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Monday Morning Greetings 2025 #42 – Bhakti, Bhakti Everywhere But Not a Drop to Drink

October 13th, 2025

Bhakti, Bhakti Everywhere But Not a Drop to Drink[1]

 

The practice of bhakti is very simple, but very qualified people can find the path of bhakti challenging. Simple, but challenging. It’s a paradox. Let’s try to resolve it.

 

What does it mean that bhakti is simple?

 

It means anyone in any circumstance can take to bhakti. It has no material qualification. For example, you don’t even have to be born yet.

 

Not even born yet!

 

The Bhāgavatam was originally spoken in four verses. The last verse explains abhidheya-jñāna, the means to realize the absolute truth. One of the significant phrases in that verse, which is relevant to our discussion, is sarvatra sarvadā (anywhere and everywhere), which means that Krishna consciousness is universally applicable. The Bhaktivedanta purport to that verse focuses on offering example after example of how one can take up the path of bhakti in every conceivable material situation, even when one is unborn. Śrī Prahlāda heard the Bhāgavatam in the womb of his mother from Śrī Nārada and was born a great saint!

 

Back to our quandary. If bhakti is so universally applicable, why do so many, even those aristocratic, educated and even yogically disciplined, find the path of bhakti difficult to take up and execute?

 

Śrīla Prabhupāda explains the resolution:

 

“The process is simple, but the application is difficult.” (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.1.2, purport)

 

Simple? Who cannot bow down, chant Hare Krishna, hear the Lord’s glories or just see the deities? From the material perspective it is therefore simple.

 

Difficult? The most difficult thing to do is to apply ourselves to things we don’t like to do, even if they are simple tasks. We have come to this world to enjoy and control. Who truly wants to relinquish control and bow their head to God and his devotees in complete humility and supplication?

 

But that’s what pure love or devotion means. It’s complete surrender to the needs and desire of the worthy object of your affection. It’s analogous to a mother’s care for her child. Caring for a child is a service so simple that any woman anywhere in the world, regardless of education or social status, can perform that task. It’s the most difficult sacrifice, however, for even the most materially qualified person, if she lacks a selfless and loving heart.

 

And bhakti is like that. It is so simple that anyone with humility and devotion can perform the practices of devotion. But it can be the greatest challenge for one who doesn’t have a heart of selflessness and service, even the most accomplished yogi or learned scholar.

 

So that’s the paradox, it’s so accessible, but such a challenge for the egocentric. For them:

 

Bhakti, bhakti everywhere, but not a drop to drink!

 

 


[1] A paradox is “a seemingly absurd or contradictory statement or proposition which when investigated may prove to be well-founded or true. Perhaps the most famous one is “water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink.” Seems contradictory, but with a little investigation we find out that the person making the statement is in the ocean. So the title is a parody on that paradox as a segue to explain how bhakti is very easy and accessible, but still one can miss it. By the way, the quotation is from Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, and the speaker is stranded in the middle of the ocean.

 

Monday Morning Greetings 2025 #41 – Have I become a Sahajiyā?

October 6th, 2025

Usually, a few drops on the head and then quickly in and out. But the weather is so warm and the water so ambrosial. Ah! Wading in Rādhā-kuṇḍa. Suddenly a thought comes:

 

This is liquid rādhā-prema. Who am I to wade in her waters? I offer a prayer and then quickly get out. Another thought comes.

 

Have I become a sahajiyā?

 

The word sahajiyā comes from the root words saha (easy) and ja (born). Sahajiyā thus refers to one whose actions and emotions mimic advanced devotion. In other words, they are artificially or easily born, without the requisite qualification or sacrifice. Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta, Śrīla Prabhupāda’s spiritual master, strongly condemned those who prematurely imitate advanced devotion (rāgānugā-bhakti). A tract he authored titled Prākta-rasa Śata-dūṣaī” (One Hundred Condemnations of Material Rasa) best expresses his view. Two excerpts:

 

“If transcendental attachment has not yet developed within the heart, a devotee is never said to have attained the stage of ecstatic bhāva. The followers of spontaneous devotion (rāgānugas) never say that neophyte students of devotion (sādhakas) have experienced the awakening of bhāva.” (Prākta-rasa Śata-dūṣaī, Verse 8)

 

