We may sometimes ask ourselves, rather we should regularly ask ourselves, how are we doing in our spiritual life? Is our consciousness changing and developing? Is our love for Krishna growing? Are we becoming less affected by our life, our karma, and the world in general? Are we developing a strong sense of who we are that lives within our body?

Prabhupada suggests we take test. In the purport to verses 8-12 in Bhagavad-gita, Chapter 13 he writes – “As for actual advancement in spiritual science, one should have a test to see how far he is progressing.” He invites us to judge ourselves by the 20 items listed in these verses.

Before taking the test, read the verses and purport as they are filed with insights to help us answer as honestly as we can. It’s just between us and Krishna or if we are brave, we can do it as an exercise with others. It’s a great guide to our inner journey – a journey more important than anything else we will work for in our life.

Turn the 20 items into questions by prefacing each with “How am I doing with…? We can use numbers between 1 – 10, or mark ourselves good, not so good, or terrible. Don’t be too hard on yourself, but not too easy either! Acknowledging where we are is the best way to get where we want to go. Good luck!

1. Humility
2. Pridelessness
3. Nonviolence
4. Tolerance
5. Simplicity
6. Approaching a bona fide spiritual master
7. Cleanliness
8. Steadiness
9. Self-control
10. Renunciation of the objects of sense gratification
11. Absence of false ego
12. Perception of the evil of birth, death, old age & disease
13. Detachment
14. Freedom from the entanglement with children, partner, home, and the rest (if these people and things do not support your spiritual advancement)
15. Even-mindedness amid pleasant and unpleasant events
16. Constant and unalloyed devotion to Me
17. Aspiring to live in a solitary place
18. Detachment from the general mass of people
19. Accepting the importance of Self-realization
20. Philosophical search for the Absolute Truth

Source: http://iskconofdc.org/how-do-we-know/

Sri Arjuna Das, New Biharvan Dham

Patience
Kindness
Determination
Courage

     The Goal of Life is to remember our Relationship with Krishna. 

     A preacher must be kind, gentle, and patient in his dealings.
 
     Kindness means we look deep in everyone’s heart and see, “Here is a living entity desperately longing for love, and I am going to find a way to give him this love.”

     Gentle means we treat everyone in such a way that we genuinely gain appreciation for, and admire, every small service this jiva offers to Krishna. “Oh, you pronounce Krishna’s names so nicely,” “I love hearing you say Hare Krishna,” “The way you clean Krishna’s floor touches my heart.” Remember, genuiness is essential in all relationships. Genuiness comes when we sincerely chant Hare Krishna. We will see the beauty of everyone. Just like Krishna. Krishna sees the hidden beauty within all of us, and He wants us to come home. 

    If we are sincere devotees we will become like Bumblebees, finding the love, gold, and honey in everyone, and bringing it into vision. We all want honey and love, let’s be Bumblebees. 

    Krishna Consciousness is simple, we all naturally love Krishna, and He loves us. Sooo much. Krishna Consciousness is simply awakening our natural love for Him, and serving Him, by chanting His Holy Names. We chant “Hare Krishna” once and He comes running towards us. So Krishna Consciousness is sweet and simple, and the preacher must be gentle kind and loving. Gentleness and Kindness are the two hands we use to nourish other’s spiritual creepers. 

     Determination and Courage. These are the two qualities the preacher must apply to himself. The preacher is effective because he makes himself a channel for others to shower them with a minute fraction of Krishna’s love and kindness for us. For himself, the preacher quietly holds himself to the highest standard, to gain his shakti. Determination means chanting our rounds when we are tired, preaching in the cold, and walking on sankirtana when our feet hurt. We must be determined to give love. And we find love, in the pages of the Bhagavatam, Bhagavad Gita, and Krishna book. 

    Courage, comes when we are scared, and goes hand in hand with determination. If we are scared to oppose someone, but are determined to spread love, we have the opportunity to be courageous. If we see someone fishing, and Supersoul tells us to tell them to stop, courage means we act, in spite of the knot in our stomach. And we preach to them, about kindness to the weaker entities. Even if they do not listen, we will have planted the seed of love. 

     Hare Krishna. 
8:53 AM, December 11th, 2015. 

Source: http://m.dandavats.com/?p=18440

The essential principle of progressive, civilised human life is to restrain negative emotions within oneself and to limit their discharge towards others; and to cultivate positive emotions such as tolerance, compassion and non-violence. Lust, greed and anger are the three gates leading to Hell, reads the ancient Bhagavad-gita.

Perpetuating negative emotions leads to a permanent negative state within a person, and negativity throughout a society when it is made up predominantly of such persons. “So the single rice grain, so the pot of rice.”

We radiate an emotional state when we don’t make efforts to control it; we can’t help it. All others who contact us are affected by our unchecked emotions. And we do a great disservice to our children if we force them to imbibe our negativity.

So imagine the consequences when an entire society cultivates these very negative qualities within its children – through the educational system itself. Peace in the Middle East? Not when the emotions of the children are being systematically slaughtered.

Source: https://deshika.wordpress.com/2016/01/20/peace-in-the-middle-east-not-unless-the-children-are-peaceful/

By Chaitanya Charana Dasa

A search for intellectual satisfaction takes a young man from academics to devotion.

I was born with a congenital heart deformity that doctors said would probably not allow me to see my fifth birthday. My parents gave me the name Chandrahas, “one whose laugh is like the moon,” but sadly they found few reasons to smile in my childhood. When I was around one, learning to walk in our middle-class house, I suddenly collapsed to the floor, never to walk naturally again. My parents, Ramachandra and Sunanda Pujari, had already had me vaccinated against the dreaded polio infection rampant in India in the 1970s, but the doctor had unknowingly given me a defective vaccine.

With my left leg diseased, I had to walk with either a limp or a brace. When I was around two, I was enjoying the spectacle of the popular Diwali firecrackers with the neighborhood children when a rocket-firecracker went off course and headed toward me. I couldn’t run away like the other children, and the rocket hit my right arm, fusing my shirt with my skin and, racing upwards, burning my face, missing my right eye by millimeters. The rocket then fell to the ground, leaving lifelong scars on my right arm and the right side of my face.

