Waves of Devotion

Dhanurdhara Swami May 21st, 2018

Don’t worry, nothing serious happened. It is a good story, however.

I was staying on 7^th Street just off 1^st Avenue. I left my apartment at 3:30 AM and turned onto 1^st Avenue for the short five-minute walk to the Bhakti Center. I usually chant japa before the morning ārati, but this was the first time I walked there from outside the center. I was actually surprised to see so many people still mulling around. I guess am a bit naïve. Of course, they are out so late. It was early Saturday morning. Young singles work all week at stressful jobs, and starting Friday night it’s prime time to drown their pain into the wee hours of the morning. Mostly there were mixed groups hanging outside the bars, usually with at least one in every group nervously smoking a cigarette to hide their inhibitions.

As I walked past 4^th Street I noticed the  “Karma” bar. Yes, that’s the name. An Indian lady and her sons own it. At least in the midst of all this ignorance someone has the sense to hang a purport to this madness. Amused, I looked across the street trying to locate the Nam Café. I can’t find it. Maybe it has been closed. Oh, the Nam Café.  I surmise that some Vietnamese immigrant opened a café with their country’s namesake and that by Krishna’s mercy the “Viet” fell off of their sign leaving us just the “Nam”, [1] as if to give those here in their stupor a hint at salvation.

Monday Morning Greetings is based on seeing the world through the eyes of śāstra. As a devotee of Krishna, I am trained to see things not just through the mind, which categorizes and ascribes feelings according to our past prejudicial experiences, but to see the world aided by thoughtful judgments based on śāstra, a vision I believe more lucid and healthy than just seeing only with the eyes and impure mind.

As I was just awakening to take avail of these hours that infuse clarity and contentment into the consciousness, the people around me, drowned in ignorance, are soon to slumber. I thus thought of the “eyes of the Gītā”, which had also become my vision:

“What is night for all beings is the time of awakening for the self-controlled; and the time of awakening for all beings is night for the introspective sage.” (Bg. 2.69)

The Bhakti Center at last! Just as I was about to try to open the door, which was, in fact, still locked, a drunk appeared out of nowhere, like “poof”.  I hadn’t noticed him at all, but even if the door was unlocked, I still couldn’t have opened it from where he was standing without moving him aside. With glassy angst eyes, his drunken head tilted to the side a few inches from my face, as if sizing me up, he asked about my religion. The drunk was about thirty, swarthy complexion, bi-racial, with semi-braided long hair, and a kind of Fu Manchu facial hair. I think of a young Carlos Santana. I did, however, see a spark of sincerity in him. I answered clearly and lucidly with a universal answer that I was confident was communicative, satisfying and stimulating. I guess not. “You’re f’ing with me!” Not what I wanted to hear.

I had no choice but to try to engage in dialogue with this madman, a post-modern drunk, who I could see, even if sober, would not agree with my more traditional perspective. I tried to find a common ground despite his clouded mind and muddled view in order to reason with him, but he remained belligerent, projecting that I was rude and condescending even on my most accommodating replies. He took exception to my name—“Mahārāja”. “Why did you change it? What’s your real name? You’re Jewish aren’t you?” What? The situation remained volatile.

I had already been up for a few hours writing and reading and I was quite peaceful. I felt no enmity or anger towards him for troubling me. I had this confidence that if I could remain peaceful, it should influence him to be at least non-violent. I thought of my study of the Yoga Sutras where the mystic perfection of ahiṁsā is discussed. One fully accomplished in ahiṁsā projects an aura of peace so powerful that in such a person’s presence even the most mortal enemies, the mongoose and the cobra, would not war. I certainly haven’t perfected that, but I was convinced that by remaining focused and calm, his frustration wouldn’t boil over. I wasn’t really sure how this would end, but I did know soon someone from the harināma ashrama would arrive, as they do very every morning at that time.

Suddenly Bhakta Amrit Singh opened the door and apologized that it was locked. “Come in! Come in!” My drunken “friend” looked at him and demanded three more minutes. I tell Amrit it is OK. The drunk makes one more incoherent request. I then tell him it’s time for me to go. He turned, almost sheepishly, and headed towards 2^nd Street.

Amrit is from a kṣatriya family, all of whom served the Indian military. I have noticed that he holds himself with a certain dignity and discipline. I thus meditated on another bhāva or internal mood, that of the noble warrior. I couldn’t help but think that by the way the drunk quickly walked away that he intuitively felt some of that bhāva from Amrit, which is probably a more effective way of dealing with these modern day Jagāi and Mādhāis[2] than my attempt at ahiṁsā.

As I finally entered the oasis of the Bhakti Center, I reflected on the faith that I have been gifted, one that gives happiness by changing the consciousness. I contrasted that faith with the conviction I saw outside, an illusory happiness based on fleeting pleasure ending in sadness and ultimately inebriation just to dull the consequent pain. I remember a saying I read that describes it all:

“Pleasure is the happiness of madman, and happiness is the pleasure of a sage.”[3]

[1] “Nam” is short for “nāma”, which means the holy name of Krishna.

[2] The infamous drunken and vicious brothers that tried to kill Lord Nityānanda but were ultimately delivered by him.

[3] A quote referenced in a book called Happiness by Matthieu Ricard. I don’t know offhand the origin of the quote he referenced.

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Dhanurdhara Swami May 14th, 2018

Even though “heaven” is technically not the right word, the phrase works here. I can’t think of a better match of two people or things than the match between humility and prema (love of God). They nourish each other. The more one’s humility increases the more one feels love of God, and the more one feels love of God the more humble one becomes. In fact, one who has attained prema is so humble that he or she feels devoid of even a scent of divine love. Let’s explore this unique relationship, for it forms the foundation of bhakti.

Philosophical concepts can be subtle and difficult to explain. They often need practical examples to illustrate them. In my struggles to explain the relationship between humility and prema it took me years before I finally came up with some examples to help communicate this principle.

Example 1

A child who is proud and entitled never feels the love of his parents even if the parents give their child the whole world, and as a result of not feeling that love from his parents he doesn’t develop love for his parents either. A child who is humble, however, overflows with appreciation and love at the slightest gesture of affection. In the same way, a proud soul feels entitled and can neither feel God’s mercy nor develop love for Him, while a humble soul can both fully experience the mercy of God and awaken feelings of devotion in his heart. Humility and prema thus naturally encourage each other.