Rūpānugās (followers of Rūpa) never eliminate the systematic path of bhakti. One should not climb a tree, grab the fruits and pull them off by force.” (Prākṛta-rasa-śata-dūṣaṇī, verse 57)

 

Naturally Śrīla Prabhupāda followed his spiritual master and condemned imitators. Here’s his view specifically concerning bathing in Rādhā-kuṇḍa:

 

“Has he taken order from Guru Maharaja that ‘I am going to jump over Rādhā-kuṇḍa’? … Why should he desire like that? … There is no harm, but they should understand what is Rādhā-kuṇḍa and how to deal with Rādhā-kuṇḍa. Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī showed how to live in Rādhā-kuṇḍa … He can take bath in the Rādhā-kuṇḍa. First of all, do this like Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī.” (August 16, 1976 — Room Conversation, Bombay)

 

But in his books, he said the opposite:

 

“Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī recommends that even if one cannot live permanently on the banks of Rādhā-kuṇḍa, he should at least take a bath in the lake as many times as possible. This is a most important item in the execution of devotional service. (Nectar of Instruction Verse 11, purport)

 

Which is it?

 

I bathe there. Am I following Śrīla Prabhupāda or not?

 

I try to follow both. I can neither neglect that it is the most important item in devotional service recommended by Śrīla Rupa Goswami endorsed in Śrīla Prabhupāda’s purports, nor neglect Śrīla Prabhupāda’s warning. It is the most sacred and important item of devotional service. We are not qualified to take advantage of it. I thus bathe in this mood:

 

Śrī Rādhā-kuṇḍa is liquid rādhā-prema and my body is beyond noxious. I have no qualification to touch her waters, but because Śrīla Rupa Goswami ordered us to bathe, only by his mercy, and in the most reverent mood, I humbly touch her waters.

 

Am I a sahajiyā?

 

Yes, if I wade carelessly in her waters with a sense of entitlement and enjoyment.

 

No, If I can enter with the humblest intent.

 

Different Vaiṣṇavas may reconcile those instructions in different ways. I respect that. But one thing is sure. Rādhā-kuṇḍa is the most exalted place in the universe and must be approached with the utmost humility. If we don’t, indeed we are sahajiyās!

 

 

Monday Morning Greetings 2025 #40 – The Black Swan (Not the Movie)

September 29th, 2025

The Black Swan (Not the Movie)[1]

 

I bought a book in the airport: 50 Philosophy Classics from the 50 Classic Series by Tom Butler-Bowdon. My idea was to skim through the summaries of the fifty classics to see if I could recognize a truth that was conceptualized and expressed in an especially inspiring way.

 

I liked that each classic had an “in a nutshell” summary that enabled me to judge which ones I thought worth reading, sometimes to affirm their conceptions and sometimes to critique them.

 

For example, “Nicomachean Ethics” by Aristotle seemed interesting: “Happiness comes from what we have rationally decided is good for us over the longer term. Happiness is not pleasure, but a by-product of a meaningful life.”

 

I found the idea of materialism expressed in “The Ego Trick” by Julian Baggini quite unappealing and not worth reading: “The brain and body provide us with a strong and continuous sense of self, which gives us freedom to create who we are.”

 

What I did gain while briefly going through the book was more faith in my own tradition. The Vedas teach that knowledge of this world is manifest simultaneously with its creation. It is then channeled and preserved through various lineages of wisdom teachers. To be connected in this way gives one a basic standard to gauge the validity of any philosophical treatise or school. I will try to demonstrate that by analyzing just one of the classics in the book, The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb.

 

The title of the book and Taleb’s philosophical message come from a particular historical phenomenon that he read about. Until a black swan was sighted by early explorers in Western Australia, people not only assumed that swans were white, but they were, in fact, even defined in that way. From this event Taleb developed an entire theory of events and causality. He postulated that things that happen against all expectations, which he named “black swans”, had an extreme and important impact on history and one’s life. These include anything from the unexpected spread of great ideas and powerful religions to dynamic historical events that no one foresaw, such as the rise of Hitler or the spread of the Internet. Accepting this fact of randomness as it applies to the world and one’s life rather than a strictly causal or linear perspective, he concluded, is the first step in succeeding in the world. Here is how 50 Classics sums up “in a nutshell” the import of The Black Swan:

 

“We want to make the world an orderly place, but the frequency of truly unexpected events should tell us that we really don’t know what causes things.”

