Along with the change of seasons the month of Kartika has begun, bringing the blessings and mercy of Lord Damodar. Work on the TOVP steadily continues, bringing newer and newer developments and progress towards its completion by 2022.

Source: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=21351

The story goes that Hanuman was sent by Rama to Ayodhya the day before Rama’s arrival as prearranged with Bharat to let the residents of Ayodhya know how Sita and Rama and all Their retinue were returning.

This was five days before Diwali, and after the Vijaya dasami (victory of Rama ) celebration.

THE STORY BEHIND “DIWALI”
King Dashrath ruled the rich and prosperous city of Ayodhya. He had three wives and Kaikayi was his favourite. She saved his life in a war at a very crucial time. Dashrath granted her two favours for saving his life.

Dashrath had four sons. Rama, the oldest, was everybody’s favourite. He was married to the beautiful and devoted Sita. Just before Ram’s coromation, Kaikayi reminded Dashrath of her two favors. She told him to crown Bharat as king and to banish Ram to the jungle for fourteen years. Her wishes were granted.

The old king Dashrath later died of a broken heart. After a few years in the forest, Sita was lured by the demon king Ravana. Rama, with the help of a monkey general, Hanuman, rescued Sita and defeated Ravana. After fourteen years in exile Ram and Sita and returned to Ayodhya.

It is in Their honor that “Diwali” is celebrated. “Diwali” signifies the victory of good over evil.

Today in India for Diwali all the shops are decorated brightly. Many people make “rangoli” in their house or outside. They are filled to capacity in this festive season. Everybody buys new things and decorates their homes. People visit their friends and relatives and give them sweets. On Diwali friends come over for the whole day and relatives come and go. Everyone has a wonderful time celebrating the return of Sita and Rama. Thus Diwali has become a day when all the sad things of the past are forgotten and happy times are remembered.

DIWALI FESTIVAL: 10th October. 1968,
(Letter from Srila Prabhupada to Hamsadutta dasa written from Seattle., Letters book Vol 1. p.549.)

Diwali ceremony can be observed in the temple by illuminating 100?s of candles, indifferent parts of the temple, and offering a special Prasad to the Deity. This ceremony was observed by the inhabitants of Ayodhya, the Kingdom of Lord Ramachandra, while Lord Ramachandra was out of His Kingdom due to His 14 years banishment by the order of His father. His younger step-brother Bharat, took charge f the Kingdom and the day on which Lord Ramachandra took back the charge again from His brother, and seated on the throne, this is observed as Diwali, and Deepabali. Deepabali means the same thing – Deepa means candles, and bali means numerous. When numerous candles are lighted it is called Deepabali. In India, this Deepavali function is celebrated in a special auspicious occassion. This Deepabali function can be observed on 21st October, and Prasad can be distributed on 22nd October, during daytime, which is known as Govardhan Puja and Annakuta Ceremony. In India, in all Vaishnava temples, this ceremony is observed and 100?s of people are given prasadam according to the capacity of the temple. So I understand that last year the Deepabali ceremony was held in the temple, and there was collection of $130.00. So you can do the needful. Hope you are all well.

Your Ever Well Wisher.
A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami.

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

As you may know, on October 23 at his residence at New Govardhan farm, Australia, Mukunda Goswami suffered a hip fracture and was rushed to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with a massive heart attack. On October 26 he underwent a triple bypass heart surgery followed on October 30 by a hip surgery.

By the good wishes of devotees and Srila Prabhupada’s mercy, Mukunda Goswami is making a slow but steady recovery from these two operations.

While in ICU he was looked after 24/7 by a team of doctors and nurses to make sure that his vital functions were restored. Their particular concern was Maharaja’s lungs (risk of pneumonia) from extended confinement to bed due to the hip fracture as well as possible clotting. Therefore the day after the hip surgery physiotherapists started gently but forcefully encouraging Maharaja to sit up and then to put weight on his legs and walk with the support of a frame. This was (and still is) very painful for Maharaja, but is paramount for his recovery.

On November 2 Mukunda Maharaja was shifted from ICU to back to a single room in the Acute Coronary Care Unit (CCU), where his operating cardio surgeon, orthopedic surgeon  and medical team daily check on him.  Mukunda Maharaja’s medical condition is improving, although he still is in a lot of pain, aggravated by the need to sit up in a chair for his lungs rather than lie down in bed. He sticks to his regimen of regular deep breathing, arm, chest and leg exercises. Today's examination revealed less crepitation in his lungs as compared to Monday. As a doctor joked, “you have to dance for us before we can let you go”, and Mukunda Maharaja, assisted by his servants, is determined to dance.

Maharaja has increased his food and liquid intake, much to the relief of the doctors and devotees, as another concern with Maharaja’s post-operative condition was his undernourishment, low hemoglobin, low protein and anemia. Maharaja’s senior disciples Krsna-kirtana Prabhu, his good wife Malini Dasi (who both have a lot of hospital experience) and a few other devotees prepare prasadam according to Maharaja’s dietary needs and taste, which Krsna-kirtana Prabhu personally serves (or sometimes lovingly administers) to Maharaja every morning and noon. This includes hot milk, fruit, high-protein whey drinks, home-made nut and wholegrain bread, as well as mung-dalh soup for lunch. Even though the hospital provides Mukunda Maharaja with vegetarian diet, he shuns it, remarking to the nurses on several occasions “Hare Krishna food is much better than the hospital food” – to which they cannot help but agree.

Whenever he can, Mukunda Maharaja is chanting japa on his clicker and listens to Srimad Bhagavatam read out to him by attending devotees. He also showed keen interest in Shyamasundara Prabhu’s newly published book Chasing Rhinos with the Swami, remarking in jest that this might not be the most politically correct title for the environment-conscious Australians.

If he maintains the same recovery pace, in a few days or so Mukunda Maharaja will be shifted to a rehabilitation facility at Murwillumbah hospital near New Govardhan farm and, if his rehabilitation is successful, we can expect to have him discharged and home in a couple of weeks after that. Maharaja has also specifically reiterated “Please no visitors at this stage”, so devotees have been very respectful of his privacy.

In the meantime, devotees are preparing his rooms at the farm for his special needs. The other day the tiled floor in his bedroom, bathroom and study, on which the fateful slip almost two weeks ago occurred, was treated by floor grip specialists to make it safer to walk on. Plans are to construct a ramp to the bedroom for Maharaja's easier access, arrange for a medical bed and chair, hand rails, replace all of his socks with non-slip ones with rubberized soles, and install an alarm system which would allow Maharaja to call for assistance around the clock.

We express our deepest gratitude to the devotees around the world who offered their financial assistance for making these necessary arrangements for Maharaja’s residence.

We will post the next detailed update on Mukunda Goswami’s recovery in a few days as more relevant information becomes available. In the meantime, you can get brief live updates on his condition at the dedicated Twitter account: 
https://twitter.com/Mukunda_Goswami

More than anything, we remain dependent on the prayers and good wishes of the many Mukunda Maharaja’s Godbrothers and sisters, well wishes, friends and followers around the world so Maharaja can be back to his regular happy mobile self.

On behalf of Mukunda Goswami’s disciples and followers,

your servant,
Madana-mohan das

Answers by HH Romapada Swami

How to give up doer mentality?

Q: How should we understand that ultimately we are not the doer of our activity? How to keep this understanding always and work, because many times when we work we often get carried away thinking that actually I’m the doer (and it appears to be so)?

Answer: With some introspection, guided by spiritual intelligence from Bhagavad-Gita, we can recognize that we are not the ultimate doer.

