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Harish, Israel I very much

May 19th, 2002

Harish, Israel

I very much enjoyed my stay in Ariel. I ride back, however, to Harish for lunch.

Israel is the land of “milk and honey,” and Varshabhanavi is such a wonderful cook that I am only eating once a day at noon. I asked Gunavatar how the youth in such a religious-based country have become so degraded. His answer was simple: “Television!” He explained that although Israel has a national identity as Jews, the people have surprisingly little culture or tradition because most of the residents, or their immediate ancestors, had to leave the culture of their birth to
settle here. For example, there are black Jews from Ethiopia, Indian Jews from India, Iranian Jews from the Middle East, and New York Jews from New York. Although they are all Jews, they are extremely culturally different from one another because their culture has more to do with their country of origin than their place of birth. Gunavatar explains that this consequent void in culture caused by a country of uprooted citizens has left a vacuum conveniently filled by frivolousness and immorality promoted by TV.

Tejyas Prabhu once shared with me his insight that the root of all social problems are communities that are not static. A static community is a community where one’s ancestors have lived, where one lives, and where one’s children will likely live. A static community naturally creates a sense of responsibility in the citizens that a community of transients cannot duplicate. A static community also provides tradition as a vehicle to communicate among the citizens a set pattern of living based on principles.

Ariel, Israel There is another

May 18th, 2002

Ariel, Israel

There is another substantial Vaisnava community in Israel located in Ariel, the largest settlement on the West Bank. It is spearheaded by Jagadish and his wife, Jugala-Priti, and serves a growing community of devotees from Russia who immigrated to Israel to escape the severe economic oppression in the CIS. I met Jugala-Priti in 1996 when she joined the ISKCON center in Tel Aviv, established and guided by Gunavatar and Varshabhanavi. Although we met only a few times, she has become one of my best students, having gone through my Bhagavad-gita series of tapes over ten times and regularly teaching Bhakti-sastri in Ariel. Today over 70 devotees have congregated to hear me speak in a large hall in her basement that serves as the temple for their growing congregation. I am staying overnight after the lecture because the devotees have advised me to avoid driving to Harish at night.

During the Palestinian uprising, several people were shot on the road from Ariel to Tel Aviv where it swerves through a few Arab villages in the West Bank.

Before the class I am shown to my quarters next to the temple room. They are quite comfortable and also re-assuring; my room also serves as a bomb shelter common to all houses in Ariel. I lecture on an appropriate topic?the existential basis of fear, real or apparent. It’s a great audience. They like to hear and after three hours I stop, even though I sense no sign of impatience from the audience. They would gladly sit for more.

Harish, Israel I thought the

May 17th, 2002

Harish, Israel

I thought the devotees here lived more toward the middle of Israel, not less than three kilometers from the border of the Palestinian-controlledd West Bank. I can see the settlements of the Palestine Authority clearly from my window, meaning that most of the suicide bombings occur in thee towns and cities near Harish, the village where I am staying. If I knew the geography of Israel better?if I knew that I’d be so close to the border?I might not have come. Harish, however, is a very small development with a few hundred attached houses in the middle of the wilderness. There are no markets, malls, or hospitals for people to assemble, so the devotees feel safe that it is a very unlikely target for a terrorist attack. “If someone is going to sacrifice their life,” they say, “they want an adequate return of carnage. They will only attack places where masses of people assemble, not here.”

I am the guest of Gunavatar Prabhu and Varshabhanavi-devi, the mainin preachers in Israel for over twenty years. Gunavatar is an Israeli, but he joined ISKCON in Amsterdam in the mid-’70s when Locanananda Prabhuu was president. He soon left with him to initiate the Hare Krishnaa Movement in Israel and Varsabhanavi was one of their first recruits. I first met them in 1988 at the Maha-Kumbha Mela in Prayag where I was in charge of preaching to the Westerners at the ISKCON camp. We becamee friends and they invited me to Israel. I went that year, and then again in 1996. This is my third visit.

