Hari Om Tatsat!

Haribol! The general religious hindus observe or worship Ganesh before doing any activity because he removes all obstacles. The Sri Vaisnavas worship Vishwakshena, and our Gaudiya vaisnavas, we worship the Guru. It says that the Guru, all the great demigods are represented by the Guru.  So Ganesh and Lord Nrsingadev, they are all in the Guru.

Guru should have the attitude of the servitor of the Lord. And because he is very dear to the Lord, therefore he, the Lord gives mercy to the Guru. So therefore the Guru is respected as non-different from Krishna. He is identical. I remember one time one devotee said to Prabhupada, “Prabhupada you know everything so I don’t have to tell you”. Srila Prabhupada replied, “I’m not the Supersoul. I don’t know everything”. So therefore we know that Prabhupada was very dear to Krishna, but he was not the personality of Godhead.

In the Bhaktivedanta Hospital, in Meera Road, there was one story of how a man was in the ICU. He had various magazines of spiritual organizations, so the spiritual care department asked him, ‘Oh you are so interested in the spiritual, are you? You have all these magazines’. He said “Yes, but I have one doubt. Every book says there is God. There is a group that also say, there is not. So my doubt is Who is really God?” Now that doubt is answered by A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. He says that he is not God, but the servitor of God. In Bhagavad Gita, Krishna said He is God. He said everything comes from Him. Aham Sarvasya Prabhavo.

“Really! Really! That man said… really! There is something called Bhagavad Gita.. really!.. Wow! Now my doubts are removed. I know who is really God.. Bhagavan Krishna! Haribol!” So this doubt is all over in India.

There are different Gurus who claim to be God. There is one next to our Rajamandary temple. He claimed to be Kalki Avatar. He is known as Satyagopinath Das Abhigyas. So some devotees can see him. It says in Bhagavatam how He comes at the end of Kali Yuga. That’s about a 400 thousand years from now. Aren’t you a little early? Well he said, “Ok I’m not Kalki Avatar, but I AM avatar. Just call me ‘Om Avatar’ and if you give me 10,000 Rupees I will give you one blessing. And if you give me a lac and a half, I will give such an intense blessing for four days you will be out of your senses”. We call all these heroes in the west, Pushers. He would give you a drug that would knock you out for a few days.

So they attended the namahatta wherein the food they serve is Krishna prasadam. So they give the family Guru, Kula Guru, Krishna Prasad. The Kula Guru says, “What is this? What is this food?? Prasad…It’s known as Prasad. I’m a Guru, I’m a spiritual master.” The guru said, “Give me some food! Give me some decent food. Don’t give me this vegetarian food… give me fish! I want to eat fish! These fishes are expensive and you should offer your spiritual master something really good!”

Lord Caitanya, He came with Lord Nithyananda. They were going to Shantipur and some sadhu said, “See my deities”. So They saw that he had some Krishna deity. So the devotees said, “Please stay back and honor some Prasad” He gave some fruit to Gaur & Nitai and then he said, “Please sit down and take the food”. He said, “Please stay for lunch, I will give you a very nice Prasad. Fish!”. Lord Caitanya said, “You eat fish???” He said, “It’s the fruit of the water”.  He jumped up and jumped into the Ganges and took all Their clothes off! So like that we know that Gaur and Nitai, they only take saatvik Prasad. So we know that the Guru is the devotee of the Lord, therefore he is very dear to the Lord and the Lord’s mercy are stemmed from the Guru.

So Krishna is so kind that He wants to give His mercy out. He comes, as He said in the Gita “Sambhavami Yuge Yuge”. He comes at every age just to give His devotees His blessings. Once in a day of Brahma, in the Vishnu form, Krishna comes. Sometime after Lord Caitanya comes. So Lord Caitanya gives all mercy which is not given before. He gives out Krishna Prema. He doesn’t think who’s qualified and who’s not qualified. He gives out to everybody, who ever wants it! Who all want Lord Caitaya’s mercy?”.. Haribol!

So we missed Him by 500 years, but His mercy is still there. And that was given now by His Divine Grace A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada, and he requested His followers to also give out that mercy. So infact this is the first duty Prabhupada gave us. So Prabhupada is very merciful, and at the same time, he personally one time called me. Then, as a person, I could recommend people for first initiation, and be a little lenient. But for the second BE VERY STRICT. So he said that for second initiation, people should be a little more learned. I was present in Prabhupada’s room here in Mayapur. Some person, Prabhupada disciple, he said, “I would like to get second initiation! I want to get brahman initiation”. So Prabhupada said, “What is Brahman?” He couldn’t answer. “You want to be a Brahmin? You have no idea what is Brahman? Out! Out!”. So I saw how Prabhupada, was a bit hard to get second (initiation).

So here, it’s become some kind of a fashion. Everybody wants second (initiation). It’s not needed to go back to Godhead. If you want it, take Bhakti Sastri from the Mayapur institute. That’s the test. But you should somehow know the basic knowledge. Otherwise, you will just commit offense to the deities. Krishna wants to give all His mercy. Lord Caitanya, Nithyananda, they want to give their mercy. So do they give it directly? Or they give through their Guru-Parampara.

