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[Names have been changed to protect the innocent and the guilty.]

Many years ago, I was on a Hare Krishna farm. One day, while working in Krishna's kitchen, I learned that there were maha sweets kept in the big fridge over night. The next day, I told my friend and Godbrother about this and we began to plan a caper. It was so easy—we simply went down to the kitchen about 2 am and slid open the window on the side of the building. We went inside and grabbed the sweets out of the fridge. Oh, if you've ever had milk sweets made from Krishna's whole milk that were offered with love then you may understand. If not, I can only tell you they are wonderful! We couldn't imagine how anyone, especially a devotee, could leave them in a fridge over night. So we began to hit the place about every couple of weeks. We felt not to would be offensive!

by bhakta Jason Matthews

It was 1973 when I first came into contact with Krishna’s pure devotees. I was five years old and traveling through the Frankfurt airport with my parents and older brother. In thinking back on the experience it’s really odd that I remember it so clearly now, especially as it has become covered by other experiences of conditional life and remained forgotten for thirty two years.

As a very inquisitive child, I liked to explore and ask many questions of my parents and others around me. Therefore, it was always necessary for either my mom or dad to hold my hand so I did not wander off into the environment. This occasion was no different. My eyes were darting around from one person to another. Looking up and down the airport corridors, I was indeed enarmoured by all of the activity.

Bhaktas Paul & Jerry

by bhakta Jerry

There is a nine-fold process to obtaining prema—pure love of God. The first step we take in this process is sraddha, or faith. In anything we do we must first place our faith in the process and the people who propagate that process. If a student wants to become a scientist he places his faith in the teachings of his instructors with hopes that one day he will be able to replicate their experiments and have first hand knowledge of science. Similarly, religious people place their faith in the process of religion expecting to obtain a tangible result. In either case, the practitioner is not aware of the experience and understanding he will eventually have by following a particular process, but he makes a decision to follow the prescribed path to obtain the end result.

by Tirtha das

Spiritual World in Turmoil as Picket Lines Spread

In an unprecedented turn of events, Lord Krishna’s Gopis have gone on strike, declaring, “No pay, no work.” When asked where they got the notion for such strange behavior, one Gopi who asked to remain anonymous replied, “We saw how our counterparts in ISKCON were conducting their affairs. I mean, if they can claim to be devotees and demand to get paid for every little service they perform, well…. Some of us got together and decided maybe we should get paid, too. Krishna has all the money, fame, beauty, etc., so why not have a little profit sharing? Selfless service is okay, we’re not knocking it. But some of us have bills to pay. Lord knows we have an image to keep up, our cell phones, new Vaikuntha cars, priceless ornaments, ever fresh garlands, silk saris, and clothes for the kids don’t come cheap. Besides, somebody has to feed these Surabhi cows.”

by Vamanajana Prabhu

My wife and I ran a little store across the street called the Surabhi Store. We would arrange for Srila Prabhupada's afternoon refreshment of dab (fresh coconut). The last year that Prabhupada was here in Los Angeles, the GBC came to me and two others and asked if we would like to be Srila Prabhupada's bodyguards. He thought the three of us should split up the 24-hour watch.

About the middle of the second week we were doing this, and my good friend Bhaskara, who was one of the other bodyguards, and I were having lunch, and he said, "Did you notice that Srila Prabhupada does the same thing at the same time every day?" I said, "Yeah, it's amazing. You can almost set your watch by him."

(continued)

by Carl Sheppard

Finding Happiness in the Bhagavad-gita

Authors note: Although I wrote this essay for a general audience, I would like to make a short statement to those inmates who are reading my essay in the ISKCON newsletter:

I am an inmate myself. I have been confined for over five years now and face several more. As inmates, our ability to find happiness through our material senses is already greatly curtailed, and yet, as we all know, most inmates still chase this illusive goal.

(continued)

by an unknown inmate

It is important to understand envy because it is one of the six basic enemies of the mind. The most commonly used Sanskrit word for envy is matsara. In the second verse of the Srimad Bhagavatam, it is stated that Srimad Bhagavatam is meant for those who are nir-matsara, without envy. Lord Krishna told Arjuna that he would impart to him the knowledge of devotional service because Arjuna was anasuyave, without envy of Him. (Bhagavad-gita 9.1) Because an envious person cannot understand devotional service, it is important to understand the root causes of envy so we can pull out the root.

Envy is to covet another person’s possessions, such as physical property, position, or prestige. Envy has two parts: desire and hate. “All living entities are born into delusion, bewildered by dualities arisen from desire and hate.” (BG 7.28)

“Everything is so surrea l… As the senses flash before me … I see the mirror, but I am unable to see my reflection for the dust … ‘Flash’ I see the womb and I know it covers the embryo … ‘Flash’ I see the opposite sex … a feeling of heat burns, there is smoke and that’s how I know there is fire … ‘Flash’ I see Krishna and I awake from my nightmare.”

What does my dream mean, where does it come from and why is the flash of the opposite sex so intense that it stands above the others? These questions and many more roll through my mind like marbles in a whirlwind. Fortunately, there is a way to stop the whirlwind and collect my marbles, but in order to do this I must first understand why my marbles have tumbled from me.

By Bhakta Kendrick Curry

Everyone wants to be happy. The sad truth is that most of us do not understand what true happiness is, where it is found or how to go about attaining it. Fortunately for us all, the Supreme Lord, Sri Krishna, has given us the keys to happiness in His famous discourse, the Bhagavad-gita. Once we come to know the source of and the means to achieve happiness we can understand that our focus must be within ourselves, for happiness is an intrinsic quality of our true self.

By Bhakta Carl Sheppard

... He found his mind on his first birthday, surrounded by giants and bright colored balls of light. He suddenly realized the giants and balloons were there for him and because of him. His shrieks of laughter filled the room when he found his mind. When he was two his mind found its creativity, joy and happiness. When he was four he was punished and he found pain and suffering because he could not understand what he did wrong. At six, the bull calf he loved and nurtured was killed for food by his father. He loved Billy the bull and stayed with him everyday. At night he would sneak out into the pasture and sleep curled up with the bull. When Billy was killed his mind found hate, anger, fear, revenge and horror. And when he was thirteen he found freedom by running away from his farm in California to San Francisco.

By Bhakta Arthur