“In Bg 18.14, Krishna explains that there are five factors of action, only one of which is our self, the others being the senses and instruments, the field of action, the different endeavors and ultimately the Supersoul. As said above, everything required for performing an activity, including our own intelligence and strength comes from Krishna. Our independent will constitutes one of the factors, but we are miniscule and dependent on the Lord for every movement and can act only under His sanction. Thus, with a little introspection, we can understand that we are not the cause or doer. We may be an immediate or intermediate cause, but the ultimate doer is Krishna.

See also BG 5.14 (“The embodied spirit, master of the city of his body, does not create activities, nor does he induce people to act, nor does he create the fruits of action. All this is enacted by the modes of material nature.”) Material nature is creating the fruits of all material activities, not the soul. We have the capacity to perform work, we make various endeavors, material nature creates results…and material nature works under Krishna’s direction (BG 9.10).”

To maintain this consciousness while working in the field of our activities, however, takes devotional practice — by increasingly recognizing our insignificance and cultivating a mood of dependence on Krishna in doing our activities. When we practice doing every activity in the mood of a servant, simply as an order-carrier of Guru and Krishna – from simple things as chanting or cleaning to executing occupational duties, discussing philosophy or interacting with colleagues – this internal cultivation strengthens the realization of our totally dependent position.

While doing so it will become increasingly evident that the result derived from work done in such a mood of surrender and dependence is perceptibly much different from the result obtained by acting in the mood of doer, in terms of what effect it has on our own consciousness and also upon the environment and others around us. When acting according to scriptural direction, under the guidance of the Lord’s representatives, and for the purpose of pleasing the Lord – you will begin to see that such actions are uplifting, liberating and beneficial for all, while you are simply being an instrument, personal qualifications/disqualifications notwithstanding.

In contrast, when acting under the impression that ‘I’m the doer’, under the influence of false-ego, what is really happening is that we are being completely conducted by the modes of nature – be it goodness, passion or ignorance (Bg 3.27 http://vedabase.net/bg/3/27/en); consequently the results are also completely controlled by the modes, not in our control. This personal realization reinforces our recognition of the fact that we are not the doer but simply an instrument, fully under the control of either the modes of nature or the internal potency of devotion, depending upon our desire or freewill disposition.

In summary, by acting in a mood of service under the guidance of realized devotees, we can become free of the false sense of doer-ship. By adopting the mood of humble service, Krishna provides us with ample yet gradual realization of this important spiritual reality.

Source: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=1941

By Madhava Smullen

It’s not something you see every day.

A group of young girls and boys are huddled in the middle of the temple hall, some shocked and some cheering. They’re looking unbelievingly at the particularly effulgent boy at their center as he lifts an impossibly heavy burden.

The young boys and girls might be made of cardboard, but their emotion and the divine pastime they’re portraying shines through as if it’s really there. The hill Lord Krishna’s lifting, fashioned out of cloth by artist Laksmana Dasi, looks like it weighs a ton. And above it, hanging high above the the temple hall, the demigod Indra grips a dark cloud and peers over the edge as shimmering icicle lights make it look as if it’s really raining through flashes of lightning.

It must be Govardhana Puja at New Vrindaban.

Coming up on Thursday November 12th this year, the festival will see residents and visiting devotees absorb the Vrindavana atmosphere the makeshift hill creates during the morning program. They’ll also be invited to bring their own home Govardhana Silas to worship on the temple altar for the day. Then, around noon, they’ll head out for parikrama of the real life-sized Govardhana Hill outside.

“I am hopeful that our New Vrindaban will be an exact replica of Vrindaban in India,” Srila Prabhupada wrote to his early disciples, adding, “The hills may be renamed as New Govardhana. And if there are lakes, they can be renamed as Syamakunda and Radhakunda.” He later referred to New Vrindaban as “non-different from Vrindavana.”

The devotees attending Govardhana puja this year will get that experience as they begin the hour-and-a-half-long tour by viewing three new dioramas also created by Laksmana, now kept in the temple room but set to be placed on the Parikrama path. They show Uddhava speaking to Lord Krishna’s queens at Kusum Sarovara; Gopalnathji telling Madhavendra Puri in a dream to excavate Him from Govardhana Hill; and the Lord helping Srimati Radharani down from a tree.

Outside in the cool autumn air, the devotees will hear about Lord Krishna’s boat pastimes with the gopis while looking over the mirror-like waters of New Vrindaban’s Kusum Sarovara, where the community’s famous swan boat festivals are held.

Next they’ll hear about Lord Chaitanya and Nityananda’s pastimes as they gaze up at Their 40-foot-tall sculptures. They’ll see and hear the glories of Manasi Ganga; Lalita Kunda, where the aptly named Lalita Gopi Dasi has constructed a beautiful waterfall; and Gopisvara Mahadeva. And they’ll hear how Radha Kunda and Shyama Kunda were created in transcendental competition by the Lord and Srimati Radharani Themselves.

“When they sprinkle the water from the lakes on their heads, many devotees and pilgrims actually have tears in their eyes, because they’re so happy to be in this holiest of places,” says festival organizer and tour guide Gauranataraj Das.

The tour will end with kirtan and a class on the pastimes of Govardhana Hill at Aniyor, where the personification of Govardhana is said to have eaten all the offerings of the Brijabasis and called out, “Aniyor! Aniyor!” (“Bring more!”)

After lunch, the devotees will visit the goshala, where they will decorate Krishna’s beloved cows with maha garlands from the altar. Meanwhile, the children of Gopal’s Garden school will dip their hands in colored dyes and cover the cows with multicolored handprints.

“It’s very fitting to honor mother cow on this day, as Govardhana means ‘where cows find shelter and protection,’” says Gauranataraj.

After 6pm arati, an offering of sumptuous food will be made to the Lord in the shape of Govardhana, with rice, dahl, puris, pakoras, sweet rice, ladhus, rasgulas, sandesh, and burfis all marked with signs and built to represent various holy places on the hill.

“And then there’s the most joyful, big, dancing kirtan around Govardhana Hill,” says ISKCON New Vrindaban president Jaya Krsna Das.

After everyone has finished jumping, spinning, running, laughing and calling out the Holy Name, they’ll sit down to honor a delicious feast, that will surely have everyone crying out, “Aniyor! Aniyor!”

But that’s not all. The festivities will continue on Saturday November 14th, with an extended Govardhana Puja/Diwali event for pilgrims who can’t make it during the week.

As well as all the same activities as on the 12th, this festival will include a special Diwali fire sacrifice to invoke auspiciousness, dramatic retellings of Krishna’s pastimes by award-winning storyteller Sankirtan Das, and the lighting of one thousand lamps for Diwali.

“We put the lamps on plates, which the pilgrims decorate with elaborate rangoli designs,” says Gaurantaraj. “Then we offer the one thousand lamps, and place them all around Srila Prabhupada and in front of Their Lordships. They create such a serene atmosphere and beautiful spectacle.”

Finally, the day ends with a sparkling firework display in the night sky.

“This festival reminds us that we also have Govardhana here at New Vrindaban, and that Govardhana is Krishna Himself,” says Jaya Krsna. “It’s a such a special, joyful, devotional event.”

Source: http://www.brijabasispirit.com/2015/11/07/govardhana-puja-to-uplift-devotees-with-a-mountain-of-sweetness/

New Vraja Mandala is located in Brihuega, dist. Guadalara, central Spain at a distance of about 85km. from the Madrid airport. The property consists of ancient aristocratic buildings and about 300 hectares of land. It has been acquired by ISKCON in 1979 and houses the temple of Sri Sri Radha Govinda Chandra. It is a spiritual community dedicated to the teachings of Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, a nice place to visit for a break. Generally the sun shines and there are nice walks in nature.

