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Archive for the 'Monday Morning Greetings' Category

Monday Morning Greetings 2023 #12 – Ego Death Again

March 20th, 2023

Ego Death Again[1]

Last week, I was fortunate to visit Srila Kadamba Kanana Swami a few days before he passed from this world. He set the ideal example of how to leave this mortal frame—no drugs to dull the consciousness, fasting to further purify the mind, and in a resultant calm and clear consciousness constantly hearing the holy name.

 

When I thought about how he passed away and how he qualified himself for that moment by a life of full surrender to guru and Krishna, somehow the term “ego death” kept coming into my mind. Seeing how the Swami died, it seemed “ego death”—a state where one is no longer apparently ruled by bodily and mental dictates, which are the life of the false ego—was something the Swami seemed to have attained. I began to explore this concept beginning with how we acquire our present identification that ultimately needs to die and how as bhaktas we transcend it.

 

We acquire our present false ego practically at the time of our past death. At that moment, Sri Krishna, through His inconceivable potencies, gauges both our cumulative deeds and present desires and chooses a suitable body for our next life to help further purify us of ignorance. The complete identification with this next body is then accomplished by the false ego (ahaṅkāra), a subtle material element designed to funnel or delimit our consciousness to identify with the body that Krishna has selected as the most suitable vehicle to carry out our next karmic journey. As this false ego, as described above, is born from and embodies material consciousness, the aim of human life is to eventually transcend this identification as controller and enjoyer. But how to accomplish this ego death?

 

On the path of bhakti, it is attained when one fully surrenders to the will of God through His representatives and thus no longer follows the irrational impulses of the body and mind. As the ego dies out of neglect, and one is no longer bound by bodily identification, then—like the Swami—fully identified as Krishna’s eternal servant, one faces the death of the material body fearlessly.

 

Although Kadamba Kanana Swami was a sannyāsī, specifically an order focused on “dying while living” by ideally leading a renounced life, attaining ego death is not exclusive to any one ashram. A devotee in any position of life, by strictly focusing on God’s will, including their duties within this world, can identify as servant of guru and Krishna and transcend the false ego, or at least put oneself in the best position to do so, as eventually old age and death overtly crush our sense of control and seem to leave us little choice anyway.

 

The Swami’s death was certainly impressive. It should inspire all of us to take an inventory of our sincerity and to aspire for the path of “ego death” offered in our tradition:

 

“Śukadeva Gosvāmī, however, gave this direction to him as follows: “My dear King, if you want to be fearless in meeting your death next week (for actually everyone is afraid at the point of death), then you must immediately begin the process of hearing and chanting and remembering God.” If one can chant and hear Hare Kṛṣṇa and always remember Lord Kṛṣṇa, then he is sure to become fearless of death, which may come at any moment.” (NOD, Chapter Two)

 


[1] By the number of times I have broached this subject in Monday Morning Greetings over the years, you may think I have an obsession with the subject of death. But it’s not an obsession. It’s just one of the most prominent subjects discussed in our philosophy. The Bhagavad-gītā dedicates a whole chapter to the subject of death (Ch. 8) and the seminal inquiry on which the whole Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is based centers on facing impending death.

 

Monday Morning Greetings 2023 #11 – Why Do We Make God Work So Hard?

March 13th, 2023

I just arrived in the USA from India and left for Colombia yesterday. My computer also just came back from being serviced, so I wasn’t able to complete a new Monday Morning Greetings for this week. This is a reprint from six years ago.

 

Why Do We Make God Work So Hard?

 

June 5, 2017

I have an image of an aspect of my life that has this certain background music. I can’t exactly describe that tune in writing. But it is the background music for the cartoon image of a happy-go-lucky soul who is walking down the street oblivious to the impending disaster ahead and then either slips and falls or gets a pie thrown in his face. He gets up with confidence and begins walking with the same obliviousness to his impending danger until the same thing happens again and again. Let me see if I can describe this more vividly: It would be like the cartoon character Goofy, created by Disney in the early thirties, who, in each episode, haplessly fumbles over the same task repeatedly.[1]

 

Actually, this is not how I see my life, but there is a specific aspect of my life that I like to describe in this comedic sense, as it seems to be a fit to an interesting definition of comedy that I had first heard about from a friend and a professional comedian. He described comedy as tragedy plus time. I am not exactly looking back at tragedy in my life, but more like a pattern of folly that seems to so much fit this hapless image of one being oblivious to one’s folly and falling prey to it again and again.