 

Taleb therefore concludes, “black swan logic ‘makes what you don’t know far more relevant that what you do know’, because it is the unexpected that shapes our lives.”

 

Now a brief analysis of The Black Swan from the perspective of Vedic teachings, starting with the part of Taleb’s teaching that I found reasonably congruent with what you would find in the Vedas — the obvious weakness we can recognize in conditioned human psychology.

 

Taleb saw that we desire to impose order and control in the world beyond our capacity to do so. Living in that way makes one fearful and frustrated. In other words, to hope to see the world as linear and predictable, and in accord with the way we want it to be, is a recipe for disaster. I think Taleb got this right. Unless we temper our hope for a world that conforms to our desires, we will always live in uncertainty and disappointment. And we will be sorely unprepared for the unpredictable.

 

While I think Taleb’s insight is important, Vedic perspective gives much more depth. While the world is certainly beyond our control, he is wrong when he says that the world moves haphazardly and without meaning. The Vedic perspective teaches us that unexpected events, while far beyond our control, do not happen randomly. They are the result of the law of karma. They come to teach us important lessons essential to elevating us to a higher level of realization. I like how Rumi put it:

 

“When God is digging a ditch to throw us in, he is actually making a well to quench our thirst.”

 

And that was my takeaway from flipping through 50 Philosophy Classics from the 50 Classic Series by Tom Butler-Bowdon. Connection to traditions of true wisdom, and certainly the Bhagavat philosophy, gives us the tool of understanding to put into context all philosophical speculations, and certainly The Black Swan (not the movie).

 

 


[1] When I review Monday Morning Greetings from many years ago, I can see how much my writing has improved as has the quality of the editing. Occasionally I will rewrite and edit old Monday Morning Greetings in a way that even those who have read them before will find them almost new. This one is from March 2, 2020.

 

Monday Morning Greetings 2025 #39 – Guruship and the Death of Bhakti

September 22nd, 2025

Maybe the title is too heavy, but there is a point there.

 

Material consciousness means to think of oneself as the center of the world and thus as the controller and enjoyer. Devotion means the opposite, to move away from that imagined center to instead become the humble servant of God. In this regard, here’s how Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī describes the essence of bhakti in his treatise titled Bhakti-sandarbha.

 

“…Therefore, an intelligent person should engage unflinchingly in the unalloyed devotional service of the Lord, under the guidance of a bona fide spiritual master, whom he should accept as his worshipable deity and as his very life and soul.” Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 11.2.37

 

What can be more challenging in cultivating bhakti than to accept such a position where one is highly worshiped by many and sometimes thousands?

 

I remember the end of 1977, just after Śrīla Prabhupāda had passed away. Eleven sincere godbrothers, practically not one over thirty, most not even with eight years as a devotee, took up the mantle of guru. They all received the lavish worship worthy of an ācārya.

 

How do you think that worked out?

 

You guessed it. Most didn’t survive. How could they? Unless one is very spiritually advanced, the worship (pūjā) that is being offered to one as a guru and the distinction (pratiṣṭhā) that naturally follows are the very things one must shun if there is any hope of gaining a taste for bhakti.

 

At the time when my godbrothers took up that service, I thought they had the world. I certainly don’t envy them now. They were put, in many ways, in the most unfortunate position — attempting to follow the path of utter humility and being put on a pedestal at the same time.

 

But what to do? Although one of the principles of devotional service outlined in Bhakti-rasāmta-sindhu is not to take many followers, the commentary on the above verse also says that a sannyāsī must accept disciples to increase his lineage.[1] I was confused. Which is it? When I was asked to accept disciples, I therefore went to a senior Vaiṣṇava for advice. I placed this seeming contradiction to him for clarity. I took his advice to heart.

 

“Don’t think you are guru. Do it as a service to your guru. And be careful not to take many disciples.”

 

So that’s the key. Many must nobly take up the mantle of leadership to push on Śrī Caitanya’s mission, but one must never embrace any designation other than “I am the humble servant of Guru and Krishna.”

 

Why am I writing this? Shortly, I will be 75. Soon my disciples will celebrate Vyāsa-pūjā on my birthday. The worship will be lavish. In the midst of such pomp, it is important to remind myself, and thus others, that Vyāsa-pūjā is meant for worship of the paramparā (disciplic succession). The guru is simply representing the previous masters and redirecting that honor to them.

