In this episode, I talk to Damodar Prabhu again to discuss some of the more personal aspects of his life as a devotee.
Some of the topics we cover:
A few weeks ago I did an interview with a good friend of mine & godbrother Candrasekharacarya Prabhu.
I thought it would be interesting for everyone to hear from him because he is a person that takes a bit of initiative and tries to do things to help spread Krishna consciousness.
He's a good musician. He's made some really nice modern music with the Maha Mantra and he's also made some pretty cool videos that he has on Youtube and Facebook. So I think it'd be really inspiring for everyone to hear about it.
And we can also hear about his efforts to preach in France to the local people and the challenges that that involved. So I think you'll find a lot of interesting lessons from the interview and hopefully you'll get a bit of inspiration to try something similar.
This episode, I'm going solo talking about boiling the milk. The basic concept here is the importance of taking care of devotees and training them.
Looking after the devotees we have rather than just going out and making new devotees.
Some of the key points I talk about:
8:32 What does boiling the milk mean?
9:03 Where does the expression come from?
9:54 What do we need to focus on?
11:44 “Better to remain as a guest?”
13:22 How should we speak when we preach?
13:55 Are your actions matching what you say?
14:42 How to help devotees think for themselves.
15:47 What are devotees needs?
17:17 How things have changed… new challenges.
20:18 When the real (SB) Srimad Bhagavatam class starts…
21:27 The problem with FB discussions
23:13 Essential factor in future success of our movement.
24:47 Making more devotees in the bedroom
27:08 What about outreach?
27:58 A healthy church
29:30 KC humanitarianism
31:05 “Circle of Awesomeness” the best marketing
32:01 Moons not stars
32:24 Ripe Mango strategy
34:55 Philosophy & Lifestyle
35:55 How to boil the milk?
36:49 Practical lifestyle training
To keep up-to-date on topics such as this visit our blog and podcast at https://successfulvaisnavas.com and sign up for notifications.
This episode we’re interviewing His Holiness Hridayananda das Goswami about preaching in the West and taking initiative to spread Prabhupada’s movement.
Some of the topics we cover:
We even discuss how leaders and gurus in ISKCON can sometimes misuse their power... and what to do about it.
If you are a preacher or leader in ISKCON (or want to be) then this episode is a must listen!
To keep up-to-date on topics such as this visit our blog and podcast at https://successfulvaisnavas.com and sign up for notifications.
In this week's episode with Pancharatna Prabhu, we listen to something that could be really helpful for you if you're a book distributor or a preacher in any way. One of the problems in book distribution that we've observed is that devotees who distribute books, they're really focused in giving the books out, but often there's not much follow-up.
Even devotees that put in the effort to follow up, it's really hard because you know, your focus is on distributing books and getting as many books out there as possible. It takes time and it's a different type of energy and different types of focus to follow people up.
So what is the solution you might ask?
Listen to the interview with Pancharatna Prabhu as we discuss the Chant Now online preaching project.
Follow the project on Instagram: /chant_now
Check out some interesting articles on:
To keep up-to-date on topics such as this visit our blog and podcast at www.successfulvaisnavas.com and sign up for notifications.
In this second part of our interview with Akrura Prabhu, we talk about the 40 Habits of a Thinking Coach.
We hear...
PERSONAL IMPROVEMENT SESSIONS
Our action brings results.
The better our thinking is the better our results will be in the areas of:
- Sadhana
- Service
- Relationships
- Diet
- Finances
If you would you like to improve the quality of your thinking, action and results, contact Akrura dasa to schedule a free session:
Email: gitaseva108@gmail.com
Facebook: Gita Seva
In this week's podcast episode with Akrura Prabhu, we discuss thinking partnerships - A powerful process for developing "higher thinking" which received rave reviews from devotees who recently learned about it at one of Akrura Prabhu's workshops.
Some of the points we covered...
In this week's podcast episode we interview Coach Nick Pereira from Canada. Nick is a business coach who integrates Krishna consciousness in his business. He has also recently opened a preaching center in his home town.
On Janmastami 2018, Coach Nick got initiated by Bhakti Marga Swami and was given the name Nakula dasa.
Now, let's hear...
Check out the episode here.
To keep up-to-date on topics such as this visit our blog and podcast at https://successfulvaisnavas.com and sign up for notifications.
In this episode with Nandapriya Prabhu we hear...
Today many devotees are lamenting that not many local people are becoming devotees in Western countries such as England and America.
While the movement has continued to grow in India and though expanding Indian congregations in the west, Srila Prabhupada primary mission of giving Krishna consciousness to the people of the Western countries “pascatya desa tarine” has sadly slowed significantly from its heyday in the 1970s.
ISKCON Houston, USA
Srila Prabhupada even stated that he hatched a transcendental plot to fund the society through book distribution. Even the life membership program was a Srimad Bhagavatam distribution program by another name.
Srila Prabhupada created a perfectly aligned arrangement where financial needs would be met by preaching to the masses.
Srila Prabhupada told Hamsadutta:
"So Krishna has solved all your problems. Print books and sell and get rich that's all. We have got asset, our books, so where is the question of poverty?"
Letter to Hamsaduta -- Nairobi 8 October, 1971
Unfortunately, as time has gone there has been a shift in focus from book distribution to getting donations from members of the Indian community. As a result the Indian congregation has grown but the number of new local Western devotees has reduced signficantly.
At that time the movement was attracting many young westerners. I suggest that a key to attracting more Western devotees is to focus again on building up that brahmacari ashrama.
As a friend of mine said… “Make the brahmacari ashram great again” ;-)
The key is to preach to young people. Find places where there are young thoughtful people (such as universities) and preach there.
At different times there are also different opportunities to reach young people looking for an alternative life
e.g. in the 70s - the hippies,
in the 90s - Krishnacore (US),
the Rave scene (UK).
The thing is… most Western devotees don’t join as householders. They join when they are single and become householders later.
Naturally, young people can become devotees more easily because they are not set in their ways and not encumbered by family responsibilities.
Such young people are good candidates for becoming brahmacari(ini)s.
In course of time most become householders.
The key is to focus on preaching to young people and giving them good foundational training in Krishna consciousness.
In summary, focus on book distribution and outreach targeting young people…and more non-Indian devotees will join.
If you are unsure how to do this… see if there is anyone in your temple who is distributing books and ask if they can train you.
Whether there is anyone local or not, you can get excellent training in book distribution from Vaisesika Prabhu at http://www.distributebooks.com/
If you are involved in a temple, nama hatta program or other Krishna consciousness program encourage the other members to distribute books. Help them get books and other resources, train them and connect them with Vaisesika Prabhu’s website for guidance and inspiration.
If you are the leader encourage everyone in your group. If you are not the leader (at least on paper :-)) encourage devotees individually and see if you can get your leader onboard too.
If you are Indian, or the devotees you associate with are Indian, that is no disqualification… After all Srila Prabhupada was Indian!
Distribute books. Preach. Make more western devotees.
Preach in places where there are thoughtful young people e.g. Universities, music concerts, backpackers, etc.
The next key element is supporting the devotees as they transition into householder life after being brahmacari(ini)s.
But that is a topic for another day…
To keep up-to-date on topics such as this visit our blog and podcast at https://successfulvaisnavas.com and sign up for notifications.
In this episode with Madri devi dasi we hear…
Listen to the podcast episode here
https://www.facebook.com/witnesstoatemple
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/579722
The Discovery of Sri Sri Radha Giridhari in Jaipur.
Background on the different groups they were competing with each other in the early days
Srila Prabhupada’s three visits to Auckland
The early days at New Varshana farm community
Why it took so long for the new Temple to open
Sri Sri Radha Giridhari’s installation in their new temple
In her own words, this is how Madri describes the book...
"This is an Auckland ISKCON history in two parts. [ISKCON - International Society for Krishna Consciousness] The first section tells of the early growth of Krishna consciousness in Auckland and the three visits of Srila Prabhupada. [Srila Prabhupada is the Founder-Acarya of the movement] .In the second section we follow the pioneer devotees as they undergo hardships and austerities in developing a spiritual farming community at New Varshan in Riverhead, while at the same time building a glorious temple for their beloved Deities, Sri Sri Radha Giridhari. "Witness to a Temple" will bring back memories to the older devotees, and will serve as an inspiration to devotees who are new to Krishna consciousness. It is also seen as a very suitable book to distribute to families and friends, demonstrating the lifestyle, ideals and philosophy of Krishna conscious devotees."
Review from Dharmatma Prabhu (Srila Prabhupada disciple)
Just finished this amazing book by Madri Devi Dasi. A real page turner!
In 1972 His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada installed the first Iskcon Deities in New Zealand, Sri Sri Giridhari, in a small house in Mt. Eden, Auckland, boldly predicting that "In New Zealand we shall very soon have our own temple".
Madri mataji takes us through the amazing story of the advent of this temple. The struggles, disappointments and eventual triumphs of the young and inexperienced devotees in the quest to fulfill Srila Prabhupada's prediction is heart-warming, harrowing and truly inspiring.
Her attention to detail and many photographs bring to life the many wonderful personalities involved in this great endeavor.