Preaching in Israel is especially difficult. Since enemies surround thee country on all sides, the very survival of Israel depends on a strong sense of national identity as Jews. Because Krishna consciousness is a cultural revolution, it threatens that identity and thus subtly threatens the country’s survival?at least in the mind of the common citizen. Thus to become a devotee in Israel, one must not only overcome one’s philosophical doubts, but also a sense of betrayal to one’s country. Because of this,few people here commit themselves to Krishna consciousness, even when they accept its philosophy. I remember at that same Kumbha-Mela in 1988 convincing a young and dynamic couple from Israel to take to Krishna consciousness. They even returned with me to Vrindaban for a month of training and studies under my direction. I was certain they were fully convinced. So I was surprised when I later inquired from Israel about their welfare that such apparently sincere devotees had soon joined the Yeshiva (a school where one studies the Torah). Although I had convinced them about devotional life, apparently the pain of giving up Krishna consciousness was not yet greater then the pain of the seeming treachery to their identity, family, and people. When I inquired from Gunavatar about this he described it as a common phenomenon in Israeli preaching. He then related a meeting that he had with a dynamic and progressive rabbi who, to his surprise, was actually very favorable to Krishna consciousness?even to the extent of inviting the devotees into his community. Gunavatar was amazed to find out how many of the rabbi’s followers had some previous contact with Krishna consciousness. A few of them were actually members of ISKCON in the late ’70s, and one even told him his initiated name!

The people in general, however, except for a minority of Orthodox Jews, are very secular. When I first came to Tel Aviv in 1988, I was expecting the people to be reserved and conservative, but instead, was shocked to see how immodestly the ladies presented themselves in public?more so than in New York or any other city I have seen. The common Israelis, who are quite secular, do not even like the more Orthodox Jews except for the fact that these religious Jews exemplify the national purpose of Israel to the citizens. This prejudice against Jewish Orthodoxy by the common Israeli is another reason why the obviously fundamental convictions of other sects, and certainly those by the Hare Krishnas, are abhorred. They’ve had enough self-righteousness to deal with in their own orthodoxy to tolerate other apparently fundamental groups that do not even represent the national interests of the country.

As if it wasn’t hard enough to spread the doctrine of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu in the face of such opposition, the Hare Krishna Movement in Israel has also had a series of serious internal crisis caused by the fall of their guru, Bhagavan dasa, and a consequent succession of weak leadership. By the time I first visited Gunavatar and Varshabhanvi in 1988, the Hare Krishna Movement had been reduced to a single couple in a rented house in Osafia, an obscure Druze village.

From that small rented house, however, Gunavatar and Varshabhanavi
determinedly translated and published most of Srila Prabhupada’s important books into Hebrew, personally distributed them, maintained an outpost of Krishna consciousness for the remaining devotees scattered over Israel, and eventually recruited and trained some new people to assist them. I am so happy to see that fourteen years later, despite almost insurmountable obstacles, Krishna consciousness is now again flourishing in Israel with a good core of committed devotees, a progressive Vaisnava community in Harish, a growing congregation of intelligent Israelis throughout the country, and a general acceptance of the devotees in the society in general. How is it possible for one couple to do so much against all odds? Purity and surrender breeds a type of efficiency and competence. Because Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu has much work to do all over the world, when he finds such sincere and competent souls he naturally works through them to do His unlimited work. I am happy to be here in their association and pray to become such a devotee.

I meet the devotees today at 6:30 and spoke from the Brhad Bhagavatamrta.

Vasant Falls, NY In my

April 28th, 2002

Vasant Falls, NY

In my discussions with devotees apparent contradictions in Krishna conscious philosophy sometimes arise. Today I’ve decided to tackle some of
these puzzles and write the solutions. I welcome input and questions.

