From now on, the temples will operate independently and try to improve their spiritual life more carefully, so there is no more need for such financial arrangement of centralization, as you have proposed. Better you concentrate your time on improving Gurukula school, that is a huge task. You are responsible to train so many … Read more
Krishna consciousness means we should always be satisfied and happy, not that we must work something impossible, become overburdened and then, because we are unhappy by so much trouble, we lose enthusiasm and give up all hope. By all means we must preserve our spiritual status. That is the point.
Not that we are mad after big buildings, many devotees, life members, this, that. No. These are only the ways to engage the devotees, so that they may apply the principles of devotional service to some kind of work. It is not the result of the work that we want. If we sincerely preach to only one person a day, that is sufficient, never mind big, big programs.
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The meat industry is one of the most destructive ecological industries on the planet. The raising and slaughtering of pigs, cows, sheep, turkeys and chickens not only utilizes vast areas of land and vast quantities of water, but it is a greater contributor to greenhouse gas emissions than the automobile industry. The seafood industry … Read more
The first time I visited India was in 1989. My flight arrived at the Delhi Airport at some early hour and I took a precarious taxi ride through the morning fog to the holy town of Vrindavan. Upon arriving, I prostrated in the dust of Vraja and headed straight for the Krishna Balaram Temple. It was shortly after the daily scriptural discourse and the place was nearly empty. As I approached the foot of the alter a musician caught my attention. He was alone, sitting before the shrine of Sri Sri Radha Syamsundar. He appeared austere. It was cold and he was wrapped in a ragged wool shawl. His voice and melody were unlike anything I had heard before. The melody was stripped bare. A desolate voice accompanied only by a frail harmonium scale, slow and slightly off beat – crawling, barely dragging along. His song was the cry of a dying man. A man in the desert, drying up and desperate, crying for some water – just a small cup – just a drop. It was almost pitiful, but hauntingly beautiful – like nothing I’d heard before. It sounded so remorseful, so humble and completely sincere. It was the first time I heard a man desperately crying out to God.
This most beautiful rendition of Vrindavana das Thakura’s Sri Caitanya-bhagavata (previously Sri Caitanya-mangala) is recited by Damodara Dasa. Krishna Das Kaviraja Goswami writes in his Caitanya Caritamrita as follows: “In Sri Caitanya-bhagavata Srila Vrindavana dasa Thakura has given the conclusion and essence of devotional service by quoting the authoritative statements of Srimad-Bhagavatam. The subject … Read more
No trace of exploitation should be traced in us. We should not run after any type of enjoyment including even the enjoyment of‚ God-association. We must be fully purged of the enjoying spirit. If a trace of enjoyment remains in us, we shall have to remain in one of the planes of this brahmanda, … Read more
“The very gist of the guru parampara is siksa, the spiritual teaching, and wherever it is to be traced, there is guru. One who has the transcendental eye, the divine eye, will recognize the guru wherever he appears. One who possesses knowledge of absolute divine love in purity he is guru. Otherwise, the guru-parampara, … Read more
