ISKCON Desire Tree's Posts (19469)

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NALGONDA: As John Milton famously quoted “The childhood shows the man, as morning shows the day,” students sent a strong message to adults in a subtle yet powerful way that religion need not come in the way of promoting human values in life.

They were participating in a written test on “Bhagavad Gita” at a town hall in Nalgonda on Sunday, organised by the International Society For Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON).

Sowmya, student of class VII in Little Flower School bagged the first prize in juniors category.

Another student from the same school, and belonging to the  Muslim community, Hursa Iram (Class IX) stood second in seniors category.

Sarayu, a Christian, studying class V at the same school stood third among juniors.

Over 7000 schoolchildren across 60 schools, from class VI to class X participated in the junior and senior categories of the competition.

The organisers expressed pleasure on the response.

Source: http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/telangana/Students-Set-Example-of-Religious-Harmony/2016/03/07/article3314342.ece

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Bangladesh Arrests Three Men in Priest’s Beheading – New York Times

DHAKA, Bangladesh — Three men were arrested on Monday in connection with the beheading of the highest-ranking priest of a Hindu temple in northern Bangladesh, officials said. Mohammad Babul Aker, an officer in charge of the Debiganj police station in …Daily Timesswissinfo.chThe Guardian Bangladesh Arrests Three Men in Priest’s Beheading – New York Times

The Early Edition: February 23, 2016 – Just Security

The beheading of a Hindu priest in Bangladesh. Three men have been arrested in connection with the killing on Sunday. Two are involved with a banned militant group, Jama’atul Mujahedeen Bangladesh, and the third with the student wing of Bangladesh’s …The Early Edition: February 23, 2016 – Just Security

Hindu priest beheaded in Bangladesh, Islamic State claims responsibility – Windsor Star

DHAKA, Bangladesh — Three men were arrested Monday in connection with the beheading of the highest-ranking priest of a Hindu temple in northern Bangladesh, officials said. Mohammad Babul Aker, an officer in charge of the Debiganj police station in the … Hindu priest beheaded in Bangladesh, Islamic State claims responsibility – Windsor Star

Source: http://mayapurvoice.com/svagatam/bangladesh-arrests-three-men-in-priest-beheading-case/

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A heart on fire!

(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 21 February 2016, Durban, South Africa, Nityananda’s Appearance Day)

Srila Prabhupada’s spiritual master glorified him greatly for writing a poem in his Vyasa-puja offering and in that poem, one sentence was highlighted by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur. It was, ‘Absolute is sentient thou hast proved, impersonal calamity thou hast removed.’  

The English is a little bit classic and archaic but basically we can simplify it and it means that ‘the Lord has a heart’ and this is at the very core of our movement, that the Lord has a heart! It is said that the devotee is always in the heart of the Lord and the Lord is always in the heart of his devotee, there is a loving exchange.

So the compassion of Lord Nityananda is not an impersonal compassion – some sort of warm, wet blanket of loving feeling for every living species. No, it is very personal. Lord Nityananda gives causeless mercy to those who do not deserve it and even then, if they do not respond still he is loving. But when they start to respond, his heart goes on fire! ‘Absolute is sentient thou hast proved, impersonal calamity thou hast removed.’  Lord Nityananda has a heart and his heart is very deep and the love in his heart is very deep as he reciprocates with his devotees.

His mercy is causeless so it reaches out to whoever is in his reach, but whoever responds is showered with unlimited greater mercy and Lord Nityananda develops attachment to such a devotee. When the Lord has attachment to us, then you know how it is – when you are attached, your vision becomes covered by emotion, you begin to see things through those feelings, and you cannot see things neutrally any longer. So Lord Nityananda is not neutral! Lord Nityananda is overwhelmed by attachment to his devotees!

I am thinking for a moment of His Holiness Bhakti Tirtha Maharaj who in his final days was embodying that quality of attachment to the devotees. I thought about it – he was entering into such deep loving exchanges and crying in his final days. One might say, ‘Isn’t that attachment?’ Yes, but it was to the devotees – devotees who have somehow or other done service and who are trying so hard, who are such nice people, who are just wonderful people! Lord Nityananda sees in that way, experiences in that way. Therefore we are living in an intimate relationship with Lord Nityananda when we are engaged in devotional service.

Source: https://www.kksblog.com/2016/02/heart-on-fire

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The Adventurous Govardhan Parikrama.

The Adventurous Govardhan Parikrama.

Sutapa das: Yesterday I went on Parikrama, which literally means to “walk around.” Circumambulation of holy places has a symbolic meaning – to always keep our spiritual aspirations central and close, regardless of where we are in life (whatever point on the circle, one is never further away from the centre). There is also a transcendental benefit: anyone who sincerely circles these holy places accrues the conviction and devotion to escape the cosmic cycle of birth and death. Bare footed, and carrying the bare necessities, I set off, trying to keep a spiritual meditation in mind.
An hour into my journey, a local resident whizzed past me. Half my size and double my age, but somehow walking at twice my speed! How was it possible? Not to be defeated (as if it was a race anyway), I upped my tempo. At this point I was practically running, but he was effortlessly pulling away. As he floated ahead into the morning mist, I wanted a glance of his face. I was waiting, praying for him to look back – who was this man? He eventually disappeared out of sight, and never looked back even once. He was totally focused on the path ahead.
Residents of these holy places, we are told, are not ordinary souls. They travel light, with few attachments, speeding towards spiritual perfection. They’ve closed all their chapters, tied up their worldly concerns, and now invest everything in their cherished spiritual aspirations. They don’t look back. Yes, I thought, maybe I’m not moving as fast as I’d like because I’m still looking back. Looking back to see if I’m missing out on something. Looking back and regretting actions and decisions of the past. Looking back to see what people think of me, preoccupied with public opinion, image, name and fame. Looking back to see how everyone else is doing, continually comparing my progress to others and competing with the world. In this way we continually look back, and unknowingly slow down our progressive march forward.
I resolved to not look back for the rest of my walk. It helped, and I prayed that ‘not looking back’ will become a deeper meditation in my life. Oh, and I did indeed meet that mystical man again. A half hour down the road he was sitting on a wooden bench sipping coconut water. He had finished his circuit, while I still had a good few hours left. He smiled, and I smiled back, folding my hands in respect. Gracefully and humbly, he returned the gesture. It was touching. I walked off and wondered who he was… a small man, but likely a spiritual giant.
Read more: https://sutapamonk.wordpress.com/

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A devotee cooks prasadam to be served by Food For All

Around fifteen ISKCON devotees brought the sound of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra and the taste of sanctified vegetarian food to a huge anti-nuclear march in London on February 27th.

It was Britain’s biggest anti-nuclear march in a generation. Thousands of campaigners gathered from all over the world to protest the renewal of the Trident nuclear weapons program, estimated to cost £41 billion. The money, they said, should be spent on education and the National Health Service instead.

“Books not Bombs,” read some placards, a sentiment ISKCON devotees could certainly get behind.

The march made its way from Marble Arch in Hyde Park to Trafalgar Square, where protestors including Labor Party leader Jeremy Corbyn spoke.

Volunteers from devotee-run charity Food For All kept marchers going by distributing 1,000 plates of a full prasadam feast, including rice, subji, pakoras, cake, and a drink. With Food-For-All’s trademark creativity, the sanctified vegetarian hot meals were served from rickshaws at the beginning, middle, and end of the march.

“People loved it!” enthuses Food For All director Parasurama Das in his lilting Irish accent. “The moment we set up, there was a long queue. Imagine, you’re on a long protest march, and there’s nothing to eat or drink. Everyone really appreciated it.”

Devotees also provided the soundtrack, elevating walkers’ spirits with kirtan. Brahmachari Dayal Mora Das, in his saffron robes, sang out a beautiful Hare Krishna tune in a clear voice. A Bhaktivedanta Manor farm volunteer played a full drum set from a wheeled float. Parasurama and Food For All volunteer Grant accompanied on ukulele and electric guitar. And a protestor joined in on his trumpet.

Parasurama stirs up a storm in 'the biggest pot in the Western world'

The whole combo, meanwhile, was broadcast over a powerful sound system. 

“We were the only people that put a full band together like that, and everyone was saying, ‘Gosh, you guys are really organized!’” says Parasurama. “They were just walking, but when we kicked off, people were joining in, and dancing. It was really cool!”

The devotees were featured chanting in the Channel 4 TV coverage of the event, and serving prasadam in the BBC coverage. 

At the end of the rally, they presented a letter to Jeremy Corbyn, the politician speaking out against the nuclear program. 

“We invited him to visit Food For All’s center Matchless Gifts, because he’s vegetarian, he knows about our efforts, and we are based in Islington, the part of London where he works,” says Parasurama.

IFrame

A video of the event

A lot of people, in fact, know about Food For All’s efforts these days, and the charity is planning to reach out to even more soon. 

Parasurama and his crew currently feed around 1,000 homeless people and students in London every day, and will soon increase that number to 5,000 a day. They plan to ask London Mayor Boris Johnson to suppor the project, called “Feed the 5,000.”

Parasurama says he can cook all 5,000 meals at once in what he dubs “the biggest pot in the Western world,” a giant vessel that truly has to be seen to be believed.

But what’s most interesting about Food For All is that all of the fruit and veg it uses would otherwise be thrown away by supermarkets for being aesthetically unappealing, despite being perfectly good. 

This has put a prasadam charity run by devotees at the forefront of a new movement to stop waste. The cover story of March 2016’s National Geographic magazine, entitled “How ‘Ugly’ Fruits and Vegetables Can Help Solve World Hunger,” says that a third of the planet’s food goes to waste, often because of its looks – enough to feed two billion people.

And who is one of the people it cites as working to solve this problem? “Peter O’Grady, a Hare Krishna who runs a charity kitchen in London.”

Food For All is also becoming a favorite of activists, who often call asking for prasadam to be distributed at their demonstrations – the anti-trident rally was not the first, and won’t be the last.

On Saturday March 5th, for instance, the charity will cater A Million Women Rising, a march from Oxford Street to Trafalgar Square protesting domestic abuse, sexual assault and other violence against women. Parasurama will cook for the event, while all female devotees will serve the prasadam. 

“The people at these marches are conscientious, good, caring, thoughtful people, who are trying to make the world a better place,” says Parasurama. “We’re also trying to make the world a better place, through chanting and serving prasadam. So they’re great people to connect with. And they love Hare Krishnas!” 

Source: http://iskconnews.org/devotees-chant-serve-prasad-at-uk-anti-nuclear-rally,5437/?utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=twitterfeed

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Speaker: HH Devamrita Swami
Venue: Mayapur Candradoya Mandir
Date: 03 March 2016

tasmin kute ’hite naste
 krtta-mule vanas-patau
vitapa iva susyanti
 visnu-prana divaukasah (SB 7.1.9)

Translation:
“When the root of a tree is cut and the tree falls down, its branches and twigs automatically dry up. Similarly, when I have killed this diplomatic Visnu, the demigods, for whom Lord Visnu is the life and soul, will lose the source of their life and wither away.”

tavad yata bhuvam yuyam
 brahma-ksatra-samedhitam
sudayadhvam tapo-yajña-
 svadhyaya-vrata-daninah (SB 7.1.10)

Translation
“While I am engaged in the business of killing Lord Visnu, go down to the planet earth, which is flourishing due to brahminical culture and a ksatriya government. These people engage in austerity, sacrifice, Vedic study, regulative vows, and charity. Destroy all the people thus engaged!”

Life is all about making plans. The demons have their plans, the devotees have their plans. At the end of Bhagavad Gita Krishna famously asks,

sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (Bg 18.66)

Abandoning all varieties of dhama can also be paraphrased as abandoning all plan making and accept Krishna’s plan. Material existence is all about an idea, a plan that conditioned souls have in their mind. They see opportunity, they see possibilities and therefore they make plans. When Krishna says, abandon all varieties of religion, this includes a request for us to shut down our plan making factory. (laughs) And that feels tough to us often. Shut down our plan making factory and accept Krishna’s plan.

Hiranyakasipu is setting a plan into action. His demoniac associates will humbly take Hiranyakasipu’s order of devastation upon their heads and proceed to execute it. What is the root of this plan? Yudhisthira Maharaja enquired from Narada Muni, ‘Why such enmity between Hiranyakasipu and his own son Prahlada? Whats the cause of this?’ Narada Muni is explaining that because Visnu killed Hiranyakasipu’s brother Hiranyaksa, therefore by Prahlada’s siding with Visnu, he became such an enemy to his own father, that his father wanted to kill him.

So at the root of this situation we have extreme envy and this envy will be more developed in the present chapter the verses. Hiranyakasipu had a vision for peace for himself. He is enraged that Visnu has killed his brother. He is vowing that I will personally kill Visnu and destroy the spiritual world. He is staring up into the sky as if he can see Vaikuntha. He is vowing I am going to finish off Vaikuntha. What is his peace formula? When I cut off the head of Visnu, and the blood of Visnu starts to run, this will please my brother and I shall also be pleased, I will be pacified.

Our dilemma in material existence is that we always think that by our fulfilling material desires we will be pacified. We have this notion in our mind and it seems quite clear at times. All I have to do is seek my own happiness, seek my own pleasure and then I will be peaceful. Those who don’t get in the way of my seeking my own happiness, they are friends, even lovers. Those who interfere or impede my quest for happiness, they are known as enemies. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura says that actually love in the material world means, look you don’t interfere with my sense gratification, I love you! (laughs) You are a supporter of my sense gratification, I love you. This is Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura’s statement. (laughs)

Hiranyakasipu not only had a plan for his achieving peace but he also had a plan how to destroy the earth. This is his version of watering the tree at the root and all the branches blossom. You know that verse in the Fourth Canto, we often quote, by giving the food to the stomach the whole body becomes energised. By watering the tree at the root all the branches blossom. Similarly by serving the Supreme Personality of Godhead everything is taken care of.