 

About a month ago, after making a mistake in not only how I was thinking about something but also in how I had reacted to it, and then seeing the anxiety it caused, I had a very strong realization that seemed to correct and complete my vision of the world. I was surprised because I was convinced that I was already seeing the world perfectly clear, but I had one doubt. This pattern has been repeating itself every year, often several times a year, for the last 42 years, since beginning Krishna consciousness. I always think that I am seeing things clearly, until some upheaval, big or small, comes along that gives me a newer, more complete vision and with the same certainty as before. I often share this story with others with the background music of Goofy to express how hapless we are in walking the world with a vision of confidence, although destiny repeatedly turns our world on its head again and again.

 

I think my folly, however, is not unique, for until one’s mind is completely pure, it is the nature of the mind to see the world through a defective lens without even realizing one is looking through it. I think that therefore my story should be, in a sense, everyone’s story on the spiritual path. Our natural confidence in how we see the world should be repeatedly shaken by destiny to help give us newer and higher visions of reality even though at the time we are probably not aware that we are seeing things through a distorted lens.

 

In reflecting on how many thousands of components of vision have been added to my life to improve my vision of reality and reflecting on how many more realizations I probably require in the future, I am humbled. Reflecting in this way also helps me to realize how many unlimited components of truth one requires to actually be tattva-darśana, one who sees the truth, and how hard Krishna has to work, so to speak, to bring us to that point. And that leads to my final realization and the title of this post:

 

Why do we make God work so hard?

 

 


[1] From Wikipedia: “Goofy is a tall, anthropomorphic dog with a Southern drawl, and typically wears a turtle neck and vest, with pants, shoes, white gloves, and a tall hat originally designed as a rumpled fedora.”

 

Monday Morning Greetings 2023 #10 – God’s Problem: The Story of Sri Chaitanya

March 6th, 2023

I tried my hardest but wasn’t able to finish this week’s Monday Morning Greetings. This is the fourth week without a computer where I write my Monday Morning Greetings by hand. Within two weeks I should have my computer back. In one sense I will miss writing by hand. When I put my pen to the page it really activates my mind and ideas flow very spontaneously. In fact, I still may write my first draft by hand. The problem comes when I have to organize them for clarity and force without a word processor. Even as I go back to writing by computer, I am now free from a lingering fear: “What if my computer breaks and I can’t write my Monday Morning Greetings?” As I hope you can see, I am very much dedicated to this craft and service but at least I am now no longer a slave to technology to write them.

 

For this week’s Monday Morning Greetings, in honor of Sri Gaura-purnima, I will again offer an article that I have posted many times for this day called “God’s Problem.” I was hesitant to post it again, but when I read it over it still seemed very fresh as a short explanation and glorification of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Enjoy!

 

 

God’s Problem: The Story of Sri Chaitanya

March 21, 2016

 

God has a problem.

 

And it is the same problem that we have.

 

What’s the problem?

 

He is not a devotee.

 

What is a devotee?

 

A devotee is one who loves God.

 

And love means to have a particular relationship with God. Why is that our problem?

 

Because in this sense we are trying to become devotees. But why is that a problem for God?

 

It’s a problem because God doesn’t have love of God. How does God lack that?

 

Love of God is in the heart of His devotees, not in God’s. God is the object of such love (the beloved), not the abode of such love (the lover of God, the devotee).

 

And why is that such a problem?

 

It’s a problem because to love is higher than to be loved. God is supposed to be the Supreme Enjoyer, but He lacks the highest pleasure—to love God—and to lack love (as the giver) is a problem.

 

What does God do about that? Surely, He can make a solution.

 

Yes, that is the story of Sri Chaitanya. God becomes His own devotee to become complete in His experience of love. And not only does He become a devotee, but He becomes His highest devotee, Sri Radha, at the height of Her love, in Her deepest feelings of love—Her moments of separation from Krishna.

 

Happy Gaura-purnima (The appearance of Sri Chaitanya)!