When I was three, I fell from a wall near my house and cracked my skull. An astrologer told my despairing parents that I was plagued by Saturn, which would cause repeated trouble for the first seven and a half years of my life.

Shelter in the Intellect

My parents did everything in their power to help me have a normal childhood. They decided not to have another child for a decade so that they could give their full attention to caring for me. They admitted me into an expensive Christian convent school so that I could have the best education. My good grades mitigated their sorrows somewhat. They would tell visiting relatives that God had compensated for my physical inabilities by giving me intellectual abilities. I would wonder about this mysterious being, God, who had the enormous power over my life to decide what to give and what to take.

For my parents, who were brahmanas by caste, religious rituals were an important part of the family culture. My father told me the significance of our surname, Pujari, which means a priest who performs the worship (puja) of the deity. About a century ago, his grandfather, while bathing in a river one early morning in our native village, had found floating a five-headed Hanuman deity, which he had subsequently installed and served as pujari.

My daily life with its pursuit of academic excellence had little in common with my religious ancestry. At school, as my grades kept getting better, it seemed Saturn had left me. One year I was among the top scorers on the statewide exams. The district collector (the top government officer of the district) visited our house to congratulate my parents, and the local newspaper carried an article and a photo of the visit. For my parents, life seemed to have turned a full circle. They had shed so many sad tears over their son. Now at last they had occasion to shed tears of pride and joy.

Unfortunately, the joy was short-lived. The very day our family photo appeared in the newspaper, my mother, while getting a medical checkup, was diagnosed with advanced leukemia. She fought gallantly against the cancer with chemotherapy, but within one painfully long month, it was all over.

As the world around me collapsed, I sought shelter in my studies and academic performance.

From Summit Into Quicksand and Out

While studying for an engineering degree at a leading college in Pune, in 1996, I took the GRE exam for pursuing post-graduate studies in the USA. I came in first in the state, securing the highest score in the history of my college. As I exulted in my greatest achievement, I experienced something perturbing. Till then, society had led me to believe that for a student, academic accomplishment was the ultimate standard of success and happiness. I had feverishly sought that standard and had finally achieved it. Yet as I stood on the summit of success, I found that the grades brought no joy. Only when others congratulated me did I feel satisfaction. I felt dependent for my happiness on others’ appreciation-more dependent than ever before. As I pondered this disturbing experience, it struck me that I had been chasing a mirage: academic achievement-or any other achievement for that matter-would never satisfy me, but would only increase my hunger for appreciation and thus perpetuate my dissatisfaction. The summit had turned into quicksand.

A friend extended a helping hand to rescue me from the quicksand-by giving me Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad-gita As It Is. The Gita answered many of my questions about life and its purpose that had been left unanswered by the numerous books I’d read, spiritual and secular. Radhesyama Dasa, the temple president of ISKCON Pune, and Gaurasundara Dasa, a dynamic youth mentor there, answered whatever questions remained. Understanding the profound philosophy of Krishna consciousness illuminated my life’s journey with hope and joy. I understood that my lame leg, which had always interfered with my playing cricket, was a result of my own past bad karma. But it couldn’t interfere with my spiritual life, because I am not my body and my spiritual advancement is independent of my body.

The Hare Krishna maha-mantra was my next discovery. Since my teens I had been fighting a losing battle against the passions of youth, which would often sabotage my intellectual pursuits. In the chanting of the holy names, I discovered the technology to sabotage those passions.

The Highest Education

But the best was yet to come. As I studied the books of Srila Prabhupada and his followers, especially their writings based on the Bhagavad-gita, I found myself relishing the study itself. This was in marked contrast to my earlier academic career, where my joy came primarily from the grades. Then I read in the Srimad-Bhagavatam about the super-intellectual sage Vyasadeva. His phenomenal literary achievement in writing scores of Vedic books failed to fully satisfy him until he wrote exclusive glorification of the Lord. As I read the story, I felt my life story was being replayed in front of me, with the future included. I recognized the principle that intelligence can bring real happiness and good to oneself and others only when used to glorify Krishna. By understanding that principle, my future became clear.

I started using my intelligence to share the philosophy and practices of Krishna consciousness with my college friends. To my amazement, several of became remarkably transformed, shedding off bad habits and leading balanced, healthy, happy lives. After my graduation in 1998, I found myself at a crossroad that I had already crossed internally. Though I had both a lucrative job as a software engineer in a multinational company and an opportunity for education in a prestigious American university, an overpowering inner conviction told me that I could serve society best by sharing the spiritual wisdom that had enriched my life. There was no shortage of software engineers in India or of Indian students in America, but there was an acute shortage of educated spiritualists everywhere.

But another crossroad still remained. Far more difficult than sacrificing a promising career was enduring the disappointment in the eyes of my father. In traditional Indian culture, aging parents are often taken care of by their grown-up children, but I knew that the loss of such care was not my father’s concern. By his expertise at managing his finances, he had attained reasonable financial security, and he also had my brilliant eleven-year-old younger brother, Harshal, to count on. His heartbreak was to see his older son, for whose materially illustrious future he had dreamt and toiled, become the antithesis of his dreams: a shaven-headed, robe-wearing monk with no bank account. His distress agonized me, but my heart’s calling left me with no alternative. I prayed fervently to Krishna to heal my father’s heart and to somehow, sometime, help him understand my decision.

So in 1999 I decided to make sharing Gita wisdom my fulltime engagement by joining ISKCON Pune as a brahmachari, a single and celibate member of the ashram. In 2000 I received initiation from my spiritual master, His Holiness Radhanatha Maharaja, who told me that because I had given up the chance for higher education in the USA for Krishna’s sake, Krishna was giving me the chance to receive and share the highest education: Krishna consciousness, celebrated in the Bhagavad-gita as raja-vidya, the king of all education. In accordance with his instruction, I started giving talks to young people first in Pune and then all over India. Somehow, by Krishna’s mercy, my lame leg has not been a hindrance.