If you haven't listened to Part 1 about Private Victory... You can listen to that here.
In the second part of our interview with Damodara Prabhu we discuss...
And much more.
I also recap my experience at the opening of a local church.
Listen to the podcast episode here.
Here is the video where I share my thoughts after attending the City Impact Church service…
In this episode I catch up with my friend and mentor Damodar Prabhu...
We discuss:
Listen to the podcast episode here.
Here is the link to the blog post I talked about in the introduction to the episode:
How do we treat devotees when they leave Krishna consciousness?
To learn about the Empower and Preach Community click here:
https://successfulvaisnavas.com
In this episode with Pierre Edel (Premamaya Vasudeva dasa)...
Listen to the podcast episode here.
Unfortunately Pierre Edel is not longer practising Krishna consciousness.
You can find my thoughts on this here...
How do we treat devotees when they leave Krishna consciousness?
Soon after posting an interview with a devotee (recorded a year earlier)I received an email informing me that the devotee I had interviewed had left Krishna consciousness.
To verify this I checked out his Facebook Page and I was sad to see this post...
I was even more sad to see this post... even a little angry...
In response, I posted this Facebook Live Video...
Let me know you thoughts either in the comments below or on the Facebook video.
In this episode...
You can get the journal here: https://amzn.to/2IcLEXG
Listen to the podcast episode here. We interview Gitavali devi dasi, about her journey to Krishna consciousness and how she created the Rise Up Your Bhakti Life Journal. The Rise Up Journal is designed specifically for devotees to help them organize their lives based on Krishna consciousness. This journal contains monthly goal setting sheets and the steps to attain those goals. Logging your habits daily; from waking and bed times to what you’re reading, hearing and how long you’re spending on your sadhana as well as exercise, japa and more. You can write down your daily priorities and be inspired by uplifting quotes on a weekly basis. There are 4 editions of the “Rise Up your Bhakti Life journal to cater to the different areas of the globe who follow the Vaisnava Calendar; The Down Under version for Australia, New Zealand and Fiji. The North American version for the USA and Canada. The Extended European version for the UK, Europe, South Africa and Western Russia The Indian version. So, here it is, if you’re like me and you want to invest your time in upgrading yourself, become mindful, change your habits, and rise up to “Goodness”, then check out this project.
You can get the journal here: https://amzn.to/2IcLEXG
You can contact Gitavali here:
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/riseupdiary/
Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkt0A3uaiaVM0HdqP5BQ_-w/videos
Email: gitavali.das@gmail.com or riseupyourbhaktilife@gmail.com
Hare Krishna! This is Krsnendu das back again with a special interview here for the Successful Vaisnavas podcast and today, I've got Gitavali devi dasi who is a famous devotee here in New Zealand, allthough she's originally from Canada and she's created this amazing journal called the "Rise Up Bhakti Life Journal" so that's what I'm going to be talking to her about today... About the journal she's created as well as some of the ideas behind it and how those ideas can help you in your Krishna consciousness so welcome. Thanks for coming and uh agreeing to submit yourself to an interview. Gitavali: Thank you very much for having me. It's a pleasure to be here and to share whatever I have to share Krsnendu: Yeah, it's great having you here. First of all could you just give us a little bit of background like you know where you from and how you became a devotee and got into Krishna consciousness. Gitavali: Sure it's a long story, but I'll try to keep it brief. Yeah. I'm from Canada. I'm from a small town an hour away from Montreal, and uh I grew up in a French Canadian family. We'd go to church. I guess I kinda had a notion of of God, but not really much. You know it wasn't really an enthusiastic event going to church. It was you know kind of uh mmm Krsnendu: Bit of a chore? Gitavali: Interesting bit of a chore... Duty. You know it's like okay. We have to go. Every weekend. Oh, you know every Sunday, but then yeah after my parents did split up and then after that we kind of stopped going to church. I think maybe they were embarrassed or something like that. I'm going a little bit personal here, but hey, yeah, that's life. Krsnendu: Keeping it real! Gitavali: A lot of people come from from families that aren't you know together anymore, but but a lot of them are still together as well... Which is awesome... I'm sorry off the topic... Back on the topic. I grew up there, and even after we stopped going to church. I still kind of had an inclination that there's something bigger than me out there and Star Wars growing up had a big impact on me, and I always thought that I wanted to be a Jedi. 
Krsnendu: Haha. That's so funny! Gitavali: And I also thought the force is real. You know there must be something bigger out there like the force that you know surrounds us and binds the Galaxy together. And I kind of thought you know there must be more more to it than that and years went by and I went to a college where I before University. I just did a creative arts program a studying painting and drawing and film and things like that. And I had to take an English class once. My teacher was very inspiring because she taught us how to think outside the box a little bit and introduced us to other ways of knowing and getting knowledge through other senses like subtle senses, telepathy and auras... Cool, kind of alternative ways of thinking and I thought "Wow that's pretty cool. There's a lot of things that we don't really know that happen on the subtle platform." And so I got interested in meditation and you know different, alternative ways of of being... I guess a little bit... And so then after that I went to University and I got interested in Buddhism a little bit and meditation, and I started a little bit of practice at a local temple in Montreal, and I really enjoyed it. It was very peaceful. You know I kind of helped me calm me down, but it didn't really bring me that happiness that were all looking for. So after my University degree I finished in film animation, and so I had a Bachelor of Fine Arts. But it wasn't satisfying and I knew that I didn't want to start working 9:00 to 5:00 like at it for a big corporation that would make films or whatever. I was more of an artist type and I was also into yoga a little bit, and so I decided to go travel and to find myself a little bit because I knew that the meaning of life is not about making money and about you know just paying the mortgage and having a dog and kids.... I was 25 when I left, and I got inspired to come here, actually to New Zealand and I wanted to go Australia also because I had met this girl who was also on a bit of a journey, and we traveled together a little bit across Canada in 2001. And we're still in contact actually and she's into the kirtan scene as well. She is not a devotee like a Hare Krishna devotee, but she's always been like an inspiration to me because well she basically inspired me to come here, but she was from Auckland originally, from New Zealand and so I always thought one day. I'll go to your country, and then yeah, it's pretty cool, Krsnendu: So that was the inspiration to come over here. Gitavali: Yeah, yeah, and then yes I traveled and I bumped into devotees along the way so every time. I'd me a devotee I'd be like hey. It's those guys again, and uh? I something told me I go to go speak to them. I remember seeing Hriman Krishna on the streets in Auckland when I had just arrived and thinking he looks like a really cool monk. But I never went to speak to him because he's Filipino so he kind of looked Buddhist or something. 
Krsnendu: Around about when was that? What year was that? Gitavali: That was in 2005 so I arrived in 2004 actually but in 2005 I really met... I actually met my future husband. On the street uh my future I mean my husband right now Krsnendu: Who was then your future husband. Gitavali: Yeah, then yeah when I met him in January 2005. He had just arrived in the country himself, and he was out on books distributing some books, and I happily took a Science of Self-Realization and gave him a good donation because I thought this is exactly what I'm looking for and. Was on my way to the South Island of New Zealand to go travel, and when I came back up a couple of months later. Maybe that was in May so a few months had passed. I had a book, but I hadn't read it yet, but I had made a commitment to myself that I was going to stop just thinking about being spiritual, and I was gonna start doing something about it and start hanging out with like-minded people. And that's when I got Om tattooed on my foot. Now, I had no idea at the time that Om should not be on a lower part of the body. I didn't know that yet, but I just knew that I wanted to to see it, so I thought "If I put it on my foot. I'll be able to see it, and I can still cover it up. If I don't want anybody to see it." You know but yeah. It's in the pipeline. I'm actually gonna try to cover it up because I know it's not the best. You can edit that out by the way, Krsnendu: Oh No! That's classic. That's so funny. 
Gitavali: Okay. Apart from that...Yeah, so that was in May, and then I bumped into another devotee whom you know well. Krsnendu it's Nandagopa. Krsnendu: Oh really! Wow. Gitavali: He was on the streets also. Yeah, I met Nandagopa and he gave me a flyer. He tried to sell me another book, but at that time. I just thought I'll stick with my first book which I haven't read yet, but I was interested in the Loft so I went to the Loft and I had a great evening doing yoga, and the meal. And I was so impressed by the food at the Loft. I was like "Wow! This is the most amazing meal!" And I had actually been vegetarian... Kind of a part-time not so strict vegetarian but it kind of gave me the impetus to fully dive into the nectar of vegetarianism. Which I didn't really know is prasadam at that time, but after speaking to the yoga teacher, Dina Dayala devi dasi. She as there teaching and I sat down with her for dinner, and she totally awesomely inspired me to go to Wellington to the the center in Wellington because I told her Auckland's another big city I don't want to stay in Auckland. I didn't come to New Zealand just to be in another city, which is all pretty similar those cities... And so I thought Wellington's got a bit of a character, and it sounds like a cool place to settle for the winter because by that time is mid-May or something that was starting to get a bit colder. So I listened to... Something inside of me said "Now listen to her! She knows what she's talking about and you can finally be a little bit more spiritual, and you know hang out with like-minded people." So as soon as I... I think I hitchhiked a ride down to Wellington. I also had been in a bit of a relationship with a guy which... that ended... It wasn't really a serious relationship. But I jind of cut off that tie to just go start fresh in Wellington. 