Hiranyakasipu had his own version of that. Uproot, pull out the root and then the tree is finished. His main focus, his main strategy was on killing Visnu. At the same time however he had a secondary strategy and he is employing his demoniac associates to do the secondary strategy, which is go to earth and destroy all principles of spiritually progressive civilisation, especially brahminical culture and genuine ksatriya government. He particularly fingered those two components.

What Hiranyakasipu is trying to do is destroy the traditional basis of human happiness. His strategy will go even to the extent of environmental terrorism. His associates are going to burn cities, farms, kill brahmanas, kill cows. The devastation was so great that even the demigods came to earth invisibly to see what is this calamity and what are we gong to do! We spoke about how Hiranyakasipu’s main plan is he himself would kill Visnu but he also as we said had a secondary plan. By destroying brahminical culture he felt the demigods would be weakened. And by the demigods being weakened automatically there will be a domino effect and that would also get back at Visnu. So he had a main plan and he had a secondary plan.

Amidst all this mayhem and we shouldn’t take this mayhem as something outlandish that well at least human beings today aren’t this bad! Just consider, there is one particular nation in this world, I wont mention its name, although I happen to have taken birth there (laughs), it has proposed that for the upliftment of peace and the stability of the world, over the course of the next thirty years, 1 trillion dollars should be spent upgrading the nuclear arsenal, 1 trillion dollars! All for the sake of peace! Srila Prabhupada explains in Bhagavad Gita that this is demoniac. He declares straightforwardly these weapons are not for peace. We have to think twice about that because perhaps we have been brainwashed, the nuclear weapons are there to maintain world peace. Therefore the governments have to spend on this. Srila Prabhupada assures us they are not meant for peace! They are actually the result of envy against living entities. I live you die! and there is some strange perverse envious satisfaction in having the ability to annihilate other creatures. Envy has a different meaning in the sastra besides just one on one enviousness which is bad enough – You are rising up! I cant tolerate that! Your rise, whether its material or spiritual, we’ve got to do something to cut you down!

Yes that is envy but there’s also the envy manifesting on a broad scale. So Srila Prabhupada instructs us in Srimad Bhagavatam that the demoniac governments actually are waging envy on a mass scale by making life practically impossible for spiritual development. In Bhagavad Gita Krishna speaks about those envious of the Supersoul within so much so they torture their own bodies. You have to really think about this to catch the perversion.

We can perhaps see this more clearly in Kamsa’s response, once he took shelter of his demoniac advisers. You know that after Kamsa in the prison cell saw Durgadevi, he begged forgiveness so pathetically from Vasudeva and Devaki -Look destiny! I am not actually the killer! Its destiny that brings everyone their fate! And Vasudeva and Devaki they actually forgave him for killing so many of their babies! Sincerely they forgave him! At the same time we must remember they are ksatriya’s. So they are thinking, – Yes we wholeheartedly forgive you but guess what! The eighth child, its already been born! (laughs) You are dead man! We forgive you! At the same time they genuinely 100% forgave him. Its hard for us to understand how both these streaks can be accommodated.

So Kamsa left them and reported to his advisers. We heard yesterday in the class by HH Bhakti Rasamrita Swami, how Ravana had his advisers and he could give advise, about taking advise. So Kamsa also had his advisers and he presented the whole situation to them, what happened the day before. His advisers knew exactly what to do. It is plan making time. It is time for strategic planning – All right Kamsa, here is what we see as the situation. The demigods are always afraid of you, we all know that. You’ve smashed the demigods before and indeed in other sastra’s you have accounts of Kamsa defeating, at least temporarily, the demigods. The demigods, if they just hear you pull your bow string, they are afraid. They cant face you in battle, they run away. Even though they are defeated, by cowardice you dont attack them. You are so righteous! You follow the principles of battle – when the foe is afraid, when the foe has dropped the weapon, you are not supposed to attack such an incompetent foe – and you follow those guidelines, Kamsa! (laughs) But now is not the time for dharma! Now is not the time for religious principles! In fact Kamsa, because you’ve followed religious principles and not killing the demigods when they were afraid, therefore we have the situation we have today, in which the demigods have increased in their strength.

Therefore the conclusion, the siddhanta is obvious. This is not the time for dharma. Now is the time to just unleash massive destruction. How does this destruction begin? First we obviously have to kill all children born around the ten past days. But that strategy is not completely effective. Why? Because you are dealing with Visnu. What is Visnu’s situation! He is hidden in everyone’s heart. You know the famous analysis. We don’t have to worry about Shiva, he is out in the forest. We don’t have to worry about Brahma, he is performing severe austerities and penances. We actually don’t have to worry ordinarily about Visnu because He is buried in the hearts of everyone and cant get out. But we do want to kill Him! The problem in killing Visnu is, His hiding in the heart. So therefore we have to adopt another tactic.

What is another tactic! We kill the children, then we kill all the cows because the cows provide ghee for yajna and yajna’s are what brahmanas do. So we lill the cows, and we also then persecute saintly persons, persecute the brahmanas. Because they are responsible for the progressive elements of a spiritually focussed civilisation. By getting rid of the cows, the brahmanas and all that brahmanas stand for, Vedic knowledge, austerity, penances, by getting rid of all that, then you’ve got Visnu. Because Visnu is all bound up with all this good stuff! (laughs)

So their strategy was a bit different from Hiranyakasipu’s. Remember Hiranyakasipu’s strategy was I am going to kill Visnu directly. Meanwhile demons you go destroy brahmana, ksatriya culture on the earth. And thats kind of a secondary strategy. But Kamsa’s advisers, their strategy was – You cant get your hands on Visnu, He is too slippery, He is hidden in the hearts! We have got to have a policy of attacking Him from another direction. When we finish off brahmana culture, the demigods are finished! And because all these are components of Visnu’s body, then Visnu will be dead! (laughs)

Now we are thinking, these guys are quite extreme. Fortunately in the world today we have moderation, we have balance, we have equipoise. Actually there hasn’t been wholesale slaughter for what 70 years now. Therefore certainly humanity has become progressive. 70 years ago also 50 million people died in a war. It hasn’t happened yet. How great we are!

But just consider this. There are 16000 nuclear weapons in the world. 94% of them are in the hands of the Americans and Russians, all governments of course that we can trust! (laughs) 100 and growing are in Pakistan and about a 100 are in India. In 10 years the number three nuclear power in the world will be a very trusted government – it will be Pakistan! So you might say, alright, if there is a nuclear exchange between Pakistan and India, it wont affect the rest of the world. Its just a local regional affair! No! Scientists have pointed out that if there are just 100 nuclear missiles launched, India launches 50, Pakistan launches 50, that is enough to bring about a climate change that recorded history has never seen. Whats a hundred when there are 16000 of such weapons. Yet somehow or other the human beings they have a sense of peace, advancement, modernity. Then when we hear about Kamsa and Hiranyakasipu, we say. ‘Oh! How extreme! How grotesque!’

Such maha demons have their plans. Actually everyone has a plan, how to enjoy, how to exploit the material world. The latest conception for materially progressive human beings is something called ‘sustainable happiness’ That means instead of the kind of endeavours of happiness that cause such obvious destruction, instead of that, you try for happiness that doesn’t negatively affect other people, the environment or the coming generations. Young persons today, their future is going to be in a world that hasn’t been recorded in the annals of history – rising sea levels, disappearing species, fresh water supplies becoming scarce.

The material conception of sustainable happiness is that its not enough just to be materially happy in your own way, take into account other people, take into the environment, take into account even other species of life, understand interdependence. But that interdependence never goes as far as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In fact often it doesn’t go to even other species. Yet this is considered progressive. Whenever you make an endeavour for happiness, think how is this affecting other people, how is this affecting the environment, its a step in the right direction but the point of Srimad Bhagavatam is that as long as the Supreme Personality of Godhead is not in the equation your efforts are futile.

This may seem a bit severe. Whats wrong with acting for progress even though such endeavours are disconnected. Can it be that such endeavours are illustrious and dignified on their own even though we admit they have no connection to the Supreme Personality of Godhead?

Lets go at this issue from another angle, atma-tattva because later in this chapter Hiranyakasipu is going to give his lamenting associates, they are lamenting over the death of Hiranyaksa, he is going to give them profound knowledge of atma-tattva, we are not the body, we are spirit soul but he leaves it right there. He doesn’t go any further. This presentation can be compared to mayavada philosophy which proclaims we all are spirit soul but thats it, it doesn’t go any further. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura explains that the soul has no other propensity except to connect to the Supreme Soul. Once you talk about the soul, you must talk about the Supreme Soul. Material life means that that only propensity of the soul becomes dormant. Dormant and the energy of the soul comes out in a perverted way although the soul itself if never contaminated.

Disconnection from Krishna is the problem. We cant just erase that, or push it to the side. How can there be sustainable happiness, how can there be genuine human progress when there is total disconnection from the Supreme Personality of Godhead. We have our plans and Krishna has His plans. Everyone is making plans. There are demoniac plans, there are lila plans. Sometimes in Krishna’s pastimes the lila sakti, His pastime energy arranges things to such an extent that even Krishna is wondering – Whats going on! (laughs)

We are not against plans. But as bhakti yogis we always want to be aligned with Krishna’s plan. Thats Krishna’s message to Arjuna in Bhagavad Gita -You shut down your plan making factory. You take My master plan! Dont worry about any reactions! I will take care of all that!

One morning, actually the day before, Krishna decided no breakfast at home, lets have a picnic in the forest! The acharyas point out He made that plan the day before and the next morning He activated it by blowing on His bugle in such an inconceivably beautiful way. Hearing the sound of Krishna’s bugle countless cowherd boys amassed with countless calves. And they all headed to the forest. This was Krishna’s plan. Balarama wanted to come but Rohini actually forcibly kept Him at home for purificatory rituals.

Sporting in the forest they came upon what would turn out to be Aghasura. The cowherd boys discussed amongst themselves, they consulted with each other, they took the advise of senior cowherd boys – What is this here? This looks like a natural scenic spot in Vrindavana meant for our pleasure. Others said – No! No! Some tried to run – This is a fierce snake with the bottom of his mouth on the ground, the top of his mouth high in the sky! They had a discussion. They assured the cowherd boys who were trying to run away – No! No! No! Lets come back and discuss! What was the conclusion? Actually it is a big snake and he wants to swallow us! What fun! (laughs) They looked over and they saw Krishna! They saw Krishna’s beautiful face and they knew exactly what to do! March right into the mouth of Aghasura because Krishna is here! How can any harm come to us! Krishna has already killed so many demons! Krishna will take care of us!

And this is a way to have a pleasure pastime. Another pastime, if there is danger Krishna will save us! So lets enjoy with Krishna! They marched into Aghasura’s mouth clapping their hands, cheering loudly, showing we are courageous! (laughs) We have no fear! They even brought their calves along with them. By clapping hands the calves were moved along even though the calves were frightened! But still the boys were so enthusiastic, lets go! lets go! into the mouth! come on! (laughs)

So Krishna is watching all this. He wants to stop it. Thats His plan! He knows whats going on! But He is momentarily stunned! What to do here? The boys are inside, the calves are inside the mouth of Aghasura. How do I kill Aghasura and at the same time protect the boys and calves? This is Krishna’s ecstasy in problem solving. If He is om purnam, perfect and complete, He also has to relish the joy of solving problems. So His pastime energy arranges that – Krishna, here is a problem and for your enjoyment don’t come up with a solution right away! (laughs) This is the Supreme Enjoyer! This is perfect and complete enjoyment!

So momentarily Krishna is stymied what to do. Can you say that Krishna, His will was thwarted, satya sankalpa sakti, whatever He wants He gets, but He couldn’t stop the cowherd boys. Whats going on here? Krishna was trumped, His will was superseded by the cowherd boys desire to have pastimes because Krishna is conquered by His devotees. So Krishna’s plan was superseded by His foremost plan that He is always coming under the control of the pure love of His devotees.

Everyone makes plans. We need to look at what our plan is, how does it harmonise, our personal life’s plan, how does it harmonise with Krishna’s pleasure.

The non devotees have their plan. They meet, they strategise. I have heard, I have explained before maybe some years ago here in Mayapur, I have heard from world planners both in the academic world, part of think tanks managing the future of the world, I have heard it from political leaders who will admit, yes there is world syndicate for trying to push things a certain way. They had even told me, if you are smart enough to figure this out, become one of us. (laughs) Otherwise just enjoy your television, enjoy your sports and dont worry about it! (laughs) Many of them have explained to me, these are academics from Harvard and Yale that look, we used to be idealistic, we used to think that such syndicates were very unhealthy, unwholesome for the future of the world. But this is the way it works! What can we do! And again, if you are actually smart enough to figure out whats going on, then just become one of the controllers because someone has to be in control.

So everyone is making their plans. The demons are making their plans, the devotees are making their plans. Caitanya Mahaprabhu told Nityananda, ‘Sripada, holy man, I have got a plan for You! Dont come to Jagannath Puri every year. I need someone to spread Krishna bhakti in Bengal. Except for You there is no one else who can do this task! You can do something even I cant do! You’ve already demonstrated that by not only saving the lives of Jagai and Madhai but You initiated their spiritual advancement! You, Nityananda Prabhu, can spread Krishna bhakti far and wide to everyone!’

And what was Nityananda’s response to this plan? ‘I am the body, You are the life! Both the body and the life are important. But of the two the life is most important! I will do whatever Your inconceivable sakti arranges for Me to do! I’ll follow Your plan!’

Similarly at the end of Bhagavad Gita Arjuna says to Krishna, I’ll follow Your plan. My illusion is gone, nasto mohah smrtir labdha, karisye vacanam tava (Bg 18.73). I’ll accept Your plan.

