Meeting of Disciples and friends of SDG
The Veterans of Foreign Wars Hall
845 Hudson Avenue
Stuyvesant Falls, New York 12174
There is plenty of parking near the Hall. The facility is just a few minutes’ walk from SDG’s home at 909 Albany Ave.
10:00 – 10:30 A.M. Kirtana
10:30 – 11:00 A.M. Presentation by Satsvarupa Maharaja
11:15 – 12:30 P.M. Book Table
12:30 – 1:15 P.M. Arati and kirtana
1:15 — 2:15 P.M. Prasadam Feast
Baladeva Vidyabhusana at [email protected] or (518) 754-1108
Krsna dasi at [email protected] or (518) 822-7636
SDG: “I request as many devotees as possible to attend so we can feel the family spirit strongly. I become very satisfied when we are all gathered together.”
******
Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 20.124–125: “O great learned devotee, although there are many faults in this material world, there is one good opportunity—the association with devotees. Such association brings about great happiness. . . . .”
Srila Prabhupāda: “Therefore, our Society is association. If we keep good association, then we don’t touch the darkness. What is the association? There is a song, sat-saṅga chāḍi’ kainu asate vilāsa, te-kāraṇe lāgila mora karma-bandha-phāṅsa (Gaurā Pahū, verse 3). Sat-saṅga. Sat-saṅga means association with the devotees. So the one poet, Vaiṣṇava poet, is regretting that, ‘I did not keep association with the devotees, and I wanted to enjoy life with the nondevotees. Therefore I’m being entangled in the fruitive activities.’ Karma bandha phāṅsa. Entanglement.” [Conversation with David Wynne, July 9, 1973, London]
“It has been a trying few weeks for Satsvarupa Maharaja with many headaches, but also a lot of writing. For example, yesterday he had four headaches, but within the same 24 hour period, he read a 300-page manuscript and completed a new book which will come out at the Vyasa-puja celebration. The chiropractor has been quite successful anticipating a lot of the severe arthritis pains in his back and neck. These are all signs of old age creeping in. As the book festival comes closer he will be getting more anxious that everything will go nicely for his guests, even though Krsna dasi is in charge and the crews are pretty much lined up. She and her husband Bala organized major festivals in Trinidad which have become traditions. If anyone would like to offer assistance—financial or physical—there is always a crunch before and after the festival. You can contact Krsna dasi at 518-822-7636.”
Hare Krsna,
Baladeva
We didn’t go to the beach for early-morning japa. I chanted alone with resistance, until I got a headache and went back to bed. I finished my quota before lunchtime, chanting as I did in Italy, at a whisper, and using a stopwatch to time the rounds.
******
Now I have a face mask and suitable gloves for the morning cold. It was 41 degrees this morning, and I wore my heaviest jacket. Chanting and walking is excellent for as far as I can go, about twenty-five minutes, and my voice gets louder and clearer somehow. I incurred a headache, but made a “pit stop” for meds and kept walking. The seagulls don’t come around anymore, so we just dumped our bread crumbs in the parking lot and hope they’ll come and get them when the sun is fully risen and the day is warmer. I’ve lost enthusiasm for personally feeding them, since they’re so hard to get.
******
May I be able to say things about chanting to the assembled devotees in addition to actually chanting with them.
******
In Bhagavad-gita, Krishna says in this material world, which is temporary and miserable, you should engage in devotional service. In the Srimad-Bhagavatam, it states that the age of Kali is an ocean of vices, but there is one great quality, the chanting of the holy names of God.
******
Slashing, driving rain, high winds and forty-degree temperature kept us inside the car without venturing out for a walk. Baladeva is buying rain pants and jackets today so we can take our walk even in the worst weather. I incurred a headache and set the car seat in its rest position for half an hour, and then we started back for breakfast at 7:30 A.M. But there was still good chanting time.