The day the Guru appears is known as the Vyasa Puja. He is the representative of Krishna and all the acaryas. The scriptures say that he is the one representing Krishna and all the devas. So I remember we had a guest in the lotus building. We had a VIP guest. Somebody allowed him. He’s a famous singer. His name is “George Harrison”. So he was with the Beatles. So he learnt many things. But he saw my picture in the altar and he asked me, “How do you still have a picture over there?” What a surprising question? I said humbly, “All the great acaryas are there. I see myself very little.” So the Guru, according to this verse, needs to have a service attitude. And because of their service attitude, that person is very dear to Krishna. So Krishna sees how the disciples are serving their Guru. And accordingly Krishna gives all His mercy.

Today also is known as Kamada Ekadasi. Krishna says, “This Ekadasi is very special. All your desires can be satisfied.” There were two gandharvas, Lalita and Lalit. They were husband and wife. They were very attracted to each other. So the husband was singing in a king’s court. And at that time he was thinking about his wife. And he got stuck in his song. So one of the courtiers complained to the king that this gandharva is just thinking of his wife and therefore he is offensive. And Raja Pundarik became red with anger. His eyes turned red. I curse you. You, who were supposed to be singing for the king at this point of time, you have transgressed your duties and therefore I’m cursing you to become a rakshasa, a man-eater, a cannibal.

And then from being a beautiful gandharva, he turned into an ugly cannibal. I will not give all the detailed descriptions… so he was going through the forest. Then his wife Lalita followed him. “My husband due to his sinful action is suffering like anything.” She met a very saintly sage. His name was Shringi. This lady asked Shringi as to how she can help her husband. The sage said, “You see the upcoming ekadasi that’s about to take place is called Kamada Ekadasi. On that Ekadasi if you follow the vows strictly and if you have a mind to offer all the pious merits you have to your husband, then your desires will get fulfilled.”

Then Lalita performed this Kamada Ekadasi. She had gone back to the rishi. She said, “I have performed the Ekadasi and followed all the rules. I desire that my husband will become freed from this difficult situation and also the merits that I have earned from this ekadasi go to him!.” Then immediately, right in front of her, this cannibal, he turned into his original form as gandharva and became free from the curse. Then a flower airplane came and both of them returned to the heavenly planets.

We don’t want to go to hell. We want to serve Krishna. So those who observe ekadasi today can pray to do service to Krishna, or whatever desire you have. Hopefully those are spiritual desires.

I approached Prabhupada and said, “I want to serve you life after life.” He said, “Why? You want me to come back?” I thought I said the right thing. Then I thought, “Ok I want to serve you Even life after life”. That means if I don’t go back to the spiritual world, then I want to serve Prabhupada here. So somebody will say, “Gurudev I want to serve you life after life”.. but don’t make me come back! If it’s Prabhupada’s desire then. But I want to add the word ‘Even’ Life after Life, according to Krishna’s desire.

We asked Prabhupada, “How can we please you? How can we serve you?” So he said, “Be happy… be happy in Krishna consciousness and make others happy.” So we want everyone to lead a healthy, and real taste for chanting…

Sri Krishna Caitanya Prabhu Nithyananda
Sri Advaita Gadhadhara Srivas Adi Gaura Bhakta Vrinda

So like that, everybody like chanting this mantra. They should be happy and you should enforce others to take up this chanting. So sometimes people ask the Guru, “Please give me some instruction”. In my case Prabhupada gave me dozens of instructions… so many instructions. I will talk about it later, but I need help! How to fulfill all these instructions? So anyway now its late, and I’ll speak on this later. I’ll talk just on this slot. So but I will speak on my personal realizations at 12:15.

So we are very blessed that Prabhupada and his followers have given us this Bhagavatam and we are very blessed that BBT has published it. When Srinivas acharya went to see Gadhadhar das, he would read the Bhagavatam and it was washed up with his tears. So it was not legible. All of you also when you read Srimad Bhagavatam, and you are washing the Bhagavatam pages with your tears. If this happens frequently then BBT will publish waterproof pages. Haribol!

“This chanting of Hare Krishna even if someone does not know what it is, it still works. Once in Hyderabad in South India one man came up to me and said: “Every religious sect have blind faith, blind faith, this is true of any religion without any faith it will still work”. This is a post office.  This is India you know. People are always asking philosophical questions. Never happened in an American post office. But I was thinking, wow what a question! But I remember I said, no, there is a process, even if you chant without faith the names of God, even if you don’t know what it means it still works.

Just like Ratnakar he was chanting murder! Murder! Murder! Kill kill kill in Sanskrit which was Mara! Mara! Mara! Chanting a word which, he was a murderer, he was a robber. When you chant it in sequence mara mara mara it becomes Rama Rama Rama. Chanting Rama even when he was thinking something else it still worked.

So the chanting, like Prabhupada said, it is like fire when you put your hand in the fire whether you believe it or not  you get affected,  somebody does chant somehow with an open mind if they just chant they will feel some difference from the chanting. So I hope that the devotees here they know about the chanting. If you know about chanting take advantage of chanting. If we know and we don’t chant then that is a very great failure on our part to take this opportunity to perfect our human form of life.”

