Life has been extraordinarily busy…2 jobs, college, yoga,temple seva, e-seva,sadhana,maintenance, etc, etc. Many ideas have come & gone for writing here mostly as I haven’t been able to sit down & write when I actually had the inspiration to do so. As I write this I have approximately a half hour before I need to get myself together and head to a nearly 4 hour typography class.  Endless japa awaits me as I surrendered the morning hours to ekadasi cooking & starting/finishing my homework for class today, and the gunas are against me as mid-afternoon always seems to be the worst time for japa imo. I prefer to chant early morning or late at night, less passion is there and it is easier for me to focus on the names.

One of the last posts I wrote here “ISKCON is the only way” seemed to have been widely misunderstood. My thoughts are that the meaning I was aiming for did not come through in what I wrote. This is a common dilemma I face when writing. Endless words spill onto to the page devoid of the essence that inspired them. Easily enough I could have entitled that post “Jesus is the only way” or “Allah is the only way”…perhaps in that way I would have faced a different variety of criticism. It seems that ISKCON has become a politically charged word to many people these days. Why, I’m not exactly sure.

The way I see it is that developing pure bhakti is the ONLY way to become spiritually perfect. This is confirmed over and over again in scripture. (BG.18.66 sarva dharma parityajya…and the Bible, “Father not my will, but Thy will be done.”) Bhakti is like the express way whereas ISKCON (in its pure form)  and other denominations in their pure essence are the feeder roads (a road which runs parallel to the express way ultimately taking travelers to the same destination and allowing one to easily jump on the express way). All the splinter groups and varying deviations of a particular denominations are like detours or little country roads which can eventually end up on the express way or may end up at a dead end according to the degree of purity of God’s message that is presented within these groups.

From reading Srila Prabhupada’s books we can understand that religion is one, namely to love and serve God with unalloyed devotion. Anything that brings us closer to this goal should be accepted whereas anything that diverts our mind from the goal should be rejected simple as that. At the same time it is a natural tendency for one to feel that whatever group they are a part of is the best way as why else would they have choosen to join that group. If I felt that joining the Jehovah Witnesses would help increase my bhakti moreso than staying within ISKCON, then I would be idiotic not to do so. Point is that a sincere seeker is a lover of Truth. The sincere seeker would be willing to go anywhere and everywhere in search of the highest truth and be willing to abandon anything for something which is genuinely higher. However within this there is always the test to see the validity of the Truth, does it work? If it works, then that is truth if it doesn’t then something is wrong. Of course determining this is not always cut and dry as there is the “sour grapes” mentality we have to be cautious of. This is where association of saintly persons comes in. Seeing others especially those who have traversed a particular pathway much longer that we have is a helpful way to measure the merits of a particular process.

The first time I met my Spiritual Master and his wife I had this experience. They had something I wanted. This happiness, this serenity, this knowledge, this coolness that was unparalled. I walked in the door a hippy and walked out knowing I could never go back to my old ways of enjoying. It just wasn’t the same anymore.  Anyways, alotted blog writing time is up and I need to take the trip north to go to class. So until next time….Hare Krsna

Most people who have studied the lives of many great artists throughout history can understand that many where deeply troubled individuals and not the most saintly characters to say the least. Recently one of my professors remarked during a discussion about implanting microchips in persons brains to correct chemical imbalances like ADHD, ADD,etc.,

“if they ever find a cure for depression, there goes half of the arts.”

From this we can understand many artists use art as their outlet to turn the ugly into something beautiful. Similarly we do the same thing in Krishna consciousness, namely turn all these ugly anarthas that comprise ourselves into beautiful Vaishnavas who exhibit all wonderful qualities. Anyways, I was recently reading one article on Gauguin the famous 19th century post-impressionist painter which quoted him as saying,

“Life is hardly more than a fraction of a second. Such a little time to prepare oneself for eternity!”

Therein I feel like we can really take this deeply to heart as a wonderful meditation to help us realize just how precious every moment of our lives are and how we can not afford to loose even one lava matra (11th of a second) outside of Krishna consciousness. As my beloved Spiritual Master has said in the Spiritual Purity seminar he gave in Montreal the day following my harinama initiation:

“Plug all the gaps!”

Meaning that we must pack our days so full of Krishna consciousness that when maya comes looking to rent a room we must say that we have no vacancy and that she’ll have to go elsewhere.Lastly I leave you with a little wisdom from Canakya Pandit via Srila Prabhupada which I was reminded of upon coming across this wonderful quote by Gauguin:

