This whole month of Damodara, (Kartik) we have been reading and relishing the KRSNA book. The stories and pastimes are so incredible and fascinating, and so beautiful. Srila Prabhupada explains the pastimes and activities of Krishna so wonderfully and as a matter of fact, it is easy to understand. And believe. Reading or hearing from Krishna’s pure representative, is the best and only way to understand the Absolute Truth.
Question: What are the Two Processes that a Devotee must Perform to Clear the Mind of all Doubts?
Prabhupada: You are experiencing some doubts, that you cannot believe that the Krishna from Krishna Book can be the Supreme Personality of Godhead, that it must be like some fairy-tale. To clear up these things the best remedy is to discuss amongst yourselves all members regularly all our books in classes, then these doubts will be killed. Without reading books it becomes hackneyed and such obnoxious ideas trouble us. Our thoughts are always changing, that is the nature of the mind, so you cannot expect that even the great saintly persons are free from thoughts coming and going. But after thinking there is feeling and willing, willing being the stage of putting the thoughts into action. So if we are able to employ our intelligence, then we kill the thoughts before they become manifest in activity, but because we are so much inclined to enjoy something unintelligently, we have to therefore daily sharpen our intelligence faculty by reading and discussing and preaching to others. In this way we are able very easily to defeat all challengers to our philosophy and everything becomes very clear as it is revealed from different angles of vision. Krishna makes promise to one who is striving to serve Him sincerely that He will give such devotee the intelligence by which he may come to Him. Therefore we should always pray that Krishna may kindly provide me the intelligence to kill all demons of doubt, and because He understands the heart of His sincere devotee, immediately He gives assistance. For my part, for example, I am absolutely certain that anyone who challenges me I can defeat you. Why is that? Because Krishna gives me the intelligence. (Letter to: Satyabhama — Mayapur 28 February, 1972)
I have been very much enjoying the daily post that Gargumuni Prabhu is posting on his Facebook page. Questions & Answers.
Is there Sex Life in Vaikuntha?
Prabhupada: For example: sex life, the most prominent feature of this material world. This sex life is explained in Srimad-Bhagavatam, 3rd Canto, in the explanation of Vaikuntha world, when it is said that in the Vaikuntha planets, the women or the fair sex is many many more times beautiful, well-constructed, their face and smiling more attractive, their breasts and hips are very high, and they clearly and freely mix with male devotees,, But their strong sense of devotion towards the Lord and being absorbed in Krishna Consciousness, all the features of womanly beauty cannot stimulate their sex passion. In the material world the same reflection of beauty and bodily features at once stimulate sex passion. Therefore, the enjoyment of opposite sex in the Vaikuntha world has no action of sex life whereas in the material world the perverted reflection of beauty has resultant action of sex life which is the cause of dragging material existence. So the description of the Vaikuntha life is nirguna, and the description of worldly life is sahaguna. Our devotional activities are executed by transferring epithet; our senses are there, they are acting pervertedly and putting us into difficulty. (Letter to: Janardana — Los Angeles 21 January, 1968)
Prabhupada: The women there are hundreds and thousands of times more beautiful than the women here in this material world, and the spiritual atmosphere is also many times better. Yet despite the pleasant atmosphere, the minds of the denizens do not become agitated because in the spiritual world, the Vaikuntha planets, the spiritualistic minds of the inhabitants are so much absorbed in the spiritual vibration of chanting the glories of the Lord that such enjoyment could not be surpassed by any other enjoyment, even sex, which is the culmination of all pleasure in the material world. In other words, in the Vaikuntha world, in spite of its better atmosphere and facilities, there is no impetus for sex life. As stated in Bhagavad-gita (2.59), param drstva nivartate: the inhabitants are so spiritually enlightened that in the presence of such spirituality, sex life is insignificant. ( SB 4.6.30)
Today we celebrate Govardhana-puja with a chapter from Srila Prabhupada’s Krsna Book, entitled “Worshiping Govardhana Hill”
Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead By His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda Chapter 24
Worshiping Govardhana Hill
While engaged with the brāhmaṇas who were too involved in the performance of Vedic sacrifices, Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma also saw that the cowherd men were preparing a similar sacrifice in order to pacify Indra, the King of heaven, who is responsible for supplying water. As stated in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, a devotee of Kṛṣṇa has strong and firm faith in the understanding that if he is simply engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and Kṛṣṇa’s transcendental loving service, then he is freed from all other obligations. A pure devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa doesn’t have to perform any of the ritualistic functions enjoined in the Vedas; nor is he required to worship any demigods. Being a devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa, one is understood to have performed all kinds of Vedic rituals and all kinds of worship to the demigods. Just by performing the Vedic ritualistic ceremonies or worshiping the demigods, one does not develop devotional service for Kṛṣṇa but one who is engaged fully in the service of the Lord has already finished all Vedic injunctions.
