His Holiness Satsvarupa dasa Goswami Maharaja
Vyasa-puja Birthday Celebration
Saturday, December 7, 2024What
Meeting of Disciples and friends of SDG
Where
The Veterans of Foreign Wars Hall
845 Hudson Avenue
Stuyvesant Falls, New York 12174There is plenty of parking near the Hall. The facility is just a few minutes’ walk from SDG’s home at 909 Albany Ave.
Schedule
- 10:00 –10:30 A.M.: Kirtana
- 10:30 – 11:15 A.M.: Presentation by Satsvarupa Maharaja
- 11:15 – 12:30 A.M.: Book Table
- 12:30 – 1:15 P.M.: Arati and kirtana
- 1:15 – 2:15 P.M.: Prasadam Feast
Contact
Baladeva Vidyabhusana at [email protected] or (518) 754-1108
Krsna dasi at [email protected] or (518) 822-7636
It was not such a great week for Satsvarupa Maharaja. He was exhausted but not sleeping well and had extra headaches. The difficulty using his Dictaphone continued, and for several days he’s not been able to use it at all, so no writing.
That’s it, Hare Krsna.
Ys,
Baladeva
As for japa . . . By walking the ground in Vrndavana while chanting, maybe something will stick. You will have the tendency to romanticize it when you think back. You may envision only some good details—imagining yourself alone at any hour in the bhajana-kutir by candlelight. It will help sustain you in less ideal situations. You may tend to forget how inattentive you were, how concerned you were with the body. I don’t say it’s good to create a rosy picture of Vrndavana memories, but whatever you can do honestly, now and later, is worth the endeavor. You have no choice but to chant and go to the temple, even if you can’t attract Krsna by your activities. Then add the plea to it.
******
Just as a doctor or professor has to attend so many intensive seminars throughout his career to keep abreast of developments in his field, a preacher has to stay in touch with the japa of the holy name and with the pastimes of the Lord. He also has to stay in touch with his own honest self. He has to ask himself, “Am I a devotee? Why am I practicing Krishna consciousness? What benefit am I deriving from it?” Greed (lobha) is the price of love of God. It is also called laulyam, intense desire to serve the Lord.
******
Time is getting shorter and my death is coming closer. There is no time to waste. Let there be no duality in my search for Krsna consciousness in japa and hearing. For the first time in my life, I am seriously trying to maintain the Vraja mood.
******
I don’t face my own situation. That is my misfortune. That is the lack of contrition, the lack of piteous crying in japa. If we admit, even intellectually, that we are not qualified for love God, and that we seem hopeless for reform—hopeless for retaining that intense, selfless love that drives the gopis out by night, abandoning all pride, shame and morality, just to please Krsna—then why don’t we feel remorse? Why don’t we increase our attempts to attain real Krishna consciousness before oar lives are over?
******
Let’s overcome mechanical prayer. Do you realize how totally we lack spontaneous love for Radha-Krsna? Listen to how Rupa Gosvami prays. What are we in comparison? Listen to how Ajamila prays after being saved from the Yamadutas. He says, “Oh, what am I? A sinner who has given up brahminical life. And what are You, O merciful holy name!” We should do something, take a japa retreat and increase our quota. What do you think?”
******
“Hurry up, please. It’s time.” The famous T. S. Eliot line. Or the hare in Alice in Wonderland. He is running along with a clock in his hand, “I’m late, I’m late, for a very important date!” I think that’s me, always looking at the clock to time my sadhana. Write for an hour; then japa for an hour; then half an hour in the bathroom (hurry up, don’t be late); then another hour japa; then gayatri and out the door by 5:00 A.M. (5:05 at the latest). If it happens to be 5:07, then I feel like the hare, hurrying along, quickening the pace to make up for the lost time.
Hurry up and serve the people and the earth before it’s too late. That’s the serious intent—there is urgency in the Krsna conscious message. That’s why devotees are hurrying along through their morning and all-day-long program, because thc want to quickly tend to their own needs and then help people. Go out and preach. Don’t procrastinate.
But take the time to do it with quality. How fast do you chant a round of japa? He said, “Sometimes four minutes, sometimes ten.” He is an exception. The average is very fast. I shouldn’t talk because fast or slow, I am still “out of it.”
The inner life is important. You may appear to be hurrying or slow to you or me, but we can’t judge just by the outer move ment. Is the hare a fool just because he is hurrying?
Srila Prabhupada didn’t rush. He is an excellent example But he did walk quickly. He didn’t spend his whole day chanting japa. Writing too was done in the morning. We can’t imitate. What he did was surcharged with the urgency of Krsna compassion for all jivas, deep as the bhakti ocean, so whether he took five minutes or ten to do something, we can’t judge it and we can’t imitate it.
