstatic symptoms (laughter..) and then the snakebite physician who is chanting the mantras immediately started beating him with the stick.( Laughter…) he ran away in complete fear and everybody asked him why did you do that?…He answered because he is proud.

Haridas Thakur when he saw what was happening woke up from external consciousness. He was feeling embarrassed it happened and tried to slip away and avoid any recognition for the manifestation of the symptoms. The proud brahmana could not recognise such quality therefore he was thinking, Oh! let me get some attention. And therefore the snakebite physician could understand and started beating him and he began to explain this to many people when they asked him why did you do this? Why is that Haridas Thakura fell down and then when this brahmin fell down, the elevated brahmin fell down and you beat him?

Then he began extolling virtues of Haridas Thakur and glorifying Haridas Thakur, his qualities were total humility, total dependence in excessive chanting of holy name of the God, crying out, not wanting to improve anything about his own material situation and even thinking himself unqualified. He wouldn’t even think about entering Jagannath temple and he would stay at the distance. He thought himself to be lowest of the lowest and that is what attracts the Lord.

If we want the Lord to manifest and to actually give attention to our chanting then these feelings , these feeling will actually make the Lord manifest in his names and enter into our hearts and purify us. The Lord will really come forward and lift us up and help us as he did for Haridas Thakur. When Haridas Thakur came to Jagannath Puri, all the devotees came to receive the Lord and Haridas Thakur was keeping a distance offering his obeisance. And Lord Chaitanya was looking where is Haridas? and then he said, Oh! There is Haridas at a distance thinking himself unqualified. Then what did He do? The Lord went over to Haridas Thakur, lifted him up and then embraced him.

This is what actually makes the Lord inclined to His devotees when he chants feelingly for the Lord, but a proud person can’t chant feelingly and can’t recognise those who do chant with feeling, those who do actually experience genuinely. And those do genuinely experience, they are not looking for any recognition they don’t even think they are Vaishnavas.

Bhaktivinoda Thakur explains that, if I think I’m a Vaisnava then what happens is I begin to look for respect from others and then my heart becomes completely polluted by desire for respect and fame and surely I will go to hell. He doesn’t even think he is a Vaisnava, he is not thinking that he is satisfied and nor is he thinking that I am advanced.

I was reading recently Prabhupada was saying in one lecture the mood of the devotee which was taught by Lord Caitanya, taught by six Goswamis was they were never thinking that I have seen Lord Krishna, I am experiencing Krishna. They were, he radhe vraja devike, ca lalite, they were always thinking I can’t find, where is Radha, where is Krishna, where are the devotees? I’m not qualified. Lord Chaitanya said this to himself and Prabhupada was saying in this lecture how can anyone say I have love for Krishna, He says actually I have no love for Krishna actually I ‘m simply doing it for some cheap attraction to others, if I had actually love for Krishna then how can I actually stay and live in this body? How could I actually have that love?

The Lord was feeling this way to teach by His example. This is feelingly calling out. Not so called material satisfaction, nor so called thinking that I’m an advanced Vaisnava but feelingly means one is calling out hankering, the quality is that hankering for the Lord. Prabhupada brings out an important point in the commentary one which, I mean I may not have adequate time to elaborate on but I will try to address it briefly, he brings out the point that it is said in the sastras that once uttering the holy name of the Lord the sinner gets rid of the quantity of the sins that he is unable to commit. Such is the power of uttering the holy name of the Lord. There is not the least exaggeration and I think this verse was quoted the other day by Sivarama Maharaja:

madhura-madhuram-etan mangalam mangalanam

He is quoting the verse the holy name of the Lord is always auspicious, holy name of the Lord is always sweet, this is the ripened fruit of Vedic literature, if anyone just once chants the holy name of the Lord whether in complete faith or even indifference certainly he can get relief from material bondage, such is the power of the holy name of the Lord.

