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
“Satsvarupa Maharaja had a little setback this week—three days downhill until we called in a visiting nurse, who did his vitals and diagnosed the main problem as dehydration. The prescription to prevent going to the hospital for IV fluids was to take one to two ounces of water every fifteen to thirty minutes for twenty-four hours,. He pulled out after two days and is back on track for the Vyasa-puja celebration on Saturday.
Hare Krsna,
Baladeva
I am so low it is unspeakable. I mean, so tiny I can’t even place myself or estimate my chanting. Unfortunately, I don’t feel this reality of my position. To be tiny but unaware . . . unconscious.
******
A Godbrother asked me, “What are you trying to achieve in chanting, to think of Krishna at every moment?” He seemed puzzled about why I keep protesting that my japa is no good. Does he think staying awake and being attentive to our own voices as we chant is enough? Some think that that is sufficient for now. There is a modesty in this viewpoint that is commendable. I obviously share this viewpoint and yet I also know it is not enough.
******
I am powerless to change. I automatically think of other things as soon as I pick up my beads; thus I treat hari-nama as something unimportant. It is neglect of the holy name. Someone comes to visit, and because I have so little desire to associate with that person, my mind continues to flit from this duty to that thought to the clock, so much so that I can hardly hear or concentrate on the exchange I am having with that person. It is offensive.
******
I know my appreciation for hari-nama leaps up when I am in physical danger. I cling to Him, and utterly believe, and stay as close to Him as possible. Then there is no room for other plans or persons—just my relationship with hari-nama. I know at that time that Krishna is nondifferent than His name. This transformation is understandable, and Prabhupada describes it in KRSNA book, on the occasion when Nanda Maharaja became afraid that Krsna might be in danger:
It is quite natural for a devotee in danger to think of Krsna because he has no other shelter. When a child is in danger he takes shelter of his mother or father. Similarly, a devotee is always under the shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but when he specifically sees some danger, he remembers the Lord very rapidly.
— KRSNA, Vol. 1, p. 43
******
I write this after having chanted my first six rounds. In a couple of hours I’ll go back to chanting. I’ll try again and, even if I fail to improve, I will take solace in the fact that hari-nama still visits me and is willing to stay with me throughout my life.
******
In The Nectar of Devotion, Rupa Gosvami (and Srila Prabhupada) say that if one has developed spontaneous attraction for chanting the maha-mantra, then he has reached the highest perfectional stage.
Sri Krsna told Arjuna in the Adi Purana, “Anyone who is engaged in chanting My transcendental name must be considered to be always associating with Me. And I may tell you frankly that for such a devotee I become easily purchased” (NOD, p. 107).
******
It is conceivable that I could just take a more simple, resolute attitude and begin paying more attention to japa. Sometimes you notice that there is no attention at all. You might as well be saying different words, “Hair Mary, Har Roomy, Krist, Krsipt.” But no, attentive or not, I am trying to enunciate carefully. I have got that down. So why not just put your attention into it?
Try it now: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare. Is it so hard? Is it better?
******
You think it’s unproductive. Where is the tangible result? If you write a page, you get a page. If you roll a capati and eat it, you get a belly full of capati. Do you think chanting has no result?
O fruitive mentality, go back to simple prayer. Your prayer is the Hare Krsna mantra.
pp. 156-58
In Song Three of Dainya, Bhaktivinoda Thakura describes more details of his life.
“When I was young, I greatly desired to earn money. At that time, bearing in mind the codes of religion, I took a wife. Together we set up a household, wasted much time, had many sons and daughters . . . my heart grew heavy. . . . The burden increased day by day. I felt my life at a standstill.”
How do we take this song? Is it autobiography? Fiction? Who is the “I” he speaks of who wastes time in household life? What do we mean when we say Bhaktivinoda Thakura is saying this for our benefit?
I think many of us know the answers to these questions. Bhaktivinoda Thakura is a liberated soul; he is a sage like Vyasadeva or Śukadeva. They too had human-like lives. Vyasa suffered dissatisfaction even after compiling the Vedas. Sukadeva appeared to be a monist at first. But they are not ordinary conditioned souls. They are liberated śaktyaveśa-avataras. Yes, Bhaktivinoda Thakura is speaking for our benefit when he says he is in constant material anxiety. He is our worshipable guru.