******
We read earnestly, hoping to improve ourselves, because we know our life depends on making sound advancement. We are not concerned with whether we have read the material before; we are looking for deeper and deeper realization. It’s the same with japa. We can either chant as if we have been chanting this mantra for long enough to know how it’s done, or we can chant for all we’re worth. When we chant with heart, we surrender in japa. Again and again we pronounce the same mantra despite our failure to be attentive and devoted. We chant it again and again. This is our devotion. St. John of the Cross and other practitioners of prayer credit this persistence through arid times as a high order of surrender. As neophytes, we have no other choice but to chant through our lack of taste.
******
I like this room because it is airy and light. When I chant japa here, I don’t have to worry about waking anyone. I don’t chant loudly, but I could. I prefer to chant softly, alone. I make a nice indirect lighting effect with one small lamp on the floor behind me in a corner, and two votive candles on the altar. At least the external situation is nice. I stay awake and I give myself ample time to chant.
******
Chanting is the most auspicious activity. Even uttered imperfectly, the holy name takes away sins and their reactions more than we could commit. The acaryas recommend it as the most direct path to love of God. So put aside other concerns and just hear. Hear your voice sounding the Hare Krsna mantra. Think of Krsna—anything about Him at all—whatever you have heard from Srila Prabhupada.
Anything at all.
******
A brown moth goes by.
Eight minutes go by,
sit, sit somewhere else.
I’m on time, mostly.
I think it’s going to get better;
it’s already subterranean—inside me and coming out, as a prayer
to Radha
and Krsna,
to Radha and Krsna to Radha
and Krsna.
Krsna in the heart,
car in the park,
ink in the pen,
when, oh when
will that day be mine?
Holy name at 1 A.M.,
sitting in the dark,
it is never easy before
the mind turns it into—
trains of thought, snatches of song, Auld Lang Syne, samsara
remember when?
Holy name, I cheat myself, but You are
ever-kind. Please grant my wish.
My true svarupa doesn’t want this rambling aparadha. Please enter once
and change me forever with
mad hankering for suddha-nama.
Car in freezing cold. I pray to catch hold
of the humble courage of the Vaisnava heart.
O hear me Krsna,
I borrow words,
I do what I have seen the gurus do; I’m meant for You, so please pick me up
and place me as an atom
at Your lotus feet.
O Prabhupada, I play my part,
an actor on the stage,
in the start of old age,
please touch me again
tell me when.
Let me be your son
as I am, happy serving you
in a way that makes you
smile,
and claim me as a worker
for your cause.
pp. 418-22
We could not understand Prabhupada’s mind at this time, but we could see he was glorious. It reminded us of the passing of Bhismadeva. Prabhupada was in an obviously uncomfortable situation, but he maintained pure consciousness. He was surrounded by disciples chanting the Hare Krsna mantra in the holiest of all places,Vrndavana- dhama, during Karttika, just after Govardhana-puja.
Our reactions to Prabhupada’s disappearance were typical— feeling bereft, feeling great sadness, or feeling nothing at all, feeling stunned, numb. Gradually it has become clearer that we need Prabhupada to keep ISKCON together. Many devotees have left, dissatisfied, top leaders have fallen down. Although there has been a change for the better and there’s new hope, we feel an emptiness. There are still people straying from Prabhupada or searching for something or frankly being unable to keep his standards. Some devotees question whether what Prabhupada gave us is still relevant or whether it has to be adapted more to the West. It’s not the same as when he was here. But Prabhupada and Krsna knew what was best. It’s up to us to carry on the vani.
Part of the heaviness of this day is that we thought it was heavy for Prabhupada and not for us. In other words, Prabhupada had to leave his body. It’s the greatest difficulty in a person’s life, even in the life of a transcendentalist. Of course, we can’t imagine how a pure devotee feels about it; and we can’t imagine his relationship with Krsna. The depth of Prabhupada’s feelings and realizations about leaving his mission and returning to Krsna are far beyond me. Neither could we know how he was feeling in a physical way. Was he in pain? He wasn’t talking to us during his last twenty-four hours. He was completely internal. Was there anything we could do? How could we help? We just gathered around to be with him in those last hours. Prabhupada was doing the most difficult thing a human being can do, and we were all gathered around like bystanders. There was no austerity we could perform to equal what he was going through. It was so difficult and yet he went back to the spiritual world. It brought on such a confusion of emotions.