 

A great example of that mood:

 

“We are just sitting on the throne of our Guru Mahārāja, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Prabhupāda. So this pūjā, this offering, must go to him. Not to us. Our business is only to deliver it to him. So the students, who have to go through us, should give all honor and respect to our Guru Mahārāja.” (Vyāsa-pūjā address from 1982, Śrīla Bhakti-rakṣaka Śrīdhara Dev-Goswami Mahārāja)

 

The lesson is clear: if we remain simply the servant of the servant of Śrīla Prabhupāda, our service will be the life, not the death, of bhakti, whether we are doing service behind the scenes, or whether we take the center stage.

 

 


[1] The thirteenth item of devotional service as mentioned in the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu does mention not to take too many followers in devotional service. It serves as a caution. Too many followers and management responsibilities can distract one from one’s devotional practices. The commentary does acknowledge, however, the sincere and necessary act of expanding the devotional lineage.

 

Monday Morning Greetings 2025 #38 – What I Learned from the Sad Story of David Seigel

September 15th, 2025

He was about five foot three inches and almost 200 pounds and that was in 10th grade! Tough karma for a young boy growing up in Brooklyn in 1964. America is perhaps more than any other country built on the superficial ideal of “I am successful.” Imagine the challenges placed on David’s psyche to find his self-worth in that setting.

 

But David tried.

 

More than anything David wanted to star for the high school basketball team. We thought he was crazy. Canarsie High School played in arguably the toughest basketball league in the country at the time. The conference even became known as the “suicide division” because it was so incredibly competitive and stacked with talent. It had produced the likes of NBA Hall of Famers Connie Hawkins, Lenny Wilkins, and Billy Cunnigham. The players were that good. But a short and heavy-set Jewish kid?

 

When we passed the outdoor public courts every day after school, we were amused to watch David by himself taking shot after shot. He was determined to make the team. The coach, however, was not amused. He cut David on the first day of tryouts. His dream was crushed!

 

We didn’t see much of David for a few months. Then one day we spotted him across the street on Seaview Avenue on our way home from school. It was a cold, miserable December day, but David was wearing only the shorts and thin jersey of the Knicks, New York’s NBA team! We quickly crossed the street to meet him. David began to ramble:

 

“Ate ‘em up! Ate ‘em up![1] Scored twenty points.” He began to describe the previous night’s game and the players he went up against and “ate up” or thoroughly outplayed. He went on and on about his exploits, “Ate ‘em up! Ate ‘em up! Twenty points!” He actually thought he was on the Knicks. David had gone mad!

 

Years later when I joined ISKCON and began to lecture, I realized that what happened to David was perfectly analogous to how we fell into illusion in this world. I would explain it something like this:

 

“We are eternal servants of God by constitution. When we desire, however, to be separate and independent controllers, a position we can’t have by our own constitution, it can only be fulfilled in illusion. Therefore, God, who fulfills the desires of the living entities, covers us by maya, or His illusory energy. Then instead of thinking ourselves to be part of God and meant for His service, we become mired in the illusion that we are our bodies meant to independently enjoy and control. There is an important principle illustrated here. When one intensely wants something that exceeds reality, it can only be fulfilled in illusion.”

 

Lecturing like thus, I inevitably thought back to my teen years and related the sad story of David Seigel.

 

But are our own stories any better? We are tiny sparks of the Divine. Somehow, we intensely wanted to be God and we have worked intensely on that since time immemorial. We became increasingly immersed in the illusion that we are our temporary body and the designations it embraces. Today we also walk down the streets of New York, or any town in the world, posting our profile on Internet, posing ourselves as the enjoyer, and announcing our exploits to the world. What a joke!

 

And that is the sad story of David Seigel and sadly our story also!

 

 


[1] “Ate ‘em up” is a slang expression used in sports, contracted from “ate them up.” When I grew up it was used to indicate that you dominated or utterly defeated the competitors.

