by Ravindra Svarupa das

The Sparks of God

The soul, or self (atma), is described as a separated, minute fragment of God, the Supersoul (paramatma). God is like a fire; the individual souls, sparks of the fire. As the analogy suggests, the self and the Superself are simultaneously one with and different from each other. They are the same in quality, for both the soul and the Supersoul are brahman, spirit. Yet they differ in quantity, since the Superself (param brahman—"supreme brahman"—in Bhagavad-gita 10.12) is infinitely great while the individual selves are infinitesimally small.

The Vedic injunction is that one see women other than one’s wife as mother, which means that one should see all women as objects of service as opposed to objects of sense gratification. But those aspiring after pure devotion service aspire to an even higher standard. They aspire to treat all women, including their wife, as a objects of service.

Once a sincere young couple visited Srila Gaurakisora Das Babaji Maharaja and asked for instructions in how to progress in spiritual life. Babaji Maharaja, seeing their sincerity, blessed them with instructions in spiritual life. He told the husband that he should cook for his wife, serve her prasadam, and only eat after she is satisfied. This was an incredibly revolutionary statement, given that cooking for her husband, serving him, and only eating after he had eaten was practically the main duty of a wife within the Vedic context. And this was in the early 1900’s when the culture of India was still very conservative in regards to traditional roles for men and women.

"...These observations were made at different times by different means but the conclusion is all the same in as much as the object of observation was one and the same. They all hunted after the Great Spirit, the unconditioned Soul of the Universe. They could not but get an insight into it. Their words and expressions are different, their import is the same. They tried to find out the absolute religion and their labors were crowned with success, for God gives all that He has to His children if they want to have it. It requires a candid, generous, pious, and holy heart to feel the beauties of their conclusions..."

It’s just been the local council elections here in Wales, to the run up we see the chase has been on for our votes, each pointing out the other parties failings and how if they were in power things would be so much better. But I have also talked to some who although up as a candidate was hoping not to be elected, strange? May be but although they did not wish to be elected due to the commitment required wanted their own party to do well, pointing out the faults of the other competing parties.

But this is not unique; we see this replicated throughout the world, from those politicians who insist that they must be re-elected, as they are the only ones able to steer the country through the economical downturn. To those who are standing down from position of power, fighting to make sure that there party remains in power, to those who will not give up power no matter what.

"The whole world is very anxious to satisfy the dormant propensity of love for others, but the various invented methods like socialism, communism, altruism, humanitarianism and nationalism, along with whatever else may be manufactured for the peace and prosperity of the world, are all useless and frustrating because of our gross ignorance of the art of loving Krishna."

[You find the second part of this lecture here.]

by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

"By rendering devotional service unto the Personality of Godhead, Sri Krishna, one immediately acquires causeless knowledge and detachment from the world."

—Srimad Bhagavatam 1.2.7

Those who consider devotional service to the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna to be something like material emotional affairs may argue that in the revealed scriptures, sacrifice, charity, austerity, knowledge, mystic powers, and similar other processes of transcendental realization are recommended. According to them, bhakti, or the devotional service of the Lord, is meant for those who cannot perform the high grade activities.

"Truth and Beauty," this article by Srila Prabhupada originally appeared in the first edition of the magazine he started in 1944, Back to Godhead. In this article Srila Prabhupada explains the meaning of the tittle of the magazine and its purpose. In this time of worldwide global conflict the message is as urgent as ever.

"Why would you want to be anything other than what you actually are? Does this make sense? It would be crazy to try to be something that you are not. It would be a useless waste of time. So why spin your wheels going nowhere? Find out who you really are and how to become fully situated in that real identity. This is the real goal of human life.

Krishna Consciousness is called nitya seva, eternal service. That means that the service you perform for Krishna is everlasting and never dies. Srila Prabhupada called this the "spiritual bank account." Whatever goes into that spiritual bank account is never lost, even at the time of death. In material life, whatever is gained will ultimately be taken away at death, and therefore the Bhavagatam calls this material work the "hard labor for nothing" life.

In a discussion with professors from the University of Durban (Oct 8, 1975) Srila Prabhupada proclaims “forget religion.” Prabhupada wants the discussion to revolve around very practical and scientific principles. He goes on to say that “knowledge of God should be (have a) practical application in life.” The idea of presenting the practically of Krishna Consciousness was one of the reoccurring themes in his converstaions.

So in a world that has indeed forgotten religion, or distorted religious principles, the preaching, more and more, has to make Krishna consciousness relevant to people’s lives in a practical way. And maya, in serving the devotees, is more and more turning the materialistic culture topsy-turvy and thus giving devotees the opportunity to offer solutions.

by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

The material existence of the living being is a diseased condition of actual life. Actual life is spiritual existence, or brahma-bhuta (SB 4.30.20) existence where life is eternal, blissful, and full of knowledge. Material existence is temporary, illusory, and full of miseries. There is no hap- piness at all. There is just the futile attempt to get rid of the miseries, and temporary cessa- tion of misery is falsely called happiness. Therefore, the path of progressive material enjoyment which is temporary, miserable, and illusory, is inferior.