Intellectual Samadhi

In 2002 I discovered writing. Since childhood I had wanted to write but had not been able to: I was never short of words (my favorite hobby was memorizing words from dictionaries), but I always seemed short of ideas. The rich philosophy of Krishna consciousness more than made up for that. Over the last seven years, some 150 articles and 6 books have emerged from my computer. Many of these articles have appeared in leading Indian newspapers and some in Back to Godhead. When my first article appeared in the reputed Times of India newspaper, my overjoyed father sent a hundred photocopies of that article to his relatives, colleagues, and acquaintances. When I see the joy in my father’s eyes on seeing every new book I write, I thank Krishna for answering my prayers.

Nagaraja Dasa, the editor of BTG, invited me to serve as an associate editor. The service of reviewing articles with the other editors, who are all learned and seasoned devotee-scholars, has broadened the horizons of my spiritual understanding more than anything else I have done before. In editing the writings of veteran devotees, including my beloved spiritual master, I have found a way to integrate my intellection passion with the devotional principle of selfless service, thus experiencing a higher spiritual joy.

The process of writing has brought me meaning, purpose, passion, and fulfillment. Although I am still a neophyte in my spiritual life and struggle against selfish desires, writing gives me glimpses of samadhi, blissful absorption in thoughts of Krishna and His message.

Having experienced both the emptiness of material intellectual pursuits and the richness of spiritual intellectual engagements, I feel saddened that most modern intellectuals are deprived of this supreme fruit of their intellects. Especially many Indian intellectuals, despite earning laurels at a global level, are still missing the intellectual feast that their scripturally learned ancestors relished for millennia. My writings are humble attempts to help them rediscover their lost legacy. I look forward to using the remainder of my life to relish and share the intellectual-devotional nectar with which I have been blessed.

Want to become full of energy, excited about life, and serve the world in the best way you possibly can? Want to lose the weight of confusion and gain the muscle of wisdom? Want to be able to make the right choice every time and not have any regrets? This is what spiritual knowledge brings to us.

We generally think that knowledge is gained by study. The below list shows us that spiritual knowledge is also (and mostly) gained through thoughtful action and activity. We can say this is applied knowledge, when we actually live the teachings. We are all very good at lip service, and showing up at the right time in the right spiritual gathering. But how do we live?

The below 18 ‘one shoulds’ help us live in ways that produce knowledge. Keep it close and use it as a quick reference sheet. Am I following some of them? Missing out on others? Where can I improve? We can reflect on them through journaling and study, discuss them with friends and family, notice which ones are easy for us and the ones that we don’t like or don’t agree with. Invite them into your life and spend a little time with them. They are good guides and good teachers.

(1) One should become a perfect gentleman (or lady) and learn to give proper respect to others.
(2) One should not pose himself as a religionist simply for name and fame.
(3) One should not become a source of anxiety to others by the actions of his body, by the thoughts of his mind, or by his words.
(4) One should learn forbearance even in the face of provocation from others.
(5) One should learn to avoid duplicity in his dealings with others.
(6) One should search out a bona fide spiritual master who can lead him gradually to the stage of spiritual realization, and one must submit himself to such a spiritual master, render him service and ask relevant questions.
(7) In order to approach the platform of self-realization, one must follow the regulative principles enjoined in the revealed scriptures.
(8) One must be fixed in the tenets of the revealed scriptures.
(9) One should completely refrain from practices which are detrimental to the interest of self-realization.
(10) One should not accept more than he requires for the maintenance of the body.
(11) One should not falsely identify himself with the gross material body, nor should one consider those who are related to his body to be his own.
(12) One should always remember that as long as he has a material body he must face the miseries of repeated birth, old age, disease and death. There is no use in making plans to get rid of these miseries of the material body. The best course is to find out the means by which one may regain his spiritual identity.
(13) One should not be attached to more than the necessities of life required for spiritual advancement.
(14) One should not be more attached to wife, children and home than the revealed scriptures ordain.
(15) One should not be happy or distressed over desirables and undesirables, knowing that such feelings are just created by the mind.
(16) One should become an unalloyed devotee of the Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, and serve Him with rapt attention.
(17) One should develop a liking for residence in a secluded place with a calm and quiet atmosphere favorable for spiritual culture, and one should avoid congested places where non spiritually minded people congregate.
(18) One should become a scientist or philosopher and conduct research into spiritual knowledge, recognizing that spiritual knowledge is permanent whereas material knowledge ends with the death of the body.
Sri Isopanishad, Mantra 10

Source: http://iskconofdc.org/18-ways-to-gain-knowledge/

…In this present day, man is very eager to have one scripture, one God, one religion, and one occupation. So let there be one common scripture for the whole world—Bhagavad-gītā. And let there be one God only for the whole world—Śrī Kṛṣṇa. And one mantra only—Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. And let there be one work only—the service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. (from Introduction to the Bhagavad-gita As It Is)

In this present day, people are very much eager to have one scripture, one God, one religion, and one occupation.

Therefore, ekam sastram devaki-putra-gitam: let there be one scripture only, one common scripture for the whole world – Bhagavad-gita.

Eko devo devaki-putra eva: let there be one God for the whole world – Sri Krishna.