As soon as I arrived, I kind of needed some a job because I was running low on funds, but after I found a job, I straight went to Gaura Yoga at the time, which is now Bhakti Lounge in Wellington, and I had such a great experience, and I met some wonderful people... Made some friendships right from the beginning. And I got introduced to the manager who was at the time Vishnu Maya. And she helped me get myself together, and I started reading Bhagavad-gita, I started chanting and within a short time. I moved into the ashram and the rest is history basically Krsnendu: Wow. Gitavali: Yeah. Of course I had to go back home after a couple of months because my Visa was expiring, but I was so determined that I had found my meaning for my life after coming to Krishna Consciousness. I was really convinced. I was 26 by then so I was like okay. I've tasted everything that's... you know... available out there. I'm ready to take a leap and take a jump into something fresh and enlivening and I felt very inspired. Krsnendu: That's cool. Gitavali: So I came back. Krsnendu: Yeah, cool. And then after you came back like what did you do... Obviously got married at some stage, and you've got your little Balai now Gitavali: Yeah. He's two and half now my little guy, but yeah, I decided to take some time off of relationships in the beginning just to help myself to just kind of get to know about Krishna, and you know to get more settled in my Krishna, Consciousness because I just knew I wasn't ready for a long-term commitment just yet. So I took some... I took a couple of years and because I couldn't stay In New Zealand eternally. I just had a visitor Visa so I ended up in Melbourne at the temple there, and I absolutely loved my experience living at the Melbourne Temple, and I stayed there for nine months and after that I came back to New Zealand. I was kind of ready to settle down. And so I was introduced to Bhadrasena again for and yeah, he was available I was available, and yeah... it worked out. Well. Yeah, Krsnendu: Cool. So the thought that comes to my mind is that life is a little bit different when you're single like living in an ashram and then compared to when you get married especially once you start to have kids... right? Gitavali: Yeah! Krsnendu: And so I was just thinking like what was the impetus for you to... you know create this journal that you've got. And I'm curious to hear about your experience. You know like saying when you are living in the ashram as a single person compared to now when you've got a child, and you know how that might connect with the journal that you've created. Gitavali: Sure, well basically even before I was a devotee I used to use journals. Just to kind of gather my thoughts and write down my priorities for the day and things like that, but the journals are found out there... Diaries um I found that they were quite kind of just bland and not really inspirational and back in 2015. I think it was when I was pregnant with my son. I got a journal that was a gratitude diary, and I really loved it because it had some inspirational quotes in there and a little space for every day. You could write down something you're grateful for and I really enjoyed using it, and I felt inspired, but at the same time. I was like. "Oh, there's I wish there was something for devotees like this, and I wish I could be able to log down like my Japa and what I am reading at the moment and exercise." I was like looking out there just for you know regular journals or diaries out there, but nothing was quite like that so I decided... Well... I'll use my creative skills and and I'll start my own. So that was back in 2016... So basically. I had this dream for a long time to like kind of create something cool for devotees. And then I kept on pushing it like oh, maybe next year. I'll do it or maybe maybe in you know in the future, but then I realized if I keep thinking like that like one day... one day... well, I'll be dead by the time I actually sit down and do it. I've got to do it now! So in December 2016 I sat down with a friend of mine, and I was like "Look I've got this project on my mind... Should I do it?" And she's like, "Yeah go for it! Go for it!" And so just by talking about it. I decided to make it happen so that was December 1st 2016 and then by mid-December I had a whole manuscript. Basically within two weeks, I wrote down a whole layout for a book and and I did it at the local printers, and I got 50 copies printed. And then I just sold them to my friends around. And at the very end of the year, we usually have like a festival called the Recharge Festival for devotees and so they easily just went out the door, and I sold them all by January 1st. And I was like "Yay! I did it!" 
And I was able to use that the whole year, and I felt inspired and then through last year... for this year for the Rise Up I made it a lot better because I spent more time. I spent about two months on it. Just create something even better because the first version was more of a trial and had a lot of flaws. It wasn't quite laid out the way I really wanted it to be laid out, but it was kind of a rough version. I just quickly got out the door and this one here. which maybe we could post it picture for. Krsnendu: Sure. I'm gonna set up a page. It's going to be http://SuccessfulVaisnavas.com/riseup We'll have a picture of the journal so people can see what it looks like. On the outside and on the inside because it's it's beautifully laid out and the cover picture's really awesome. Did you paint it yourself? Gitavali: Yeah, yeah, I thought I studied Fine Arts. I might as well use a little bit of the my my knowledge that I have about painting, and yeah, I had a lot of fun. Actually. I just really enjoyed doing that Krsnendu: It's quite different from the one that did the first year like the design is quite different. There's some elements that are the same. And be interesting hopefully we can get a picture of the old one as well, and then we can put them side-by-side see the see the progression. 
Gitavali: Yeah, no problem. Yeah. That's for sure. I I really enjoyed this year's one I put a lot more time into it, but I'm really happy with the results and I've had a lot of feedback like positive feedback already from even senior senior vaisnavas. One of whom is Vimala mataji who has just told me recently how she's just been really inspired, and she's been able to accomplish a lot more things because of her Rise Up journal, and I'm really happy about that. I'm really happy because it's helping others because originally I just thought I'll just make it for me. I wasn't thinking of like a business idea, but somehow it's slowly growing and. Um yeah, we'll see where it goes for the future. Krsnendu: I mean have you got any ideas you know sort of expand the Beyond just you know the bucket self. Gitavali: Well. A dream of mine would be to maybe incorporate it in like a kind of life coaching program to help either devotees with their own kind of life material and spiritual life. And so I'm planning to do a training course in the next year to train my... to be trained as a life coach, and then the journal could be used as a tool to be able to incorporate... You know regulating your habits, incorporating a bit of gratitude and and so and so on. Krsnendu: Yeah, that sounds really great because you've got this book here. You know what happens a lot of times those people they get a book, and they don't always use it to its full extent so if you can have some sort of coaching that goes along with it that you know kind of connects people, reminds them about it, and you know keeps them using it it makes it even more powerful. And I've noticed that in the front that you've already included a few sort of organizational tips or not sure what else you would say but some sort of advice on how to take advantage of this book and some general ideas so 
Gitavali: Yes. Krsnendu: Just having a quick look through at the moment and here. It's mentioning just about japa and reading there's different elements that all devotees look to develop and you've just given some advice about how you can use the books specifically in those areas Gitavali: Yes Krsnendu: And also yeah, I mean it's amazing. You know we were working on this together a little bit, and it's amazing like the one I'm looking at is called the Down Under Edition and you've actually you've actually put the dates for Australia, New Zealand and Fiji in it, so... Gitavali: Yes, Krsnendu: You know when someone buys the book. They don't have to like add the dates, but they're already included in the book. You know which is... Gitavali: Yeah, the whole Vaisnava calendar for location is accurate for Australia, New Zealand and Fiji as well, and then I've got four editions basically, so I've got the North American Edition, which probably also includes South America, but I yeah, just thought I'll keep it simple and the North American version. And then there's the European Edition. It is called the Extended European Edition because it's not just Europe. It's also the UK and all the way to South Africa and Russia as well, so there's all the Ekadasi and Vaisnava calendar times and dates for those countries, and then there's the Indian Edition as well, Krsnendu: Wow! That's far out. That must have been quite a lot of work. I'm just amazed how much you can accomplish in a short time... Like you know you said that you started this book the first time and in two weeks you published it. I'm like... I mean I have helped like for example, Jaya Sila and Vimala. They've got their Relationship Rescue Remedy book, and it took us months or probably more than a year... Just to publish that book! And for you to do it in this time... Of course, it's a different type of book... but still just looking at the time and effot you've put in... I'm amazed how much you were able to do in such a short time. Gitavali: Somehow I would do it when I had a little bit of time where... after Balai would go to sleep... I would take like an hour. So I it was a bit of a marathon. I definitely put more energy into that project than anything else and my sadhana went down little bit but I felt like well if I can just give it a bit of a push, then after that my sadhana will improve because of the book and all... yeah... kind of catch up. Krsnendu: I guess that's a good testament to your process and your book. You know that you're able to achieve something like this in such a short space of time. You've obviously got something going right there Gitavali: Thank you. Krsnendu: And so. Yeah, I mean if you can coach other devotees in some of the things that you know that would be a really great service so many devotees. One thing I just wanted to bring out as well looking in this book is you talked about your portable japa mala. That's quite a unique concept I thought. Could you just tell us about that. Gitavali: Yeah well, I just thought let's add a bit of artwork at the back, and why not put japa beads and why not 108 so wherever you are if you have your book, you might as well... You know you can chant on the beads. It's more of a decorative thing, but at the same time sometimes we forget our bead bag, and we don't... You know some people don't like to use clickers or sometimes people they do, but if the batteries are dead or whatever and you're in trouble, and you need to chant...Well at least if you've got your book... your Rise Up... You can chant anywhere you go. Krsnendu: So you just put your finger on the bead, or your thumb whatever and just move along each time Gitavali: Yes just follow it around yeah, Krsnendu: Yeah that's really cool. Yeah now I've also noticed just to give people a little bit of an idea about this book... that on every page you've got quotes, and it's not just quotes from Prabhupada some although there's quite a few quotes from Prabhupada but also quotes of um... Or you tell us you know who are some of the sort of people that are quoted in here. It's quite interesting. 