The ultimate solution to a devotees dilemma of what, how to best please Krishna, what is the best way to serve Krishna, the ultimate solution is the guidance of the Lord in the heart. Hiranyakasipu was enraged that Visnu had given up His role of equanimity as Paramatma. He accepted that there is Paramatma, he accepted that Visnu is equal to all living entities including the demons but something happened. So remember Kamsa’s advisers problem was, as they saw it, the Lord is hidden in the heart. Hiranyakasipu’s problem, as he saw it, was that the Lord in the heart has become greedy for puja and therefore He has become inequitable, He has become unbalanced.

And what is the proof of His lack of justice, even though generally He is equal? The proof is what you see right before you, He has become affected by the demigods just because they offer puja and then what do you see? He took the form of animal, need I say anything more! He is obviously under the influence of the material energy. Not only did He take the form of an animal but He took the form of a boar, the most lowest of creatures! It is obvious He is no longer fit to be Paramatma! (laughs)

Plan making is the essence of human life. What are the plans for? If we do not have a plan how to go deeper in our spiritual life, which is ongoing process of our life time career, to increase our bhakti, if we dont have such a plan, we can be sure that the material energy, those who are under its influence, their plans will be wearing us down. There is no plateau in this world. This world is dynamic! The spiritual energy can uplift us and material energy can bring us down. Therefore as individuals, individual devotees, if we are going to be able to survive the ravages of demoniac plan making, if we are going to avoid feeling secure, peaceful, and stable in such a world, our only protection is to take shelter of Krishna’s plan and in our individual life try to continuously increase our spiritual potency.

Our goal is that we can hear from Krishna what to do next, how to serve Him best. Srila Prabhupada would plainly declare when asked, how do you make decisions? He would say, Krishna tells me! Krishna tell me directly!

teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ bhajatāṁ prīti-pūrvakam dadāmi buddhi-yogaṁ taṁ (Bg 10.10)

Once we capture Krishna’s attention due to our service, Krishna promises, I will give you customised instructions! This is the solution to our dilemma of how to be spiritual in the material world, how to decide what gives Krishna the most pleasure, what gives Krishna the less pleasure.

We must make plans but our plan is to surrender to Krishna’s plan. We want to shut down our plan making factory and we are begging Krishna – We want to accept Your plan!

Thank you very much! Hare Krishna!

Devotee: (audio inaudible)

Maharaja: We don’t want to engage Krishna in our service therefore we take all necessary precautions as far as possible. Only then we are entitled to depend on Krishna. But we have to use whatever intelligence we have, how to respond to situations in such a way that Krishna’s purposes can be achieved.

The cowherd boys, they are another level! (laughs) They know what they are doing! They are giving Krishna pleasure! There is no trace of selfishness when the cowherds they say – We’re just going to march into that mouth! We are going to have a good time! They are thinking Krishna is going to enjoy this! If we one day can approach that standard of purity how wonderful our life will be!

Thank you very much! Hare Krishna!

Source: http://m.dandavats.com/?p=19483

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Spiritual United Nations festival in Mayapur.
Great preaching opportunity for international devotee visitors & residents has come up on the occasion of 50th anniversary of ISKCON. We gladly invite international devotees to take part in preaching to Mayapur visitors during Gaura Purnima festival in Spiritual Nations Festival Arena. • Festival is organized by ISKCON Mayapur. Each country will have its own booth where the representative devotees will be presenting preaching activities in their home country through the medium of photos, videos, fliers, books, question & answer sessions and possible home-country particulars (ideas welcome). • United Spiritual Nations festival will be held 18 – 24 March in festival arena behind the temple 10am – 9pm each day. • Devotees, or their spokesman, who will represent their country in Spiritual United Nations festival are required to contact Kasya Das (kasyadas@gmail.com, Ph: 9609122104) in nearest possible time.

Source: http://m.dandavats.com/?p=19481

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Hari Sauri Das speaks at Moscow's 'Our Prabhupada' Festival

Devotees in Moscow are focusing on staying connected to Srila Prabhupada and his vision as they celebrate ISKCON’s 50th and look toward the next 50 years.

They began their 2016 as they mean to go on, with the second annual “Our Prabhupada” festival. The first, in December 2014, saw Suresvara Das speaking about Srila Prabhupada as ISKCON’s Founder-Acharya.

At this year’s festival from January 15th to 20th at the ISKCON Moscow temple, hundreds of devotees learned about Srila Prabhupada as a person from Hari Sauri Das, who personally served him for sixteen months.

Hari Sauri gave his famous Living Bhagavatam seminar, discussing Prabhupada’s approach to different aspects of devotional service and life such as chanting, prasadam, cleanliness, health, and management. He showed how Srila Prabhupada applied the philosophy of Krishna consciousness in myriad practical ways, within a modern context.

“Hari Sauri Prabhu endeared us to Srila Prabhupada, presenting him as a loving, caring father to us all,” says Moscow ISKCON 50 coordinator Vrajarenu Das, who acted as translator for part of the seminar.

Next, from January 22nd to 24th, 400 devotees attended an ecstatic Kirtan Mela at ISKCON Moscow with B.B. Govinda Swami, Niranjana Swami, and local kirtaniyas like Saci-Suta Das, Abhay Chaitanya Das and Haridas Thakur Das.

Moscow devotees also plan to reach out to newcomers with Kirtan during ISKCON 50. Three hundred members of the public are expected for a Mantra Yoga event on April 23rd, where they’ll chant different mantras such as Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya. They’ll then hear a talk on the effects of mantra meditation, followed by a long session of chanting the Hare Krishna mantra.

Moscow ISKCON 50 Coordinator Vrajarenu Das speaks

Previous Mantra Yoga events have featured speakers like Bhakti Vijnana Goswami, Bhaki Vaibhava Swami, and Russian ISKCON guru Chaitanya Charan Das; so while this April’s speakers haven’t been confirmed yet, they’re bound to be illustrious.

Two “Kirtan Moscow” events on April 30th and May 9th will follow at the temple, and is expected to draw relative newcomers who are taking the next step, and are specifically interested in chanting the Hare Krishna mantra. The May event is also expected to draw 300 people.

ISKCON Moscow’s main ISKCON 50 festival will be held from June 18th to 26th, and will be an umbrella for several different events. It will kick off with a Vaishnavi Festival on the 18th and 19th, which will likely be attended by 200 to 250 local Moscow devotee women.

The special guest speaker will be Mondakini Dasi, a disciple of Srila Prabhupada from France. Mondakini was one of the earliest pioneers of Krishna consciousness in Russia, and was married to Russia’s first devotee Ananta Shanti Das. She remains strongly connected with the Russian ISKCON Community.

“We expect that she will invite two more female disciples of Srila Prabhupada to join her for the festival,” says organizer Ekanga Dasi. “They’ll talk about Prabhupada, and help audience members develop their personal relationships with him. There will also be classes on Prabhupada’s books, Deity worship, and cooking. The main purpose of the festival is Vaishnavi association, and I hope it will leave participants with a taste of communication and cooperation.”

The ISKCON 50festival will also include celebrations of the 45th anniversary of Srila Prabhupada’s visit to Moscow and the 24th anniversary of the installation of Sri Sri Dayal Nitai Saci Suta, the presiding Deities of ISKCON Moscow. Key Srila Prabhupada disciples will attend and tell stories of the early days.

“One major goal of the festival is to lay a proper foundation for succession,” says Vrajarenu. “We can see that Srila Prabhupada’s disciples are leaving us, and so we have to ensure that the new generations know what Prabhupada was like as a person, as a leader, as a loving father.”

As well as the festivals and events, there will be special seminars and publications for ISKCON’s 50th.

Already on Sunday February 28th, Vatsala Das, a brahmachari and well-known preacher in Moscow, gave a seminar on Prabhupada’s Seven Purposes of ISKCON, and how we can apply them today.

Niranjana Swami chants at the recent Moscow Kirtan Mela

The GBC foundational document “Srila Prabhupada: The Founder-Acarya of ISKCON” was also just printed in Russian.

The next issue of “Vaishnavism: Open Forum,” a journal for devotees who specialize in outreach to academics, sociologists, authorities and the media, will be dedicated to ISKCON 50.

Bhakti Vijnana Goswami is currently writing commentaries on a previously published document called “The Constitution of ISKCON,” which describes fourteen aims of ISKCON.

“Maharaja’s version will be published as a brochure for ISKCON devotees and newcomers,” says ISKCON Russia Communications Director Radha Damodara Das “And it will allow for a better understanding of Srila Prabhupada’s vision and ISKCON’s mission.”

Finally, a book entitled “Vaisnavas in the Socio-Cultural Context of Modern Russia,” intended for authorities and academics, will communicate to them ISKCON’s place in the world and in Russia today, and explain Srila Prabhupada’s mission, especially its social and moral aspects.

“We are planning on a number of conferences, round table discussions, and meetings on the subject,” says Radha Damodara.

Summing up the aims of Russia’s ISKCON 50 celebrations, Vrajarenu says, “Our society, ISKCON, is growing and changing, with new generations coming in. And it’s very important nowadays to help them understand Srila Prabhupada’s vision and keep that connection.”

If they do, ISKCON Russia has a bright future. Sixty million Bhagavad-gitas have been distributed in Russia over the years; today, there are tens of thousands of mostly native congregational devotees in Moscow alone; and with the work of innovative preachers, more and more intelligent youth are reading Prabhupada’s books and chanting the Holy Name. 

“I believe that Russia has a very huge potential for Krishna consciousness,” says Vrajarenu. “And ISKCON’s 50thanniversary is a great opportunity to meditate on the possibilities.”

“The next milestone is the 50th anniversary of ISKCON in Russia in five years,” he concludes. “And that, too, will be a very important date for our society here.”

Source: http://iskconnews.org/russian-iskcon-50-focuses-on-prabhupada-connection,5436/

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By Anantaram das

Devotees often find themselves immersed in conflict with other devotees and thus see their development come to a halt. This has certainly happened to me. By the mercy of Hari-Guru-Vaisnava, this is changing and I am slowly progressing in my spiritual life. I simply try to focus on chanting the holy name and on not committing offenses against any living entities, especially against devotees. I will share with you some excerpts from three books that have profoundly changed my life. I take the opportunity to beg for forgiveness from those Vaisnavas that I have offended by thought, word or deed. I have done this privately with several devotees, but in case I forgot about past disagreements and offenses, please also kindly forgive me.

Toward the end of the discussion of the first offense against the chanting of the holy name, Bhaktivinoda Thakur writes in Harinama Cintamani:

“The neophyte devotee (kanistha-adhikari Vaisnava) displays a faith that is formal, even wordly. He worships the Deity but has not developed an interest in serving a Vaisnava sadhu. He is almost a Vaisnava, but is not a real Vaisnava yet, hence he is not able to take full spiritual advantage of sadhu-sanga. A neophyte will have to receive a pure Vaisnava’s blessings to advance spiritually.

“If a madhyama Vaisnava (intermediate devotee) develops loving affection for Lord Krsna, friendship with Lord Krsna’s devotee’s, compassion for the innocent, and evades the company of atheists, he quickly becomes a pure devotee. He alone becomes eligible to chant the pure name.

“A pure devotee of the highest level sees Lord Krsna manifest everywhere and knows that everything rests in Him. Indeed, he sees that Lord Krsna is his life and soul. He is unconcerned with distinctions of who is a Vaisnava or who is not; his whole life revolves around the holy name. To him, the holy name is the essence of everything.

“A madhyama Vaisnava is always engaged in serving sadhus. The madhyama Vaisnava stage marks the beginning of pure Vaisnavism. He is required to distinguish the Vaisnava from the non-Vaisnava; serving the pure Vaisnava is his necessity. If he neglects to differentiate among the grades of Vaisnavas, then he stands to commit Vaisnava-aparadha. He has to continuously evaluate the Vaisnavas and serve the pure Vaisnava. The uttama-Vaisnava does not see any distinction whatsoever between a Vaisnava and a non-Vaisnava, or between enemy and friend; how will he then serve a Vaisnava? How will he distinguish a Vaisnava from the non-Vaisnava?

“The scriptures declare that a neophyte Vaisnava (one who is almost a Vaisnava) can chant in the stage of namabhasa, the clearing stage. A madhyama Vaisnava is worthy of chanting the pure name: therefore, he must always carefully avoid the offenses or namaparadha. The uttama Vaisnava can never commit any offense, because he perceives Lord Krsna everywhere.

“Now, every sadhaka must consider these points calmly and reflect upon his real position. First, he must stop sadhuninda. Then he should chant with firm faith, according to his status as a Vaisnava. It is therefore essential that he recognize his own position. The devotee’s activities should center around association with sadhus, service to sadhus, the chanting of the holy name, and a constant attitude of compassion for all living entities.

“If anyone offends a sadhu in a moment of delusion and madness, he must fall at the sadhu’s feet and repent bitterly; weeping and full of contrition, he must beg forgiveness. He should declare himself a fallen wretch in need of a Vaisnava’s grace. A sadhu is very merciful; his heart will soften and he will embrace the offender, thus exonerating him from his offenses.” (Harinama Cintamani, Chapter 4, translated by Sarvabhavana dasa)

If one must identify his own status as a Vaisnava, how will one do that? Honesty is the sole requirement. Bhaktivinoda Thakura further explains in Sri Caitanya Siksamrita the nine stages in the development of prema (sraddha, sadhu-sanga, bhajana kriya, anartha-nivritti, nistha, ruci, asakti, bhava, and prema). [Note that the first three correspond to the level of kanistha-adhikari, the next three to that of madhyama-adhikari, and the last three to the level of uttama-adhikari. Honestly determine your own position.]

“Upon studying the lives of devotees, it will be found that some have developed faith by studying the scriptures impartially. Many have developed faith by association with devotees and hearing their teachings. Others have developed faith in bhakti after performing duties according to varnasrama and developing repulsion for taking material results from such activities. Others have developed faith through disgust for speculative knowledge. Others have developed faith suddenly. There is no specific rule for the development of faith, for faith, the seed of the creeper of bhakti, is above the rules. Therefore, it may be said that faith develops only within the consciousness of a fortunate soul. The end of executing karma according to one’s varnasrama duties and the appearance of faith are simultaneous. When faith arises, the devotees become filled with hopeful anxiety. This sraddha (faith) is the first stage in the development of prema.