[Part of IPM's Freedom Newsletter January–March 2008]

by HH Jayadvaita Maharaja

Twenty years ago, no one gave a damn. You could gum up a river with factory sludge, chop down rain forests wholesale, spray fluorocarbons into the air like a kid sprinkling confetti, and no one would say boo.

No longer. Grade-school kids want to grow up to be ecologists. New York tycoons sort their trash to recycle. Rock singers play concerts to save prairies and wetlands. Political candidates tell us they’re worried about the fate of the three-toed baboon.

Caring about the environment helps you feel good about yourself. At the supermarket you choose paper instead of plastic. You write your thank-you notes on cards made from ground-up newsprint and cotton waste. You chip in a few dollars for Greenpeace. Hey, you care about the earth. You’re a righteous human being.

Part two of a blueprint for socio-spiritual revolution
(Part one posted in october with the title Purity of Purpose)

A robbery is in progress. But the criminal has been stopped and arrested.
Problem solved. Temporarily...

Yet crime in general continues and increases. There's no guarantee that the same store won't be robbed the very next day. A better solution does more than put handcuffs on people. A better solution finds out the underlying cause of the problem, and arrests that.

Many people these days are rather cynical of organized religions that demand faith in some kind of deity. They therefore prefer to believe in a vaguelydefined impersonal mystery. That is safe. The mystery doesn’t make dogmatic demands or force you to surrender, etc. But have no fear—Krishna consciousness is different from “religion” as traditionally known. There is no blind following; everything has a good reason and purpose. In fact, all other spiritual traditions of the world make perfect sense when viewed through the Krishna conscious framework.

Different faiths exist for different purposes, mentalities, times, places, and circumstances. However, Krishna consciousness deals with the eternal, underlying reality. It is about engaging in a process of continuously deepening one’s relationship with "the great mystery,” becoming more aligned with its desires, intellectually understanding what it is and how it functions, feeling what it wants, and so on. There is no blind faith, because as one progresses in his practice he experiences on so many levels the direct and indirect effects of this relationship. One gets abundant sensory, mental, and intellectual experience of "the mystery.”

On September 10, MoveOn.org ran a full page add in the NY Times. There was a picture of General Petrarus, the man who’s heading up the military operations in Iraq, with the caption: "General Petraeus or General Betray Us?"

It seems the ad unleashed an outburst of criticism against both the Times and MoveOn.Org. And I also say, why pick on the General? He seems to be a decent guy. Aren’t we just making him the scapegoat? Indeed, the real culprit all along is not the General, but something far more sinister. The big news, which no one dares to consider let alone print, is that we are all being betrayed by our own senses.

by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Second Chapter of "The Science of Self Realization"

om ajnana-timirandhasya
jnananjana-salakaya
caksur unmilitam yena
tasmai sri-gurave namah

"I was born in the darkest ignorance, and my guru, my spiritual master, opened my eyes with the torch of knowledge. I offer my respectful obeisances unto him."

The word ajnana means "ignorance" or "darkness." If all the lights in this room immediately went out, we would not be able to tell where we or others are sitting. Everything would become confused. Similarly, we are all in darkness in this material world, which is a world of tamas. Tamas or timira means "darkness." This material world is dark, and therefore it needs sunlight or moonlight for illumination. However, there is another world, a spiritual world, that is beyond this darkness.

by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura

We have taken upon ourselves the responsibility of welcoming this grave charge. All the audience have accepted ordinary seats, I alone have been provided with a lofty seat. All are being told in effect 'Do have a look at a big animal from the Zoo-gardens. What arrogance! So foolish! So wicked! Have you ever seen such a big brute? Garlands of flowers have been put round his neck! What laudations! What bombastic long-drawn, and hyperbolic adjectives! And how complacently too he is listening to the praise of his own achievements, how intently, and with his own ears! He also evidently feels delighted in mind! Is he not acting in plain violation of the teaching of Mahaprabhu? Can such a big brute, so selfish and insolent, be ever reclaimed from brutishness?'

I happen to be one of the greatest of fools. No one offers me good advice on account of my arrogance. Inasmuch as nobody condescends to instruct me I placed my case before Mahaprabhu Himself. The thought occurred to me that I would make over the charge of myself to Him and see what He would advise me to do. Then Shri Chaitanyadeva said to me:

"Whom-so-ever thou meet'st, instruct him regarding Krishna, By My command being Guru deliver this land; In this thou wilt not be obstructed by the current of the world; Thou wilt have My company once again at this place." In these verses is to be found the proper explanation of the apparent inconsistency noticed above.

The opening salvo of the preface for The Nectar of Instruction begins thus: “The Krsna consciousness movement is conducted under the supervision of Srila Rupa Goswami.” What does it mean to have this role? How actively involved is Srila Rupa Goswami in our everyday lives? Is he literally supervising all of us?