Example 2

A mafia Don sees the world according to his own desire to such an extent that he may even kill a person who gets in his way. He is an emblem of pride, for in his self-created world he sees everyone under his control. That same crime boss, however, when at home may happily take the humble position in the presence of his mother and center his desires according to her will out of affection for her. Similarly, as one develops prema-bhakti, one puts Krishna in the center and sees the world according to His desires, a vision that fosters deep humility. Again, there is a direct relationship between prema and humility.

Example 3

As hunger increases a person feels his own lack of food more and more. Lack or poverty naturally makes one humble. Prema is the thirst or hunger for God and thus as prema increases one feels a lack of it to the extent that one humbly feels devoid of even a scent of devotion.

Example 4

When one receives something far beyond his or her ability to earn, one experiences undeserved kindness and naturally contemplates one’s lack of qualification. In other words, being a recipient of mercy instinctively makes one feel humble. The greatest treasure is love of God. Therefore when even a drop of that love enters the heart one feels unbounded mercy, reflects on one’s dearth of qualification, and becomes humbled by such grace.

Example 5

If a person keeps a messy living space then he will hardly notice the addition of more clutter, while a person who keeps things spotlessly clean notices the smallest mess. Prema is the height of purity and thus even an apparent impurity or mistake becomes glaring and prominent. Ironically, a person with the treasure of prema thus feels impure and humble, while a person filled with selfishness doesn’t even notice.

Example 6

Two verses come to mind that succinctly illustrate the correlation between humility and prema. The first is by Śrī Caitanya and the second by Queen Kuntī:

“One should chant the holy name of the Lord in a humble state of mind thinking oneself lower than the straw in the street; one should be more tolerant than a tree, devoid of all sense of false prestige, and ready to offer all respects to others. In such a state of mind one can chant the holy name of the Lord constantly.” (Śikṣāṣṭakam v. 3) [1]

“My Lord, Your Lordship can easily be approached, but only by those who are materially exhausted. One who is on the path of [material] progress, trying to improve himself with respectable parentage, great opulence, high education and bodily beauty, cannot approach You with sincere feeling.” (Bhāg. 1.8.26) [2]

The point is clear. Humility and devotion are tied at the waist. But the question remains: How to become humble? I heard a nice saying that sheds some light on the question: “It is easier to act humble and then to become humble than think humble and then act humble.”

Acting humble means to culture a mood of service and to think of others before oneself. In this regard, I heard one beautiful definition of bhakti: To make oneself available. And that is the mood of chanting the mahā-mantra – to announce both in voice and in heart that we want to serve and actually be ready when Krishna, through guru and the Vaiṣṇavas, respond to our prayer.

Whenever we talk about spiritual life and developing our relationship with Krishna it comes down to this point of humility, because it is indeed a match made in heaven.

[1] Implied here is that humility is the foundation of prema because the only activities that can be done ceaselessly are those done in devotion, so if humility is the cause of constant chanting it must have invoked feelings of devotion.

[2] Simply put, only one who is not proud can chant with devotion.

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Dhanurdhara Swami May 7th, 2018

What’s a nice Hare Krishna doing in a place like that? Barring how I got there, Green-Wood Cemetery is arguably one of the most beautiful places in New York City. Walking through rolling hills and dales and sitting by its beautiful ponds and glacial moraines, I could see why this 500 acre cemetery couched in an natural park-like landscape served as the inspiration for the creation of Central Park, even though it was still technically a graveyard.

And what is this “Morbid Anatomy”? Oh, that. Just an exhibit of art and artifacts “designed to connect with the most universal of all human conditions: death.” I chanced upon the exhibit at the Fort Hamilton house just inside the park’s entrance on my way in for the afternoon walk.

My thoughts on my lovely afternoon at Green-Wood Cemetery

First thoughts. Why thoughts? Just enjoy the walk. I just finished a beautiful meal with my hosts David and Ann-Mary at their apartment just a few blocks a way. They go to the cemetery often. They wanted to take me for a pleasant and very interesting after lunch stroll. The city is externally hellish. Śrīla Prabhupāda once called modern day cities “dungeons of demons” and quoted part of a poem by the British poet Cowper: “God made the country, man made the town”. So after being cooped up in the city for a week why not just absorb the surroundings made by God and reconnect with the divine by a type of osmosis?

Of course, with all the tombstones, mausoleums, and obelisks, there was more to peak my interest than just a country-type walk in the middle of Brooklyn. I was especially intrigued by the personal epithets on the graves. They seemed to bring the dead lying there back to life, as many wore their personality on their tombstones.

I chuckled when I passed the tombstone of one lady who left her friend and relatives a perky message: “Get over it!” I loved the inscription on Billy “The Butcher” Poole’s grave, spoken just before dying after being shot in a Brooklyn saloon. Scribed on his tomb, serving as a good example of a typical disintegrated alpha male were these final words: “Good bye boys. I die a true American.” Mostly I appreciated the inscription of the pious, expressing their faith and peace in Jesus.

And naturally there were also some philosophical thoughts. As we approached the beautiful archway entrance on the other side of the park at the end of our journey, I couldn’t help but be struck by the contrast between where I was standing and the bustle and grime outside:  “Why on this absolutely beautiful sunny spring Saturday afternoon were there just a handful in this paradisiacal park, and millions standing just outside the gate in a hellish place by their choice?” I came up with two theories:

People are just conditioned to pleasures that don’t serve their happiness. I thought of the story of Indra, the king of heaven, who was cursed to take the body of a hog. His family and subjects finally found him after many years, and informed him that the curse had ended and he could resume his form and position as the king of heaven. They were shocked how conditioned he was to his degraded position. He replied, “Why should I go when I have such good stool to eat and so many good pig friends and family?”  In a similar way, it seems most people in Brooklyn would rather hang out on a dirty, noisy street corner than cross the street into a bucolic park, a place that by its very mode would elevate them to goodness and peace. How much are we all Indra, attached to pleasures that make no sense and cause us grief?

To be fair, it is a cemetery—but still, its open spaces and beauty should be a lure for the millions bordering it. It makes me suspect that people mostly avoid crossing the street due to the powerful psychological impulse of denial or fear of death, one of the five classic kleśas,[1] or foundational psychological conditions binding one to material existence. I again thought of a relevant story called “The Pool Of Death”.

Standing before the pool of death, Maharaja Yudhiṣṭhira, the king of righteousness, is challenged to answer one hundred questions by the Lord of Death, or else be immediately slain. He deftly answers the first ninety-nine questions correctly, but is seemingly stumped by the last one, “Of all the things in the world what is the most astounding thing?” Just an instant before the reaper of death is about to strike, the correct answer finally comes to his mind: “My father has died, my father’s father has died, and every father’s father died, but still everyone lives as they will not die. Denial of death is the most amazing thing.”

