Srila Bhakti Charu Swami came to India

Two workers were approached by a reporter. The reporter asked the first worker, “What are you doing?” His response was to complain that he was virtually a slave, an underpaid bricklayer who spent his days wasting his time, placing bricks on top of one another.

The reporter asked the second worker the same question. His response, however, was quite different. “I’m the luckiest person in the world,” he said. “I get to be a part of important and beautiful pieces of architecture. I help turn simple p

You can work long and hard, be creative, clever, talented, and insightful – but if you fail to understand the importance of your own thoughts in the process of creation, it will all be for naught.

One very important factor of success, abundance, and the creation of prosperity comes from within yourself – your thoughts. A particular train of thought persisted in, be it good or bad, cannot fail to produce its results on the character and circumstances. A man cannot directly choose his circumstances

You can acknowledge others in many ways. When someone calls you, acknowledge the call. When they send you something, remember to say thank you. When someone does a good job, say so. When they apologize, acknowledge that too. 

It’s especially important to acknowledge acts of kindness – doing so reinforces the act and encourages more of the same. We all benefit. 

Almost everyone loves to be acknowledged. We love to have our phone calls returned, to be told we are doing a great job, to be thanked for

One of the mistakes many of us make is that we feel sorry for ourselves, or for others, thinking that life should be fair, or that someday it will be. It’s not and it won’t. When we make this mistake we tend to spend a lot of time complaining about what’s wrong with life. We commiserate with others, discussing the injustices of life. “It’s not fair,” we complain, not realizing that, perhaps, it was never intended to be.

One of the nice things about surrendering to the fact that life isn’t fair is

Prabhupada: Not martial. There is another word. Martial law is also one of the emergency law. So anyway, the nature's arrangement is like that. Just like children, they're allowed to play, but under certain condition. So we all, we are all children of God, Krsna. So we have come hear to enjoy, to lord it over the material nature. That is the tendency. So Krsna has given us the facility. Just like in the beach, there are many young men who are playing in the sea with surf, but still, the governme

Each person views the world differently

When someone acts in a way that seems strange to you, rather than reacting in your usual way, such as, “I can’t believe they would do that,” instead say something to yourself like “I see, that must be the way she sees things in her world. Very interesting.”

When you are genuinely curious about the way someone reacts or the way they feel about something, it’s unlikely that you will be annoyed. 

When you are interested in other perspectives, it doesn’t imply, e

'The Southernmost Part of this Globe', Part I -- Melbourne, 1976

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu wanted that 'prthivite ache yata nagaradi grama'. He wanted that everywhere, in every nook and corner of this world -- every city, every town, every village, there should be the chanting of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. Chanting should be preached. So by His grace it is going on. Now, in the remotest part of the world, even in Australia, the southernmost part of this globe, t

Srila Prabhupada was very happy with the sincere work of his disciples to build and establish the new Melbourne temple. Not long after leaving Australia, Prabhupada received in the mail from Madhudvisa Swami a gift of a recent photograph of the Melbourne temple. Prabhupada noted the gorgeously dressed Deities in Their new marble and onyx temple that shone like a polished gem.

Prabhupada replied to Madhudvisa:

From the photo it appears that everything is very nice. I am

Prabhupada took lunch on the one-hour flight to Sydney. A devotee had carefully double-fried Prabhupada's favourite " urad dal kacauris " which he enjoyed with the rest of his prasadam.

At Sydney airport's transit lounge, Srutakirti and Paramahamsa Swami sat on either side of Prabhupada as he softly chanted japa. In one hour their Pan Am flight would be departing for Fiji and Hawaii. Suddenly a young man in Qantas Airlines uniform approached and offered Srila Prabhupada and

Prabhupada sat on a chair in the Melbourne airport departure lounge. Devotees sat around him on chairs and on the carpeted floor. Some stepped forward to speak a few final words or offer a parting gift.

As the boarding call for Prabhupada's flight was announced, the devotees rose, chanting in kirtana procession as far as the customs barrier. Prabhupada disappeared behind the screen, leaving the devotees feeling bereft of his association for yet another yea

On his last morning walk in the Botanic Gardens, Srila Prabhupada was accompanied by his Australian book distributors. The air was particularly chilly. When Srila Prabhupada stopped walking, the young men, breathing frosty plumes that soon merged with the bracing morning mist, clustered around their beloved spiritual master to listen to his occasional comments.

At one such break in the brisk walk, Prabhupada explained that the gardens, although nice, could have been grea

Friday, 23 May 1975

Prabhupada was half-way down the steep stairs on the way to his morning walk when he stopped to tell a humorous anecdote. He rested his right hand on the dark polished banister. "When I was a young boy," he grinned, "in my maternal home, there was a rail like this, and ..."

Prabhupada ran his hand down the smooth wooden rail. "I would slide down!"

Srila Prabhupada admitted in the car that even though he was only using them to a minimum, the stairs were causi

A young devotee asked, "How do you convince a person that they are suffering, when they say that they are happy and not afraid to die?"

Prabhupada's reply was short and salty. "He is a madman!" As the whole room erupted in laughter, Prabhupada showed his teeth in a broad grin. "That's all. Who is caring for a madman's word?"

Newly-initiated Visvahetu raised his hand. "If we've been here, lifetime after lifetime performing impious activities, does it mean that we have to be here

Meeting with Father Wallace

When Prabhupada mentioned reincarnation, Father Wallace also found this hard to accept. How could the soul transmigrate between species, up to or down from the human form? Prabhupada gave a simple example:

"Just like you are in this apartment. You can go to another apartment, and that apartment may not be exactly like this. It may be better or worse. Similarly, we have entered this body."

By contacting the lower modes of nature, Prabhupada described, one could be infecte

After lunch, Srila Prabhupada rested on his chaise longue, hands placed together under his head, as if in prayer. Upon rising, Prabhupada took a glass of freshly-squeezed orange and mandarin juice. In the early evening, Prabhupada prepared to meet his guests.

Father Frank Wallace SJ was the Acting Provincial of the Australian Province of the Society of Jesus, an order of monks in the Roman Catholic Church. As well as being effectively the "second in command" of the Jesu

Although it was officially winter in Melbourne and generally chilly, some days were sunny and moderately warm. Since this was the case that day, it was decided that Srila Prabhupada would take his massage in the area set aside as a sewing room because the morning sun shone directly through the window there.

The massage had barely started, however, when a near-catastrophe marred the peaceful morning session. As Srutakirti turned to reach for the oil bottle, there was suddenly a