“By previous material habits, the aspiring devotees are still controlled by sinful tendencies, but thinking of how to dissipate this evil, they take shelter at the feet of pure devotees. The aspirants begin to search out pure devotees free from material desires, and by Krsna’s mercy, they attain such association. This sadhu-sanga (association with devotees) is the second sign in the development of prema.

“In that pure association, the devotees begin to carry out devotional activities, such as hearing and singing the glories of the Lord and remembering the form, qualities and pastimes of the Lord. With this practice of bhakti, according to the five divisions mentioned previously (body, mind, soul, matter and society), material sense pleasure and desire, which are the root of the material evils, become submissive to bhakti. Although the tendency to sinful activity remains within the body, the desire to sin is now given up. This is the third stage in attaining prema, known as bhajana-kriya (devotional action).

“By cultivating devotion, attachment to material pleasure, sinful conduct, violence, greed and other material habits gradually decreases, and the devotee becomes progressively free of material desire. This is anartha-nivrtti (clearing of sin), the fourth stage.

“As material desire dissipates, attachment to things other than the Lord also disappears. Faith becomes nistha (steadiness) in devotion to the Lord. As long as the anarthas remain, faith cannot be steadily applied to the Lord, so to the extent that the anarthas are extinguished, faith turns into nistha. This attainment of nistha is the fifth stage in attaining prema.

“Attaining steadiness, devotees perform their devotional activities and take association with more care. By this, the anarthas are further reduced and steadiness turns to joy in the Lord’s service. This is called ruci (taste). This is the sixth step. With ruci for Krsna well established, everything else material becomes tasteless.

“When ruci becomes more intense, along with greater destruction of sin, asakti (attachment) appears. Asakti is still within the purview of sadhana-bhakti. However, sadhana has now become perfect, devotional attachment has reached fullness, and the devotee feel successful. This asakti is the seventh stage.

“When asakti becomes completely full and deep, it is called bhava or rati (the seedling of prema). At the stage of asakti, there is no manifestation of suddha-sattva-svarupa. This is attained at the stage of bhava, and so the heart melts, becoming soft and smooth. This bhava is the eighth stage.

“When bhava attains exclusive possessiveness of Krsna, it is called prema, which is the state of permanent spiritual emotion suitable for rasa. This is the ninth stage in devotional development.

“The devotees performing sadhana-bhakti should always be attentive to the condition of their devotion, perceiving the condition yesterday and the improvement made today. If they perceive that after some time no progress has been made according to the stages given above, they must understand that some offense must have been committed. Having diagnosed that offense, they should give it up and by association with devotees correct the harm done. Continuously cultivating bhakti and praying to Krsna, they should be careful that the offense does not occur again. Those who do not care to examine their progress will advance very slowly because of the unseen obstacles they have created. Devotees, please take special precaution in this matter!” (Sri Caitanya Siksamrta, sixth Rainfall, second Shower, translated by Bhanu Swami)

In explaining the obstacles devotees face, and their relation to krsna-lila, Bhaktivinoda Thakura explains in Sri Krsna Samhita,

“The eleventh obstacle of the Vaisnavas is sectarianism, which takes the shape of the forest fire. Due to sectarianism, a person cannot accept anyone outside his own group as a Vaisnava, and as a result, he faces many obstacles in finding a guru and associating with devotees. Therefore, extinguishing the forest fire is most important.” (Sri Krsna Samhita, 8.22, translated by Bhumipati dasa)

“These sectarian symptoms are seen in all countries since time immemorial. This is prominent among neophytes and found to some extent amongst madhyama-adhikaris. Amongst uttama-adhikaris, however, there is no trace of sectarianism.” (Sri Krsna Samhita, Introduction, translated by Bhumipati dasa)

Let us abandon the sectarian spirit that keeps the forest fire arresting our development. Also, let us pray that we receive the mercy of Hari-Guru-Vaisnava to attain krsna-prema. As Srila Prabhupada said, “Purity is the force.”

At the servive of Hari-Guru-Vaisnava,
Anantaram das

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

Source: http://m.dandavats.com/?p=19475

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After a short and sweet recital of the Jaya Radha Madhava prayers, Maharaj gave a nice class about how to get more engaged in devotional service and withstand the debilitating effects of the material energy. Maharaj usually has a very commanding presence and this time, despite being understated and in his demeanour; he still had that powerful presence about him. It was like the power and potency was all there inside him, but he wasn’t unleashing it like he normally would. It was coiled up and controlled. When the devotees at the Manor were seeing him, it was evident he was having an impact on them through his words and behaviour. But those who know him well reckoned he was more nuanced, not his usual bold self.

Maharaj came out with various points but the essence was that it doesn’t matter whether you’re a super-duper pandit, whether you’re in saffron, whether you wear a huge kavacha or a huge Tulasi leaf. It doesn’t matter that you’re a big, big Maharaj or an ultra-fixed up Brahmin with a 6 string thread or even a 12 string thread. NONE of these things matter. None of that will make you immune to the material energy. There is only one thing, only one thing that works and that is absorption, getting absorbed in Krishna’s service. That will help us to rise above the material level…

Later on that evening…

Maharaj was back at Krishna Kirtan Prabhu’s house and getting ready to go to a house program at Suan Mataji’s house (Maharaj’s enterprising Chinese disciple). Whilst getting ready, Maharaj got to meet one of the new brahmacharis from the Manor who was coming along to the program. His name was Ryan, an English chap who also happened to be a PhD scientist specialising in biology. The conversation they had was amazing. Initially, it was all about the Ayurvedic doshas, and Maharaj showed another side by demonstrating an astonishingly in-depth understanding of how the doshas work and their symptoms. He even went as far as identifying the combination of different doshas within various devotees, including himself (mainly pitta but with a solid dose of vata as well, in case you’re wondering!).

It then went onto the topic of varnashrama, but Maharaj also asserted that varnashrama is not an end in itself. It’s a secondary thing; we also have to go beyond our duties at some point. Varnashrama is like the goldsmith gently tinkering away whilst sankirtan is the sledgehammer. He then extolled on the glories of Michael Cremo and Richard Thomson who did amazing work in the field of scientific preaching.

Maharaj and Ryan spoke on the famous Stonehenge site in England and how the formation of columns there corresponds to the location of planets. And in Mexico, you’ll get Vedic observatory sites like the ‘Jantar Mantar’ observatory in Rajasthan. Maharaj explained how modern history is sadly mistaken about so many things. Why think there’s only a world culture now and to think it supposedly advanced? The ancient Egyptians had papyrus boats to cross the Atlantic Ocean. Modern day experts have tried to replicate that and continuously failed.  What the West has done now is make its own history and stopped at Egypt and Greece with Greece being the focal point and the “East remaining the East”. And this was all compounded with the West coming under the influence of a very Christian dominated paradigm.

In the car, Maharaj was speaking about the poems of Srila Vishwanath Chakravarti Thakur and Narottamma Das Thakur and made the point that even when you put up so many measures to be above lust, Kamadeva will keep coming back, never doubt that! Amongst other things, Maharaj also extracted a beautiful realisation from one of the contributors (most likely Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya) in the Padyavaliwhere the person states, “I’m not a poet, nor scholar, nor debater, nor philosopher but just a rascal servant of Krishna.”

Finally, we arrived at Suan Mataji’s house. It was a nice and cosy place near the edge of a forest just outside of London. Being a Chinese devotee, her home had an interesting mix of very devotional paraphernalia likeVaishnava paintings, books and sculptures juxtaposed with classic Chinese paraphernalia like those traditional lanterns with red and gold motifs. Curiously enough, on the wall of her living room was a humongous map of the world. Maybe it’s to keep Suan Mataji motivated in her mission to take over the world and flood it with the Holy name!!

And of course in the centre of her room were gorgeous deities of Gaura Nitai. The crowd was mostly Chinese students, bankers and doctors but there were also a few European and Nepali students as well. Maharaj started explaining how he’s originally from Holland on the other side of the world (from China that is). He recalled how his mother told him that if you dig deep enough, you will land on the other side, in China! Of course, he has been traveling for the last 45 years and spending a lot of his life in India. It has that ancient classical culture which is still being practiced even though it is vanishing in many other places like Europe and China. Now most of the world’s cultures are being replaced with the modern culture of economic development. Even China had its ancient culture based on Confucius which was a lot more thoughtful than the modern way.

Maharaj explained what mantra meditation was and particularly the kirtan aspect of it, with music etc. Naturally some kirtan followed. In line with Maharaj’s mood this trip, it was mellow but beautiful; conjuring up images of going down a beautiful country path in Vrindavana. Lilting and haunting, Maharaj alternated seamlessly between classic melodies. What is more, the kirtan was perfectly in sync with the cosy surroundings. It was reminiscent of a traditional Vaishnava gathering from the days of yore. But in the middle of a warm grotto, in splendid contrast to the cold weather outside.

Maharaj spoke some more on various topics such as his own life story, and how he got into spirituality. He was born in Holland just after the war. The main ethos then was to build and build, money and economics. But when his generation came of age, they became disillusioned with all the materialism. At that time, the Beatles came out with the song ‘money can’t but you love‘ and they sang it to their parents. He sang it to his parents. And that’s when his journey started. Of course, his situation was also rather unique, he revealed how his parents left the planet when they were relatively young so the family kind of disintegrated and his siblings weren’t exactly fans of his new found spirituality… and they still aren’t.

Maharaj also elaborated on the subject of consciousness and how it shapes our perspective on life. One minute you’re in love and everything seems like paradise, the next minute your girlfriend shafts you and you’re in hell, just like that! Some brief conception of the three modes was also given, culminating in the understanding that we’re not actually these bodies. They are simply vehicles and we’re the souls. To devotees these concepts are so established that often they can lose their novelty but to outsiders these are real paradigm shifters. When looking around the room, as Maharaj was giving these eternal truths, the audience was absolutely riveted. It actually made one reminisce when one began in Krishna consciousness and the philosophy was so fresh and revolutionary. Before Krishna holds back the nectar tap a little, so that we go a little deeper of our own accord!

It was mentioned how so many teachers were coming from India in the sixties but Srila Prabhupada wasthe one that stood out. And he touched Maharaj so deeply that he’s been with this path for over 40 years. So after all these years what is there left? Maharaj declared,
“Of course, I can retire at this point. But I won’t because I’m having too much fun!”

In the end, Maharaj glorified the wonderful Suan who bought everyone together and rustled up an amazing feast made of Indian and Far Eastern items such as Vietnamese spring rolls; dumplings; fried karela sabji; paneer curry with aubergine, courgettes and potato; rice and plum crumble with double cream. And of course, no Chinese sanga feast would be complete without fortune cookies!

HH Kadamba Kanana Maharaj ki Jai!

Source: https://www.kksblog.com/2016/03/england-02-february-2016/

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Preaching program in Goa with Radhanath Swami.
From 12th to 14th of February 2016 Radhanath Swami was at Goa, India. He addressed 9000 Goans at a two day event called Maha Jagruti, ‘the great spiritual awakening’, celebrating ISKCON’s Golden Jubilee. The festival was held at Dr Shyam Prasad Mukherjee Indoor Stadium.
The chief secretary of the Goan Government R. K. Srivastava, chairman of Dempo group Srinivas Dempo, chairman of NRB group Narayan Bandekar, and chief editor of magazine Viva Goa were present for Maha Jagruti.
At a program in Kranti Yoga Village Radhanath Swami reminisced about his Goan visit of 1971, details of which are found in his book The Journey Home. Kranti is a popular yoga school located amid tranquil coconut groves and luscious palm trees of southern Goa. 60 western yoga students attended the talk; 45 purchased The Journey Home. The Founder and Director of Kranti Yoga, Tarun Agarwal, was also present.
At another event, the inauguration of an ISKCON temple in Goa, Radhanath Swami said, “People from all over the world come to Goa in search of happiness, and so we have the chance to share with them the secrets of spiritual happiness as taught by Sri Chaitanya and Srila Prabhupada.”

Source: http://m.dandavats.com/?p=19533

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Isvara Puri

Sri Isvara Puri appeared in this world on the full moon day of the month of Jyestha. He served his guru, Sri Madhavendra Puri, very faithfully, especially during the end of Sri Puripada’s life.

On day when Caitanya Mahaprabhu visited Gaya, He approached Sri Isvara Puri and requested that he initiate Him with the divine mantra. “My mind is becoming very restless in anticipation of this initiation. “Srila Puripada very blissfully replied, “What to speak of mantras, I am prepared to offer You my very life.”

Thereafter Srila Isvara Puri initiated Mahaprabhu with the divine mantra.

Source: http://www.ramaiswami.com/isvara-puri/

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TEXT 1

śrī-nārada uvāca

bhrātary evaṁ vinihate
hariṇā kroḍa-mūrtinā
hiraṇyakaśipū rājan
paryatapyad ruṣā śucā

TRANSLATION

Śrī Nārada Muni said: My dear King Yudhiṣṭhira, when Lord Viṣṇu, in the form of Varāha, the boar, killed Hiraṇyākṣa, 
Hiraṇyākṣa’s brother Hiraṇyakaśipu was extremely angry and began to lament.

PURPORT

Yudhiṣṭhira had inquired from Nārada Muni why Hiraṇyakaśipu was so envious of his own son Prahlāda. Nārada Muni 
began narrating the story by explaining how Hiraṇyakaśipu had become a staunch enemy of Lord Viṣṇu.

TEXT 2

āha cedaṁ ruṣā pūrṇaḥ
sandaṣṭa-daśana-cchadaḥ
kopojjvaladbhyāṁ cakṣurbhyāṁ
nirīkṣan dhūmram ambaram

TRANSLATION

Filled with rage and biting his lips, Hiraṇyakaśipu gazed at the sky with eyes that blazed in anger, making the whole 
sky smoky. Thus he began to speak.