So for knowledge, we can take it from anywhere. There should not be sectarianism, “Oh, why shall I take knowledge from here and there?” Wherever knowledge is available, we should take it. That is the real position of seeker of knowledge. Canakya Pandita says, nicad apy uttama vidya stri-ratnam duskulad api. He says, visad apy amrtam grahyam. Visa, visa means poison. “In the pot of poison, if there is little nectar in, take it.” Visad apy amrtam grahyam. Poison is not to be touched, but if there is little nectar in, take it. And amedhyad api kancanam: “And in a filthy place there is gold. Take it.” Not that gold has been polluted because it is in the filthy place. If there is gold in the filthy place, don’t hesitate. Take it. And nicad apy uttama vidya. Generally, people used to take education from brahmana. So Canakya Pandita advises that “If there is education, actual education, even he is a lower class man, sudra or candala, take it. Accept him as master.” And nicad apy uttama vidya. Nicad apy uttama vidya stri-ratnam duskulad api. And in India, according to Vedic civilization, the marriage is done after seeing the family tradition very scrutinizingly. So here it is advised that duskulad api, “In a abominable family, if there is nice girl, educated, beautiful, accept her. Accept her.” Nicad apy uttama vidya stri-ratnam. Ratnam means jewel. Wife, she is like jewel although born of a low family, accept. So anything very good, even it is available from a place which is not desirable, one should accept it. So if you are actually seeking after God, so here is God available from Vedic literature. Why don’t you take it? Why you should refuse it? That is not very good sign.

>>> Ref. VedaBase => Morning Walk — June 25, 1975, Los Angeles

Carpe Diem (by chanting Hare Krsna)!

A while back I had mentioned in one of my blogs that my Spiritual Master, His Grace Sriman Sankarshan das Adhikari said in one lecture that, “anyone who thinks he can be Krishna conscious outside of ISKCON is simply hallucinating”. If you look to other lectures given by my Guru Maharaj namely one seminar entitled, “Loving the Vaishnavas” given in Suva, Fiji, you will note how my Spiritual Master defines ISKCON:

“So this International Society for Krishna Consciousness is founded on this principle of these six loving exchanges.  We are associating together on the basis of these six loving exchanges.  That is the meaning of the Krishna consciousness movement.  If somebody were to ask you, “What is ISKCON?” what would you say?  What is the real meaning of ISKCON?  Is it the buildings?  Is it the vehicles?  Is it the bank accounts?  The restaurants?  The farms?  No.  It’s the loving exchanges between the devotees.  We could lose everything else material.  All the buildings could be taken away; all the bank accounts could be frozen; all the vehicles could be confiscated – but if we continue to have the loving exchange between us, ISKCON will never be broken.  On the other hand, in spite of having so many buildings, so much money and so many vehicles, if we don’t have loving exchange, ISKCON is dead, finished.  Therefore, this is what must be emphasized.  It’s most important.”

Sometimes people criticize devotee’s loyalty to ISKCON & Srila Prabhupada by labeling it as being sectarian, telling us we are brainwashed. But first of all we must understand what is ISKCON and what is Srila Prabhupada’s position. In another seminar given by my Guru Maharaj in Suva, Fiji entitled “Why Join ISKCON?” Maharaj states:

“ISKCON is not a sectarian religion. It’s not like we have one church on this corner, and the ISKCON church on that corner. No. ISKCON is presenting the pure essence of religion – what actual religion is, in its pure form, before man started to pollute it with his own ideas, saying “There’s my religion, there’s your religion.” That’s not religion! Prabhupada one time called it “Churchianity.” That’s not religion. Actual religion is one: to love God. God can have millions of names; we never say that Krishna is the only name for God.”

From this we can understand that if one criticizes ISKCON (in it’s true meaning) they are in actuality criticizing religion in its pure form and they are denying the importance of the association of saintly persons.

Earlier in this seminar Maharaj says:

There’s something very special about this ISKCON society: Prabhupada. That’s because Prabhupada was deputed to this planet directly by Krishna. He was sent from the spiritual world to give this knowledge to the suffering souls of the Age of Kali. There are many different spiritual leaders of different degrees of authenticity (or lack of authenticity) in every country of the world. For instance, we recently passed by a billboard with a big picture promoting some Christian leader. We have so many spiritual leaders who are talking about God. They have some degree of authenticity, and perhaps some degree of inauthenticity, because the actual knowledge of how to get back to the spiritual world comes from the spiritual world. That’s called Vedas. Thus, as Bhaktivinode Thakura points out, the Vaisnava dharma described in the Vedas is actual religion. Any other religious process – whether you call it Christianity, Judaism, whatever – is legitimate to the extent that it aligns with the Vaisnava dharma. Other religious processes do have legitimacy – to the extent that they agree with the principles of Vaisnava dharma; and to the extent that they disagree, they are illegitimate.

So there’s actually only one religion. Vaisnava dharma is the one religion that exists. There is no other religion. Christianity has authenticity to the extent that it mirrors the principles of Vaisnava dharma. Islam, Judaism, Sikhism – all these other ‘isms’ have legitimacy to the extent that they present the principles of Vaisnava dharma. But the full, pure presentation of Vaisnava dharma is given in the Vedas, and those Vedic scriptures have been explained more thoroughly, more completely, with more illumination, with more understanding and with more potency by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada than by any other spiritual master in the history of the universe.

