Pravin Wakle Prabhu and his team of young Youth Forum devotees at ISKCON Chowpatty very enthusiastically distribute books after work. Pravin works at a software firm in Lower Parel. After work he and his devotee friends put up stalls at either D-mart or at some spiritual event happening around the Thane / New Mumbai area.
Here’s one of the heart-warming experiences he told us about.
***
On a Sunday we were in Juinagar distributing books near a pandal put up on the occasion of a major spiritual discourse by some well-known organization. The distribution went nicely, so around 3o'clock in the afternoon, as the program concluded, we were getting ready to leave. Just then two girls about twelve and fifteen years old happened to pass by our stall. I thought they might be interested, so I asked them, “Please look over this ‘Krsna’ book. See the color pictures? This is the best storybook, so please buy a copy.” However, since they weren’t carrying a single penny, the girls went away.
But the story doesn’t end there. Ten minutes later the twelve-year-old returned to the book table with her mother. The lady looked quite uninterested in buying the “Krsna” book, but just for her daughter’s sake she cursorily looked through it. Finally she scolded her daughter and left, dragging the girl along by the hand. The girl seemed as nervous as we were.
By now the event had been over for fifteen minutes, so we decided to leave. As we began to load our books into the van, we suddenly heard a voice: “Please give me one 'Krsna’ book.” We looked up and to our utter surprise saw the girl, but this time her hand was full of 1- 2- and 5-rupee coins. Somehow all of it came to 140 rupees, enough, by Krishna’s grace, for a “Krsna” book. We were struck with wonder. The girl had a piggybank and had emptied it just so she could buy her “Krsna” book!
For the determined, there can be no impediment to devotional service.
Sankirtan-yajna ki jaya!
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May 29th, in Florence (Italy), on the occasion of the European premiere of the documentary movie “SEED The Untold Story”, some Italian devotees farmers from ISKCON SVC met Vandana Shiva, founder of Navdanya, eminent Indian scholar, degree in quantum physics, world-renowned environmental activist, as well as winner of the prestigious Right Livelihood Award (alternative Nobel prize).
The reason for the meeting was to invite her to the 9th European Farm Conference that will be held on September 20-21-22 in Villa Vrindavana. The devotees donated her a copy of Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad Gita in Hindi and some wonderful Maha Prasada from Sri Sri Radha Vrajasundara.
Vandana Siva accepted the gifts with great enthusiasm and promised to send an intervention through a video message to show during the conference.
In the photo Vandana Shiva and us. Hare Krishna.
Your servants
Gunagrahi das
Rukmini devi dasi
Prabhupada didn’t appreciate criticism unless we had a positive correction. Otherwise it’s better to shut up.
Trivikram Swami: I heard from Prabhupada’s secretary, Upendra, that the devotees in Japan had been thrown out of the country and that our Society was in jeopardy there.
This disturbed me, as I had spent three years in Japan. I felt that the devotees there, headed by Gurukripa and Yasodanandana, were in a passionate mood to collect money.
They didn’t care about registering the Society and keeping it in good standing. In my disturbed mood I went into Prabhupada’s room. Prabhupada was alone.
I blurted out, “I knew this was going to happen.” Prabhupada looked at me as if to say, “Who is this aborigine coming into my room?”
I said, “We’re being thrown out of Japan, and we have Radha Krishna Deities there.” Prabhupada was saddened and said soberly, “I did not want this to happen. All right, you can go back.”
I was shocked. I thought, “Oh God, what have I done? I opened my mouth, and now I have to go back to Japan. I didn’t want to do that.”
That was the way Prabhupada dealt. If you had an objection or a complaint, you’d better be ready to make a solution.
You couldn’t lodge a complaint without being ready to put your neck on the line. The next day I told Prabhupada, “I am willing to go back if that’s what you want.”
Prabhupada sent me to Japan with another devotee, and we kept the center open and maintained the Deity worship. I was the pujari.
This was a good lesson. It’s easy to criticize, but Prabhupada didn’t appreciate criticism unless we had a positive correction. Otherwise it’s better to shut up.
I was deputed to drive Prabhupada from the airport to the temple, and while I drove, I adamantly talked about my experience with him in London and I asked him if I could give him massages while he was here.
There were three devotees in the back, including the GBC, who were quiet. Prabhupada was also quiet. I was the only one talking.
I heard that Prabhupada had just gone to Russia, and I said, “You were in Russia, Prabhupada?”
Prabhupada said, “Yes,” but he didn’t get into a conversation with me. He didn’t want to become my buddy and start jibber jabbering with me like an equal.
Everybody in the back laughed, because Prabhupada was clearly telling me to cool it, to shut up, and let him talk as he saw fit.
Prabhupada was saying, “Don’t pump me with questions.” Although Prabhupada was humble, he was also straightforward. He would go right to the point. He wasn’t embarrassed to be blunt and personal.
In Bombay in 1976, Srila Prabhupada had an animated discussion with a yogi. Somehow the talk came to the point of the spiritual master, and then I got into the conversation.
I said, “Yes, this is the basic point. We have to accept a spiritual master.” I thought that this man should accept Prabhupada as his spiritual master.
Prabhupada immediately picked up on it and looked at me as if to say, “Shut up, get out of this conversation, it’s over your head, don’t be lecturing to this guy.”
Prabhupada said that with his eyes. He didn’t say all those words, but I could understand that that was his purport.
The yogi was an advanced person, Prabhupada had a relationship with him, and Prabhupada didn’t want me to be telling him anything. That was a nice lesson for me.
Another time Prabhupada was talking with an important person in Bombay, when there was a lull in the conversation and I said something.
Prabhupada looked at me as if to say, “Now what are you doing?” But I quoted a verse that was appropriate to Prabhupada’s point about how we should be eager, even greedy, for Krishna consciousness.
When Prabhupada saw that I was contributing something, he immediately took it and continued his animated preaching.
So we could speak when Prabhupada was preaching, but we’d better be sure that we understood the mood he was in. Otherwise, if we changed the subject, Prabhupada could become disturbed.
A similar thing happened on a morning walk in Vrindavan in 1974. Prabhupada had been speaking, and I said, “This reminds me of a teacher that I had when I was in the university, Srila Prabhupada.”
Prabhupada looked at me with a look that said, “This better be a good story.”
Prabhupada and everybody else stopped walking, and I told the story of my big philosophy teacher who changed his philosophy when he became sick.
Prabhupada had been sick at the time, and when I said that, Prabhupada laughed. He said, “We are not changing our philosophy because we become sick.”
He appreciated my story, but when I said things that were inappropriate, Prabhupada wouldn’t hesitate to chastise me.
In the last days, when Prabhupada was confined to his bed, I said something inappropriate, and Prabhupada showed displeasure.
Prabhupada was talking about the doctor that was coming from Calcutta and was asking his secretary, Tamal Krishna Maharaj, questions.
At the end of that, Prabhupada changed the subject. He said, “So has he left yet?” I thought that Prabhupada was talking about the doctor, so I said, “Yes, he’s already left.”
The whole room was quiet. Prabhupada looked at me and said, “Who do you think I meant?” I started backpedaling. I said, “I guess I was speculating, Prabhupada.”
Prabhupada said, “Who do you think I meant?” He wouldn’t let me off. He kept pushing, and I said, “I was talking about the doctor.”
Prabhupada didn’t say anything but turned on his bed and gave me a cold shoulder. It went right to my heart.
Prabhupada didn’t say a word, but with a slight gesture I felt, “Oh, boy, what have I done? I’ve disturbed the spiritual master in these days when he is not well.”
Then Tamal Krishna Maharaj said, “Who were you referring to, Srila Prabhupada?”
Prabhupada said, “My son,” because his son had been in Vrindavan and was due to leave. Then they started talking in that way.
To me, Prabhupada’s most striking quality was his ability to encourage everyone. He didn’t flatter, but somehow he’d get people to sacrifice for Krishna, to sacrifice for their own good, for spiritual life.
Prabhupada was expert at seeing a little good quality and fanning it to make it grow. This wonderful ability was the most extraordinary thing about Prabhupada.
The first impression that Prabhupada gave was that “He sees the best in me,” and this attracted so many people.
Later on, of course, he may correct you, but that was out of love. You always had the feeling that Prabhupada was your well-wisher.
A teacher, an ordinary person, even parents, might be a little envious or have some motive, but not Prabhupada.
His compassion was his most impressive qualification. And it is still present. And we need it. Without his mercy, what is our position?
—Trivikram Swami
The unseen merciful hand of Lord Krsna helps a determined young science student become one of Srila Prabhupada’s first Indian disciples.
I was born in Aravade, a small village in the Indian state of Maharashtra that differs little from more than seven hundred thousand others in India. After I graduated from high school, my family sent me to Bombay to study chemistry in college. But my college career was not to be.