Puzzles of Truth I: The Reason For Causeless Love

The puzzle:
We love Krishna because He is Bhagavan, one who possesses all opulence. He is the most beautiful (meaning His form and personality), the most intelligent, the strongest, the wealthiest, the most renounced, and the most famous. Would we love Krishna if He had no opulence, sweetness, or good qualities at all? If the answer is no, then does that make our love conditional, not causeless, since there would be a reason or cause for our love?

My answer:
Although we love Krishna because He is that Bhagavan who possesses all opulences (if He didn’t, He wouldn’t be Krishna), this does not negate the possibility of causeless or unconditional love. That becomes clear when we understand bhakti, or causeless love.

“Bhakti is an act of utter surrender and resignation. In it, our will is placed absolutely at the service of another.”?’Hindu God, Christian God’ by Francis J. Clooney

There is no contradiction between causeless love, utter surrender, and having that resignation for service caused by the innate appealing persona
of one’s beloved. Cannot pure devotees place their will absolutely in Krishna’s service?whether He breaks their heart by not being present before them or neglects them?having been inspired by His inherently wonderful qualities? In conclusion, causeless love means love that has no motive or cause. We want nothing in return for that love, but that does not necessarily cast out an origin for our love in the Lord’s intrinsic beauty.

Puzzles of Truth II: The Use of Logic In Understanding a God Who Is Inconceivable and Beyond Logic

The puzzle:
God is causeless by definition. If God had a cause, that would mean that something greater exists beyond Him, and therefore, He wouldn’t be God or the Absolute Truth. As such, we cannot determine the nature of God by logic, since logic is based on observing how things operate by cause and effect under the material nature. For example, we say Krishna is blue. If that were something that could be proven logically, it would mean that there was a set of observable law that made God blue and, because Krishna is God, He must be blue. The whole reasoning is preposterous because it starts with the preposition that God is under the laws of nature and thus relative. The only answer is that God is blue because it is the causeless nature and will of God, and not for any other reason. Considering this, how can a theist vigorously defend and explain the existence and nature of God if, by definition, the nature of God is beyond logic?

My answer:
Although the existence of God and His specific identity may not be proven (or disproved) by logic, that doesn’t mean that our conviction concerning His existence and identity is not reasonable for logic is not the sole evidence for determining truth.

For example, one might go to a particular doctor to ascertain the source of one’s illness because of the doctor’s substantial accreditation and reputation. One may gain further trust in that doctor by his repeated expert prognosis, treatment, and cure of one’s ailments. Is it not then reasonable in the future to accept that doctor’s prognosis and advice on the basis of his authority, even though we cannot ascertain by direct perception or inference (logic) what’s wrong with us? Deductive reasoning, or hearing from authority, is thus a valid method of evidence.

In conclusion, although God remains beyond logic it is reasonable that He can still be known, as there are other methods of evidence for ascertaining truth. A theist can be reasonably sure of the existence and nature of God on the authority of realized saints and the positive application of their teachings.

Although God cannot be known by logic, since trust in God is reasonable, logic can certainly be helpful in pointing to the possibility of truth?even if it is not sufficient enough to reveal it.

Here’s an interesting statement concerning a theist use of logic from that same book, ‘Hindu God, Christian God’:

“Well, certainly even believers who are reluctant to judge faith by the standards of reasoning and who assert instead that revelation must be the ultimate criterion for truth may still concede that reasoning serves an important subsidiary role in defending the faith, exposing the errors of other ways, and (in some settings) clearing a shared space in which reasonable persons can explore the truth and uncover error.”

Vasant Falls I finally purchased

April 22nd, 2002

Vasant Falls

I finally purchased the Folio program in India. I read two or three of Srila Prabhupada’s lectures a day. It only takes a half an hour. It’s simple philosophy, but so potent. Hearing from the pure devotee directly soothes the heart. I can no longer live without it.