So anyone who is serious about actually achieving spiritual perfection will naturally be attracted to Srila Prabhupada, the teachings of Prabhupada. They will naturally be attracted because there is no one else who is presenting the Vedas with this much potency, this much clarity, and this much purity as Srila Prabhupada – not even other Gaudiyas. Sometimes they actually disagree; they say that Prabhupada is wrong on certain points of philosophy. But that’s their mistake. (Sorry.) Prabhupada was sent from the spiritual world by Krishna Himself just to write these books. And they think Prabhupada is wrong on points of philosophy? They’re wrong. That’s all. Anyone – even other Gaudiya leaders – if they disagree with Prabhupada’s books, they are wrong. Their understanding isn’t perfect; it’s incomplete, and they are minimizing Srila Prabhupada.

Therefore we respect them – “It’s nice that you chant Hare Krishna”– but we’re going to stay here at Prabhupada’s lotus feet. “We’re not interested in coming and hearing what you have to say because you’re saying that Prabhupada is wrong. You’re minimizing Srila Prabhupada, and that’s an offense.” This is Vaisnava aparadha being committed against the greatest spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada. So we don’t want to associate with such aparadhis against Srila Prabhupada. Therefore we stick with those persons who are serious to read Prabhupada’s books, to follow Prabhupada’s books, and to distribute Prabhupada’s books for the benefit of all fallen souls. Those are the people with whom we associate, and those persons have banded together under the name of ISKCON, the International Society of Krishna Consciousness.

A little while back someone wrote to me telling me that I should leave ISKCON and give up the shelter of my Spiritual Master as he is obviously not bona fide due to his statement of saying, “Thinking you can be Krishna consciousness outside of ISKCON is simply a hallucination.” They further criticized my Spiritual Master by saying he is not the Prabhupada man everyone makes him out to be. Yet just today I read in the purport to Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.9.11 by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada the following statement:

Transcendental devotional service cannot be complete and cannot be relishable without the association of devotees. We have therefore established the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. Anyone who is trying to be aloof from this Krishna Consciousness Society and yet engage in Krsna consciousness is living in a great hallucination, for this is not possible.

>>> Ref. VedaBase => SB 4.9.11

In light of this statement it seems that the person who criticized my Guru Maharaj is in actuality not in line with the teachings of Srila Prabhupada though they denounce all members/leaders in ISKCON and claim that in actuality they are the true followers of Srila Prabhupada.

From this incident it seems that a nice lesson can be learned in regards to reading things written or hearing things spoken by different devotees. Prior to jumping to conclusions or even voicing your opinion on someone’s writing it is a good measure to….

1.) get your facts straight

2.) take into account the source of the writing: are they credible, are they worth debating with? (i.e if someone is firmly convinced the “Sky is yellow” and have the “always right” mentality despite all evidence you may present, the best course of action is to simply hit the “delete” button and move on as they are not worth wasting your energy on)…This can be related to the 9th offense against chanting the Holy name, ” to instruct the faithless persons about the glories of the Holy name”

3.) make sure that you have understood quotes used by a person in the proper context. Note this may require looking at the bigger picture and exploring more pieces of writing than the one the quote initially came from. If you are too lazy or not inclined to do this at least ask the author of the writing to ask what they meant by quoting this prior to jumping to conclusions.

4.) In reference to dealing with Vaishnavas, especially those who are senior to you. It is always good to give them the benefit of the doubt. Try to see how what they are saying is correct instead of trying to see how what they are saying is wrong. If after much careful thought and research you still can not understand the correctness of their statement the best course of action is to submissively inquire from them as to how what they said is true. This is Vaishnava culture.

The point of this all is that anyone who is sincerely trying to develop pure love of God will appreciate Srila Prabhupada’s books, the devotees who are strictly following Srila Prabhupada’s teachings and the society Srila Prabhupada formed to facilitate his mission of making the world Krishna consciousness and giving us a place wherein we can put into practice that which we are learning in his books. Without developing a loving, cooperative relationships with the devotees we will not be happy in Goloka Vrndavan.

Sometimes people mistake the kindness of devotees to mean that they are out to get something from the persons they are preaching to. Perhaps a conversion bonus: “For every convert you bring in you will get a $20 dollar gift card or a free toaster oven or what have you” or more commonly people sometimes feel that devotees are out on the streets distributing books just to get money or the like. Of course, this may have been the case sometimes but, for the most part the underlying motive of the sincere devotee is to bring every living entity they come in contact with back to Krishna, Their eternal Father.

On a personal level this is something that really struck me about my Guru Maharaj, and later on many other devotees in general. Here were people I barely know or just met willing to give me all the time, facility etc. in the world just to see that I was genuinely happy and well-situated. This is quite a rare experience in the material world.

Yet if you look at it from another perpective, that of Bhaktivinode Thakur’s “the Song of the Broker” aka Boro Sukher Kabor Gai, you will find that in fact by the devotees not seeking any material gain they are in actuality getting the greatest ROI (return on investment)

1) boro sukher khabor gai
surabhi-kunjete namera hatta khule’che (khoda nitai)

I am singing news of happy holy tidings. Nitai has opened a market-place of the holy name in Surabhi-kunja.