We can examine the depth of his Kṛṣṇa consciousness simply by studying his writings. Here he describes himself as a harassed householder in need of Kṛṣṇa’s mercy. Later he will give us the entire science of Kṛṣṇa consciousness in books like Caitanya-caritamṛta and Jaiva Dharma. In those books, he discusses everything from “I am not this body” to the identity of the soul as a manjari in Radha’s service in eternal Vraja. He could not write such things in such an authoritative, convincing, and appealing manner unless he was an empowered acarya. We also accept him because he is worshiped by great spiritual masters like Gaura Kisora dasa Babaji, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, and our Srila Prabhupada. (As the son of Bhaktivinoda Thakura, Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvati Thakura personally observed his father’s activities. In his preface to his father’s Bhajana-rahasya, Srīla Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati writes, “A few years before, this akincana carefully observed him reciting the slokas mentioned in this book, and at the same time he was relishing overwhelming ecstatic love of Godhead.”)
We have no doubt about Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s position, yet we shouldn’t think he is writing these songs from a great distance, that he is not feeling the things he is writing. Śrīla Prabhupāda told us that when great Vaiṣṇavas write that they are most fallen and sinful, they actually feel most fallen and sinful. We don’t take them literally and conclude that because Kṛṣṇadasa Kaviraja claims he is lower than a worm in stool, it must be true. If we think like that, our spiritual life will be destroyed by Vaiṣṇava aparadha. We should, however, try to enter their mood.
The maha-bhagavata thinks everyone is serving Kṛṣṇa except himself. Entering their mood is not so easy. I can’t do it. Bhaktivinoda Thakura is close to these emotions. He regrets having wasted his life; I am the one who is distant from it. At least theoretically I am able to accept his writing as deep and personal. When he says he feels pain and is afraid, he is writing how he feels. He is writing for himself and also as the universal teacher (jagat-guru). Hear him with faith. He is the most competent guide to teach us to face our own desperation and then surrender to Kṛṣṇa.
Why don’t I feel regret? I’m not even sure why. Maybe I don’t want to be uncomfortable—whether it’s caused by restless joy or mental pain—and I don’t want to be kept up all night. I want regulation, not ecstasies or a remorse that burns my heart. I have tasted the pain that an illness can bring. Am I frightened by that experience? Am I trying to avoid suffering?
Some psychologists suggest that it is better to stay on the surface, although they may also agree that some regret is therapeutic. We read of catharsis. The Greek tragedies play this catharsis out. The characters go through intense emotional grief and become cleansed. If we fully partake of Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s songs, we can experience transcendental catharsis. Why don’t we let them cut our hearts?
The metaphors these poets use can be startling: “Ignorance has penetrated my heart with the intolerable burning pain of a pointed shaft.” Who needs that? I keep it comfortably at a distance—as “poetry.” But until I feel regret at my offenses and past and present misconduct, how can I make spiritual advancement? Why and how have I managed to cover up all these emotions? Is it really necessary that I go through them? Perhaps Kṛṣṇa is making it easy for me because He knows my faith is delicate and I can’t take too much. But that means I won’t go back to Godhead. We have to go through so much austerity in spiritual life. The vrajavasis are always being carried on waves of often contradictory emotions. Sometimes they laugh, sometimes they cry, sometimes they feel intense pride followed by crushing humility.
I don’t have the answer to these questions I am asking myself, but I am convinced that we have to feel regret. I advocate it in my lectures and writings, although I don’t personally feel it. I never even shed a tear in my solitary bhajana. My confessions are filled with descriptions of the deserts I cross while riding the chariot of the mind.
It is good at least to be writing this. I don’t want to skim over these songs Not without trying to understand them. Srila Prabhupada writes, ” only should one give up his past bad habits, but he must always regret his past sinful acts. This is the standard of pure devotion” (Bhag. 6.2.27, purport). And in discussing Maharaja Pariksit’s repentance, Srila Prabhupada writes, ” . . . all sins unwillingly committed by a devotee are burnt in the fire of repentance” (Bhag. 1.19.1, purport).
pp. 320-26
You think you’ll run out of things
to say? No, but urgency.