Then when we had bad thoughts like, “I have been in Prabhupada’s room now for eight hours and I haven’t eaten,” we would feel guilty. Our inconvenience was so minor compared to what Prabhupada was going through, and we were complaining. We would feel guilty and just want to be left alone or wish it weren’t happening or simply feel numb. We couldn’t trust our own feelings, especially the animal feelings of just wanting physical comfort and peace and not wanting to be around so many people and being, perhaps, examined by them to see whether we were expressing appropriate emotions on our spiritual master’s disappearance day.
There’s still a level of ignorance that we think we are going to continue to live. Therefore, we continue to enjoy the taste of food on our tongue and to see beautiful sights with our eyes. We tend to forget 1977 and the pain of that day, the shutting down of Prabhupada’s body, his heart stopping. We tend to forget all that, how he was lowered into the samadhi pit. We don’t want to think about it.
It’s not that we have to dwell on the details of Prabhupada’s leaving. I prefer to think about Prabhupada returning to the spiritual world and enjoying his blissful service to Krsna. I prefer to think about following him honorably until my own death comes and then joining him. With time, the details of his disappearance day have been replaced by a long-term picture of him in his nitya-lila and my aspiration to follow him.
I also think of my own life’s duration and my own attempts to enjoy and avoid suffering. It’s all such an illusion. I heard Prabhupada describing this on a tape. He said if we look at the ocean, we will see many bubbles of froth and foam. They all appear and then disperse. Our lives are like those bubbles appearing on the ocean and then dispersing. As the Bhagavad-gita says, we were unmanifest, then we became manifest in these particular bodies and egos, and then we become unmanifest again. Dust thou art, and dust thou shalt become. We don’t need to accept this manifest state as the all-in-all. Why do I strive only to improve my present situation? This kind of reflection is also proper on this day, especially if we have a foolish idea that he is gone and we are still thriving.
I don’t know how long I have to live, but at least I want to finish up honorably as a devotee, following the four rules and chanting sixteen rounds. More than that, I want to increase my active service in his mission.
pp. 137-39
The days are winding down. Tomorrow is the disappearance of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura. Tomorrow night, Arjuna dasa should arrive to spend the last days with us.
I just finished the third volume of Transcendental Diary. Read about Srila Prabhupada in Paris. He had to go to the post office to sign a registered letter, then went to the airport to catch a plane to Tehran. The book ends with . . .
You can read it for yourself.
Tonight we plan to go over our upcoming itinerary. I got a sweet letter from Matsya Avatara Prabhu asking me to teach a seminar this year at Villa Vrndavana. He said he knew I had a reason for not teaching in 1994, but it was a loss for the devotees there. He’s reading Italian translations of my books and likes them. He is a warm, loving Italian devotee in the ideal sense, like a cousin.
I will probably agree to do a seminar. I want to preach.
Tonight we’ll also go over my Godbrother’s newsletter. Madhu looked at it and couldn’t put it down—loved the sense of humor.
A Professor Chenique interviewed Prabhupada and said he finds his purports repetitive. The more compact French language doesn’t allow for repetition, he said. Prabhupada said it was the Vedic method to repeat teachings in order to impress them on the hearers.
I also read something about whimsy. He said we have to follow Krsna’s way and not try to reach Him by doing our own thing. When I read something like that a light goes off in my brain about what I’m doing. I can go over this a million times, satisfy myself, but that little light will continue to go off whenever I hear about complete surrender, giving up our own desires, etc. We have to repeat the scripture without addition or subtraction, and we have to learn to live with it, and with who we are. I’m sure all thoughtful devotees agonize over their lives like this. When Mike Robbins in England asked Prabhupada if he had any doubts, Prabhupada opened his eyes wide and said, “Doubts? If
I have doubts, how can I write so many books?”
Carver wrote a poem about a day in which he put off writing and instead answered mail, made phone calls, and attended to his family’s business. At the end of the poem his writer-self rebuked him for not writing: “His poems, should he ever produce any/ought to be eaten by mice.”
As a reader-critic, you can pass this one off as an amateurish nagging—an excuse for a poem, but I find it sincere and moving.
I mention this because the other day I affirmed the importance in my life of writing as much as possible. I don’t want to lose the opportunity.
As I write, Madhu passes by the window with a load of wood. He has only one sweater, which he wears all the time (maybe sleeps in too). He says he’ll wash it a few days before we leave, but I am concerned that he not look like a beggar from Ireland when we arrive at U.S. Customs and Immigration. I told him to purchase a new sweater. He said he would, but they don’t have good choices in Kenmare.
Short poems by Williams and Chinese and
so many others—they work hard for them.
Stafford said they come easy and time
and editors can decide later if
they are to fly.