PURPORT

As usual, the demon is envious of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and inimical toward Him. These were 
Hiraṇyakaśipu’s external bodily features as he considered how to kill Lord Viṣṇu and devastate His kingdom, 
Vaikuṇṭhaloka.

TEXT 3

karāla-daṁṣṭrogra-dṛṣṭyā
duṣprekṣya-bhrukuṭī-mukhaḥ
śūlam udyamya sadasi
dānavān idam abravīt

TRANSLATION

Exhibiting his terrible teeth, fierce glance and frowning eyebrows, terrible to see, he took up his weapon, a trident, and 
thus began speaking to his associates, the assembled demons.

TEXTS 4–5

bho bho dānava-daiteyā
dvimūrdhaṁs tryakṣa śambara
śatabāho hayagrīva
namuce pāka ilvala
vipracitte mama vacaḥ
puloman śakunādayaḥ
śṛṇutānantaraṁ sarve
kriyatām āśu mā ciram

TRANSLATION

O Dānavas and Daityas! O Dvimūrdha, Tryakṣa, Śambara and Śatabāhu ! O Hayagrīva, Namuci, Pāka and Ilvala! O 
Vipracitti, Puloman, Śakuna and other demons! All of you, kindly hear me attentively and then act according to my 
words without delay.

TEXT 6

sapatnair ghātitaḥ kṣudrair
bhrātā me dayitaḥ suhṛt
pārṣṇi-grāheṇa hariṇā
samenāpy upadhāvanaiḥ

TRANSLATION

My insignificant enemies the demigods have combined to kill my very dear and obedient well-wisher, my brother 
Hiraṇyākṣa. Although the Supreme Lord, Viṣṇu, is always equal to both of us—namely, the demigods and the 
demons—this time, being devoutly worshiped by the demigods, He has taken their side and helped them kill 
Hiraṇyākṣa.