 

Monday Morning Greetings 2025 #37 – There is no Victim Consciousness in God Consciousness

September 8th, 2025

There is no Victim Consciousness in God Consciousness[1]

 

“Victim consciousness is a stage of consciousness in which people deny personal responsibility for the things that happen in their lives. People in victim consciousness believe that the world is acting upon or against them, and they are the innocent targets of other peoples’ action or behavior.”[2]

 

Elevated God consciousness is the opposite. Here are four examples:

 

Dharma the Bull

 

King Parīkṣit was informed that a bull had been badly beaten. He immediately rushed to the scene of the crime. Although the bull knew that he was beaten by the personality of Kali, the bull refused to identify him.  He knew that ultimately without the sanction of the Lord, no one could afflict trouble upon him. He then began to explain in detail the various misconceptions about the cause of suffering and how one could use them to abnegate personal responsibility and remain ignorant of the lessons God meant for one to learn.

 

Observing the bull’s reaction, and hearing his exposition full of knowledge and philosophy, the king recognized the bull as Dharma (the personality of religion): “You are speaking according to the principle that the destination intended for the perpetrator of irreligious acts is also intended for one who identifies the perpetrator.” In other words, although it is the duty of one to protect the vulnerable from exploitation, victim consciousness is not encouraged.

 

Vidura

 

The elderly Vidura was unfairly thrown out of the kingdom by Duryodhana, his cruel nephew, whom he had served selflessly his whole life. In addition, he was harshly insulted by him. He refused, however, to play the victim. Rather, he saw that God was delivering to him an important message: it was time to retire from the intrigues of family and political life and leave for pilgrimage. An elevated soul sees destiny as the language of God.

 

Bhīmadeva

 

Although Yudhiṣṭhira led a noble and sinless life, his suffering year after year was unbearable. Even worse, nobody could satisfy his inquiry as to why he had to suffer. In frustration he inquired from his grandfather, Bhīṣmadeva, who was lying on the battlefield waiting to die. Somehow, his grandfather was able to muster up the strength to reply. Destiny, he explained, is just God’s grace offering us the gift of spiritual realization for those who respond to their fate righteously and according to appropriate guidance.

 

Socrates

 

When Socrates was unfairly condemned to die by the Greek assembly for political reasons, his wish to confront his accusers was granted. Rather than feeling persecuted, he informed them, “If you think you will harm me, you will not harm me; you will only harm yourselves.” Socrates was expressing something quite deep. The self or soul is eternal and spiritual. It therefore can only be harmed by one’s own acts of selfishness. In other words, if he was executed, the Greek Senate, who would kill him in a mood of exploitation, would be the one disadvantaged and not himself, who would respond in dignity.

 

It’s unfortunate how far the world has veered from a culture of personal responsibility and self-correction based on God consciousness.  Certainly, all forms of oppression and exploitation should be shunned and appropriately rectified. There are powerful realizations one can glean from the perspective of the downtrodden. One should be wary, however, of adopting the consciousness of victimization and conceding the power to change one’s life to external actors. Contrast this to the teachings of the Bhagavatam which educates and fully empowers one to change oneself in any circumstance.

 

“We all suffer, but to be a victim is a choice.” — Unknown

 

 


[1] This is a substantially edited reprint of Monday Morning Greetings November 18, 2019.

[2] Barry and Janae Weinhold — https://web.archive.org/web/20220122105432/https://weinholds.org/victim-consciousness/

 

Monday Morning Greetings 2025 #36 – Dearer to Me than Even My Brother Balarama!

September 1st, 2025

Yes, Krishna says say that. (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 11.14.15) Who is dearer than his eternal associates, and even His brother? He is talking about His helpless devotees in this world who are completely dependent on His mercy and surrender to Him!

 

That same concept came up in my recent studies of Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta.

 

When Lord Śiva is approached by Śrī Nārada and glorified by him as the topmost devotee, Śiva deflects his praise by glorifying the residents of Vaikuṇṭha, and for good reason. They have given up everything material as if it was useless straw and have renounced all egoistic self-conceptions. Śiva then tells him that there is a destination even better than going to Vaikuṇṭha. He can visit Dvārakā on Earth where the Lord is presently residing with such eternal associates. Śrī Nārada is so enthused that he begins to leave immediately, but surprisingly the Lord stops him. He calls him close to whisper something into his ear and recommends something else!

 

“There is a greater recipient of Krisha’s mercy than your father, me, and other servants like Garuḍa, and even than the goddess of fortune. His name is Prahlāda. He is famous throughout the world as the dearmost devotee of Krishna.” Bb 1.3.75

 

But better than Brahmā, Śiva, and even the goddess of fortune?

 

A commentary in the chapter offers an explanation.