Kṛṣṇa ordered a stop to all such activities by His devotees, for He wanted to firmly establish exclusive devotional service during His presence in Vṛndāvana. Kṛṣṇa knew that the cowherd men were preparing for the Indra sacrifice beause He is the omniscient Personality of Godhead, but as a matter of etiquette, He began to inquire with great honor and submission from elder personalities like Mahārāja Nanda and others.
Kṛṣṇa asked His father, “My dear father, what is this arrangement going on for a great sacrifice? What is the result of such sacrifice, and for whom is it meant? How is it performed? Will you kindly let Me know? I am very anxious to know this procedure, so please explain to Me the purpose of this sacrifice.” Upon this inquiry, His father, Nanda Mahārāja, remained silent, thinking that his young boy would not be able to understand the intricacies of performing the yajña. Kṛṣṇa, however, persisted: “My dear father, for those who are liberal and saintly, there is no secrecy. They do not think anyone to be a friend or enemy because they are always open to everyone. And even for those who are not so liberal, nothing should be secret for the family members and friends, although secrecy may be maintained for persons who are inimical. Therefore you cannot keep any secrets from Me. All persons are engaged in fruitive activities. Some know what these activities are, and they know the result, and some execute activities without knowing the purpose or the result. A person who acts with full knowledge gets the full result; one who acts without knowledge does not get such a perfect result. Therefore, please let Me know the purpose of the sacrifice which you are going to perform. Is it according to Vedic injunction? Or is it simply a popular ceremony? Kindly let Me know in detail about the sacrifice.”
Today marks the Disappearance Day of Narottama Dasa Thakur.
This is a very nice song by Narottama dasa Thakura who says; Anyone who has accepted the two lotus feet of Lord Caitanya can understand the true essence of devotional service. Therefore, Narottama dasa Thakura prays that one take shelter of Lord Caitanya and follow in His footsteps.
We have included the Bengali/Elglish transliteration, translation, and 2 different purports by His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada.
Anyone who has accepted the two lotus feet of Lord Caitanya can understand the true essence of devotional service. If one is captivated by the pleasing pastimes of Lord Caitanya, the dirty things in his heart will all become cleansed. (from the Songs of the Vaisnava Araryas)
Call me old-fashioned, but sometimes I hate to see new things introduced, to the process and standards, Srila Prabhupada has given us.
…The greatest danger to our movement will come when we manufacture and create our own process for worshiping the Deities. So don’t ask any more new questions, whatever is going on, follow it just to the exact standard as I have given you, that’s all. (Srila Prabhupada letter to Dhruvavanda 1973)
Now you are asking if Lord Jagannatha carries flute? Why this nonsense question? You are asking me so many concoctions and manufactured nonsense. Don’t bother my head in this way any more. From now on unless I order you do something change or in addition, go on with the usual standard way. You manufacture ideas and then I have to waste my time. I have given you everything already, there is no need for you to add anything or change anything. Why you are asking these things? Who has given you such freedom? (Srila Prabhupada letter to Dhruvavanda 1973)
In 1975 Prabhupada confirmed the process of offering prasadam to the Deities:
“The process is that what ever we offer to the Deity, that is offered to guru. And guru offers to his guru. In this way goes to Krsna. We don’t directly offer Radha-Krsna. No. We have no right. Neither He accepts in that way. The pictures of the acaryas, why are they there? Actually, one has to offer the plate to his guru, and he’ll offer his guru, he offers his guru, his guru. In this way it will go to Krsna. That is the process. You cannot directly approach Krsna or other subordinates to Krsna. That is not possible.
(All glories to the ācārya Oṁ Viṣṇu-pāda 108 Tridaṇḍī Gosvāmī A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, who travels everywhere, preaching the glories of Hari, and who is situated on the highest platform of sannyāsa.)
(All glories to the ācārya Oṁ Viṣṇu-pāda 108 Tridaṇḍī Gosvāmī Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Prabhupāda, who travels across the earth, preaching the glories of Hari, and who is situated on the highest platform of sannyāsa.)
ananta-kotivaishnava-vrinda—kī jaya.