In the year 1971, in late March, something happened to prevent me from following the program my l family had so carefully laid out for me. For the first time, His Divine by Lokanatha Swami Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada was touring India with his foreign disciples. They had arrived in Bombay just before I had, and now they were going to have a pandal (a spiritual festival) at Cross Maidan.
The devotees publicized the pandal very widely, in newspapers and on billboards. In the advertisements, Srila Prabhupada’s disciples were described as American, Canadian, European, African, and Japanese sadhus (saintly devotees). This was unprecedented. Previously, whenever the word sadhu had been applied to someone, it was understood that the person was Indian. There could be no other consideration. But these advertisements were talking about sadhus from all over the world. This was indeed a novelty for every Bombayite, and it especially fascinated me.
Intrigued, I went to the Hare Krsna Festival, which was quite well organized. The Hare Krsna sadhus were the biggest attraction for me. I appreciated their singing, dancing, walking, and talking. In fact, I liked everything about them, and I attended the function practically every evening. I would simply watch and listen. Though I knew English , I wasn’t fluent, and speaking with foreigners was too difficult for me. I purchased a few magazines and a few booklets with the little money I had.
Srila Prabhupada spoke every evening. He discussed many issues relating to Krsna consciousness and made many points. But the point that had the greatest impact on me, and which attracted me to him and his society more than anything else, was the simple point that if you serve Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead , you simultaneously serve everyone and everything else. Srila Prabhupada gave the analogy of what happens when one waters a tree. Just by pouring water on the root of a tree, one automatically waters all the leaves, branches, fruits, and flowers on the tree.
Srila Prabhupada had simplified my job. “Here is my chance,” I thought. I had always wanted to serve others, and thus at different stages in my life I had contemplated becoming an engineer or a doctor or a lawyer. When ever I thought of my future, I would think of how I could serve others. Yet although throughout all these years I had mainly thought of service, I didn’t know where to begin, and I had practically no resources in my possession . But now Srila Prabhupada had cleared my path by showing the easy way of serving the whole creation through the simple medium of serving the Lord, the source of all that be. This idea greatly appealed to me.
As scheduled, the Hare Krsna Festival ended after eleven days, and everything went back to normal.
I continued going to college in Bombay. I shared a room with some people from my village, whom my family had asked to keep an eye on me. Once, seaveral years before, I had left my studies and gone to join an asrama in a town nearby my village. I had almost made it to the asrama, but the unseen merciful hand of the Lord brought me back so that later I could join Srila Prabhupada instead.
After this incident, my family had anticipated my going away somewhere, sometime, and that is why they asked the villagers to watch over me. But how much could they watch me? I had gone to the Hare Krsna function practically every evening, and no one had noticed that. I would keep Hare Krsna magazines and booklets inside my big fat chemistry books and read them for hours. My roommates would marvel at how seriously I was studying chemistry. They couldn’t detect that instead of absorbing myself in analyzing chemical solutions, I was probing into the ultimate solution to the problems of life.
Whenever my roommates went out, I would bolt the door and, with my arms raised, chant Hare Krsna and dance to my full satisfaction. Having seen the devotees chanting and dancing on stage at the festival, I was trying to imitate them. Thus, in hiding, I was following the process of Krsna consciousness: chanting, dancing, and reading over and over again the few pieces of literature I had.
I knew that the Hare Krishna devotees were living somewhere in Bombay, but after the function their small group had merged into the big city, and I was deprived of their association.
One year passed.
Then, in March 1972, ISKCON organized another festival, this time at Juhu Beach. During the course of the year, the devotees had purchased some land at Juhu, and the function was going to be held right on their premises. Once again, advertisements appeared in the newspapers and in other media, and news of the festival reached me by the causeless mercy of the Lord. I had been waiting for this news, and I was extremely happy to receive it.
Naturally, I attended the programs. I would go long before they began, borrow books, and read them. During the chanting I would join in wholeheartedly. The foreign devotees, in Indian dhotis and kurtiis , and the Indian student, in imported trousers and shirt, would dance together.
Occasionally, during prasadam time, when I happened to be near the gate, the devotees would invite me to come and take prasadam with them. I was eager to observe their life closely, so I would t ake advan tage of the opportunity and join them. They were all nice devotees. On top of that, they were all foreigners, and I was duly impressed.
A few days after the festival at Juhu ended, I sat down and composed an application for membership in ISKCON (the International Society for Krsna Consciousness). I had decided to join the devotees, and to join any organization, I thought, one needed to fill out an application. I addressed my application to the president of ISKCON, Bombay. I wrote that I agreed to follow the four regulative principles- no meat-eating, no intoxication, no illicit sex, and no gambling. I also stated that I liked their dazzling dratis, ecstatic kirtanas, and sumptuous prasadam. (I had picked up all these terms from their publicity handouts.) I went to a typing institute and had the application typed out. ISKCON was an international society, so I thought everything had to be formalized and just right.
Then I went to the Hare Krsna asrama at Juhu and asked who the president was. It wasn’t difficult to get to see him. His name was Giriraja dasa. He went through my letter-application, and on the spot he accepted me and embraced me. Not only that: he welcomed me in and immediately introduced me to all the asrama inmates as a n ew devotee.
I quickly adjusted to my new lifestyle. I had a new home, a new uniform, new associates, a new program- almost everything was new to me. Nonetheless, I immediately embraced all of it and liked it. Although the devotees were mostly foreigners, I felt completely at home. I was determined to make this my life’s commitment.
One week passed quickly. Then my elder brother arrived at the temple with one of my old roommates. Among the things I had left in my room was a handbill with the Hare Krsna address at Juhu on it. That’s how they’d found me. It was no big surprise to them that I’d joined the devotees. They had been expecting something like this for some time, and now all they had feared had come to pass.
My brother wanted me to visit my family, especially for the sake of my mother. If I wouldn’t go she might die, he said. But he assured me my family had no objection to my returning after the visit. I had always respected my brother, and here he was practically begging me to return home, saying that it was a matter of life and death for my affectionate mother and that I could return soon. Finally, I asked permission from Giriraja and left, wearing my new uniform of dhoti and kurta.
After I a rrived in my village, people began saying that though I used to be such a nice boy, now something had gone wrong with me. The difference was that I was wearing a dhotf and kurta, chanting Hare Krsna, and avoiding the association of non devotees. The townspeople considered all these things strange and abnormal.
My father requested me not to wear my new clothes and not to put on tilaka, even though he wore clothes similar to mine and occasionally wore tilaka himself. He was a devotee of Lord Vitthala, a form of Lord Visnu, or Krsna, and devotees of Lord Vittala apply tilaka in a way similar to that of the Hare Krsna devotees. On special occasions my father would put on his tilaka, but he didn’t want me to imitate him, because he was worried about what people would think. (If such is the reaction of Indian parents, I can hardly imagine the reaction of parents of devotees in other lands).
Thus my parents tried everything in their power to dissuade me from returning to the Hare Krsna devotees. They even went to astrologers to learn some way to “cure” me or to find out how long I would continue living this “strange type of life.” They were really concerned.
More than a week passed, yet no plans were made for my return to the devotees, as per the original agreement between my brother and me. My parents kept telling me that some relative or other still had to come see me and that it wouldn’t be proper for me to leave without meeting him. My family planned to enlist the relatives as agents to somehow or other talk me out of this sildhu business. My parents tried everything on me, but my mind was fixed on going back to the Hare Krsna devotees.
One day I saw my sister shedding tears. When someone asked her what was wrong, she replied, “Just see how in our house all the other boys are nicely engaged in playing cards, but my brother Raghunatha isn’t sitting with them.” Such was the cause of her tears. She was feeling sorry that I wasn’t playing cards with the other boys but was instead busy chanting the holy names of God on my beads.
When my family all realized I wouldn’t give up the life I had embraced, they came up with the proposal that I could continue the life of a sadhu but that I should do it in our village. They promised to build a small temple so I could do my devotional practices there. I rejected this idea, too, however, because I wanted to associate with the devotees. There is no question of leading a spiritual life without proper association, without the association of devotees who are practicing Krsna consciousness full time. I didn’t want to be just another bogus sadhu. India was already over· crowded and overburdened with them. I wanted to engage in the service of Krsna in the Hare Krsna movement. Srlia Prabhupada had already cleared my path. He had given me my life’s mission, and I was fully satisfied once and for all with that.
I had sold my heart to Srila Prabhupada and Lord Krsna. So, finally, my family accepted the inevitable. I returned to Bombay after about a month and moved had sold my heart to Srila Prabhupada and Lord Krsna. So, finally, my family accepted the inevitable. I returned to Bombay after about a month and moved back into the asrama. Since I had stayed in my village quite a long time, I wasn’t sure how Giriraja and the other devotees would react to my return. When they saw me, however, I was surprised to find myself most welcome, just as before-and they were surprised to see me back in their midst. Their experience had been that many Indian devotees had come and gone, promising to return soon, but hardly any had actually returned. Thus they were surprised and pleased to see me. By the causeless mercy of my spiritual master, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, and Lord Sri Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, my return to the devotees became possible.