Mine . . . oh, you call them yours,
but they don’t belong to you. It’s tedious when
a poet talks of himself. Unless he really
means it and we get inside his
study room and his feelings as with
Carver wasting that day
or Williams comparing himself to a pink
locust, a hearty plant that can’t be uprooted.
He considered that among poets
he is no rose, but who can deny him
a place?
Krsna conscious poems. Devotees don’t even
like to read modem poems. Still, I go out
on a limb and try.
I d o n ’t go far enough, I know.
I have to practice for years.
Someday, Krsna will let it
happen.
I hear Williams’ meterless voice
running in my own words, and Carver’s hard stare.
I ought to get free, a mouthpiece for
parampara, but my gray sweater scratches
and my boots squelch—no mirror,
but the sounds from a house in Great Kills
still echo, and the trivia.
Don’t want to end in self-contempt.
I’m going to end this night chanting an extra round. Then I’ll peek at the mail. I don’t have to answer it, just look. So little time. At least I read today and lived in the pages of the Bhagavatam.
O Prabhupada, your
gray knit cap and cadar—
stylish. I love you.
Please stay with me despite my hasty
bowings and mumblings,
these last days of my life
during these last days of the year.
pp. 388-91
turye dharma-kalā-sarge
nara-nārāyaṇāv ṛṣī
bhūtvātmopaśamopetam
akarot duścaraṁ tapaḥIn the fourth incarnation, the Lord became Nara and Nārāyaṇa, the twin sons of the wife of King Dharma. Thus He undertook severe and exemplary penances to control the senses.
Prabhupada comments that a confectioner is not attracted by offers of sweets. Nara-Narayana had within Him all opulences and potency. Therefore, He could not be attracted by material lures.
The Lord came in this form to practice austerity and to set an example. Prabhupada mentions Lord Rsabhadeva’s teachings: tapo divyam putraka yena sattvam. He advised His sons that life should not be spent like hogs who eat stool—in pursuit of sense gratification. One should restrain the senses and purify the self. Then he can ultimately come to understand brahma-saukhyam tv anantam, eternal, blissful happiness. We can’t get that happiness by polluting ourselves through our material senses. We have to first perform austerity: control the material senses and we will eventually be able to taste with our spiritual senses.
Whether it’s to teach austerity or something else, God’s incarnations appear in the world to benefit humanity. Prabhupada writes, “Recently, within the memory of everyone, Lord Caitanya also appeared for the same purpose: to show special favor to fallen souls of this age of iron industry.”
Lord Caitanya taught mainly by ecstatic chanting and dancing, but like Nara-Narayana, He also taught austerity. One time a disciple asked Prabhupada, “If Lord Caitanya is Bhagavan, then how did He show the six opulences of Godhead?” Prabhupada replied that although Lord Caitanya did show certain miracles (planting a seed and immediately producing a mango tree with ripe mangos), He mainly showed the opulence of renunciation as a sannyasi.
Those who practice Krsna consciousness in the grhastha-asrama may feel that Nara-Narayana are giving something irrelevant to their lives, or they may feel sorry that they have become grhasthas. Sometimes grhasthas yearn for the simple life of a brahmacari. One can’t see how his household duties or the work and money required to maintain a house is Krsna conscious renunciation.
We could say that it’s not renunciation, so a grhastha should make his life more renounced. No matter what a householder does, however, he will never be able to make household life as simple as brahmacari life. Even Lord Siva has to take care of his wife and deal with all the situations that naturally arise when one is married even though he lives as a renunciate under a tree. We don’t want to falsely assure a grhastha that everything he does is tapasya and renunciation. He has to face the fact that grhastha life is offered as a license for sense gratification. Still, while swallowing his pride, the grhastha has the same opportunity to advance as does a brahmacari or sannyasi. Even within household life, he can become detached, just as a coconut is detached from the outer shell. The restraint required to live with a wife and in a house and to follow the rules prohibiting illicit sex and to serve Krsna is certainly tapasya.
A grhastha has to work for Krsna by his thoughts and activities. He should never give up the struggle to read and chant regularly or to see these activities as the essence of his life. Life may never be as simple for him as it used to be, but the complicated struggle is still a struggle to become com-pletely surrendered to Krsna. One day he may achieve it. A sannyasi or brahmacari may become complacent because unlike the poor grhastha, he is free from worrying about maintenance. His disciples or admirers provide for him. He then develops a nice reputation for his willingness to remain dependent on Krsna. But where is the heart of his renunciation? What sacrifices does he actually make now that he is a sadhu?