So we say well, if I were to once chant the holy name of the Lord in this way then I can get relieved from all my reactions I may have to get from becoming materially wealthy or being proud or I may get relief from all the distresses that may come as a result of my material attachment. This point is very nicely explained by Kaviraj Goswami in discussing about our namacarya Haridas Thakur. Haridas Thakur was invited by Balaram Acharya to the home of Govardhan Majumdar. Govardhan is father of Ragunath das as we know, and Balaram Acharya, the family priest was very eager to bring Haridas Thakura to that assembly. And when Haridas Thakur appeared in the assembly then all of them began discussing, as they know Haridas Thakur was chanting 300,000 names daily of the holy name of the Lord. They started talking about the glories of the holy name and of course, Bhaktivinoda Thakur explains in Jaiva Dharma he says, Govardhan Majumdar is vaisnava-praya he wasn’t pure Vaishnava, because he still had some attachment. Bhaktivinoda Thakur says Lord Chaitanya himself considers Govardhan Majundar as Vaishnava-praya. He’s still chanting on the platform of namabhas. Therefore because he was a vaisnava-praya all those who assembled began describing about the glories of the holy name of the Lord.

What were they talking about, they said glories of the holy name of the Lord is one can get relief from all sinful activities. The glories of holy name of the Lord is that one can get liberation from material world. And then when Haridas Thakur heard them speaking this way, he said what do you speak? Don’t you know that to get from material suffering, to get relief from sinful reactions, to get liberation, these are secondary, don’t you know the true glory of the holy name of the Lord? The true glory of the holy name of the Lord is when one chants the holy name of the Lord, ecstatic love for the Supreme Personality of Godhead manifests, one becomes deeply attached to the Lord and rendering service to the Lord is the true glory.

Then he began to explain that relief from sinful reactions and liberation from material existence are by-products of chanting the holy name of the Lord, not the real essence or true purpose of chanting. He said this can be simply understood by the appearance of the gleam of the sunshine. He quoted one verse: as the rising sun dissipates the darkness of this world which is deep like an ocean, similarly once chanting the name of the Lord without offenses immediately dissipates the reactions of sinful life.

This is the true auspiciousness. Such is the nature of the auspicious holy name of the Lord which is auspicious for everyone in the world. Then Haridas Thakura explains that actually liberation from matter and relief from sinful reactions appear even in Namabhasa stage, even when one gets a slight glimpse of the holy name of the Lord.

When he quoted this verse he told everybody, now please you explain what does the verse mean? Then everyone said we can’t explain you need to explain, we couldn’t understand. Why? Because they thought the glory of the holy name was liberation they thought I won’t have to suffer material reaction, but that is not the true glory. The true glory is what Haridas Thakur explains, he gives an example just like the sun appears, the first glimpse of the sun in the morning appears, and the result is all the fear of demons and the ghosts and the dacoits they all go away. And when the sun is fixed in the sky then everybody can go about all their religious duty for the day.

Actually whenever I think of this I often reflect, I don’t want to digress, I remember in the olden days I used to come to Mayapur I was always told that never leave in the middle of the night, wait until the first rising of the sun. At that time in the seventies there was problem at the rail road crossing when the devotees would leave in the middle of the night. Sometimes the devotees couldn’t see anything, sometimes there would be dacoits at the railway crossing so wait for the first glimpse of the sunlight before leaving.

Similarly Haridas Thakur is using the analogy of the first glimpse of the sun appearing and fear going away. I have no fear there will be no reactions to sinful life but I said the first appearance of the sun. When the holy name is fully manifest, when one chants without offense, when one chants feelingly with the desire to serve Krishna, then he is always hankering for Krishna. Then the result is the person can go about his daily duty. Similarly, the devotee is fully engaged in the holy name in the same way the devotee is engaged in the service of the Lord.

And the Lord is very much attracted by such chanting. So therefore Haridas Thakur explains that devotee never even aspires for liberation salokya, samipya, sarsti they may be offered to the devotee but the devotee, as Krishna says in the Bhagavatam, he is only interested in service to Me. That’s all he hankers for, that is his desire, he simply hankers for service. He doesn’t think I’m serving, so much service I’m doing but he only thinks I can’t do enough service, I don’t have any love for Krishna, I’m not qualified for Krishan’s mercy but even though I’m not qualified for Krishna’s mercy I’ll never give up chanting, I’ll never give up chanting.