If I tell everyone I’m writing poems, that
could kill it.
By lack of practice I could lose the easy
touch, the nerve.
You have to try and want to serve and
then He may empower you.
He’ll let you go on ranting, rambling, but
that’s a different thing.
I’m talking about poems that can be
accepted as transcendental, as preaching
… as poems.
So resolve to practice. That’s why it’s so
important to do it for your own pleasure.
That’s not a sin.
You think Rupa Gosvami didn’t enjoy writing
beautiful verses about Radha and Krsna? No one
forced him. He wanted to and he was renounced,
not interested in becoming a famous poet.
“Overcome with yearning, and crying in the middle
of Vrndavana forest, I shall now reveal the deep
mark burning tears have made in my heart.” So
“enjoyment” is not the word for Rupa Gosvami, but
it may work for me.
And he had a wish to serve Sri Caitanya
Mahaprabhu by helping people come to Him,
through his writings.
“May whoever reads this prayer to
the Queen of Vrndavana—become the object
of Her mercy.”
That’s the idea.
It’s quiet here in Pennsylvania—
I’ll be interrupted at any moment.
Tonight they predict another snowstorm.
Sirens on the highway,
death in the city and everywhere.
It’s not touching me yet.
We’re going to read more Tenth Canto.
If you like, dear spiritual master,
I could serve by writing.
This is how I propose to do it.
But only if you say to Krsna,
let him flow—not another Rupa Gosvami
by any means,
but let him allow himself to release
all the wonderful things
he already knows and feels from
a lifetime in ISKCON,
moments with the pure devotee,
a self that is pure and dormant, eternal —
whose struggle
is something,
who’d like to leave a record
of songs
accepted
and useful,
fun and easy to read, su’sukham
kartam avyayam.
I keep looking at the thermometer as if it
matters.
Prabhupada has put me here behind a low desk
where I talk like a sannyasi giving advice:
“How is your sadhana? Do you find time to
chant? When will you wind down your karma
and dedicate yourself to renunciation?”
I keep thinking there’s more to say but I’m
nervous about it.
“Still more?” a part of me wonders.
It’s dark outside, 30 degrees.
I’ve discovered: the coldest time is just before
dawn;
I can write with 3 pairs of gloves on; no matter
how I try I’m always showing off.
Krsna is not so hard to remember
as you may think. I know a 9-year-old boy
who does it most of the time,
who considers Bala-Krsna his friend,
but he is a fussy eater
and only draws pictures of Krsna
when he feels like it.
As for me and Krsna,
I am only one of innumerable jivas to Him, yet
He loves me singly.
I can love Him with one-pointed devotion, but
it’s hard due to this body and this mind.
I can’t seem to escape them,
even in dreams,
even in reading or writing.
But who is more powerful,
Krsna or maya?
Someone asked a question about Krsna and I
said I didn’t know. Then I tried answering in a
roundabout way.
I repeated what I’d heard.
We talked about Krsna until someone came and
said, “It’s getting late.”
I said, “He never leaves Vrndavana but they
know Him there in separation.”
I’ll have to read more.
(English mines Player cigarettes
Cricket field in Raman Reti
Catch yourself in free fall
through roofs of memories,
watch out!
Man falling like a piece of
meteor, a fish bowl, a fish in the
Living Theater. You knew me
when?
Bound to wander
and often in the West
from Puri’s shores.
Now I’m only a few days away from
pilgrimage to Vraja, but
Prabhupada said,
“Our mission is worldwide.”
A preacher leaves Vrndavana, as he
did,
to spread the glories of
Vrndavanacandra.
I’m thinking of that.
I’m not in charge of preaching in the
former Soviet Union or even in
charge of the former Staten Island,
but I’ve got a preaching mission. If
we could feel it— wherever we are.
Clouds, clouds, clouds,
cumulus,
other kinds,
bunchy white
pillows, soft rocks,
castles passing them.
We’re high up—when
will we go down and I
can say I’m on the
ground 3 hours from
Vrndavana? You take
it for granted the steel
plane will descend and
this airy domain will
be behind us like a
dream.