Vasant Falls I have plenty

April 21st, 2002

Vasant Falls

I have plenty of time for chanting, reading, and writing directly about Krishna and I am doing a lot, but I can’t do it all day yet?especially out of Vrindaban. Periodically I skim through a few books lying around. I liked “Walden,” by Henry David Thoreau. The introduction expressed his ideal and it inspired me:

“The lesson he had taught himself, and which he tried to teach others, was summed up in one Lord: ‘simplify.’ That meant simplify the outward circumstances of your life, simplify your needs and ambitions; learn to delight in the simple pleasure which the world of nature affords. It also meant scorn public opinion, refuse to accept the common definition of success, refuse to be moved by the judgment of others. And unlike most who advocate such attitudes, he puts them into practice.”?Intro 1, “Walden and Others Writings of Henry David Thoreau”; Edited and with an Introduction by Joseph Wood Krutch.

Finally I have my own place to keep things. For the last few years I’ve been keeping my things spread out over several places where I’ve stayed, and I never really knew what I possessed. Now that they are all collected in one place, I am surprised by how much “junk” I have. I’ll start simplifying with “the outward circumstances of [my life].” Thank you, Henry.

Vasant Falls Japa Thoughts XII

April 20th, 2002

Vasant Falls

Japa Thoughts XII
While chanting I had a thought about what “ceto darpana marjanam”?that chanting cleanses the heart?means. First I’ll describe my experience and
then my realization.

My experience: My chanting this morning was better than usual. It manifest into a glimpse of reality that I have turned from Krishna, and that my present nature and being?that I’ve so cherished?is actually an anomaly. This caused pain. My focus wasn’t completely clear, but my strong realization was that this pain is a necessary stage in chanting, and without welcoming this pain and feeling of deep remorse for my separation from Krishna, my chanting would not become deeply heartfelt and pure. I also noticed an aspect of my psychology, which I will call undue optimism, resisting that glimpse of reality and trying to jade actuality from the healthy pessimism of warranted pain. I struggled, but prayed for reality, my fallen condition, and that I could pray sincerely for shelter.

My realization: The pure consciousness (citta) of the soul, which is humility and service, has been perpetually conditioned by our deeds and desires which manifests itself in how we view and interact with the world?our particular conditioned psychology. Because this psychology validates our false ideal of the self and allows us to see the world to suit our false nature, we are attached to it. Thus when, by chanting, some aspect of the pure self manifests, our psychology will resist it. We have to identify that, confront it, and purify it by determinedly approaching the holy name for the strength to embrace reality.

TKG: The Final Verdict

March 18th, 2002

Vasant Falls, New York

Tamal Krishna Maharaja was a controversial person. Many loved him deeply and others were less favorable. By nature he was very strong, intelligent, and dominating, but also personable and soft; he had the thunderbolt/rose phenomena of a powerful spiritual personality. In the service of Srila Prabhupada he generally had no qualms about using the force of his character to get his way. It was irresistible and if one found himself on the other side of that force it could be quite unnerving–and only in rare instances was there any use in resisting. At times, however, I also saw him humbly lament to his close friends that this side of his character was a burden to his more internal development.

Tamal Krishna Maharaja was, above all, a practical person and very surrendered to Srila Prabhupada’s mission. He understood that the best way he could serve his spiritual master was to offer everything he had, including his nature, in the service of Srila Prabhupada. He set extremely demanding, seemingly unattainable service objectives, and then, like a powerful general, he commanded his forces to achieve his goals which were inevitably attained. Being in his proximity implied a wllingness to fulfill his objectives, to be driven toward those goals, and to live in his mission–a testing proposition at times for others with seemingly their own mission and needs, and their own world to live in. In that sense Maharaja’s temperament could sometimes appear heavy, even controlling, and often hard to understand or difficult to appreciate in terms of the life of a saint. I thus also, at times, wondered how he would be ultimately be judged by the greater community of devotees.

Although Tamal Krishna Maharaja was the most senior and prominent member of the GBC, he hadn’t been to the GBC meetings in seven years. At the end of Maharaja’s life, he was again brought to Mayapur, into the association of his dear Godbrothers, where once more he could resume his service as the most senior GBC member and respected advisor to its leadership. It is also the time of year when all Gaudiya-Vaishnavas, not just ISKCON, congregate to celebrate the appearance of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. His passing was thus perfectly timed and perfectly placed to guarantee the appropriate recognition and glorification of his practically unparalleled service to the mission of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, all of which seems to have been obviously arranged by the will of providence.