“In difficult time we do not give up our devotional service, we stick to it and in good times we also do not give up our devotional service, now it is okay and I will make hay while the sun shines kind of attitude and I will enjoy life now and worry about death later. But if we know that death can come at any time, someone who has always been engaged in Krishna’s service  12 months a year, 365 days, does not matter whether there is life or death doesn’t matter, all are auspicious,  because everything is in Krishna consciousness.

So the devotees, they always remain moderate, in distress or when they are in opulence.  They are moderate in their existence and keep Krishna as their top priority in their life. Now in the world we ..were you know . things were a little bit looking difficult economically, but not that bad but like now there is war and so many people who are senselessly killed in terrorist attacks. This could make somebody very much down or depressed about the whole future of things. Whether there is some difficulty or there is something good we need to do our duties, we need to do our proper Krishna conscious thing.”

“There was a devotee in Navadweep. His name was Vaasudeva and he was a devotee of Varahadev. So he particularly liked to see Varahadev. So he was able to see that form of the Lord and thus he attained to Varahaloka.

According to the different avatars there are different lokas. If you want to participate there is Nrsimhaloka, Varahaloka, Vaikhuntha loka…so you get to participate in the Lord’s pastimes in that loka, so if you want to go to Krishna leela there is Krishna loka it is also  known as Goloka Vrndavan.

So it is up to you which planet you want to go. All in the spiritual world. Someone was asking today – is there like a visa? Ha! Ha! No VISA! Ha! Ha! Prabhupad would call these people at the immigration stations they are like barking dogs : no, no you cannot come!. But there you can go wherever you want. If you want to worship Krishna you go to Krishna loka, if you want to worship Rama you go to Rama.

Like in the Brihad Bhagavatamrita it is said that some devotee he went to all the planets and finally he decided to go to Krishna loka and how he went there is also revealed. Finally he went to Krishna loka and met Krishna and Krishna said I was waiting so long for you! SO LONG!!

So it all depends where you want to go – you want to be with Krishna, or Rama or Varaha – they are all different forms of the Lord. So like this the mahatmas they understand they are focused on Krishna and they like to worship Krishna. But they respect all the others.”

“When Lord Caitanya visited South India, he visited all the temples. Not only the Visnu temples, but also the Siva temples, the Durga temple, the Meenakshi temple, Ganesh temple, Murugan temple. He visited all the temples. But at every temple he would chant the same mantra Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare | Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.

He would give this message to everyone, chant the Hare Krsna maha mantra. This is the mantra for the age of Kali and this mantra can be chanted without any restriction, not only the brahmanas but anybody of any caste any community can chant this mantra. So how many of you are regularly chanting? Wow..so many!!

Those who are not chanting should immediately start chanting and those who are chanting should be very determined that chanting is going on. This chanting is the link in our heart, our eternal relationship with Krsna.”

“Real spiritual life is as sharp as a razor’s edge. The sankirtana movement is so spiritually pure that by remaining in its fire our consciousness will be refined to immaculate purity. This is the wonderful quality of the sankirtana movement. Through its association we gradually become free from all attachment to anarthas or unwanted things.

But beyond these attachments remain subtle shades of enviousness which also must be purged or they will carry the devotee away from devotional service.

These subtle shades of perverse mentality also spring from the enjoying mood. The desire for prominence, such as the impersonalist’s dream of becoming God, also manifests in the character of a devotee who is not completely purified. Hankering to obtain an “important” position in devotional service or to be the “best devotee” is materially tinged and is described in this song as ‘pratisthasa‘ (great importance).

These contaminated desires have no place in the glorious sankirtana movement of Caitanya Mahaprabhu.”

“It is described in the Vedas that we are just very minute almost atomic size, the spirit soul. But although the same type of spirit soul, the same category of living force exists in a very educated person, a very foolish person, the same type of spirit soul is there. The living force is not of a different category.

Same category same basic potential but due to being developed or undeveloped in consciousness the full potential of the spirit soul comes out filtered by the extent of materialistic consciousness that we have. In other words in the pure liberated stage the spirit soul has his unlimited potential manifested.

At that time as described with this spirit soul is more powerful than millions of suns because even the sun is a material luminary which goes through creation, it stays for sometime and ultimately it is also destroyed as everything material goes through these changes. But the living force which is in the body, that is indestructible, that is immutable. “

“By being attached to Krishna, we are automatically transcendental. There are two processes of detachment; one is negative and the other positive. Srila Prabhupada always called devotional service the positive alternative. Negating something or renouncing it does not end one’s attachment to it.

You still may be attached, but you are renouncing it to become detached. Someone may renounce smoking because he knows it is bad for him, but he may still like to smoke. Someone may be attached to some sense gratification but renounce it because he knows it is not good for him. Because we have bad habits, bad attachments and material desires, we regulate ourselves in order to keep away from the objects which are detrimental to our spiritual life. This does not mean that we have given up our attachments or attraction fully, but rather that we are trying to transcend them.