Tapasya is something offered from the heart; it is not simply a matter of performing physical austerity like wearing rough cloth or taking cold showers. The sadhu may be¬come accustomed to these things and even develop a hardened heart due to his tapasya. Therefore, tapasya has to be offered to Krsna in devotion. It means taking trouble to serve Krsna. Whoever can find heartfelt tapasya in his life has attained the goal of tapo-divyam. Renunciation is not judged by how little we eat, how we dress, or how tough the bottoms of our feet have become from walking barefoot over stones. It’s judged by how willing we are to please guru and Krsna.
pp. 26-29
Wherever we go we hear many different and sometimes contradictory versions of the origin and history of the different Deities, gates and lilas. It is best to stick to Caitanya-caritamrta and look for whatever one can to corroborate those authoritative descriptions. Whatever else we hear from the priests is interesting, and we don’t offer any counter-arguments, but after visiting many places it becomes bewildering.
Also bewildering are the density of population, the human suffering of those with physical maladies, the loud music from a wedding pandal, and the man wearing a brahmin’s thread across his bare chest and walking down the street with a fat fish in his right hand. And it’s also bewildering to consider cultural relativities—in the.West our shaven heads and sikhas are the oddity, while here our dress and sikhas are normal, but the light color of our skin is very odd.
A new, unusually large red flag appeared today over the Jagannatha temple. They say it is a donation by a pious businessman. The flag has two streamers which look about a hundred feet long.
As we find our way around Puri, shopping.and touring, we begin to notice numerous little temples of Jagannatha, Baladeva and Subhadra. And many stores are named after Jagannatha; a Hotel Subhadra, a bus named Baladeva. So the Lord’s darsana is available if one is looking for it. The police jeeps have the eyes and tilak of Lord Jagannatha painted on the center of their windshields. Over doorways of houses are painted the words “Wel-Come” and the figure of Jagannatha.
There are numerous references to Narendra lake in the Caitanya-Caritamrta. Lord Caitanya’s devotees from Bengal stopped there to bathe, and even today Bengalis making a pilgrimage to Puri follow the same habit. One of the most jubilant of Lord Caitanya’s pastimes at Narendra Sarovara occurred when Lord Jagannath went for His boat ride. Since Lord Jagannath is very heavy, the vijaya-vigraha of Jagannath temple, known as Govinda, boarded a boat and floated in the waters of Narendra Sarovara. It just happened that when Lord Caitanya arrived with His personal associates to see these pastimes, all the devotees from Bengal also arrived at the lake, and they had a great meeting with the Lord.
The Gaudiya-sampradaya, consisting of all the devotees of Bengal. began congregational chanting. When they met the Lord, they began to cry loudly in ecstatic love. Because of the pastimes in the water, there was a great jubilation on the shore. with music, singing, chanting, dancing. and tumultuous crying. (Antya-lila, 10. 46-47)
Narendra Sarovara is a large tank, the shores lined with coconut, mango and banyan trees, as well as a few temples and samadhi mandirs. In the morning many persons bathe, or beat their lauhdry, on the steps of various ghats leading into the lake. The boat ceremony of Govinda is still observed here annually and is known as Candan-yatra.
We saw pigeons and crows flying across the lake, and some landing on a decorative dome in the center. We sat on a secluded stone and held kirtana. It was quite different from the in-town kirtana, since the people mainly left us to ourselves as we worshiped the holy name.
A cement walkway leads about a hundred feet into the lake, where a temple of Lord Jagannath is located. Within the room are Deities of Lord Jagannath, Baladeva and Subhadra. As we entered, an old pujari exclaimed, “All foreigners welcome!” and waved us forward. Right on the altar, at the feet of the Deities, there was an open guest book. The pujari took me by the hand, asked my name, and then recited a prayer out loud while placing my hand first on the arm of Lord Jagannath, then Baladeva and then in front of Subhadra. He also placed a red dot on my forehead, had me sign the book and asked for a donation. Directly behind the Deities of Jagannatha was a tall murti of a woman. The pujari said, “This is Lord Jagannatha’s mother, Yasoda.” At the other end of the small room was a single deity of Laksmi. The island temple also holds a small Siva-linga temple and one of Bala Krsna.
pp. 114-16
For a long time, I couldn’t get to sleep. I had a low intensity diffuse headache. And more than that I felt wide awake, and a Bach tune kept going through my head. I felt that I was addicted to hearing the music and that it wasn’t directly Krsna consciousness. In other words, what I had written earlier in the diary I was now feeling throughout my body and mind – that addiction to the allopathic medication was one kind of addiction and addiction to hearing music was another. And that I might try to give them both up in order to become a better Krsna conscious person. In that insomniac state I resolved to get together all of my recently acquired tapes of Bach’s music, Beethoven’s music, etc. and if not throw them away then at least put them far away from me and stop listening. I also considered doing the same thing with nondevotee poetry books. In order to do these things, I would have to “mortify” myself. I thought of trying to read some statement about this in Thérèse of Lisieux.