POSTSCRIPT
Although it may appear that my joining ISKCON disrupted my family’s life and caused a disturbance in my small village, these negative effects were only temporary. In the years since I joined ISKCON, I and many other devotees have often visited Aravade and taught the principles of Knna consciousness, and now my familyand my whole village-embrace ISKCON as a genuine religious movement. There are seven fulltime devotees from there, my sister has enrolled her son into the ISKCON gurukula school in Vrndavana, and whenever I see my father he asks me for tilaka and proudly decorates his forehead with it. Also, my family and many other families in Aravade regularly chant Hare Krsna on beads. All in all, my whole village loves the Hare Krsna movement, and there is no disruption of any kind.
Vijaya das: This festival attracts 60,000 people every year. It lasts six days, and people mostly just camp out the whole time, as we did. Ajita Prabhu (the president of New Govardhana) and his team of seventeen devotees were there to feed prasadam to the masses. They distributed thousands of plates of prasadam, and the people loved it.
Ajita arranged for a book booth right next to Govinda’s, our prasadam tent. I distributed from a table in this booth. The people were really receptive. The first day I spoke to a family consisting of a husband, his wife, and their ten-year-old son. The man was interested, and then I heard from the son: “I know the Bhagavad-gita. I’ve read all the translations to the verses, and now I’m going back to read the purports.” I was of course surprised and happy to hear of this young lad’s attraction to Krsna, so I gave him my e-mail address in case he had any questions. Then his father, seeing his son so impressed by the Gita, got one for himself, .
An hour later I again spoke to a father and son. I could see that the father was not into the book (he just wanted to go) but that the son was showing interest. So I gave my attention to him, and when I asked for a donation he said to his father: “I would like to read this. Can you get it for me?” The father then very reluctantly gave a donation, and the fortunate boy got the mercy.
Later I spoke to a man who was interested, but suddenly a lady came and grabbed his arm. As he was being dragged away he asked me to tell him more. I said, “How are you going to listen if she keeps dragging you away?” At that he yanked his arm away from her, and I told him some more about the book. Then he said, “But it’s so big, and I would have to carry the book around all day.” Then a man inside the booth said to him, “The benefit you will derive from reading the /Bhagavad-gita/ is much, much greater than the little inconvenience you’ll experience from carrying around such a storehouse of wisdom.” Upon hearing that, he decided to take it. I then thanked the man who provided the encouraging words. I learned that he’s a long-time friend of the movement.
Later a man came to the table and, before I could say a word, gave a nice donation for the /Bhagavad-gita/. He then went on to tell me that he’s a Christian minister and that he quite often uses the teachings of the /Gita/ in his sermons.
An hour later another Christian came by, one I’d spoken to earlier. He said he had some doubts about Christianity, such as how a merciful God could cast sinners into hell to burn forever. I said to him, “God is the most kind person and would never force anyone to suffer eternally, even if he’d committed the greatest sin. He may arrange for punishment, but He’ll always give the sinner another chance.” Then I explained about reincarnation and that this is how He gives us another chance. He said this made sense and took a /Bhagavad-gita/.
It was sooo nice to be out on book distribution again. What a breath of fresh air!
Your Servant,
Vijaya das
Dear devotees everywhere: This evening we begin a 2 1/2 month summer festival tour. Myself and a team of 300 devotees will hold a festival every day of the week, except Mondays, from now until the beginning of September. It means over 50 festival programs, including the great Woodstock festival in early July where just under a million people are expected. We are beginning here in Moldova and moving to the Baltic Sea Coast in Poland next week. This is a herculean task and we beg your blessings, along with the blessings of Srila Prabhupada and Lord Caitanya, to be successful. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers that we may touch the hearts of literally hundreds of thousands of conditioned souls in the weeks and months ahead. Thank you! All glories to Sri Krsna Sankirtan!
Ananda Vrindavana Devi Dasi: I pushed through the crowd to hold the rope for a few moments. We were in New York, on 5th Avenue, and the 3 large carts of the Ratha Yatra festival – an annual parade held in cities all over the world – were being pulled.
I held the rope and made my prayer – ‘Krishna, as I pull you to Vrindavan (Ratha Yatra symbolizes Krishna’s return to his home, Vrindavan), please pull me back to the spiritual world, back to loving you with full heart.’
As I released the rope and moved away I stumbled. ‘Watch your step’ were the words I heard. Yes, I can pull you, Krishna acknowledged, but you also have to be pull-able because I do not force. I am not that kind of God, and not interested in that kind of love.
I need to be pulled as I am, in truth, a reluctant pilgrim on this path. The glitter of the world interests me, the promises of happiness in ordinary affairs allures me, and my tendency to self reliance instead of trust in great teachers and teachings slows me down.
Watch your step is a message for more than my feet. ‘Watch your step’ tells me to be careful with my spiritual practices, but more than that, to be careful the way I live. ‘Watch your step’ on how I move, how I eat, where I go, who I know. As we make our way out of this world, out of the restricting and ultimately diminishing bodily concept of life, how we live can help or hinder that.
Life is a journey from birth to death, and we are moved along by time. Where we walk on this journey is where we will end up. As the poet Robert Frost says – ‘Two roads diverged in a wood, and I – I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.’ Attempting self-realization is the road less travelled. It’s the best road to be on, but not without its challenges. Watch your step Krishna reminded me in New York. He want’s me to make it. I do too.
Our article “Thoughts from the Astrology Tent” (Dandavats, Aug.21, ’09) generated much interest from Dandavats readers, and we received a number of inquiries that ranged from Krishna conscious astrology to the first Woodstock Festival in NY. However, in that article I mentioned that in 1969 “I was one of three devotees at the first Woodstock”. But no, there were four shaved-up brahmacharis in dhotis (and a number of future devotees, as I have since learned). My memory has been jogged by a recent reading of our Godbrother Shriman Bhurijana das Prabhu’s wonderful book My Glorious Master.
Yours truly was the only devotee from the New York Hare Krishna Temple, but the entire Chapel Hill, N.C. ISKCON crew, numbering three, as seen below, hitch hiked the six hundred miles up to Woodstock, NY to spread the message of sankirtan. The following passage from Shriman Bhurijana das’ book sets to rest the issue concerning which devotees were there preaching at Woodstock in 1969. It is taken from part 8 of Chapter Four (“Buffalo to Chapel Hill, 1968-69”). Here then is Bhurijana Prabhu’s…
“Adventure at Woodstock”
Tosana Krishna, Vrndavana Chandra (who had recently come to assist us), and I heard about Woodstock, the upcoming giant music festival and decided to attend and preach. We hitchhiked from North Carolina to New York City and then on to Woodstock. We had no idea what to expect when we arrived.
Tens of thousands of young and hip citizens of East Coast America had converged on Woodstock’s barren farm fields. Although tickets were sold for the event, no one was prepared for the size of the turnout. The promoters gave up demanding payment or checking tickets. They were moved by the spirit of the ‘60s and they opened the gates to all. Throngs of young men and women channeled through and became part of the “happening.” This was the event and they were part of it. Countless gaily dressed hippie pilgrims milled around and danced, or sat absorbed in the intoxications of the moment and the music from the main stage.
They had traveled on Kali’s call to Woodstock. Their mood was accepting, so they accepted us with our shaved heads and Indian dress. We held kirtana in the evenings and many joined in the chanting. During the day, we handed out incense and peacock feathers and asked for donations. We also looked for opportunities to preach.
One evening I attempted to chant on the main stage by disguising myself as a follower of Swami Satchidananda, the bearded and trendy Uptown New York hatha-yoga guru. As he and his followers marched up the ramparts to the stage, I followed behind waving my bundle of peacock feathers up and down, looking like the final member of their entourage. But my attempt was foiled at the last moment by a yoga student, and I was ordered off the stage. (Years later, I met Swami Satcidananda in Hong Kong and he showed a movie of his exploits in the West. The screen filled with a shot of the Swami and his students walking onto the Woodstock stage. Behind his head, I could clearly see my bundle of peacock feathers waving up and down. “Hey, that’s me,” I proudly told him.)
We were determined to chant Hare Krishna onstage. On the final evening, we were given permission to chant side-stage at the “Hog Farm.” The weather was threatening and it was already dark. The rock group’s electric guitars were screaming out heavy metallic blues notes. The lead singer called to the crowds, “You are moving the sun! You are moving the moon!” The blues notes bent, the bass guitars thumped, the drums thundered, and the crowds went wild in the dimly lit, cloud-covered night. Dancing with abandon, eyes turned upward, with and without partners, the audience clapped and approved of the band’s reminder that mankind is God.