The process of transcending is to become attached to Krishna. One is liberated when he is attached to Krishna so much that he is not attached anymore to other things. When we are fully attached to Krishna we become automatically detached from Maya, naturally. “

“It is quite interesting to note, especially for Americans, that in those days they did not use Ford, Chevy, Benz or Rolls Royce but beautiful chariots, hand carved, with silver and gold. Beautiful horses and elephants were the methods of conveyance. From this we can understand that a great king could feel very proud of his chariots decorated in newest design, with good horses, and so on. Naturally he could be attached to it and go around showing off his buggy to everyone.

But it is mentioned here that Ambarisha Maharaja was detached from all these things. In the material world, you find that sometimes people are very proud of their vehicle. It is a very big status symbol for them to have a proper vehicle. Some people, even if they do not have a big town house, feel very proud if they have a nice vehicle.

The point is, although Ambarisha Maharaja had his vehicles, friends, family or even his own treasury, he simply took shelter of Krishna, and did not remain attached to these things. He accepted them to whatever extent he needed. He used them, but he was not attached to them. This is really being liberated, while in the material world, whether one has or does not have these things, one must not be attached.

It is actually more difficult to have something and not be attached. If we do not have something, it is easier to be detached, in one sense. But most people do not have, and they are still attached to possessing things-they like to have.”

“Lord Caitanya, He was encouraging that we should chant everyday, kirtaniyah sada harih, all the time by reading the saying Krishna namastha kaho. By chanting hare Krishna constantly, we get forgiven for all these offenses.

Whether they were brahmachari, whether they were grihasta. Therefore, He said, grhe thako, vane thako, sada ‘hari’ bole’ dako. Whether somebody is a grihasta or somebody is in the renounced order, he should chant hare Krishna.

Narottam Das thakur who was a life long brahmacari, he is saying, grihe ba bone de thake. Whoever, whether they stay in a Grihasta house or they are living in a forest or ashram or hermitage.

Jibaha Gauranga take sei amar pran: Whoever with feeling chats, Ha Gauranga! he is my life and soul, dear to Me as My life. So there is no sectarian vision here. Everyone is dear according to their devotion.“

“As the Krishna consciousness movement progresses, Kali will constantly send agents to disturb the preaching, to deviate the preachers, or steal the responsible devotees and engage them in some other activity outside of the bona fide Krishna Consciousness movement.

All kinds of destructive influences – too many to name – will try to disrupt the preaching. Especially those in the role of watchman must be vigilant and stop such dangerous contamination from entering and harming the market. (market place of the Holy names).”

“Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura personally accepted this position of  jhadudara, which literally means ‘sweeper’. Why did he assume that position? Because as a spiritual master, Bhaktivinoda Thakura wanted to ‘keep the market clean’.

In other words, spiritual masters and spiritual leaders must be constantly vigilant that philosophy and activities are kept in line with the tradition of the Krishna Consciousness movement, based on sadhu, sastra and Guru. Leaders have the responsibility to keep out dirt – speculations and contaminations – from Nama Hatta preaching.”

“Regarding musical instruments, herein it is prescribed that for Nama Hatta programs it is not necessary to have big, complicated paraphernalia; mrdanga and kartalas are sufficient. Srila Prabhupada liked this type of simple kirtana with mrdanga and kartalas. At the same time, in bhajanas he would sometimes use the harmonium.

In kirtana, the beautiful melody, the music, and the beat all have a purpose. They should help to melt the heart, to evoke the dormat love for Krishna. Bhaktivinoda Thakura gives the analogy of the borax melting gold. He uses what at that time was a commonplace illustration, which indicates how rich society was then. Nowadays everything is plastic or aluminum – even women’s jewelry is often made of plastic – but in that day gold was very common.

I do not know exactly what happens when borax is applied to gold, but apparently it acts as a catalyst, causing the gold to melt much faster when heated. Similarly, kirtana should help the heart to melt naturally.”

“Preachers who distribute the process of chanting the Hare Krishna Mahamantra are specifically banned from asking money for mantras. Some yogis sell mantras, and even certain sampradayas in India have basic, fixed price for diksa and mantras.

Here Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura exposes this practice as a disqualification. Actually the Holy Name is priceless – so how can any price be attributed to it? The point is to avoid commercializing the chanting of the holy name. Nama Hatta preaching is a great opportunity for receiving the mercy of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and spreading it to others. The reward that a devotee should aspire for is the priceless mercy of Lord Caitanya, not any mundane remuneration.

Having forbidden the asking for money for mantras, Bhaktivinoda Thakura does not restrict the acceptance of voluntary donations given in accordance with the customs of varnashrama society. Sannyasis, vanaprastas, brahmacharis, and brahmana grihastas are authorized to receive donations, which should be given voluntarily and according to the donor’s desire.

Guru-Dakshina is also authorized. Actually Bhaktivinoda Thakura makes the point that is it beneficial for the disciple, at the time of receiving the mantra, to donate to his guru.”

“Bhaktivinod Thakura says that one should try to develop good qualities, such as Meekness. One should give credit to others, without desiring aggrandizement or praise.

Another quality appreciated here is Mercy - to help others in Krishna Consciousness. With mercy comes Tolerance. Preaching to the conditioned souls is like being a spiritual doctor, and being intolerant makes it very hard to treat people. One should hate the disease, not the person suffering from the disease.

