I’m utterly convinced that the key to lifelong success is the regular exercise of a single emotional muscle: Gratitude. Thank you KRISHNA! My dear Lord, by Your causeless mercy I am awakened to consciousness, although I am only ten months old. For this causeless mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the … Read more
“A Deliberation on the Methodology of Sadhu-sanga” by HDG Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur, originally published in Sri Sajjana-toshani, 1917. Association is the basis of one’s nature A person’s nature is shaped by the company he keeps. In other words, a person develops a nature similar to that of whomever he associates with. The jiva’s association … Read more
I am very happy to see the new article on Sampradaya Sun by Raya Nitai dasa Vanacari on the new GBC ‘Parallel Lines of Authority’ paper. The points he made are very well presented and his article is well worth a careful reading. He has covered the main points very nicely, I just want to add one small observation.
When I joined ISKCON in 1986, the Zonal Acharya system was in full swing and ISKCON was preaching that their gurus were liberated, self-realized paramahamsas who were on the same level as Srila Prabhupada. At that time they had divided the planet into zones and in each zone, the ‘acharya’ was the supreme and absolute authority. In those days all the authority was with the Zonal Acharyas, and practically the GBC had no authority at all. Each zone was independently managed by the Zonal Acharya.
In the mid 80’s it became obvious to almost everyone that ISKCON’s so-called acharyas were not really pure devotees and were far, far below the transcendental platform of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Many of them fell down very publicly and embarrassingly for ISKCON. There was some confusion for some time and even a short period where many devotees in ISKCON rediscovered Srila Prabhupada and took shelter of him after their gurus fell down. Around 1996, in conjunction with Narayana Maharaja, the GBC published a paper stating that the guru does not have to be a pure devotee, does not have to be liberated, can be a conditioned soul, etc. Then the GBC elevated many of the devotees who were very anxious to get promoted to the platform of guru to the status of “non-liberated guru”. Soon there were more than 100 new ISKCON gurus.
Chapter Six, Journey of Self-Discovery, by HDG A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada.
“Contrary to popular belief, current statistics show that the earth produces enough food to easily support its entire population. Yet greed and exploitation force over twenty-five per cent of the world’s people to be underfed and undernourished. Srila Prabhupada condemns unnecessary industrialization for contributing to the problem of hunger and for creating unemployment, pollution, and a host of other problems. In the following speech, recorded on May 2, 1973, in Los Angeles, he advocates a simpler, more natural, God-centered lifestyle.
ime jana-padah svrddhah supakvausadhi-virudhah vanadri-nady-udanvanto hy edhante tava viksitaih
[Queen Kunti said:] “All these cities and villages are flourishing in all respects because the herbs and grains are in abundance, the trees are full of fruits, the rivers are flowing, the hills are full of minerals, and the oceans are full of wealth. And this is all due to Your glancing over them.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.8.40)
Human prosperity flourishes by natural gifts and not by gigantic industrial enterprises. The gigantic industrial enterprises are products of a godless civilization, and they cause the destruction of the noble aims of human life. The more we increase such troublesome industries to squeeze out the vital energy of the human being, the more there will be dissatisfaction of the people in general, although a select few can live lavishly by exploitation.
The natural gifts such as grains and vegetables, fruits, rivers, the hills of jewels and minerals, and the seas full of pearls are supplied by the order of the Supreme, and as He desires, material nature produces them in abundance or restricts them at times. The natural law is that the human being may take advantage of these godly gifts of nature and thus satisfactorily flourish without being captivated by the exploitative motive of lording it over material nature.
A Son helps his Mother Prepare for the Ultimate Test
ARE YOU READY to hear about a miracle? Don’t worry, I won’t bore you with yet another story about some pseudo-miracle-worker. This story is about a seventy-nine-year-old woman completely set in her ways who, at the most difficult time of death, had a change of heart that brought her from the brink of terror to tears of joy.
The woman was my mother. Born Nadine Alma Eastlack, she was conservative to the extreme. Her early life read like a chapter from John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath. Her family narrowly escaped the dust bowl by migrating from Grinnell, Kansas, to the “Promised Land” of Southern California, landing in the fire of the Great Depression. After struggling to put herself through college and marrying a minor war hero, Leslie Waldo Beck, she attained middle-class status.
While raising me, their only child, in the northern California town of Oroville, my parents both worked — he as a parts manager of a local car dealership, and she as a high school teacher of sewing, cooking, and home economics. My parents watched with pride as their only son excelled in music, scholarship, and athletics, achieving numerous awards culminating in the “Young Man of the Year Award” for the class of 1964 at Oroville High. After high school, I attended UCLA, graduating with honors in 1968 and landing my first job as assistant to the studio manager at Columbia Pictures. About a year later, however, shortly after sweeping my mother off her feet with a whirlwind tour of the studio, I left that promising career, disillusioned with the superficiality of the Hollywood scene.
“My creative urges aren’t being fulfilled,” I thought, so I packed up and moved north to San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district to pursue a career as a professional musician.
A voice woke me up. I jumped out of bed. Excited. My name. Torben. This voice. Clear and strong. Prabhupada. It was Prabhupada! Srila Prabhupada was saying my name! Torben! It was clearly Prabhupada’s voice. Prabhupada had addressed me this early morning. Fantastic. I felt happy and proud. My “guru”, Sri Visnupada Harikesa Swami, had … Read more
Sarajevo April 19, 1996 Although we had taken rest at 1 a.m., we rose at 3.30 a.m. to begin a six-hour drive to Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia. We left Split Temple in a caravan of two vans and four cars, with a total of 32 devotees. Heading south along the coast, we … Read more
May 22, 2012 — INDIA (SUN) — In accord with Srila Prabhupada’s instructions, ISKCON continues to widely distribute his books, the Holy Name, and Krsna-prasada. However, apart from performing these laudable services, ISKCON has also incorporated policies that I strongly feel are not in line with Srila Prabhupada’s stated desires. Over the years, I … Read more
How Does It Work? What you are really doing is lightening your load, freeing yourself from a lot of burdens. When you give up meat, your health improves and the world’s economy improves because of the wasted economic resources involved in the meat industry. In fact when you become devoted to God you … Read more
The Russian government has proposed a law restricting the activities of new religious movements, which according to definition is anything that is not Russian Orthodox or Muslim. The devotees arranged for me to meet Professor Alexander Vasilyevich Medvedev of the State University of the Urals, who is also the Chairman of the Religious Affairs Committee of the Ural Region, which investigates new religious movements. The devotees hoped that by meeting Professor Medvedev, we might persuade the government that the law would not be in accordance with basic rights of liberty or freedom of choice of religion. I agreed to meet the professor, not so much because I thought we could make much progress with the government, but to please the devotees. I have seen that Russian bureaucracy is like a thick wall. If those in higher positions don’t like what you’re doing, that’s it. Besides, how much would a professor in the Urals know about ancient Vedic culture?
The devotees accompanying me wanted to wear non-devotional dress to the 12:00 p.m. meeting, but once again I insisted that we let our tradition speak for itself and dress as proper Vaisnavas. We arrived early, which is always my policy with meetings of any kind, especially with public officials. We were shown to the professor’s office. Within a few minutes Professor Medvedev arrived, looking exactly as I imagined a Russian professor might: bespectacled, with a white goatee, and dressed in a wrinkled suit. He looked at us curiously as he took his seat. I began by expressing our concern about the proposed law, I emphasized that freedom of religion is part of the new Russian constitution, and that the Krsna consciousness movement is following a religious tradition which is more than 5,000 years old.
