The followers of Lord Chaitanya is at the pinnacle of experiencing love of Godhead. Transcendental ecstasy is experienced more during separation from Lord than meeting Him. This pain, which materialists see as agony, is the most ecstatic feeling that one can experience.

Mundane historians acknowledge the presence of Lord Chaitanya as a well known teacher and social reformer. They could not understand his mood that he exhibited for 12 years at Jagannath Puri. They thought he had lost his mind.

The residents of Vrindhavan felt extreme pain from the separation of Lord Krishna. They had no idea how to live without Him. Their love could not face any sorts of competition from others.

Devotees use the temporary to achieve the eternal. For devotees, the world is vacant without Krishna. But for the materialists the world is full of possibilities for the satisfaction of their desires. These demoniac qualities of passion and ignorance are considered of high value these days. They call it drive, motivation and team building.

You are able to approach Lord Krishna because of Lord Chaitanya. Everyone of us have had some little experience of our dealing with spiritual reality. This could be through our chanting, deities, reading or prasadam. These little experiences must not be disregarded.

It’s natural that we want more happy experiences from Krishna since we are Krishna’s children. But we must not force Krishna to do things the way we want Him to do. We must let Him do what He wants with us. This is true humility.

There is a probationary period in devotional life. In this stage, where we are regaining out lost connection with Krishna, sometimes the Lord lets you see or experience Him for a short while. So that this serves as an ongoing motivation to get love of Krishna. In the higher stages of love, this situation can again happen but it is to take your Prema to higher and higher levels. This is what happened to Narada Muni. Devotees eagerness and Krishna’s mercy is required. The ignition is provided by the spiritual master.

You must have great determination to serve the spiritual master and Lord Krishna. This is the way one achieves the Lord and becomes great. We must make sure that in all our spiritual duties, we create a channel for materialists to secure association with devotees. We must teach people that glorifying Krishna is fun, getting knocked out after prasad is fun, dancing wild in this transcendental night club is fun ! This is it. Give all this to them.

1. When a person is impregnated with spiritual knowledge, there is a change in that person. We are living a life of animals but with spiritual knowledge, we begin our lives as humans.

2. What is a guru? Guru is someone who is following the shastras, regulative principles and 100% engaged in serving God. Association with such people brings about a change. Infact, association with devotees is of utmost importance. We get the desire to be like them. We wish to develop their mannerism, their knowledge etc.

3. In one essence, all of us are teachers. We must lead an ideal life and emulate the actions of our great teachers. The king, teachers and parents are natural leaders of our society and such people must know spiritual goals, rules and regulations.

4. Initiation means being saved. And no matter what difficulties and disturbances we may go through, we must continue our dedication to Prabhupad and Lord Krishna. We must learn to be resilient, determined and sincere.

5. We must continue our reading. This is very important. This knowledge is what will save us. We must read at least for 1 hour. We must not ignore this activity. Prabhupad wrote this for us. The stories in these books are not fantasies. These are real people and incidents. Their pastimes infuse us with strong spiritual energy.

6. We must show outsiders the thrill of being devotees. We must invite them to our festivals and events. We must give them a chance to see the Lord somehow or another. We need to help them give up their animalistic life.

In conclusion, our minds cannot be diverted away from Krsna. We must take great pleasure in our services, preaching and our attempts to gain pure love of God. Anyone who comes in contact with Prabhupad books have come in contact with a pure devotee of Krishna. Impregnating people with spiritual experiences is what we are about. We have work to do, we have to do them now and it’s done by each and everyone of us. We have no time to waste.

Just returned from a beautiful January Christmas party hosted at the house of the much loved HG Bhakta Prabhu and his wife Bhakti Mataji. This was the first time we were going and we arrived fashionably late. As we walked into the front courtyard, we could hear the laughters amongst the guests. People were clearly having fun. On entrance into the house, we received the wonderful hugs from Prabhu and Mataji, which immediately puts you at ease and makes you feel like kids again. Very therapeutic indeed.

As we all sat under the Krishna Tree and staring at the beautiful altar of Their Lordships – Sri Radha Karuna Sindhu and ready to receive our surprise gifts from Bhakta Santa, prabhuji explained the importance of love when dealing with one and all.

He said that irrespective of gender, religion, ethnicity, relations etc, we must express our friendship to one and all. As devotees of the Supreme friend, we have so much to give to people. And that was what Christmas was all about. He said that it didn’t matter what the historians & conspiracy theorists have to say about the dates, but what’s important is the spirit with which people, family & friends come together to express their love for one another, exchange gifts and remember the ever-loving God.