I took a last glance of this beautiful park and meditated on where all this ends—no pun intended—and pondered over how well I am gearing my life to this most stark fact of being, death. Crossing the street back to the real Brooklyn, I remembered a line from Bhaktivinoda’s Ṭhākura’s Aruṇodaya-kīrtana which depicted the thinking of an enlightened soul.

“This temporary material world is full of suffering. Take shelter of the holy name of Krishna as your only business.”

And that’s what a nice Hare Krishna was doing in a place like that.

[1] The impediments to samādhi are ignorance, ego, attachment, aversion and fear of death. (Yoga Sutras II.3)

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Dhanurdhara Swami April 30th, 2018

It’s Monday. Time again to start my next article. I have nothing to write. What to do? I will try a trick that I learned in public speaking, and see if it that helps to inspire me.  When for some reason you really have nothing to say, just be honest and share why. Connecting to the audience with conviction, even by sharing one’s shortcomings, empowers one to continue to speak with conviction. In fact, from the occasional feedback I get from Monday Morning Greetings, the articles that are most appreciated are those where I bare my faults. Anyway, I am being honest here. Usually by Monday I have already been mulling over something in my mind to write for the next week’s Greetings. I am little bit concerned today because I have a deadline and it’s the second time this year that I have no clue what to write about.

Although I would rather have some realization to share, I also see a benefit from not.  It forces me to search for my failings, which I see as the reason why I have nothing to share this week. In terms of my writing, it inevitably comes down to the fact that my level of meditation and study has slackened due to traveling and a consequent lack of regularity in my schedule. I always meet my vows, but to keep an edge for writing, I need to do much more, not just in quantity, but also in concentration. Without a fresh well of ideas and a clear lens to see the world, it is very difficult to see life in a way worth writing about. Well, my exercise worked. I feel some inspiration. I will speak about how to turn weakness into strength in the world, in bhakti, and in chanting.

In the World

Śrīla Prabhupāda was once asked what the difference is between a human being and an animal. He responded that a human being could ask the question “Why am I suffering?”  I loved his answer and especially its implications. If you ask the question “Why am I suffering”, the next question, “What did I do wrong”, inherently follows, as suffering is just a symptom of going against nature or doing something wrong. That naturally leads to the inquiry “What should I be doing”, which culminates in the most crucial question of all: “Who am I?” Without understanding what we are made of and what we are made for, or in other words who we are, how can we lead a life aligned with our nature, the prerequisite for harmony or happiness?

In this way the mistakes we make and their consequent suffering become our strength if we have the sincerity to inquire about the source of our suffering. In other words, our weakness becomes our strength if used properly.

In Devotion

Devotion often begins by a humble response to one’s lack of qualification, a reaction that inspires devotion. In contrast, pride in one’s qualifications ruins devotion:

“If a brāhmaṇa has all twelve of the brāhminical qualifications but is not a devotee and is averse to the lotus feet of the Lord, he is certainly lower than a devotee who is a dog-eater but who has dedicated everything—mind, words, activities, wealth and life—to the Supreme Lord. Such a devotee is better than such a brāhmaṇa because the devotee can purify his whole family, whereas the so-called brāhmaṇa in a position of false prestige cannot purify even himself.” (Bhāg. 7.9.10)

Why is the devotee, even one born in a family of dog-eaters, more exalted than a brāhmaṇa who is decorated with such qualities as self control, religiousness, and austerity?  The low-born devotee, meaning one fully surrendered to God, becomes humble or spiritual by his bad qualities, where the high class brāhmaṇa, becomes proud by his good qualities.

In writing this I am thinking of one striking example I knew quite well one very mentally challenged devotee. To just function in the world he would need to be heavily medicated. I am aware of the pitfalls of psychotropic treatments, but in this case he couldn’t function sanely without them. I saw that personally. Still, every day without fail for almost thirty years he would walk to the temple from his government subsidized apartment and then clean the whole four-story building from top to bottom with the greatest attention. He certainly lacked brāhmanical qualities such as peacefulness, self-control, and austerity, but his challenges made him humble, a clear example of how our karmic lacking can become our strength.

In Chanting

In previous ages like Satya-yuga, people lived very long lives and also had great strength for meditation and arduous penances, but because of such prowess they also had a difficult time developing faith in the simple and more powerful process of chanting the Lord’s name. In contrast, although today’s people lack the strength for such discipline and meditation, it is precisely because of this lack of qualification that they can more easily develop faith in the glories of the holy name.

“Devotion in the form of kīrtana is unlimitedly merciful to those devoid of false prestige. […] Such humility is natural in Kali-yuga because people generally lack the qualifications of those in previous ages […] therefore saṅkīrtana appearing in the midst of the people in Kali-yuga who are naturally meek, easily confers upon them all the results derived from the practices prominent in other yugas and this makes them perfect.” [1]

The pressure is on. How many times can I use this trick to write an article? But it did demonstrate an important principle for cultivating spiritual life: If in the natural course of any sincere endeavor you falter, make your weakness your strength by bowing your head and taking shelter of God.

[1] Bhakti Sandarbha, Anuccheda 273, translation by Satyanarayana dasa

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Dhanurdhara Swami April 23rd, 2018

It felt like death. I had just spent the week finishing my last Monday Morning Greetings and pressed the command key to copy it when the whole document literally turned to Chinese letters. Now this had nothing to do with the fact that the article was on Chinese Proverbs. It was just some inexplicable computer glitch that had a twist of irony, but that’s not all it was about. Writing is an intense labor and the product is your child, so when it is lost there is pain. I am proud of myself though.  I wasn’t too flustered; although, I did wish I had my child back. What I did get, however, was a personal illustration of the theme of the lecture that I was about to give that evening called “The Art of Living and Dying”.

My theme was “Practicing Dying”. That was Plato’s answer when asked to sum up his teachings. And here was the example that I needed for illustrating my point. Death is the obliteration of the false ego – our inflated self-conception of being the enjoyer – when the world moves not only beyond our control, but digresses to annihilation. Similarly, in life, the false ego is also crushed as the world moves against our control, a micro death so to speak. My computer glitch and consequent loss thus made it clear that life is both like death and prepares us for death by helping us to renounce the false conception of the enjoyer.