 

“One reason why the Supreme Lord speaks like this is that although His eternal associates — Saṅkarṣaṇa, Mahā-lakṣmī, and so on — are ever established in unswerving devotion, they underwent no tribulations to gain it, whereas His ‘new’ devotees in the material world have sacrificed all comforts and security to gain pure devotional service. For the trouble such devotees have taken, Lord Krishna is especially grateful.” Bb 1.3.84, commentary.

 

It’s still hard to believe. How can those in this world coming to Krishna consciousness attract the Lord’s mercy more than His eternal associates who are ever established in unswerving devotion?

 

Śrīla Mādhavācārya explains:

 

“The only way to obtain the Lord’s mercy is through His causeless love, and the Lord is most lovingly inclined toward those devotees who are most dependent on Him, just as ordinary mothers and fathers worry more about their helpless children than about those who are self-sufficient.” SB 11.14.15, purport

 

Ultimately, such comparison, that one kind of devotee is better than another, doesn’t matter much. Such devotees are all on the highest level of devotion. What really matters is how much these descriptions encourage us to make the same sacrifice to attain pure devotion to the Lord.

 

It also provides us with a powerful meditation:

 

How grateful Śrī Krishna must be for the trouble Śrīla Prabhupāda endured to give Śrī Krishna to the world, and how much we should revere those who have followed him!

 

A beautiful concept to fill our thoughts and hearts:

 

Dearer to Me than even My brother Balarama!

 

 

Monday Morning Greetings 2025 #35 – Advaita Vedānta: A Philosophy That Is Just Illusion

August 25th, 2025

I got a message from an Indian friend who visits Vrindavan. He is a good devotee, and I was therefore surprised by his letter. He had gone to an Āyurvedic doctor who was also a learned Māyāvādī scholar, and the doctor had said something that affected him. “It has poisoned my heart and affected my chanting,” my friend said. “What should I do?”

 

“What was the reason it affected you?” I asked. “Did hearing it hurt your heart because it negated the personality of God, or has the hearing created doubts in you about God being a person?”

 

“He started to explain something about the Lord’s departure in the Rāmāyaa and Bhāgavatam, how they died, but that Brahman was supreme,” my friend said. “He was very erudite, and suddenly I started to question if what I am doing is wrong.

 

“It seems to me now that my whole spiritual life is at stake. Yes, when I was a new bhakta in the ashram, I had that super-sensuous experience, sphūrti, but how did that prove that God is a person?

 

“I am embarrassed to write this, but I want to be honest. I don’t know why I was so affected.”

 

“Advaita Vedānta is not reasonable,” I wrote. “Their philosophy says that all distinction is illusion. But illusion must have a subject, someone in illusion. They can’t say the living entities are the basis of illusion, for according to their philosophy the living entities themselves are just an illusion. And illusion can’t be the basis of illusion.

 

“Their only recourse is to say that Brahman is the basis, or subject, of illusion. But if Brahman is the subject of illusion, then it is neither Brahman, the greatest, nor nondual. Such a philosophy has no solid foundation.”

 

“Do you read Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books?” I asked. “Here is a link to a post that I wrote that might help you—‘Is God a Person?’

 

https://wavesofdevotion.com/2016/06/27/is-god-a-person/

 

His response:

 

“Deep, deep gratitude! No, I don’t read Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books regularly, but I think now I should. And also hear his lectures. Thank you! Thank you!”

 

My conclusion:

 

Advaita Vedānta: a philosophy that is just Illusion.

 

 

Monday Morning Greetings 2025 #34 – Radha-Bhāva and Prabhupāda

August 18th, 2025

Radha-Bhāva and Prabhupāda[1]

 

This is not about Śrīla Prabhupāda’s eternal relationship with Krishna. I will leave that for other discussions. What I want to share with you is a realization I had recently in my reading of the last chapter of Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta by Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja called The Śikṣāṣṭaka Prayers, a realization that highlights how Śrīla Prabhupāda gave us the most practical path in understanding our own relationship with Krishna.[2]

 

In that regard, I found particularly relevant the discussion of the last verse of the Śikṣāṣṭakam that describes the mood of Śrī Radha at that height of Her devotion:

 

“I know no one but Krishna as my Lord, and He shall remain so even if He handles me roughly by His embrace or makes me brokenhearted by not being present before me. He is completely free to do anything and everything, for He is always my worshipful Lord unconditionally.” (v. 8)