We were the next act. In that moment of demonic insanity, we walked onstage with karatalas and our simple message. “Chant Hare Krishna and be happy. We’d like you all to chant with us.” Our chant began and a few from the audience joined in.
Suddenly, we heard loud, antagonistic cries, “Shut up! Stop chanting!” The fever of the protests increased but we kept chanting. “Shut up! Stop that chanting! Rock is our soul!” We heard and recognized the black leather jackets of the “Mother-F______,” a New York City motorcycle gang, as the leaders of the dissent. We kept chanting and they stepped up their protest. We chanted faster. We saw gang members standing up and moving toward the stage. “How can we stop chanting,” I wondered, “but how can we continue?”
“Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare,” we chanted into the microphone. Our eyes scanned the dark toward the crowd; our ears weighed the sound of responding chanters against the calls of angry protesters. Suddenly, just as the tension began to peak, the electrical generator exploded and the power was cut off. Darkness fell like a stage curtain. Our act was over.
That night a heavy rain fell, halving the Woodstock fever. The crowds were drenched and the festival began to wind down. We three tired, aspiring servants of Prabhupada, happy, but sick from the damp, began our return journey to New York City late the following morning.
Part of our gain from our weekend’s preaching was a trunk full of small coins. When we arrived at our 61 Second Avenue temple in New York, we discovered that we had collected almost $600! ISKCON was poor in those days and we were astounded at the huge size of our three-day collection. We decided to send part of the collection to Prabhupada.
Our letter offering Prabhupada $200 was sincere, but not in touch with the actual worth of $200. It began with flowery pomp: “My dear Shrila Prabhupada, Please accept our humble obeisances and this donation of $200 for your book fund. Please use this money to publish The Nectar of Devotion and thus save all the university students throughout the land.”
Prabhupada, as his reply showed, accepted the spirit of our donation and overlooked its amount:
My Dear Bhurijana, Tosana Krishna and Vrindavana Chandra,
Please accept my blessings. I beg to thank you for your sending me the check for $200 for my book fund, and I think of it as a big contribution of $2,000,000. I have come to your country to carry out the wishes of my spiritual master, and you are kindly cooperating with me. Certainly Krishna will be pleased to bless you with all spiritual benediction.
I shall be glad to hear from you about your other progress in the matter of Sankirtana Party and selling BTGs. That is our main strength for preaching work. Thank you very much.
Your ever well-wisher,
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
If we had thought more carefully, we would have distributed Back to Godhead magazines at Woodstock rather than only incense and peacock feathers. Back to Godhead distribution was becoming the backbone of Prabhupada’s preaching formula.
-From My Glorious Master by Bhurijana das Adhikary
My Glorious Master is an excellent and well written history of an era of Krishna consciousness that would be lost to memory except for the few rare and valuable accounts scribed by far-sighted devotee-writers like Bhurijana. The author’s literary skill captures the reader’s interest in such a way that his journey into spirit is not only shared, but the reader becomes gradually Krishna-ized through the association. The book is rightly titled, for what greater glory can there be for a genuine spiritual master, than the absolute surrender of a sincere disciple? Therefore My Glorious Master is more than a great ride of spirited progress into devotional service. Indeed the author’s various guru-sevas—from driving a cab to laying bricks—represent “association in separation” with the glorious master at the highest level. As the author’s faith in his glorious master becomes strengthened, so does the reader’s.
Through exciting narrations, the author’s connection to His Divine Grace AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada becomes our connection to the parampara. After all, Krishna consciousness is contagious. Shrila Prabhupada often instructed us that association with the spiritual master through vani, or carrying out his orders, is higher than direct physical or vapu association. In My Glorious Master we share the author’s devotion in both separation and personal association, thereby advancing our own attempts at loving service. Every devotee who reads My Glorious Master will gain new insights into his own bhakti through the pages of this spiritual voyage. And this is a very important journey indeed. Throughout scripture it is declared that there can be no link to the Supreme Lord without the blessings of a bona fide spiritual master appearing in the disciplic succession that leads back to Him.
My Glorious Master is available on the Vedabase under sec. 22 “Biographies and Glorifications of Shrila Prabhupada” (2003 edition).
Devotees interested in communicating with me on the above topics are encouraged to write to me at dhimanakrishna@yahoo.com.
-Patita Pavana das Adhikary
Mithuna Twiins Astrological Services
After years of planning for its 50th anniversary, and nearly six months of celebrations this year so far, ISKCON is now gearing up for its Golden Jubilee Incorporation Day on July 13th, 1966. And temples, centers, and individual devotees all over the world are getting ready to do something big for founder Srila Prabhupada, whom many feel they owe their lives to.
After braving thirty-five days at sea on the Jaladuta steamship and two heart-attacks to bring his message of devotion to the Western World, Prabhupada arrived in New York City on September 19th, 1965 with only seven dollars and a few boxes of books to his name. By the next spring, he had initiated the legal work to establish an “International Society for Krishna Consciousness,” while still living in the Bowery.
Early followers in his small storefront at 26 2nd Avenue helped him complete his legal documents, which revealed his seven purposes of ISKCON for the first time. On July 11th, 1966 he signed the papers, and on July 13th, he received a certificate showing that ISKCON had been officially incorporated.
“It was from this day, that Srila Prabhupada started a revolution that succeeded in transforming the hearts and minds of millions of people all over the world,” says ISKCON 50’s International Cordinator Romapada Das. “It was on this day that Prabhupada revealed his mission in the service of Lord Chaitanya for the first time. Temples all over the world should plan something that glorifies this exemplary and compassionate vision of Srila Prabhupada in their local communities within and outside ISKCON.”
Romapada suggests a host of different special things temples can do on Incorporation Day or any day during Incorporation Week (July 11th to 17th).
During their morning programs, devotees can sing the songs ‘Markine Bhagavad-dharma’ and ‘Prayers to the Lotus feet of Krishna,’ which Srila Prabhupada wrote aboard the Jaladuta. They can also give classes about Srila Prabhupada, with readings from the Prabhupada-Lilamrita about how he incorporated ISKCON.
Either after class or in the evening, they can hold a “Gratitude Program,” during which they can make Vyasa-puja style ‘offerings’ to Srila Prabhupada; read from his Jaladuta Diary and New York Journal to appreciate the struggles he went through; stage the play “Swami at Sea,” which is available for download at iskcon50.org; distribute the ISKCON 50 magazine; and display ISKCON 50 Expo panels showcasing ISKCON’s achievements over the last fifty years.
Before or after the Gratitude Program, devotees could also hold a maha-harinama chanting procession that culminates in a park or public place, reminiscent of Prabhupada’s first Tompkins Square Park Harinamas. Or they could hold six, twelve or twenty-four-hour kirtans, during which they sing many of Prabhupada’s favorite bhajans.
While these are guidelines, devotees can get creative on the day, week or even months surrounding Incorporation Day – there’s no hard and fast rules for what to do or when to do it.
ISKCON Moscow, for instance, is celebrating its Incorporation Week in June with a Vaishnavi Festival, during which female Prabhupada disciples will give seminars on Deity worship, cooking, developing one’s relationship with Prabhupada and more. The 45th anniversary of Srila Prabhupada’s visit to Moscow will also be celebrated, with key disciples telling stories of the early pioneering days.
On Incorporation Day itself, devotees in Guyana will open their first ever temple in their capital Georgetown with a huge five-day festival. Elsewhere in July, devotees in Durban, South Africa will perform kirtan and distribute prasadam to over 50,000 people at public trek Walk the City. And in Mauritius, the Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation will feature a special discussion about ISKCON’s 50th anniversary.
Meanwhile the World Holy Name Week will shift from its usual October spot to July and August this year. It will culminate in grand harinama processions all over the world to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first public harinama in the Western World – led by Prabhupada on August 14th, 1966 from 26 2nd Avenue to Washington Square Park in New York.
Of course, the ISKCON 50 celebrations will continue on past Incorporation Day and its surrounding months.
Some of the biggest plans later in the year include completing 50 Padayatras (foot pilgrimages) worldwide; 50 Hare Krishna festivals in the UK; and major VIP events in Cape Town, South Africa, Washington D.C., USA, and Delhi, India – the latter of which is expecting an audience of 50,000.
There will be major melas for youth and older second generation devotees too in New Vrindaban, West Virginia; Leicester, UK; and Johannesburg, South Africa. The New Vrindaban one, held this weekend, will explore the themes of celebrating family and building community; the UK one from September 1st to 4th will empower youth and connect them with Srila Prabhupada; and the Johannesburg one will also focus on community-building and kirtan.