The more I thought about my micro near death experience, the more I realized how such experiences work and how powerful they are. One phrase came to mind that supported my insight: “Die to live”. It’s a phase coined by the German philosopher Georg Hegel, and often used by Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja to highlight the point now under discussion: In order to realize our eternal life, we must allow our ego to die. And the most substantial way to do that is to not feed it by indulging in the self-pity, frustration, or anger that arises when the world moves against our control. We can thus practice dying by neglecting the voices of the ego and by remaining equipoised, while at the same time devotedly serving in circumstances that God places us, a spirit very much akin to the nature of the soul. I think a poignant example will help further clarify these points, an example that I had the fortune to witness.

Gauri was convinced that suffering is caused by ignorance and that the greatest compassion was to distribute spiritual knowledge. She therefore performed the austerity of distributing Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books eight to ten hours a day. As she always thought of others before herself, she found immense inner joy doing this daily despite its challenges. Unfortunately, one day she was diagnosed with stage-four cancer and immediately left for Vṛndāvana to die. I was in her room one evening with others on what would prove to be her last day, when suddenly Dr. Narottama, her ayurvedic doctor entered. He directly went to his patient, felt her pulse and announced, “Disease is finished. You have one hour left to live!” I was initially confused by his apparently contradictory statement, but after some thought I understood his enlightened message: The real disease and the cause of suffering is not the transformation of the body, which is inevitable, but the false ego, the consciousness that makes us identify with the body and thus suffer its transformations, including death. Gauri’s disease was therefore indeed finished, although she would leave the body soon due her cancer.

And sure enough within one hour she was gone, but before she left in that ensuing hour, we witnessed something amazing. Not only was she fully conscious the whole time, but she even made a point to have her picture taken smiling to be sent to her friends who had served with her with similar dedication. She then verbally relayed a message to accompany the picture: By full dedication to one’s duty and service and by tolerating the concomitant dualities of the world one could, as promised, indeed conquer death. What an example of practicing dying!

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Dhanurdhara Swami April 16th, 2018

By chance, I came across a book of Chinese Proverbs. [1] Out of curiosity I began thumbing the pages and wound up reading the whole thing. I’m glad I did. A quote by Francis Bacon in the introduction says it all:

“The genius, wit, and spirit of a nation are discovering proverbs.”

Let me share of few of my favorites with short personal comments on each.

Chinese Proverbs 

Only one who can swallow an insult is a man.

A real man is one who has the strength of humility to control the false ego, which especially gets stirred when one is insulted.

Do everything at the right time and one day will seem like three.

To do everything at the right time means to be thoughtfully regulated in one’s activities. Making appointments with oneself helps to inoculate one from the intrusion of other less essential demands made by our minds and others. So much can be accomplished when one does this. For example, if one wants to maintain or increase one’s chanting, then one should chant every day at a prescribed time and the completion of every three rounds will seem like one.

Patience in one minute of anger can prevent one hundred days of sorrow.

Too much of life is wasted in dealing with problems that one has brought upon oneself by reacting impulsively. In other words, too much of what we are dealing with is self-created and could be avoided if we had more self-discipline and thoughtfulness.

There are two kinds of perfect people. Those who are dead, and those who have not been born yet.

The only way not to make mistakes is to do nothing. If we sincerely endeavor to improve ourselves, even if we sometimes falter, there is no reason to feel guilty. [2]

Men will despise you only if you despise yourself.

Unfortunately low self-esteem projects weakness and attracts scorn from those who are weak and envious. In contrast, those who feel self-worth as pure, humble servants of God attract affection from all. Śrīnivāsa Ācārya describes this about the Six Gosvāmīs of Vṛndāvana:

“They are just like the ocean of love of God, and they are popular both with the gentle and with the ruffians, because they are not envious of anyone.” (Ṣaḍ-gosvāmy-aṣṭaka v. 1)

To be fond of learning is to be near knowledge.

Our present knowledge is limited by our present frame of reference. There is so much more to know than what we can presently understand just by our perception. Therefore in terms of nearing knowledge, without eagerness to learn from a teacher—an authoritative source—one is doomed to either be stuck where one is or to learn very slowly.

Only by learning do we discover how ignorant we are.

Only by learning a subject can we understand the subject’s depth, especially spiritual subjects. For example, God is infinite. Thus the more we learn and realize about the expanse of God’s glories, the more we discover how much more there is to know.

Better to argue with a wise man than prattle with a fool.

Next time you engage with a Facebook thread or just follow one, keep this advice in mind.

To know another person is not to know the person’s face, but to know the person’s heart.

The most substantial part of any person, which is one’s nature as a friend, parent, or lover, is only revealed to one by those who love him or her. It can never be seen by perception or analysis alone. Similarly, God can only be known when He becomes inspired to give Himself in reciprocation with one’s devotion. Śrī Krishna describes this principle in the Bhagavad-gītā: “To those who are constantly devoted and worship Me with love, I give the understanding by which they can come to Me.” (Bg 10.10)

Learning is like rowing upstream: To not advance is to fall back.

If one is not steady in one’s commitments in spiritual life, one will not gain the strength to move forward. Enthusiasm wanes for any endeavor in which one does not feel progress.

Only distance tests the strength of horses; only time reveals the hearts of man.

Many people at the beginning of their spiritual life practice at a level beyond their qualification due to their initial fervor, but as their motive is not yet pure, they often become slack in their practices. The real test of one’s devotion is when one steadily executes their service for many years despite the challenges that come over time. We should very much respect those devotees who, after decades of facing life’s natural “ups and downs”, are still engaged steadily in humble service.

I was angered for I had no shoes, then I met a man who had no feet

One should be content with one’s immediate needs of life. Accruing more than that will only increase one’s level of attachment, leaving one with the same level of dissatisfaction as before. According to the Yoga Sutras, the result of perfecting the niyama of contentment, this satisfaction with what one has, is the attainment of the highest happiness.

To know the road ahead, ask those coming back.

One of the six qualities that enhance bhakti is sādhu vṛtti—to follow in the footsteps of previous ācāryas. It is described that the footsteps of a sādhu are like so many lighthouses that help one cross an infinite ocean

A smile will gain you ten more years of life.

Many studies show that the single most important factor for physical health is not exercise or even diet, although they are certainly important for health. The single most important element necessary for a long life is the quality and amount of the good relationships one has. It is the key because it is the foundation of happiness and “a smile will gain you ten more years of life[3]”.

A book holds a house of gold.

The most valuable things we possess are life realizations, for only by seeing the truth everywhere can one become happy. Realizations come by applying what we have heard from books of knowledge. A book of true knowledge thus contains the greatest treasure. In this regard see “Be a Sage Page by Page” (iOS App Store – Google Play).

The beautiful bird is the one that is caged.