Whatever individual opinions one might have concerning the legacy of Tamal Krishna Maharaja, it is higher authorities that ultimately weigh one’s life and contributions. Can anyone doubt–by the way Lord Gauranga has orchestrated the passing away of Srila Tamal Krishna and arranged for the consequent overwhelming outpour of appreciation and affection worldwide–that it is Mahaprabhu Himself loudly issuing the final verdict and a clear message:

“Srila Tamal Krishna Maharaja, a great and dedicated servant of Srila Prabhupada has passed from this world. His contribution to My mission is very significant and his life and teachings are to be forever remembered and honored. His life and passing is a message to all: Service to my mission is rewarded!”

New York City Indradyumna Maharaja

March 16th, 2002

New York City

Indradyumna Maharaja turned to me at lunch today and reflected the loss of Tamal Krishna Maharaja, our very dear friend, by saying, “I feel scarred for life.” It’s a new experience for me. I cannot recall ever losing someone who was so much a part of my life since Srila Prabhupada left. The loss is felt deeply and it will be for life.

The Vrindaban Tamal Krishna
Outside of Vrindaban one can only know Krishna’s position as the creator and maintainer. In Vrindaban, His home, His full personality is revealed. One can know Him intimately as a friend, parent, or lover. I knew the Vrindaban Tamal Krishna Maharaja, his personal side. Growing up in ISKCON, however, I first knew him only in terms of his position as Srila Prabhupada’s personal secretary, one of the first zonal acaryas, the most prominent and influential GBC, and an extremely powerful, respected, and feared leader. In the late ’80s, however, Maharaja embarked on a new development in his devotional career–his internal nurturing of spiritual life in Vrindaban. He came there to devote quality time to studying the works of Goswamis and to chant and hear about Krishna. Since Vrindaban was my home, we became very close friends. I got to know and observe his personality, his ability to reach out and exchange very intimately with people, whether it was with his Godbrothers, his disciples, or the many other people he contacted and knew through his outreach preaching. We are missing him dearly for his service as a stalwart general of Srila Prabhupada’s mission, but I suspect that it is this side, what I call the Vrindaban Tamal Krishna, that many devotees are remembering and missing most–a part he cultivated and developed more and more as his devotional life matured, especially in Vrindaban. When I first contacted Satyaraja after Maharaja left, he lamented that this very personal and intimate side of Tamal Krishna Goswami–which Satyaraja felt was especially manifest in the last five years–was not so well known. He feared that only his awe-inspiring power as a leader would be remembered. But Satyaraja was wrong. The torrent of attachment for Maharaja after his passing is certainly as much a reflection of the intimacy he achieved in his relationships as it is the result of the respect earned by his position. In great separation we thus remember the Vrindaban Tamal Krishna.

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The Passing Away of His Holiness Tamal Krishna Goswami

March 15th, 2002

New York City

We are all in shock to lose such a dear friend and well-wisher. I will reserve the next few days of this journal for realizations concerning Tamal Krishna Maharaja. It is 2:30 in the morning. I have just returned from a memorial service today for Maharaja, so I won’t have much time for writing. I will just say a few words and in the days ahead I will try to recall some of my realizations about Maharaja.

The program in honor of Tamal Krishna Maharaja at 26 Second Avenue was life-transforming. Many devotees told me so. It was so packed that a rug was put on the sidewalk and a speaker was placed outside. All I could think about was how pleased Tamal Krishna Maharaja would have been to see the success of the preaching here as the growing congregation of 2nd Avenue, including many newer devotees from New York, have today joined some of his dearest friends like Indradyumna Swami, Dayananda, and Satyaraja to honor him, and by doing so, honor the principle of service to Srila Prabhupada’s mission.

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