Gitavali: I get quite inspired by Mahatma Prabhu who's based in Florida, but he travels a lot. Mahatma das. He's got a lot of amazing quotes as well as Radhanath Maharaja and Sivarama Swami and I tried to you know pick as many, but at the same time... I you know just had a limited amount of time to research quotes to add in the book and there was a few quotes actually from non devotees, but there like St. Francis of Assisi, so he's a I believe a Catholic monk who was very... He was a vegetarian, and he's got a few quotes in the book. Let me find one. I think I Krsnendu: I think I saw one near the front if I remember. Gitavali: I think there's about two or three quotes of his in here. Krsnendu: I can see quotes from Bhakti Tirtha Swami as well to do with community building and it's quite a diverse collection of quotes, which is quite... It's quite nice because it just gives each page... It doesn't blur away. It's always something new so you actually read it. You knwo what I mean Gitavali: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Krsnendu: gives you something to think about each each day. Gitavali: Yeah, it was just something to keep yourselves motivated and inspired in what we're doing and uh yeah? Krsnendu: Yeah quotes from Bhaktivinoda Thakur... All kinds of interesting things in here. So. Yeah, thanks for telling us about the book, your journal, and you know how you came across this and some of your plans. As far as the journal like I imagine that it's gone so well this year. I guess we're looking to promote it again at the end of the year and create the next model 2019 version Gitavali: yeah, yeah. Krsnendu: People can be listening to this interview at any time. It could be a few years in the future. So you know we're talkin about the 2018 addition right now, but when they listen to it could be the 2023 version Gitavali: Yeah, that's true. Krsnendu: But in any case they can always go to http://successfulvaisnavas.com/riseup and we'll just keep the information updated as the new books come out. Gitavali: Sure Krsnendu: And I'll also let everyone know who's on the email list for this podcast when the new edition comes out that they can get the links to buy it. Gitavali: Yeah, yeah these this book. Well. The Rise Up Journal is available on Amazon, and there's four different versions so you can pick. Uh it's not too late to get one. You know. There's still time. There's still eight and a bit Krsnendu: Still 3 full quarters left. Gitavali: Yeah, yeah. So why not try it out... At the same time. Yeah, I have actually some copies right here in New Zealand so if you live locally or Australia. I can happily send you a copy just I'll just charge for the shipping, and that's it so free copy I'm happy to give away. Krsnendu: Wow that's awesome. Now, just before we sign off I just wanted to ask you... It just occured to me now like... You've had this project and there must have been challenges along the way like what was some of the biggest challenges that you faced in trying to complete a project like this. Gitavali: Um I guess uh time.Uh you know busy mum of a toddler um yeah, and also just. Um maybe a little concerned with what other people might think or you know my husband is always trying to keep me on the target of reading and hearing, and you know my own Krishna Consciousness. So I at first I was afraid that he'd think that I'm going off course, but now he appreciates my work, and he's got his own copy. But in the beginning, I think I was a bit scared of "oh no, what is he gonna think?" and I actually did the first version ever that I did, I did it behind his back, so he had no idea. I was doing it because I was so afraid I was like "Maybe he won't really want me to do this" but in the end. Yeah, I surprised him, and he was like "Wow you've done all this?" And and yeah he was pleasantly surprised so yeah. So that was the biggest challenge, I think yeah, Krsnendu: I was also noticing like when I was working with you at some stage is quite a lot of decisions to make when you do things like that you can do it this way or that way... That can also be quite a challenge. Gitavali: Yeah, that's true yeah, and where to print it. Um yeah things like that for sure yeah. Krsnendu: Was there anything else that you wanted to add you know about. I'm the book that I might have asked you about or you know any other points. Gitavali: I forgot to mention about goal setting and setting goals, but guess yeah one of the features of the Rise Up Journal is that you can set some goals for the month so every month you can sit like a few there's quite a few bubbles on the page where you can fill it out. Simple goals... it doesn't have to be a big goal. Just like I don't know what like whatever. Let's say tidy my cupboard so. Then the next page. Uh you can write down your goal and separate it into tasks so action points and and then give yourself some deadlines, so then the goal becomes really achievable, and you can see it uh? Krsnendu: So the goal is kind of like the outcome that you want at the end, and then the tasks are the sort of small things that you need to do on the way in order to get to the final goal. Gitavali: yeah, yeah, action points like steps to achieve the goal Krsnendu: yeah Gitavali: yeah. Krsnendu: it's called. Yeah. I mean there's a lot more in this book about you know how to use it and things that's hard to express through a podcast, but like you mentioned before the idea of if I'm doing some coaching. That would be such a really helpful thing. You know that will help people to get the maximum out of the book, so I'm looking forward to that. Gitavali: No problem. Krsnendu: Yeah, cool. Well, as I mentioned. We'll put a page up on the podcast. Thank you for agreeing to do this interview like this Successful Vaisnavas podcast has been like dormant for years actually and so it seems appropriate that our first episode after starting the podcast again would be Rise Up. It's like... come back out of your sleep. You know Jiv jago. Gitavali: Yeah. That's right. Wonderful. I'm quite happy to be a part of this project of yours Krsnendu, and um yeah Rise Up everyone! Krsnendu: Thanks a lot, and I look forward to hearing more feedback about the book and also seeing what you are 2019 edition will be like. This one's really awesome, and I just know that you've been improving it all the time, so it's it's really great. Gitavali: Oh, and the 2019 version will be available way before January 1st, and I'm gonna have a proper website as well Krsnendu: Yeah, we'll keep everything updated on on the page successful forward slash rise up and with that. All the best and have a good time with your little Balai today, Gitavali: Thank you very much. Krsnendu: Thanks a lot for providing this amazing service for the devotees and helping us to get organized and keep our focus. Gitavali: Yeah, no problem. It's a pleasure. Thank you. Just as we ended the interview Gitavali and myself we started to discuss a little bit further, and I thought it would be interesting for you to hear that part of the conversation. Um just gives a little bit more insight about our how to get things done so here. We are here it is. Krsnendu: Thanks a lot for doing that. It's great to feel like.. like for myself. I feel like I'm getting the momentum back again towards actually doing my project. Like you said you think about things all the time, but you have to do it sometimes. Gitavali: Yeah, yeah, or else it just stays in your mind, and you don't get anything done. Krsnendu: Yeah, and especially like when you have a like a real hard deadline. I think this is probably something that would have inspired you too because you know that right, it's a journal and it starts on the 1st of January and you have the idea in the first of December which freaks me out, but anyway within two weeks you did it because you know I have to do it before the end of the year because you know that's when it has to be done by right Gitavali: yeah exactly Krsnendu: So for me I'm thinking like "Okay. Well this journal 1/4 of the years. Gone by already." Which is okay. It's still got two thirds of it. I mean 3/4 of it. My maths is not good but you know what I mean... Three quarters of the Year still to go. So there's still heaps of value in it still, and you know I'm going to the Sacred Sounds festival in a couple of weeks, so I'm thinking that if I can get this podcast out before I go there... It'll make it a lot easier to you know distribute the book because people will probably come to me and say "Oh I heard.." I hope... They'll say... "Hey. I heard the podcast and I heard about that Journal. I'm Keen to get one"... You know so. Gitavali: Yeah It will be some... There's at least 20 books going next. Next door... to Australia to the Sacred Sounds Festival. So yeah at least 20, and hopefully more. I'm just gonna see what I can manage um yeah to transfer over Krsnendu: So that's giving me a bit of impetus... you know like a bit of a deadline. I got to get this up by at least by then. Yeah, and then we can get the ball rolling again. So thanks for giving me a bit of incentive that way. 
Gitavali: You can do it! Yeah, just use that goal-setting sheets and it'll it'll help. Krsnendu: Yeah, that's true. Just break it down into the steps and. Gitavali: yeah. Krsnendu: Yeah, thanks. Awesome. All right. I'll sign out of here, and I'll let you know once its posted and everything you can go and check out the page and see that it looks all good and get it out there, and hopefully that'll inspire a bit of interest.
The first question in spiritual life is "Who am I?"
I took this "Finding my Identity" theme from a song that is currently popular and made a music video for it that includes some subtle (or not so subtle lol) Krishna consciousness. Let me know what you think of it in the comments.
Please give it thumbs up / comment on Youtube and like / share it on Facebook. That way more people will see it. Thanks.
A while back I sent out a survey. If you were one of the people who filled it out… Thanks!
The response has been fantastic and the results have been really interesting (and a little surprising also!)
The survey revealed four main challenges that devotees are facing right now.
Can you guess what they are?
Comment below and let me know what you think.
I’ll be in touch shortly.
Make your life successful.
Your servant, Krsnendu dasa
P.S. Enter your email address to receive updates. Even if you have done it before, please do it again so the new website knows not to ask you again :-)
P.P.S. I was serious when I said to leave a comment. I want to hear what you think. :-)
Leave a comment below and let me know... "What do you think are the main challenges devotees are facing right now?"