Clouds, clouds, sky,
descend like in an
elevator, pulls on
your innards,
your ears pop, your head
hurts, planet at
sharp angle see heaven
and earth. I don’t want
either and can’t have them
anyway
Wish I chanted now this is
also chanting Hare Krsna
Hare Krsna, Krsna—brown
earth. Captain says we are number
5 to land (not yet)
and waiting for a break in
the weather before we can
land. It?s raining in Delhi.
So up we go into the
clouds and I must
tolerate and everyone
else on board too.
It could be a while
waiting for a break
in the weather.
pp. 41-43
“Actually we love Krsna. That is a fact. Because we love Krsna, therefore, you who did not even hear the name Krsna, say four or five years ago . . . why you are now so much after Him? This is the proof that actually we are after Krsna. This Krsna consciousness movement is being accepted in Western countries by the younger generation. Why? Because every one of us, we love Krsna. But it is now covered by maya. We have to simply take off the covering of maya. Then we are Krsna conscious. That is explained in Caitanya-caritamrta, nitya-siddha kṛṣṇa-prema ‘sādhya’ kabhu naya / śravaṇādi-śuddha-citte karaye udaya. [Pure love for Kṛṣṇa is eternally established in the hearts of the living entities. It is not something to be gained from another source. When the heart is purified by hearing and chanting, this love naturally awakens.] (Cc., Madhya 22. 107).]” (Lecture, May 27, 1972, on Bhag. 7.5.22-34).
I can’t say that by writing over these past few days I have achieved a breakthrough. I didn’t really expect to, but I was drawn to the subject. Writing doesn’t necessarily equal action. For example, last night I wrote about Vyasadeva’s despondency and Narada’s cure. Applying this to my own case, I recognized that whatever insufficiency I feel in my relationship with Krsna can be overcome by concentrated hearing, chanting, and writing directly about Krsna in His original form. Last night I thought I would end this book with anecdotes of Krsna in Vrndavana.
Even as a literary idea, however, I found that I couldn’t follow it up, what to speak of following it up in my life as Vyasa did, by profound meditation. We want to change our lives, but it’s hard. Sometimes outer events act on us to change us. But to change our hearts takes time. We can change ourselves gradually by practicing sadhana. Sadhana brings real change. Real change is deep. It encompasses both the external and the internal. If someone is forced to go to prison, that revolutionizes his or her life. Sometimes apparently external events force us to change.
I am musing here. My point is that I have only been able to make a few forays into a topic too big to solve. My relationship with Lord Krgia is the most worthy topic; I cannot help but benefit by exploring it. Someone might say that a half-hearted attempt at a vital subject is harmful, but it’s only harmful if we think we have completely dispensed with it. If we accept that we have succeeded only in opening a window to let us see what we couldn’t see before, then it is helpful.
This writing reminds me that Lord Krsna is a person and that He is part of my life. I become embarrassed when I see that I don’t make my relationship with the Supreme Person the most important relationship in my life. I want to improve that. I am hopeful. fr—
What’s the difficulty? Lord Krsna is so kind and approachable. He makes Himself available to me, especially in His holy names. Writing about my lack of devotion makes me aware of Prabhupada’s and Lord Krsna’s standing invitation to exchange with them. They don’t reject me. I can take up Krsna consciousness earnestly and improve my relationship with the Lord, who is my ever well-wisher and protector.
I smell the clean Atlantic air and think how there are no bombs in the area, no pesticides, no carbon monoxide from car exhaust. I see only tall, jagged rocks—they look like stalagmites—growing up from the floor of the ocean. There is a monument here commemorating the 1509 killing of Irish patriots by the. British. Someone has placed a bit of sheep’s wool at its base, along with a coin and a flower. I dared not disturb it. I walked around to see the monument’s back. A crucifix was inscribed in the rock along with some words I couldn’t understand.
There’s nothing else in my life except my relationship with Krsna. I stand on terra firma, looking at this monument, and realize that everything comes from God. I am part of the ecological system, or at least my body is, breathing oxygen as I walk and talk. Krsna is in control.
mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ
sūyate sa-carācaram
hetunānena kaunteya
jagad viparivartateThis material nature, which is one of My energies, is working under My direction, O son of Kuntī, producing all moving and nonmoving beings. Under its rule this manifestation is created and annihilated again and again. (Bg. 9.10).