 

Monday Morning Greetings 2023 #9 – A Tip for Learning Śāstra

February 27th, 2023

Śrīla Tamal Krishna Goswami was too busy assisting Śrīla Prabhupāda in a managerial capacity to have time to study. He brought his quandary to His Divine Grace. I love the answer he got: “Find a way to give more classes. Fifteen minutes of teaching is worth two hours of study.” Many years ago, Maharaja personally shared this story with me, and I took it to heart. Every day for the last thirty-five years, especially when in India—and I was there at one time for almost twenty years straight—at 4:00 PM I would give class systematically on śāstra for not more than an hour.

 

I don’t so much have the nature to sit down and concentrate and study. I am amazed, however, how many books I was able to teach and study in this way.[1] Of course not everyone has the opportunity or nature to teach. After elaborating on this principle of study somewhat further, at the end of this post I will share a method that hopefully makes what I am talking about applicable for everyone.

 

Of note to this discussion is what appears to have been Śrīla Prabhupāda’s own example of study while leading and managing the Krishna consciousness movement. When I first came to Vrindavan, I could look down from the third-floor guest house where I resided and see Śrīla Prabhupāda in the wee hours of the morning sitting on his upstairs porch writing his commentary on the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. He would first read a section of the book he carried with him, which contained ten commentaries on each verse of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and then dictate his own commentary based on what he read. Later in the morning, around 7:30 AM, he would leave his house and give a thirty-minute class in the temple. In other words, although he read the commentaries on the verses he would be writing about, it appeared that a great deal of his contemplation and realization of śāstra came by immediately reproducing it through writing and teaching about it.

 

On the path of bhakti, the most powerful practice to bring devotion into our hearts is kirtan, which is the oral reproduction of what we hear about Śrī Krishna.

 

Although we usually think of kirtan in terms of hearing and chanting the names of God, writing and speaking about the stories and philosophy of Krishna is also kirtan. Therefore, reproducing what we have heard or read by writing or speaking about it is not only an excellent way to learn śāstra but also a very powerful process of absorbing ourselves in Krishna and bringing devotion in our hearts.

 

One time I was visiting Śrīla Narayana Maharaja around 9:00 in the morning. By his regular schedule, I thought he would have finished his morning practice of chanting, but when I came in, he appeared to still be engaged in his morning sādhana, though I saw he was writing. When he saw me, he looked up, smiled, and said in a charming way, “Oh writing is such a good kṛṣṇānuśīlanam!” I immediately recognized what he said as the third line of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmi‘s definition of uttama-bhakti where the svarūpa-lakṣaṇa, or primary characteristic of bhakti, is described—that one’s activities, whether mind, body, or words, are absorbed in or follow the pleasure or will of Krishna.

 

I believe that for these reasons, both to assimilate what he taught and to absorb oneself in Krishna consciousness, Śrīla Prabhupāda encouraged his disciples to write every day:

 

“Realization means you should write, every one of you, what is your realization…You write your realization, what you have realized about Kṛṣṇa. That is required. It is not passive. Always you should be active. Whenever you find time, you write. Never mind, two lines, four lines, but you write your realization…This is cultivation of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Hear, write, remember, try to understand. Don’t be dull, dull-headed. Very intelligent. Without being very intelligent, nobody can have full Kṛṣṇa consciousness. It is for the most intelligent man.”[2]

 

For those reading this that feel they need to be encouraged in their study of Krishna consciousness I am sharing an excerpt from an article I wrote[3] about a method of reading śāstra that takes only fifteen minutes but could well be your “two hours of study”!