And in Weisbaden, Germany on September 20th an Interfaith Summit will see delegates from different faith communities learning about Srila Prabhupada.
ISKCON 50 Coordinator Romapada Das encourages devotees everywhere to organize similar events in their area, or get other ideas for 50th anniversary celebrations at http://iskcon50.org/ideas-for-50th/. Resources for your events are also available at http://iskcon50.org, including posters, logos, banners, video clips, Powerpoint presentations, and scripts for plays.
“With all these events, we want to educate people about ISKCON and its Founder Acharya, and their remarkable achievements in the last fifty years,” says Romapada. “We also want to celebrate the fifty years of ISKCON in a befitting manner. And we want to appreciate all those dedicated devotees who have contributed their entire lives in the service of Prabhupada by spreading the sankirtana movement to every town and village to fulfill the prediction of Lord Chaitanya.”
Source:http://iskconnews.org/iskcon-gears-up-for-incorporation-day,5633/
Three 40-foot high, colorfully-decorated Rathayatra carts hand-pulled by devotees and surrounded by thousands of chanting and dancing people —rolled down New York’s 5th Avenue June 11 to kickoff a national celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness better known as the Hare Krishna Movement.
The Rathayatra parade began at 12 P.M. at West 45th Street and 5th Avenue, and ended at Washington Square Park where it joined the “Hare Krishna Festival” for an afternoon of free vegetarian food; stage performances of classical Bharatanatyam dance; a one hour dramatic rendition of the Ramayana performed by an theater troupe from the England; and multiple booths about reincarnation, meditation, and yoga.
ISKCON’s founder Bhaktivedanta Swami, first came to New York City from India in September, 1965 to spread the teachings of Lord Krishna to the western world. “It’s very special for us to kick off the 50th Anniversary of ISKCON where he began right here in New York,” said Amrita Hari, spokeswoman for the Krishna society.
Bhaktivedanta Swami affectionately known as Srila Prabhupada, arrived alone in New York City at the age of 70 to fulfill his guru’s order to spread Vaishnava teachings to the English- speaking world. Prabhupada arrived in America with just $7 and several trunks of his translations and commentaries on ancient Sanskrit texts, the Bhagavata Purana.
After struggling for almost a year, the Swami attracted a core of followers among young American spiritual seekers of the 1960’s, and on July 13, 1966 he incorporated his fledgling community as the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.
Despite its humble beginnings, over the past 50 years ISKCON has grown to a global community of over 600 temples, 110 vegetarian restaurants, and 65 farms and eco villages. The affiliated Bhaktivedanta Book Trust has sold 516 million books and magazines on Krishna consciousness, and Hare Krishna Food Relief programs feed a free vegetarian lunch to 1.2 million school children each day in India through its mid-day meals program in affiliation with the Indian government.
Celebrations later this year will include dozens of Rathayatra parades in cities worldwide including Washington, DC, Los Angeles, London, and Paris, and gala events at the Sydney Opera House, Washington, DC, and other major venues. In addition, an ISKCON sannyasi is walking across the United States to spread Lord Krishna’s message of devotion and the Bhagavadgita.
Source: http://www.newsindiatimes.com/nycs-5th-avenue-parade-launches-iskcons-50th-anniversary
Schedule of Events: Groundbreaking Ceremony 10 am
Cultural Dance and Music, Kirtan 11 am
Sumptuous Lunch Free for the Public 12 pm
When: Sunday July 10, 2016 from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM MDT
Where: SLC Krishna Temple
965 East 3370 South
Salt Lake City, UT 84601
Nowadays the great innovations of medical and scientific science can maintain patients alive, even those that in the past were given no hope to survive. These innovations can prolong the patient’s existence artificially even knowing that they will never regain acceptable health and life conditions. This situation is commonly called over-medication. The definition of cerebral death, since the end of the sixties has allowed for the development of transplant surgery. Before that time, the extraction of organs from a patient with a heartbeat was deemed a felony. Among this scientific and social debate there are ever more crucial questions. Up to which point is it right to keep alive a body that is worn out and unable to grant a minimum of dignity to the psycho-physical entity called person? What is the line that marks the decisive boundary between the unavoidable medical assistance and the over-medication?
The recent story of Eluana Englaro and other similar stories such as those of Piergiorgio Welby and Terry Schiavo, made the whole world think by highlighting the urgency of a serious thinking.
The incomparable value of freedom and of the sacredness and dignity of life and respect to all creatures should be a common patrimony in every social body regardless of its scientific or individual religious orientation. This should be true not only toward human beings but also toward every living being. Life must be protected in each of its manifestation. In the complex human, social and scientific context, it is becoming ever more important and urgent to offer information and teaching on the process of dying and also on the post-mortem phenomena in accordance to medical-scientific prospective but also in accordance to spiritual, humanistic and existential prospective. It should be done by sensibly operating with sincerity so that each person can build, without intrusion or cultural prejudices a clear vision of his will and give and explicit and clear indication through a biological testament and other useful instruments that society indicates and uses for this purpose. We can have better opportunities to self-determine our present and our future if we open ourselves to a deeper comprehension of the death phenomena by taking a distance from various taboos and from the many things removed by the collective imagination that usually hamper a mature elaboration. In fact, only by growing in consciousness we can grow in responsibility and freedom.
For this purpose who is writing has been personally taking care of those so called “incurable” patients and of those medical personnel involved with the taking care and assistance of these patients. He does this by offering instruments of reflection based on the sociological, psychological, philosophical and spiritual Hindu-Vedic tradition. This tradition can significantly extend our perception and conception of the individual and of the death event. We can understand how to extend our perception, through a continuous string of considerations intimately connected among each other and we can also find them in the text: Psychology of the cycle of life – Experience beyond birth and death” (edizioni Centro Studi Bhaktivedante www.c-s-b.org). Let’s not only wonder what to do with the organs of a body that has reached the end of this life. Let’s also think of the future of that person that lived in it and that in accordance with the Hindu-Vedic prospective will continue his existence even after he has left that physical body. How can we help that person still imprisoned in that suit that is now worn-out? How can we stimulate him to prepare himself to abandon it? How can we orient the evolutionary journey that will begin after his clinical death is confirmed?
The answer to these questions is important not only for those that work in the medical field but also for every individual. Welcome, assistance and accompanying are three key concepts in this area.
The meaning of welcoming is meeting the other person, opening not only our arms but also our heart and our mind. The meaning of assisting is intervening with sensitiveness by becoming emphatic and listening to the modalities and the needs of others. The meaning of accompanying is being by the side of a person, without preceding him, but staying almost behind him, being a humble and affectionate person and stimulate him to proceed. Accompanying means staying sensibly alongside and helping him to reach his destination by providing warmth, goodness, empathy, compassion and mercy.
The Hindu-Vedic tradition doesn’t use psychotherapeutic techniques, but offers teachings toward the development of a cosmic vision of life, man and the world that doesn’t concentrate on the resolution of psychological discomfort but on the elevation of a global consciousness. This allows those who apply it to re-discover the entirety of their nature on the bio-physical-spiritual level and express all of their most noble potentialities and aspirations by facing even death in an inner-peace state.
Why does death exist? Who or what dies? How can we prepare ourselves? What does dying consists of? How can we assist a terminally ill person? How can we interact with his family and with medical personnel? By asking ourselves these questions we can reach surprising intuitions, sometimes they make us feel beyond the changing flow of this shining and deceiving world (Veda define it maya which means illusory).
The first question to ask ourselves is: when the objective cure-doctor-medication is no longer reachable, what can we do to take care of the person? Can we transform a traumatic even such as death into an evolutionary experience? The answer is Yes!
The phenomena of death is usually lived as the end of everything, dissolution, disappearance, with tonalities that go from resigned to dramatic all the way to desperate. However, according to the Hindu-Vedic philosophical-spiritual tradition death doesn’t exist as an entity, but only as a concept or a moment of transaction from a segment of life to another. Through a consciousness journey, every human being can learn to “live” it by perceiving that his identity is different from the one of the body and discovering in front of him a new phase of his eternal existence to be projected constructively.
Bhagavad-Gita (II.20) says: “The living being is not born, nor will die. He is eternal. He doesn’t die when the body is destroyed. Tagore writes: we walk when we lift our foot just as much as when we put it down. Like daybreak prepares the new day that will later reaches the sunset, the sunset, through the night, will lead to a new daybreak. Life goes on incessantly and if we understand its evolutionary sense and finally its arcane transcendental meaning, we can overcome even the greatest fear, the fear of death and realize the immortality of our essence, and give a new hope to the deep aspirations of every living being toward authentic freedom and happiness, beyond the limits of space and time.
Readings
Renate Greinert, Cerebral Death and Donation of the Organs, the doubts and inquires of a mother that has donated her son’s organs. Macro Editions 2009.