Looks like dancing in kirtan might help you concentrate in class, in your japa, and in your work. (See the infographic below.)
Studies show that aerobic exercise not only makes you feel better and concentrate better, it might even slow down the aging process in the brain.
Aerobic exercise is the when you move the major muscles in your body like your legs and your arms causing your heart to beat faster and take in more oxygen. To get benefit, it is recommended to do aerobic exercise for at least 20 mins (about the time it takes for a full arati)
As well as dancing, brisk walking (japa walk anyone?) and swimming are good forms of aerobic exercise. Srila Prabhupada showed by his example with his daily morning walks exercise is good for devotees. Don't just sit behind your desk all day get up and move. And for a really good dose of exercise go out on Harinama - Chant and dance in the streets - Save the world and save your brain. =>:-)
Why are goals important in Krishna consciousness? - an interview with His Grace Vaisesika Prabhu.
In this practical and inspiring interview we discuss:
Vaisesika Prabhu (http://vaisesikadasa.com/) who is a Prabhupada disciple, based in Silicon Valley, California. He is a driving force behind innovative ways to distribute Srila Prabhupada's books. He is a very knowledgeable, saintly devotee with a big heart.
What sort of goals do you set in Krishna consciousness?
Let us know by leaving a comment below or leave a voice message on Speakpipe.
Here is a video from 2012 where Vaisesika Prabhu is emphasizing the importance of setting goals for book distribution.
[spoiler intro="Transcription" title="Podcast Introduction"]
Hare Krishna. Welcome to Episode 14 of the Successful Vaisnavas podcast. It feels great to be recording another episode. And this time, we are doing an interview with His grace Vaisesika Prabhu, who has a wonderful temple called ISKCON Silicon Valley in California. And it’s wonderful the sort of work that he’s doing there. He has a lot of innovative techniques especially for book distribution which he is sharing particularly in North America, which he discusses a little bit in our discussion.
I had good fortune to visit there last year and while I was there I got to ask him questions about the importance of goals in Krishna Consciousness and how we can use goals to help us to become more Krishna Conscious.
So for personal news, I just came back from Sydney. I spent 4 days there attending a seminar which is very interesting. It was a seminar about wealth. It was called Wealth Rockstar and some of the points which I learned from that seminar are:
It is very important to be responsible with our finances. We need to know how much money we are spending each month and how much money we have in our bank account. And to plan ahead with that understanding that we should put aside savings for future emergencies such as 6 months of our typical expenses if we can and whatever we can save beyond that, we can invest in different ways. So it is interesting to note the example Prabhupada talks about, Rupa Goswami when he went to Lord Caitanya – He divided up his wealth in a particular way. He would save a portion for his family, and he kept a certain portion for emergencies. So there’s some precedent there in our Vaisnava background.
Anyway, it was a very interesting seminar and while I was in Sydney, I also had a good fortune to visit some of the famous Australian Hare Krishna restaurants.
I visited Hari’s which is a new restaurant run by the temple. I got to meet Vara Nayaka Prabhu there. He runs the temple as well as that restaurant. So that was a good fun. I managed to catch up with a good friend. We had a lunch there one day and that was fantastic.
And then I went to Govinda’s as well, which is a different kind of a restaurant. It’s only open for dinners and actually they have cinema there. So people come for the meal and they can go to the cinema afterwards. So this is a special character restaurant and cinema which attracts, thinking people that are looking to watch alternative type of films. And also they have a yoga room there with kirtan and other such things.
So this Govinda’s restaurant is run by Pratapana who has been running Govinda’s restaurant for many years now. It was previously part of the temple, as i understand, it might’ve actually been the main center. But he’s been running it for many years and he recently just opened an ashram down the road and I had a wonderful evening there. It was just basically just kirtan, prasadam and more kirtan, but the spirit of the people there was fantastic. And I had a brief talk to Pratapana Prabhu and he’s agreed to be interviewed in a future episode. So I hope I’ll be able to get him on the show really soon.
So that was my trip to Sydney recently which is my last chance of doing something independent before our third child is going to be born. Our baby girl is due anytime – the due date is in a couple of weeks time but who knows how soon she may arrive.
In other news, I have been doing a little work with that Kindle children’s book that I might’ve mentioned before and the rankings have gone up a bit. We’ve got six 5-stars reviews so seems to be popular with the readers – a very nice little book for kids. If you are interested you could check it out. You can find it in http://kklikes.com/dinosaurtoy and we will actually be doing a promotion on the 17th and 18th of November, that’s Eastern Standard Time. We will be giving the book away for free. So if you are interested to check it out and download, it will help us a lot because the more downloads we get even if they are free downloads, it boosts the rankings in Amazon and helps us to sell more books in future. So if you do download it, make sure to give an honest review. If you think it is fantastic, give a 5-stars review and just leave your comment about what you thought of the book.
I am still doing some work on the Successful Vaisnavas Online Course so as usual, stay tuned. And I’ve been working with His Grace Jaya Sila Prabhu on his parenting course which is based on the Nurtured Heart Approach to communicating with children – either as a parent or as a teacher – in a way that is very empowering and inspiring and which helps children to behave in the propert way and also helps to bring out the greatness in both parents and children. So that’s a very inspiring project and I hope to have them on the show also very soon because he’s about to release an ebook. As soon as it is available we will interview him on the show and I’ll give you information about how you can get access to that.
This is the first episode of Successful Vaisnavas where I’m actually getting the help of someone else to put it together. Because I found that just recording the show, writing the show’s notes, and uploading it to the website and all of those little tasks. Each of those individual tasks doesn’t take that long but when you add them all up together, it was actually taking me hours to produce each show. So now, I’ve set up a system where I just record the show and I send the recordings to my virtual assistant who transcribes it, puts the episode together and uploads it to the website. So this will be the first episode where we’ve done that so please forgive any mistakes. As you know when we do things the first time, it is not always perfect but my virtual assistant is very capable and I’m sure, she will do a fantastic job and it will free up a lot of my time which means, it will be easier for me to release episodes more regularly.
So as I’ve mentioned, I have couple of interviews lined up which I am planning to do. If you have any ideas for devotees who I can interview, who would be suitable for the Successful Vaisnavas show, please leave me a message, either going to http://successfulvaisnavas.com and leave a voice message using speak pipe or you can just email me at krsnendu@successfulvaisnavas.com . Or you could also go to the contact tab on our website and leave a message there too.
I’d love to hear your ideas about who we can interview. I know there’s a lot of wonderful devotees who are doing inspiring things but I don’t know them all and I’m sure, you know some and by letting us know it will help to make this show a lot more interesting and allow us to put out episodes more often.
So, that’s pretty much the news from me at this stage. I don’t have any numbers for you today. I haven’t really been checking for a little while as far as how many downloads of the show and how many people in the email list and so on. I will let you know more about that in the next episode.
In the meantime, let’s hear a very thoughtful and practical presentation by His Grace Vaisesika Prabhu about setting goals. As I’ve mentioned before, Vaisesika Prabhu is a Prabhupada disciple, maybe I forgot to mention that, and he is a driving force behind innovative ways to distribute books in North America in particular and he’s been working with the devotees at ISKCON Silicon Valley to do a lot of very interesting projects. So I won’t say anymore at this point, I’ll let you hear directly from him and I hope you enjoy this interview with Vaisesika Prabhu.
Hare Krishna.[/spoiler]
[spoiler intro="Transcription" title="Vaisesika Prabhu Interview"]
Vaisesika: Welcome to ISV, which stands for ISKCON Silicon Valley (also Individual, Spontaneous and Voluntary devotional service). Hare Krishna.
We’ve had quite a marathon here, the last few days, Krsnendu of course, there was Nrsimha Caturdasi and then, before that, we had our Wednesday night program, and then we had, did we have something on Thursday? No, but there were some devotees here cooking. Friday was Nrsimha Caturdasi and yesterday we had a Saturday morning program, and then a Bhakti Life program. And in the evening! Three programs yesterday, and one this morning. And we just came from a home opening... Nilam and Nilesh bought a new house, so, we had a homa and a kirtan in their home, in all the different places.
Krsnendu: Hare Krishna Prabhu.
Vaisesika: Hare Krishna.
Krsnendu: I was looking at your article there, and you’re talking about the importance of goals. And I was just thinking what sort of goals should we set in Krishna Consciousness? You know, like in business, it’s kind of clear we want to earn so much or sell so much, and things like that. But in the process of Krishna Consciousness, I’m interested to hear your thoughts. What we –
Vaisesika: Well, we can look to the Goswamis..
sankhya-purvaka-nama-gana-natibhih
The song by Srinivasacarya describing the Six Goswamis of Vrindavan who are direct disciples of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and who are acharyas in our line and we emulate and we follow their teachings. And they lived 500 years ago.
And in the verse I just quoted, which is a description of their daily activities. Sankhya means to count. sankhya-gana. There was a way in which they counted all the different devotional practices they did, like how many times they chanted, how many times they offered obeisances, and they would do that in a schedule every day, so they could measure how they were doing. So, we can, we measure how many rounds we chant, that’s a goal. A goal so that we can have numerical strength, means that we do a minimum to make sure that we’re fortified.