 

  1. Set a time and place exclusively for reading shastra. If you don’t yet have the time or taste for it; even fifteen minutes is sufficient. More time, of course, is better, but whatever you can do is adequate to begin. During that time vow that nothing else will enter your sacred space, whether it’s email, Facebook, or even family.
  2. Before beginning your study, pray to the teacher or teachers that you will encounter during your reading. Whoever it is, whether it be the book’s main speakers, like Śukadeva or Sūta Gosvāmī, or its prominent commentators, like Śrīla Prabhupāda, pour your heart out to them. You will be in the presence of a pure devotee, and a true saint is nondifferent than their vāṇī, or teachings. Ask them for inspiration, guidance, or whatever you feel you need spiritually.
  3. Slowly and prayerfully read out loud in the mood of your entreaties and in the consciousness of being before the persons that are instructing you.
  4. If any sentence or point in the text strikes you as exceptionally significant or relevant, read it over three times.
  5. When the allotted time is up, close the book and offer obeisances to the saintly people in whose presence you have just learned. Express your gratitude.
  6. Optional: Add three to five minutes of free writing. Free writing means that without referring to the book, just begin to write about whatever point in your reading of the Bhāgavatam impressed you, or even just write anything you remember. The trick is to keep the pen moving and never stop writing, even if you have to say, “I don’t know what to write.” In my experience that will not happen, for just moving the pen mystically connects you to your memory. You will have plenty to say.

 

Busy all day in Govardhana with guests today but managed to speak on the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam at the end of the day to three eager listeners for thirty minutes. And that was my “hours of study” in a very busy day![4]

 

 


[1] These are some of the books I remember covering systematically over those years by teaching daily and speaking for not more than forty-five minutes: First Canto, Second Canto, Sixth Canto, Bhagavad-gītā. Complete Nectar of Devotion, Śrī Bhakti-sandarbha, Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta, Nārada-bhakti-sūtra, Yoga Sūtras, Jaiva Dharma, Krishna janmalīlā, Brahma-vimohana-līlā, The Killing of Dhenukāsura, Kālīya-līlā, Akrūra-līlā, Antya-līlā. Rāmānanda-saṁvāda, Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Caitanya-bhāgavata, five chapters of rasa-līlā, Uddhava-līlā, Govardhana-līlā (presently).

[2] Lecture, August 14, 1972, Los Angeles

[3] From Monday Morning Greetings November 27, 2017 “The Talking Book”

[4] Śrīla Prabhupāda gave many instructions to read his books. Ideally, we should be absorbed for hours in reading his books. As I move forward in my devotional life, I have become increasingly absorbed in reading Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books, but I still marvel how relevant and effective is Śrīla Prabhupāda’s insight is to reproduce by speaking and writing what we have heard.

 

Monday Morning Greetings 2023 #8 – Float Like a Butterfly and Eat Like a Bee

February 20th, 2023

Recognize the title?[1] It’s a parody of a verse by Muhammad Ali. What is important, however, is not where the verse originates, but what I am conveying through it. I am describing the practice of mādhukarī—literally mādhu (bee) to do (karī)—where sādhus gracefully saunter (float) in ecstasy around Govardhana Hill and sustain themselves by taking just a few roṭīs each from the homes of selected brāhmaṇas whose families have been fortunate to carry out this sādhu-sevā for generations, just like a bee who only takes (eats) a little pollen from each flower and goes onto the next.

 

Somehow—not sure why—I became inspired to give it a try this week. So, I was off to the nearby village of Āniyora to beg for roṭīs from the designated houses where they cook for sādhus. I didn’t get far, however. The first home I approached was the family of Bal Kishan, my 83-year-old Brijabasi friend, the very simple, pious patriarch of the Sharma family. I couldn’t proceed to other houses as Bal Kishan implored me to stay for a full meal, but sitting there did afford me the opportunity to not only observe the saintly sādhus coming for mādhukarī, but more importantly to witness the infectious mood of sādhu-sevā exuding from my hosts. Just by sitting there a realization came that I would like to share, but first I will briefly finish describing what I saw today on mādhukarī.

 

“Radhe! Radhe!” A humble sādhu comes to the doorway of the second and main floor of my friend’s Brijabasi dwelling, announcing his arrival in the most familiar of Braja greetings, which is also a local mantra for roṭī begging. The whole family, including Bal Kishan and seven grandchildren (all teens), innocently lounge in the traditional center family room, peacefully enjoying one another’s company, while just outside one of the mothers sits on the floor of the adjacent roofless veranda turning out roṭī after roṭī in their simple rustic kitchen. Immediately, the oldest granddaughter runs to the kitchen and takes two roṭīs and a scoop of sabjī from her mother’s hand, which the peaceful sādhu accepts humbly and smiles his blessings to the family before gently leaving to bless the next house with mādhukarī.