Bhima the mighty warrior of the Pandava dynasty requested one vrata day by which he could obtain the fruits of all the other days of vrata that he was incapable of observing. Vyasadeva advised him to follow this difficult vrata.
PADMA PURANA – Vyasadeva speaking to Bhimasena:
“Oh son, Lord Keshava, Who holds the club, disk, conch and lotus flower in His hand, personally told me that all of the merit achieved by fasting on whatever Ekadasis fall in one year can be attained by fasting on this one Ekadasi (Nirjala Ekadasi). Of this, there is no doubt.”
Giriraj Swami: Ekadasi is one of the regular celebrations in the Vaisnava calendar. It is observed eleven days after the full moon and eleven days after the new moon of every month. Even in the thirteenth, or leap month, called adhi-masa or purusottama-masa, which comes every three years, during which no other festivals are celebrated, Ekadasi is observed. Ekadasi is known as “the day of Lord Hari” and is said to be “the mother of devotion.” Of the sixty-four items of devotional service listed in Srila Rupa Gosvami"™s Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu, keeping the fast on Ekadasi is one. In fact, observing Ekadasi is one of the first ten basic principles.
The Nectar of Devotion, Srila Prabhupada’s summary study of Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu, states: “In the Brahma-vaivarta Purana it is said that one who observes fasting on Ekadasi day is freed from all kinds of reactions to sinful activities and advances in pious life. The basic principle is not just to fast, but to increase one’s faith and love for Govinda, or Krsna. The real reason for observing fasting on Ekadasi is to minimize the demands of the body and to engage our time in the service of the Lord by chanting or performing similar service. The best thing to do on fasting days is to remember the pastimes of Govinda and to hear His holy name constantly.”
Later in The Nectar of Devotion, Srila Prabhupada cites the observance of Ekadasi as a stimulus (uddipana) for ecstatic love: “Some things which give impetus or stimulation to ecstatic love of Krsna are His transcendental qualities, His uncommon activities, His smiling features, His apparel and garlands, His flute, His buffalo horn, His leg bells, His conchshell, His footprints, His places of pastimes (such as Vrndavana), His favorite plant (tulasi), His devotee and the periodical occasions for remembering Him. One such occasion for remembrance is Ekadasi, which comes twice a month on the eleventh day of the moon, both waning and waxing. On that day all the devotees remain fasting throughout the night and continuously chant the glories of the Lord.”
The importance of the Ekadasi fast is also seen in the history of King Ambarisa and the sage Durvasa. Maharaja Ambarisa had observed the fast without even drinking water up until the appointed time to break the fast, called the Ekadasi-parana. Durvasa Muni was to have returned before the time of the parana, and because Durvasa Muni was playing the part of a brahmana and Ambarisa Maharaja the part of a ksatriya, proper etiquette dictated that Durvasa break the fast first. However, because Durvasa did not come in time, Ambarisa was in a dilemma. If he did not break the fast in time, the whole observance would be spoiled. At the same time, if he did not wait for Durvasa, he would be guilty of an offense, because the etiquette demanded that he wait for the sage to break the fast first. King Ambarisa consulted his advisors, but none could resolve his problem. Finally, the King himself determined the solution: He would take water. Taking water would break the fast and at the same time not break it.
So, Ekadasi is an important observance. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu personally observed Ekadasi, and He ordered all of his followers to do the same. And of all the Ekadasis, Pandava-nirjala Ekadasi, or Bhima Ekadasi, is most special.
The story behind this special Ekadasi is recounted in the Brahma Vivarta Purana. Five thousand years ago, back in the time of the Mahabharata, Arjuna’s elder brother Bhima admitted that he had great difficulty fasting. (In those days everyone would fast completely from all food and water.) So the Vedic authority Vyasadeva gave Bhima permission to observe the full fast (nirjala, “without water”) only once a year, in the early summer, and to derive the same benefit as if he had observed all the other twenty-three Ekadasis. Thus devotees who are unable to properly observe Ekadasi during the year, or who by chance happen to miss an Ekadasi, can get the benefit of fully observing all the Ekadasis if they properly observe the Pandava-nirjala Ekadasi. Strictly observed, the fast begins before sunset the evening before Ekadasi and continues until the parana, about the time of sunrise, the morning after Ekadasi. Many devotees try to chant at least sixty-four rounds on Ekadasi, especially the Bhima Ekadasi.
Once, when we were with Srila Prabhupada in Amritsar, Yamuna-devi read to him from the newly published Nectar of Devotion: “Ekadasi, which comes twice a month on the eleventh day of the moon, both waning and waxing. On that day all the devotees remain fasting throughout the night and continuously chant the glories of the Lord.” Then she asked Srila Prabhupada, “Should we also observe Ekadasi like that?” And Srila Prabhupada replied, “No. We have too much service to do for Krsna.”
The basic observance of Ekadasi, as prescribed by Srila Prabhupada, is to refrain from grains and beans and to chant at least twenty-five rounds. Although most devotees in ISKCON do not perform nirjala on every Ekadasi, many do on Pandava-nirjala Ekadasi. They also try to chant at least sixty-four rounds. And by the mercy of Ekadasi, they make great spiritual advancement: they are blessed by spiritual strength and realization and so continue their service to Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s mission with renewed vigor – enthusiasm and inspiration.
Hare Krsna.
Damodara Krsna dasa: Here is some nectar about traveling book distribution in New Zealand.
I was in Hastings-in-Taranaki, around 6 or 7 in the evening. There were only a few people walking on the street, and one of them was an elderly lady. I approached her. When I said I was a monk, to my surprise she became very delighted and took in her hand the soft Gita I was presenting. After less than a minute of my telling her about the Gita, she said “Can I buy this book?” I said yes, and she gave $10 and sincerely said, “You have just made a young boy very happy.”
I asked her, “Who is he?” and the lady replied, “He’s my grandson. It is his eleventh birthday and he wants to be a monk.”
I thought, “Wow, an eleven-year-old boy who wants to be a monk gets a ‘Bhagavad Gita As It Is’ from his grandmother for a birthday present. Nice.”
Another day, I and two other devotees (Sriman Krishna Prabhu and Bhakta Chi, a practicing medical doctor) visited two small towns called Hawera- and Stratford-in-Taranaki. Two went to one place, and one to the other.
On the second day I was in Stratford and stopped a lady. She was very favorable. The day before she had gotten an “Easy Journey to Other Planets” from Bhakta Chi and read the whole book that night. So she happily gave $20 and took a Bhagavad Gita. That is what I call teamwork. I took her details and plan to get in touch.
The same day in Stratford I approached a lady with children and told her I was a monk. She asked, “Are you from Cambridge?” (Cambridge is a small town outside Hamilton.) I told her I wasn’t, but after speaking to her for awhile I learned that six years ago in Cambridge she’d met Mahavana Prabhu, a devotee who now runs a Brahmacari ashram in Wellington, and had had such a positive impression of him and the prasadam he gave her that she now happily gave me $20 and took a Bhagavad Gita.
My realization is that book distribution is really a team effort, especially in a small place like New Zealand. Each devotee is responsible for leaving every person they meet with a good impression. A person may not get a book from the first devotee they meet, but because they are left with a good impression, the next devotee they meet can distribute a book to them.
Your Servant,
Damodara Krsna dasa
Srutakirti Prabhu, a disciple and former personal servant of Srila Prabhupada, recounts Prabhupada’s practical instructions regarding chanting rounds.“It was easy to understand that Srila Prabhupada enjoyed chanting japa. He always stressed the importance of chanting our 16 rounds. He once told me that as a householder, he used a simple process for completing 16 rounds that we could apply.
‘When I was a householder,’ Srila Prabhupada said, 'I would chant four rounds before each meal and four rounds before retiring in the evening. In this way 16 rounds could be chanted without difficulty.’ He laughed and said, 'If you don’t take prasadam before chanting your four rounds then you will be sure to get them chanted."In New Dwaraka he told me, 'In the evening, if I get tired, I walk and chant. If you are tired, then walk and chant like I do. Sometimes, if I am tired, I pace back and forth in the room. Simply, in one room you can do everything. If you are tired, you can stand up and chant, like I do."It was common to see Srila Prabhupada walk in his quarters or sit in his rocking chair while he chanted rounds. In the evening he sometimes chanted rounds while I massaged him in bed. Many times devotees went into Srila Prabhupada’s room with a problem they were hoping would be solved with some particular arrangement. His solution was always the same. 'Chant Hare Krsna, chant your 16 rounds.’ He developed the phrase, 'Just do it!’ long before Nike.”(Srila Prabhupada Uvaca 63)
The latest expeditions of the Baladeva Vidyabhusana Project were very fruitful and one of the highlights among the unpublished Gaudiya manuscripts discovered and digitized is the “Caitanyastakam,” eight verses composed by Srila Prabodhananda Sarasvati in praise of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. The astaka genre has been very common among Sanskrit poets for centuries and it is well known that several of Lord Caitanya’s personal associates composed astakas to glorify Him, the most famous being those by Srila Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya, Srila Raghunatha dasa Gosvami, Srila Narahari Sarakara and Srila Rupa Gosvami, who actually composed three different collections of eight verses. The recovery of Prabodhananda Sarasvati’s “Caitanyastakam” brings our attention to the fact that there might be more of such lost compositions, which are so important for sharing the impressions the authors obtained from the association of Lord Caitanya. The text and its English translation will soon be published together with the same author’s “Viveka-shatakam.”