I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that I felt myself in the grips of an unwanted craving. It kept me wide awake but I was also grateful to recognize it. And the decision I made to renounce it was not a merely intellectual one. It came from a more total unrest and dissatisfaction. I saw myself to have deviated from a simpler Krsna consciousness which is satisfied only with Prabhupada’s books and the music of kirtana. I know that I won’t be able to be completely satisfied right away with strict Krsna consciousness, but I’m going to go for it. I want to be pleasing to Srila Prabhupada because that will awaken my own attraction to him.
And so, I’m going to stop writing along to the music as I’ve been doing in this book and in the previous book, My Purpose While Traveling. Surely, I’ll be able to write without that stimulant.
Pausing in my writing life. You say I could give up this medication so maybe I could give up free-writing. Maybe it’s not the best thing. Why say something like that? Why not continue to do it? Is there another way for me to write? Then, what comes to mind?
Just now I see Murray Mednick. He’s got eyeglasses on and so do I. It’s just a fantasy. What would he say? Maybe, “Hello” and put down this KC content. Remember he said you wrap it up in the canon, you are not fearless like Rumi. Those guys say that a real creator free-spirit can’t be bound by canonical dogma. He finds God in his own way. Well, let them say that. Rupa Goswami follows the parampara and so do I. The best artists are not necessarily those who don’t know the science of God and make up their own. Wings, wings. I have little wings.
I don’t have a soaring spirit. I don’t want to ruin myself flying too near the sun. I want to give people the best thing coming down. Hare Krsna. But you need to shape things. You want to be an ISKCON preacher. You write too much. Give it up.
What else instead?
We are here in this place, I keep forgetting how to spell it – Albarella. It is Italian. A quiet place. They have guards and it’s very strict. But the people who own the house next door just came and they were measuring their cement walk with a tape measure. I hope they don’t come back and make noise. I am sorry, folks, I don’t have the epidermis or I.Q. to make a big fuss. Just telling you this day, second one without constant pain. Krishna is giving me an easy time. But at night maybe I can’t sleep so well.
I wish to be the poet of pure taste. Of the Goswami’s. A tiny reciprocator and follower of my Guru Maharaja. But I don’t want to offend other Vaishnavas or any living entity. Therefore, this is the way to do it, to toot the horn of remorse over your offenses.
Before anyone passes away ask forgiveness, and before I pass away get it straight. Don’t want to have songs on the brain that will bring me to Bach-loka rather than Krsnaloka. Put on a simple bhajana of Hare Krsna tunes and that will be better. May the Lord protect you. May you be blessed, head and foot, and not with mouth disease. Keep clear of drunkards and women with bad intentions. If they spear you, don’t cry out, or cry out hoping to remember the names of Krsna.
pp. 77-79
Los Angeles
28 May, 1970
Boston
My Dear Satsvarupa,
Please accept my blessings and offer the same to Srimati Jadurani and others.
I am so pleased to learn that you are satisfied to see the Los Angeles Temple situation. Actually it is very, very nice to our purpose, and if we can maintain the standard of the Temple atmosphere certainly anyone who will come here will be influenced by the spiritual effect.
As I have already said many times that we have to maintain two lines parallel; namely the path of Srimad-Bhagavatam and the path of Pancaratriki. Srimad-Bhagavatam is the path for Paramahamsas, and Pancaratra path is for the neophytes. So the Temple worship is necessary for the beginners so that by following the regulative principles such devotees become more and more purified and thus gradually come on the platform to understand Srimad-Bhagavatam. So we shall always keep these principles in view and maintain our centers on this standard.
In India there is already a party who are prepared to criticize my activities in the matter of offering sacred thread to the so-called mlecchas according to their calculation. But actually whatever I am doing here, of course giving consideration to the local situation, all of them are strictly in the line of our predecessors and direction of Sanatana Goswami. Therefore my request is that all of you be determined to maintain this standard, which is not very difficult to follow, that I have introduced.
Hope this will meet you in good health.
Your ever well-wisher,
A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
P.S. Has Dinesh taken delivery of the song tape recorder?
Prabhupada would have his secretary sit down with him and take dictation, and then the secretary would type his letters. I can’t say for sure how Prabhupada responded to letters through the years—whether he read every letter himself, then dictated his response to his secretary, or whether he had the secretaries read him the letters. Prabhupada answered hs mail by one or the other system up until he left the planet. I first did this service in 1973, when I was Prabhupada’s secretary for a month. This was when Prabhupada was having each of his GBC men visit for a month to serve him and receive personal training from him.
