We want to do whatever we please, whatever feels good. We like to have our "freedom of choice" without too many of those pesky religious impositions that so troubled our more superstitious ancestors. But if we analyze our situation we can see that our assumed freedom to do what we like is actually not so free at all. All we are doing is following the dictates of our mind and senses. We cannot sit peacefully for very long before our agitated mind and senses impel us to get up and seek some kind of gratification.

Only when we have the power to deny our powerful mind and senses can we say that we truly have free choice.

...in the last few months as I have flitted from one screen to another one thing has repeatedly struck me; how much program content is about human agony. The popular soaps, for example, are a virtual catalogue of catastrophe. The characters appear to go from one hair raising scrape to the next, continually subjected to all kinds of trials and traumas. In between that they seem to spend their time standing toe-to-toe yelling at one another, with moments of serenity few and far between.

Alas, for those who spend their days
In festive mirth and joy.
The dazzling, deadly, liquid forms
Their hearts fore'er employ.

The shining bottles charm their eyes
And draw their heart's embrace;
The slaves of wine can never rise
From what we call disgrace.

Was man intended to be
A brute in work and heart?
Should man, the Lord of all around,
From common sense depart?

Man's glory is in common sense
Dictating us the grace,
That man is made to live and love
The beauteous Heaven's embrace.

The flesh is not our own, alas,
The mortal frame a chain;
The soul confined for former wrongs
Should try to rise again.

Why then this childish play in that
Which cannot be our own;
Which falls within a hundred years
As if a rose ablown.

Our life is but a rosy hue
To go ere long for naught;
The soul alone would last fore'er
With good or evil fraught.

How deep the thought of times to be!
How grave the aspect looks!
And wrapt in awe become, O, we,
When reading Nature's books.

Man's life to him a problem dark,
A screen both left and right;
No soul hath come to tell us what
Exists beyond our sight.

But then a voice, how deep and soft,
Within ourselves is felt, Man! Man!
Thou art immortal soul!
Thee Death can never melt.

For thee thy Sire on High has kept
A store of bliss above,
To end of time, thou art Oh! His-
Who wants but purest love.

O Love! Thy power and spell benign
Now melt my soul to God;
How can my earthly words describe
That feeling soft and broad?

Enjoyment, sorrow-what but lots
To which the flesh is heir?
The soul that sleeps alone concludes
In them it hath a share.

And then, my friends, no more enjoy
Nor weep for all below;
The women, wine, and flesh of beasts
No love on thee bestow.

But thine to love thy brother man
And give thyself to God,
And God doth know your wages fair-
This fact is true and broad.

Forget the past that sleeps and ne'er
The future dream at all,
But act in times that are with thee
And progress thee shall call.

But tell me not in reasoning cold
The soul is made alone
By Earth's mechanic lifeless rules
And to destruction prone.

My God who gave us life and all
Alone the soul can kill,
Or give it all the joys above
His promise to fulfill.

So push thy onward march, O soul,
Against an evil deed,
That stands with soldiers Hate and Lust-
A hero be indeed.

Maintain thy post in spirit world
As firmly as you can,
Let never matter push thee down-
O stand heroic man.

O Saragrahi Vaisnava soul,
Thou art an angel fair;
Lead, lead me on to Vrindaban
And spirit's power declare.

There rest my soul from matter free
Upon my Lover's arms-
Eternal peace and spirits love
Are all my chanting charms.

At 7 P.M. Prabhupada allowed everyone to enter, and the large room filled up with about a hundred people, including about thirty of his disciples. A small light was on Prabhupada's desk, and several naked light bulbs were fixed on the wall. The total lighting effect, although dim, was exciting. We all took part in an enthusiastic kirtana, singing and dancing before Srila Prabhupada, who played his shining karatalas and sang along with the chorus, completely absorbed in chanting with the devotees. Someone had given him a woolen hat which fit under his chin, and he wore his heaviest sweater as well as a cadar.

After the kirtana he spoke about the six Gosvamis of Vrndavana and how they practiced tapasya.