 

There is a takeaway from my mādhukarī morning and it’s śāstric—the ritual of opening one’s house to guests, especially true devotees of God, is one of the most powerful positive influences on the consciousness of a household, especially its children.

 

I think the most important reference supporting this principle about the power of Vaiṣṇava hospitality is found in the second chapter of the First Canto of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam where Sūta Gosvāmī analyzes bhāgavata-dharma and concludes dharmasya hy āpavargyasya[2]—that dharma leads to liberation. What intrigued me the most about this verse, however, was a commentary that answered the question of exactly how dharma leads to liberation: A dharmic person opens his house to saintly persons and as one of them is likely to be a Vaiṣṇava, they inevitably will be blessed with bhakti, and that is how dharma leads to liberation. Bal Kishan’s family is certainly a testimony to the power of this principle.

 

Observing the beauty of this sādhu-serving family, a story from the novel Jaiva Dharma by Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura came to mind that seems to also confirm this same principle of the power of opening one’s house to others, but in an indirect way. It’s about a miserly couple who never opened their house for the service of others, although they lived in the most pious district of Saptagram, a community known specifically for their generosity. As a result of their miserliness, instead of producing generous children as the other families of the district had done, the children of this couple imbibed their parents’ mood. They became so greedy that they even usurped their parents’ house and even exiled them from their own town. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura makes a very instructive point in this regard—that one moves from kaniṣṭha (neophyte) bhakta to madhyaṁ (fixed) bhakta when, through this type of generosity, the number of quality associates one brings into one’s life exceeds the number of people who are not spiritual.

 

Well, I failed at mādhukarī. I left the first house I visited not like a bee, but instead stuffed with roṭīs. I began the article with a parody of a statement by Muhammad Ali, but as I waddled back to my place, I only then realized that the joke was on me! Some bee!

 

 


[1] The title is a parody of the famous quote from Mohammad Ali — “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.” — describing his fighting style where he would gracefully prance around the ring and then “sting” the opponent with his jab.

[2] Bhag. 1.2.9

Monday Morning Greetings 2023 #7 – Sadhus or Cyborgs

February 13th, 2023

About two months ago, my computer was in repair, and I had to write my Monday Morning Greetings by iPhone. I shared with someone how difficult it was. She said, “Why not just use a pen and paper?” Duh! I was so technologically conditioned that the alternative never even crossed my mind. My computer has crashed again, and I’m writing this on a legal pad. Ah! The joy of no texts! Here it goes:

 

Last week, I wrote about visiting an enchanting thick forest ashram in Vraja, where the sadhus live unencumbered by any modern technology, even electricity, and where hundreds of cows roam with their calves, just as they did when Krishna was here—and who is still here for those with eyes to see.

 

Just being there had such a powerful effect on my consciousness that it inspired a remembrance of a statement that I read many years ago. I think it was by Paramahamsa Yogananda:

 

“In terms of elevating our consciousness, environment is more powerful than willpower.”

 

Influenced by the power of this simple and devotionally laden environment, I began to reflect on how much I have fallen into the illusion that technology is essential to happiness, while, in fact, it mostly degrades the spirit. I was shocked. Have I been captured by the enemy?

 

OK. I get it. We need and use so many things from the modern techno world that have become essential for our day-to-day living, including our service to God. But are they essential, or do we only require them to counteract the inconvenience that this same modern techno world has thrust upon us, like the dire necessity for the sophisticated tools of communication to assuage the loneliness caused by the advancement of technology, which has broken communities and scattered friends and family all over the world? Wouldn’t it be great if, like the days of yore, all of our loved ones lived within walking distance, and it took just a few steps for all of us to join together in the saṅkīrtana of the holy name?

 

I am astounded at the powerbrokers in the modern world who, with almost a religious fervor, try to sell us the cult of technology as a solution to the world’s problems while the quality of life under their direction with every step forward seems to move progressively towards hell. Do they really believe their dogma?