(All glories to the unlimited millions of devotees of Lord Krishna.)
nāmācārya śrīla haridāsa ṭhākura—kī jaya.
(All glories to the Nāmācārya Śrīla Haridāsa Ṭhākura.)
Today we honor the Appearance Day of Srila Haridasa Thakura, an associate of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Haridāsa Ṭhākura daily chanted 300,000 names of the Lord. Certainly the chanting of 300,000 holy names of the Lord is wonderful. No ordinary person can chant so many names, nor should one artificially imitate Haridāsa Ṭhākura’s behavior. It is essential, however, that everyone fulfill a specific vow to chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra.
Haridāsa Ṭhākura said that liberation and freedom from the reactions of sinful activities are only by-products of chanting the holy name of the Lord. If one chants the holy name of the Lord purely, he attains the platform of loving service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. (SB 5.24.20)
So today is the Appearance Day of Lord Vamanadeva, as well as the Appearance Day of Srila Jiva Goswami. The following is the entire 18th chapter, of the Srimad Bhagavatam, canto 8, texts 1-32, which describe the appearance of Lord Vamanadeva.
Lord Vāmanadeva, the Dwarf Incarnation
TEXT 1
Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: After Lord Brahmā had thus spoken, glorifying the Supreme Lord’s activities and prowess, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is never subject to death like an ordinary living being, appeared from the womb of Aditi. His four hands were decorated with a conchshell, club, lotus and disc, He was dressed in yellow garments, and His eyes appeared like the petals of a blooming lotus.
PURPORT
The word amṛta-bhūḥ is significant in this verse. The Lord sometimes appears like an ordinary child taking birth, but this does not mean that He is subject to birth, death or old age. One must be very intelligent to understand the appearance and activities of the Supreme Lord in His incarnations. This is confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā (4.9): janma karma ca me divyam evaṁ yo vetti tattvataḥ. One should try to understand that the Lord’s appearance and disappearance and His activities are all divyam, or transcendental. The Lord has nothing to do with material activities. One who understands the appearance, disappearance and activities of the Lord is immediately liberated. After giving up his body, he never again has to accept a material body, but is transferred to the spiritual world (tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti so ’rjuna [Bg. 4.9]).
The Spiritual Master is present wherever his sincere disciple is trying to serve his instructions. This is possible by the mercy of Krishna.
In your attempts to serve me, and in all your sincere devotional sentiments, I am with you, as my Guru Maharaja is with me. Remember this always…I shall never leave you. You are my disciple and I am your Spiritual Master, so there is no question, as long as you follow my instructions, that I shall never leave you.
Some years ago I read the small paper back book entitled “Perfect Questions, Perfect Answers.”. But just this morning, I happened to be reading some letters Srila Prabhupada had written, and there was one letter I opened that that simply said “Letter to Bob”. Turns out Bob was Bob Cohen who latter became an initiated disciple of Srila Prabhupada; Bramatirtha das.
Letter to: Bob Los Angeles 16 June, 1972
Springfield, New Jersey
My Dear Bob,
Please accept my blessings. I thank you very much for your letter dated June 12, 1972, and I have noted the sentiments expressed therein with great pleasure. I am very much glad to hear that you are associating with us, and I know that you are a very good boy, very intelligent and your behavior is gentle, so I have all confidence that very quickly Krishna will bestow all His blessings upon you and you will feel yourself becoming perfectly happy in Krishna Consciousness. One makes his advancement in Krishna Consciousness by giving up voluntarily his attachment to material nature or maya and such renunciation is called tapasya. But we are not very willing to perform austerities without good reason, therefore any man with scientific and philosophical good brain such as your good self, must appreciate first what is the transcendental knowledge. If you get knowledge, automatically tapasya will follow, and then you make your advancement in spiritual life. So to get knowledge is the first item for anyone who is hoping to find his perfection of life. Therefore, I advise you to daily read our books as far as possible and try to understand the subject matter from different angles of vision by discussing frequently with the devotees at New York Temple. In this way you will become gradually convinced, and by your sincere attitude and devotional service you will make progress.
Today we are in Toronto celebrating the Appearance day of Srimati Radharani, and the 51st anniversary of the installation of Sri Sri Radha Ksira-chora Gopinatha. We share with you a few words from the “Nectar of Devotion” by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
The Beauty of Srimati Radharani
In describing Srimati Radharani, it is also said in the Vidagdha-madhava by Rupa Gosvami, “The beauty of Srimati Radharani’s eyes forcibly devours the beauty of newly grown blue lotus flowers, and the beauty of Her face surpasses that of an entire forest of fully blossomed lotuses. Her bodily luster seems to place even gold in a painful situation. Thus the wonderful, unprecedented beauty of Srimati Radharani is awakening Vrindavana.”