In a humble attempt to serve the worshipable Deities of Srila Baladeva Vidyabhusana and the Shyamananda-parivara, I have recently translated “The Glories of Sri Sri Radha-Shyamsundar,” which narrate the pastimes of Their appearance, the history of Their temple, Their different festivals and outfits, etc., and also “Prabhu Shyamananda,” a short narration of the amazing pastimes of one of the greatest preachers of the Gaudiya sampradaya. Both booklets and many of the works of Srila Baladeva Vidyabhusana in PDF can be downloaded for free in the following page:
www.archive.org/details/@baladeva_vidyabhusana_project
The technical philosophical terminology employed by Srila Baladeva Vidyabhusana in his “Tattva-dipika” is being carefully glossed, after which the work will be published without delay.
Although the number of manuscripts being located and digitized is gradually increasing, there are a few stumbling blocks on the way. The major one has been the outrageous anti-research, anti-publication policy maintained by certain libraries, which although relatively few in number, contain thousands and thousands of Gaudiya texts. These libraries are mostly under the Indian government and are run by staff who think that manuscripts are like museum pieces, not to be touched or copied at any cost. One of the largest manuscript libraries in West Bengal, for example, is run by communists who allegedly damage unpublished religious manuscripts to make sure that they will never be published. This is pushing me to appeal to high government authorities and, if necessary, to start a legal battle that will be very time consuming and was not at all in my plans.
The increasing number of unsorted collections I am finding in all directions also gives me mixed feelings: joy for what we may occasionally find there, and sadness for the little chance of seeing them being classified in the near future. This is so mostly because of the lack of funds and interest on the part of the owners and the limited resources and lack of interest on the part of the government. Despite these difficulties, the Baladeva Vidyabhusana Project is going on to accomplish its objectives:
1. Search for lost manuscripts. (Such as the commentaries on nine Upanisads, Srimad Bhagavatam, etc.)
2. Digitally preserve manuscripts currently existing in different libraries.
3. Digitally preserve all editions of Vidyabhusana’s books.
4. Digitally preserve articles written about Vidyabhusana.
5. Type all the original texts in digital unicode system, which can be converted into Devanagari, Bengali and Oriyan characters.
6. Prepare a critical edition for each work.
7. Translate all the works into English.
8. Publish all translations with the original Devanagari text.
9. Investigate and verify existent biographical data of Vidyabhusana, including historical evidences of the conflict between the Gaudiyas and the Ramanandis of Rajasthan.
10. Publish a comprehensive biographical work.
To see samples of the discovered manuscripts, and for inquiries and donations, please visit:
If we look back into Vedic history we will probably find many incidents that contravene modern-day standards of human rights and discrimination. If say, a liberal human rights monitor group were to go back 5,000 years, they would likely report negatively to the UN.
Ekalavya, Romaharsana, Radheya, (How many of us felt sorry for him?) and many others like them, suffered, or benefited from their fair share of discrimination based on social standing, and other issues. There are some attempts to start varnashrama-dharma, which again, by modern-day values, falls into the category of discrimination according to ability and inclination, and being assigned higher or lower social positions.
Even if these ideals were implemented without birthright status as is practiced widely in India, the equality seeking workers, socialists and feminists would predictably protest such social divisions.
Who can blame them? The corruption of the monarchy, the exploitation by landlords and greedy capitalists, and the abuse of male domination had led to the formation of these rights organisations. In a modern world shifting towards a more human friendly and equal system, it is not surprising that certain Vedic ideals are deemed politically incorrect.
As more ethnic groups and minority cultures enjoy greater media coverage, and lone individuals can challenge the might of corporate bodies through channels of justice, are these, the modern-day yardsticks by which an ancient Vedic civilization should abide, or be judged? Or is present-day civilization with all of its progress really politically incorrect? Who is to decide?
When Lord Krishna says in Bhagavad-Gita that the four divisions of human society were created by Him (BG 4.13), this absolute pronouncement is accepted as socially and politically correct, without doubting. Will the resenting murmurs of equality activists prevent any movement of such natural and universal placements? How can they?
These divisions exist naturally even in the most strict of socialist regimes, as their hierarchical structures affirm. And the continuation of these systems passed down through generations by family members who lead the respective socialist revolutions, make them no better than communist monarchs. There is a great deal of inequality within intended equality systems.
The fact that inequality prevails in all countries both rich and poor has stymied the cause of equality, all because the exploitative tendency of humans to dominate their comrades defeats their purpose. The natural divisions of humanity are here and there is little we can do change this. We have to adapt or try yet another failed ism.
This example illustrates how today’s version of correctness based upon the human anthropic right to exploit natural resources at frenetic pace is incorrect, as nature’s backlash shows. What appears archaic and medieval as the Vedic social arrangement seems, is really adapting to natural harmony. However, this order of things also got abused and Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the great reformer, came to free all those willing, from the harmfully restrictive bounds of the birthright caste system.
Mahatma Gandhi tried to reform in the same way by labelling all outcastes as Harijana, or people of God. This enabled anyone in an unclean state to enter a place of worship without observing basic rules of cleanliness. Srila Prabhupada did not approve of this very much.
Perhaps there is a good argument for trying to introduce equality. If everyone is born a sudra, so what right does another sudra have to exploit or hold a superior position over another sudra? It seems to be a noble cause, but nobility is not appreciated by all, least by those who seek to gain by unfair, cheating, and scheming ways over the vulnerable. For them, brute force and capital punishment are the limited forms of communication they understand, and are yet other politically incorrect modes of dealing for human rights campaigners to get revved up about.
On several fronts the time tested way of harmonious living and justice appears to be at odds with modern life. But there is nothing to fear. To follow the four regulative principles of freedom – no meat eating, no illicit sex, no intoxication, and no gambling – are now slowly being acknowledged by mainstream authorities as antidotes for hedonistic living with deadly consequences. They are gaining ground to be politically correct.
The personal and lively activity of chanting the powerful holy names of the Lord in unison is piercing the voidist and impersonal constructs based on humanity’s fluke random appearance for no reason whatsoever, as our school textbooks tell us. Krishna conscious knowledge is giving purpose in a deterministic directionless society.
Gradually the truth of the essence of Vedic culture as presented by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Srila Prabhupada is being accepted and making people actually happy. And happy people are not likely to get upset at being labelled politically incorrect. In fact, it is cool to be politically incorrect.
Ys, Kesava Krsna Dasa – GRS.
People say that , people are wasting money on the Lord in temple inside and beggars are starving outside,
Why don’t we see beggars starving when we go to malls, cricket stadiums , IPL matches , why we don’t think of beggars then ?
When we spend so much on perfumes, deo sprays we don’t think of beggars , because that will cause us in convenience
We don’t want to go to temple but want to feel superior to those who are going to temple so we give such logic
People say that why don’t we see god in beggars we should ask them so many animals are slaughtered just to satisfy tongue , why don’t u see god in them
So much of land which is used to feed a animal can be used to feed many many people and thus starving humanity can be served in much better way , so such people should become vegetarian first
So many people drink alcohol , waste money , which is made from sugarcane , so much of money resource is wasted , if all the people of this world drinking alcohol , so many poor people can be served
When people become devotees of lord they give up alcohol and meat , they become more selfless , they are a part of the solution
Shortage of food is not because of shortage , but because of mismanagement and greed
When People become godless , they concomitantly become materialistic and greedy- and so exploit nature and their fellow humans for their selfish enjoyment.
We may feed a few hungry people , but till we remove greed from wealthy people's heart , hunger will continue to torment millions , problem is not shortage of resources but shortage of compassion
How can greed be removed ?
When people are offered spiritual education and experience, they understand that their real happiness is in loving god, not in accumulating material things, then they give up greed .
Transforming the heart of one greedy wealthy person is more effective to tackle starvation than merely feeding a few hungry people .
When Mother Teresa was asked ' what is the secret of your compassion ?