"The tapasvis in Vrndavana," said Prabhupada, "go naked, even in the cold. They are determined not to come back again to material life. Of course, nowadays we cannot execute such severe austerities. But even if we try to live in comfort, we will suffer. And if we think, `All right, it is miserable, but let me enjoy' still we have to die. So our penance is to voluntarily take pains for Krsna. He comes to save the fallen souls. He comes Himself, He sends His devotees, He leaves His books. If we help a little, He will be pleased. That is our penance"

After his lecture, an American devotee visiting Vrndavana asked Prabhupada, "What is the difference between Goloka and Vrndavana?"

"None," replied Prabhupada. "But your mind is in America. Fix your mind at the lotus feet of Krsna and you are always in Vrndavana. Krsna is everywhere"

Life with the Perfect Master - A Personal Servant's Account - Satsvarupa dasa Goswami

Here's a cool tool for memorising slokas from Candidasa Prabhu. It has all Bhagavad-gita slokas. Download it and install it on your own machine...

You can go to the Sloka Raja website and see a series of verses hidden by a saffron veil. Each verse number is given in a tab along the top of the window. If you hover the mouse over the veil shrouding a particular verse, then that text's veil becomes transparent and you can "peek" at a single line of the original Sanskrit or the English translation. You can also click the mouse button and the text becomes permanently uncovered. Clicking again re-hides the verse.

In his Bhakti-ratnakara Srila Narahari Cakravarti writes:

1. Be careful in your dealings with devotees and never create any ill feelings in their hearts.
   
2. Creating ill feelings with devotees will create impediments on one's path of spiritual life.
   
3. Please be very careful in dealing with the Vaisnavas. Beg their forgiveness for any offense with your heart and soul.
   
4. Be careful not to see a vaisnava's faults, and always sing their glories.
   
5. All of the previous great devotees have said, "No one can understand the behavior of the vaisnava.
   
6. Hold the devotees lotus feet to your head and always dive in the nectar of pure devotional service.

Bhurijana Prabhu arrived in Melbourne this afternoon for a ten day stay. He'll be giving most morning Srimad Bhagavatam classes and some evening classes next week which I'll announce later this weekend.

There'll be a Lila Kirtana on Sunday evening after the 7.00 pm Sandhya Arati. The pastime will be Advaita Acarya Invites Lord Caitanya for Prasadam in Jagannatha Puri.

1. sravana – daily hearing of the Holy Name, the Bhagavatam and lectures
2. manah  – reflection  on  these  subjects.  If  one  does  not  reflect,  then  the subjects  might  just  go  in  one  ear  and  out  another.  Reflection  brings  the subject into the heart.
3. nididhyasan – the  literal  translation of nididhyasan  is  “deep  meditation or absorption.”  In  the  context  of  Krishna  conscious  practice  this  can  mean also the application of spiritual knowledge.

So  to  become  deeper  means  reflection  and  application.  If  you  can  do  this  everyday, then  you  will  see  tremendous  changes  in  your  life.  The  roots  will  grow.  Srila Baladeva Vidyabhusana adds  yet another dimension.  He says that these processes are extremely  powerful,  but  without  the  mercy  of  the  Lord,  nothing  can  be  successful. Therefore a devotee should add a fourth practice: regular prayer for mercy.

Helping to draw conditioned souls away from their perverted attachment to the material energy is the greatest compassion. If even one soul is rescued from Mahamaya's fortress, that compassionate act is infinitely more benevolent than the construction of unlimited hospitals.

Who can be delivered? Not just the somewhat sinful, or the occasionally sinful, or even the very sinful, but "the most sinful of all sinners."

• Valmiki, a murderer, became a pure devotee of the Lord.
• Mrgari, who had enjoyed half-killing animals and watching them writhe in pain, became a pure devotee of the Lord.
• The Caitanya-bhagavata says of Jagai and Madhai, "There is not a sin that they had not committed. Although born in brahmana families, they consumed liquor and beef, robbed, stole and burnt other person´s houses." Yet they became pure devotees of the Lord.
• King Rahugana offended Jada Bharata, but later became a pure devotee of the Lord.
• Dhruva Maharaja, although already a pure devotee, needlessly slaughtered thousands of innocent Yaksas. Yet when he stopped he was forgiven, and he was still accepted as a pure devotee of the Lord.
• Although Akrura and Krtavarma were pure devotees, they became implicated in the plot to kill Satrajit. And still they are accepted as pure devotees of the Lord.

manaḥ-saṁskāraṇaṁ śaucaṁ
maunaṁ mantrātha-cintanam
avyagratvam anirveda
japa-sampatti-hetavah

1. manaḥ-saṁskāraṇaṁ - the ability to control one's mind
2. śaucaṁ - internal and external purity
3. mauna - the ability to be silent
4. mantra-artha-cintana - the ability to contemplate the meaning of the mantra
5. a-vyagratva - patience
6. a-nirveda - steadfastness

Kesava Prabhu mentioned these in class yesterday and I was so impressed I thought I'd share them. I'll post some commentary over the next couple of days.