Eko mantras tasya namani: and one hymn, one mantra, one prayer — the chanting of His name:

Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare
Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare

Karmapy ekam tasya devasya seva: and let there be one work only — the service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Source: http://theharekrishnamovement.org/2016/01/19/let-the-world-unite/

What makes us act selfishly?
Answer by Radhanath Swami.
Question: The caring attitude is pleasing to everyone, but generally the default attitude in this world is one always thinks selfishly. So is it an inbuilt script of the mind that makes one think selfishly?
Radhanath Swami: The false ego misconceives: “I am this body, I am this mind, I am the controller, I am the proprietor, and I am the selfish enjoyer.” This is foundational to all material complications. It impels us to put ourselves above others and act selfishly. And when we continue to act in that way it becomes a habit. According to how we habituate ourselves, by making those wrong choices, we become more and more engrained in that way of thinking.
That is the way any habit works. For example, if you smoke a lot of cigarettes you become addicted, and the more you smoke the more you become addicted. The habit becomes a craving, and then it is very difficult to do anything without feeding your habit. When you are in the middle of it, you cannot really understand the effect of what you are doing because you are so much a slave of the habit. So that is exactly the way the ego works. Our selfishness, our arrogance, our greed, our selfish passions, our anger, and our envy – as we make choices to feed these habits, they become stronger and stronger and stronger.
But when we associate with saintly people we began to understand what we really want in life and what our condition is. And then we will take the medicine and the way of life by which we can become liberated from these habits of egotism. Chanting of the Holy Names is the simple medicine that will cure one from all the symptoms of ego, ignorance and selfishness

niyatamkuru karma tvamkarma jyayohyakarmanah / sarira-yatrapicate
naprasiddhyedakarmanah [Bg 3.8]

[Perform your prescribed duty, for action is better than inaction. A man cannot even maintain his physical body without work.]

Anyone who is in the material world is certainly possessed of the impure propensity for lording over the material nature and for sense gratification. Such polluted propensities have to be cleared.

The next stop for the Sri Govind Gau Gram Prachar Yatra was Kadaverugu village near Hyderabad. The Yatra entered the village on 26th December 2015 and was the 37th village in the series. This village still has a few traditional potters—there are about 50 families who still subsist on this traditional occupation.

A group of Yatra devotees set out in the morning to take permission to conduct the program in the village and also to locate a suitable venue. They were informed of a Ramalayam in the village and the devotees set out to locate it. Already the whole village was abuzz with the Yatra because the news of the events in the nearby villages had already reached there.

On the way to the Ramalayam we came across a person attired in black dress and observing severe austerities for purification of his senses and mind, but in spite of practicing these austerities for years they admit that they are unable to give up even minor habits leave alone complete renunciation. However, this person approached us and appreciated our efforts in educating the villagers on the need for cow protection and the importance of Mother Cow in our daily life. He narrated a very interesting event that occurred in his childhood. He said he used to take about 60-80 cows for grazing everyday to the village grounds. One day he was playing under a tree when he spotted a few long-tailed monkeys (langur) and started crying out of fear. At that very moment many cows came running towards him and surrounded him for protection and another group of cows tried to chase the monkeys. He added that while one group of cows chased the monkeys for more than a mile away from the village, the other group protected him. His eyes glowed while narrating this childhood event. He very vehemently said that anyone who lives with the cows never suffers from high blood pressure and diabetes.

We visited the ancient Ramalayam temple and saw some ruins of “Kota”, the palace of the rulers. We distributed pamphlets for the evening program to all those who came our way.

After our lunch prasadam we readied the bus for the evening program and loaded it with all paraphernalia includingprasadam for the evening program. When we were taking the bus to the Ramalayam we were told that most of the villagers gather at the village junction in the evening to while away their time and for their indulgences. So we thought it a better idea to park the bus at the junction and started our regular practice of book distribution, sale of cow products and preaching to whoever came by. We also sent a word to the temple pujari about the change in venue and he also participated in the program. We noticed a person seriously gazing at the posters on the sides of the bus which depicted “pottery” as a traditional occupation. He became more curious and approached us. We explained to him our mission. He suddenly gleamed and said he is engaged in this profession and started giving us details of how his whole family is engaged in the occupation including his aged father, his wife and children. We thought it to be a golden opportunity to have a live video recording with the whole family engaged in the profession. He willingly took us to his home. He had wound up his work for the day and we saw freshly made pots kept for sun-drying; on our request he started demonstrating the whole process of making pots from fresh clay. We told him how this ancient technology has so much scientific basis based on the benefits of cooking and eating in this type of vessels. He was slightly disappointed when he said that this occupation is becoming irrelevant due to other substitutes like aluminum and other vessels flooding the market. Just to raise his self-esteem we told him that though in this part it is losing its significance, there are other places in the world which are realizing its worth. We encouraged him to continue with the occupation and suggested that we would be establishing a training center where such occupations will be kept alive. He readily agreed to participate in our “Varnasrama College” concept for training those interested in such occupation. He became so enthusiastic that he said he will gather all the potters and make a representation to the village sarpanch that they try and encourage the villagers in using the clay pots. He also said most of the pots made by the village are consumed during the temple festival held in a nearby Shiva temple. His whole family enthusiastically joined in the evening program.

In the meantime children gathered at the bus to have darshan of Their Lordship and started looking at the small books. As is the practice, HG Sripati prabhu engaged the children in memorizing the mahamantra and made everyone chant the Holy Name before handing out the mantra card and some calendars to them. By doing so the children got little taste of the Holy Name which made them enthusiastically participate in the nagarsakirtan later.

It was another chilly night with the villagers gathered in the open for the evening program. Many of them were drunk as their regular habit. There was no gau-puja because of the difficulty in finding a desi cow. The nagar-sankirtan was lead by HG Siddha Balram prabhu and wound through various lanes of the village before returning to the bus. This village witnessed the largest gathering of around 400 villagers in the third phase. The significance of chanting Holy Name was presented by HG Satyamadhav prabhu, as he spoke about the four miseries of life “janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi”. Jananivas prabhu spoke on the need for cow protection. When talking on the subject, there were some loud noise heard in the gathering and a question was repeatedly asked “why only cows”. The moment Jananivas prabhu gave reply to this question another person asked “when will rains come”? And this person started raising this question so many times and that too loudly that he disturbed the proceedings. Evidently he was interested in immediate solutions to the problems of life. The nearby villagers understanding the significance of the program they made the lone disturber keep quiet so that the proceedings could go on.