Yes, I like the Christmas spirit.

1. When we have no peace within ourselves, how can we carry out our devotional service? We should learn to connect everything we do and have to Krishna. Sri Narada is an expert in this.

2. Our occupational duties have to be done in the mode of detachment. We are attached to the duty only for the sake of doing it but we are attached to Krishna.

3. We should be enthusiastic, determined and patient in our desire to achieve the highest of perfection. We cannot demand our perfection from Krishna.

4. It’s amazing that through sound we can see God. This is our path. Seeing through the channel of ears, the form of the lord is then manifested. Simply by the process of hearing, we increase our desire to see Krishna. Rukmini Devi was like this. Sukadev Goswami was also like this.

5. Krishna is always smiling. When we come in front of the lord, we should approach Him with a big smile and not a frown. We should be happy.

6. Of all the offences that we try to remember not to commit, one that is most dangerous that we do commit is inattentive chanting. We must pay attention. There has to be endeavour from our end.

7. The Lord does not have to endeavour. It is His nature to be all powerful and full of incredible energies. He can do what He wants. But we have to work and for a devotee, Krishna expands his time. We must realise that Krishna is doing everything. He tells Arjuna that He has already killed all the soldiers even before the onslaught of war. Yet He allowed Arjuna to do his duty of shooting arrows. This is Krishna’s transcendental sarcasm.

8. Srila Prabhupad was completely attentive to Krishna. And that’s how he did such wonderful activities. He slept so little and gave us these incredible purports. Materially, one gets so tired at work when we have less sleep. But a devotee is beyond the material bodily needs. He is on a different level. Such devotees are glorified. Our temples operate in 12 time zones and hence “Jai Prabhupad”, is said across the world all the time.

The conclusion is that one must take great steps to be attentive in our devotional service. Only then, shall we start making progress. In this one precious lifetime, there are so many things that we pay careful attention too for our personal fulfilment of our desires but at least for 2 hours, we must give our ears to hearing the name of Krishna. We must respect the labour of Prabhupad. Studying his books, the verses speak to our heart.

And then our attention to chanting happens. This is when we get that peace we are seeking…because by chanting of the Holy Name, we get truth, auspiciousness and piety – Satyam, Mangalam and Punyam. In this peace when we chant, there is perpetual and constant festivals in our minds.

It’s 9pm and just finished listening to a very powerful lecture by HG Viraj Krishna Prabhu, a disciple of HH Maha Vishnu Swami Gosvami Maharaj. Through one verse from the bhagavatam, he was able to beautifully describe the importance of Prabhupad books, the importance of discipline, the dangers of the material world and the shelter of Krishna’s lotus feet.

He quoted a Chanakya Pandit’s verse which stuck to me :
“Austerity in one, Study in two, Music in three, Agriculture in four and War by many”. He explained the importance of daily study of Sastras and learning it with one another devotee. This type of study ensures commitment, sincerity and opportunity for discussions. I like it. And what a top class program. Memorable.

1. Real love is all we need

2. We can see God through His handiwork – both which seem beautiful and ugly to us. He has created everything. All religions have prayers that depicts this understanding.

3. Krishna gives you a taste of Him through the chanting of His name

4. Be mindful and analyse your chanting and your connection with Krishna.

5. Chanting is more captivating than other meditational processes because it helps one develop real love.

6. To be given the Maha Mantra through the parampara system is such a powerful matter. It brings you closer to Krishna.

7. What you are saying in essence during initiation is, “I love you, Krishna”.

8. Deity worship is important. Acharyas have compiled this with great care and attention. Prabhupad in BG 12.5 says that it’s difficult for a conditioned soul to experience that he is not the body. Hence, it’s easy to connect with the deity form as the beginner can easily connect to a bodily form. But deity worship is not idol worship. It’s an incarnation. This is the highlight of our devotee stage, to be able to render personal service to the lord. It’s honourable.

9. Hearing the glories of the lord, having prasadam, deity worship, chanting, festivals etc increases our affection for the lord. Others look at it and they get energised as well.

10. Our daily interaction with people all around us is to experience love. In material world, it’s seen as lust or sentiment. A child that receives love from parents grows to be a wonderful person. They need to be hugged, kissed, stroked etc. Similarly, adults also need such expressions of love. This is seen in marriages. In hospitals, patients receive so much love from nurses. Love can help one perform miracles.