 

Evidently, they do. Last month, while browsing through the airport bookstore, I briefly skimmed through 21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Professor Yuval Noah Harari, perhaps the most prominent voice today promoting the expansion of technology for the evolution and betterment of mankind. I took interest in him from a video someone sent me of his lecture at the World Economic Forum, where he seemed to serve as their intellectual spokesman[1]. Harari is no doubt a brilliant person. He fits carefully into the fourth category of people mentioned in Bhagavad-gītā who never come to Krishna, “those whose knowledge is stolen by illusion”.[2]

 

Harari professes a philosophy called “Dataism”, a title that he coined, which promotes a mindset that worships “Big Data”.[3] In short, he strongly believes and preaches that there is no soul, and thus the next step in evolution, if engineered carefully, is the development and perfection of human behavior through the collection and manipulation of data by the increasing sophistication of technology. A few of his thoughts for a better world:

 

“People are bad algorithms soon to be reduced to be replaced because machines can do it better.”

 

“In the future, the elite, with their advanced technologies, will determine what is best for mankind.”

 

I sit here in my room, pen and paper in hand, remembering the powerful effect on my consciousness of sitting in an untouched forest with pure sadhus and hundreds of cows. I was also inspired today to scorn the absurdity of technocrats claiming to improve God’s creation when, by their mercy, we sit on the brink of moral and economic collapse. Sadhus or cyborgs? What will you choose? I know my choice. If the land of the cows and simple sadhu-like village folk of Vraja is God’s vision for perfection, it is certainly good enough for me!

 

 


[1] https://youtu.be/QuL3wlodJC8

[2] Bg 7.15

[3] “Big Data” is defined, simply, as data that is so large, fast, or complex, that it is difficult or impossible to process with traditional methods.

 

Monday Morning Greetings 2023 #6 – What Makes Something Funny?

February 6th, 2023

The Joy of No Texts

I recently visited a far-off sacred forest of Vrindavan that I had never seen before. I was stunned by the beauty of a community of sadhus who have lived naturally, and who have protected a large forest, lush with peacocks and herds of cows, with no technology. I chanted “Jaya Radhe” and hundreds of cows affectionately walked towards me from hundreds of feet away. I became enlivened to write about the joy of no technology. When I returned home, the Gods of technology took revenge, and my computer crashed again. Luckily, they have allowed me to dictate this through my iPhone to Kadamba Mala, my editor. I have sent my computer back to America for repair, and I will also get a new one. For the next month I will write Monday Morning Greetings by hand. I am looking forward to the challenge of defeating the Gods of technology, who have, in a way, captured our souls. I am therefore forced to include a short reprint for an unprecedented third time in a row. Please forgive me.

What Makes Something Funny?

May 30, 2016

During my research for a talk on What Makes Something Funny, which was meant to follow a performance by the B.Centered comedy group, I was surprised that every great philosopher, from Aristotle to Kant, had a theory on comedy. I read through one thinker after the next, trying to understand what makes something funny, but I found the most profound theory to be the one espoused by none other than Groucho Marx:

“Humor is reason gone mad.”

It may be funny that Marx trumps Schopenhauer, but it seemed to make the most sense, as it was similar to a theory of comedy I had espoused many years before, based on the Bhagavad-gītā.[1]

I had posited that everything in this world serves the purpose of the world, which is liberation. As the Gītā says, when you are forced to act helplessly according to the modes of nature, you are a fool. I had surmised that comedy is a parody of that. If you describe someone who acts very thoughtfully, it is not funny but sobering. I had thus theorized that humor discourages conditioning by laughing at it. And now, fifteen years after writing my thesis on what makes something funny, while studying the theories of all major philosophers, I am convinced of the validity of mine—that humor is part of the Absolute Reality meant to discourage our folly—by the insights of Marx (not Karl):

Humor is reason gone mad!

 


[1] http://wavesofdevotion.com/2001/01/13/calcuttamayapur-met-kaustubha-jai-nitai/

Monday Morning Greetings 2023 #5 – Spiritual Momentum

January 30th, 2023

Spiritual Momentum [1]

 

April 3, 2017

Have you ever lost spiritual momentum? It happens to us all. I had a realization about that in relation to my writing that seemed applicable to spiritual life. I would like to share it, but first I think I need to define what I mean by “momentum.”

