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

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

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,

In continuing our series on balance, I address these questions in the following newsletter (which is an edited transcription of a talk I gave a few years ago on the relationship between effort and mercy).

May you always think of Krsna.

Mahatm

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

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

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

 Adventures in Krishna Consciousness — Chanting the Holy Names

Transcript of a talk by Yamuna devi dasi @ the P

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

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