Bhaktivinoda Thakur explains in Sri bhaktyaloka that is the qualification of the devotee, he is patient. He says that the karmis, jnanis and bhaktas all desire some results, the karmis they want fruitive gain, the jnanis want liberation and the bhaktas want Krishna’s pleasure . That is the mercy they aspire for. Therefore the bhakta who wants Krishna’s pleasure must be patient. He says patience means that I will go on chanting Krishna’s names, I will go on serving Krishna, I will someday get his mercy whether it’s now or 10 years from now or 100 births from now, I will never give up chanting.

When a devotee actually chants in this mood, with the desire to please the Lord, knowing that someday I will get this mercy even though I’m unqualified to get the mercy, he can chant feelingly. He doesn’t chant feeling satisfied that I have done enough, he never thinks he has done enough. He never thinks I’m a Vaishnava. I’m simply aspiring to become a Vaisnava he thinks.

Recently I was reading a pastime about Mukunda who was a Vaidya, a physician. One day he was sitting giving prescription to the Mohammedan king and then what happens is the servant came in to offer a fan to the king. Mukunda saw the peacock feather in the fan and he fell off from the chair in ecstasy because immediately he thought of Krishna and lost consciousness. And the king was thinking what has happened has he left his body? Has he died? And he went and began sprinkling water on his face trying to bring him to consciousness.

Then he asked him what happened? What happened? What did Mukunda say? Oh, I have this tendency for epilepsy,(..laughter) he immediately dismissed it, he wouldn’t say what it was. He didn’t want to be recognised. Sir! I have this tendency and sometimes I have this epilepsy and asked for forgiveness. But immediately the king could understand, appreciate and recognise his quality.

This is the quality of the devotee, he never thinks just see how ecstatic I am, just see tears coming from my eyes (..Laughter) tears may manifest but even when a devotee manifest tears he tries to hides them. Prabhupada did that. Prabhupada once manifested tears in his class and he tried to hide them. Doesn’t want to show them, he thinks if other people think I’m a Vaisnava then I immediately I think I want respect and if there is desire for respect and fame in my heart, then surely I will go to hell.

So a Vaisnava never thinks this way, he never chants for recognition, he chants feelingly.Not that he chants to get relief from suffering because he knows relief from suffering is insignificant in comparison to opportunity to serve.

kṛṣṇa-bhakta-niṣkāma ataeva śānta

bhukti-mukti-siddhi-kāmī-sakali aśānta

Krishna bhakti niskama, the devotee of the Lord he has no material desires therefore he can be peaceful. Bhukti, those who desire material wealth. Mukti, those who desire relief from sufferings, Siddhi, those who want mystical yoga perfection, they are still kami, still feel lusty desires. They cannot be peaceful. Prabhupada often many times quote the verse

bhukti-mukti-spṛhā yāvat

piśācī hṛdi vartate

These two desires, bhukti and mukti, are like two witches which will hunt one like a ghost. As long as these desires are in the heart one will never be able to understand what pure devotional service is and it always will remain a mystery. Therefore devotees are always eager when they chant, they are hankering for pure devotional service, that is what they aspire for. They are not aspiring for wealth, they are not aspiring for higher education, not aspiring for bodily beauty. They know, they are exhausted they know there is nothing to be obtained by these things, they are looking for pure devotional service and therefore because they are always eagerly hankering for the opportunity to obtain pure devotional service they are also eager to hear the glories of pure devotional service. Right?

In the CC when Haridas Thakur, we will use the example as Haridas Thakur is our Namachraya, when he heard Rupa Goswami recite the verse how much nectar is there in two syllables Krish-na, when he heard what Rupa Goswami composed, he immediately fell down in ecstasy and then Kaviraj Goswami says this is the nature of devotee, one has to learn about true beauty and true position of Lord’s holy name by hearing the scriptures from the mouths of Vaisnavas. This is where you taste sweetness in Krishna’s names. One has to hear the glories of pure devotional service.