Opulence, whether it is beauty, wealth, fame, intelligence, and so on, can be used either to serve others or to control them. Unfortunately, because our desire to enjoy is so strong we often see and use our “good karma” to control others, entangling us in the ropes of karma.

When drinking water, remember its source.

There are some things written on the subject of devotion that I don’t read even though they seem intellectually and aesthetically stimulating because I doubt the character of the source. Whatever a person shares with conviction carries his or her heart. If a person’s convictions are jaded by an agenda then those misconceptions and feelings are subtly transferred into his or her writing

Don’t believe you will ever reach the destination without leaving the shore.

When I begin writing Monday Morning Greetings every week I can’t imagine that a finished article will be produced, but I realize that if I don’t start, I will never produce anything. Many talented people don’t write very much because producing a written piece is daunting and they never start. If one leaves the shore of paralysis by simply vowing to write even a sentence or two a day, then one will soon reach the destination of a completed piece.

Listening well is as powerful as talking well, and it is also essential to true conversation.

I don’t have time to comment on all my favorites so I will list the last few:

Disease enters through the mouth; disaster leaves from it.

Useless as a youth, useless as a man.

Learning that does not daily increase will daily decrease.

He who teaches for a day is my father for life.

Life is but a journey, death is returning home.

Brooklyn Proverbs

I have to admit that I put this in the title to make the article more attractive to read. Now I am forced to come up with at least one “Brooklyn Proverb”. I can only think of one. It’s quite revealing about the culture I grew up in.

Nice guys finish last.[4]

[1] Chinese Proverbs for Today’s World by Emil William Chynn

[2] “Having awakened faith in the narrations of My glories, being disgusted with all material activities, knowing that all sense gratification leads to misery, but still being unable to renounce all sense enjoyment, My devotee should remain happy and worship Me with great faith and conviction. Even though he is sometimes engaged in sense enjoyment, My devotee knows that all sense gratification leads to a miserable result, and he sincerely repents such activities.” [emphasis mine] (Bhag. 11.20.27-28)

[3] What Makes a Life Good: Lessons from the Longest Study on Happiness – Robert Waldinger

[4] This was about as famous a quotation as there was growing up in New York. It is credited to Leo “the Lip” Durocher, the former manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, which was the professional baseball team we followed growing up.

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Dhanurdhara Swami April 9th, 2018

My conversations with Peter are always illuminating. Peter fully serves his church as an author, lecturer, and retreat facilitator. He was briefly passing through New York at the end of a lecture tour and we met at Divya’s Kitchen for lunch. I don’t remember how we got there, but somehow today’s discussion became about the devil. I was fascinated with Peter’s explanation of the word’s Latin derivative:

“The Greek term diabolos is the root for the English word ‘devil’. When we speak of ‘diabolical behavior’ we typically mean actions that are pure evil. The Greek term is from a compound: dia means to scatter (it’s where the term ‘diaspora’ comes from) and bolos (from the verb, ballo) means to throw an object. Together they connote someone taking a vessel and throwing it against a wall so it shatters and scatters into a million pieces. That’s what the Devil does in Judeo-Christian tradition. He kills and destroys (John 10:10). That’s what the world does on a more subtle level. It takes our attention, energy, and affections and scatters them in a million different directions, so we are never quite present, put together, or focused.”

I found the concept fascinating, especially the last point; our challenges in spiritual life are devilish, breaking our focus and concentration away from God and selfishly scattering it in different directions. Peter continued by explaining that the term “perfection or wholeness” is from the derivative of another word. Again I appreciated how he illustrates concepts by the root derivatives of a common word:

“On the contrary, shalom (peace, wholeness) can mean literally ‘nothing missing, nothing broken’. It’s our state when we turn to God. He puts us back together, collects the broken pieces, making the broken beautiful like the stunning art of mending in Japanese lacquerware called kintsugi. It’s when skilled artisans take a broken vessel and meticulously restore it. Rather than hide the cracks and imperfections, they fill them with powered gold (see photo above).”

His explanation of how completeness and peace is becoming whole by turning to God also struck a chord. Finally, he continued his line of thought by describing why an English word was chosen to describe the opening prayer for the Christian Mass:

“In the Mass, the opening prayer is called ‘The Collect’. The idea is worship collects, gathers our heart and mind back so we can give God ‘one-pointed attention’.”

As we were discussing these topics it was natural for me to immediately think of verses in my own tradition that, not surprisingly, define the same concepts in a similar way. The first verse that came to mind was Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 11.2.37[1] where the great sage Kavi describes that all fear and duality (bhayaṁ dvitīya) arises from turning away from God (īśād apetasya) and thus an intelligent person worships God fully with devotion (ataḥ budha ābhajet taṁ bhaktyā bhaktya). Interestingly, this verse is quoted by Śrī Jīva at the beginning of the Bhakti Sandarbha, where he defines the practice of devotion as reversing the cause of ignorance, which is turning away from God, by worshipping Him or turning towards Him.

The next verse that came to my mind that describes this dichotomy is Bhagavad-gītā 2.41[2]. Śrī Krishna contrasts one fixed in devotional service, one single-pointed in his attention towards God (vyavasāyātmikā buddhir ekeha), with one who is not, whose mind is thus many branched (bahu-śākhā) or scattered.[3]

I very much enjoyed my time with Peter and the perspective he shared from his tradition that inspired me in my own. If we are here in this world, by definition our consciousness has been shattered and disconnected from our true self and we have falling prey to the “diabolical”, so to speak. Those who are intelligent must therefore seriously take up a devotional practice. By turning our attention to Krishna we can then become once again whole or peaceful. Shalom!

[1] Fear arises when a living entity misidentifies himself as the material body because of absorption in the external, illusory energy of the Lord. When the living entity thus turns away from the Supreme Lord, he also forgets his own constitutional position as a servant of the Lord. This bewildering, fearful condition is affected by the potency for illusion, called māyā. 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.

[2]  Those who are on this path are resolute in purpose, and their aim is one. O beloved child of the Kurus, the intelligence of those who are irresolute is many-branched.

[3] Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī in his commentary to this verse offers the bhakti perspective to this concept by explaining that this one-pointed attention in spiritual life means to take the order of one’s spiritual master as one’s life and soul. Śrīla Prabhupāda credits this specific point in Viśvanātha’s commentary of 2.41 for inspiring him to fully take up his spiritual master’s order for him to preach Krishna-consciousness in the western countries.

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Dhanurdhara Swami April 2nd, 2018

A Nor’easter slams your town, dumps a ton of snow and your basement floods. You are knee-deep in ice water draining it out. It dawns on you how deep a hole this will put in your pocket—thousands of hard earned dollars. It sounds like hell. What would you be thinking at the time? I was impressed with my friend’s reaction.