Photo Gallery

Bhrigupati Dasa & Bhakta Jay Khush distribute Chinese books @ UCLA. More information at www.bbtfeme.com

The FAR EAST • MIDDLE EAST division of the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust publishes Srila Prabhupada’s books and other BBT titles in fourteen languages of the Pacific Rim and Middle East for distribution in those regions of the world.

As a new Western preaching initiative, BBT FEME is also developing titles specifically for distribution in the Western world to foreign language speakers living within large ethnic  communities, as well as to the many foreign students studying in Western colleges and universities.

The following quotes explain the motivations behind this exciting new venture and Sankirtan opportunity:

Vrindavana: Tonight Vrajavadus Kirtan Group Did Amazing Damodarastam and Kirtan. (Album with photos)
Srila Prabhupada: My heart is always burning in the fire of material existence, and I have made no provisions for getting out of it. The only remedy is hari-nama-sankirtana, the chanting of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra, which is imported from the spiritual world, Goloka-Vrndavana. How unfortunate I am that I have no attraction for this. (Srimad-Bhagavatam, 5.1.22 Purport)

Source: Jagannath Das and Dandavats

By Madhava Smullen

“It was devastating,” says Advaita Das, bowing his head. 

Srila Prabhupada’s Disappearance Day is coming up on November 15th in New Vrindaban. And Advaita, who has been a resident since the early 1970s, is reliving the day in 1977 when he and the other devotees at Prabhupada’s first farm community heard the news of his passing.

“We had had a couple of false alarms, and we thought it was all going to be okay. We weren’t going to lose Prabhupada. Then the news hit, and it was like coming out of the fourth round pumped and ready to go, and taking a right cross to the head.”

Advaita recalls snow falling softly outside as the devotees chanted Je Anilo Prema Dhana, everyone sobbing openly as they sang. Even as they mourned, however, they planned a celebration of chanting, dancing, and feasting; for a pure devotee’s passing on to be with Krishna eternally is also a cause for rejoicing.

“I remember walking down to the outdoor kitchens we called ‘the pits’ to cook with everybody,” Advaita says. “We were heartbroken, yet simultaneously kind of ecstatic. It was such a mix of emotions.”

Devotees fasted all that day, and in the evening spoke their remembrances of Srila Prabhupada at his Palace, which, at that time, they were still building as a home for him. They had spent the day beautifully decorating his Vyasasana in fall colors, and his picture smiled out from it – the same place where his murti now sits. After offering him a huge feast and honoring the prasadam, they then chanted kirtan throughout the night. 

Varshana Swami, another longtime resident, had an experience similar to Advaita’s.

“It was dark outside -- there were no lights installed inside the Palace at that time,” he says. “And it was the darkest night for us. We were all crying and faltering, and the devotees were literally holding one another up. We felt so weak. How could we go on without Srila Prabhupada?”

As they chanted together throughout the night, their mood of separation intensified beyond anything they had ever experienced before. Devotees were ready to give up their lives for Prabhupada. And then, suddenly, at around three in the morning, the mood shifted.

“We were borne aloft on a tide of perennial joy,” says Varshana Swami. “The devotees could not contain their ecstasy as they danced in jubilation throughout the night. We talked to each other, and the experience had been unanimous: we had never felt so close to Srila Prabhupada before.”

This, according to Varshana Swami, was Srila Prabhupada’s final lesson: that the deepest sacrament of the Gaudiya Vaishnava siddhanta is service in separation – a relationship which never ends.

Ever since, devotees at New Vrindaban have been observing Srila Prabhupada’s Disappearance day in a similar way – with chanting, remembering, and feasting – and trying to develop that relationship in a deeper and deeper way.

This year is no different. Community residents as well as devotees from nearby cities like Pittsburgh and Columbus will gather for this special, intimate festival, beginning with a Bhagavatam class on Srila Prabhupada’s contributions and teachings at 8:00am.

At 10:30am, there will be bhajans, remembrances and homages to Srila Prabhupada by his disciples and grand disciples; and at 1:00pm, pushpanjali, guru puja and kirtan in Radha-Vrindabanchandra’s temple room.

Then, at 1:30pm, a sumptuous feast offered to Srila Prabhupada will be served. It will be prepared amongst others by Advaita, who put all the love in his heart into cooking something special for Prabhupada on that momentous day back in 1977, and will do the same on November 15th this year. He’ll be joined by many of the friends he cooked with at Srila Prabhupada’s Appearance and Disappearance Day festivals over the years at New Vrindaban, including his wife Madri, Sudhanu and his wife Lajjavati, Tejoymaya Das, and perhaps Kuladri and his wife Kutila too.

 “It’s always the best feast of the year,” says festival organizer Vrindavana Das. “They’re so delectable, absolutely mouth-watering. I can never forget those feasts!”

From 6 to 8:30 in the evening, the Brijabasis will gather at Srila Prabhupada’s Palace, just as they did back on that transformational night in 1977.

“The Palace is Srila Prabhupada’s home, and everyone feels so connected with him there,” says Vrindavana. “So the memories shared there are especially sweet and moving. You can really feel Prabhupada’s greatness through the stories about how he was able to relate to each devotee differently based on their mood and relationship with him. For younger devotees like myself, who didn’t have personal association with Srila Prabhupada, it’s really inspiring to hear how he encouraged and motivated his disciples in devotional service.”

And ultimately, that care is the essence that senior devotees like Advaita would like to see carried over from earlier festivals to today’s celebrations of Prabhupada’s appearance and disappearance.

“That’s what the devotees celebrated in Prabhupada – we all knew that he cared about us,” Advaita says, and the emotion comes through in his voice. “We were wretched creatures, but Prabhupada opened his arms to us. And that’s what made us love Prabhupada.”

“So we need to show real love, real appreciation, real care for the devotees, like Prabhupada showed to us,” he concludes. “And that’s what will revive the community spirit that made those early festivals so special.”

Source: http://www.newvrindaban.com/newvrindaban/node/564

n Kapila’s discussion with his mother, he explains that the primary inspiration for bhakti comes from realizing one’s true self as a luminous consciousness, and realizing that, like all luminous things, the true self extends from a light-source, a Super-self – “paramātmā.”

Recently I was sharing this with a fairly large audience, and someone asked me for a practical suggestion on how to realize our true self as pure consciousness.

Kapila himself answers the same question by suggesting that we trace all our perceptions to their root, thereby  separating the obersever from the observed and from the instruments of observation, and thus isolating the true self as the essence of observation – pure consciousness. For example, whenever we see anything there is an object being seen, there is the eye which sees it, there is the power of vision, and there is the intellect recognizing the visual information – but beyond them all, at the root of them all, is the actual observer – the luminosity casting light on all experiences. That luminous consciousness is the root of who we are. And when we realize this, we realize that our true self-interest lies not in external manifestations of our self, but in the ultimate root source of our luminosity, the Supreme Entity – whom we begin to realize in three stages – as brahman, paramātmā, and ultimately as Bhagavān. 

While explaining this I expressed that such concepts shouldn’t be too difficult for us to grasp, since after all most of us chant some significant number of Hare Krishna mantra every single day and should therefore have strong “yogic muscles” in our powers of perception – unless of course we are not really chanting, but are routely checking off “rounds” muttered as we drive to work, cook supper or daydream with our legs crossed.

Now I would like to try to share a few more thoughts about how chanting the Hare Krishna mantra as a daily meditation naturally and automatically invokes direct realization of the self as pure consciousness.