If we put people into some negative category – ‘These people are like that’ – how can we help them? Srila Prabhupada was very tolerant in facilitating people to chant and associate.”

Please accept my blessings. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

I wanted to take this opportunity to wish you all a Happy Janmastami Festival and a very joyful Srila Prabhupada’s Vyasa Puja.

Here in Mayapur we had already three Vyasa Puja celebrations; one at the National school, one at the Community Centre and one at the International school. So I think that here they want to increase every year some new event. They want to have one week celebration of Srila Prabhupada’s Vyasa Puja. So of course tomorrow we will have in the temple the formal Vyasa Puja Celebration. Since Srila Prabhupada’s feast falls on the Nanda Mahotsava day here they have various cooks had their kitchens inspected and authorized so that they can cook for Srila Prabhupada. We hope to get 2000 pots of preparations. This is what we are doing here in the Mayapur Dhama.

I have been in Mayapur, India since mid July over a month and a half. I was making some progress under the guidance of Dr. Acyutananda but then I got a fever and I was admitted to the hospital for about a week. Then my progress has regressed a little bit but gradually I am taking up. I was able to take a double even a couple of triple steps but now the doctor didn’t want to try and I have been walking with the gait belt with one person.

I am going on one hand with the therapies and on the other hand we had the GBC subcommittee for Mayapur, 6-7 people we all met at Mayapur and we discussed about the various topics. So I have been very busy here between the therapies and few meetings and attending Srila Prabhupada’s Vyasa Puja festival. So today is the Janmastami. I hope you are seeing the offerings in the www.mayapur.tv website which has a streaming video of how things are going on and you can also watch www.mayapur.com which shows other things. These are the highlights here in Mayapur.

I wanted to take this chance to wish you all a very, very blissful, a transcendental Janmastami. We were discussing this morning how understanding that Krsna’s appearance and His activities are all divya, transcendental. It is so important because He says, that if one understands that His birth and activities are transcendental then they will come to Him at the time of death; they don’t have to take rebirth again. I hope that everybody has clearly understood how Krsna’s birth, His appearance, His pastimes are all transcendental. We are very grateful to HDG A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada that he has brought this Krsna consciousness movement all over the world. I am very happy that I could be his disciple and I hope that I will be able to expand the movement with whatever time I have left.

I want all of you devotees to please take advantage of Srila Prabhupada’s mercy. Now I see that Krsna had to kill a lot of demons; like Him and Balarama, They killed Pralambasura, Putana and so many demons. But Lord Caitanya, He said he won’t lift any weapon on rivals. At one point He almost used His chakra against Jagai and Madai but Lord Nityananda prayed please forgive them and they also prayed for forgiveness. Lord Caitanya, He changed the mentality from demonic to devotee; so this is our great chance by the mercy of Lord Caitanya on this day we can have our consciousness fully switched to devotee consciousness and thus get the mercy of Krsna. Simultaneously the devotees of Lord Caitanya can be present in Caitanya lila and Krsna lila.

In the tenth canto of Srimad Bhagavatam, Srila Prabhupada personally tells how if we are Krsna conscious in this life, then at the end of life we can go to the universe where Krsna is having His pastimes get trained up and transfer back to Godhead. Of course if we have lot of desires we will anyway take birth in the heavenly planets and then take birth in the yogis, brahmins or rich mercantile family. But we really don’t want that, we would rather directly be in Srila Prabhupada’s service or be at Krsna’s service but in case we don’t have that focus yet then we can get this auspicious birth. I hope all the devotees will keep the focus and utilize this human form of life to get back to Krsna in this very life because if they take birth in the heavenly planets then they may miss altogether Lord Caitanya’s sankirtan movement which is about 10,000 years in this Kali yuga. This is our chance. I now understand why the acaryas they pray that they can take birth immediately in the family of devotees and continue where they left out. Jai! So I thank you for taking time to read this short message and I do hope that your Janmastami festival is ecstatic and you will have a very blissful Srila Prabhupada Vyasa Puja. Hare Krsna. If you get this letter late well I sent out on the auspicious day and I hope that blessing will work.

Your well wisher always,
Jayapataka Swami

Courtesy: JPSO Communications

“To awaken conditioned souls to their eternal position as a servitor of the Lord, preachers meet with many adventures and challenges. Five hundred years ago, Lord Caitanya’s movement went through similar trials. To become an ‘employee’ of ISKCON’s Nama Hatta program means to assume a role in the Lord’s transcendental pastimes. That part, however humble it may be, is directly linked to Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s eternal sankirtana movement.

Participating in these activities is preparation for being transferred to the Lord’s pastimes in Goloka Vrindavana. By Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s mercy, we do not have to wait until we reach the spiritual world before getting the sublime nectar of the sankirtana movement. We can taste the nectar even while living in this world, simply by following the principles given by Lord Caitanya and thoroughly explained by Srila Prabhupada. The marketplace of the Holy Name is there as a service for everyone.”