“You know, initially I was disturbed, but then I thought of my studies of the Gītā and how to apply it: I have family so it is my duty to fix the house and my duty ultimately means what God wants me to do. So instead of being frustrated I was grateful to do my duty and serve God.”

My friend is a philosophy professor and he studied the Bhagavad-gītā with me over twenty years ago. It has remained the foundation of his life. I was impressed with his realization. Instead of the normal “kvetching” when things go wrong, he shifted his thoughts to the glory of connecting our “worldly” life to God’s will through dharma, which is, simply put, doing what God wants from us in any situation. Overcoming selfishness and seeing God’s will is the foundation of any spiritual path. As we continued to discuss, he opined how karma-yoga, the essence of the Gītā, was often too minimized in a devotee’s life. “After all,” he said, “Krishna asked Arjuna to fight.”

As we continued our discussion he shared with me some of his ideas on karma-yoga based on his study of the Gītā where he applies those teachings personally to his own life as a family man working in the world. I found his realizations insightful, and especially relevant to most people who like him work and live in the world. I don’t have to tell my audience how difficult it is to re-orient one’s consciousness to the soul in today’s world, a world that often forces us to adopt the mode of being the controller just to survive.

A summary of our discussion:

1. Basic Foundation of Karma-yoga
   1. Karma-yoga is based on what the Gītā calls buddhi-yoga, which is the practice of conceptual re-adjustment, changing our thinking from material to spiritual.
   2. Two aspects of conceptual re-adjustment:
      1. To transform one’s motivation from selfishness to the desire for purification/liberation and especially to the service of God.
      2. A conscious effort to re-conceive of oneself as the pure soul, and not the body that is enmeshed in various material designations or identifications.

          

         Although one must act within material designation to perform dharma such as “I am a mother, a father, a husband, a wife, a guru, a leader” and so on, one still tries to remember in a deep way that one is playing a role, so to speak.)

2. The Components of Karma-yoga
   1. One should try to live according to dharma, since dharma (doing your duties properly) is the basis for karma-yoga.
   2. While performing one’s dharma (work, family responsibilities, chores etc.) one should try to be conscious that one’s dharma is service to God and do it in that spirit conscientiously.

       

      Rāmānuja often remarks that the laws of religion are God’s commands. As such performing one’s duty is obeying His law and can be done lovingly and gratefully.

   3. Serving others, whether family, members of one’s work, or one’s community or society, can be infused by the consciousness that they are in fact parts of God and one can (and should) respect and love them as such.
   4. Try to constantly remember we are the self and as such are (I) not constituted of prakṛti (matter), and (II) completely dependent on God for everything we do, down to the smallest bodily movements.

       

      Rāmānuja further notes that as the world is ensouled by the paramātmā, the world is the body of God, and should be seen in that way.)

3. Daily Mindfulness of the Above
   1. Some kind of early morning prayer, study, and contemplation time to provide focus and alignment for the day.
   2. Centering prayer at various parts of the day, including reading select verses from scripture, recitation of key prayers/mantras to help one be mindful along the lines mentioned in the last section.

       

      This is hard to do unless one makes certain official times to take a break from work to do this for ten or fifteen minutes, at least once a day.

4. Other supportive practices
   1. Regular retreats to concentrate, focus, and absorb one in devotion.
   2. Following a liturgical calendar [1] in a serious way.

       

      The liturgical calendar, in this case the Vaiṣṇava calendar, looks at the year in a spiritually and reformative way, rather than seeing one’s week and month just in terms of family and social obligations. By following such a calendar dutifully, one’s faith is renewed and the year and consciousness is geared toward devotional transformation. For us it means ekādaśī, the appearance and disappearance of saints and special months like Kārttika and Śrāvaṇa (Jhulana-yātrā [2] and so on).

On the path of bhakti we have a rich spiritual tradition to transform our consciousness including deep practices of devotion and a commitment to a spiritual mission that is our primary spiritual focus. People often ask how to juxtapose that spiritual tradition practically within their modern day-to-day life in the home and workplace. Śrīla Prabhupāda was very concerned about that and often recommended a lifestyle based on developing spiritual communities more conducive to spiritual life. Nonetheless, by family circumstance and present economic situations most people and adherents to the bhakti tradition still remain in modern day work and family situations, which are not inherently born to support spirituality. They ask what to do to help spiritualize their situations. I thus am offering kudos to karma (yoga).

[1] Liturgical calendar is a calendar of the communal or public worship of a spiritual tradition based on its beliefs and customs.

[2] Jhulana-yātrā commemorates the pastime of Radha and Krishna swinging in the summer moths. In the temples of Radha and Krishna a beautiful swing is decorated and the deities of Radha and Krishna are placed in it in the evening. For five days the devotees are invited to visit the temple and swing the deities. It is a good example of a liturgical activity listed in a Vaiṣṇava calendar that by following helps one look at their year in a spiritual way.
 
 

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Dhanurdhara Swami March 26th, 2018

At the age of twenty-one Jeff, my youngest cousin, was mercilessly beaten to death by the local police in a Midwest jail for no reason. His crime: He had asthma and was Jewish. From what the family could gather, it was Jeff’s first day of law school and due to his asthma, he sat near the window in the library to help with his breathing. When the school librarian told him to move because the window seats were reserved for upperclassmen, he refused due to his health and out of principle; the place was nearly empty. When he repeatedly denied the librarian’s demands she summoned the local police. They eagerly hauled off this city boy from Los Angeles to jail, and unfortunately he never again saw the light of day again. He died in jail. His parents and his three older sisters, who loved Jeff practically more than their own lives, were devastated. This sort of suffering and loss is all too common in this world. And it leads us to consider the elephant in the room for theistic belief, sometimes called the problem of evil. If God is omniscient, omnipotent, and omnibenevolent, why then when He knows about it, has the power to do something about it, and is supremely good does he allow such cruelty to continue? The existence of evil thus logically contradicts the existence of God. Or does it? Below is my attempt at theodicy: answering the challenge that if God exists, why does He permit evil?

Explanation I: One good argument doesn’t necessarily prove one’s point. One must weigh the cumulative evidence or arguments.