PURPORT

As stated in Bhagavad-gītā (9.29), samo ’haṁ sarva-bhūteṣu: the Lord is equal to all living entities. Since the 
demigods and demons are both living entities, how is it possible that the Lord was partial to one class of living beings 
and opposed to another? Actually it is not possible for the Lord to be partial. Nonetheless, since the demigods, the 
devotees, always strictly follow the Supreme Lord’s orders, because of sincerity they are victorious over the demons, 
who know that the Supreme Lord is Viṣṇu but do not follow His instructions. Because of constantly remembering the 
Supreme Personality of Godhead, Viṣṇu, the demons generally attain sāyujya-mukti after death. The demon 
Hiraṇyakaśipu accused the Lord of being partial because the demigods worshiped Him, but in fact the Lord, like the 
government, is not partial at all. The government is not partial to any citizen, but if a citizen is law-abiding he receives 
abundant opportunities from the state laws to live peacefully and fulfill his real interests.
MAHARAJ:
Pranam mantras. 
This is the beginning of the chapter and the previous verses were just explaining how Hiranyakasipu was upset 
because his brother was killed by the Supreme Lord in the form of Varaha. Here he is addressing everyone and 
criticizing the devatas and criticizing the Supreme Lord because of this great problem to his family member. 
Apparently it looks as if he is accepting Vishnu and saying he is equal to everyone but now He is not equal, etc. 
Sometimes we see that the great demons do seem to accept the Supreme Lord in some way or the other. But we 
always see that they actually don't accept Him because to accept the Lord means that He is faultless. Immediately 
here, though, Hiranyakasipu says well He's supposed to be equal to everybody but actually He's not. He is partial to 
the devatas. He has taken their side. He's finding fault in the Supreme Lord. 
Sometimes, of course, it is a little difficult for us to understand the Lord's actions. It may look like there's no apparent 
fault, especially when it comes to Krishna because He does such strange things sometimes that are contradictory to 
the normal rules. Krishna is even more subject to criticism by ignorant people than others. That is why it says that it is 
very hard to understand Krishna because of all the different activities He does which look a little bit subject to criticism 
by people who don't understand. 
In any case, those who are ignorant, and particularly the demons, will find every opportunity to find fault in another 
person and particularly the Supreme Lord. Though they are talking about Vishnu and seemingly accepting Him in one 
sense, they actually don't accept Him. They don't accept His position. They accept Him as an ordinary person to that 
extent because they have seen Him visibly. He's not a fiction at all. But they think He is a material person. 
This goes not only for Hiranyakasipu. When Ravana saw Rama he thought oh, same person again. Vishnu is here 
again. He killed me last time as Nrsimhadeva. Now He is Rama. He's got that position because of pious activities. 
Again, I will try to kill Him. Maybe this time he'll succeed. He doesn't really believe that the Supreme Lord has 
extraordinary powers and that no matter what you do, you cannot really defeat Him. Even if it looks like the Lord is 
defeated, He's not defeated. 
In other words, the demons may politely praise the Lord or accept the Lord in some sense but they just take Him as a 
material person. When they show hostility towards the Lord to an extreme degree, then we call them demons. We see 
that demons are always present just before Krishna's appearance. Kamsa became a big demon and had many, many 
allies also who were in the same category. 
Not only do they not accept the Lord, but they actually hate the Lord. They hate Him as a material person. At that time 
the Lord manifests himself in this material world.  
We see in the Bhagavatam that the demons are present from the very beginning. When Brahma creates the material 
world he creates demons. Later on we see through the Ditti and Aditti that we get devas and demons from the same 
family. Hiranyakasipu and Hiranyaksa coming out as well as the vasus and the devas and other persons. It's more or 
less inherent in the universe because the universe is made up of gunas. It's material. 
So we have sattva, rajas, and tamas. When the lower gunas combine and become strong we get big demons. The 
material world is such that the gunas are always changing. Sometimes tama guna becomes strong. Sometimes raja 
guna becomes strong. Sometimes satva guna becomes strong. 
It's explained in the Srimad Bhagavatam that when sattva guna is prevalent, that means that the devatas are in their 
proper position and powerful because they are the sattva controllers from svarga loka etc. When sattva is strong, then 
the devatas are dominating. They control the material world and rule very nicely. When tama guna and raja guna 
become prominent, we get the demons and the rakshasas and others rising up and becoming very prominent. 
Why does it happen like this? We see it throughout the Bhagavatam that the demons become powerful. They become 
so powerful that they take over svargaloka temporarily. Then they get kicked back down again. Sometimes they 
become so strong that the Lord, Himself, has to intervene as in the case of when Krishna comes, or Rama. 
Why is it like this? It's like this because this is the nature of the material world. It's made up of gunas. The gunas do 
not stay the same all of the time. They fluctuate. We see the fluctuation takes place on a broad scale. We have satya 
yuga, treta yuga, dvarpa yuga, and kali yuga. In satya yuga it's very satvic. And in kali yuga it's very tamasic. In 
between we get this gradual decline - from satva into raja into tama guna. At the end of kali yuga again, the cycle of 
material nature itself under the operation of Brahma and the Supreme Lord, create a sattvic situation. And again it 
declines into tama guna. Thus is one thousand times in a day of Brahma. This goes on every day of Brahma's month 
and Brahma's year for one hundred years. The rotation of satva to tama, satva to tama. That's the general thing. And 
then at the end of one day it's too much and then it's night and everyone goes to sleep for millions of years. Then they 
wake up the next morning and they start all over again. After the one hundred years everyone sleeps, even Brahma 
disappears. Big sleep. 
This whole rotation of the gunas goes on in bigger cycles and smaller cycles. Then within the yugas themselves we 
have uprising sometimes. Within kali yuga we will have a rise of sattva or a degradation into tama guna. In satya yuga 
itself sometimes will rise tama guna, in spite of the fact that satva guna is prominent in satya yuga. 
All of these variations take place because it is the nature of the material world. This fluctuation is always taking place. 
Therefore we have, from the very beginning of creation, we have tama guna people, raja guna people, and satvic 
people. We have people in all modes of material nature. At the extreme ends we get the demons and the devatas. 
In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna classifies into two types of people the devatas and the demons. Of course we have 
people in between also. They may go one way or the other. But at the two ends we get these polarities, the devas and 
demons. Ultimately, it may end up in conflict, not because of the hostility of the devatas, they don't want conflict. They 
are satvic. The demons cause the conflict. Then the devatas are forced to counteract. We get some battles and so on. 
So, we see these battles taking place. Sometimes it's the devatas verses the demons and the Lord sides with the 
devatas. Sometimes, the Lord Himself comes and intervenes as we will see here in the case of Hiranyakasipu and 
Nrsimhadeva. When there is a big problem, then the Lord Himself interferes. 
Though the Lord is equal to all living entities, we should not misapply this term. Therefore they said He should not 
interfere at all in anything. If the Lord were to do so, then we would criticize the Lord more. Why does the Lord just 
make a world like this and then not interfere and help anybody at all, not help the people who are doing the proper 
thing and punish those who are not? 
The Lord rewards according to your qualification. Or, He punishes according to the qualification. In that sense He is 
sama. But He doesn't have to do it directly. He does it through the law of karma. The whole material world is such that 
it operates by the law of karma. So those people who commit sinful acts, ultimately, they have to suffer for that. That's 
the law of karma. 
The Lord does not personally interfere, but He makes a law. That law is stuck to material nature and we can't separate 
the two things. We have prakriti which is the substance of the material world in a subtle state. Of course it evolves into 
all of the other elements, subtle and gross, ahankara and manasa and the five material elements which form into 
bodies, etc. We have gross and subtle bodies. All of that is material, it's matter. 
The other aspect of the material world is the subtle aspect of maya that is time and karma. They are not substance by 
their material. They are aids of the Supreme Lord to make this material world operate according to the Lord's plan. 
Therefore time operates in such a way that we get rotations of yugas, days of Brahma, lifetimes of Brahma, repetition 
of creations of universes, etc. That's the time factor. 
Then, to make sure that everybody is getting their proper rewards or punishments, He has the law of karma. It's 
inevitable for all the bodies in the material world to have to accept karma. This is how the Lord is sama. 
However, this law of karma operates in favor of the Lord we can say, in one sense, it's made in such a way that if you 
do satvic activities you get good rewards and if you do tamas activities you get punishment. Why does the Lord favor 
the satva and give rewards for that? 
Krishna also explains in Bhagavad Gita that satva guna is the best of the gunas. Of course, all of the material world is 
bad, even satva guna is like golden chains compared to iron chains. It's all chains anyways. The guna of satva is 
better, golden chains. But it is still that the Lord prefers it. 
Why does the Lord prefer satva guna? Why does He praise the gunas when they are all actually bad, when all gunas 
are material? It's because the Lord is very clever. Built into prakriti itself, within satva guna, there is an escape hole by 
which you can get out of the material world. It's material but it also has something very interesting in it. 
The nature of satva guna is vidya, knowledge, jnana. The jnana does not mean material knowledge because you can 
get that in raja or tama guna a little bit. In satva guna the jnana takes the form of beginning to understand that we are 
not the material body. This is the natural result of satva guna. We become detached from material enjoyment and 
begin to understand that we are not the material body but that we are atma. We begin to accept scriptures. 
This is the door to getting out of the material world. Built into the material world is the method of getting out through 
satva guna. In that sense, it's considered to be better than the other gunas. It's the doorway to get out of the material 
world as well as to stay in the material world. In other words, liberation is the quality or the goal that becomes manifest 
in satva guna. Whereas in tama or raja guna we have arta, dharma, and karma manifesting. In that sense, better. 
This is one of the natural arrangements of the Supreme Lord for raising peoples consciousness so that they can get 
out of the material world. Why? For the betterment of the jiva. The whole interest is for the betterment of the jivas in 
the material world. He makes arrangements like this. We can say these are indirect arrangements. The gunas, etc. 
Then the Lord makes direct arrangements as well. The Lord establishes scriptures, eternal Vedas, He comes as 
avatars to show that He is present, that He actually is a real entity. He is not an abstraction, He is a real person. He 
has devotees in the material world manifesting to preach the glories of the Lord. He has different methods to raise the 
jivas from lower to higher gunas. That is His varnashram system, then jnana yoga, sthanga yoga, and bhakti yoga. 
The Lord places all of these in the material world to help the jivas and, in this way, benefit them. We can say that this 
is not simply being equal because the Lord does show partiality in the material world. He rewards those who rise up 
and improve their consciousness. But, still, the Srimad Bhagavatam says, Krishna Himself says in the eleventh canto, 
I don't really care for these other processes, even karma yoga, jnana yoga, asthanga yoga, sankhya, and vyragya, 
and all of these things. I care for bhakti. 
That of course is what the Lord says. Yes, I am equal to every living entity, but, I favor the devotee. The Lord does 
show some sort of sama on a normal level. Again, His intention is to actually aid the jivas to get out of the material 
world. When the jiva responds in the best way by becoming a devotee, then the Lord is no longer sama, He can no 
longer control Himself. He begins to interact with that particular person, that devotee. 
We have six qualities mentioned in the Nectar of Devotion. The last one is Krishna karshani. Krishna is attracted to 
bhakti. That particularly refers to the highest level, prema, where Krishna comes under the control of the devotee. Not 
only Krishna, even Vishnu will come under the control of the devotee as we see in the case of Ambarish. Ambarish 
was insulted by Durvasa. Durvasa went to the Supreme Lord and the Supreme Lord said I can do nothing, the 
devotee is in control. Go to him and apologize and maybe the sudarshan chakra will stop following you and burning 
you up. But it's My devotee, I gave the sudarshan chakra to him. It's his. 
The Lord comes under the control of the prema bhaktas especially. It doesn't only apply to the prema bhakta. It also 
applies to the person in the material world who is practicing bhakti. The Lord definitely favors His devotee. Therefore 
He says that very quickly the devotee comes to me. That means that he is not perfect yet, but he quickly comes to Me. 
He does not make this promise to the jnani, karmi, or the yogi. But He promises to the devotee, yes, He is very quickly 
relieved from this material world. Why? Because of the intervention of the Lord. The Lord is affected by the response 
of that particular person, the devotee. 
This is the outstanding quality of the Lord. It is not a fault that the Lord is partial to the devotee. This is actually His 
greatest quality. If we were to say that the Lord should be equal to everyone and should not show emotions, 
favoritism, or a special liking to a devotee, etc., then He's also subject to criticism. The more we surrender and 
sacrifice for the Lord, the more the Lord should be attracted and sacrifice for us. 
So, that's exactly the nature of the Lord. If we show affection for the Lord, then He shows equal or more affection for 
us. That is the proper mode of devotion or love, when there is an equal or greater response. For the Supreme Lord, 
we can say this is His ideal quality. He responds ideally and perfectly for each individual on all levels. 
On the highest level of course, He responds to each individual. If the devotee sees the Lord as their child, then He 
becomes a child and the person is able to express vatsaliya rasa, madhurya rasa, or sakhya rasa. The Lord responds 
individually for every jiva according to his desire. Of course this is a high level. 
Even on a lower level before we even manifest preference for rasa, etc., the Lord is there. It's not just paramatma 
witnessing everything in the heart. When Krishna says that I give the intelligence by which you will come to Me, it's not 
just paramatma acting as a mechanical feature. It is Krishna Himself, guiding the devotee personally and interacting 
with that particular devotee. 
It is not on the same level as a premabhakta, but, as we know accordingly, as you surrender unto Me, I respond to 
you. If you surrender a little, Krishna gives a little. He responds according to the amount of devotion that you show. 
Therefore, the devotees who are practicing seriously get a response from the Supreme Lord. He gives them 
intelligence and guidance by which they can progress in this material world. 
Even though the gunas are always fluctuating and we can never predict which guna is going to be prominent, satya 
yuga will have tamasic situations, kali yuga will get satvic situations. Ultimately, the devotee gets trained to not be too 
attached to the situations in the material world. They are all gunas, they are all material, and they are subject to 
change. 
The body is subject to change. We don't know what's going to happen to the body at any moment. You can have a 
nice satvic situation and still you can get sick or whatever. We don't know the reason. We can't predict it. 
The devotee learns to be a little impervious to that and instead concentrate upon his relationship with the Supreme 
Lord and increase his surrender and attraction to the Lord. Consequently, the Lord responds. What happens through 
that? The devotee gets happiness. That is the ultimate goal of the jiva, his capacity for happiness or bliss. It is the 
process of bhakti which yields that bliss, ultimately, more than any other process. 
Very fortunately, the process of bhakti surpasses the gunas in its very essence. We may think, well, if you're in prema 
you're beyond the gunas. But bhakti is beyond the gunas. It's very nature is beyond the gunas. It is nirguna by its 
nature. They holy name is non different than Krishna. It is beyond the gunas. 
Chanting the holy name is beyond the gunas. We may not be able to appreciate that if we are so covered over. But 
still, it is beyond the gunas. Even if we can't appreciate it, it still helps to get us beyond the gunas in spite of that. So 
when we do the activities of bhakti, engaging our voice, or our eyes in seeing the deities, or chanting the holy name, 
hearing Bhagavatam, etc. with some sincerity, then that act is nirguna. It is beyond the gunas. It is the svarup shakti of 
Krishna Himself. It's non different from Krishna. It's His best part. His hladini shakti is operating for the jiva. The whole 
process of bhakti is beyond the gunas. 
By practicing bhakti, and particularly, by chanting the holy name, we can surpass all of the problems of the material 
world in any situation whether it's satya yuga or kali yuga. Through the process of chanting we can surpass all of this. 
In the second chapter of the tenth canto, Srila Prabhupada remarks in one of the purports that yes, Krishna is no 
longer here. Previously He manifested Himself. He killed Kamsa and protected Vasudeva and Devaki and the Yadus 
and the Vrajabasis from Kamsa's wrath. But it doesn't really matter now that he's gone because the holy name is non 
different than Krishna. 
So He is still present. Krishna is present in the kali yuga through the name. We chant the holy name which is non 
different from Krishna. Therefore, we have the protection of Krishna in any case. Even though He is not personally 
present, He is present because we have the holy name. Through the holy name we can counteract all of the bad 
situations of tama guna, raja guna, and even satya guna. We can go beyond the material gunas simply by the 
chanting of the holy name. 
The whole goal of chanting is not simply to go beyond the gunas. If we simply do that then we end up with liberation, 
which is not our goal. The whole process of chanting is simply to please Krishna. If we do that as our goal then 
certainly we do get beyond the material problems but we also attain the lotus feet of Krishna. 
Devotee question: (inaudible)  
Maharaj: Chanting is beyond the gunas but we are in the gunas. Ok. That is the what happens in sadhana bhakti. 
We're not beyond the gunas as such because we're going through anartha nivriti. We still have a material body. We 
are still in the material world. So we cannot escape at this point. Even if you're at prema you are still in the material 
world. So there is no real escape as long as we have a material body and are in the material world. Somehow the 
gunas are there. 
If we are doing sadhana, we are not in prema, obviously, our body can still get affected by the gunas. We're not pure. 
Even in bhava there is a slight vijna or a slight obstacle which can cause you to fall or waiver from that stage. 
Definitely in the process of doing sadhana bhakti then yes, we are going to have different effects, different obstacles, 
different anarthas, different gunas manifesting at different times. However, we have to follow the instruction of the 
Nectar of Devotion and that first principle. Well, look, I'm not free from desires. How can I practice pure bhakti and 
sadhana, I'm not free from desires? 
Obviously we're not because we're going through anartha nivriti which goes all the way into the bhava stage. It's a 
contradiction of terms to do sadhana bhakti and be beyond material desires, in one sense. What that means is that in 
sadhana bhakti also because at least in the performance of our bhakti we are not constantly praying for things. Hare 
Krishna please get me married. Hare Krishna please get me money. Hare Krishna please get me a better job. That's 
not our thing. 
We have to be a little careful when we're doing sadhana bhakti and we're chanting or doing our deity worship so that 
our mind is focused on let me try to give up all of my desires and simply please Krishna. Then it is pure bhakti in 
sadhana bhakti. 
Of course, we're not always in that state. Underneath we have all of these desires still in us. Gradually, as we go 
through anartha nivriti, they become less and less but they are still there. But we call the whole process pure bhakti 
because that's the only way, at least excluding them when we are doing our particular sadhana, that we can get to the 
higher stages of bhava and prema where there is that absolute state of surrender to Krishna. It's not the ideal state, 
sadhana bhakti, but still we call it pure bhakti because consciously we are trying to reject the desires in spite of the 
fact that they are there. 
Devotee question: (inaudible) 
Maharaj: We can say that when we do the act of bhakti we deliberately reject our material desires. Consciously, we 
have the goal of pure bhakti. We try to do our best. That is our intention. We can say that even though we are 
contaminated, our intention is pure bhakti. Therefore, Krishna accepts that as part of the pure bhakti process. 
It's a lower stage. That's why sadhana bhakti is considered less than bhava bhakti or prema bhakti. It's not as pure. If 
we just begin with sraddha then it's less pure than when we are at nistha or ruchi or asakti. That's why we grade it. We 
have the different levels according to the amount of attraction for Krishna and the less amount of material desires or 
gunas or ego. The less it becomes, the better it is. That's how we measure progress. 
One who has less attraction for material things, less gunas, etc., then he is more advanced. One with more of those 
influences is less advanced. Never the less, we accept them all as devotees, especially if they are practicing the 
process of pure bhakti. If they are not practicing pure bhakti as such, we still accept them as devotees. 
As explained in the Caitanya Caritamrita even the sahajiyas, we can accept in one sense, are chanting the holy name 
but we don't associate with them. We can accept them in one sense but we really accept those devotees who are 
following this process of pure bhakti as stated by Rupa Gosvami and Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Even if they are in the 
low sadhana stage. 
Devotee question: (inaudible) 
Maharaj: Not literally pure, but, the intention is to attain that purity. 
Devotee question: (inaudible) 
Maharaj: I think He always does. Whatever we do, He is eager to give more. He is very, very eager. He is reciprocal 
but no body is going to criticize if He gives more. We will say He is very good if He gives a little more than necessary. 
If He gives more, is it real reciprocation? If He gives more than He should give? Although, the nature of Krishna is that 
He gets uncontrolled with the devotees so sometimes He may give more than He should, even, as we see in the case 
of Krishna with Sudhama. He started eating the rice and he was eating too much and then his wife said, don't take 
anymore, don't take anymore, you're giving him too much mercy. But He wanted to take more because He was so 
enthusiastic because of the devotion that Sudhama showed. 
Devotee question: (inaudible) 
Maharaj: With the devotees? No, definitely it's not equal. He's more eager to give than you can express yourself. 
Devotee question: (inaudible) 
Maharaj: Yeah, and again, we are not going to criticize that. It's the eagerness of Krishna for the devotee that He will 
do anything for the devotee. In the story also of Gajendra, I think Parasura Bhakta describes that, he has the whole 
thing about the Gajendra lila, that it's Vishnu and not even Krishna. Even Vishnu is so eager to help the devotees that 
when He heard the cry of help from Gajendra - He was in Vaikuntha enjoying with Laksmi - but immediately when He 
heard that crying, He forgot about Laksmi completely. He jumped on Garuda. Immediately He was trying to get 
Garuda to move faster and faster to come to the material world and rescue Gajendra from the crocodile. He forgot 
about Laxmi who is His sakti, His consort, and He was attracted to the devotee. 
We can say that is unequal also. He wasn't even a pure devotee. He was praying to the Lord because he was eaten 
by the crocodile. It wasn't even pure bhakti but still the Lord was very attracted. We can say that is excessive 
attraction to the devotee even when he wasn't doing pure bhakti. 
The Lord does do that. He gives extraordinary mercy. He gives extraordinary mercy even to the demons. Krishna kills 
Putana who tried to murder Him and she got a place in the spiritual world. We could say that is a completely unequal 
response. But it is expected of the Lord that He will do extraordinary things, show extraordinary mercy for 
extraordinary circumstances, and for extraordinary demons, even. The Lord does extraordinary things sometimes 
which we do not even expect in terms of His mercy. 
Devotee: Maharaj, you are talking a lot about the modes of nature. In the Gita Krishna is saying that whatever mode 