“In the Caitanya Caritamrita, Lord Caitanya expressed that He wanted to see everyone receive the mercy of the Holy Name and also the fruit of love of Godhead. But He was concerned that alone He would not be able to reach everyone; thus he ordered everyone to assist Him. “I am the only gardener, ” He said. ” How many places can I go? How many fruits can I pick and distribute?” (CC Adi 9.34)

Srila Prabhupada established a trademark for the International Society for Krishna Consciousness: “ISKCON”. He stated that ISKCON is a branch of Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s tree. When devotees use the trademark ISKCON it is synonymous with “Gauranga” as mentioned by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura.

The instruction is that preachers should work under the shelter of Lord Caitanya and His bona fide representative. All devotees should understand that we are members Lord Caitanya’s sankirtana movement and are simply acting on His behalf.

If one does not strictly follow the orders of the previous acaryas, his potency to preach will diminish and ultimately be lost. “Counterfeit goods” signifies the quality of preaching that ultimately produces mixed, or impure bhakti, whereas “Genuine goods” indicates pure devotional service.”

“Srila Bhaktivinod Thakura establishes that all activities must be executed according to the rules and regulations given by the chief trader, Lord Nithyananda Prabhu, or by His representatives at the head office.

Just as Lord Nithyananda setup a system with rules and regulations, Srila Prabhupada founded the worldwide ISKCON movement – with specific rules and regulations, a Governing Body Commission (GBC), temple residents, and so forth – so that the marketing and preaching of the Hare Krishna mantra would progress smoothly and cooperatively in a coordinated manner.

Here it is said that all goods should be received with authorization. Therefore anyone who preaches should be authorized by his spiritual master and the disciplic succession. All Nama Hattas and congregational preachers should be connected to ISKCON, thus always receiving Srila Prabhupada’s blessings. One should not desire to be independent from this society of Krishna’s devotees.“

“Jayapataka: I went to Bangladesh, and even the Muhammadans, hearing the philosophy we were preaching, they thought it was so appropriate for the time that they’ve sponsored a program. First they approached some of the Hindus to sponsor a program, the Muhammadans, saying that it is much more in line with their own preaching and what they felt was more needed for the world. And generally over there the young people, both Hindus and even some Muhammadans, they are very receptive to our philosophy as presented by Srila Prabhupada. Srila Prabhupada said that sometime you can visit there.

“In Kali-Yuga, the potency of the holy abode of Sri Navadvipa-dhama ever increases. At the time when Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura was preaching, the primary marketing of the holy name was occuring at Surabhi Kunja, in Godrumadvipa, one of the nine islands of Navadvipa. Lord Nithyananda had also done marketing there. Across the Jalangi River, just in front of Bhaktivinod Thakura’s house, Srila Prabhupada established the world headquarters of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness: Sri Mayapur Candrodaya Mandir.

Srila Prabhupada quoted Bhaktivinoda Thakura, who had said that Navadvipa is the most sacred region in the universe, and added that within Navadvipa-dhama the Sri Mayapur Candrodaya Mandira is the most auspicious and important place, for it is Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s karma-sthana, His field of activity. Srila Prabhupada explained that Lord Caitanya’s karma-sthana is even more sacred and important than His birthplace.“

“In the modern world, trademarks are very common. And they are protected. The trademark for marketing the holy name is the causeless mercy of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Lord Gauranga. In this Age of Kali, it is not possible to achieve the pure holy name without chanting the names of the Pancha-Tattva prior to chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra.

Whoever wants to market the holy name must be a sincere follower of the Lord and distribute the name under Gauranga’s brand name, or  process, of chanting. Many people chant Hare Krishna maha-mantra, but true followers of Lord Caitanya are especially empowered by His mercy.”

“One time Prabhupada was saying that the ‘BELL’ of the priest in the temple, when he performs the arati ceremony ringing the bell, that bell is more powerful than the nuclear weapon…the atomic bomb, because the bomb will blow up people’s bodies and destroy vegetation and will make a hole in the ground and everything. But the bomb doesn’t change spiritually, the situation that’s happening with any of those souls, with any of those spiritual beings! Again they still have to take birth.

But someone hearing of the ‘BELL’ that’s being offered to Krishna, then what to speak of the kirtan (we just performed), that’s destroying so much karma and that can actually purify ones consciousness, as we’re said to have a transcendental consciousness which is capable of remembering Krishna!“

“Every human in the world is a potential customer (for taking up Krishna Consciousness). There are no restrictions due to caste, color, creed, gender or age. Everyone is a potential customer. Whoever has the proper ‘money’ can buy the goods.

The currency is described as being the pure desire to serve the Lord. Any mixture with other motives create a counterfeit situation. Counterfeit money means that when the customer chants the holy name of Krishna, he will not be able to experience the same transcendental bliss, or the same realization, as does the pure devotees, who has no mundane motive for chanting.

To enter deep into the real ecstasy of Krishna consciousness, one should be sure that his motives are pure, thus avoiding counterfit money, which only resembles money but has no actual purchasing power!.”

“It is not required to live as a monk in the temple. Everyone receives benefit according to the faith and devotion he gives, whether big or small. Whatever devotion one has, he invests and gets profit. Thus one’s capital accrues. Then he reinvests the enhanced capital. In this way one will very soon be Spiritually Rich.