Jananivas prabhu said that IDVM is willing to help them provided they cooperate and participate in natural and traditional farming practices combined with cow protection. He said some of traditional rain-fed cropping patterns could be revived in the village along with cow-based agriculture so that the incidence of health problems could be brought down by nutritious food. They said they are willing to participate in this program and wholeheartedly welcomed the measures announced by the devotees. He also said how everyone can participate in the cow protection mission at four levels: keeping their own cows and bulls for agriculture purpose or sensitizing others for doing so or use of cow products which can help in cow protection or lastly by refraining from using any leather products in their personal life.

The program had two video shows- one gomatavaibhavam and other on how other villages have successfully adopted traditional cropping and plant protection methods. The villagers identified themselves with the need for such an approach and appreciated the video shows. The program ended with the distribution of mahaprasadamand there was almost a stampede at the counter. However, the local leaders helped in organizing the crowd. Some of the leaders who had heard about ISKCON earlier said that they had neither seen nor heard about this aspect of their mission.

Though most of the villagers were in an inebriated state they were open to take part in the mission and were keen on remaining in the villages and practice their traditional occupations. However, what is required is how we try to relate with them in a loving relationship through Holy Name and make their lives successful. The hardship in their lives due to bad leadership may have taken them to the lower limbs of the Supreme Lord but they are as important part of the social system as the three other varnas. It depends on how we are able to convince them of the futility of associating with material nature and at the same time make them engage in their “prescribed duties”. By worship of the Lord, who is the source of all beings and who is all-pervading, man can, in the performance of his own duty, attain perfection BG 18.46

….The varṇāśrama institution also aims at this for satisfying Lord Viṣṇu. “Varṇāśramācāra-vatāpuruṣeṇaparaḥpumān/viṣṇurārādhyate…” (Viṣṇu Purāṇa 3.8.8) Therefore, one has to work for the satisfaction of Viṣṇu. …This is the great art of doing work, and in the beginning this process requires very expert guidance. [BG 3.9 purport]

The demigods said: O Lord, Your lotus feet are like an umbrella for the surrendered souls, protecting them from all the miseries of material existence. All the sages under that shelter throw off all material miseries. We therefore offer our respectful obeisances unto Your lotus feet. [SB 3.5.39]

Srila Prabhupada ki jai

Sri Govinda Gau Gram Prachar Yatra ki jai!!

IDVM (India) endeavoring to touch lives both materially and spiritually!

Source: http://www.iskconvarnasrama.com/home/a-sincere-sweeper-in-the-street-is-far-better-than-the-charlatan-meditator/

I pray to one day love Krsna! The words ‘love Krsna’ cannot be used so cheaply. It takes great effort in devotional service, it takes effort to sacrifice and to go step-by-step from the initial stages of having some faith to learning to associate with devotees. Over how many years have I made so many mistakes in associating with the devotees? How then could I properly chant Hare Krsna and properly engage in devotional service? What to speak of anartha nivriti, of the heart becoming purified… What to speak of getting some determination in devotional service… What to speak of getting some taste… What to speak of getting some attachment to Krsna… What to speak of getting ecstasy… What to speak of love… What can I speak on love for Krsna!!

Source: https://www.kksblog.com/2016/01/do-you-love-krsna/

By Mahatma das

From the beginning of Prabhupada’s preaching in New York he spoke about the development of an international society, but his new followers couldn’t imagine Krsna consciousness going beyond the walls of the little storefront on 26 Second Avenue.

Fortunately Prabhupada didn’t share their vision. He had such a deep faith in Lord Caitanya’s prediction and the instructions of his Guru Maharaja that he said the Krsna consciousness would someday go down in history for changing the world in its darkest hour.

There are reason’s Prabhupada thought this way, and in this article I examine one of the most essential: taking personally responsibility for making the world Krsna conscious. Instead of thinking people are not interested in Krsna consciousness, Prabhupda taught us to see that it is our fault that we cannot interest them.

This empowered way of thinking is at the heart of Prabhupada’s own success – and at the heart of our potential success.

Your servant,

Mahatma Das

It All Depends On Us
The preaching of the Gaudiya Math during Srila Bhaktisidhhanta’s life was so powerful that the most famous and prominent religious movement in Bengal at that time gradually lost its popularity. The Gaudiya Math publicly exposed the leader of this movement (he claimed to be an incarnation of Rama and Krsna) and proved that his teachings deviated from the conclusions of the Vedas.

However, shortly after the demise of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta, that very same religious movement began gaining popularity and again became an influential force, misleading millions of people. Prabhupada said their success was the fault of the Gaudiya Matha. Why? Because after the departure of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta the preaching work of the Gaudiya Matha slackened.

About five years ago when I was living in Dallas, several people were shot to death at a weeknight church service. In responding to this incident the pastor of the church said to his congregation, “We are all responsible for the death of those church members.” He said the fact that there are people roaming the street who are so spiritually bankrupt that they would kill innocent people in a church service is a sign that our efforts to spread Christianity are failing.

I was impressed by his words. Basically he was saying the same thing that Prabhupada said about the Gaudiya Matha. When a devotee of the Lord sees godlessness in the world he doesn’t blame it on the people. Rather he blames it on the lack of spiritual guidance that is being given to the people. And what this really means is that you and I take responsibility for the lack of God consciousness in the world.

Prabhupada was once asked, “How far is Lord Caitanya’s prediction that His name will be heard in every town and village true?” He replied, “That depends on those who are preaching.”

I lived in Mauritius for several years and it was commonly accepted that Prabhupada said Mauritius would be the first Krsna conscious country in the world. However, I couldn’t find anyone who actually heard Prabhupada say that. Finally, I was able to ask the man who hosted Prabhupada during his stay in Mauritius if he ever heard Prabhupada predict that Mauritius would become the first Krsna conscious country. He told me he never heard him say that. Then he paused for a minute and thought about it and said, “But I do remember him saying it could become the first Krsna conscious country in the world.”

Nothing is set in stone. Spreading Krsna consciousness depends on you and me.

In 1973 I was living in the San Diego temple and the preaching was rapidly expanding. We regularly reported our successes to Srila Prabhupada. He appreciated our service and in one letter to us made an amazing prediction.