Somehow, when a letter is written to us personally, we tend to listen with much more attention. Even though the same thing may be stated in a lecture or book, it becomes personal to us if it is stated in a letter, and we feel we must make an effort to understand it.
Prabhupada was pleased that I appreciated the Los Angeles temple. It was very, very nice for me to feel his reciprocation with my appreciation. I felt I had somehow touched his deeper purpose of setting up a standard for all his centers and his hope that these standards would help his disciples feel more influence from the spiritual atmosphere created by them.
Prabhupada wanted this atmosphere to be available not just to devotees but to guests too. The sastra says that those visiting a temple of Visnu are entering the spiritual world and do not have to reenter the material world. Of course, their ability to feel the change really does depend on the quality of their experience while in the temple. It was up to Prabhupada’s disciples to create an atmosphere that would keep them absorbed in the spiritual energy. In his purport to Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.8.22, Srila Prabhupada writes,
“… There should be a soothing atmosphere in the temple of worship to attract the burning attention of the nondevotees always engaged in material wranglings…. All the great acaryas established such temples of worship in all places just to favor the less intelligent….”
This is what Prabhupada hoped would happen as we regulated our activities and ourselves, absorbed ourselves in chanting the holy name, kept the temple building clean, and learned how to worship the Deity properly.
At times Prabhupada expressed anxiety that we would not be able to create this atmosphere. He was worried that when he left his body, we might change things that he had taught us, especially regarding Deity worship. He knew we had a tendency toward speculation and whimsy. Still, he set a high standard for us to maintain; he emphasized cleanliness and punctuality, hoping that things would not deteriorate in his absence.
pp. 28-31
Srila Prabhupada told us the story of how he first started writing the Srimad-Bhagavatam. He explained to us that a librarian (and later an army captain) suggested he should write books rather than only put out Back to Godhead because books are more permanent.
This was the external reason, but he took it as an instruction from
his spiritual master.
Prabhupada then decided to produce the Srimad-Bhagavatam. I made a list from Prabhupada’s books themselves of why I thought he chose the Bhagavatam:
anarthopaśamaṁ sākṣād
bhakti-yogam adhokṣaje
lokasyājānato vidvāṁś
cakre sātvata-saṁhitām“The material miseries of the living entity, which are superfluous to him, can be directly mitigated by the linking process of devotional service. But the mass of people do not know this. Therefore the learned Vyāsadeva compiled this Vedic literature, which is in relation to the Supreme Truth.” (SB 1.7.6)
Therefore, the Bhagavatam is such an essential literature in the age of Kali to relieve people of their suffering and give them Krsna consciousness.
There are other reasons too, but they are related to these two. Taking on this work, which would become lifelong, was a great challenge. Prabhupada began it in his sixty-fourth year.
As soon as he decided to translate the Srimad-Bhagavatam, a room became available at Radha-Damodara Mandir in Vrndavana.
I like to think Rupa and Jiva Gosvamis were inviting and inspiring Prabhupada to live in the dhama and carry out this tremendous task. Prabhupada was not worried about his mistakes in the English presentation. He knew that those who were thoroughly honest would accept it. The Bhagavatam itself states that fact.
Of course, he had to do everything himself—write, collect money for printing, shop and buy paper, deal with the printer, proofread.
Finally, he had to sell it. Printing these books was part of his mission on behalf of his spiritual master—he had to print books and take them to the West to preach.
After finishing the first volume, he went back to Vrndavana and completed the second. He wrote quickly. He was in samadhi working on this project, and that Samädhi is possible for any of us if we sincerely and intently follow the orders of our spiritual master.
Back to Delhi. There he lived at the Chippiwada temple. It was noisy there, and he had to walk down crowded streets to get to the printer, again proofreading the galleys and returning the corrected proofs. In the second volume, he wrote a preface. People might ask, “What kind of a sannyasi goes to New Delhi and deals in the paper trade, printing and selling his book? This is business in the name of sannyasa.” But Prabhupada defended himself by explaining that his only motive was to serve Krsna and that made it pure bhakti.
And then he told his readership that by engaging in bhakti-yoga, they were sure to get over all the material obstacles and go to the kingdom of God to associate with Krsna face to face.