******
Whoever chants the holy name of Krishna just once is worshipable and is the topmost human being. In his purports to this section, Prabhupada writes much about the chanting of the holy name of Krishna. He says that any devotee who believes that the holy name of Krishna is identical with the Lord is a pure devotee, even though he may be in the neophyte stage. He quotes Jiva Gosvami’s Bhakti-sandarbha as stating that although initiation and Deity worship are not necessary, the Bhagavatam enjoins that “the material conditioning of most candidates for devotional service requires that they engage in this activity” (Madhya-lila 15.108, purport).
******
“When one is situated on the absolute platform, he can understand that the holy name of the Lord and the Lord Himself are identical. . . . . One should worship and chant the holy name of the Lord by accepting it as the Lord Himself. One should therefore be initiated properly according to revealed scriptures under the direction of a bona fide spiritual master. Although chanting the holy name is good for both the conditioned and liberated soul, it is especially beneficial to the conditioned soul because by chanting it one is liberated. When a person who chants the holy name is liberated, he attains the ultimate perfection by returning home, back to Godhead. . . .With the material senses one cannot understand the transcendental holy name of the Lord or His form, activities and pastimes. But when one actually engages in devotional service, utilizing the tongue, the Lord is revealed” (Madhya-lila 15.108, purport).
******
Srila Jiva Gosvami explains in his Krama-sandarbha commentary on Srimad-Bhagavatam 6.2.19 the benefits of affectionate chanting:
“The holy name can be chanted in two ways: ordinary or with affection. The ordinary, offenseless chanter will reach the Lord’s divine abode, but the Lord comes near only to an affectionate chanter, so an affectionate chanter attains the Lord’s personal service.”
******
“Serious” means chanting Hare Krishna and reading Krishna conscious books. I’m still reading Sacinandana Swami’s Nama-rahasya and can read it in between visits by the kids. I also have four more rounds to chant. Today makes me appreciate that usually we’re uninterrupted here, especially me on the third floor.
******
Srila Prabhupada-lilamrta points out that Prabhupada left the world in ideal circumstances. He left from the ideal location, Vrndavana. He left surrounded by the chanting of the holy names of Krishna by many devotees. And he left in perfect consciousness, speaking about Krishna up until the end and giving instructions on how to preach to his faithful disciples. In this way he taught the most important lesson, which each of his disciples would have to follow: how to die.
******
Reading some more in Sacinandana Swami’s book on the holy names. He takes it all the way up to the perfect stage, where the spirit soul is in the spiritual world serving Radha and Krishna. In the intermediate steps of constant and affectionate chanting, you increase your number of rounds because you cannot live without the holy names. Songs by Bhaktivinoda Thakura, meditations by Gopal-guru and his confidential disciple, Dhyanacandra, that you use while you chant the mahamantra. So much of this is over my head.
******
Reject everything that is not favorable to Krishna consciousness, whatever it may be. I chant and hear on the lower state of aparadhas. Still, the sixteen rounds are my utmost duty. I chant out of duty. I would never give it up.
******
Associate with saintly persons, chant in a peaceful, secluded place, be determined—three rules of Bhaktivinoda Thakura. Read Siksastakam and the commentaries by Bhaktivinoda Thakura and Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura. Read Bhajana-rahasya, by Bhaktivinoda Thakura. I don’t even have these books, and I’m not sure where I can get them. Probably in Vrndavana.
******
Be humble. Honor all living entities. Don’t seek prestige. Trnad api sunicena. This is very important. I will use a part of the remainder of this evening to chant additional rounds. Try to chant in a better mood than simply counting numbers. Numbers or no numbers, but chant Krishna and Hare, Radha and Krishna and Rama. I cannot use a meditation, but I can call to Krishna to please help me improve. Please let me serve You. Please be real to me.
******
Know the deeper meaning of each verse of the Siksastakam. The last two verses are of Radha and Krishna. The next to last one is love in separation, and the last is sambhoga, union. Become learned in all these things if you wish to be a teacher of the holy names.