Chanting

Concentration is the essence of chanting (mantra japa / nāma-japa). As the founder of the modern Hare Krishna movement famously advised in regard to chanting, “just hear.” To hear, to concentrate, first we have to agree not to “hear” or concentrate on 10,001 other things. This is why, in the classical eight-step approach to meditation, “giving up” (pratyāhāra) immediately proceeds “grasping” (dharana) . First we must clear a space in the room, then we can bring some new furniture in. Even to read this article, first you must decide not to read, watch, hear, or do something else with your time. Concentration on one thing necessitates letting go of other things.

So, mantra-yoga is a simple-yet-difficult thing. All you have to do is hear some words, that’s simple. But it turns out to be difficult because it’s not at all easy to stop concentrating on all the things that preoccupy or hearts and mind throughout the other 20 ~ 23 hours of the day.

Letting go of these other thoughts in favor of clearly hearing the words of the Hare Krishna mantra is like trying to let go of bubblegum in our hair, or tar-and-feathers. It’s practically impossible to do it consistently unless we realize that we are not really related to the things that distract us. In other words, to concentrate we have to realize that we are pure consciousness.

In fact, the effort to let go of distractions and concentrate on the nāma-mantra is the very thing that will cause us to realize ourselves as pure consciousness!

Physical Distractions

The first category of distractions comes from physical realities, like being sick, or hungry. Or, as is far more common, we may be riddled with countless anxieties related to our physical necessities – like the extremely stressful reality of needing sufficient food, clothing, shelter and so on for ourselves or for our dependents. No yoga (bhakti or otherwise) asks us to ignore these responsibilities or abruptly set them aside forever. But we do have to set them aside for a few minutes or perhaps hours while we do our nāma-japa. Yet even this proves to be so difficult!

Some people give up and cover their tracks by inventing new outlooks on chanting, as if it was supposed to be for addressing these concerns – like it is a time to “pray” to God about our worries and wants. Yes, prayer is certainly an important spiritual practice, and expressing ones worries and wants is one valid type of prayer – but nonetheless prayer is a different practice than chanting. Prayer is vandana. Chanting is śravaṇa-kīrtana-smarana.

When we sit for nāma-japa (the most powerful and pure of all spiritual practices) we have to set aside our physical anxieties. There is no way around it. Yes, it is a completely exhausting effort to do so mantra after mantra, “round” after “round,” day after day, year after year, but this effort in itself is the main thing that causes us to truly realize, “I am not this body.”

We will not get anywhere in spiritual progress if we give up on this front-line.

Emotional Distractions

The second category of distractions come from emotional states. Feeling happy or distressed about various goings on prevents us from being able to “just hear” the divine names. In my experience, the biggest monster among these distractions is the angry and sad feelings associated with being insulted. I think this is why Mahāprabhu made a big point to say amāneṇa mānadena kīrtaniya sadā hariḥ (“we will chant ‘Hari’ constantly when don’t expect respect and always try to respect others).

When we let go of feelings associated with external goings on, we can then hope to invest our feelings into our chanting effort. Only then will we be able to more truly interact with Krishna in the form of his name. This effort itself is the main thing that grants the realization, “I am not this mind.”

Intellectual Distractions

The third category of distractions comes from our intellect. We like to figure things out and explain them to others. This includes the problems of life that we are trying to unravel, but also extends insidiously into trying to figure out and explain spiritual philosophy and practice. It is important to figure out and explain such things – but that is for our study time, not our chanting time.

For me this is a big problem, to be honest. Even while chanting, as soon as I get some rare, small realization I slip down to the intellectual level and start figuring out how to conceptualize it in words so I can explain it to others.

Our effort here must be to set aside (or at least postpone) the intellectual busy-work of trying to solve life’s mysteries, as well as our attempts to intellectualize our own interaction with the mantra. This is a difficult, subtle job, but the effort  is the primary thing that will allow us to realize, “I am not this intellect.”

Ego (Ambition) Distractions

“Ego” is a translation for the Sanskrit ahaṁkāra. Literally that word means “I do.” It is the ambition of wanting to do things. “I will understand and explain this and that” is an intellectual byproduct of ego. “I will experience and enjoy this or that feeling” is an emotional application of ego. “I will secure this or that resource” is a physical application.

All of the distractions are rooted here. And this is good news, really, because it means that despite becoming subtler and more slippery, the distractions by and large become easier to set aside as we progress up the categories. By setting aside physical distractions we have made progress towards setting aside our emotional relationship with those things, which also means we’ve made progress setting aside the distractin needs to understand and solve various problematic situations. So, by the time we get around to directly concentrating on the distraction of ego, its already lost most of its power to distract.

Without Distraction :: Pure Consciousness

When we are free from these four distractions, we can really chant. Freedom from these distractions requires freedom from physical, emotional, intellectual, and ambition-based self-concepts. The effort to chant attentively,  therefore, makes us experience ourselves as what we really are: pure consciousness. No separate endeavor is really necessary.

If I am not this body, not these feelings, not those thoughts, and not these ambitions… then what am I? The very act of chanting without distraction reveals the answer – I am concentration. I am attention. I am consciousness, pure consciousness. 

In the Gītā (18.54), Krishna calls this realization of self, brahma-bhūta. And says that it is the foundation on which bhakti for him can truly exist. Chanting attentively, accordingly, swiftly gives rise to ruci (genuine taste for things related to Krishna), which blossoms into asakti (fervent interest in Krishna), which makes the heart capable to attract and contain the divine mercy of true, living, experiential bhakti – bhāva-bhakti.

Vraja Kishor das
Books and more available at www.vrajakishor.com

Source: https://vicd108.wordpress.com/2015/11/09/the-yoga-of-chanting/

By Basu Ghosh Das

ISKCON is about to begin a grand construction project at holy Jagannath Puri, on 18 acres of land at Sipasirubuli, located near the Sea Beach on the Southwest side of the town.

Project Director and Temple President Vanamali Prabhu wishes to invite all ISKCON devotees to attend the function, that will take place on the morning of Sunday, November 29, 2015, starting at 7:00 AM, corresponding to Margashira Krishna Chaturti.

Sriman Krishna Chaitanya Das of the Bhaktivedanta Academy (Mayapur Gurukula), and a group of students will perform the bhumi puja -- worship of the earth -- rituals and installation of Ananta Shesh on  the site of the proposed temple on the ISKCON Puri property.

ISKCON sannyasis Jayapataka Swami, Lokanath Swami, Bhakti Purushottam Swami, Bhakti Gaurav Narayan Swami, Bhakti Ashray Vaishnav Swami, and Gauranga Prem Swami are expected to attend.

Senior ISKCON devotees, members of the Puri Project Committee, Bhaktarupa Das, Project Chairman Devakinandan Das, Vice Chairman Braja Hari Das, Gaur Nitai Das, and Secretary Basu Ghosh Das are all expected to be present at the function.

The function will be held towards the conclusion of the annual Sri Kshetra Parikrama organized by Bhakti Purushottam Swami.

More than eight thousand devotees gather annually at Puri for the Parikrama. It has been organized for several years now and is usually a grand success.

Mahaprasad will be distributed to all after the function.

The Puri project on this large plot of land will consist of a traditional stone temple of Radha Krishna, three guest houses, auditoriums, library, ayurvedic hospital, theistic exhibition, and a five hundred unit "bhakta nivas" (residential accommodation for devotees), that will be made available to ISKCON devotees from all over the world.

A talk by Giriraj Swami on October 24, 2011, in Vrindavan.

In Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Srila Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami says that the pastimes of Lord Caitanya are like a lake with many beautiful lotus flowers, which are love for Krsna- Radha and Krsna. As our acaryas tell us, the Caitanya-caritamrta is perhaps the most important of all the books of the followers of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and on this date thirty-seven years ago, Srila Prabhupada completed his translation of the. I will begin by describing what happened on that morning.

Whenever Srila Prabhupada was in Juhu, he would stay on the top floor of one of the tenement buildings. And every morning just before six o’clock I would walk up the stairs to his room to accompany him on his morning walk. But when another devotee and I went on the day after the Rama-ekadasi, we were surprised to find that the doors were locked. On one side were Srila Prabhupada’s quarters, and on the other side were his staff’s quarters, and both doors were locked. I wasn’t sure what to do, but I gently knocked on both doors. After a minute or two, Prabhupada’s secretary at the time, Harikesa Prabhu, opened the assistants’ door just a bit and said that Srila Prabhupada had completed his translation of Sri Caitanya-caritamrta the previous night and had written the most beautiful glorification of his guru maharaja at the end. Srila Prabhupada was in a very ecstatic mood and had said that we should celebrate by having a feast. So, here is Srila Prabhupada’s glorification of his spiritual master:

CONCLUDING WORDS

Today, Sunday, November 10, 1974- corresponding to the 10th of Karttika, Caitanya Era 488, the eleventh day of the dark fortnight, the Rama-ekadasi- we have now finished the English translation of Sri Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami’s Sri Caitanya-caritamrta in accordance with the authorized order of His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura Gosvami Maharaja, my beloved eternal spiritual master, guide, and friend. Although according to material vision His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura Prabhupada passed away from this material world on the last day of December, 1936, I still consider His Divine Grace to be always present with me by his vani, his words. There are two ways of association- by vaniand by vapuh. Vani means words, and vapuh means physical presence. Physical presence is sometimes appreciable and sometimes not, but vani continues to exist eternally. Therefore we must take advantage of the vani, not the physical presence. The Bhagavad-gita, for example, is the vani of Lord Krsna. Although Krsna was personally present five thousand years ago and is no longer physically present from the materialistic point of view, the Bhagavad-gita continues.

COMMENT by Giriraj Swami

In the very first sentence Srila Prabhupada explains that he took up the translation of Sri Caitanya-caritamrtaunder the authorized order of His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, and the theme of his Concluding Words is the service of the order of the spiritual master. Prabhupada describes how he read in a commentary on the Bhagavad-gita Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura’s statement that the disciple should take up the order of the spiritual master as his life and soul. Srila Prabhupada did that with the orders he received from his spiritual master, and he showed us all by example how we can associate with the spiritual master eternally through the service of the spiritual master’s instructions. This is a very important point, because as Srila Prabhupada says, physical presence is sometimes appreciable and sometimes not, but thevani exists eternally.

CONCLUDING WORDS (continued)

In this connection we may call to memory the time when I was fortunate enough to meet His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada [Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura], sometime in the year 1922. Srila Prabhupada had come to Calcutta from Sridhama Mayapur to start the missionary activities of the Gaudiya Matha. He was sitting in a house at Ulta Danga when through the inducement of an intimate friend, the late Sriman Narendranath Mullik, I had the opportunity to meet His Divine Grace for the first time. I do not remember the actual date of the meeting, but at that time I was one of the managers of Dr. Bose’s laboratory in Calcutta. I was a newly married young man, addicted to Gandhi’s movement and dressed in khadi. Fortunately, even at our first meeting His Divine Grace advised me to preach the cult of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu in English in the Western countries. Because at that time I was a complete nationalist, a follower of Mahatma Gandhi’s, I submitted to His Divine Grace that unless our country were freed from foreign subjugation, no one would hear the message of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu seriously. Of course, we had some argument on this subject, but at last I was defeated and convinced that Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s message is the only panacea for suffering humanity. I was also convinced that the message of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu was then in the hands of a very expert devotee and that surely the message of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu would spread all over the world. I could not, however, immediately take up his instructions to preach, but I took his words very seriously and was always thinking of how to execute his order, although I was quite unfit to do so.

COMMENT

In his youth, Srila Prabhupada was the leader of his friends. So when Narendranath Mullik met Srila Sarasvati Thakura, he also wanted Abhay to meet him and give his verdict. But Prabhupada had not been very impressed with the sadhus he had seen, many of whom had visited his family’s home. So when Narendranath mentioned that he wanted Abhay to meet a sadhu, Abhay thought that this sadhu might be like the others, and he did not really want to meet him. There was a building near where Abhay lived, and in the building a lot of men, single men, would go out in the morning, earn some money, come back in the evening, cook some food and eat, and go to sleep, and then go out again the next morning. Among them was a man who in the morning would put on the saffron dress of a sadhu, go out, collect alms, and then come back, change out of his saffron clothes, and join the others for their evening meal.

So Abhay was skeptical. Later, Srila Prabhupada said that in Kali-yuga intelligent people will be skeptical because there are so many cheaters. So Abhay resisted going, but in the end Narendranath prevailed and Abhay agreed to go with him to meet Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati. When they arrived, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta instructed Abhay to preach the message of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu in the English language to the Western world, and Abhay argued that first India should gain political independence. As Srila Prabhupada said, at the time there was one Bengali poet who lamented that “even uncivilized nations like China and Japan were independent, whereas India was dependent on the British.” So first India should gain independence, he said, and then people would listen to the message of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu seriously. But Srila Bhaktisiddhanta convinced him that political independence and dependence are temporary conditions and that because we are concerned with the eternal benefit of humanity, he should take up this challenge of spreading Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s message. Srila Prabhupada later remarked that in his whole life he had never been defeated in any argument but that he was defeated by his guru maharaja and that he was “very much pleased to be defeated, that ‘This so-called nationalism or any ism is all temporary; the real need is self-realization.’ ”

So, Srila Prabhupada mentions here that he received the instructions and took them to heart and that even though the circumstances were such that he could not immediately execute them, he was always thinking of them and considering how he could. This is another lesson for us- that we may receive an instruction from the spiritual master and due to circumstances not be able to execute it immediately, but we should always keep it in our heart and think how to execute it, wait for an opportune moment to take it up, and pray for that opportunity.

I had an experience with Srila Prabhupada that illustrates this principle. We were with His Divine Grace in Gorakhpur as guests of Sri Hanuman Prasadji Poddar of the Gita Press and were staying in the estate that had been his personal residence, Sri Krishna Niketan. Srila Prabhupada had received a new issue of Back to Godhead magazine, which happened to contain an article I had written. He called for me and said, “I read your article in Back to Godhead. It was very nice. You should write. This is your first business. . . . So you travel with me, and I will guide you.”

We didn’t have computers in those days; in fact, very few people in India even had typewriters. If we needed something typed, we would go to a courthouse and find someone out front with a typewriter and pay him to type whatever we needed. So, I went out and I bought some lined paper and some pens and pencils to begin my writing.

A few days later, my senior godbrother Hamsadutta Prabhu told Srila Prabhupada that he wanted to begin his world traveling sankirtana party and wanted me to be on his party. Srila Prabhupada agreed. At first I was a little disappointed, because I was looking forward to traveling with Srila Prabhupada and receiving his writing instruction. But I had faith that whatever Srila Prabhupada said and did was for the ultimate good of all concerned. If he wanted me to go with Hamsadutta, wanted to fulfill Hamsadutta’s request that I go with him, then that must be what was best. So, we went to Agra and Aligarh, and then Hamsadutta got a telegram from Srila Prabhupada: “ORGANIZING BIG PANDAL PROGRAM BOMBAY. COME WITH PARTY IMMEDIATELY.”