“If we go on preaching vigorously as we have been for another 25 years, then all these other so called religions will disappear. After all what do they have to offer?” (letter to Bhakta dasa, 1973).

That letter has always weighed heavy in my mind. These other religions have far from disappeared.

What Does Our Desire Have To Do With It?
Prabhupada writes, “The Supreme Personality of Godhead, influenced by the merciful devotees’ attempt to deliver fallen souls, enlightens the people in general from within by His causeless mercy.”

You have more influence over people’s spiritual lives than you might think.

Srila Prabhupada’s personal desire was that every person in the world become Krsna conscious. However, when he was aboard the Jaladuta he was wondering how it would be possible for a civilization completely covered by ignorance and passion to understand the Vedic message. Thus he prayed to Krsna as the supersoul, “I wish that You may deliver them. Therefore if You so desire their deliverance, then only will they be able to understand Your message.”

As it is said, “Pray as if everything depends on God and act as if everything depends on you.” This is what Prabhupada did and Krsna definitely answered Prabhupada’s prayers.

Personal responsibility towards preaching is empowering. Prabhupada’s god-brothers went to preach in England in the 1920’s and came back saying that the westerners are too fallen to take up Krsna consciousness. Fortunately, Prabhupada didn’t think this way. He took personal responsibility to spread Lord Caitanya’s mission.

Remember, ninety-nine percent of all failures come from people who have a habit of making excuses. If the world is not Krsna conscious, we need to look at ourselves. Whenever devotees made excuses and told Prabhupada that people were not receptive or that they were difficult to preach to, Prabhupada always said that the problem was not with the people they were preaching to; the problem was with us.

What if I Am Not a Merciful Person?
But what if you don’t really feel the burden of the world like the great devotees do? You should – at least if you want to call yourself a human being. The Srimad Bhagavatam says that every human being is meant to be merciful. In a lecture in 1969, Prabhupada said, “So if we human beings, if we forget even ordinary mercy, compassion and gratefulness, then what is that human life?”

Gurudas relates that he was once told Prabhupada that he sometimes feels sorry for the people suffering in this material world. Prabhupada replied, “Why only sometimes?”

Once Bhumi, mother earth, was not producing enough food to feed the entire population of the world. When King Prithu asked her why she told him she didn’t want to feed all the demoniac people that lived on earth. Maharaja Prithu chastised her and was ready to kill her. To protect herself she took the form of a cow thinking the king wouldn’t hurt a cow. But he continued to pursue her and said if a citizen is not compassionate on his fellow man, he or she may be killed by the king and such killing is never to be considered actual killing.

All I can say is, “Wow, that’s heavy!”

Prabhupada writes: “Even in the material field, if a person is not interested in other’s welfare, he should be considered to be condemned by the Personality of Godhead or his representative like Prithu Maharaja.”

What’s My Duty?
So the implications of not caring about others are heavy. But it is even heavier for us. Why? It is said that with the gift of knowledge comes the obligation to give it to others. We have been given an immense treasure house of knowledge, so we are duty bound to see it is distributed.

“Although India has the sublime knowledge of Bhagavad-gita, Indians have not done their proper duty of distributing it.” (Srimad Bhagavatam, 10.2.19).

How many Indians realize that it is their “PROPER DUTY” to spread Vedic wisdom? Just by being Indian, by having this knowledge, Indians are duty bound to distribute it. In the early days of the movement, Prabhupada told his western disciples that since the Indians are not doing their duty, it is now your duty to distribute this knowledge. Even at an initiation in 1966 Prabhupada he made this clear. He said that he is giving knowledge and the initiates are becoming obliged, by accepting initiation, to distribute it widely. He said this is their guru-daksina.

What Does Preaching Mean?
Before I go on, I want to clarify that I am not talking about preaching in any specific way. We can help others become Krsna conscious in unlimited ways. We all have some special gift to offer in Krsna’s service. Krsna consciousness means to connect with our inspiration and talents and use them in Krsna’s service to help the world.

To excite your imagination, I’d like to share with you one inspiring example of how this might be done. This is the mission of one successful author and speaker (who, by the way, became successful as a result of this mission statement).

“To create and inspire one million millionaires who each give one million dollars to their church or charity.”

Wouldn’t it be nice if a devotee had the same mission? There are so many projects and temples that could flourish with this kind of funding.

There are as many ways to serve Krsna as there are devotees. I’d like to share a quote that will hopefully get you thinking how you might be able to expand your service in some way.

“The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.” (MICHELANGELO)

What are You Asking For?
Lord Caitanya asked Nityananda Prabhu, “How can all the fallen souls be saved?”
What more could you be doing if you asked this question – and asked it often?

If you do regular service at the temple I am not in anyway minimizing that. I am just asking you to consider what more you can be doing by asking yourself how all the fallen souls can be saved.

If we as a society are to help the world, I believe it is essential that everyone of us ask ourselves this question continually.

Do We Really Care About Others?
I don’t think it is fruitful to ponder whether or not you really care that people are suffering without Krsna consciousness. We all care to one degree or another. The important question to ask is, “Do you care enough to do something about it?*

Let me share a thought that has always inspired me. I know that right now there are people somewhere whose lives I can touch by making a little personal sacrifice, by going out of my way to do something to further the mission of Krsna consciousness. I may not know who those people are and I might never meet them; and I can’t always say how my efforts to spread Krsna consciousness will directly influence them. But I do know that doing nothing isn’t helping anyone.

There are people all over the world who want Krsna conscious. The reality is that the choices you and I make in our daily lives will determine whether some of them will get it or not.
_______________________________________________________

* If we care about others we will take care of our own spiritual lives. Lord Caitanya said make your life successful and then make other’s lives successful. Physician, heal thyself. Devotees have often overextended themselves in the name of preaching and either eventually burned out or fell down as a result. Dead men don’t make good soldiers.

Exercise

The exercise was actually given above, but I will restate it again.