******
Lord Caitanya is the bestower of the mercy of chanting Hare Krishna. Prabhupada is the one who gave it to me and countless others. He brought it out of India with great conviction. Chanted in the storefront and in the park. We chanted with him and got high. “Stay high forever, no more coming down.” We meant it. It worked. It works still, but I must beg for the nectar. I must try harder, longer. Realize how important it is. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.
pp. 88-92
One achieves bhakti by worshiping the Lord ceaselessly.
Narada has given a negative order—to restrain the mind and senses; he now gives the positive method for engaging the mind and senses in Krsna consciousness. Srila Prabhupada compared Krsna conscious activity to placing an iron rod in fire. As the rod stays steadily within the flames, it becomes hotter and hotter, until eventually it becomes fiery. In the same way, the devotee who steadily engages in Krsna consciousness gradually becomes transformed, until eventually he becomes fully Krsna conscious. If one is completely absorbed in Krsna’s service, there is no scope for the activities of maya.
The Srimad-Bhagavatam (1.2.6) also recommends uninterrupted devotional service:
sa vai pumsam paro dharmo
yato bhaktir adhoksaje
ahaituky apratihata
yayatma suprasidatiThe supreme occupation [dharma] for all humanity is that by which men can attain to loving devotional service unto the transcendent Lord. Such devotional service must be unmotivated and uninterrupted to completely satisfy the self.
In this sutra Narada uses the word bhajana, which also appears, in a slightly different form, in the Bhagavad-gita (6.47). In concluding His instructions on astanga-yoga in the Sixth Chapter of the Gita, Lord Krsna says that one who serves Him with devotion and faith (sraddhavan bhajate yo mam) is the highest yogi. Srila Prabhupada explains that the word bhaj means “service”:
“Service with love and faith is especially meant for the Supreme Personality of Godhead. One can avoid worshiping a respectable man or demigod and may be called discourteous, but one cannot avoid serving the Supreme Lord without being thoroughly condemned” [Bg. 6.47, purport].
This passage indicates that bhakti is not a spiritual recreation for a few people but is intended for all, and it cannot be avoided without dire consequences.
Narada says bhakti is attained by uninterrupted loving service. But does he mean that one must be flawless, that one must never slip? No, Lord Krsna allows for mistakes, provided one is determined to serve Him. He says in the Ninth Chapter of the Gita,
api cet su-duracaro bhajate mam ananya-bhak
sadhur eva sa mantavyah samyag vyavasito hi sah“Even if one commits the most abominable action, if he is engaged in devotional service he is to be considered saintly because he is properly situated in his determination” (Bg. 9.30).
Srila Prabhupada warns us, however, not to take advantage of this statement and think we can intentionally violate the rules of devotional life and still be a devotee. The blessing from the Lord expressed here is that if we go on serving the spiritual master and Krsna with determination—especially by chanting Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare/ Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare—then Lord Krsna will accept us as His devotee, despite our imperfections.
But exactly what does one do to always keep busy in Krsna consciousness and avoid becoming bored or restless? Prahlada Maharaja taught a ninefold process of bhakti for maintaining full engagement in the Lord’s service: (1) hearing about the Lord, (2) chanting His name and glories, (3) remembering Him, (4) serving His lotus feet, (5) worshiping the Deity, (6) offering prayers to the Lord, (7) becoming His servant, (8) becoming His friend, and (9) offering Him everything. While the first two of these processes are extremely important, any one of them is sufficient for achieving perfection. Srila Prabhupada writes:
“The nine different processes enunciated by Prahlada Maharaja, who learned them from Narada Muni, may not all be required for the execution of devotional service; if a devotee performs only one of these nine without deviation, he can attain the mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.” [Bhag. 7.5.24, purport]
In early 1968 I wrote a letter to Srila Prabhupada saying that sometimes I couldn’t decide which service I should do at a given moment. Should I wash the dishes or chant Hare Krsna? Prabhupada replied:
“There isn’t any difference between chanting the Holy Name [and] washing the dishes of the Temple. So do not be worried when you are attracted for doing other work in the Temple. There is variegatedness in transcendental activities. Sometimes we like to chant, sometimes we like to wash dishes. There is no difference on the absolute plane.”
pp. 387-89
After one week, we had eaten half of the cache. We had also used up the lamp kerosene and our tape recorder batteries. The firewood was unlimited as long as the hatchet held out, and I counted five hundred matches. But we realized that we very seriously had to ration out things like food and matches and learn as soon as possible how to do things in alternative ways. The weather changed. It was very cold at night but above freezing in the day. We were not so worried. We told each other we would just depend upon Krsna.