Momentum means the power gained when moving or continuing something that grows stronger as time passes, a force that is lost when stopping or pausing, and a force that takes time to build up when beginning to move again. A good example of momentum is when you are driving a car. As you are moving you gradually may be able to shift into high gear and gain momentum, allowing you to cruise along at a high speed effortlessly. However, when you stop and have to start again, that momentum has been lost and only gradually restores after some time.

This concept of momentum in relation to spiritual life dawned on me when faced with the weekly demand of writing Monday Morning Greetings. I noticed that when I don’t write every day, I lose momentum and it takes an inordinate amount of time to shift into a reasonable pace of writing when I begin again. In contrast, when I write every day without fail, I seem to remain in high gear and can immediately build on the frame of reference where I left off. It seems that continuity over time in all endeavors gives momentum and enhances productivity.

I then also realized how much this same phenomenon of momentum was applicable to my spiritual practice. While in India this year, I was able to sustain the practice of rising very early every day for my chanting. I noticed how after a while my practice substantially increased both in amount and quality. Since arriving in the United States, a combination of disrupted plans, late night programs, and unexpected travel disturbed my regulation, especially rising early, causing a reduction in the amount and focus of my chanting. When that temporary disruption in schedule passed, my practice had lost momentum and ironically the minimum prescribed amount seemed as daunting as what I had being doing for almost a year, although then I was doing substantially more. Only gradually was I able to gain the momentum to sustain the previous level of practice.

This phenomenon of momentum is alluded to in the Yoga Sutras, where practice is defined as “concentration, without break, for a prolonged time with the right mood.” Here it specifically mentions that practice must be unbroken. In other words, it just can’t be casually done here and there, for even if you do the same amount sporadically, which is unlikely, you will not have the same momentum or gear to focus intensely. And I will add that without such focus, and the consequent realization and taste that follows, even the minimum amount of chanting will remain difficult and arduous. That’s the reason serious practitioners chant their japa at least in concentrated and unbroken bunches of four, eight or sixteen rounds and not haphazardly here and there.

Conclusion: Strictly set aside a time and place for chanting, for without minimum uninterrupted effort, we will never get the momentum to chant spontaneously and with realization. Rather, our chanting will remain a bore and the effort to perfect one’s life hampered.

I am writing this very early in the morning, trying to get back to my schedule. I will now pick up my beads and try to apply what I just wrote. For the next two hours, I will practice without break, confident that momentum will build an realizations will come, and that the thing that is best for me in this world, chanting the holy name, will more and more become the thing that I derive the most pleasure from. That is the glory of momentum.

 


[1] I am sorry I have to offer another reprint. We are in the second week of our Puri/Govardhana retreat and I have no time to write. You should receive a new Monday Morning Greeting next week.

 

 

Monday Morning Greetings 2023 #4 – The Ten Foundational Principles of Yoga

January 23rd, 2023

The Ten Foundational Principles of Yoga [1]

  1. The goal of yoga and all spiritual paths is to end suffering.
  1. Reality is beautiful, and therefore all suffering is caused by illusion. For example, the greatest fear is death, but death itself is an illusion—the illusion of non-existence. Free from illusion, we can see the beauty of the eternal soul.
  1. Illusion is caused by the distorted or impure mind, by the myriad of selfish thoughts.
  1. To free our self from illusion and alleviate suffering, the mind must be brought to sattva. Sattva literally means “the nature of being,” or the true nature of something. What is the true nature of the mind? The mind is like a lens or mirror, and thus its true nature is to be clean, free from distortion, and perfectly perceptive of what is before it. Therefore, when the mind is in sattva we are able to perceive and live in our eternal spiritual nature.
  1. Yoga, or meditation, is the technique, or method, to bring the mind to sattva. Its strategy is simple. As the mind is distorted by a myriad of thoughts, if we can just steadily concentrate on one thought, then all other thoughts will gradually be quelled and the mind will slowly morph into a higher level of perception and contentment.
  1. When for a prolonged and uninterrupted period of concentration the mind is so fixed in meditation that one is not even cognizant of anything outside the object of our mediation, then one has reached samādhi, the goal of yoga.
  1. We can steady the mind in one of two ways: by our intelligence, the strong understanding that it is good for us to fix our mind on the object of our meditation, or by our heart, a strong attachment to the object of our meditation.
  1. To be connected to an object of contemplation through some feeling (emotion) is superior to being connected by our obligation or understanding (the intelligence), because it is naturally more absorbing.
  1. Mantras have thus been the preferred object of meditation for yogis through the ages, because it is God in sound. As described in the Yoga Sutras, God and the expression, or name, of God are nondifferent. Being part of God, we thus have a natural relationship with mantra, and by focusing on mantra our love and absorption for mantra naturally increases. It is also preferred because the mantra is not just an inert prop to help steady the mind; it is an all-powerful Supreme Person who can reciprocate with our meditational devotion by helping us remove the obstacles to meditation.
  1. As the most consummate emotion is devotion or love, bhakti-yoga, the yoga of devotion, is the topmost yoga.