There may be very strong evidence or argument that one has committed murder, but that is not enough to convict a person. There also may be very strong arguments that one is innocent. The jury must come to a fair conclusion based on the cumulative evidence. Similarly, the argument against God from the reality of evil is a strong argument, but to come to a fair conclusion one must weigh the cumulative evidence. I would posit that the arguments for God’s existence are very strong, stronger than the problem of evil. Just one of the arguments below called “Monkey on a Typewriter”:

It is more probable that a monkey on a typewriter by chance produced the complete works of William Shakespeare or the Encyclopedia Britannica than this world happens by chance. And if you think about it, as I write this very article, every word scribed that fits into a sentence, or anything in the world that moves with reason or order, at every second increases exponentially the improbability that this world has happened by chance. And if the probability of the world having arisen by chance is as close to nil as mathematically possible and ever increasingly so, then the account of the world wherein God creates it has far more power to explain the nature of the world than the denial of God and its consequent randomness. Therefore, the argument by evil, although strong, cannot in itself establish the verdict that God does not exist.

Explanation II: The argument for evil itself proves the existence of God.

By recognizing the existence of evil we are acknowledging that objective moral values exist, which seems to far more point to the existence of God than to deny His existence. If everything ultimately is just particles of matter moving randomly then on what basis can any action be judged moral, and if everything is deterministic how can anyone be held morally accountable? In other words, our capacity to deem something genuinely good or morally evil requires an acknowledgement of something transcendent that is morally meaningful (God), otherwise moral judgments, even concerning the most horrendous actions, become reduced to subjective expressions of cultural conditioning or personal preference simply based on chance and consequent evolution. Even the most hardened atheists shudder to fully embrace the consequence of atheism where even the most horrendous actions are deterministic and not objectively wrong. Therefore the existence of evil, rather than denying God, points to His existence.

Explanation III: The acceptance of free will includes the choice for evil.

Love, which is the supreme ethic, requires freedom and thus the possibility of wrong choice—even evil. Thus rather than evil negating the possibility of God, evil affirms God’s existence because it is a world of humanity and not compliant or forced “good”. Simply put, God allows sin (moral evil) at the cost of freedom and that is His perfection. There are many reasonable arguments, both simple and complex, by substantial religionists and philosophers that deal with this train of response to the problem of evil. They are a little beyond the scope of this paper, but I recommend researching them. [1]

Although there is some weight to the argument of free will, I can also conceive some challenges to the argument by a conception of an all-powerful God who somehow is able to create a free choice and consequent love without the possibility for evil,[2] which is why I like the argument given by Leibniz as a complimentary one. It follows.

Explanation IV: The world God created is the best possible of all worlds.[3]

Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura gave a similar reason to one posited above by Leibniz. He argued that God would not be complete as the enjoyer of all energies if He didn’t also have the experience of exchanging with the material energy. On the surface, this argument may make God look self-serving or callous, but I think there is a sense to it that I would purport as follows: The material world allows for the beauty of compassion, mercy, forgiveness, and the special flavor of a soul’s personal triumph over suffering that enhances God’s manifestation rather than contradicts His existence.

Explanation V: Soul-making theodicy and the law of karma. [4]

Evil only negates the existence of God if you look at the world from the very selfish perspective of affirming God’s goodness only when it serves our enjoyment and control. Judging God in that way is like a spoiled child evaluating his parent’s character based on the rewards and punishments he receives. In a similar way, evil and suffering is best understood by looking at the world from God’s perspective, which judges what is ultimately good, not what superficially rewards or punishes. In traditional Indian thought this perspective falls under the conception of the law of karma, which sees and even tries to prove that whatever happens to one, even if painful, are perfect conditions created by God to rectify one’s behavior for the purpose of everlasting joy. At least one serious about spiritual life should be able to connect the trials and tribulations in one’s life to his or her personal growth and then to project that onto the world. Evil does not therefore a priori negate the existence of God’s benevolence. It is a tough pill to swallow, but all traditional Indian philosophies, even if they disagree fundamentally on many core points, agree on this one: There is a moral force called the law of karma that is Absolute and ultimately good, even when one is on the receiving end of cruelty.

Explanation VI: Humility

It is one thing to equate suffering with growth and renewal, but what about pointless suffering? Does not pointless suffering challenge the existence of God? Bhīṣmadeva answered a similar question when enlightening Yudhiṣṭhira. I like his answer from a traditional Indian philosophical perspective: “No one can understand the inexplicable will of the Lord.”[5] As we have been entangled in this world since time immemorial, it is not possible to estimate our level of misconception and what it takes for the Lord to enlighten us. I think anyone on a genuine spiritual path cannot help but be amazed at the sheer number of constant and unending painful life lessons that one has endured that have helped expand one’s present awareness, lessons that one had absolutely no ability to comprehend at the time they occurred. So basically the answer to seemingly pointless suffering is to humbly accept that we lack the capacity to understand what we need, or to fully ever understand God’s will.

The elephant in the room—the problem of evil: Acknowledge it. Confront it. The theistic conclusion still stands.

[1] Alvin Plantinga’s summary of his argument for free will: A world containing creatures who are significantly free (and freely perform more good than evil actions) is more valuable, all else being equal, than a world containing no free creatures at all. Now God can create free creatures, but He can’t cause or determine them to do only what is right. For if He does so, then they aren’t significantly free after all; they do not do what is right freely. To create creatures capable of moral good, therefore, He must create creatures capable of moral evil; and He can’t give these creatures the freedom to perform evil and at the same time prevent them from doing so. As it turned out, sadly enough, some of the free creatures God created went wrong in the exercise of their freedom; this is the source of moral evil. The fact that free creatures sometimes go wrong, however, counts neither against God’s omnipotence nor against His goodness; for He could have forestalled the occurrence of moral evil only by removing the possibility of moral good.

[2] In Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavism we have the concept of Śrī Rādhā and her eternal associates, who are the embodiment of the highest love, but have no choice of choosing evil.

[3] Gottfried Wilhelm (von) Leibniz, 17^th century German Philosopher

[4] John Hick developed what is called “soul-making” theodicy in which he argued that God allows evil and suffering in the world in order to develop humans into virtuous creatures capable of following His will.

[5] Bhāg. 1.9.16

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Dhanurdhara Swami March 19th, 2018

The word “preaching” today comes off so condescending, haughty, and intrusive. Frankly, I am preacher. I cringe a bit when I say that.

Unfortunately, words carry the baggage of the history of their application. To make a fair judgment on a word and its meaning, thoughtful people rise above their prejudices. In other words, just as we should judge a person as he or she is and not by some generalization based on some predisposition, the thoughtful also approach emotionally laden words and concepts like “preaching” without bias. So what is the “non-prejudicial” meaning of “preaching” and how should we fairly judge its use?