As for the wild animals, I continued to be afraid of them, to think of them, to hear them, and occasionally to see them. I started walking farther away from the cabin in order to find small trees I could cut down. One sunny day when snow was melting and the ground was soft I took about a fifteen-minute hike. I was returning, walking down an incline, when I saw less than a hundred yards ahead two black bears passing me from right to left. I said, “Christ!” out-loud. This wasn’t one of my imaginary “films,” and these bears weren’t in the zoo. I turned around and started walking quickly up the hill again, although I didn’t like going farther away from the cabin. Finally I came down again, constantly looking around me for signs, but nothing happened and I didn’t see any bears again.
Since talking with Gurudeva about fear, I was no longer always in a state of near-panic. I noticed that my continual consciousness was less frivolous. I didn’t allow myself to fully relax and enjoy different moments, but instead I kept awareness that danger could come at any moment. Any little “heaven on earth” I might create could be destroyed in an instant. This thinking helped me to remember to chant more, not just when I was chanting my sixteen prescribed rounds. I thought, “When bad times come, then all you’ll have is Krsna. And whatever else you have is illusion.”
Being in the woods in that condition brought me moments of better clarity and depth than I was used to. Usually I seem to run around confused and influenced by different people too much. But now many irrelevant things became cleared away. For example, I saw that my relationship with Gurudeva was natural. I was his brahmacari assistant. I did my chores without resentment and looked to him as my spiritual guide. So then what was all that stuff I was confused about in Victoria? It didn’t seem to matter anymore. In fact, I had to think about it just to remember what it was. One of the issues was whether I had a direct relationship with Srila Prabhupada, or whether anyone was stopping me from that. I could see that my relationship with Prabhupada was clear and open, and my Gurudeva was always inviting me to take it up. No one was in the way between Prabhupada and me.
After that evening when Gurudeva talked to me about fear and we had a kirtana, I felt more inclined to approach him with things on my mind. He also seemed to welcome it. After all, what else did we have to do except survive together and do our own thinking? But you can only think so much on your own, and then you want to talk with someone else. Although I’m sure I wasn’t very elevated company for Gurudeva, yet he still didn’t mind my talking, as long as it was Krsna conscious.
WE ARE PLEASURE-SEEKING beings. When a member of a Mexican metaphysical society asked Srila Prabhupada, “Why is there anything?” Prabhupada said, simply that everything exists because of the drive for ananda, pleasure. “Our basic principle is pleasure, so whatever gives pleasure we accept. That is natural.”
There are two kinds of pleasure available to us in this world: material and spiritual. Material pleasure is temporary; spiritual pleasure lasts forever.
Why, then, don’t we rush forward to taste spiritual? One reason may be that to do so we have to give up our attachment to material pleasure. Who has the courage to give up that which seems tangible for something unproven? What if we don’t achieve it?
In the Bhagavad-gita, Arjuna asks the same question: if he gives up his material pleasure for spiritual life but fails to attain his spiritual goal, won’t he lose both spiritually and materially and “perish like a riven cloud, with no position in any sphere”? Krsna says no, he will not.
Arjuna gave up his fear and surrendered to Krsna, but if we hold onto ours the Bhagavatam says we are misers. Misers have no true estimation of the body; they think they can hold on to life “forever” and enjoy unlimited sense gratification. They also have little or no awareness of how their present activities will affect their future.