To reside within a temple, one should be on the level of bhajana-kriya or anartha-nivrtti. But those living at home can be on any level, higher or lower. And even if one has only a small degree of faith, still that has value and can be reinvested. Therefore the preachers should encourage people to bestow their faith in Krishna.”

“In America, some companies offer rebate coupons. This means that after a person has purchased the particular product, he is mailed a cheque of, say, twenty percent of what he had paid, or sent some other offer. But whatever price one pays in the market of the holy name, he receives a rebate of many, many times that amount.

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura is describing the Supreme Bargain. In the material world we give our love and faith to people, but they can hardly reciprocate a fraction of what is given. Sometimes our loved ones might even cause us harm. Here Bhaktivinoda Thakura explains that if we give our faith to Krishna, then not only will we be reimbursed the equavalent, but we will actually get back many times that amount. So why we hesitate?”

“The mercy of Lord Caitanya and Lord Nithyananda decends through Their devotees. Devotees who have received krsna-prema by the mercy of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu are able to distribute this love of Godhead. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura illustrates this process by using the analogy: ‘the transcendental marketplace of the Lord.

In compliance with Lord Caitanya’s order, everyone must accept Krishna consciousness and also share it with others. According to individual capacity, everyone should become a vehicle for spreading the hold name of Krishna. It is not a stereotyped process. Anyone can do it under the guidance of a bona fide spiritual master, who functions as the representative of Lord Nithyananda, the original spiritual master.“

“What we’re trying to do is, encourage everyone to support the temples and at the same time to also be active in promoting Krishna Consciousness in one’s own right.

“In this modern age, it is most practical to apply the Nama Hatta form of preaching – cultivating people through small groups formed of the congregation. Nama Hatta groups can begin anywhere, without restrictions, whereas in a temple there are so many restrictions, not only spiritual but also material, in the sense that so many expenses must be met.

The Nama Hatta system start first with a small group, and then later, when the congregation grows, it is quite natural to establish a temple. In this way things can develop naturally. By that process, many of Bhaktivinod Thukura’s Nama Hattas later developed into temples. Although the social situation has since changed – for instance, now people drive in cars whereas in those days they used horse buggies – the aspect of people working outside and practicing Krishna Consciousness from their home has not changed.

Today we have different kinds of Nama Hatta programs, such as Counsellor Groups, Bhakti-Vrksas, and various other groups, all of which are included in the broad category of the Nama Hatta.”

“Although God has no parents as He is eternal and is the father of everyone, yet He can agree to become someone’s child – have a little baby form and a devotee to serve Him as a parent. As a parent, the parents think that they are bigger than the child.

The parents always want to protect the child. Even though Krishna is the Supreme protector of everyone. His parents always think, “I have to protect Krishna. If I don’t protect Krishna, some danger will befall Krishna.”

So the parents actually become greater than God in that relationship – Krishna comes with the shoes of His father on His head and serves His parents. He is Supremely independent. He likes that sometimes His devotee is in a superior position.”

“The actual consciousness that one needs to achieve is nirmama and nishkinchana , to have nothing. Having nothing can be achieved by a grihastha if he accepts everything as Krishna’s.

Bhaktivinod Thakura prayed,”Manasa deho geho, jo kichu mora, arpilo tua pade Nanda Kishore“, “My mind, my body, my household, whatever normally one would consider their’s, whatever it may be, I am simply offering at your Lotus Feet, Nanda Kishore. Everything is Yours.”

If someone takes up their service in that attitude, then grihastha life will not be a big impediment. But if one is very attached to his family life, and thinks, “This is all mine, and I will give a little bit to Krishna,” then it is difficult for him to get a taste of the nectar of Krishna consciousness.”

Everything is Krishna’s and He has given me this service and I should do something to serve Him. Everything is His,” – if they have this proper attitude, it will not be an impediment. It is very important to develop this proper attitude. So, in the varnashrama system one should first be trained to be a brahmachari, learn vairagya vidya, and apply these things practically when he enters grihastha life.”

“One time Prabhupada was sitting with his hand on his head and he was saying, “You don’t know what it is like to run a world-wide spiritual movement. You don’t know.” The inference, with the way that he was holding his head, was that it was a big headache.

Prabhupada was so concerned that we all stay together, that we all work together, that we all cooperate to spread the Krsna conscious movement. We have many, many devotees now and it’s important that the devotees get cared for, and feel cared for.

So part of the function to care for the devotees, is through the diksa guru. He is the manifestation of the Madana Mohana vigraha, the sambanda vigraha. There’s also the help of the many different instructing spiritual masters, or siksa gurus, who is a representative of Govindaji, the abidheya vigraha. The goal of life is Radha-Gopinatha.”

“We want that people should be successful in their life and they get back to Krishna in the end of life. It used to be that people would live until they are old and renounce and take sannyasa, leave their bodies and go back to Godhead. But right now, there is no guarantee how long someone is going to live. I mean, the people in the world tower didn’t know that they are going to leave their body in the next minute or the people in the hijack aircraft. So many things are happening now.

So we don’t know how long we have to live. We have to also practice Krishna consciousness and not leave it.