In Bombay, Srila Prabhupada’s very senior disciple Syamasundara Prabhu was the temple president and was in charge of the pandal program. He held a meeting with all the devotees to divide up the services. He wanted me to collect, to raise funds for the pandal program. I said, “Srila Prabhupada instructed me to write. He said I should take up writing as my main business.” “You can write anytime,” Syamasundara Prabhu replied, “but this is the one time we can walk into any big man’s office in Bombay and ask for an ad for our souvenir. So you should do this now, and then after the pandal you can write.” I thought about what Syamasundara Prabhu had said, and it made sense. And I thought about Srila Prabhupada’s instruction that we should cooperate with our authorities. So I agreed.

After a few weeks, Srila Prabhupada joined us in Bombay. It was a great occasion of jubilation, and as would usually happen when he arrived, he went into his room, and all the devotees crowded in, and he looked around and glanced affectionately at them and exchanged some words with them. It was a blissful family feeling. When he came to me, he said, “So, Giriraj, how is your writing going?” I was so flustered I didn’t know what to say. Then he said, “Okay, we’ll speak later.”

Shortly thereafter, alone with me in the room, Srila Prabhupada again asked about my writing, and I explained what Syamasundara Prabhu had said and how I had thought that it made sense and how I knew that Prabhupada wanted us to cooperate with our authorities, but I was apprehensive, because I wasn’t sure whether or not I had understood and acted correctly. I asked Srila Prabhupada, “Did I do the right thing?” And Prabhupada replied, “One may temporarily suspend the order of the spiritual master, but one should never neglect it.” And he gave his own example: “My guru maharaja also ordered me to write, but I am so busy traveling and preaching all over India, I hardly have time to write. So you can suspend the order of the spiritual master, but you can never neglect it.”

I was elated with Srila Prabhupada’s answer; it was so practical. It didn’t compromise the principle, but it accommodated the fact that circumstances may be such that one is unable to take up a particular instruction at a particular time.

CONCLUDING WORDS (continued)

I could not, however, immediately take up his instructions to preach, but I took his words very seriously and was always thinking of how to execute his order, although I was quite unfit to do so.

In this way I passed my life as a householder until 1950, when I retired from family life as a vanaprastha. With no companion, I loitered here and there until 1958, when I took sannyasa. Then I was completely ready to discharge the order of my spiritual master. Previously, in 1936, just before His Divine Grace passed away at Jagannatha Puri, I wrote him a letter asking what I could do to serve him. In reply, he wrote me a letter, dated 13 December 1936, ordering me, in the same way, to preach in English the cult of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu as I had heard it from him.

COMMENT

Srila Prabhupada said that he was having recurring dreams that his spiritual master was calling him to follow him and preach, and that he would wake up horrified- “How can I take sannyasa and become a mendicant? I cannot accept so much trouble.” He was horrified, but “by his grace I gave up my family life, my so-called business life. And he brought me some way or other in preaching.” Srila Prabhupada said that one of his godbrothers, Sri Srimad Bhakti Prajnana Kesava Gosvami Maharaja, had insisted that he take sannyasa. And when Srila Kesava Maharaja left this world in 1968 and Srila Prabhupada got the news in Seattle, Prabhupada gave a beautiful talk in appreciation of his godbrother and composed a Sanskrit verse in his honor. He said that Srila Bhakti Prajnana Kesava Gosvami Maharaja had forced him to take sannyasa, although he was unwilling, and then added, “Not that my godbrother forced me, but practically my guru maharaja forced me through my godbrother.”

So this is another instruction for us- that we should recognize when our spiritual master is speaking to us through our godbrothers, or in other ways, through many mouths, and if we are humble and in the mood to get instruction from our spiritual master even in his physical absence, we may find that our guru maharaja is speaking to us through others. Srila Prabhupada often took suggestions from friends very seriously, as if hisguru maharaja were sending him instructions.

CONCLUDING WORDS (continued)

After he passed away, I started the fortnightly magazine Back to Godhead sometime in 1944 and tried to spread the cult of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu through this magazine. After I took sannyasa, a well-wishing friend suggested that I write books instead of magazines. Magazines, he said, might be thrown away, but books remain perpetually. Then I attempted to write Srimad-Bhagavatam. Before that, when I was a householder, I had written on Srimad Bhagavad-gita and had completed about eleven hundred pages, but somehow or other the manuscript was stolen. In any case, when I had published Srimad-Bhagavatam, First Canto, in three volumes in India, I thought of going to the USA. By the mercy of His Divine Grace, I was able to come to New York on September 17, 1965. Since then, I have translated many books, including Srimad-Bhagavatam, Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu, Teachings of Lord Caitanya (a summary), and many others.

COMMENT

So, Srila Prabhupada took the advice of his well-wishing friend to write books. Prabhupada had another well-wishing friend, in Bombay, Mr. Brijratan Mohatta, and Mr. Mohatta suggested to him that he include a section of the Bhagavad-gita in each issue of Back to Godhead magazine, and Srila Prabhupada took that, too, as a good instruction. Instead of serializing the Bhagavad-gita, he decided to serialize Srimad-Bhagavatam, but that idea came from Mr. Mohatta.

CONCLUDING WORDS (continued)

In the meantime, I was induced to translate Sri Caitanya-caritamrta and publish it in an elaborate version. In his leisure time in later life, His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura would simply read Sri Caitanya-caritamrta. It was his favorite book. He used to say that there would be a time when foreigners would learn the Bengali language to read the Caitanya-caritamrta. The work on this translation began about eighteen months ago. Now, by the grace of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, it is finished. In this connection I have to thank my American disciples, especially Sriman Pradyumna dasa Adhikari, Sriman Nitai dasa Adhikari, Sriman Jayadvaita dasa Brahmacari, and many other boys and girls who are sincerely helping me in writing, editing, and publishing all these literatures.

COMMENT

Srila Prabhupada would usually take rest around ten o’clock and get up around midnight and translate (while we young boys and girls were fast asleep), working until his morning walk. And if possible, he would translate again later in the day. He did it for us. So, to reciprocate his effort for us, his compassion for us, we should all read his books. He made the superhuman effort to translate the books for us, and it is our duty to read them.

CONCLUDING WORDS (continued)

I think that His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura is always seeing my activities and guiding me within my heart by his words. As it is said in Srimad-Bhagavatam, tene brahma hrdaya adi-kavaye [SB 1.1.1]. Spiritual inspiration comes from within the heart, wherein the Supreme Personality of Godhead, in His Paramatma feature, is always sitting with all His devotees and associates.

COMMENT

We often hear that Krsna is in the heart- sarvasya caham hrdi sannivisto- but this is a confidential explanation of what that means. Krsna is in the heart, but He is not alone; He is sitting in the heart along with His devotees and associates. Here Srila Prabhupada is saying that his guru maharaja is always seeing his activities and guiding him by his words within his heart. We’ve discussed that Srila Prabhupada kept the orders of the spiritual master in his heart, and one can say that he was guided by his spiritual master, who was in his heart, through the instructions he had received during his spiritual master’s manifest presence. But here Prabhupada hints that his spiritual master is also present in the heart along with Krsna and that he too can speak from there.