A miser is someone who hoards his wealth and fails to enjoy its true purpose. The human form of life is an asset. A human being can solve life’s biggest problems—birth, death, disease, and old age—but if he refuses to use his human form for this purpose, he is refusing to properly spend his wealth.
Srila Prabhupada explains it like this: We have a hundred years at most to live. In that time, most people expend vast amounts of energy trying to make themselves comfortable. Often, however, they do it through exploitation, enjoying at some other living being’s expense. For example, they may find the taste of meat pleasurable, and to satisfy the drive for pleasure they willingly kill animals. They gain some momentary pleasure, but they also accrue karmic reactions that will lead them into suffering in the future. In this way, their happiness is ultimately defeated. The drive toward constant material pleasure thus becomes their greatest enemy.
It is foolish to skimp on using our energy for self-realization, as much as it would be to live with wealth but fear to spend it and instead live as if poor. The human form of life is meant for self-realization, and Srila Prabhupada writes that it is better to pursue self-realization than material gratification “even at the risk of death.”
“Even at the risk of death.” Deciding not to remain miserly may feel risky; we will have to depend on Krsna for protection. But remaining a miser is riskier. We might leave this world in the consciousness of a cat or a dog, without understanding the point of human life. And that would bring us misery, not pleasure.
—Back to Godhead, 31(4) (July 1997): LESSONS FROM THE ROAD
pp. 20-22
Jimmy was the youngest of my father’s four brothers. I knew him quite well because when we moved to Staten Island, he was unmarried and he lived with us. I shared my bedroom with him. He used to play Italian opera, and everyone else made fun of him. He liked to listen to Don Juan. In the last scene, Don Juan is in hell. The baritone singer was crying in hell, and my father and the others imitated him and made fun of Jimmy for listening to it. But he continued to listen.
When Uncle Jim moved in with me, he brought his books and put them on my shelf. One book I particularly remember was by Mark Twain. It wasn’t one of his classic novels for boys. Mark Twain was an atheist and was cynical toward humankind, especially in his later years. One story in the collection was a parody on the Bible, with Mark Twain’s version of Adam and Eve. It blew my mind. It was just the opposite of the Bible. Uncle Jim had other books, but I cannot remember them.
One who is raised in a nominally religious family, where belief in God is the party line, and where love of God is not practiced spontaneously, will one day experience a crack in the foundation of official church piety. Everyone can remember his or her first whiff of atheism. The news of anti-religion does not always reach us as a negative thing. Because it smacks of rebellion, and since our experience of so-called religious life is often dull and restricted, we harken to the call that there is something else. Mark Twain also said, “Heaven for climate, hell for society.” The interesting people are not teetotalers. Don Juan is in hell. So runs the easy-going version of humanistic, fun-loving atheism.
On my knees in the converted attic bedroom, I pulled out Uncle Jimmy’s offbeat books from the shelf and read what I had never dared to imagine—that the Adam and Eve story was make-believe, that there was a different point of view. How unguided I was! No one taught me about God in an interesting and formidable way; no one explained atheism. One had to stumble across these things on one’s own, risk becoming confused, contaminated, and try to keep it a secret.
I would prefer a Krsna conscious childhood. Maybe that is what I will get next time around. It will be a true head start. Instead of beginning spiritual life at age twenty-six, I could start at once chanting Hare Krsna. I will be in good association. Religion will not be dull. Devotees will love me as spirit soul and take care of my bodily needs as well. They will help me to understand the workings of my own mind. I will learn about atheists, and I may even read Mark Twain, but not with my jaw dropping open as when I read him in this life. Yes, I prefer a Krsna conscious childhood. And if there is an Uncle Jim who has to live with me, I will tell him, just as five-year-old Sarasvati dasi told the old babas in Vrndavana, “Prabhupada says you shouldn’t smoke. Why don’t you read a Krsna conscious book instead of all these speculations and maya?”
pp. 26-28
Traveled to NYC, Queens, to P.B.M’s apartment. Here I am in one piece. I can give two lectures in two nights. Giving means to repeat Krsna consciousness as I’ve heard it. Play the lecture excerpts of His Divine Grace. Without this Krsna consciousness we have no intelligence.