We were talking yesterday at the, at our Bhakti Life program, the longer the you chant, the more opportunity you will have to, to have a teachable moment, which means, a moment during which there’s an unexpected opportunity to learn something. And there’s a, there’s an axiom in math, called the Law of Large Numbers. Does anybody know about this? The Law of Large Numbers says that the more you, the more times you test something, or the longer you give the test, say if you’re flipping a coin, and you would assume that it would be 50/50 that it would come up heads or tails. Well, if you flipped it a few times, three or four times, you may not, you may get tails three times in a row, and you might concur, well, that’s what it is. But if you flip it 1,000 times, then it becomes closer to the 50/50, and if you do it a million times, then you don’t, it grows toward the mean, the mean average that shows that. So, in the same way, the longer you continue
The more you continue the practice, the more opportunity you have to increase.
So any kind of goals that you apply when you’re doing in business, can also be applied in devotion. For instance, time periods, there are various time periods during which you can set goals. For instance, the 30-day goal, this is a really powerful kind of goal, so you can endure anything for 30 days, practically, but you can get a lot done in 30 days. You can make a huge accomplishment, and oftentimes, devotees take a vow during Karttik, for instance, that’s 30 days, according to the moon. And during that time they take a vow to chant a certain number of times, more than usual, these kinds of things. But you can do that anytime. You can pick a 30-day goal.
We, do, here at ISV, we have a goal to chant Bhagavad-gita, a chapter once every day without missing, and we rotate which chapters we chant every month, so everybody knows that we’re on the same chapter, so it’s a 30-day goal.
One day goals are nice too. When you start your day, there’s a saying to “Never greet the dawn without a map.” And when you start your day with a map, and an understanding of what you’re going to try to accomplish over a 24-hour period, you’re a lot more productive than if you just leave it to chance. Then, you can make a one-week goal, a one month goal, and you can use your imagination whatever things, and ways in which you can improve your sadhana. Reading a certain number of pages a day.
We have a program called Be a Sage Page-By-Page, and it shows, and it gives us, and we have a chart of how many pages you have to read each day to complete the Bhagavad-gita within say, a month or six months here. And how many pages you have to read to complete the Srimad Bhagavatam within, you know, a week, or you’d have to be like Pariksit Maharaja and just stop eating, right? You know, if you want to do it, you know, in a balanced, reasonable amount of time for your lifestyle, you pick, you know, a year, two years, and then you know if I’m on 35 pages a day to get there, and it keeps you steady because steadiness is really important because the mind fluctuates, and motivation fluctuates from one day to the next, so you have to tie yourself to some standard, goal to move ahead.
Goals are very potent. I did a presentation at the Temple Presidents in Dallas at the beginning of the year, and the name of the presentation was Goals Are Potent. That was a statement of an old friend of mine, Will McCoy. He used to say that, and it’s true. It’s like flipping a switch. As soon as you have a goal, for instance, with book distribution, we noticed this all over the country. If we go to a devotional community, we ask one simple question: What’s your goal for the year? How many books are you going to distribute as a community?
Then, sometimes people say, oh, we don’t really have a goal. Then there’s no impetus. But the moment they set a goal, they’ll say, “Yeah, what should we do?”
And I just have a couple of examples, year before last. In Washington, D.C., we were talking about a goal. They would go for 5,000 books in the year. And I would say, why not 10,000? And, (because I really knew they could do it with the devotees that they had there), and they said, “Okay, we’ll go for 10,000.” And they agreed to it, and Lokadyasha, and Vidharba, who head up the sankirtan program, they didn’t sleep all night. They had one restless night. Thinking, “What did we do? What did we commit to?” They were very worried, but they became energized. They galvanized the whole team, and they ended up doing, that year, maybe 28-27,000 books.
And in Laguna Beach, one simple question. This was a year ago, yeah, last year. “What is your goal for the year?”
They said,“450 books.”
“For the year! With the kind of devotees and infrastructure you have here...” They looked a little sheepish, but I said, “Why not go for 5,000? You could easily go for 5,000.” And as soon as they agreed to it, which they did immediately, Tukuram is a great leader, and so is Rupanuga, and all the other devotees there. The whole board agreed, and they said they’d try for 5,000.
“If you think we can do it, we’ll try for it.” And they ended up doing 15,000 books, and so I see it like an electrical switch. When you set a goal for personal practice, and you say I’m going to do four rounds a day, and then immediately you start readjusting your life around that principle, around that goal, you become energized, and you move forward towards it.
It’s vital for moving forward because we’re living a dual existence. We’re spiritual beings. We’re in a finite, material body, and we have a finite amount of time every day and during the span of our lifetime, and we want to advance. We want to get to a certain point. You’re going to be five years older in five years anyway, and if you set a goal, a five-year goal, and say this is what I want to achieve in five years, and you chip away at it every day, then, you can attain amazing things. I don't know if that answered your question completely. Do you have any follow-up for that?
Krsnendu: No, I think that’s a brilliant answer. Thank you. I was getting goose bumps, myself, just thinking of the potential.
Vaisesika: Yeah, and, you know the daily goals are a really important thing, sort of having an idea of what you want to do during the day, and I’ve found this myself, if I work from a list that I keep in my pocket, a little book, I always have it. I never leave home without it. It’s always in my pocket, and I go through a lot of them, and it’s, if I start the day, and I write down what my objectives are today, then my mind’s focused on it.
There’s a tool of time management. The name of it is a little funny, but it’s called Swallow that Frog, and Brian Tracy talks about this. If you’re gonna, if you have two frogs to swallow, you swallow the biggest one first because once you do the smaller ones will be easier. You swallow, the biggest, ugliest first. Then, you can go on. Of course, you know, they’re like, so whatever, whatever kinds of tasks you’re facing, don’t avoid the big ones, the ones that have the highest impact. That’s kind of a goal setting. Do the things that you fear the most, that seem to be looming, that you don’t want to do with, get it done first, and then, it energizes you the rest of the day.
And so you can do that in devotional service and sadhana, and make sure that you cover your fundamentals. This is a very important point, and I always come back to this in my own practice, and I talk about it to others as well, and that is that, cover the basis every day. You always win with the basics. In sports, good coaches they teach the fundamentals, over and over again. It’s not the fancy stuff.
In mridanga, you learn the fundamentals. There’s tere kheta. which is very simple kind of hand practice that almost seems too simple to be effective. But, you know, my mrdanga teacher told me that the great mrdanga players, they’ll sit and practice tere kheta, which is just one simple beat for six months before they go on to anything else because it’s a fundamental that’s so important life.
And in spiritual life, there are fundamentals, and Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu prioritises them for us. There’s 64 items of devotional service that are mentioned by Rupa Gosvami in the Nectar of Devotion in the Bhakti-Rasamrita Sindu, and out of those, he takes five and puts them in a special category. Five out of the 64 are the most potent, and important. Those are worshiping the Deity; living in a holy place; associating with devotees; reading Srimad Bhagavatam; hearing Srimad Bhagavatam; and chanting Hare Krishna. So out of all the 64, here’s 5, he says that are so potent, that even if you have a little bit of a connection, and even if you don’t have faith in them, but you have a regular connection with them, you’ll advance and come to the highest position. And out of the 5, he says, out of all these five, you chant Hare Krishna, then you’ll accomplish all those too. So, this is kind of a way, that Lord Caitanya gives us to focus on the fundamentals. What are the most important things? Chanting Hare Krishna, and then comes hearing Srimad Bhagavatam and these other things. And there are verses like:
aradhyo bhagavan vrajesa-tanayas tad-dhama vrndavanam
ramya kacid upasana vraja-vadhu-vargena va kalpita
srimad bhagavatam pramanam amalam prema pum-artho mahan
sri-caitanya mahaprabhor matam idam tatradarah na parah .
(Caitanya-matta-manjusa by Srila Viswanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
This Caitanya-manjusa says, these are the most highly held principles by Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu that Vrindavan dhama and Krishna are non different, and that the highest method of worshiping Krishna is that which was enacted by the gopis of Vrindavan, and that the Srimad Bhagavatam is the spotless purana. It’s the best of all. And that the goal of life is to attain prema, goal, and these we hold in high regard because these were held in high regard by Lord Chaitanya. So this is a way that we prioritise. We set goals. What is the goal of life? Prema.
And there’s nothing else, and the Shastra directs us over and over again to come back to this unless you’re performing some activities
sa vai puḿsāḿ paro dharmo
yato bhaktir adhokṣaje
ahaituky apratihatā
yayātmā suprasīdati
(S.B.1.2.6)
It gives us the gold standard – unmotivated, uninterrupted service. This is what we’re after, and
also says that if you’re doing all kinds of other work
dharmaḥ svanuṣṭhitaḥ puḿsāḿ
viṣvaksena-kathāsu yaḥ
notpādayed yadi ratiḿ
śrama eva hi kevalam
(S.B. 1.2.8)
Whatever work you’re doing, if it doesn’t bring you to attraction to Krishna, to hearing about Krishna, to being a devotee of Krishna, then shrama, you’re wasting your time. Then, it says emphatically: eva hi kevalam – three emphatics: absolutely, without question, this is true.