But it is not so easy to hear the spiritual master within the heart. In the fourth canto of Srimad-Bhagavatamthere is a story about a king and his wife who went to the forest as vanaprasthas. Eventually the king passed away, and his grieving wife wanted to enter the funeral pyre with her husband’s body, to give up hers as well. Srila Prabhupada explains that figuratively the king is the spiritual master and the wife is the disciple and that just as the wife was ready to give up her life in the absence of her husband, the disciple should be prepared to lay down his or her life to execute the will of the spiritual master, and abandon all personal considerations. In other words, a devoted disciple would rather die than fail to execute the spiritual master’s mission. When the queen was ready to give up her life and enter the funeral pyre, a brahmana appeared and pacified her. He said, “I am your old friend” and gave her spiritual instruction. Srila Prabhupada explains that thebrahmana appeared in the absence of the king, of the spiritual master, to give instructions to the disciple. Thebrahmana is actually a manifestation of the Supersoul. Srila Prabhupada asks, “The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Paramatma, appeared before the queen as a brahmana, but why didn’t He appear in His original form as Sri Krsna?” And he quotes Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura that unless one is very highly elevated in loving the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one cannot see Him as He is. “Nonetheless, if one sticks to the principles enunciated by the spiritual master, somehow or other he is in association with the Supreme Personality of Godhead.” The Paramatma manifested Himself in the form of a brahmana, or asiksa-guru.

So, we have our spiritual master’s instructions and we have our spiritual master’s personal presence, but when we don’t have the spiritual master’s physical presence, we still want to feel his presence, we still want to be connected with him, and we are still connected with him by following his instructions. Sometimes we don’t know exactly how to follow, or how to apply, his instructions; it can be a puzzle. But if we are in that mood of being ready to die, preferring to die rather than not execute the order of the spiritual master, not prosecute the mission of the spiritual master, without ulterior motives or any other desire, then the spiritual master will make sure that we get the guidance we need to serve him. He will do that for us; Krsna will do that for us.

CONCLUDING WORDS (continued)

It is to be admitted that whatever translation work I have done is through the inspiration of my spiritual master, because personally I am most insignificant and incompetent to do this materially impossible work. I do not think myself a very learned scholar, but I have full faith in the service of my spiritual master, His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura.

COMMENT

Just imagine: Srila Prabhupada translated seventeen volumes in eighteen months- almost one a month. From a material point of view, it was practically impossible, but he did it with full faith in the order of his spiritual master. Srila Prabhupada instructed us in the same spirit in parampara, because he was writing the books but the disciples were lagging behind in their publication. He confronted his leaders in Los Angeles at the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust: “I want the remaining volumes . . .” Two volumes had been printed, maybe three, and he wanted the remaining fourteen to be published within four months- a seemingly impossible task. When Srila Prabhupada said that, Ramesvara Prabhu, who was head of the BBT, said that it was impossible. But Srila Prabhupada replied, “Impossible is a word in a fool’s dictionary.” Still, Ramesvara Prabhu was not convinced. So he asked Srila Prabhupada, “What if we’re not able to do it?” And Srila Prabhupada replied, “Disqualified.” In other words, “If you don’t do it, you are disqualified from your service; we’ll look for someone else.”

So, by Srila Prabhupada’s mercy and potency, the devotees accepted the instruction, took it to heart, and did what they had thought was impossible. They practically stopped eating and sleeping. They would sleep maybe two hours a night, like Prabhupada. And the artists, for example, gave up their false egos and made an assembly line- for the sake of serving Srila Prabhupada. They realized that the fastest way to bring out the paintings was for each artist to do what he or she did best: if one devotee was most expert in conceptualizing, he or she would do the design, and the one who was most expert in drawing people would draw the human forms, and the one who was most expert in painting backgrounds and trees and rivers and flowers would paint those. Each volume had to have many paintings. So the devotees in every department- the Sanskrit department, the editorial department, the typing department- worked cooperatively, without false ego, hardly eating or sleeping, and they did it. And in that process they became very attached to each other- with Srila Prabhupada in the center, Caitanya Mahaprabhu in the center, Krsna in the center. They gave up everything, all thoughts of personal comfort and self-interest, and just served for the pleasure of Srila Prabhupada. And they accomplished the impossible.

CONCLUDING WORDS (continued)

If there is any credit to my activities of translating, it is all due to His Divine Grace.

COMMENT

His Holiness Radhanath Swami has made the point that it was not exactly that Prabhupada wrote the books himself but that it was Krsna- Krsna and His associates, including the spiritual master and in a way the wholeparampara- dictating them to him. Once, in New York, Srila Prabhupada was speaking to a newspaper reporter, and the reporter asked whether Prabhupada received direct communication from Krsna. Ramesvara tried to explain that Krsna gave Prabhupada the intelligence, but Prabhupada countered, “Not necessarily; Krsna tells directly. Not figuratively.”

So we are definitely getting Krsna and the entire parampara through these books. Srila Prabhupada himself would read his books. What mundane author reads his or her own books? He or she will write it, finish it, and then maybe begin another. But Srila Prabhupada would read his own books, and he would relish them, because they were transcendental.

Prabhupada’s servant Sruta-kirti Prabhu said that on a number of occasions when he went into Srila Prabhupada’s room, Prabhupada would be reading one of his books- the Bhagavad-gita As It Is or the Krsnabook. “This literature is so wonderful,” he said, “that if you just read this one book, Krsna, you can become completely Krsna conscious.” Then he said, “You don’t even have to read the whole book; if you just read one chapter, you can become completely Krsna conscious.” And then he said, “You don’t even have to read a whole chapter; if you just read one page, you can become completely Krsna conscious.” And then he said, “You don’t even have to read one page; if you just read one line, you can become completely Krsna conscious.” And finally he said, “You don’t even have to read one line; if you just read one word, you can become completely Krsna conscious”- because these books are Krsna. In these books you get Krsna, you get Caitanya Mahaprabhu, you get the whole parampara.

The same could be said of Srila Prabhupada’s spoken words. In India, he was giving so many programs, was so enthusiastic, that the devotees couldn’t physically keep up. During one day in Amritsar, he gave seven programs. At the final one, he spoke in Hindi. I didn’t understand everything, but I knew many of the verses he was quoting and somehow by his mercy I could follow what he was saying. And I could see that he was relishing the association of the people in the audience and that he was relishing the association of Krsna.

After the program, Srila Prabhupada returned to his quarters. When, a bit later, the rest of us got back, I saw that the light was on in his room and I was curious to know what he was doing. Even though it was late and he had given so many programs, he was still awake. So I crawled up to the window and peeked through, and there was Srila Prabhupada sitting behind his low table on his asana, listening to the recording of the talk he had just given. “Okay,” I thought, “that wasn’t Prabhupada speaking; that was Krsna.” Of course, Prabhupada is included, but that was Krsna. Prabhupada was relishing Krsna; he was relishing associating with Krsna through the words that Krsna had inspired him to speak.

So these books are not ordinary. They are Krsna and the whole parampara, and they have great potency.

Of course, no one can replace one’s personal spiritual master, and the personal presence of the spiritual master is also important; otherwise one might think, “Why do we even need a spiritual master? We could just read Srila Prabhupada’s books.” But after reading the verse in the second chapter of the first canto ofSrimad-Bhagavatam- nasta-prayesv abhadresu nityam bhagavata-sevaya, that by serving the bookBhagavata or the person Bhagavata one gets the same result- a disciple asked Srila Prabhupada, “Yes, one gets the same result, but still, is there some difference? Is one better than the other?” And Srila Prabhupada replied, “The person Bhagavata is better because he can catch you by the ear.” So we need that personal guidance, someone who can catch our ear and set us right. Still, we should recognize and value how substantial vani is and how real the relationship based on vani can be.

CONCLUDING WORDS (continued)

If there is any credit to my activities of translating, it is all due to His Divine Grace. Certainly, if His Divine Grace were physically present at this time, it would have been a great occasion for jubilation, but even though he is not physically present, I am confident that he is very much pleased by this work of translation. He was very fond of seeing many books published to spread the Krsna consciousness movement. Therefore our society, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, has been formed to execute the order of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura.