We have to go on chanting through our brahmacari, grihasta, vanaprastha and all the ashramas at anytime. Not only because we want to be Krishna conscious when we die and go back to Krishna but also so that we also know that this is the greatest happiness and this gives us peace and equilibrium.”

“Prabhupada really wanted us to be dedicated to carrying out his mission. We can be inspired how he carried out the mission of his spiritual master for us to carry out our mission which is Prabhupada’s mission, to carry out the mission of our Founder-acarya. And we know that all the subsequent generations of devotees–some of Prabhupada’s grand-disciples are members of our GBC–we’re already an endangered species, we’re going to eventually be in extinction, all the direct initiated disciples of Srila Prabhupada.

So we need to create this culture, our spiritual corporate culture. We are dedicated to carrying out the order of Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, that’s the spiritual culture we are implementing.

If everybody maintains that–we know that his culture also is to ‘fulfill the desires of the previous acaryas’–then we’re completely linked up with the guru-parampara. That’s means we get the full empowerment and the full energy coming down from Krsna to the guru-parampara, to all of us.

That’s what empowers ISKCON, our connection. Krsna consciousness, Prabhupada repeatedly said, can’t be spread simply by some material adjustment. It has to be done by being empowered.”

“When we offer our services to Krishna’s devotee, Krishna is more pleased. He does not forget us. How can we serve Krishna directly? If we are given an opportunity to be in the Krishna’s pastime or Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s pastime, then we can serve him directly. But to get that blessing, we must serve the devotee now.

Prabhupada explains that by serving in Krishna Consciousness in this life, then in the next life you can take birth in some universe where Lord Krishna’s or Lord Chaitanya’s pastimes are going on  and you can become involved in those pastimes. But the purpose is to serve Krishna through his pure devotees.”

“Lord Caitanya said that though Lord Krishna’s pastimes are not physically present now, we could serve Krishna in separation. That is actually perfection in devotion – when we serve Krishna in separation.

Similarly while the spiritual master is present, it is an opportunity to try to learn as much about devotional service, so that you can take advantage because when the spiritual master is not physically present, you have to serve in separation.

So the ideal thing is to learn as much as we can when we have the opportunity.”

“The material world and its relationships are a reflection of God’s own Spiritual world and its spiritual relationships. He made man in His image and He made the material relationships as a type of reflection so that they can feel that if they want to become like God, it gives them opportunities to have apparently similar kinds of activities.

But in fact they are like the shadow, and Krishna’s activities are the original and pure. These are not real relationships. These are a play, a kind of toy dolls, which are given to people in the material world, so that they think, “Okay, I have my own world, I have my own Samsara, my own creation. This is my family, I have created my children, I have created my business”, and “my whatever” that they are able to create.

They can become a Brahma and create the whole universe; and ultimately see that everything is Krishna’s energy. When they surrender to Krishna – that is pure devotional service. Pure devotional service means to do that is pleasing to Krishna.”

“The Lord instructs that one has to become fully Krishna conscious to discharge duties as if in a military discipline. Such an injunction may make things a little difficult; nevertheless duties must be carried out, with dependence on Krishna, because that is the constitutional position of the living entity.

The living entity cannot be happy independent of the cooperation of the Supreme Lord because the eternal constitutional position of the living entity is to become subordinate to the desires of the Lord.

His Divine Grace Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada is not stating this simply for the non-devotees of Krishna lost in material bondage, but also for the devotees of Krishna.

A devotee of Krishna should not avoid practical works in devotional service. Rather, a devotee is always busy in practical services in Krishna Consciousness. A devotee performs even ‘ordinary’ work in full consciousness of his dependence on the Lord, and in accordance with the instructions of the spiritual master. This is the Yoga of the Supreme Person.”

“Today the whole world is centered on the bodily conception of life. In fact, such a concept is glorified. Krishna criticized Arjuna for being overly attached, and encouraged him to perform his duty and fight the battle for a religious cause. But now people are encouraged from childhood to be in bodily consciousness.

Bodily consciousness is so strongly forced into people that hardly any religion is able to train their followers in real spiritual understanding. Even the religions are rooted in a bodily conception of life. This body is going to perish, from dust to dust, still all attention is given to this body. Whether in the field of sociology, religion, or politics, everything centers on the body. Beyond lip service, there is no real discussion of the soul. This is the present state of affairs. ”

“Lord Chaitanya said that if you want to develop Love for Godhead, you must know “Vaishnava Etiquette” – How to behave with Vaishnavas. That is more important. If we don’t know how to deal properly with Vaishnavas then we commit offenses and eventually we won’t be able to go very close to Krishna … So it is very important to know how deal with, behave with each other properly respecting.

Most of the weeds of devotional service are also dealing with behavior, Kutinaati – diplomatic behavior; play some political situation with someone. Jivahimsa – treating someone very aggressively to harm a person emotionally or physically. So lots of obstacles in our devotional service are there because of bad behavior.

In other case Krishna bhajana means normally practicing with properly dealing with vaishnavas and say that you are going to save a vaishnava who is being attacked by beast or wild animal then if we die trying to save a devotee then we go back to Godhead. Devotees are so dear that they are worth dying for. So if somebody is worth dying for then why would we offend or deal improperly with such a person.”