Srila Prabhupada says that if we are sincere, we will be able to understand this philosophy.
“A person may have a bona fide spiritual master and may be attached to a spiritual organization, but still, if he is not intelligent enough to make progress, then Krsna from within gives him instructions so that he may ultimately come to Him without difficulty. The qualification is that a person always engage himself in Krsna consciousness and with love and devotion render all kinds of services. . . . If a devotee is not intelligent enough to make progress on the path of self-realization, but is sincere and devoted to the activities of devotional service, the Lord givBes him a chance to make progress and ultimately attain to Him” (Bg. 10.10, purport).
pp. 142-44
. . . Ajamila achieved liberation simply by chanting the holy name of the Lord. Therefore, what is to be said of those who are not as sinful as Ajamila? It is to be concluded that with a strong vow one should chant the holy name of the Lord: Hare Krsna Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare—for thus one will certainly be delivered from the clutches of maya by the grace of Krsna” (Bhag. 6.3.23-24, purport).
Statements proving that the chanting of Hare Krsna mantra brings liberation seem not so important. “Oh, liberation,” I think, “we are not interested in that. We want bhakti. Liberation falls at the feet of bhakti and begs to do some service.” Besides, liberation is obtained even by namabhasa and I assume that I am already doing that. “Even if one chants imperfectly, one becomes free from all sinful reactions by chanting.”
But there is something arrogant in my attitude, something mistaken. Achieving liberation is no small thing. And why am I so sure that I am already liberated? Do I even know what it means? Besides, why assume so certainly that I have graduated from offensive chanting (namaparadha) to the clearing or shadow stage (namabhasa)?
It is a fact that we don’t want mukti in terms of the so-called merging of the soul into the rays of the impersonal brahmajyoti; we want to go back to Krsnaloka. I am grateful that by the power of the holy name given by Srila Prabhupada, I am free from sinful life and its reactions. Srila Prabhupada writes confidently,
” . . . we invite everyone to come with us and simply chant Hare Krsna Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare, because we know that if one simply chants and hears the topics of Krsna, one’s life will change; he will see a new light, and his life will be successful” (Bhag. 4.7.44, purport).
This is another aspect of harer nama. The faithful chanter lives to spread the holy name around. He is unhappy that others are suffering. He knows by his own experience that chanting Hare Krsna brings relief, that it brings one to pure-hearted, obedient Krsna consciousness. He strives to deliver the holy names and makes novel presentations so that nondevotees can take it up and receive relief from samsara. Where is that prayer in my japa retreat? “Please make me strong to spread the holy name.”
Consider all these things: since I am still on the lower rungs of bhakti-yoga, I am still in danger of sin. I have to be delivered by the holy name. Bhaktivinoda Thakura says, “The odor of sin still clings to you.” The holy name is continuing to save me. Pray to come out of yet another dullness and stone-heartedness, forgetting that harer nama is sustaining you from material suffering. Be thankful. Chant and hear. But chant the real name, not the covering.
“As a result of chanting the Hare Krsna maha-mantra, one makes such great advancement in spiritual life that simultaneously his material existence terminates and he receives love of Godhead. The holy name of Krsna is so powerful that by chanting even one name, one very easily achieves these transcendental riches” (C.c., Adi 8.28, purport).
Readers will find, in the Appendix of this book, scans of a cover letter written by Satsvarūpa Mahārāja to the GN Press typist at the time, along with some of the original handwritten pages of June Bug. Together, these help to illustrate the process used by Mahārāja when writing his books during this period. These were timed books, in the sense that a distinct time period was allotted for the writing, during SDG’s travels as a visiting sannyāsī
Don’t take my pieces away from me. I need them dearly. My pieces are my prayers to Kṛṣṇa. He wants me to have them, this is my way to love Him. Never take my pieces away.
Many planks and sticks, unable to stay together, are carried away by the force of a river’s waves. Similarly, although we are intimately related with friends and family members, we are unable to stay together because of our varied past deeds and the waves of time.
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.