“Although the effulgence of the moon is brilliant initially at night, in the daytime it fades away. Similarly, although the lotus is beautiful during the daytime, at night it closes. But, O My friend, the face of My most dear Srimati Radharani is always bright and beautiful, both day and night. Therefore, to what can Her face be compared””
“When Srimati Radharani smiles, waves of joy overtake Her cheeks, and Her arched eyebrows dance like the bow of Cupid. Her glance is so enchanting that it is like a dancing bumblebee, moving unsteadily due to intoxication. That bee has bitten the whorl of My heart.”
Today marks the Appearance of Srimati Radharani. We honor it with a half day fast, puspanjali, discussion on the glories of Srimati Radharani, followed by a feast.
The following are just a few of the many quotes from Srila Prabhupada which encourage us to approach Krishna through the mercy of Srimati Radharani, Krishna’s eternal consort. For those of us who feel that there is no hope of making spiritual progress in this lifetime, Srimati Radharani, Who is compassion personified, kindly comes to our rescue if we can humbly invoke Her divine blessings.
“I offer my respects to Radharani whose bodily complexion is like molten gold and who is the Queen of Vrndavana. You are the daughter of King Vrsabhanu, and You are very dear to Lord Krishna.” (Sri Radha Pranama)
“So this is our philosophy, to please Krishna through Radharani, and just today is the auspicious day of Radharani appearance. So we should offer puspanjali and pray to Radharani that ‘Radharani, kindly be merciful and tell about me to Your Krishna. To Your Krishna. Krishna is Yours.’ Krishna, Radha-Krishna. Krishna is not independent. Krishna is Radharani’s property. So you have to approach Krishna through Radharani. That is, today is the auspicious day. Worship Radharani very nicely and be happy.” (Srila Prabhupada Lecture, September 5, 1973)
“The beauty of Srimati Radharani’s eyes forcibly devours the beauty of newly grown blue lotus flowers, and the beauty of Her face surpasses that of an entire forest of fully blossomed lotuses. Her bodily luster seems to place even gold into a painful situation. Thus the wonderful, unprecedented beauty of Srimati Radharani is awakening in Vrindavana.” (Caitanya-caritamrita Antya 1.169)
“I emphatically say to you, O brothers, you will obtain your good fortune from the Supreme Lord Krishna only when Srimati Radharani becomes pleased with you.”(Prayer to the Lotus Feet of Krishna, September 13, 1965)
The Appearance Day of Our Beloved Spiritual Master
Sri Srimad A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Founder and Acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
The World Acarya
by Vyasasan das
Dear Srila Prabhupada
Please accept my humble obeisances, and kindly forgive my offences.
Having just returned from England, where we attended the 50th Anniversary of the installation of Sri Sri Radha Gokulananda deities at the Bhaktivedanta Manor, I am reminded that you established the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, which we are all a part of. Having never been to England before, I had the fortunate opportunity of meeting so many Godbrothers and Godsisters from the English Yatra, whom I had never meet before. I realized how it is truly an International society, with temples and devotees practicing Krishna consciousness on every continent and in hundreds of countries throughout the world.
It is amazing that through you, just by becoming your disciple, it has connected me to thousands of other devotees throughout the world, in a very real way.
So today we honor Lord Sri Krishna’s appearance day with a full day fast, followed by a small feast after His appearance at midnight. We will try to increase our remembrance of Him by additional chanting and reading ,and singing His glories.
The following is the entire third chapter from the Krsna Book entitled “The Birth of Lord Kṛṣṇa”.
…As stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, the Lord says that His appearance, birth, and activities, are all transcendental, and one who understands them factually becomes immediately eligible to be transferred to the spiritual world. The Lord’s appearance or birth is not like that of an ordinary man who is forced to accept a material body according to his past deeds. The Lord’s appearance is explained in the Second Chapter: He appears out of His own sweet pleasure. When the time was mature for the appearance of the Lord, the constellations became very auspicious. The astrological influence of the star known as Rohiṇī was also predominant because this star is considered to be very auspicious. Rohiṇī is under the direct supervision of Brahmā. According to the astrological conclusion, besides the proper situation of the stars, there are auspicious and inauspicious moments due to the different situations of the different planetary systems. At the time of Kṛṣṇa’s birth, the planetary systems were automatically adjusted so that everything became auspicious. ( from Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead Chapter 3)
Nowadays, we find there are so many devotees getting paid to perform bhajana/kirtan like professional singers, I guess that is nice for them, but real Kirtan is explained by Srila Prabhupada in this 1967 letter to Jadurani dd.