So, Shastra, considering Shastra and what the great acharyas do for us. You know, they bring us into a devotion to say this is what you should be doing with your time, and these devotees, who are advanced... Of course, anyone who is advanced, or who has a taste for anything becomes expert at time management. Prabhupada points out that a person who’s really interested in making money.
And you can see people who are just absorbed in it, Mike Milken, he was a good example. I read about him many years ago. He was a huge investor. He lived in California, so he had to wake up to catch the stock market on the East coast, but he used every second of his time to figure out how to invest in the stock market in order to make profit. And he made millions of millions. He went to jail because there were some discrepancies and things like that, and that often happens. Srila Prabhupada points out if you go to a big man, like a big shot, who’s running a big cooperation, or something like that, and ask if you can get an appointment, what kind of appointment will you get? If you’re lucky, if you have a really good reason for talking to him, a minute or two.
In fact, one of the devotees in Delhi, who’s an expert book distributor. He distributes hundreds of thousands of books every year, and he does it by... He goes through the trades in Delhi, and he finds all these billionaires. He finds out which of the companies are doing exceptionally well, and then he makes appointments.
Sometimes, it takes him a year or two to get an appointment with the head person, so, but finally when he gets the appointment, and he gets into the person’s office, and they usually in India, there’s a kind of etiquette, the person will say what can I get you? Like do you want a glass of water, a 7-Up, like what can I get you. He always says lukewarm water because that gives him an extra 3 minutes because they have to figure out cold water/hot water. Where do you get lukewarm water, so it buys him more time. That’s how valuable his time is. You know, talking to a big shot because that’s all they’re going to give you. Why? Because they’re in samadhi. They’re using every second of time. They have one appointment after another, and it’s all about building the empire and keeping it all going, and so, devotees are like that too.
It’s called avyartha-kalatvam
You know, if you ask a devotee who’s absorbed, you’ll see that time is limited. avyartha-kalatvam means, and it’s a symptom of bhava of advanced emotion of Krishna consciousness: He or she will not waste a second outside the service of Krishna, very stingy with, you know, with anything that's not related to Krishna. It’s not even a consideration, or, you know, if it’s an emergency or a duty to perform, that person is careful about how he or she uses his or her time.
So, time management is naturally there. Time management has to do with managing a scarce resource, which is time. It is the most valuable of all resources as we heard on Thursday, Friday, on the teachings of Prahlada Maharaja. He was saying how valuable the human form of life is, that automatically built in with our hundred years we waste so many years because we have to, you know, sleep, we have to maintain our bodies, and so on.
So, time management, setting goals, and all these things are very much in the mindset of the devotees, but it’s all so that they can stay focused on the goal, which is developing Krishna Consciousness, and back to what I was saying. The fundamentals are particularly important because if you cover those, it fortifies you, and we also heard on Friday that every devotee should have a fear of falling down from the process of devotional service, and Prabhupada said this is a regulative principle. Every sane person, every sane devotee should have the healthy fear of Maya, of falling down from the path of devotion. And this is a regulative principle. So, we shouldn’t act casually when it comes to the process of devotional service or think I’m an exception. You’re finished. As soon as I’m an exception, Maya won’t get me, and then, you’re gone. She sweeps you away very quickly. So, devotees close those gaps and make sure that they’re not leaving the door open for Maya, who Prabhupada describes as a silver-tongued salesman who comes to the door, and knock, knock, knock. No, just open a crack. I just want to tell you something, and the next thing, you just bought a $2,000 vacuum cleaner that you didn’t need, and then your wife comes home. “What?! You bought what? We already have a vacuum cleaner!”
“But, but, but it sounded so good.”
So Maya’s expert like that at catching our attention, so we have to close the gaps. And much of that is done through goals. You see Haridasa Thakur who had a goal to chant, he chanted 192 rounds one day, and so, sometimes when a person is very advanced, there are people in the town or in the village who become envious and think that we’d like to see him fall down.
There was a policeman, a constable in the village Benapur where Haridasa Thakur lived, and he was envious or Haridasa Thakur because he saw he was an advanced devotee. So he this had this scheme. He wanted to defame him, so he hired a local prostitute to this place where Haridasa Thakur was chanting all day and all night, and he hired her specifically to allure him and try to discredit him. And they would be waiting outside for the signal. Then, they’d come running in and catch him, and then that would be it for his reputation. And that’s what he was looking forward to, and so the prostitute came to the house of Haridas Thakur, and he just lived in a little hut where he was chanting. And she presented herself before him, and he said, “Very good, nice idea, and I’ll accommodate you, but first I have to finish my vow. And I’ve got some chanting to do. So you stay here, and when I’m done, then no problem.”
So, he kept chanting all night – Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Hare, Hare, Hare, Hare Krishna. Anybody who’s chanted 64 rounds in a day knows, you can’t dilly dally. You get up early, and you start chanting your 64 rounds, and you don’t spend a lot of time on the phone. You don’t go on the Internet. You don’t stop and talk to people. You’ve got to chant because 64 rounds takes awhile, and, you know, with all the duties you have to do in a day, what to speak of a 192 rounds, so anyway, he, at the end of the night, he said to her, I’m very sorry I didn’t finish my vow. I wasn’t able to spare any time for you, but you can come back tomorrow. So, you come back the next day, and same thing happened, and the night afterwards also. And she kept telling the constable, I’ll get him tonight for sure. I promise, something like that, but what’s happening was she was becoming attracted by the holy name and by the presence of Haridasa Thakur. Her heart transformed. In just that short amount of time, within a few days. She came to him, and she was waiting there, and she said, now I have to admit to you that this is a whole set-up. And he said, oh, I know. I already knew that, and she said what can I do to alleviate my offense, and I also, I’m attracted to this whole process. So, she became a disciple and shaved her head and sat down in a, you know, in a little yard with some tulasi, with a tulasi plant and chanted and become a devotee, and this is what covering the fundamentals will do.
It gives you an excuse to put Maya off. So, if Maya comes and says how about this, and you say sure, fine, no problem, just let me finish all my fundamentals, and by the time you finish your rounds, you’re like, you know, there’s no time for Maya. That’s the idea, to close all those gaps. It starts with covering the fundamentals every day. Don’t skip a day and think it’s okay. Don’t cheat on your rounds, and, you know, don’t do a good job. You know, focus on that part on the foundation of every day that you start and add in little parts, so it keeps adding up and squeezing everything else. I always joke here, but it’s not so much of a joke anymore at ISV, that, you know, we start hearing and chanting, and we add prayers. We add more classes, and this and that, and I told the story of the frog, you know, scientists say that if you take a frog, and you throw him in hot water, he’ll jump right out. But if you put him in a room temperature pan of water, and you gradually turn up the heat, that he’ll cook inside there because he doesn’t feel the degrees, the temperature rising by degrees. And so similarly in our lives as we make little increases when we’re able to, not irresponsible vows that we can’t keep anyway, and then we come crashing down. And then, we try to climb back up again.
We take a reasonable goal that we can handle, and then, by increments we increase it when we see an opportunity, and we increase it, and what it does is, we get a taste for the hearing and chanting. It becomes a staple in our life, and other things, which were superfluous, which may have been anarthas or false values that we really didn’t need in our life. They are winnowed out of our life, or as they analogy of pouring milk into a glass of ink. The more you continue to pour, the ink comes up, and the milk gradually is the predominant substance. And so, we continue to pour into our life these things, these fundamentals, basically: chanting Hare Krishna, hearing Srimad Bhagavatam, association with devotees, worshipping the deity, and living in a holy place. These five are particularly recommended.
You should attach yourself to some program that you don’t waiver from, and it doesn’t matter where you start. Everyone can start at a certain level. Even if it’s one tiny vow. That is like a wedge, and it has a small end, and a big end. You make your stand on that, and you say at least one mantra a day. Okay, is that big enough? Absolutely, because what’ll happen, you’ll find a day when you can’t do one mantra to fall asleep. Oh, I didn’t do my one mantra, and you say you have to. You said, you’ll jump back up again, and you’ll do it. You’ll do it, and then, the next day, it’ll be fresh in your mind to do my one mantra. Then, you’ll rearrange your life in a such a way that, I do my one mantra first before I do anything else. You put it in the right place, and then, you’ll add on because you’ll get a taste. Sometimes with the Bhagavad-gita, you’ll think that the Bhagavad-gita is beautiful. I get so much from it, but then other days, the mind will say, you know, I’m busy, the Bhagavad-gita’s okay, but then you have your vow, and you say, no, I have to read these five verses or one chapter, whatever it is, and you pick it up, feeling not much taste, but after the first three minutes, you think, my mind thinking, this is nectar, and you become absorbed. And you’ll find yourself there for an hour, or two hours, carried away in a natural way because of your association, natural taste for the Bhagavad-gita.