2) boro mojara kotha taya
sradddha-mulye suddha-nama sei hatete bikaya

He is selling the pure holy name in that market-place for the price of only one’s faith.

3) jata bhakta-brnda basi’
adhikari dekhe’ nama becche daro kasi

Lord Nityananda, seeing all the devotees becoming attracted, is bargaining with them and selling them the holy name.

4) jadi nama kinbe, bhai
amara sange calo, mahajanera kache jai

O brother, if you want the holy name then come with me. Come to that great soul, Nityananda.

5) tumi kinbe krsna-nama
dasturi loibo ami, purna ha’be kama

You’ll get the name of Krsna. I’ll take my commission and all our desires will be fulfilled.

6) boro dayala nityananda
sradddha-matra lo’ye den parama-ananda

Lord Nityananda is very merciful. Taking only one’s faith, He gives the highest ecstasy.

7) ek-bar dekhle cakhe jala
‘gaura’ bole’ nitai den sakala sambala

If He sees only once tears in the eyes while chanting the name Gaura, then He gives everything to that person.

den suddha krsna-siksa
jati, dhana, bidya, bala na kore apekha

He gives the pure teachings of Krsna to everyone not caring their birth, wealth, knowledge, or strength.

9) amani chare maya-jala
grhe thako, vane thako, na thake janjal

Now, giving up the illusory snare of Maya, either remain in household life or in the forest as a sannyasi, no more troubles remain.

10) ara naiko kalir bhoy
acandale den nama, nitai doya-moya

There is no more fear of the age of Kali. The merciful Nitai gives the holy name to even the candalas.

11) bhaktivinoda daki’koy
nitai-carana bina ara nahi asraya

Bhaktivinoda calls out, “Except for the lotus feet of Lord Nityananda, there is no other shelter!”

Similary in Bhagavad-Gita Krishna States:

For one who explains this supreme secret to the devotees, pure devotional service is guaranteed, and at the end he will come back to Me.

>>> Ref. VedaBase => Bg 18.68

There is no servant in this world more dear to Me than he, nor will there ever be one more dear.

>>> Ref. VedaBase => Bg 18.69

While we may not get wealth, women, followers, toaster ovens or anything else of material value out of our preaching endeavors, we get Krishna and who could ask for more?

Hare Krsna

Most recently I was criticized over one of my posts regarding how I expressed that I felt compassion for persons engaged in materialistic activities mostly or totally unaware of Krishna consciousness in its true sense. The accusation was that by saying this I was exhibiting a “holier than thou” sort of attitude that everyone was a demon even those adhering to some other sort of faith except for the Krishna conscious devotee . Srila Prabhupada makes the distinction in his books that one falls into one of two categories namely deva (saintly faithful person) or demon (miserly atheistic person) and there is no grey area. That being said if we analyze how Srila Prabhupada describes the demonic mentality most of us who are in the struggling sadhaka category will find that we fall more into the demon category than the deva category.

Yet even if this is the case that we are demons as well, we as aspiring devotees, are still in a better off position than those not aspiring to cultivate their Krishna consciousness. This better off position is not a case of being superior to other persons but rather that due to the causeless mercy of Sri Sri Guru and Gauranga we have been brought into contact with Srila Prabhupada’s books and the process of Krishna consciousness.

Since we have this great fortune it is not only our duty to attempt to follow it to the best of our ability so that in due course we can make it to the deva category but, also make this information available to those who have not been fortunate enough to be exposed to this information.

To give a mundane example, it’s like this: Krishna conscious devotees are like persons infected with cancer(materialism) who have just discovered this revolutionary process to cure their disease (cancer/materialism). Non-devotees are like cancer patients who are not aware of this miraculous remedy. From this example we can discern that on one platform neither side is better as both are infected with the disease (cancer/materialism) to a certain degree, yet the persons who have knowledge of this revolutionary remedy are in a better off position as they have the cure and are on the road to recovery whereas the persons ignorant of this cure are not.

Therein compassion comes into play as it would be just plain old demoniac/selfish to keep this revolutionary cure to ourselves where everyone else suffers with the same curable disease due to their ignorance of this cure.

In this regard I once inquired from my Spiritual Master: How do we guard against falling into the holier then thou mindset in relation to the general population?

I wasn’t sure how to view the position the devotees in relationship to the average Joe. So I inquired as I felt that if I did not have the proper mentality I was setting myself up for fall down as pride comes before the fall. He instructed me as follows:

A: By always remembering that you were more degraded than many of the people around you, that is only by
the grace of your spiritual master that you have dragged out of the muck of sinful life.

In the same context we can apply this answer to many aspects of our lives or whenever we are finding ourselves falsely proud. We simply must remember anytime we are successful or do something right it is due to the mercy of our spiritual master and that we are allowing ourselves to be used as an instrument. Whereas anytime we meet failure or do something wrong we can understand it is due to our lack of surrender, our anarthas and this mentality that I am the doer. In actuality we can do nothing on our own, even breathe. Everything is happening by the will of the Lord. We are 100% dependent on Him. ,

It’s fine if you consider yourself a Hare Krishna and do things which are not up to the standards that Srila Prabhupada set or even completely contradictory to Vedic culture***  What is not fine is when one tries to present these deviations as the standard behavior of Hare Krishnas or in accordance with Vedic culture.