 

Before I continue with my thesis, it is important to understand the context in which this verse is recited. According to Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja, this verse is a paraphrase by Śrī Caitanya of what Śrī Radha told Her friends after they advised Her to disregard Krishna. He had apparently spurned her. In other words, She loved Krishna so much that just the suggestion to ignore Krishna, even when seemingly justified, ignited the depths of Her unconditional love.[3] In Śrī Caitanya’s ensuing explanation of this verse to His most confidential associates Svarūpa Dāmodara and Rāmānanda Rāya, He further elaborates on how this concluding verse expresses the nature of Śrī Radha’s love at its height.

 

“I do not mind my personal distress. I only wish for the happiness of Krishna, for His happiness is the goal of my life. However, if He feels great happiness in giving me distress, that distress is the best of my happiness.”[4] (Cc. Antya-līlā 20.52)

 

Now back to my original inspiration. After reading the eighth verse of the Śikṣāṣṭakam and its explanation by Śrī Caitanya Himself, it struck me how this final verse not only expresses the mood of Śrī Radha at the height of her devotion but accentuates the basic foundation of bhakti in a manner very reminiscent of the way Śrīla Prabhupāda and his own spiritual master, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhanta, preached. This will be clearer when one recalls the history of their mission.

 

Without retreading a long and complex history, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhanta appeared at a time when the teachings of Śrī Caitanya had become very much degraded. The people who claimed to continue Śrī Caitanya’s lineage were mostly guided to higher and esoteric meditations in Krishna consciousness without the prerequisite foundational practices and rules of proper behavior. Śrīla Prabhupāda describes Śrīla Bhaktisiddhanta’s concern about this and how he called out those called prākṛta-sahajiyās who cheaply concentrated their meditation on Krishna’s intimate pastimes without the recommended step-by-step process to first purify their hearts.

 

“Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura says that a devotee does not care about his own happiness and distress; he is simply interested in seeing that Krishna is happy, and for that purpose he engages in various activities […] Those who are materialistic, […] like the prākṛta-sahajiyās, regard their own happiness as the aim of life. Some of them aspire to enjoy themselves by sharing the happiness of Krishna. This is the mentality of fruitive workers who want to enjoy sense gratification by making a show of service to Krishna.” (Cc. Antya-līlā 20.52, purport)

 

Seeing this tendency, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhanta, and Śrīla Prabhupāda after him, stressed unconditional surrender to the spiritual master and stringently warned of entering realms of esoteric bhakti prematurely. As a result they were often criticized for not giving what Śrī Caitanya came to give, rāgānugā-bhakti, a practice based very much on meditating on Krishna’s pastimes and visualizing one’s own spiritual identity within them.

 

The last verse of the Śikṣāṣṭakam, however, implies clearly that what Śrīla Bhaktisiddhanta and Śrīla Prabhupāda stressed was not just for beginners, but also the essence of the highest attainment in Krishna consciousness, a practice that to achieve its fruition only needs to be ripened by the pure chanting of the name.

 

So that’s my realization today while reading the Caitanya-caritamrita – that if you want to awaken your eternal relationship with Krishna then faithfully follow the teachings of Śrīla Prabhupāda by unconditionally surrendering to Śrī Śrī Guru and Krishna in service of Śrī Caitanya’s saṅkīrtana mission. Certainly one who sincerely does this is embracing the essence of radha-bhāva as expressed in that ultimate verse:

 

“I know no one but Krishna as my Lord, and He shall remain so even if He handles me roughly by His embrace or makes me brokenhearted by not being present before me. He is completely free to do anything and everything, for He is always my worshipful Lord unconditionally.”

 


[1] In honor of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Vyāsa-pūjā yesterday, a reprint from December 18, 2017.

[2] It is worthy to note here that the Śikṣāṣṭakam prayers are particularly significant because they are the only verses, eight in number, that Śrī Caitanya composed.

[3] Also significant is that this verse is the last verse of the Śikṣāṣṭakam and represents the fulfillment of the internal reason for Śrī Caitanya’s appearance, to experience the love of His topmost devotee at the height of Her love.

[4] Śrī Caitanya’s explanation of the Śikṣāṣṭakam comprises thirteen verses. I have chosen only one for the sake of the clarity and force of my post. That one captures the mood of them all.