COMMENT

Srila Prabhupada again returns to the order of his spiritual master and how Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura had wanted many books on Krsna consciousness to be published and distributed. But he also points out that even though his own service of writing and publishing books was in pursuance of his guru maharaja’s order, ISKCON as a whole is also meant to fulfill the order of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta and Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. And in particular here Srila Prabhupada emphasizes the writing and publishing and distributing of transcendental literature.

CONCLUDING WORDS (continued)

It is my wish that devotees of Lord Caitanya all over the world enjoy this translation . . .

COMMENT

How will we enjoy this translation? By reading it. If we don’t read it, we won’t relish it. Srila Prabhupada said, “It is not enough to distribute my books; you should also read them.” Referring to the devotees, he said, “Sankirtana will keep them happy, and reading my books will keep them.”

CONCLUDING WORDS (continued)

It is my wish that devotees of Lord Caitanya all over the world enjoy this translation, and I am glad to express my gratitude to the learned men in the Western countries who are so pleased with my work that they are ordering in advance all my books that will be published in the future. On this occasion, therefore, I request my disciples who are determined to help me in this work to continue their cooperation fully, so that philosophers, scholars, religionists, and people in general all over the world will benefit by reading our transcendental literatures, such as Srimad-Bhagavatam and Sri Caitanya-caritamrta.

COMMENT

The same order is passed on to us through parampara. Srila Prabhupada gave the example of a locomotive- that his guru maharaja was pushing him like a train and similarly he was pushing us and in the future we would push our followers.

CONCLUDING WORDS (concluded)

Thus end the Bhaktivedanta purports to Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, dated November 10, 1974, at the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, Hare Krishna Land, Juhu, Bombay.

COMMENT

Hare Krishna.
Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!

Source: http://www.girirajswami.com/?p=10353

"But here is a tongue given by God. You can utilize it for chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. Don’t miss this opportunity. That chewing facility, tasting facility, you’ll get even in cat’s life, dog’s life. But this chanting facility you’ll not get. This is in this life, human form of life. So don't misuse it. Chant Hare Krishna regularly and be happy."

Initiation Lecture,
December 26, 1969 - Boston

Source: http://www.japagroup.com/2015/10/dont-miss-this-opportunity.html

Seeing an unprecedented number of unscrupulous people going all out to exploit women’s privacy, a few months back we posted a cautionary article in order to assist ladies safeguard their privacy. There are increasing number of reports exposing how, even so-called reputed companies and institutions have failed to protect women’s privacy.

Hidden wireless cameras have become an obnoxious fun-tool for nefarious people, and an earning tool for the porn industry. They install such cameras in women’s change rooms, washrooms, showers, bedrooms and places where ladies are likely to find privacy.

This time, such a spy cam, or hidden camera, has been found in a change room of a Cancer institute (see below).

How to safeguard yourself? Here are a few tips as to where you can look for hidden cameras.

Take a careful look around you and ensure you are not seen by a hidden camera lens that may look like anything else. Wireless spy cams can be installed in places that people hardly notice. For example, one of the two glowing eyes of a cute looking teddy bear could be a camera lens! An apparent LED on an electric or electronic device could be a hidden camera lens. Such cams can also be installed on a power outlet / socket, wireless router, table clock, wall clock, telephone cradle, mosquito repelling device, ceiling fan, in front of a mirror, and so on. There are criminals who install such cameras under wash basins, on shower heads and even on toilet accessories, like tissue holders, and flush tanks.

Considering the tiny size and mobility of such spy cameras, the possibilities to hide them are practically unlimited.

There are some simple tips available at WikiHow on how to find hidden cameras but that is not all. One needs to be alert and vigilant enough to thwart such criminal activities.

There is another trick that is used nowadays to intrude into women’s privacy. It is called a 2-way mirror. These mirrors look like ordinary mirrors but are made in such a way that others can see you but you cannot see them. There have been many cases of people installing 2-way mirrors in female changing rooms or bathroom or bedrooms. It is not easy to identify the surface of the mirror but there are ways to detect it.

Follow these simple steps to detect 2-way mirrors:

1. Place the tip of your fingernail against the reflective surface.
2. If there is a distance or gap between your fingernail and the image of the nail, then it is a normal or genuine mirror. The reason there is a gap on a real mirror is, the silver foil is on the back of the mirror behind or under the glass.
3. If your fingernail directly touches the image of your nail, then hmmm… beware.. it is most likely a 2-way mirror. This means there may be someone seeing you from the other side. The reason there is no gap between the fingernail and its reflection is, with a 2-way mirror, the silver is on the surface itself.

Having known these things, we hope you will be able to help your sisters, mothers, daughters or friends protect themselves from lusty eyes. We recommend you read the previous article in this regard, published on Mayapur Voice, and share it with your dears and peers for their benefit.

Cancer institute orderly held for spy-cam in changingroom – Yahoo News India

A nurse spotted the spy camera in the changing room inside the intensive care unit (ICU) on the third floor and alerted a security guard, said sources. Police have reportedly recovered two obscene video clips from his spy camera, which was installed for around 12 hours, said sources. He said action was taken after the police received a complaint from the hospital administration.

Police have arrested a 30-year-old male orderly of Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute and Research Centre in Outer Delhi’s Rohini on charges of filming women after allegedly putting up spy camera in changing room for nurses.

A nurse spotted the spy camera in the changing room inside the intensive care unit (ICU) on the third floor and alerted a security guard, said sources.

Police have reportedly recovered two obscene video clips from his spy camera, which was installed for around 12 hours, said sources. Police will now try to retrieve deleted data, added the sources. (Cancer institute orderly held for spy-cam in changingroom – Yahoo News India)

Source: http://mayapurvoice.com/svagatam/dont-let-them-steal-your-privacy/

O Krsna! Thakura Bhaktivinoda has warned us that inattention is the main door into the house of aparadhas. O Krsna! Please let me taste some pleasure in Your names, so I can focus my full attention on chanting. May Your holy names become deeply impressed in my mind.

From Art Of Chanting Hare Krsna
by Mahanidhi Swami

Source: http://www.japagroup.com/2015/10/let-me-taste-some-pleasure.html

Have you ever found yourself listening to the evening news, thinking that the godly are disappearing and the faithful have vanished from the earth? I know I have. For me, the worst of all is when people I trust go bad. I don’t expect much from those who traffic in violence and crime. I don’t even look to celebrities and athletes to be exemplars of morality. But when trusted leaders are found to have done terrible things, especially when those leaders are pastors or priests, I sometimes feel despair saturating my soul.

When things seem to keep on getting worse, many people throw up their hands in defeat. They figure they cannot make a difference in the world, so they choose to live for themselves and their momentary pleasures. Others sink into a pit of cynicism and negativity. Still others find the moral resolve to try and fight back, to stand for goodness in the face of mounting evil. 

Source: http://mayapurvoice.com/svagatam/things-are-getting-worse-this-might-help/

(During the Halloween night harinama party, even the "devils"  and "demons" are dancing.)

ISKCON deevotees in London have been going out to do public harinamas (chanting) every day for decades. The biggest party  has traditionally been the Saturday night harinamas. The procession starts in front of the Soho Govinda's Restaurant, then goes around in the theater and party district in the West End and the famous Chinatown.

On Halloween, Saturday, October 31st, devotees gave the public something to really lift their spirits!

(Krishna Dharma Das keeps everyone's spirit up.)

(Pure bliss in the party district.)

(Chinatown)

Source: http://iskconnews.org/london-devotees-lift-peoples-spirit-on-halloween-night,5191/