What is true in me? I don’t even want to know some scary hollowness, cowardice, lack of spiritual realization. I want a cozy, comfortable existence. You can’t have what you want. But as a result of my time and service I get some reward, material conveniences. We move from place to place.
I don’t know who I am. By chanting Hare Krsna one can control the mind.
May apples are a sojourn. There’s no country lane. Calm down, man.
You don’t want a woman.
You don’t want worship fuss.
You do like it when they edit and publish
your writings. You don’t like a headache.
In this room are Srimad-Bhagavatams and Caitanya-caritamrtas. Candles in glasses because they know I use them. Bare wood floor, feet cold. It was thirty-two degrees F° when we left Stroudsburg. Sign for East Stroudsburg University. Small-time place. One wants prestige in a place of education he attends. Wants money, sex, security, longevity. But if you strive for those things and don’t advance your spiritual cause, you’re no better than an animal.
Chant, chant. Road in back of van. No curtain over windows yet. Could sleep, that would be nice.
May apples in secluded lane. Hare Krsna Hare Krsna. Airplane scratching the sky. Delta guarantees a seat on the shuttle. Advertisement for video camera shows three photos of your daughter from childhood to her marriage in white bride’s gown. It says, “Going . . . going . . . gone!” Before you know it, your daughter will grow up and get married and leave your home—and if you don’t capture her activities on video it will be lost forever. Get in there and take pictures.
“Detroit tonight: 7:35” sign at Yankee Stadium. Who will win the game?
Write a little longer, but if you want to doze it’s all right. They will leave you alone here. Box of mail caught up with us.
I don’t feel a deep urge to preach, but when I start I can do it. I’d just like to be left alone. I am not someone special. I don’t . . . trust.
The rumba. Let’s take a break, man. Write me three more minutes. It’s a tough town, a chaos of karma, hell. The rich get richer, and you see if I lived here as a nondevotee I’d have to have a job and my horizons limited to daily grind and seeking relief in it. Fears of crime, assaults, attempts at happiness. Foolish attempts. We are transcendental to that. I could lecture on some of that. But have paltry realization. Hare Krsna.
(15 minutes, P.B.M and Rasaraja’s apartment, Queens, NYC, May 7, 1996, just arrived. A book on wild flowers here but no May apples)
pp. 56-59
Pre-dawn starts to fade and
bird songs appear, brahma-sabda.
I’m prepared to tell them
that first Sarasvati gave Lord Brahma
the klim krsnaya govindaya mantra
and then she blessed him to hear
Krsna’s flute, which
came out Brahmaji’s mouths
as klim kamadevaya vidmahi . . .
Although all the truths of the maidservants
of Krsna were not revealed to him,
he was able to sing, beginning
with cintamani-prakara-sadmasu.
Krsna is the source of all, and
those who are wise
serve Him in love.
It’s raining. I wear rubber
raingear from head to foot and
walk the roads instead of the windy beach.
Chant, chant.
But I don’t beat my mind.
Chant anyway. It goes
deeper, it goes deeper than
I know it. God looks on.
Chant, chant.
I’m sorry I’m not better. I love
to write and publish,
so why don’t I love to chant?
You do, I tell myself. You do.
In your own way you do, like
that country song: “I’m always true to
you, darling, in my fashion, / I’m always true
to you, darling, in my way.”
I’m not endorsing poor japa,
just giving myself solace.
I love the life of chanting and
beads and bead bags and people
who chant and any sincere enthusiastic
praise of japa I hear.
Pebbly road,
gray with rain, no one else is awake.
Back indoors the raindrops roll off
my rubber coat and pants,
and I smile and talk with the men while
I keep this discovery of solace to myself,
until I write it here to help me remember.
Sat by the ocean harbor.
My beads are my beads.
My life is my life, given to me by Krsna,
the Supreme Creator.
My illusions are mine too.