Bhakti is not something we can impose on someone by force. Bhakti is voluntary…that’s what makes it love. We can’t expect everyone who attempts to be a devotee to be able to follow everything all at once. Bhakti yoga is an eternal process. If Krishna is not even fully Krishna conscious, where does that put us?

Basically we have to do the best we can to be Krishna conscious and always be pushing ourselves to do better. My Guru Maharaj has told me that the secret to rapid advancement in Krishna consciousness is to always push yourself just beyond your comfort zone, then when you are comfortable there give yourself another push. The idea is to never let your sadhana become some stagnant routine, always strive to keep it dynamic.

In the meantime all we can do is hope that the rest of the world is intelligent enough to understand that you can’t base your opinion of ISKCON on a few struggling sadhakas but instead base your opinion of ISKCON on Prabhupada’s books and those wonderful acaryas within our movement who are following the teachings of Srila Prabhupada as they are. On a personal note, all I can do is pray that I will continue to remain in the service and association of the Vaishnavas and develop the same mood of complete and utter dedication to my Guru Maharaja as he is dedicated to his Guru Maharaj, Srila Prabhupada.

Anyway these are just some rough thoughts that came to mind the other day. As always discussion and thoughts are most welcome and much appreciated.

***note my choice of words  “consider yourself a Hare Krishna” . This is not to say a person who is doing things contradictory to Vedic culture or Srila Prabhupada’s teachings is a Hare Krishna. Actually in that light, can I even consider myself a Hare Krishna? It seems I have a lot of purification to go through before I can actually call myself a Hare Krishna and member of ISKCON in the true sense.

Finally the semester is coming to an end. One more final to go, two weeks break then summer semester starts. Most recently I acquired a proper version of Vedabase via Aprakrita Prabhu’s offer of discounted full versions of Vedabase which has inspired me to write once again as I can check references prior to throwing out a bunch of Prabhupada saids. So accept this as my disclaimer that I may be a little more active in the blogging world for the next couple weeks That being said…

Often times I think of the following exchange between Giriraj Maharaja and Srila Prabhupada:

Once on a walk along Juhu Beach with Srila Prabhupada, Giriraja dasa was describing the preaching he had done to newspaper men.
“Yes, you are a very good public relations man,” said Srila Prabhupada, which made Giriraja feel highly elated. A little later the discussion turned to humility. Giriraja said that sometimes he felt he wasn’t really doing anything for Krsna and the Krsna consciousness movement.
“That is good,” said Prabhupada. “That feeling is humbleness.”
“But sometimes,” said Giriraja, “that feeling is turned into maya.”
Srila Prabhupada stopped walking and looked abruptly at his disciple. “Being turned into maya?” said Prabhupada. “You are always in maya!” These words hit Giriraja so strongly that he immediately offered obeisances before Srila Prabhupada. He had suddenly realized his actually position and had gained a glimpse of Srila Prabhupada’s position as his spiritual master.

>>> Ref. VedaBase => SPN 2-1: Encouragement and Humiliation

Prior to researching the source of this quote I first remembered hearing of the account that, Prabhupada told the devotee, “You are always in maya, sometimes you fall into Krishna”. While that is not the case, it seems this is could very well be one of the purports to what Prabhupada was saying. That many of us as neophytes are in maya constantly where sometimes we stumble into Krsna consciousness.

Majority of the time I feel like this sums up my state of being and even writing here. I don’t have many solid, steady realizations its more like I catch glimpses of reality, what it means to be Krsna conscious. Each time Srila Gurudeva and Mataji come back to Austin, I feel like I catch such a glimpse which opens the door for a few more glimpses here and there.

One such glimpse came the other day after leaving a Hatha class . One of the studios I go to is located in a strip mall surrounded by many little food shops…tea, pizza, tacos, etc. Upon walking out a couple yards from the studio I am bombarded with rock music like Queen’s “We will rock you” blasting from the pizza shop’s outside speakers coupled with many persons engaged in small talk (aka prajalpa or gramya katha . Followed by that I catch a whiff of cigar smoke mixed with the aroma of beer and Italian food. Lovely. I glance at the patrons of the shop, majority are drinking alcohol, and everyone looks miserable. Yet it’s misery covered with a “look how happy I am” mask. It’s insanity really…how do people not see through this facade? How do I get caught up in the delusion to think that happiness exists in this material world outside of Krsna consciousness?

I walked to a picnic table at the opposite side of the parking lot to sit down and chant some japa as it was a beautiful day outside. Sitting there the realization hit me, that everything we are doing here in the material world is absolutely futile. It’s all just a way to pass the time before our death. At that point genuine compassion struck me that these people don’t have Krsna, they don’t have the Holy names and Prabhupada books to fall back on. Instead their whole life is wasted without a purpose, without knowing which way is up or down, without evening knowing who they are. It’s just a series of meaningless experiences until they die. It’s really depressing.