Krishna Kirtan is not for earning livelihood. Krishna Kirtana is not meant for entertaining the public for demonstration of arts. It is dynamic service to the Lord. We do not therefore mind so much about the artistic presentation of Krishna Kirtan but we want to see how much a devotee is satisfying the Supreme Will. (Prabhupada letter to Jadurani 12th December, 1967)
For some reason this morning, I had a look back at some of the early Back to Godhead Magazine issues. This Movement had such humble beginnings as is evident from this second edition of Back to Godhead Magazine.It was published with the use of a type writer (remember those), and a mimeograph machine.
But in spite of all the changes in technology, the mission has remained the same; a mission devoted to promulgating bhakti yoga, the science of God as expounded by Lord Sri Krishna in the Bhagavad-Gita.
Today I shall speak to you of the history of a boy devotee named Prahlāda Mahārāja. He was born in a family that was stubbornly atheistic. There are two kinds of men in this world: the demons and the demigods. What is the difference between them? The main difference is that the demigods, or godly persons, are devoted to the Supreme Lord, whereas the demons are atheistic. They do not believe in God because they are materialists. These two classes of men always exist in this world. At the present moment, due to the Age of Kali (Age of Quarrel), the number of demons has increased, but the classification has existed since the beginning of creation. The incident I am narrating to you occurred very, very long ago, a few million years after the time of creation.
Prahlāda Mahārāja was the son of the most atheistic person and the most materially powerful as well. Because the society was materialistic, this boy had no opportunity to glorify the Supreme Lord. The characteristic of a great soul is that he is very eager to broadcast glorification of the Supreme Lord. Lord Jesus Christ, for example, was very eager to broadcast the glorification of God, but demoniac people misunderstood him and crucified him.
ISKCON (the International Society for Krishna Consciousness) was incorporated in New York City, in the State of New York in the US, on 13 July 1966, around 53 years ago. This first incorporation of ISKCON was executed at Srila Prabhupada’s behest – then known to his followers only as ‘Swamiji’ and to others as A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami.
The lawyer under whose aegis the fledgling movement was officially instituted was Mr Steven Goldsmith, an attendee at Srila Prabhupada’s Second Avenue lectures. I don’t know for sure, but I suspect Mr Goldsmith’s legal fees were low or non-existent.
One early (for me) morning in July of 1966, I was awakened and asked to sign papers pertaining to the incorporation of ISKCON. As a US citizen and resident, my signature appeared to be necessary. So I rather perfunctorily signed the document, thinking at the time it was a sort of ‘flight of fancy’ of Srila Prabhupada’s. Later I was instrumental in getting ISKCON incorporated in the State of California (US), as well as in England and India.
The constitution of these other three corporations was based on that of the original New York Corporation. I’ve drawn the conclusion that Srila Prabhupada’s vision in doing this was for ISKCON to endure in the face of his own and his followers’ inevitable physical disappearances. ‘Built to last’ was a slogan that wasn’t lost on Srila Prabhupada’s institution. In pursuance of Srila Prabhupada’s vision, as far as I know the highest administrative levels of ISKCON have been discussing and examining the ‘culture of succession’ principle.
“So don’t be worried, do your best and success or failure does not matter. Krishna is absolute, so there is no such thing as success or failure in Krishna Consciousness, or in other words, there is no question of failure in Krishna Consciousness, whatever we do it is success. Whatever one may do in the material world, if he is even Rockefeller, it is all failure, defeat, because it will not exist beyond this body. He does not know that next life I may be dog or cat. But whatever service we can do for Krishna, even if somebody is not able to execute fully Krishna Consciousness, whatever amount of service he does it never goes in vain. It will eternally remain. And it will act. Even somebody does small amount of service, and not even very willingly, still, he is assured to get human body in next birth, and chance to execute some service further. So there is no question of failure in Krishna Consciousness. It is only success. Krishna says, My devotee is never vanquished. So we must try sincerely, that’s all.” (Srila Prabhupada Letter, November 15, 1968)
The Hare Krishna Movement 