 

Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Vyāsa-pūjā – Dhanurdhara Swami’s Offering to Śrīla Prabhupāda

August 17th, 2025

Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,

 

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to you!

 

I marvel at your genius. I had written an article about that for my weekly blog. Please accept this offering at your lotus feet on this glorious day.

 

Your servant,

Dhanurdhara Swami

 

 

The Genius of Śrīla Prabhupāda and the Principle of Intrapreneurship.

 

In my last article Build Devotees, Not Temples I opined that institutions like ISKCON need to spend more resources supporting and empowering its people, especially those that are creators and doers, to successfully carry its mission into the future. I shared this article with a friend who was a business consultant. He was intrigued by the article and shared with me something from his own experience in the business world that he thought was relevant to the topic at hand. He described the concept of intrapreneurship. In this post, I will briefly share his experience and show how it inspired me to even further realize Śrīla Prabhupāda’s genius.

 

My friend worked for Adobe as a consultant. They had basically one product, Photoshop, and the engineers who had developed the company had improved it as far as it could go. The CEO became concerned. He saw that this one-product company was gradually losing the culture of initiative that initially spurred its success. He knew the history of several successful companies developed by self-motivated and creative people who gradually ceded their authority to technicians and managers only to see the company become stagnant and fail. He became concerned.

 

He thought of Kodak, for example, who were pioneers in the technology of photography. It went from an established major company to bankruptcy. Led by bureaucrats resistant to internal change, they lost their inability to keep up with smaller, more nimble competitors that could innovate quickly and respond to changing market trends.

 

The CEO realized he needed to do something. He decided to apply the principle of Intrapreneurship.

 

Intrapreneurship refers to a system within an organization that enables creative and innovative people to take the initiative to develop pioneering products and services. And to encourage such creativity and risk-taking, the company not only empowers the employees to innovate but ensures the “intrapreneurs” that they will not be held accountable for any failures or losses as a result of their experiment. It’s called intrapreneurship because it gives the same creative freedom to people within a corporation or organization that independent entrepreneurs have.

 

It has been seen that companies who find ways to allow the self-motivated to leverage their creativity and ingenuity are more likely to survive and grow, especially in the rapidly changing modern world. One of many such examples of success include Google’s “20% time program” which allowed their employees to allot a fifth of their worktime to freely engage in intrapreneurship. The result: gmail. When listening to my friend’s experience of intrapreneurship I thought of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s genius in setting up ISKCON along similar principles by encouraging a system of management that would empower independently thoughtful and creative devotees. Śrīla Prabhupāda’s understanding of the principle of intrapreneurship is outlined in his famous letter to Karandhara dasa.[1] Below is a relevant excerpt:

 

“Regarding your points about taxation, corporate status, etc., I have heard from Jayatirtha you want to make big plan for centralisation of management, taxes, monies, corporate status, bookkeeping, credit, like that. I do not at all approve of such plan. Do not centralise anything. Each temple must remain independent and self-sufficient. That was my plan from the very beginning, why you are thinking otherwise? Once before you wanted to do something centralising with your GBC meeting, and if I did not interfere the whole thing would have been killed. Do not think in this way of big corporation, big credits, centralisation–these are all nonsense proposals. Only thing I wanted was that books printing and distribution should be centralised, therefore I appointed you and Bali Mardan to do it. Otherwise, management, everything, should be done locally by local men. Accounts must be kept, things must be in order and lawfully done, but that should be each temple’s concern, not yours. Krishna Consciousness Movement is for training men to be independently thoughtful and competent in all types of departments of knowledge and action, not for making bureaucracy. Once there is bureaucracy the whole thing will be spoiled. There must be always individual striving and work and responsibility, competitive spirit, not that one shall dominate and distribute benefits to the others and they do nothing but beg from you and you provide.”

 

Genius? At least, it’s quite remarkable that more than fifty years ago at the beginning of his fledgling movement he so clearly understood these principles of empowerment and tried to set up his movement on principles of intrapreneurship that only became prominent in modern corporate leadership over thirty years later. Let us all honor in our own capacity the genius of Śrīla Prabhupāda and the principle of intrapraneurship.

 


[1] https://vanisource.org/wiki/721222_-_Letter_to_Karandhara_written_from_Bombay?hl=thoughtful%7Cindependently

 

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