Now I’m starting to tell stories
of my youth and then my life in
ISKCON.
Why? I want to get good
at it. I feel it will develop; it’s a skill
to be open and to tell the truth
palatably. I can insert
Krsna conscious sermons into my
real stories.
There’s no harm in that
because that’s how my life was.
I wandered and got lost and my spiritual
master rescued me—an old
story of a fresh triumph—victory tacked
on to defeat again and again.
If you can make a purse from a sow’s ear,
a vina from broken wires
and a smashed gourd, I can make a Krsna
conscious poet out of that guy in the
drip-dry shirt working in the welfare office, the
guy with the fashionable shoes, the scrawny guy.
We played, “This rasa is my favorite”
while we walked the lanes of Vrndavana, heard
stories from pandas and even from one
who had reached the stage where he wanted only
to talk of Rupa-Raghunatha.
Well, where are we now?
Two hours south of Roskoff, France.
My deity is Prabhupada.
We carry him everywhere. He sits
on any clean, flat surface I find.
I carry him, he carries me; he
accepts the offerings of food I
make by reciting his pranamas.
What else? Whom do I love? Am I afraid of
death? I’m afraid of you, of me, of death by a
man who’s my neighbor if he comes
in the night with a gun—afraid.
I know Krsna will protect me, but I’m not eager to have
it tested in tight places. Krsna’s protection comes
at His bidding.
Precious night, but there’s still sun and dandelions.
I’m grateful.
This collection of Satsvarūpa dāsa Goswami’s writings is comprised of essays that were originally published in Back to Godhead magazine between 1966 and 1978, and compiled in 1979 by Gita Nagari Press as the volume A Handbook for Kṛṣṇa Consciousness.
This second volume of Satsvarūpa dāsa Goswami’s Back to Godhead essays encompasses the last 11 years of his 20-year tenure as Editor-in-Chief of Back to Godhead magazine. The essays in this book consist mostly of SDG’s ‘Notes from the Editor’ column, which was typically featured towards the end of each issue starting in 1978 and running until Mahārāja retired from his duties as editor in 1989.
This collection of Satsvarupa dasa Goswami’s writings is comprised of essays that were originally published in Back to Godhead magazine between 1991 and 2002, picking up where Volume 2 leaves off. The volume is supplemented by essays about devotional service from issues of Satsvarupa dasa Goswami’s magazine, Among Friends, published in the 1990s.
“This is a different kind of book, written in my old age, observing Kṛṣṇa consciousness and assessing myself. I believe it fits under the category of ‘Literature in pursuance of the Vedic version.’ It is autobiography, from a Western-raised man, who has been transformed into a devotee of Kṛṣṇa by Śrīla Prabhupāda.”
The Best I Could DoI want to study this evolution of my art, my writing. I want to see what changed from the book In Search of the Grand Metaphor to the next book, The Last Days of the Year.
a Hare Krishna ManIt’s world enlightenment day
And devotees are giving out books
By milk of kindness, read one page
And your life can become perfect.
Calling Out to Srila Prabhupada: Poems and PrayersO Prabhupāda, whose purports are wonderfully clear, having been gathered from what was taught by the previous ācāryas and made all new; O Prabhupāda, who is always sober to expose the material illusion and blissful in knowledge of Kṛṣṇa, may we carefully read your Bhaktivedanta purports.
I use free-writing in my devotional service as part of my sādhana. It is a way for me to enter those realms of myself where only honesty matters; free-writing enables me to reach deeper levels of realization by my repeated attempt to “tell the truth quickly.” Free-writing takes me past polished prose. It takes me past literary effect. It takes me past the need to present something and allows me to just get down and say it. From the viewpoint of a writer, this dropping of all pretense is desirable.
Geaglum Free WriteThis edition of Satsvarūpa dāsa Goswami’s 1996 timed book, Geaglum Free Write Diary, is published as part of a legacy project to restore Satsvarūpa Mahārāja’s writings to ‘in print’ status and make them globally available for current and future readers.