Ask yourself “What more can I do to make the world more Krsna conscious? How can all the fallen souls be saved?”

And never stop asking this question.

Source: http://m.dandavats.com/?p=18421

A great read and a wonderful collection of stories around the press and also great research on all the photos. Classic. You have done a great job compiling the stories about the printing history of Prabhupada’s books which brings things into great historical perspective

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Sri Krishna Kathamrita Bindu is always free from politics and institutional bashing or promotion. Just simply nectarean Krishna Katha! 

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When the living being turns away from Krsna then suffering begins. Happiness only exists in the relationship with Krsna so when we turn away from Krsna, we begin to suffer. Then Krsna has also added a little suffering, he added some sand-in-the-sweet-rice. Why is this so? Because Krsna loves living beings dearly and Krsna is more eager for living beings to go back to the spiritual world than the living beings are themselves. Therefore Krsna cannot wait, so sometimes he puts a little sand-in-the-sweet-rice just so that when we take sense gratification, we come to the understanding that maybe sense gratification is not worth it – it will not let us go back to the spiritual world! So ultimately, the elevated liberated souls see even suffering as the mercy of Krsna.

Source: https://www.kksblog.com/2016/01/why-is-there-so-much-suffering-in-the-world/

Looking at some of the headlines for last couple of days, I wonder if India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s sincere desire, or a difficult-to-materialize dream, will ever come true. After Digital India, Make in India, Clean India, Skill India, and a number of other projects, the PM has now launched the Startup India project. Understandably, his intention is to elevate India’s image on the global map, and although everyone agrees that he is a man with vision, and I also believe he has a vision, the question some ask is, whether the results of his actions are going in the right direction.

Here is a list of the top 10 public welfare schemes that NDA government, led by Narendra Modi, has launched in 2015:

1. Smart City Mission
2. One Rank One Pension (OROP) schem
3. Skill India:
4. Atal Pension Yojana (APY):
5. Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana:
6.Digital India Programme:
7. Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana:
8. Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana:
9. Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT):
10. Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY): PM Modi’s birthday: Top 10 schemes launched by Narendra Modi in 2015 | Latest News & Updates at Daily News & Analysis

Whether these, and other upcoming projects, will lift India’s global image is no more a question. India is already on the global map under the Modi sarkar. The question that I ask is, whether Industrial growth is all that India has to offer to the world? I believe Modi also knows it well that India has much more to offer than just jobs but he is looking for the right opportunities to do so.

Although India has a rich spiritual culture and a great history of Vedic science, in today’s world, economy and military strength play a vital role when it comes influencing others. Considering this, Modi’s relentless endeavors for a materially developed India is not out-of-place, even from a spiritual point of view. This is true provided India simultaneously continues to work on reintroducing Vedic knowledge across all educational sectors without succumbing to various types of political propaganda. If not, becoming another so-called developed state will be of no real value.

At the same time. with a risk of appearing pro-NDA, I would say it is important that India remains under Modi’s leadership for the next decade or so in order to achieve the higher goal that India is capable of delivering for the benefit of the whole world.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch ‘Start-up India’ movement on Saturday at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi with an agenda to foster growth for entrepreneurship in India. The first session kick started Startup India at 9:30 am with the topic ’21st …Times of IndiaBusiness StandardFinancial Express Start Up India: PM Modi announces Rs 10000 crore dedicated fund for start-ups – Daily News & Analysis

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday kick-started Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious Start-Up India mission at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi. The Start Up India mission to be unveiled on Saturday envisages technology business incubators and …The Indian ExpressFirstpostFinancial Express Start up India: This is the beginning of big bang start up boom in India, says … – The Hindu

Basic issues like getting credit, electricity, paying taxes and resolving insolvency continue to be sluggish and difficult in India. In order to provide an impetus to the Indian entrepreneurial landscape, the Government is readied to launch the Startup …YourStory.comTimes of India Startup India initiative: States laid the groundwork, time for Centre to give … – The Indian Express (blog)

Source: http://mayapurvoice.com/svagatam/why-startup-india-scheme-is-not-enough-for-india/

re is no division between the name and the named”(abhinatvaṁ nāma-nāmīnaḥ). This is certainly the Gauḍīya conclusion, but it does not mean that the name is just a sound with no meaning. It means that the the sound of the word is intrinsic to and inseparable from its meaning.

If the true Gauḍīya attitude is that name of Krishna has no meaning or is “beyond meaning,” why would the founding ācārya of the Gauḍīya school, Śrī Jīva Goswāmī, explain the meaning of the name in Tattva-sandarbha?

What’s a “Word”?

There is a difference between a sound and a word: a word is a sound that has meaning (viz. Śabda kalpadruma: sa ca dhvanyātmako varṇātmakaś ca).

Nouns are words whose meaning indicates a specific entity (viz. Bhāgavata Sandarbha: mano-grāhya vastuno vyavahārārthaṁ kenāpi saṅketitaḥ śabdo nāmeti).

There are two types of nouns, (1) those temporarily associated with the entity they identify, and (2) those intrinsically connected to the entity they identify. (Śabdaśakti Prakāśikā: ājānikaś cādhunikaḥ saṅketo dvividho mataḥ)

An example of the first type, if you call a person “Joe” long enough the word “Joe” comes to identify the person. This is a temporary, created association. An example of the second type is to name a town “Little Falls” because it is by a river with a small waterfall. Or to name a girl Summer because she was born in the summer and has a very warm personality. This is a natural association between the name and the named.

Eternal Descriptors of Eternal Entities

There are two types of nouns intrinsically connected to the entity they identify. The first consists of nouns like Little Falls and Summer – nouns relating to temporary entities. The second consists of nouns like “Krishna” “Hare” and “Rāma” – nouns relating to eternal entities. In the second case, the connection between the noun and the entity it names is eternal, and thus the name and the named are inseparable.