So, in these ways, we have to make goals that will keep us close to the fundamental practice of Krishna Consciousness every day, and then, we develop our own volition, and doing these things, and this is called taste. There’s devotional service, and there’s practice. And this is based on rules and regulations because I don’t want to do it. My mind wants to do something else. I know I have to do this. Good for me, so I do it anyway, this is called vaidhi-bhakti, following the rules. But after I practice for some time, hopefully, I develop a taste for it, this devotional service, a taste where I actually feel a spontaneous desire to do it, like waking up early. Sometimes, in the beginning it can feel like drudgery or difficulty or something like that, coming and doing mangalarati. But after awhile, when you have some experience like the mangalarati on Nrsimha Caturdasi was magical. And you want to experience that again, and you have a taste for it, and you’ll come back again and again, and then, it’ll become a way of life. And then, from that, a real attachment grows, a real attachment to the devotional activity. There are stages where a real love for God comes out, but it begins by degrees. We can start in a small way, in a measured way, and then, keep to those fundamentals, whatever they are, whatever we’re qualified to start, and then, continue those come hell or high water.
matra-sparsas tu kaunteya
sitosna-sukha-duhkha-dah
The only way to deal with the miseries and the changes in material life is tolerance. You have to learn tolerance. You just have to tolerate certain things. How do you tolerate? You go on with your duty. Your duty to Krishna Consciousness. You have to do it because it’s the most important aspect. We do have two sides to our life. One is called param gati, and the other one is called. It just escaped me. Anyway, they’re described by Bhakti Vinoda Thakur. One is in relationship to our material duties, the things that we have to do to maintain ourselves, and the other is our, the ultimate goal of life, the highest principle. And so these we have to balance, Bhaktivinoda Thakur says in the beginning, our duties to our body, our family, our, you know, our career, all kinds of things. They have a much heavier weight, but as we continue in our devotional practice, the weightier side will be our devotional practice.
But the two can be integrated as well. They must be. Just like today we came from Neelam and Neelesh’s house, where they bought a new house, and we had a home opening. And the theme really was that, they’ve opened there is a new temple. It’s an expansion of this, I mean, this once in Detroit, Michigan, a man came before Prabhupada, who had three kids, and at that time, in the history ISKCON, most members were brahmacaris, and senyasis. They were very few householders. If you were a householder, you were the odd man out, and he very humbly approached Prabhupada and said that, you know, all of these brahmacaris, they’re in the temple 24 hours a day serving. What can I do? I have a job. I have three kids, and Prabhupada said your house is made of brick and stone. The temple is made of brick and stone. The business in the temple, the business is for Krishna. If you’re in your house and it’s for Krishna, then, there’s no difference between the temple and your house. It’s the consciousness that matters.
So, Neela and Neelesh’s house is another base for, from which, you can go out and spread the sankirtan movement. That’s what they do. They have their job at the same time. They’re raising Dhriti.
Second Speaker: Prabhu you have a formula. SDI = LR, (Small, daily improvements makes long-term results). Could you tell us a bit more about that?
Vaisesika: Yeah, daily, if you make a little improvement, and sometimes the daily improvement is just doing it. The mind is so obstinate, and unsteady and difficult to control that you’re daily improvement might be do it anyway. You may not be able to muster an improvement, but think like that and say, that, you know, I’m going to do better today than I did before. You may be able to just say I’m going to do it no matter what, and that’s an improvement because when you do your duty in devotional service, despite the fact that you like it, or something like that, then you’ll have a breakthrough.
Second Speaker: Could you speak a little bit about how to handle ups and downs that we feel in our inspiration?
Vaisesika: Association is very important. We, there’s an old saying, old story about how in, when before people had electricity, they used to keep in their homes a fire burning in the winter, and their stove, and even for cooking before they had matches and all kinds of things. It takes a little endeavor to light a fire by yourself through tinder, and all these kinds of things, right? And so, householders generally at least keep some of the embers burning, so they could restart the fire the next day. But every once in awhile, you know, they wouldn’t attend to it, and the fire would go out. So, rather than restart the fire all over again themselves, they would go to a neighbor and ask to borrow one of the embers from their fire. And they’d give you a little fire that’s burning, and they take it, and then get the fire going.
So, there are, we have to stay connected with others who have a high degree of Krishna Consciousness, and it’s an important principle to have good association, and we can reach out to those devotees, you know, when we have, when we need encouragement. Everyone needs encouragement. The material world is an enervating plane. It’s always taking away our energy. There are many discouraging words that come from people even when you’re practicing spirituality.
Some people may try to discourage you, and say, ah, that’s not so important, why are you wasting your time? Or, many combinations of things, which may affect you, so one of the best ways to stay healthy and fortified is to connect yourself with people who will encourage you in devotional service. I have people like that in my life that when I have a conundrum, when I’m working on a particular problem, or something like that, I have God brothers that I’m close with, and I’ll call them up, or I’ll get them on Skype, and we’ll have a conversation, and I’ll say, you know, this just happened. That just happened, whatever it is, and we’ll talk about it in a deep way. And getting somebody’s else’s perspective is really important in encouragement. So, this is guhyam akhyati pricchati. Rupa Gosvami says this sharing what is in your heart with other devotees and hearing them share is what we do when we come together to sit and talk. This is guhyam akhyati pricchati I’m telling you what’s in my heart. You’re telling me, you’re responding.
We talked the other day when we sat here for Nrsimha Caturdasi, we all really enjoyed it. Everyone said it was really nice, and we sat here, how many hours? Eight hours, nine hours we sat and read Srimad Bhagavatam and discussed, and it was nice, right? It was very nice. You go away feeling fortified. And so how to keep yourself connected with this kind of encouragement, you should have people on your rolodex, not there are rolodex’s anymore, but, actually I still have one. But, yeah, you got your, on your smartphone, you know, people that you can dial up and talk to, and say, you know, this is how I’m feeling.
Someone just said this to me, and whatever it is, you know, to move through. And a community is really as these kinds of connections that we have and a facility for doing that. We’re just talking today about, how a community is really based on the love and trust that the members have among one another. That takes awhile, and, you know, to develop an actual relationship with a teacher, with peers and so on. It takes a period of time. You have to see people in different conditions of life. You know, the devotees I’m closest with, over so many years, are devotees I served with, and I saw their mettle under fire, you know, like when you’re in the military, and you battle with somebody, and you say they didn’t cower. They did their duty. They were side-by-side, and you shared these kinds of experiences, I might see them 20 years later, and we still have this bond because, you know, we’re close like that.
Community is like this too. We work together to spread Krishna business, which is just as hard as maintaining any other kind of organisation, maybe a little harder because everyone is a volunteer. He came up and said, by the way, I’m leaving, you know. And what can you say? We just lost half our department. You know, there’s a lot of things to deal with, but over time we develop these kinds of relationships, which we should. This is balanced, spiritual life where you have a way that you can communicate with a devotees in an intimate way. So, you can tell them what’s on your mind, or you can call them up and say encourage me. I want some encouragement. You encourage me, and my friends, you know, they’ll do the same thing for me, to me. They’ll call me up and say this, this, that, encourage, and I’ll say okay. You’re, you don’t know how great you are, you know, and I’m not saying it as a platitude, it’s true, but they can’t see it. We have to find our way like that, through association. We’re strong when we hold together. Prabhupada used to give this example about one stick, if one stick is there, anybody could easily break it, but you add like 10, 20 sticks together, it becomes unbreakable.
So, we have to forge our own practice by connecting with like-minded devotees, and this is recommended by Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He says one should associate with like-minded devotees who are more advanced than themselves, and the more that you can do that, the stronger you get, and that’s why Prabhupada formed a society. Otherwise, he would’ve just passed out the knowledge and let people fend for themselvesut. But he took the trouble to create this society, an International Society for Krishna Consciousness, so we could help each other, and, you know, they could coach each other, counsel each other. Be there for each other, and that’s where the strength is. It takes a village, Hillary Clinton. Yeah, you gotta have a village.
Second Speaker: Following on from that idea, it takes a village or a community, could you tell us about SENCO, your devotee care program?
Vaisesika: SENCO stands for senior contact, and it means that there are many, many people now in our community, and all of them would like to have a voice to express their needs and their concerns, and we’ve set up a system so that there are a group of senior contacts who will be reaching or allowing you to reach out to them. That’ll all be explained on Wednesday. It’ll be a choice of who you want to be connected with, so that you can channel all your good ideas and also whatever needs you have in devotional service, and if you have concerns also, you can bring those up, and we have a system we’ve devised so that everyone can feel included in the unity and have a voice and feel protected, taken care of if you have special needs then, though then SENCO will pass on the information. It’s based on complete confidentiality also if you have this relationship with a SENCO, a confidentiality contract saying that they won’t discuss any of your personal discussions with anybody else unless you allow them to do that, but it will give you an opportunity or anybody who wants to, to feel more connected, and more details will come out on Wednesday. There will also be some written material that explains the beginning stages of the whole program. We hope you like it.
Second Speaker: Yeah, that’s great. Thanks a lot for that. It sound really good to hear how, taking the time to really look after the devotees. I’ve had a wonderful time here although it’s very short, and I’m very inspired to hear about the programs happening here, and the way you speak. You speak my language, somehow, I don’t know. I can really relate to how you’re speaking, and the way you present, and I really appreciate it. Thank you. [/spoiler]