I will end with one verse which really captured my attention lately. It’s the wonderful verse which is spoken in 11^th canto of Srimad Bhagavatam. I quoted it many times as I can relate as it’s relevant to me because this verse also gives me hope. It is spoken by Narada Muni to Vasudeva. When Vasudev was asking about how to become free from fear, he wants to hear about pure devotional service and Narada Muni was pleased to hear his enquiry.

He said that pure devotional service is so transcendentally potent even by hearing about such service, even by glorifying such service, even by meditating on it, even by faithfully and respectfully accepting that it exists, and even by praising the service that is rendered by others, even a person who hates the demigods and all other living beings in the whole universe can immediately be purified by the power of hearing, such is power of hearing the pure devotional service, such is the power of hearing the glories of the pure holy name.

This should actually waken within the heart that even though I don’t have pure devotional service even though I can’t, it could be a lifetime, hundreds of lifetimes before I can achieve but still I can glorify it, I can glorify it, hear about it from others, still I can mediate on it, I can respectfully faithfully accept it exists, yes it does exist!

Look at all the devotees and the examples in Srimad Bhagavatam, look at all the devotees who chants with such enthusiasm, such sincerity, feelingly with their heart and look at how the Lord is so much attracted to them and how they make advancement in spiritual life.

I can praise the service of others because this gives me hope and therefore even a person who hates the demigods and all living beings can become purified by the glories of pure devotional service. Therefore Prabhupada in his commentary to this verse is making a distinction between those who chant with some material satisfaction and puffed up, occasionally, he also says they may occasionally chant, and those who feelingly chant, Oh Krishna!, Oh Govinda! This should be the aspiration of a devotee when he chants and this should be the mood of kirtaniyas and kirtanees, or how to call it, those who are chanting together, chanting with feeling, calling out He Govinda! He Krishna!

Surely they will actually be able to obtain the mercy of the Lord and the mercy of the devotees of the Lord. I think I’ve covered the amount of time allotted to me, I thank you for this opportunity to speak. . . .

I have 5 mins? But it says here I am over by 10 mins, what to do!!!(laughter) . Hare Krishna I think I better be 10 mins late, please don’t let me go over 15 mins. Thank you.

New Krishna Hip-Hop Album Tracks the Soul’s Journey.
Milan Parmar, a member of ISKCON youth group Pandava Sena in the UK, has released an introspective hip-hop album that tracks the soul’s spiritual journey throughout one lifetime in the material world.
Out on January 29th on Pandava Sena’s own label, “When a Soul Acknowledges” features smooth production by Deva Deva Das, uplifting melodic hooks by female vocalist Sobia Khan, and Parmar’s mesmerizing unbroken flow. It’s a professional effort that clearly has its finger on the pulse of current UK rap styles.
At the same time, with tracks like “Pleasures of the World (Illusion),” “Wise Words From A Wise Man (Gurudeva),” and “Return to Godhead,” it’s clearly no ordinary hip-hop album.
To read the entire article click here: http://goo.gl/NJJ0Px

Iskcon Congregational Preachers Awarded In Sri Dham Mayapur (4 min video)
“On February 29th we held the Congregational Awards of 2016, presenting medallions and certificates to over fifty devotees from around the world in recognition of their outstanding efforts in expanding and supporting their congregations. The ceremony took place at the main hall where all the attendees to the ISKCON Leadership Sanga (ILS) had gathered during lunchtime. The medallions were beautifully engraved with Gaura Nitai as well as the Congregational Development Ministry’s logo, all according to the design made by H.H. Jayapataka Swami, co-Minister of CDM. The event was hosted by Kaunteya Prabhu, who is also a Congregational co-Minister, and he glorified the particular services that each of the winners have performed in the area of congregational development. He emphasized that this event was an offering to ISKCON’s 50th anniversary campaign in celebration of Srila Prabhupada establishment of our movement.”
Watch it here: https://goo.gl/7nXvHi