It is not an aparādhā to say that the name of Krishna is a word. It is an aprādhā to say it is an ordinary word, a sound temporarily associated with some meaning. If the name of Krishna was not a word it would not be called a “name.” The name is not an ordinary word, but it is simply an attempt to appear esoteric to say “the name is not a word,” or “the name is beyond meaning,” when everyone knows that a name is a noun, a noun is a word, and words are sounds that have meaning.

Great devotees like Śrī Gaurakishor and Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu said the name is made of letters. Letters form words. Everyone knows this. Everyone knows the name is a word, but what only the Vaiṣṇava’s know is that the name of Krishna is an “ajanika” word, an eternal noun for an eternal entity, and therefore “Krishna” and Krishna are indivisible (abhinatva).

How to Pronounce an Eternal Word?

Since the name and named are inseparable it stands to perfect reason that we cannot truly access one without the other. We cannot comprehend Krishna without comprehending “Krishna” (the word). And we cannot comprehend “Krishna” without comprehending Krishna. Thus ordinary people have absolutely no access to eternal words, which is why we doubt they even exist. It requires some comprehension of eternality before one can hope to pronounce and hear eternal words in their true form.

Thus we must start our endeavor to clearly understand Krishna. How do we do that? By contemplating śāstra under the guidance of someone who clearly understands śāstra (guru). For Gauḍīya’s the supreme śāstra is Śrīmad Bhāgavatam. So, by contemplating Śrīmad Bhāgavatam under realized guidance, we come to understand something initial about Krishna.

Once we understand something about Krishna, we don’t have to make any extraneous effort to try to think of Radha Krishna while chanting “Hare Krishna.” The entity being named naturally appears along with the sound of the name when it is an ajanika noun and we comprehend something about the entity.

In a sense, this works even with an ordinary noun. When you hear even an ordinary noun, like “Santa Claus,” do you not spontaneously think of christmas, a jolly fat man in a red suit, or whatever else you know or have associated with Santa in your memory? Similarly, if we know a little about Krishna by contemplating Bhāgavatam, then, by hearing “Krishna” we willnaturally become aware of a flute-player with a peacock feather in his hair, who is the root consciousness at the origin of all existence (or whatever it is that we may have learned about Krishna from Śrīmad Bhāgavatam). In this, please note carefully that we are not paying attention to anything besides the name. It is by paying attention to the name that the named (who is inseparable from the name) manifests in the consciousness simultaneously with the sound of the name.

This still is not a direct transcendental realization of “Krishna.” It is not entirely mundane either. It is a mental association created by the guidance we’ve recieved from transcendent sources: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam via Śrī Guru. These glimpses of the meaning of Krishna make it far, far easier to concentrate attentively on “Krishna” without any strange misunderstandings of what “Krishna” indicates.

Attentive, non-misconstrued chanting of “Krishna” is often described as “inoffensive.” It is beyond nāma-aparādhā, significantly closer to the REAL name, śuddha-nāma, not just the sonic counterpart of it, nāmākṣara. Since it is closer to the real name, the real entity named can be more directly perceived in our contemplation of “Krishna.” This allows us to more deeply REALIZE the things we have heard from Bhāgavatam’s ślokas.

So, hearing Bhāgavatam and chanting Krishna-nāma are symbiotic practices that go hand in hand. One doesn’t fully “work” without the other.

From Śrī Rūpa Goswāmī

I’ll end the post by referring to Śrī Rūpa Goswāmī’s statement:

atha śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhavet grahyam indriyai
sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adah

“Śrī Krishna’s name and so on do not manifest within the reach of our senses. But if one is devotionally inclined, they will certainly manifest of their own accord on our tongue and so on.”

Sri Rupa says here that the true name of Śrī Krishna is not something that senses like a tongue can create. The tongue can pronounce the sound “Krishna” but cannot produce the eternal form of the word which is inseparable from Krishna. It is only when one has the proper attitude towards the name that the true name wants to manifest in our chanting, singing, or speaking.

To get a proper attitude towards the name, we have to clearly understand the person being named and our relationship to him. This is why I say that manifestation of the śuddha-nāma (pure, transcendental name) cannot be had without careful bhāgavata-śikṣā (study of the Bhāgavatam from a realized guru). This is why I say we have to strive to comprehend the Bhāgavatam and thus the meaning of “Krishna” so that we can chant more than the external sound “Krishna.”

Vraja Kishor das

www.vrajakishor.com

apareyam itas tv anyāṁ

Tattva Darsi means to see the absolute truth. We get our knowledge from the Vedic literatures. Our mission includes traveling to different schools and festivals in North America and providing books on yoga & meditation. Our home base is in Los Angeles, California. We are a group of monks who live together in a monastery. We have a temple open to the general public with spiritual music (kirtan), philosophy, and vegetarian feasts. Our society is the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, founded by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada.

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This project is to present what we do as traveling monks, and a means to keep in touch with the people we meet both online and on the streets! (Universities, festivals, etc.)

We have been working on this project for almost five months now. Before it was just an idea of “we should make a website..” But now we are in full swing and have gathered content of our lifestyle and are trying to open it up to the general.

Our goal is to share with people the ancient teachings of spiritual India, the Vedas, which according to the Vedas is beyond all material designations. Its a spiritual tradition that has been practiced for thousands and thousands (and thousands) of years by monks, yogis, and spiritual conscious persons all over the world. Anyone can learn the ancient practices of yoga and meditation no matter who you are, or where you come from.

We as traveling monks come from an internation society for Krishna consciousness, founded by our spiritual teacher and guru, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Our guru has transplanted these teaching from the heart of India into the hearts of the western civilization, without compromise of its original spiritual identity. He has brought Bhagavad Gita as it is.

Over the past five thousand years the book Bhagavad Gita has been circulating through the minds of great thinkers and soul seekers around the planet. Which teaches the origins of meditation.

We as monks dedicate our lives to distributing this knowledge to awaken the hearts of today’s society of a meditative, yet practical way of life.

We hope that you would like to join us on our spiritual mission and keep up with us on our adventures throughout North America!

Links: http://www.tattvadarsi.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tattvadarsi108/

Source: http://m.dandavats.com/?p=18386