Two persons, one in Krsna consciousness and the other in material consciousness, working on the same level, may appear to be working on the same platform, but there is a wide gulf of difference in their respective positions. The person in material consciousness is convinced by false ego that he is the doer of everything. He does not know that the mechanism of the body is produced by material nature, which works under the supervision of the Supreme Lord. The materialistic person has no knowledge that ultimately he is under the control of Krsna. The person in false ego takes all credit for doing everything independently, and that is the symptom of his nescience. He does not know that this gross and subtle body is the creation of material nature, under the order of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and as such his bodily and mental activities should be engaged in the service of Krsna, in Krsna consciousness. The ignorant man forgets that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is known as Hrsikesa, or the master of the senses of the material body, for due to his long misuse of the senses in sense gratification, he is factually bewildered by the false ego, which makes him forget his eternal relationship with Krsna

>>> Ref. VedaBase => Bg 3.27

From this we can understand there is one thing which distinguishes the materialist from the spiritualist and from that thing, everything else comes. Everything rests on where our consciousness is at. As my Guru Maharaja sometimes says, “First we must become conscious, then we can become Krishna conscious.” We have to understand how to distinguish what is reality and then understand how to act accordingly. In reality all these “identity crises” we face are resultant of us not understanding our true identity as a spirit soul and then realizing that our only duty is to love and serve Krsna & His devotees for all of eternity.

As aspiring devotees it is our duty to spread this knowledge to others, despite the fact that we may not have fully realized or understood things. One thing that I have realized is that even though I may not be very realized or learned, when dealing with the many kicks that come from living in this material world, I always have the Holy names as a place of refuge. For this I feel eternally grateful and indebted to my Spiritual Master and Srila Prabhupada. This one point alone makes me feel that it is my duty to somehow or the other share with others this great boon I have received. Even though my disqualifications and shortcomings are abundant, Lord Caitanya will be sure to pick up what I lack if I simply put forth the effort to preach. This is confirmed in one letter I received from my Guru Maharaj on 6.March.2006:

” The really cool thing about preaching is that as you boldly go forward into as many preaching opportunities as Krishna graces you with depending on Him how to answer the questions, you will find the answers being revealed to you by the Supersoul. If you stick yourself out on a limb for Lord Caitanya, He will cover for you in His form as Caitya Guru, the spiritual master within the heart.”

more to come in part II….

Hare Krsna

Since Srila Gurudeva and Mataji arrived back in Austin we have resumed our study of the 11th canto of Srimad Bhagavatam starting a new chapter entitled, “Jnana Yoga”. Srila Gurudeva was explaining that all these other yoga systems are described so that people can understand how that bhakti is the topmost yoga system. Yesterday’s class given by Srila Gurudeva covered this verse:

SB 11.28.1: The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: One should neither praise nor criticize the conditioned nature and activities of other persons. Rather, one should see this world as simply the combination of material nature and the enjoying souls, all based on the one Absolute Truth.

Whereas today’s class given by Guru Mataji covered this verse:

SB 11.28.2: Whoever indulges in praising or criticizing the qualities and behavior of others will quickly become deviated from his own best interest by his entanglement in illusory dualities.

Hearing these classes for the past couple days made me think of the first verse of NOI namely:

NoI 1: A sober person who can tolerate the urge to speak, the mind’s demands, the actions of anger and the urges of the tongue, belly and genitals is qualified to make disciples all over the world.

The idea of controlling speech is key in our being able to make advancement spiritually. As neophytes many times the mind will come up with things which are really not in our best interest to reveal to anyone else. As we understand from scripture in Kali yuga offensive thoughts do not have karmic reactions unless they are acted upon. Of course, what we are meditating on can easily manifest itself on the gross platform which is why we need to take into account the first and second verses of NOI.

NoI 2: One’s devotional service is spoiled when he becomes too entangled in the following six activities: (1) eating more than necessary or collecting more funds than required; (2) overendeavoring for mundane things that are very difficult to obtain; (3) talking unnecessarily about mundane subject matters; (4) Practicing the scriptural rules and regulations only for the sake of following them and not for the sake of spiritual advancement, or rejecting the rules and regulations of the scriptures and working independently or whimsically; (5) associating with worldly-minded persons who are not interested in Kṛṣṇa consciousness; and (6) being greedy for mundane achievements.

From these slokas we can understand that an uncontrolled tongue will get us nowhere quickly.

In the purport to BG 13.8-12, Srila Prabhupada mentions that:

“Nonviolence is generally taken to mean not killing or destroying the body, but actually nonviolence means not to put others into distress. People in general are trapped by ignorance in the material concept of life, and they perpetually suffer material pains. So, unless one elevates people to spiritual knowledge, one is practicing violence. One should try his best to distribute real knowledge to the people, so that they may become enlightened and leave this material entanglement. That is nonviolence. “

From this illumination given by Srila Prabhupada we can understand that if we are not speaking in such a way that will bring persons to Krishna consciousness, we are committing violence and our speech is not controlled.