She pointed to her rosary beads and said 'By praying , I feel love for god and all his children and so want to help them as much as I can "
If we help people , but they are not self controlled and not ready to take your help
For eg , if you give money to beggar he many smoke or drink , better to give prasad,
If you offer free treatment to an alcoholic , he will drink again after getting cured is just offering treatment sufficient then ? Its all like trying to pour water in a leaked utensil .
So do us devotees do we condemn social service ? No we just don’t see it as equivalent to devotional service and don’t want to do social service as substitute of devotional service
We want to do social service to attract people to Krishna, so instead of distributing just food we distribute Krishna prasad. Thus along with material welfare we also want to do the spiritual welfare of the people . We are not against social service we just don’t want to replace god with false gods.
Teachers give us something we don’t have. On a basic level they give us information and skills to help us learn something. A good teacher will challenge and trust us to do something we never thought we could do or be someone we never thought we could be. An extraordinary teacher will change the course of our life, even long after he or she has left this world.
Such teachers are rare, and Srila Prabhupada is one of them. This week we celebrate his birth anniversary and the legacy of his life work. The very day he met his spiritual master (guru) he was requested to bring the information of Krishna to the western world and teach it to those who have never heard of Him.
It would be many years later, at the age of 69, that Srila Prabhupada set out for the West. He was given a small cabin on a cargo ship bound for New York. It was a long and arduous journey during which he cooked for himself and even endured two heart attacks. He left India penniless his only possession being his clothes and a several trunks of his newly printed books–the Srimad-Bhagavatam. Five weeks later he walked off the ship in New York knowing nothing about his new home. In his own words he said, “As I left the ship, I didn’t know whether to turn left or right.”
Now that ISKCON is a flourishing society one can easily forget the story of it’s beginnings, and of the one man who started it. A cynical person might say, ‘well, anyone could have done that’. But ‘anyone’ didn’t do it. Prabhupada did – and it took courage, faith, extraordinary boldness, and a deep commitment to honoring the request of his guru. By this action alone he taught the meaning of the word “disciple”. And it was this integrity that was the foundation of his becoming the most powerful and popular teacher of Krishna consciousness in the world. To that Srila Prabhupada, who took a risk to give us Krishna, we are forever grateful.
I have included some excerpts of his journey to New York from his authorized biography – Srila Prabhupada Lilamrita. Read and be inspired:
“The Jaladuta is a regular cargo carrier of the Scindia Steam Navigation Company, but there is a passenger cabin aboard. During the voyage from Calcutta to New York in August and September of 1965, the cabin was occupied by “Sri Abhoy Charanaravinda Bhaktivedanta Swami,” whose age was listed as sixty-nine and who was taken on board bearing “a complimentary ticket with food.” The Jaladuta, under the command of Captain Arun Pandia, whose wife was also aboard, left at 9:00 A.M. on Friday, August 13. In his diary, Srila Prabhupada noted: “The cabin is quite comfortable, thanks to Lord Sri Krishna for enlightening Sumati Morarji for all these arrangements. I am quite comfortable.” But on the fourteenth he reported: “Seasickness, dizziness, vomiting-Bay of Bengal. Heavy rains. More sickness.” On the nineteenth, when the ship arrived at Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), Prabhupada was able to get relief from his seasickness. The captain took him ashore, and he traveled around Colombo by car. Then the ship went on toward Cochin, on the west coast of India. Janmastami, the appearance day of Lord Krishna, fell on the twentieth of August that year. Prabhupada took the opportunity to speak to the crew about the philosophy of Lord Krishna, and he distributed prasadam he had cooked himself. August 21 was his seventieth birthday, observed (without ceremony) at sea. That same day the ship arrived at Cochin, and Srila Prabhupada’s trunks of Srimad-Bhagavatam volumes, which had been shipped from Bombay, were loaded on board.
By the twenty-third the ship had put out to the Red Sea, where Srila Prabhupada encountered great difficulty. He noted in his diary: “Rain, seasickness, dizziness, headache, no appetite, vomiting.” The symptoms persisted, but it was more than seasickness. The pains in his chest made him think he would die at any moment. In two days he suffered two heart attacks. He tolerated the difficulty, meditating on the purpose of his mission, but after two days of such violent attacks he thought that if another were to come he would certainly not survive. On the night of the second day, Prabhupada had a dream. Lord Krishna, in His many forms, was rowing a boat, and He told Prabhupada that he should not fear, but should come along. Prabhupada felt assured of Lord Krishna’s protection, and the violent attacks did not recur. The Jaladuta entered the Suez Canal on September 1 and stopped in Port Sa’id on the second. Srila Prabhupada visited the city with the captain and said that he liked it. By the sixth he had recovered a little from his illness and was eating regularly again for the first time in two weeks, having cooked his own kichari and puris. He reported in his diary that his strength renewed little by little.
Thursday, September 9
4:00 this afternoon, we have crossed over the Atlantic Ocean for twenty-four hours. The whole day was clear and almost smooth. I am taking my food regularly and have got some strength to struggle. There is also a slight tacking of the ship and I am feeling a slight headache also. But I am struggling and the nectarine of life is Sri Chaitanya Charitamrita, the source of all my vitality.
Friday, September 10
Today the ship is plying very smoothly. I feel today better. But I am feeling separation from Sri Vrindaban and my Lords Sri Govinda, Gopinath, Radha Damodar. The only solace is Sri Chaitanya Charitamrita in which I am tasting the nectarine of Lord Chaitanya’s lila [pastimes]. I have left Bharatabhumi just to execute the order of Sri Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati in pursuance of Lord Chaitanya’s order. I have no qualification, but have taken up the risk just to carry out the order of His Divine Grace. I depend fully on Their mercy, so far away from Vrindaban.
During the voyage, Srila Prabhupada sometimes stood on deck at the ship’s rail, watching the ocean and the sky and thinking of Caitanya-caritamrita, Vrindavan dham, and the order of his spiritual master to go preach in the West. Mrs. Pandia, the captain’s wife, whom Srila Prabhupada considered to be “an intelligent and learned lady,” foretold Srila Prabhupada’s future. If he were to pass beyond this crisis in his health, she said, it would indicate the good will of Lord Krishna.
The ocean voyage of 1965 was a calm one for the Jaladuta. The captain said that never in his entire career had he seen such a calm Atlantic crossing. Prabhupada replied that the calmness was Lord Krishna’s mercy, and Mrs. Pandia asked Prabhupada to come back with them so that they might have another such crossing. Srila Prabhupada wrote in his diary, “If the Atlantic would have shown its usual face, perhaps I would have died. But Lord Krishna has taken charge of the ship.”
…On the nineteenth of September the Jaladuta sailed into New York Harbor and docked at a Brooklyn pier, at Seventeenth Street. Srila Prabhupada saw the awesome Manhattan skyline, the Empire State Building, and, like millions of visitors and immigrants in the past, the Statue of Liberty. Srila Prabhupada was dressed appropriately for a resident of Vrindavna. He wore kanthi-mala (neck beads) and a simple cotton dhoti, and he carried japa-mala (chanting beads) and an old chaddar, or shawl. His complexion was golden, his head shaven, sikha in the back, his forehead decorated with the whitish Vaisnava tilaka. He wore pointed white rubber slippers, not uncommon for sadhus in India. But who in New York had ever seen or dreamed of anyone appearing like this Vaisnava? He was possibly the first Vaisnava sannyasi to arrive in New York with uncompromised appearance. Of course, New Yorkers have an expertise in not giving much attention to any kind of strange new arrival. Srila Prabhupada was on his own. He had a sponsor, Mr. Agarwal, somewhere in Pennsylvania. Surely someone would be here to greet him. Although he had little idea of what to do as he walked off the ship onto the pier-“I did not know whether to turn left or right”-he passed through the dockside formalities and was met by a representative from Traveler’s Aid, sent by the Agarwals in Pennsylvania, who offered to take him to the Scindia ticket office in Manhattan to book his return passage to India.
At the Scindia office, Prabhupada spoke with the ticket agent, Joseph Foerster, who was impressed by this unusual passenger’s Vaisnava appearance, his light luggage, and his apparent poverty. He regarded Prabhupada as a priest. Most of Scindia’s passengers were businessmen or families, so Mr. Foerster had never seen a passenger wearing the traditional Vaisnava dress of India. He found Srila Prabhupada to be “a pleasant gentleman” who spoke of “the nice accommodations and treatment he had received aboard the Jaladuta.” Prabhupada asked Mr. Foerster to hold space for him on a return ship to India. His plans were to leave in about two months, and he told Mr. Foerster that he would keep in touch. Carrying only forty rupees cash, which he himself called “a few hours’ spending in New York,” and an additional twenty dollars he had collected from selling three volumes of the Bhagavatam to Captain Pandia, Srila Prabhupada, with umbrella and suitcase in hand, and still escorted by the Traveler’s Aid representative, set out for the Port Authority Bus Terminal to arrange for his trip to Butler.