11. In devotional life, besides a fleeting friendship, you should develop deep friendship with 1- 2 devotees with whom you can share your heart. This is very important and healthy for your devotional life.

12. When Haridas thakur chanted his rounds with deep love of Krishna and his expression of friendship with the prostitute, that she had a full change of heart and became a devotee. This is the power of love.

13. In our society, we do have lonely devotees because they have isolated themselves. This is sad and within our movement we must have devotees develop deep relationship with one another. You must help them with great compassion and friendship. We cannot eliminate such connections with others. It’s important and vital.

15. If one cannot develop deep loving relationships with other devotees, it becomes almost impossible to develop a relationship with the deity form.

16. We must make sure that when we are in a public setting like a temple, we must speak in a language amongst one another that can be understood by everyone. If a newcomer cannot understand what is being said amongst strangers, they will feel alien and may leave never to come back.

17. Make sure you give best wishes card and gifts to the Lord. Develop your connection.

In conclusion, for a devotee, there is no difficulty in approaching, in rendering and falling in love with the lord. Just do it. What is the difficulty?

The front cover said, “With the holy angels & all the company of heaven, come let us adore Him”

I thought of Krishna

The inside cover had a list of events at the church for Christmas Day. And it also had a message :
“On the night of Jesus birth, angels appeared to shepherds in a field nearby. An angel said, “Do not be afraid, for see – I bring good news of great joy for all the people“.

I liked this idea of dropping greeting cards into postboxes by the local religious centres. Some will throw, some will read, some will follow. But they still did it.

Wouldn’t it be nice if our centres also had such materials dropped in the neighbourhood advertising our festivals like Janmasthami or Ratha Yatra events? In fact, each devotee or devotee family can do the same in their neighbourhoods where they live. You never know, who may benefit from the news? As the angel said, “I bring good news of great joy for all the people”.

Just a thought….I know it’s still early but Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas!

” By Me, in My unmanifested form, this entire universe is pervaded. All beings are in Me, but I am not in them. And yet everything that is created does not rest in Me. Behold My mystic opulence ! Although I am the maintainer of all living entities and although I am everywhere, I am not a part of this cosmic manifestation, for My Self is the very source of creation.”
- Chapter Nine, SB

In that essay, he quotes the below lines which is so memorable and motivating :

—
” In Nectar of Devotion, Chapter 17, Srila Prabhupada describes the love-potency of a purified devotee:

By the process of executing regulated devotional service, one is actually elevated onto the transcendental stage, beyond the material modes of nature. At that time one’s heart becomes illuminated like the sun. The sun is far above the planetary systems, and there is no possibility of its being covered by any kind of cloud; similarly when a devotee is purified like the sun, from his heart there is a diffusion of ecstatic love which is more glorious than the sunshine.

Mission impossible, or the only real way forward? An eruption from the heart more radiant than the sun? What would you be willing to do, so one day you could love like that?

“Only at that time is the attachment to Krsna perfect,” Nectar of Devotion continues. “Spontaneously, the devotee becomes eager to serve the Lord in his ecstatic love.”
—

And I was thinking that this is the result we must all hope to achieve. Surely, few of us, atleast me, forget this goal. With time in the movement, comfort and familiarity sets in and then my seriousness to attain the stage of pure love of Krishna, to return to His abode and make this my last life in the material world drops away. Ofcourse, chanting, temple visits and Prasadam is there but am I seriously with heartfelt sincerity and with full resolute aiming for the highest goal? Or am I just happy to have a religion that I understand and proud to be a part off, a sense of belonging?

To attain ecstatic love for Krishna one has to keep practicing the various items in devotional service with so much seriousness, with so much care, with so much guidance, with so much determination, with so much urgency. Only then can we be more radiant than the sun, make a difference to the world and finally attain the mercy of Krishna.

When we constantly and till our very last breath conduct the following activities with great enthusiasm : attendance at mangal aroti, chanting, temple services, book distribution, honouring and distributing prasadam, visiting places of pilgrimage, reading Prabhupad books, serving spiritual master, attending lectures, spending time with devotees, wearing tilaka and devotee clothes, painting devotional pictures, giving lectures at homes & universities, participating in kirtans, deity worship, making donations or even writing an essay, one must pierce the heart with the intention that he/she is very serious about getting to the platform of perfect attachment to Krishna. This thought and the above exercises will get Krishna opening all the doors for us to go back home, back to Godhead. He knows perfectly well how to make us a perfect lover. He is one Himself.