In the purport to BG 2.4 Srila Prabhupada states:

“Respectable superiors like Bhisma the grandfather and Dronacarya the teacher are always worshipable. Even if they attack, they should not be counterattacked. It is general etiquette that superiors are not to be offered even a verbal fight. Even if they are sometimes harsh in behavior, they should not be harshly treated.”

This morning Srila Gurudeva was commenting on what is the proper etiquette to follow when one feels that their superior is wrong. Rather than  state that this person is wrong we should try to see how what they are saying is right and if we do not see this we should submissively inquire to gain proper understanding. (Ref: BG.4.34)

Looking at the state of ISKCON and my own consciousness/ practice of Krishna consciousness, I can understand that myself and many others are afflicted by having an uncontrolled tongue and not showing proper respect where it is due. As Srila Gurudeva pointed out in the Questions & Answers portion of “Thought for the Day” :

“….according to the instructions of Krishna in the Bhagavad-gita one is never to tell his teacher that he is wrong as you have just told me. This is an offense known as sadhu ninda, which nullifies whatever devotional service one has done.

Of course this does not mean that we have to blindly accept what we hear from the spiritual master. If something does make sense to us, instead of telling the spiritual master that he is wrong, we should submissively inquire from him to help us understand how it is true. In short, our mood before the spiritual master should not be a challenging mood. Rather it should be a mood of submissive inquiry.”

Taking into account the many slokas I have referenced as well as, instructions given by the acharyas it seems that it would do wonders for our spiritual lives to put into practice the sutra (often quoted by Prabhupada) that “a gentlemen speaks twice before saying anything” (what to speak of a Vaishnava.) We should always attempt to speak in a way that is conducive the development of Krishna consciousness in ourselves and others as this is the way that we can please our spiritual masters.

Another modern sutra that I think we could benefit from is “if you don’t have something nice to say don’t say anything at all” in reference to associating with sadhus. Of course time, place and circumstance must be taken into account as Srila Rupa points out one who chastises me is actually my friend whereas one who praises me is my enemy. But at the same time we are taught to take the position of the honey bee searching for that drop of nectar in the ocean of poison. Just think if our spiritual masters hadn’t had this mood, none of us would be here right now. We’d be written off as hopeless causes whose association should be avoided.

So this post turned out to be more of a stream of consciousness then anything else. I write not from the platform that I have genuinely realized all the things written above but from that of a struggling sadhaka who can see the merit in applying these things to my life and is attempting to do so, many times falling more than walking. Therein, I beg for the mercy, prayers and blessings of the Vaishnavas that one day I may actually become a servant of the Vaishnavas in the true sense and not just say so.

Hare Krishna.

The other day I received the following comment on my: The Grapes Are Sour–Leaving ISKCON (part I) post:

I grew up in the gurukula’s and went through the abuse, lets just say at this point in my life I am a former devotee. I spent many years trying to forget the way I was shunned and treated all my life due to the fact my family was not wealthy. The way things were when I was still in Gurukula if your parents did not do Sankirtan or have money then you were at the bottom of the totem pole. I guess my bottom line is this there are problems within all societies but I for one would rather be an outcast out here in the real world where there are like-minded people than in ISKCON where if you do not fit the mold to some degree or dare to challenge the philosophy you are deemed untouchable by everyone. That in my opinion is insanity.

I post this as I feel my response clarifies my stance on this subject and of course, want to open it up for further dialog or commentary to ensure I’m not being some sort of brainwashed fanatic or what have you. So here’s my response:

My intent in writing this was not to promote denial or forgetfulness of the tough times within ISKCON we’ve all been through—for some the extent of those tough times is much more intense. I have heard many stories of these times you speak of where devotees would leave their young children home alone to go on sankirtan and the like, so in that way I can understand the pain you have experienced though I cannot fathom it on personal level.

By studying the teachings of Srila Prabhupada we can understand Prabhupada did not promote or condone this sort of behavior. Actually if you look in Vedabase when one young mother wrote Prabhupada that she was not able to care for the Deities nicely due to having a child, Prabhupada reprimanded her and told her caring for her children nicely and training them up to become good devotees was her primary responsibility.

Unfortunately, many devotees now and then(myself included) are inexperienced and ignorant as to how to properly understand the teachings in the sastra and execute the instructions of the spiritual master, hence problems arise.

My perspective of this is that it is not the Krsna consciousness or the philosophy that is problematic on any level. As my Spriitual Master says, “THis process works, if you work the process”.

Taking this into consideration I feel that it is the practitioners who are having difficulty following this process properly and genuinely understanding the proper application of sastra according to time, place and circumstance. Thus you have devotees neglecting their children, their sadhana, the care and ongoing cultivation of future devotees, etc… in the name of serving a higher purpose such as transcendental book distribution.