Whatever the thought, just drop it. Right now. Don't try to resolve it because you can't and you don't have to. Just drop it and get back to your japa. The world will go on even if you don't finish your thought.

"As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." -Proverbs 23:7

These quotes got me thinking about the lessons I have learned over the years about the mind, from my favourite philosphical treatise, the Bhagavad-gita. The mind, as we know, is the pivotal point and source of our thinking, feeling and desiring. The great philosphers of the past have pointed out that the mind can either be our friend or enemy.

First of all, do not think of japa as drudgery: "Whew! It seems like I've been chanting for hours and hours, and I only have three rounds done. Will it never end?" Well yes. It really will never end.

That's what we want, isn't it? to be calling out Lord Krsna's name forever? So think of japa as eternal, and you will become peaceful and attentive.

Do not think about all the things you will have to do when at long last you finish your japa. If your mind wanders off to your work, remind yourself that thinking about work while chanting does not help either the work or the chanting. And again, remind yourself that japa never finishes.

While we are on the subject of poetry here's another one from Caru's website from earlier this month. This one's written by Umapati Swami. Read the full text at the Utah Krishna's site.

When people want to do the very least
And still expect to drink of Godly grace,
Then they don't know religion's lovely face.
They've not yet risen far above the beast.

Unfortunately, for many devotees this vital activity is often relegated to a secondary position while other concerns like body, family cares and tasks at hand take priority. Under illusion, one wakes up in the morning thinking, “I have many pressing things to do. I must make e-mails, phone calls, read the newspaper and watch the televised news. What’s the hurry, I have all day to chant my rounds.”

Chanting Krsna’s holy names, the very life breath of the soul, becomes a mere trifling thing to do at some other time. Pity-how what should be done first is done last! In describing the word determination, Srila Prabhupada said that chanting the holy names of Krsna is more important than eating and sleeping. "If you cannot finish sixteen rounds, then you must not sleep on that day and you must not eat. Why do you not forget to eat? Why do you forget chanting Hare Krsna? This is negligence, aparadha, offense. Rather you should forget your sleeping and eating and finish sixteen rounds. This is called determination." (Spt 28/1/74)

To please Guru, Gauranga and Krsna, purify the heart, and attain perfection on the path of devotion one must chant a fixed number of rounds daily. It only takes about two hours to finish sixteen rounds. Some devotees, due to mental purity and practice from the present and past lives, finish sixteen rounds in one hour.

By Maha-nidhi Swami

This little snippet by Maha-nidhi Swami came from the May edition of Vaisnava Sanga magazine which can be subscribed to at the following address. isekc at yahoo dot com

bahu-sastre bahu-vakye citte bhrama haya
sadhya-sadhana srestha na haya niscaya

"If one becomes a bookworm, reading many books and scriptures and hearing many commentaries and the instructions of many men, this will produce doubt within the heart. One cannot in this way ascertain the real goal of life." (CC, Adi-lila, 16.11)

Simply by studying, becoming bookworm, you cannot advance. The real secret is... That is stated in the Vedas. Unflinching faith in God and spiritual master. Then things will be revealed from within. How much strength we have got to study all these books? But Vedas says, yasya deve para bhaktir yatha deve tatha gurau. If one has got unflinching faith in God and similar faith in the spiritual master, tasyaite kathita hy arthah prakasante mahatmanah, to him only the Vedic knowledge becomes revealed.

Six Gosvamis Lecture, Sri Sri Sad-gosvamy-astaka -- Los Angeles, November 18, 1968

I’m back in Manchester from my visit to Germany. My realization is that the external environment makes a huge difference on one’s ability to practice Krishna consciousness.