Preaching means to advocate a cause or course of action, often in terms of religious ideas. Certainly there is nothing wrong per se with that. It depends on the validity of the cause and how it is presented. Charlatans and egoists may preach and give the name a bad taste, but the compassionate also advocate or preach a cause vigorously.

Actually, I was inspired to clarify these points when someone inquired about something he read that spoke disparagingly about preaching in Śrīla Prabhupāda’s mission. Let me continue this discussion about the word “preaching” with my answers to his questions:

Is Krishna consciousness in its traditional sense a preaching mission?

The external cause for Śrī Caitanya’s descent, external here meaning the reason why He came for others, was to promote Krishna consciousness. He therefore requested some of His leading followers to preach widely. For example, he instructed Śrī Nityānanda that his main mission was to give Krishna consciousness to others without restriction and implored Śrī Advaita to “give Krishna consciousness, devotion to Krishna, even to the lowest of men [caṇḍālas]” (Cc. Madhya-līlā 2.15.41).[1] In other words, He engaged them in His preaching mission and they proceeded to go door-to-door imploring others to take up their cause. So yes, a major part of Śrī Caitanya’s mission was to preach according to its classical meaning, advocating a religious or spiritual cause.

Is opening temples and book distribution preaching in the traditional sense?

Śrī Caitanya sent those who are now known as the Six Gosvāmīs from Bengal to establish Śrī Vṛndāvana as a base to promote His mission by among other things constructing significant temples there. They weren’t sitting in Vṛndāvana just chanting and giving classes. They were working vigorously to push on Śrī Caitanya’s mission. [2]

Mass book distribution as we know it did not exist at the time of Lord Caitanya because the printing press had only been relatively recently invented. Books in India were still being handwritten by the author and, if desired, then copied. We do know, however, that after Lord Caitanya, Narottama and Śrīnivāsa made great effort to bring the books of the Gosvāmīs from Vṛndāvana to Bengal to see to their distribution. So, certainly book distribution is part of our tradition. I can’t imagine how the great stalwarts in our tradition wouldn’t laud the mass distribution of that knowledge, as long as it was done thoughtfully, especially when the books that are being distributed today have commentaries geared to a greater audience.

Is it wrong for a preacher to impose themselves on others?

When Śrīnivāsa and Narottama distributed books it was for the edification of the people already in the tradition, not for others. Should books also be used as a tool for conversion? It’s a principle of Lord’s Caitanya’s mission that Krishna consciousness should be spread and that the teachings of the Bhāgavatam should be shared widely.[3] Exactly how to do that may somewhat vary according to the teacher. Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta and Śrīla Prabhupāda especially stressed the distribution of books and as a result the mission of Śrī Caitanya has spread exponentially. How can anyone question the fundamental basis of what they accentuated?

As far as aggressively imposing Krishna consciousness on others, a devotee should be a perfect gentlemen and always sensitive to others. A principle of devotional service, however, is to show compassion to the innocent. When one sees people suffering due to ignorance, there is nothing wrong with tactfully pushing them a bit for education. In fact, sitting back and not actively doing something in the face of suffering and chaos can also be condemned. The famous quote by Edmund Burke comes to mind: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

One more thing: While I think is fine to be somewhat fervent in sharing one’s knowledge for people to consider, I do not appreciate when it is done carelessly and aggressively, and it then comes to the point of confronting people with conversion.

Is preaching for everyone or just for those mature and spiritually advanced?

Although everyone should try to share what they understand according to their realization and also for the purpose of deepening their own realization, obviously those who are educated and mature best represent the tradition. At the beginning of the Krishna consciousness movement practically all its members were young, ex-hippies and full of passion. There was also no educational system in place to train them thoroughly, so there was little or no choice about who represented ISKCON. There is no excuse now to not properly educate people acting on behalf of the movement. I see such education is now being offered. Irrespective, it doesn’t negate the over-all value of participating according to one’s capacity, and in a dignified way, in Śrī Caitanya’s “preaching” mission.

Is preaching one of the sixty-four items of devotional service?

Yes, the first principle of devotional service is “guru-pādāśraya” and the fifth item is “following in the footsteps of the previous ācāryas”, so if one’s guru requests one to preach Krishna consciousness following in the footsteps of Lord Nityānanda, then certainly preaching is an item of devotional service. Preaching is a very broad category and most of the items fall directly or indirectly within the sixty-four items of devotional service, especially kīrtana.

It should also be noted that saṅkīrtana, chanting loudly with others, is especially lauded by Śrī Jīva because “those chanting loudly are not only benefitting themselves, but also other living entities”,[4] so not only is preaching within the umbrella of devotional service, when done properly it is specifically praised for its compassion and selflessness.

The main principle of devotional service is to remember Krishna and never forget Him. The spiritual master is expert at finding the ways and means to do so. ISKCON has shown that a preaching mission is an excellent way to engage masses of people in devotional service. Anyone who has made that sacrifice knows the level of absorption needed to put oneself on the line to properly share spiritual knowledge and to give the holy name, and also the exhilaration of doing so. Yes, it can be intrusive and abused for prestige or done with the wrong attitude, but sincerely advocating a worthy cause that enlightens others is praiseworthy even if done faultily. Those who actively criticize such endeavors fall prey to being hypocrites, not because they critically look at something, but because of the fervor in which they use media to actively advocate or “preach” their cause. As Pogo [5] aptly commented, “We have met thy enemy and he is us.”

[1] Śrī Caitanya’s instructions to preach are repeated throughout the Caitanya-caritāmṛta. There are numerous examples and they are not just to his intimate associates. In South India he not only told Kūrma the brāhmaṇa to become qualified and preach message of Krishna, but it is described that he spoke this same way to every person he met on his tour of South India.

[2] “Yes you remember rightly. Gosvamis did lot of work. To build a temple even now is not a simple thing. Imagine doing it when there were no roads here, no people, no labor, no material for construction. And that was not the end of it. To maintain a temple is even a bigger responsibility. With all this they wrote books. Even to get paper they needed some real help.” (letter, Bajaji Satyanaryan Dasa to Dhanurdhara Swami, March 14, 2018)

[3] yāre dekha, tāre kaha ‘kṛṣṇa’-upadeśa āmāra ājñāya guru hañā tāra’ ei deśa

Translation: “Instruct everyone to follow the orders of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa as they are given in the Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. In this way become a spiritual master and try to liberate everyone in this land.” (Cc. Madhya–līlā 7.128)

[4] Bhakti Sandarbha 269 by Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī

[5] Famous cartoon strip by Walter Kelly lasting from mid-Forties to mid-Seventies

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