However by doing this the larger point is being missed. After all why did Srila Prabhupada encourage sastra/harinama sankirtan?Why did Prabhupada encourage grhastas who had properly facility to have children? Was it simply a money-making scheme, a way to get more followers, etc?

No, of course not. Prabhupada said that, “I would rather have one moon then many stars.” Similar he said it was our duty” to boil the milk”…in reference to retaining the devotees we have already and ensuring that they were feeling happy and advancing nicely in Krishna consciousness rather than spread ourselves so thin that the purpose is lost. While book distribution is a glorious service if it is not done in conjunction with some sort of ongoing cultivation program, the whole purpose is lost.

ISKCON is meant to provide a spiritual oasis in the desert of this material world. ISKCON is meant to be a shelter and source of rejuvenation for spiritual seekers.

In that light I am saying if we are dedicated to providing a “house where the hold world can live peacefully” , then sticking within ISKCON to rectify the abundance of shortcomings, deviations, philosophical devitations and misunderstandings, etc, etc, that exist here is key.

I respectfully disagree with you on the point that one is “deemed untouchable” if they don’t fit a particular mold of have philosophical discrepancies. However, the mood of presenting these philosophical discrepancies is key. According to Bhagavad-Gita 4.34, Krsna says these doubts should be presented in a humble, submissive mood, a mood of trying to gain clear, proper understanding and not in a challenging, arrogant mood. Therein, I would have to say the disease of false pride and ego is indeed looked down upon but, the diseased person is treated within compassion and given as much guidance as possible without adding more fuel to their fire of offensive behavior.

I’m thinking of this in light of the 9th offense against chanting the Holy Names: namely to instruct a faithless person abou the glories of the Holy Name. You are free to instruct anyone until the point comes where offenses are committed, thus making further attempts counterproductive as offenses impede ones advancement on the spiritual pathway. At that point the challenging person may be kept at somewhat of a distance in order to prevent them from completely destroying their spiritual life by committing offenses against devotees or the philosophy. It’s simply a safeguard put in place to help that person’s spiritual life. If the person becomes a little receptive, the distance can decrease and in due course they can freely engage in loving relationships with all the devotees.

Coming from a Roman Catholic background the encouragement of inquiry into spiritual matters as opposed to the absolute blind acceptance along with noting how Krsna consciousness was a way of life, not just something to do on Sundays really attracted me and thus keeps me here.

So on that basis I feel that if one is serious about making advancement spiritually, and accepts the Vaishnava siddhanta they should stick with ISKCON through thick and thin. If however, one does not see the merit in chanting Hare Krsna nor, do they agree with the conclusion of the Vedic scriptures then there is no point to stay within ISKCON. That would be blind following and overall pretty nonsensical.

The audience I was directing this particular post towards was in the category of those who have accepted the Vaishnava siddhanta, accepted chanting Hare Krsna is sublime and accepted that Prabhupada is a pure devotee and therefore worthy of following. Yet sometimes within this grouping we see devotees leave due to minor discrepancies. Here my encouragement for them was to acknowledge the problem and work towards changing it. If we don’t feel ourselves capable of chanting things within ISKCON then the least we can do is stick it out here and attempt to purify ourselves, as purity is the force by which change can happen and when others see that purity naturally they will be inclined to follow our example (ref: BG.3.21)

Ok, so that was very long, I hope I didn’t get sidetracked in my response. My hope in writing this is if nothing else to show you that an open dialog is encouraged and welcomed. I appreciate your comment and feel it aids in my spiritual growth to hear other perspectives and engage in a civilized, thoughtful dialog with persons who have opposing viewpoints.

Comments? Thoughts? Refutations?

Communicating ideas clearly with others is an interesting challenge. In a way I view it to be akin to the struggle the artist faces in trying to get the imagery they are envisioning in their head out on the canvas….much easier said then done. Many times we present something to the larger society and due to the fact that we are all unique individuals, there are various interpretations of our presentation and we sometimes realize from the general response we got to our piece that that was not at all what we were trying to say (see….even a simple analysis of our everyday dealings with others can defeat Mayavadi philosophy). Often I feel like this with all my creative endeavors be it blogging or painting. Hence where the practical examples and illustrations come into play…

Over on youtube the other day I came upon BenLoka’s channel. Please note I do not personally know Ben but, am writing about what my perception of the situation is. From viewing videos on Ben’s channel one can understand that Ben has an comedic inclination. Ben split his youtube persona into 3 parts namely BenLoka, the comedian, Benamin Loka, the weird experimental channel, and then Krishnaloka the straight Krishna consciousness channel. Recently Ben posted the following video which I feel is an excellent example of reaching the goal of merging the many personas we have while presenting Krishna consciousness in a wonderful way. By doing this he is reaching a wider audience with his preaching attempts including persons who would not be inclined to watch straight, spiritual videos. So just by appreciating Ben’s cleverness the viewer’s make advancement and at the same time get to hear the maha-mantra. Without further adieu here’s the video I’m talking about….

All glories to Ben’s service!