you die in, that will determine your next birth, up, down, or middle. In western religion they don't understand the modes 
of nature but they have the idea that you have faith in God, or their concept of love of God, and by doing that you will 
go to heaven, the spiritual world. Sometimes we will say that my mother was a very religious person and so we 
consider that she went up. But by action in western culture, it's mostly passion and ignorance. How does faith deal in 
this whole mixture? Is it purely the actions in the modes of nature, or, is it actions in modes plus your religious faith? I 
don't know if you would call western religion religious activity as always religious, but it's done in a religious institution. 
You understand what I'm saying. Does that nullify it or is it purely material laws? Just that you believe in God, but your 
life was in ignorance, so you're going to take birth as an animal. 
Maharaj: Well, if we have material religions and they are sattvic religions, then if you practice it then you will rise up in 
sattva. Just as in karma yoga and you worship devatas without attachment to material results, then you rise up in 
sattva guna, generally. If you worship rakshasas you're in raja guna. If you worship ignorant creatures and ghosts then 
you're in tama guna. According to the guna of your faith, you worship different objects, you have different religions, 
and you get different results. 
It may be a little difficult to classify Christianity or something as to which guna it is. Some of the sects may be tamasic 
and some may be rajasic and some may be sattvic. Some may be transcendental, even. Some aspects of it may be 
nirguna even. 
Devotee: Let's get specific. You drink wine. You eat meat. And you go to church. You sing praise to God and you read 
the Bible. Is that transcending your tama guna activity or is tama guna dominating because it's your law of nature if 
you're in ignorance. 
Maharaj: Well there is something like that even in the varnashram system. The people in the lower gunas, traditionally, 
they can eat meat or they can take liquor or whatever. The whole idea is that with gradual restriction they rise through 
the gunas over many lifetimes. Of course, they don't have that concept in Christianity. 
For us we would say that by practicing something they gradually get purified over many births and rise in the gunas 
until come to sattva guna. Then they will renounce a lot of these things completely and end up with what we would call 
a more bonafide form of religious activity. At that point the probably get into atma jnana and that I'm not the material 
body at all if they get to sattva guna. 
We can say that it's something like karma yoga that helps raise them up gradually over many births. 
Hare Krishna.
Read more…
Download the audio for this lecture here:
From Sri Mayapur Chandrodaya Mandir
Date: February 29, 2016 Speaker: HH Bhakti Caru Maharaj 
Subject: on HH Gour Govinda Swami on Occasion of his 20th Disappearance Day Anniversary
Yesterday was the disappearance day of our very dear and very exalted godbrother, His Holiness Gour Govinda 
Swami Maharaj. Because those two occasions are clashing, it was decided that we will have a special class on Srila 
Gour Govinda Swami Maharaj. Therefore, instead of having a class on the book Bhagavat, we'll have a class today on 
the peron Bhagavat. 
HH Gour Govinda Swami Maharaj ki jaya!
HH Gour Govinda Swami Maharaj's tirobhava mahotsvaha ki jaya!
Gaura Premanade Hari Hari Bol!
On the disappearance days of exalted devotees, we sing a special song composed by Srila Narottama Das Thakur. It 
goes like 
je ānilo prema-dhana koruṇā pracur
heno prabhu kothā gelā ācārya-ṭhākur
kāhā mora swarūp rūpa kāhā sanātan
kāhā dāsa raghunātha patita-pāvan
kāhā mora bhaṭṭa-juga kāhā kavirāj
eka-kāle kothā gelā gorā naṭa-rāj
pāṣāṇe kuṭibo māthā anale paśibo
gaurāńga guṇera nidhi kothā gele pābo
se-saba sańgīra sańge je koilo bilās
se-sańga nā pāiyā kānde narottama dās
Although most of you know this song, let us read the translation first before singing this song. 
He, who brought the treasure of divine love and who was filled with compassion and mercy--where has such a 
personality as Advaita Acarya gone?
Where are my Svarupa Damodara and Rupa Gosvami? Where is Sanatana? Where is Raghunatha Dasa, the savior 
of the fallen?
Where are my Raghunatha Bhatta and Gopala Bhatta, and where is Krsnadasa Kaviraja? Where did Lord Gauranga, 
the great dancer, suddenly go?
I will smash my head against the rock and enter into the fire. Where will I find Lord Gauranga, the reservoir of all 
wonderful qualities?
Being unable to obtain the association of Lord Gauranga accompanied by all of these devotees in whose association 
He performed His pastimes, Narottama Dasa simply weeps.
Pranam Mantras
HH Gour Govinda Swami Maharaj ki jaya
Srila Prabhupada attracted many exalted spiritual personalities. HH Gour Govinda Swami Maharaj is one of them. 
When we look at his life we can see that from the very beginning of his life, he had been a very, very dedicated 
devotee of Krishna. He was a very exalted devotee of Krishna. 
Maharaj appeared in a small villiage in a small village in Orissa called Jagannathapur. He appeared in a devotee 
family. His father Ishavar Manik and mother were very wonderful devotees. His maternal grandfather, his mother's 
father, was such an exalted devotee of Krishna that the whole day he used to just chant the holy names. He was also 
very famous as a kirtaniya. He had his kirtan and I heard that on special occaisions, the King of Orissa used to call his 
group to Jagannath Puri and to the capitol to chant the holy name of the Lord. 
His mother's family, in a village called (inaudible), which was about fourteen kilometers from Jagannathapur, had been 
worshipping Sri Sri Radha Gopal deities for more than 350 years. We can see that by Krishna's divine arrangement, 
he appeared in a devotee family and had a very wonderful spiritual upbringing from his childhood. 
He was born on 2nd September, 1929. When he was eight years old, he already read Bhagavad Gita, Srimad 
Bhagavatam, and Caitanya Caritamrita. Not only did he study these scriptures, but he could actually give classes and 
speak on those topics as an eight year old boy. 
He was also a very brilliant student. Unfortunately, his father left this planet when he was 27 years old and the 
responsibility of  maintaining the family came upon him. He could not go to the university. But although he did not have 
the opportunity to go to the university, on his own, he studied. During the day he used to work and at night he used to 
prepare for his graduation course. Although he appeared privately, he stood second in the whole university. That 
shows what a brilliant personality he was. 
After doing his BA, he did his B8, and he took the occupation of a teacher. Although he was involved in his household 
life, he was extremely detached. I personally have seen, like, when Maharaj was in Bhubaneswar, the temple, there 
were many devotees. I was introduced to one boy who was his son. He was also staying in the temple, but he did not 
get any special treatment as Maharaj's son. He was just like any other devotee there. Maharaj was extremely 
detached. 
When he was 45 years old, Maharaj left home. He just left home and started to travel around India to the holy places. 
He went to the Himalayas and Maharaj, naturally, was quite disappointed in this mayavadi influence in the community 
of the sadhus. Most of the so called sadhus are impersonalists now a days. It's very painful for a devotee. 
Finally, Maharaj came to Vrindavan and in Vrindavan he thought that he would find the vaisnava association. Although 
all four sampradayas were very well established in Vrindavan - Maharaj used to go to the different ashrams in 
Vrindavan and spend days there. He would stay in the ashrams and listen to them. He could see that even though 
they were vaisnavas, it was not really appealing to his heart because he couldn't see or find pure Krishna 
Consciousness in them. 
In that respect we can consider that Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu influenced two countries very effectively, two parts of 
India, Bengal and Orissa. Caitanya Mahaprabhu for the first twenty-four years of His stay on this planet, He stayed in 
Bengal. He started the sankirtan movement and created a tremendous influence. Nityananda Prabhu continued that. 
In Orissa, He Himself was there. The unique thing about Orissa is that it is actually the land of Jagannath. As a result 
of that, most of the people there are great devotees. They have an inherent attachment to Krishna, to Lord 
Jagannatha. 
Unfortunately, due to the British influence - When the British first came to India they came to Bengal, to Calcutta. They 
established their set up in Calcutta. As a result of the British influence, Mahaprabhu's teachings were sort of lost. As 
you all know, when all kinds of apra sampradays started to pop up and the teachings of Lord Caitanya were practically 
covered over. Then came the teachings of Ram Krishna. The whole of Bengal became totally spoiled by their thoughts 
and non spiritual propaganda, whereas Orissa was not affected by any of these things. 
Therefore, Krishna Consciousness remained quite in tact in Orissa. Even today we can see the difference between 
Bengal and Orissa. In Bengal, gradually due to Srila Prabhupada's influence, things are changing due to our 
preaching, namahatta preaching in the villages and all. Krishna Consciousness is being established. 
Orissa is very different. Even if you go to the villages, you will see that people are so devoted, so Krishna 
Consciousness. We can understand why Gour Govinda Maharaj was disappointed even when he went to Vrindavan. 
The pure Krishna bhakti was not there. He could not find it in these four sampradayas. 
One day he saw a sign - the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. Nothing that impressive, construction 
was going on, it was a construction site. But the sign was there. It appeared to him, an international society. He went 
to speak to the people in there. When he went there, he found the westerners, the Americans and Europeans. They 
had become Krishna Conscious. That impressed him so much. He felt that this was the real thing. 
Krishna bhakti is meant for every single living entity. It is not just meant for Indians or Asians. It's for everyone. Then 
he started to speak to some devotee who explained to him about Srila Prabhupada and how he went to America and 
spread Krishna Consciousness there and made them into devotees and how they were affected by Srila Prabhupada's 
teachings. 
He became eager to see Srila Prabhupada. He was already dressed in saffron and was a sadhu from his appearance. 
He asked the devotee, can I please meet your guru? That devotee said yes. You have to speak to his secretary. At 
that time Brahmananda Maharaj was his secretary. He went and spoke to him. 
Srila Prabhupada, at that time, had just finished his lunch and was about to take rest. When Brahmananda told him 
that Srila Prabhupada had just taken lunch but, anyway, I will go and ask him if he would like to meet you. He went 
and told Prabhupada that one sadhu wanted to see him. Prabhupada's immediate response was yes, bring him in. 
Gour Govinda Maharaj was taken to Srila Prabhupada. At that time his name was actually Brajabandhu. We can see, 
born in a village called Jagannathpur, he had a name of Brajabandhu, friend of Vraja, friend of Vrindavan. We can see 
the spiritual background he had actually appeared in. 
Prabhupada saw him dressed in saffron. After some exchange, Srila Prabhupada asked him if he was a sannyasi. He 
said no, I didn't officially, formally take sannyasa. I'm just wondering around in search of spiritual upliftment. Srila 
Prabhupada said, I will give you sannyasa. In their first meeting Srila Prabhupada told him that he would give him 
sannyasa. 
Srila Prabhupada gave him first and second initiation. In 1975 on the occasion of the inauguration of the Krishna 
Balaram Temple, Srila Prabhupada gave him sannyasa and the name Gour Govinda Swami. Srila Prabhupada gave 
him three instructions. Translate my books into Oria, build a temple, and you preach around the world. Prabhupada 
saw his spiritual accument. 
At that time in Orissa, we got a piece of land given by a wealthy person. This land was far away from the city. 
Prabhupada told him to go there and build a temple. Being instructed by Srila Prabhupada, he just went. I
nitially, he did not have any place to stay, he had nothing in that place. There was a little village far away. But where 
the land was, there was nothing around there. The place was so remote that it was the hideout of dacoits. There was a 
tea shop. In the back of the tea shop was a room. Maharaj made an arrangement to stay in that room. At that time, 
one student became very affected by Gour Govinda Maharaj. He later became Sacinandan Prabhu. I think he was his 
first disciple. 
Sacinandan Prabhu, on a cycle, used to take Gour Govinda Maharaj. In the carrier of the cycle, on the back, Maharaj 
used to sit there on the cycle to the city. Maharaj used to go to the offices or houses where he used to preach. 
With his own hands he built a hut. He started to stay there. 
In 1977, when Srila Prabhupada came to India, soon after the Kumba Mela in Janurary, from the Srila Prabhupada 
went to Calcutta and from there he went to Bhubaneswar. He stayed there for seventeen days. For Srila Prabhupada 
a nice arrangement was made in a rich supporters house. But Srila Prabhupada decided not to stay there. He decided 
to stay on the land in the small hut for seventeen days with a whole lot of his disciples. On the Nityananda Trayodasi 
day, Srila Prabhupada did the ground breaking ceremony of the temple there. 
Gour Govinda Maharaj took up the mission. I have noticed those days that whoever came in contact with Gour 
Govinda Maharaj became extremely influenced. Even when some personalities were quite difficult to deal with, they 
committed themselves to serve with Gour Govinda Maharaj. In spite of all those difficulties and hardships, lack of 
facilities, they stayed there in Bhubaneswar serving and helping him. 
One person who I remember is one of our very wonderful god brothers, Tejas Prabhu. I think Srila Prabhupada told 
Tejas Prabhu to help Gour Govinda Maharaj with funds. Tejas Prabhu is very expert at fund raising and Prabhupada 
understood that he should help Gour Govinda Maharaj in building that temple. 
I remember in those days that Tejas Prabhu used to travel around with Banamali Prabhu, another Orissan devotee. 
They would travel to different places collecting funds. It was a struggle. The temple was coming up. But gradually we 
saw how the city started to move there. 
Today, if you go to Bhubaneswar Temple, it doesn't look like it used to be a dacoits den thirty-five or forty years ago. 
The city has shifted there. You see all high-rises in that area. A beautiful temple has come up. 
When Maharaj started to give initiation, in 1985, devotees from all over the world became very much inspired by him. 
Not only his disciples, but many of our god brothers became very inspired by Gour Govinda Maharaj. They started to 
support and then the temple came up. 
He was a brilliant personality. I remember in those days, during this time of the GBC meeting and Gaura Purnima 
festival, senior devotees gave a class for one day. But Gour Govinda Maharaj was so popular that he was asked to 
give the class for two days in a row. 
He was extremely erudite and he was very straight forward. In one hand, he was very soft and gentle, smiling, but 
sometimes he would become hard as a thunderbolt. If somebody would say something without quoting the scripture 
he would say it's cheating, how do you substantiate that statement? Where is it in the scriptures?
He had such a profound command over the scriptures. I had the good fortune of having some close exchanges, 
intimate association with Maharaj. I remember the first time I saw him, it was in the Calcutta temple. I was just a new 
devotee and one day Maharaj came and, he was a sannyasi so I made arrangements for his prasadam. While I was 
serving him prasad he was talking to me. All the time he was just smiling and laughing while talking to me. He was 
happy to see that I had joined.
At that time I did not meet Srila Prabhupada. I had just joined in Mayapur. I met Srila Prabhupada at Kumba Mela in 
1977. Prabhupada, in our first meeting, gave me the instruction to translate his books into Bengali. That was the first 
instruction I received from Srila Prabhupada – you translate my books into Bengali. That gave me the opportunity to 
come close to Srila Prabhupada.
Then I was with Srila Prabhupada serving him personally. Then Srila Prabhupada from Mayapur went to Bombay, from 
Bombay to Hrishikesh, from Hrishikesh he came to Vrindavan. At that time, Prabhupada’s health was very bad. As a 
matter of fact, Srila Prabhupada went to Vrindavan from Hrishikesh in order to leave his body. In Hrishikesh he told us 
that the time had come for him to leave his body and that he wanted to leave his body in Vrindavan. So we should 
make arrangements to bring him to Vrindavan immediately. And we did that. That night we packed up and in the 
morning we left for Vrindavan.
Many devotees were coming to see Prabhupada at that time. Gour Govinda Maharaj also came to see Srila 
Prabhupada. Prabhupada had some very sweet exchange with him. Gour Govinda Maharaj was saying that the place 
was so remote where our land is in Bhubaneshwar that hardly anybody is coming. Prabhupada actually told him at 
that time, don’t worry, that place will become filled with people. I don’t know whether or not Srila  Prabhupada said that 
the city would shift to that part or not, but one thing he assured him was that many, many people would come to the 
temple. Don’t worry.
When Gour Govinda Maharaj was leaving, Prabhupada called me. He asked me how he was going to Mathura. I went 
and asked Maharaj, how are you going to go to Mathura, to catch a train there. Maharaj said that he would take a bus, 
public transport. Prabhupada said no, tell them to drop him in my car. Prabhupada wanted him to be dropped at 
Mathura station in his car.
After that, I had on a few occaisions, visited Bhubaneshwar. I remember those days. There were very few devotees. 
Mostly it was very sweet. Bhagavat Prabhu was there. He was very fond of Gour Govinda Maharaj. He is our god 
brother from America.
Gour Govinda Maharaj was just absorbed in reading and translating, studying, and giving discourses. I noticed that he 
would not eat. Sometimes he would come and stay in Calcutta where I used to stay. I noticed that until Maharaj had 
translated a certain number of pages, I think it was ten pages of Srimad Bhagavatam, he would not eat. He would eat 
only after he had translated a certain number of pages of Srimad Bhagavatam. It was extremely austere.
Another time I remember Maharaj had some sort of ulcer in his leg. He wouldn’t take any treatment and it was getting 
worse and worse. The ulcer actually was eating up his bones, but he would not take any treatment. Finally, due to the 
intense persuasion of his devotees, he accepted the treatment. Otherwise, he was very detached and just depending 
on Krishna. Tremendous will. Tremendous determination. He was extremely detached. At the same time, rich with his 
devotion to Krishna.
He became a GBC. We also noticed that in the GBC Meetings, he would rarely speak. When there would be some 
critical input needed, and if the devotees asked Maharaj, he would give such a pure Krishna Conscious solution. We 
could see that although he was not speaking, he was listening so intently about the whole proceedings during our 
meetings. 
Maharaj started to travel around the world and I noticed that wherever he went, he got such tremendous appreciation. 
He was very gentle and meek normally, but when he used to give a class, he was like a lion, roaring. Once one 
devotee how he was sitting next to him, he was shouting so much, I could hear him straight. I told him, it's not that, it's 
his ecstasy that's making him speak like that. It's the ecstasy that makes one speak like that, roaring like a lion. 
Maharaj was, wherever he went, he created a tremendous appreciation. Devotees were so fond of him wherever he 
went. Devotees appreciated his scholarship, the depth of his devotion, and his very profound dealings with everyone 
in a very loving and intimate way. At the same time, he was extremely straight forward. 
Twenty years back, here in Mayapur, Maharaj was here during the GBC Meeting. On the day of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta 
Sarasvati Thakura's appearance, that year also was Srila Prabhupada's 100th anniversary, 1996. One evening, 
Maharaj gave darshan just before evening arati. He told the devotees to go and attend the arotik. So all of the 
devotees, after just listening to him, came to the arotik. Maharaj used to stay where my room is in the conch building. 
Maharaj's room was three rooms after that. His servant just came running to me. He came and told me that Guru 
Maharaj fainted. I also ran to his room. In the meantime, one devotee who was not a devotee but who had some 
experience in whichever way, I came and I found that he was feeling Maharaj's pulse. He told me that he left his body. 
It was so sudden that we couldn't even imagine that he could leave. He gave a class, spoke about Lord Jagannath's 
glory, and to the group of devotees sitting there, and in a few minutes after that he just left. 
The whole night we chanted kirtan. His leading disciples wanted to take Maharaj's body to Bhubaneswar. They took 
Maharaj to Bhubaneswar in a vehicle. Some of us traveled to Bhubaneswar. Radhanath Maharaj and I traveled by 
train to Bhubaneswar that day. It was such a loss. It came so suddenly. There is no way of knowing how and when 
Krishna will call his devotees back to a new assignment. 
In a similar way we saw how Tamal Krishna Maharaj also left his body so suddenly. At a time like that, we have to 
understand that Krishna called them to give them a more important assignment, some more important engagement. 
For us, it's a great loss. We can't fathom or understand what is Krishna's plan, what is Srila Prabhupada's plan. 
I'll end the class with a pastime that HH Gour Govinda Maharaj narrated about why Krishna came as Sri Caitanya 
Mahaprabhu. 
One day in Vrindavan, Radharani was waiting for Krishna. The sakhis arranged the kunja. They met in flower groves. 
They decorated the place very beautifully for Krishna to come. Radharani was waiting for Krishna, but Krishna had not 
come. It was quite late but still, Krishna did not come. 
One messenger was sent to find out what actually happened, why Krishna was not coming. So she went and found 
out that Krishna was with Candravali. Candravali, although she is Radharani's sister, is Radharani's competitor. 
Incidentally, in Vraja lila, it is Radharani and Candravali. In Dvarka lila, Candravali becomes Rukmini and Radharani 
becomes Satyabhama. So they are always with Krishna. 
Krishna is with Candravali. Hearing that, Radharani became so upset. She said, if He ever comes here, don't allow 
Him to come near me. I don't want to see His face. When Krishna came, Lalita and Visakha stopped Him saying, no 
way can You go there. She doesn't want to even see Your face. 
Completely dejected, Krishna left the place and went to the bank of the Yamuna and started to cry, rolling on the 
ground. Radharani had rejected Him. Purnamasi came and, Purnamasi is yoga maya. She is an elderly lady who 
makes all of the arrangements for Krishna's pastimes. That's yoga maya's position. She came and asked Krishna 
what happened. He narrated the whole incident. Then Purnamasi said, serious matter, let me see what I can do. Just 
stay here and I will make some arrangement, let's see what I can do. 
After a short while, Vrinda devi came there. Vrinda said look, Purnamasi sent me to help You out to unite with Radha, 
to arrange for you to meet Radha. So Krishna said please do that. In separation, My heart is breaking. Vrinda said 
look, if you go like this, there is no chance. Krishna said tell me what I should do. She said, get rid of your long hair, 
shave your head up. Give up the peacock feather on your forehead. Give up your flute. Instead of flute, you take a 
sannyasa danda. Dress up like a sannyasi. Give up this form of bending in three places and become straight. On top 
of everything, you have to hide your blue color. If you go there with this complexion, she will automatically recognize 
you. Assume a golden color. 
According to Vrinda's instruction, Krishna went there as a sannyasi. A sannyasi's business is to beg. He was singing a 
song describing that, I am a begger, begging for Radha's love. When Lalita and Visakha heard, they were very happy. 
Oh, you are glorifying Srimati Radharani. Where did you learn this song? He said, I learned it from my guru, 
ghandarvika. Ghandarva means the fine arts. They thought it was the teacher who teaches fine arts. 
They thought, oh, you are a very nice sannyasi. What do you want? He said look, I am here to help everybody. 
Anyone who is in distress, my business is to help them out. They said, you see, our mistress is in great distress. Can 
you help her out? He said, sure I can. Please come and tell her what she should do. He said yes, I am a great 
astrologer. I can help her. Just by seeing the lines I can make out what is going to happen. I can suggest accordingly. 
They went and reported that such and such a sannyasi came and he said that he can help anyone in distress. We 
thought that since you are in such distress we should ask him to help you. He agreed. Radharani came to the 
veranda, the sannyasi was there. She was covering her face because she didn't see anyone but Krishna. She said, so 
sannyasi thakur, can you please read her palm? He said I am a sannyasi, I can't touch a woman! They asked so how 
will you read the lines? He said no, no. Not the lines of the hand. I can read the lines on the forehead. 
Lalita told him look, she doesn't look at anybody other than Krishna. The only male she looks at is Krishna. No one 
else but Krishna. He said look, I am a sannyasi. I am beyond all of this bodily concept of life. One should not be 
ashamed in front of me. Tell your mistress to open her veil and let me see the lines on her forehead. Her veil was 
lifted, but as soon as the sannyasi saw her face, he could not retain his sannyasi form. He assumed his 
Shyamasundar form and this is how Krishna met Srimati Radharani and broke her anger. 
Sri Sri Radha Madan Mohan ki jaya! Sri Sri Radha Madhava ki jaya!
Srila Gour Govinda Maharaj ki jaya! 
Gaura Premande Hari Hari Bol!