Srila Prabhupada, every period of your life is wonderful, but I particularly like this one. Thank you for leading such an exemplary life and letting us discuss your pastimes. May we continue to do it forever.
pp. 379-81
SDG singing and clapping:
hare krsna hare krsna, krsna krsna hare hare
hare rama hare rama, rama reirna hare hare
Jaya Radha-Madhava, Prabhupada chanting in the Los Angeles temple, while the chorus of two or three hundred Americans swelled. Only a few years before, those Americans had never even heard of Krsna. Now they seemed like Vaikuntha angels to Prabhupada—the men with shaved heads and the women in saris, all of them clean and bright-faced, devotees of Krsna. All of them responding:
jaya radha-madhava, kunja-bihari
gopijana-vallabha giri-vara-dhari
The men playing the mrdangas the way Prabhupada taught them, getting better with practice, and karatalas keeping time.
yasoda-nandana braja-jana-ranjana
yasoda-nandana braja-jana-ranjana
Prabhupada keeping his eyes closed, seeing Radha and Madhava in the kunjas. He is the Lord and She is His dearmost devotee. Krsna, who lifts Govardhana Hill, whom all the gopis love, Yasoda’s darling, is wandering on the banks of the Yamuna. Yamuna-tira vana-cari. Prabhupada opens his eyes and looks again to this world, to his happy, hopeful, neophyte children. He looks at them with such compassion and hope, and in retrospect, perhaps we can now see a little poignancy in his gaze. He knows that their karma for sense gratification will catch up to them again and he feels sorry about that. Still, he extends himself as much as he can, giving them the strength of Vedic knowledge and inspiration and encouragement to continue.
Prabhupada didn’t just close his eyes and stay with his vision of Goloka Vrndavana, just as he didn’t stay in Vrndavana. He came to the West and went from place to place, absorbed in preaching Krsna consciousness. Wake up, wake up sleeping souls! Don’t be plunged into this sleep again. Come to Krsna consciousness. Chant Jaya radha-madhava.
Prabhupada taught us two things: material detachment and attachment to Krsna. He taught us that we couldn’t just learn about Krsna and then not do anything about it. Mahatmanas tu mam partha, daivim prakrtim asritah-bhajanty ananya-manaso—always engage in serving Krsna. Satatam kirtayanto mam—always chant Hare Krsna.
I wish to always be active in the service of my spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada. Let us offer our respectful obeisances unto the lotus feet of such a spiritual master, who has poured nectarean rain on us to relieve us from the fire of repeated birth and death, who is ecstatic in his preaching and chanting, who teaches us how to worshir in the temple, who gives us krsna-prasadam, who has an intimate relationship with Radha and Krsna in Goloka Vrndavana, and who is acknowledged by all the great authorities as the direct representative of Krsna. By pleasing him, Krsna is pleased. If you do not follow, if you do not please the spiritual master, you cannot have any place in Krsna’s service. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
So, that’s the end of our radio show for today. One squeak-voiced attempt to remind us all of this wonderful opportunity. Stay in Krsna consciousness one way or another—by reading the books, by associating with devotees, by attending devotional festivals, and by being absorbed in service. Don’t become discouraged by whatever obstacles you meet. They are part of the process. Kick out maya. She’s not offering you anything you need. Stay with Krsna. Simply pray for perpetual engagement in Krsna’s service. Krsna will give it to you if you really want it.
To Śrīla Prabhupāda, who encouraged his devotees (including me) To write articles and books about Kṛṣṇa Consciousness.
I wrote him personally and asked if it was alright for his disciples to write books, Since he, our spiritual master, was already doing that. He wrote back and said that it was certainly alright For us to produce books.
I have a personal story to tell. It is a about a time (January–July 1974) I spent as a personal servant and secretary of my spiritual master, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupäda, founder-äcärya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. Although I have written extensively about Çréla Prabhupäda, I’ve hesitated to give this account, for fear it would expose me as a poor disciple. But now I’m going ahead, confident that the truth will purify both my readers and myself.
First published by The Gītā-nāgarī Press/GN Press in serialized form in the magazine Among Friends between 1996 and 2001, Best Use of a Bad Bargain is collected here for the first time in this new edition. This volume also contains essays written by Satsvarūpa dāsa Goswami for the occasional periodical, Hope This Meets You in Good Health, between 1994 and 2002, published by the ISKCON Health and Welfare Ministry.
This book has two purposes: to arouse our transcendental feelings of separation from a great personality, Śrīla Prabhupāda, and to encourage all sincere seekers of the Absolute Truth to go forward like an army under the banner of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda and the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement.
A single volume collection of the Nimai novels.
Śrīla Prabhupāda was in the disciplic succession from the Brahmā-Mādhva-Gauḍīya sampradāya, the Vaiṣṇavas who advocate pure devotion to God and who understand Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He always described himself as simply a messenger who carried the paramparā teachings of his spiritual master and Lord Kṛṣṇa.
Dear Srila Prabhupada,
Please accept this or it’s worse than useless.
You have given me spiritual life
and so my time is yours.
You want me to be happy in Krishna consciousness
You want me to spread Krishna consciousness,
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.