Before understanding this supervisory function, we need to know who Srila Rupa Goswami is in relation to ourselves, our spiritual masters, and the previous acaryas going back to the time of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Each of the acaryas were unlimitedly powerful, being pure nitya-siddhas, capable of delivering the entire world, but preached in tune with Lord Caitanya’s wishes to lesser or greater degrees.

The special significance of Srila Rupa Goswami was that not only was he a direct disciple of Lord Caitanya, and the leader of the six Goswamis of Vrndavana, but the leader of all the acaryas and followers of Srila Prabhupada—present and future. In Krsna Book (ch.86) Srila Prabhupada writes, “The actions of the Krsna consciousness movement are directed by the previous acaryas, headed by Srila Rupa Goswami….”

By His Grace Sriman Suhotra Prabhu

From time to time a devotee of Krishna is faced with touchy questions about the shadow side of his religion. “Is it true there are gurus in West Bengal who do dope when they chant Hare Krishna?” Or, “What about that place in West Virginia where they mix Krishna, Christ, New Age, and everything else?”

It’s best to keep a broad historical perspective when considering this problem. Hybrid versions of Krishna worship, or even downright perversions of it, are nothing new. They all tend to fit a pattern laid down long ago in India by thirteen deviant sects known as apasampradayas.

But before looking at the deviants, one should understand the correct culture of Krishna consciousness. Fashionable or not, there is a definite standard of spiritual life. It is called sampradaya.

The word sampradaya implies “genuine instruction that has been received through guru parampara, or disciplic succession” (guru paramparagatu sad upadesasya, from the Amarakosa Sanskrit dictionary). In the fourth chapter of the Bhagavad-gita, Lord Krishna declares Himself to be the original source of genuine spiritual instruction and says that a person is connected to His teachings only through disciplic succession.

Bhakta Corey wrote a post over at Sankirtan Diary with a lot of good points in it. Dandas and props for speaking up prabhu. There was one aspect of it that jumped out at me, however, that made it a little harder for me to extract the nectar out of it. It seems to be a common phenomenon when discussing philosophy with American-born and bred devotees.

Source: www.sivaramaswami.com

The following article, written by Maharaja, appeared on the ISKCON UK web site in 2002:

Recently there has been some controversy among devotees as to "who should preach". Is it the "young temple" devotees who have the obligation while "householders" should work, maintain their families and chant Hare Krishna? Two camps have emerged. The "preachers" consider others as "inferior" and the latter have accused the former of fanaticism and immaturity. As a result an atmosphere of friction is prevalent and guests receive contradictory advice on how to live in Krishna consciousness. With the hope of eliminating dissension, I have written this article to increase mutual understanding and increase harmony among devotees.

Reflections

by HH Bhakti Tirtha Swami

Some of the greatest problems are problems that we have to deal with inside ourselves. They involve raising our own consciousness. If I allow you to excessively bother me mentally, it means that my own consciousness is low; otherwise, your actions or words could not disturb my mind. Whatever your position may be, if you bother me, it is because I stand on insecure ground. We must avoid a mood of always seeing others as the full problem. We must avoid letting people’s nonsense turn us into nonsense. If we fall prey to weakness, it is because we do not have sufficient strength.

Four Principles of Community Building

1. Treat everyone you encounter as if the success of your spiritual life depends on the quality of your interactions with them.

2. Reflect on the person you love the most and aspire to treat everyone with that same quality of love.

3. Anytime a conflict arises in a relationship, view it as your own fault first.

4. Realize that the people in your present environment might very well be the people with whom you will live out your life and who will be with you at the time of death.

This story was sent to us by Amita Krishna das from ISKCON Tirupati. He describes one of their Krishna Conscious Rich Village Culture congregational programs, in a village named Konnura Raju Kandrika, 50 km from Tirupati - a village not (yet?) touched by so-called "western culture", McDonalds, and Bollywood-mania.

Amrita Krishna's English may not be up to the highest standards, but he beautifully exposes the influence of "western culture" and education on the original vedic culture of India - sanatana dharma, supported by fitting quotes from Srila Prabhupada:

"... But when traders become too greedy and materialistic they take to large-scale commerce and industry and allure the poor agriculturist to unsanitary industrial towns with a false hope of earning more money. The industrialist and the capitalist do not want the farmer to remain at home, satisfied with his agricultureal produce. When the farmers are satisfied by a luxuriant growth of food grains, the capitalist becomes gloomy at heart. ..."

(Light of the Bhagavata, Purport)

Srila Prabhupada asked a devotee, ‘can you quote the verse?’ They could not. Srila Prabhupada said, “Just see - you are not reading my books. You have to read my books and you have to study and learn my books just like a lawyer learns the law books. You must know everything chapter and verse. If you do not know, how will you teach these men unless you know my books.