 


[1] Due to his Puri Yatra, Dhanurdhara Swami was unable to finish a new Monday Morning Greetings. Instead we are sharing this one originally published on December 12, 2016.

Monday Morning Greetings 2023 #3 – Śikṣāṣṭakam Verse Three: A Personal Commentary

January 16th, 2023

“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 hold name of the Lord constantly.”

 

This is arguably the most important verse for those following Śrī Caitanya. When Śrī Raghunātha dāsa inquired from Śrī Caitanya about the goal of life, this was the verse He recited in response, which is significant, for based on Raghunātha’s strict adherence to this verse he was accepted in the Gauḍīya tradition as the ācārya (the main teacher and exemplar) on how to attain its goal of prema-bhakti.

 

The phrase “a humble state of mind” is not a literal translation by Śrīla Prabhupāda of any word or phrase in the third verse of the Śikṣāṣṭakam. I think, however, it is an essential inclusion to the translation of this verse to properly convey its meaning, otherwise one might misunderstand that you can think yourself into being humble rather than develop a humble consciousness, or state of mind. In other words, one should certainly think oneself lower than the straw in the street, but that doesn’t mean humility, or any emotion, can manifest by the force of just one or a few thoughts. Rather, humility must manifest by a process of changing our nature or consciousness, which also entails the practice of praying, thinking, and acting in a humble way.

 

The phrase “a humble state of mind” is also an effective way of categorizing the qualities mentioned in the verse of material insignificance, respectfulness, and tolerance so we can understand them in the context of humility, which is the intent of the verse. It also gives us a frame of reference for the verse’s conclusion and last line—that if you develop this “humble state of mind” symptomized by these qualities, then you can perfect your devotion and chant always.

 

It is not difficult to see the correlation between the humble state of mind and its symptoms. For example: the quality of tolerance. Naturally a humble person who realizes God as the center of their existence and the object of their adoration doesn’t get disturbed when someone or some things do not conform to the way they want, because a modest person no longer has a sense of entitlement and therefore has no demands for how the world moves around them for their own gratification and feels no frustration when it doesn’t.

 

A humble state of mind is also the foundation of respect. A humble person can be fully secure and satisfied in their relationship with God and thus doesn’t think of themself better than others, or, for that matter, harbor any resentment to those who are. Free from envy: it is easy to see the spark of God in others and honor them. If one doesn’t have a lens of humility, however, they will only see in others their conditioning and ordinary dealings, even in people who are exalted, and thus miss their inspired or godly side. In contrast, one with a lens imbued with humility will shun honor, for in awareness of God’s presence expecting honor for oneself is neither reality nor what one desires.

 

I once read a phrase—I can’t remember the source—but it goes something like this: “We don’t think humble to act humble, but rather we act humble to think humble.” So true. Acting modestly, with tolerance and respect—the foundational characteristic of humility—is exactly the process to develop a humble state of mind.

 

Now the conclusion. If you act this way and develop these qualities, you can chant always. Why? Without humility there is no question of experiencing love, which is the essence of happiness—happiness being the reason we sustain any activity—and thus only the truly humble soul with consequent feelings of love and devotion can chant the names of his beloved Lord with joy ceaselessly.

 

The significance of this verse for Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas cannot be underestimated, for in this verse Śrī Caitanya Himself outlines His simple four-fold process for achieving love of God, the ultimate goal of life: humility, tolerance, respect and chant the holy name always!

 

 

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