Our article “Thoughts from the Astrology Tent” (Dandavats, Aug.21, ’09) generated much interest from Dandavats readers, and we received a number of inquiries that ranged from Krishna conscious astrology to the first Woodstock Festival in NY. However, in that article I mentioned that in 1969 “I was one of three devotees at the first Woodstock”. But no, there were four shaved-up brahmacharis in dhotis (and a number of future devotees, as I have since learned). My memory has been jogged by a recen
After five months of constant travel I return to Mayapur. Many priorities made it difficult to keep up with my newsletters.
What I would have wanted to write if I had the time is expressed perfectly in the article below by my godsister Arcana Siddhi Devi Dasi.
The article is about the difference between low self-esteem and humility. It is an important and often misunderstood topic. Low self-esteem and lack of self-confidence are becoming more and more pervasive. I felt this
Last week I was asked, “What’s the most important practice for advancing in spiritual life?” Srila Prabhupada said chanting of Hare Krsna is most important. Some have suggested that devotee association is more important because without it, most of us wouldn’t have the strength to chant Hare Krsna.
I agree. But I think there is a principle even more fundamental than this. I have addressed it to some degree in other newsletters, but it is so important that it deserves further
I came across this lecture by Srila Prabhupada’s early disciple Yamuna Devi. It is so wonderful that I thought make it this month’s newsletter. (Plus, I am writing a book to go with a new preaching program I am developing and need to focus my writing time on this project).
I trust this will both inspire and help you as much as it helped me.
Your servant,
Mahatma das
Is it wrong to want to taste Krsna? Wouldn’t that desire be sense gratification? Shouldn’t we just serve without any personal desire? These are important questions to address.
There is a difference between taste in Krsna consciousness and sense gratification, although they can seem similar, and thus difficult to distinguish. We discuss this difference, as well as the necessity of developing the proper taste for Krsna consciousness.
(This newsletter is an edited transcription
I apologize in advance for the length of this newsletter. I couldn’t do the topic justice without making it longer than my typical newsletter. The information I offer goes very deep into a part of our psychology that is not easily understood (or not easily accepted). Thus, I needed more space to insure that the message, and its application, would be clear.
This article outlines one of the foundational points for a new workshop I recently developed called the Re-Creation Wor
It’s common for devotees to feel unqualified or unworthy to serve guru and Krsna. This is helpful when it is a natural symptom of spiritual advancement. But it is detrimental when, out of an unhealthy psychology, we either feel unworthy of receiving Krsna’s grace, or feel unworthy of being loved by Krsna. Spiritual unworthiness and material unworthiness are not the same. One is a by-product of a high level of Krsna consciousness and the other is a symptom of an unhealthy mental or emotional sta
Srila Prabhupada, sastra and the acaryas have spoken about being totally dependent on guru and Krsna. Independence, we learn, is our disease. It is what brought us to the material world and what keeps us here. Is there such a thing, however, as too much dependence and not enough independence?
Continuing the theme of balance from the previous newsletter, we explore the balance between dependence and independence.
May you always think of Krsna,
As you may know, I often write about issues related to mind, emotions, and our conditioned nature, and address problems that are common to many devotees. In this issue of Illuminations, I deal with one such problem: the opposing forces that exist within us. We have Krsna conscious ideals, yet our conditioned nature often wants the opposite, resisting our deepest spiritual desires.
We need to find a middle ground – a place in which we acknowledge these competing n
The exercise in my last newsletter, Surrender to Surrender, is an exercise in honestly looking at your fears of surrender. We ask you to look at what you are holding onto and why. You ask yourself, “What am I afraid of giving up and why am I afraid of giving it up?” You ask, “Why do I think I won’t be happy if I give this or that up for Krsna?”
“Why?” is the important question to ask yourself.
The exercise is meant to help you realize the illusory nature of your concerns/fears about surrender, th
Giriraj Swami: Ekadasi is one of the regular celebrations in the Vaisnava calendar. It is observed eleven days after the full moon and eleven days after the new moon of every month. Even in the thirteenth, or leap month, called adhi-masa or purusottama-masa, which comes every three years, during which no other festivals are celebrated, Ekadasi is observed. Ekadasi is known as “the day of Lord Hari” and is said to be “the mother of devotion.” Of the sixty-four items of devotional service listed
Bhima the mighty warrior of the Pandava dynasty requested one vrata day by which he could obtain the fruits of all the other days of vrata that he was incapable of observing. Vyasadeva advised him to follow this difficult vrata.
PADMA PURANA – Vyasadeva speaking to Bhimasena:
“Oh son, Lord Keshava, Who holds the club, disk, conch and lotus flower in His hand, personally told me that all of the merit achieved by fasting on whatever Ekadasis fall in one year can be attained by fasting on this one
Nowadays the great innovations of medical and scientific science can maintain patients alive, even those that in the past were given no hope to survive. These innovations can prolong the patient’s existence artificially even knowing that they will never regain acceptable health and life conditions. This situation is commonly called over-medication. The definition of cerebral death, since the end of the sixties has allowed for the development of transplant surgery. Before that time, the extracti
SNANA Yatra - Bathing the Lord , Panihati Festival - The Pots Overflow, Tickets on Sale-A Night at the Opera
Lecture on Desire for details of a subject demonstrates deep devotion to that subject by HG Chaitanya Charan Prabhu
(Bhagavad Gita Chapter - 10, TExt - 16)
(His Grace Caitanya Charan Prabhu is a monk and spiritual teacher in the time honored tradition of bhakti yoga. He is a editor of Back to Godhead, which is the official international magazine of the Hare Krishna movement.)
To Listen and Download - click here
Lecture onAdvancement in Krishna Consciousness means Development of Faith by HH Giriraj Swami on 24 May 2016 at Houston
(Giriraj Swami was born Glenn Phillip Teton in the home of a respected Chicago lawyer. He met His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, founder-acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.)
To Listen and Download - click here
Lecture on Initiation by HH Radhanath Swami on 06 Jun 2016 at New York Bhakti Center
(Radhanath Swami was born in Chicago in 1950. Radhanath Swami's childhood name was Richard Slavin; Radhanath Swami was given the name Radhanath Swami after he entered the renounced order. In his teenage years)
To Listen and Download - click here
The acaryas have shown this path. By paying crores and crores of obeisances to the dear devotees of Gauranga Mahaprabhu and by begging for their mercy, one will be able to understand and be able to describe the transcendental pastimes of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
How can we always know that the decisions we take are the correct ones? That they are pleasing to both guru and Krishna?
Such questions are simultaneously easy, yet difficult to answer and even more difficult when it comes to practical application. One such area that falls into this category is when a senior devotee falls from the highest standard of spiritual practice and how our society deals with it.
In a simple sense once a devotee falls down then they are fallen, and while no vaisnava woul
Bhaktin Constance: I read my daughter’s Muhammad Ali article a few days ago and was inspired to write one of my own. See, writing was my mainstay in many of the legal assistant & managerial positions I held over the years. Since my two only children both became devotees of Krsna close to four decades ago, being very close to them both, Krsna had to become a pretty big part of my life too. They each had devotees over to meet me in my Brooklyn home; Raga even brought her guru BT Swami over with s