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The TOVP Master Plan

By Janesvari Devi Dasi

The design for the overall TOVP Master Plan has been created by one of our Russian architects, Rangavati dasi, who has been with the TOVP since 2013.

We are trying to create the most aesthetic and colorful gardens in India for the pleasure of the Lord.

By clicking on an icon number, you will get a glimpse of how magnificent the surrounding TOVP gardens will look. There are currently 2 sections available: Vegetation and Outdoor furniture.

Here is the link for the masterplan: http://masterplan.tovp.org

NOTE: For best visual experience please follow the following guidelines.

Use FULLSCREEN mode to get the best visual experience. Fullscreen mode can be activated by clicking an icon in the top left corner of the map.

Please be patient while the images load initially. Due to their large size (high resolution) it will take some time to load the maps fully. And then, when you click each pin/point on the map the first time wait for each image to load fully, it will auto-position itself properly on the map. The second and all consecutive times you load the map and each point it will open almost instantly.

Source: http://m.dandavats.com/?p=19508

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NBS#32 Lord Kapila’s Teachings.

NBS#32 Lord Kapila’s Teachings.
This issue dives deeper into the philosophies presented by The Supreme Lord to mother Devahuti. 
NBS # 32 Features:-
1) What is Sankhya Philosophy ?
His Divine Grace A .C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
2) Further Inquiries By Mother Devahuti
Sri Maitreya Rishi 
3) Material Life
Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur
4) Renunciation Of Conduct Unfavorable To Pure Devotion
Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur
This issue can be viewed through these links:
ISSUU: http://issuu.com/nbsmag/docs/nbs_32
Scribd: https://www.scribd.com/doc/302354221/NBS-32

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You are a pujari and you are too busy for making ghee wigs by hand? Check this video :-) Watch it here:https://goo.gl/d7TuSg
Srila Prabhupada: If we make our Deity worship program extremely opulent and gorgeous, and if all of the devotees are always attending arati and holding kirtan in front of the Deities, that will be the best program for attracting the Indian people to Krishna Consciousness Movement. Letter to Giriraja, June 8, 1972.

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2nd Day of Gaura Purnima festival in Mayapur- 6 Feb 2016. 
After the ecstatic Sri Radha-Madhava Elephant Procession & Adhivas ceremony of Kirtan mela on the first day of the festival, the day 2 of the Gaura Purnima began with packed Mangala arotika & Srngar arotika darshan and HH Sivaram Swami‘s lecture on the glories of the Holy name -a topic in line with Kirtan Mela! Maharaj spoke on the verse from Brihad Bhagavatamrta, which is:
“Dearer to the Lord than even His own beautiful form, His easily worshiped holy name benefits the entire world. Indeed, nothing is as full of nectar as the holy name of the Lord.”
After Sravanam, devotees joyfully took breakfast prasada at Gada hall, sponsored by Mr. Naresh Soken. Kirtan Mela day1 started with Agnidev prabhu’s kirtan, followed by Kamalgopal Prabhu. 
HH Jayapataka Swami has arrived in Mayapur. We are happy to welcome HH Jayapataka Swami. A new Annadan complex , an initiative of Food for Life is being opened today with the deity installation and Maharaja will grace the occasion to bless the project.

Source: http://m.dandavats.com/?p=19544

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Vidura Das 1944 - 2016

A disciple of Srila Prabhupada and long time resident of New Vridaban, Vidura and his wife of 45 years, Tryadhisa, have been serving in the Dhama since 1984.

On July 31st of 1970 Vidura and Tryadhisa married, soon after Vidura ran across a copy of the Bhagavad Gita As It Is in a used book store and began his spiritual awakening. That same year while in Boston they ran into devotees in downtown Boston performing sankirtan. “Jadhurani was taking donations in a conch shell and gave us the pamphlet on chanting Hare Krishna” recalls Tryadhisa. Shortly afterwards they both joined ISKCON in Boston and Vidura took first initiation from Srila Prabhupada, July 18, 1971.

Vidhura holding the umbrella serving Srila Prabhupada

Vidhura holding the umbrella serving Srila Prabhupada

Vidura served as the sankritan leader in many cities and setup college preaching programs wherever he went. A land surveyor by profession, he endeavored on many projects in New Vrindaban such as the brick road, parking lot, devotee houses and many land surveys. In 1973, he participated in the construction of the Krishna Balarama Mandir in Vrindavan.

After living in Boston for some time Vidura missed Sri Sri Radha Vrindaban Chandra and in 2008 he built his own house, close to the temple in New Vrindaban, mostly himself. He woke up every morning at 4:30 to chant his rounds, and read from Srimad Bhagvatam for the rest of his life. He enjoyed listening to Prabhupada lectures and kirtans throughout the day.

Back in 2013, Vidura was diagnosed with cancer of the tonsils and began two rounds of chemotherapy and radiation at Wheeling Hospital in West Virginia. At first the doctors thought his condition was improving; however, a PET scan on August 28, of 2015 revealed that the cancer had metastasized, spreading to his lungs and they gave him 6 months to live. As the months progressed his condition declined and it became increasingly difficult for him to breath.

Then on Lord Nityananda's appearance day, Vidura's breathing went from labored to shallow as his loving wife was reading to him from Srimad Bhagavatam about the soul going back to Godhead. She sprinkled Ganga jala into his mouth and on to his head as she chanted Hare Krsna to him. He left his body at 10:15 am February 20, 2016, as Srila Prabhupada was singing Nitia Pada Kamala softly in the background.

Vidura Prabhu is survived by his wife of 45 years, Tryadhisa Dasi, and many friends around the world.

Source: http://www.newvrindaban.com/newvrindaban/node/629

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Gita Upadesham - an offering for ISKCON 50. 
All glories to ISKCON’s 50th Anniversary! With great pleasure, we would like to announce that the Temple President of Sri Jagannatha Mandir Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, HG Kripa Sindhu Krishna Das has received the Congregational Preaching Medal from HH Jayapataka Swami the Co-GBC for ISKCON Malaysia.
Some of the preaching activities that actively is conducted by the Congregation devotees of SJMKL currently are Gita Upadesham home to home preaching, Bhakti Vrikshas, Nama Hatta, Harinam & Palanquin Processions, Book Distribution Activities.
The Gita Upadesham programme is specially designed as an offering to Srila Prabhupada for ISKCON’s 50th anniversary. 
The congregation of Sri Jagannatha Mandir is taking up to this service very enthusiastically and up to date the devotees have visited 900 homes. The aim is to complete 5000 homes by December 2016.
The Gita Upadesham is a simple programme whereby a devotee approaches people by going home to home. If allowed devotees will chant a verse of Bhagavad Gita and explain it’s meaning to the residents of the home. The Hare Krsna mahamantra is also introduced to them. All this is done in less than 15 minutes and we move on to another home. It is not only easy to do for the devotees but is preferred by the residents of Kuala Lumpur as it suits their busy schedule.
The Gita Upadesham also acts as a tool to identify potential people who will be interested to attend a more comprehensive programme and learn more. It helps the SJMKL preachers to channel those interested to weekly Bhakti Vriksa programmes. As for the Bhakti Vriksa programme, SJMKL Congregation is now conducting a total of 22 house programmes in Kuala Lumpur. The aim is to conduct 50 house programmes by December 2016
We seek the blessings of the glorious Vaishnavas to make this endeavour a success.
SJMKL Admin 
More photos here: https://goo.gl/nogGZt

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