Blog 1 April 29, 2007

I have decided to start a blog, not as an attempt to document what is going on externally in my life and travels but rather as to reveal what is happening internally in my heart and mind as I perform my devotional service to Srila Prabhupada. Sometimes I will refer to external events as a means to reveal my mind and heart to the devotees who wish to follow this blog. The writing may be a little rough at times as I will attempting to write “stream of consciousness” more than in a documentary style, so I ask the readers to please bear with me in this.

When I first joined the Krishna consciousness movement in 1971 my primary focus was to get out of this material world and live in the spiritual world without any experience of the threefold miseries and birth, death, disease, and old age. Since that time my desires have certainly morphed (hopefully gotten better!).

At this point my primary focus is in how to increase the number of Krishna conscious people and how to deepen relationships between devotees so that we are interacting in a true loving way, rather than in terms of our roles in society or in terms of the rituals that we follow. I have been constantly praying to Krishna and Prabhupada to deepen my own compassion so that I can accomplish this.

In my interactions with devotees I have noticed that generally we have official relationships that are typified with stereotypical language. In other words the depth of relationships is not so great. This of course leads to heavy conflicts between the devotees rather than loving relationships.

Srila Prabhupada states in the Nectar of Instruction that our movement progresses because of loving relationships, so if we are unable to deepen our relationships, and find difficulty in expressing our feelings and needs, it is unlikely that the society of devotees will increase in a real way-and I am not just speaking about numbers of devotees or numbers of temples or big buildings that are being constructed.

As I stated in my Vyasa Puja offer to Srila Prabhupada this year, my meditation on Radha and Krishna and prayers have been focused on developing true love and compassion for all of Krishna’s parts and parcels. Every desire tree that I approached during my visits to Vrindavan and the other holy places have heard this supplication from me.

This Sankalpa (intention, desire) is inseparable from my desire to please Srila Prabhupada. I know that Srila Prabhupada will be very pleased with me if I can bring souls who are actually deeply committed to his lotus feet. In order to do this I have to be able to reflect Prabhupada’s compassion, which was what drew me to the Kcon movement.

My realization is that in addition to praying for compassion one must consciously practice it. For example whenever I perceive someone opposing me or expressing negativity towards myself or my actions, I make that person a special object of my compassion and pray intensely for that person.

This is helping me develop the Vaisnava quality of Ajata Satrava (not having any enemies but being a well wisher towards everyone).

As we know Prahlad Maharaja rejected the concept of friends and enemies that his teachers were attempting to get him to accept. Rather he saw all living entities equally (yas tu sarvani… -isopanisad). In fact his father who was attempting to kill him was the special object of Prahlad’s compassion. I am very inspired by Prahlad’s quality of forgiveness and love for all living entities.

By the practices and prayers I mentioned (and of course by the mercy of Srila Prabhupada and Radha Govinda), I am feeling a radical softening of the heart and the feeling of intense love for Krishna’s parts and parcels. The process actually works! And of course this intense love for Krishna and his parts and parcels is the greatest happiness. Sometimes when I see people I become overwhelmed by love for them and desire to help them become happy in Kcon.

I don’t know if it is so good to reveal my mind/heart in this way, but I feel impelled to do so as it will inspire others in the process of Krishna consciousness. That is, spiritual advancement is not something difficult to attain. It is simply a matter of following Krishna consciousness, but that following can not simply be done externally but must be done with one’s heart and soul. As Srila Prabhupada states; devotional service is executed with the subtle body. This is my understanding of the statement-tivrena Bhakti yogena (SB 2.3.10). Srila Prabhupada has given us the greatest gift, and if we dedicate our lives to giving this gift to others, all success will be attained very quickly.

Because of those feelings, I have felt impelled to look for ways to bring more people to Krishna consciousness. In fact my creative impulses have been awakened in this regard. So, I have been trying out some really radical ways to share Kcon with others, some of which are working in amazing ways and some which have not been as effective as I have wished.

As far as the movement is concerned, those same feelings of compassion have manifested in the practical action of my studying sociology and relationship strategies with the aim of helping the devotees develop a functional “live giving” society. Whenever I see that devotees are not expressing great happiness it gives me pain, so I want to facilitate their attainment of blissful Krishna consciousness. With that in mind I have been giving seminars and am studying to give more seminars on compassion. Compassion-empathy is the greatest tool for mitigating conflicts.

Right now I am in New Orleans sharing Krishna consciousness with the devotees in the temple here and with the attendees of the Jazz Festival which is a yearly event in New Orleans (over half a million people attend). The temple is 2 blocks away from the main entrance. We set up a stage, prasad booths, displays etc to attract people.

The devotees in New Orleans have really special bhakti. Most of them are from Mayapur, the appearance place of Lord Caitanya. Hence they are natural devotees and have wonderful soft hearts. They love to serve the Vaisnavas and share Krishna consciousness.

There are also some devotees here from other locations that have come to share Krishna consciousness.

My program here is to study, rest (I just came back from an intense tour of Fiji, New Zealand, and Australia-in New Zealand and Australia I have a program of doing 8 or more home visits a day), and speak to people who are interested in Krishna consciousness.

Because of the rapid shift of time zones from the South Pacific to New Orleans my sleeping schedule is thrown off. I am waking up early, chanting my rounds before Mangal Aroti, and taking a little rest after breakfast. The schedule is really nice for Kcon as when one gets most of the rounds done before MA it helps one experience the nectar for which we are always anxious!!

I am studying several books (in addition to my Kcon studies) right now that deal with the structure of different types of organizations, the power of Authority (an interesting book by Stanley Milgram called “Obedience to Authority”), books on Non Violent Communication (which I am using as source material for several courses I am putting together on Empathy and conflict resolution), and material that helps me develop strategies for presenting Kcon to the world in general.

Of course all these materials have to be properly digested and adapted so that they don’t conflict with our philosophy. This is quite a challenge, but also an exciting one. It is exciting for me because the whole purpose is to help others. Otherwise I would not be interested in any of this material.

One must recognize one’s needs (spiritual and otherwise). I have been considering why devotees have so many problems in their spiritual lives and relationships. Observing Srila Prabhupada I see the perfect example of how Krishna consciousness should be executed. I just wrote to one of my Godsisters as follows: Prabhupada on the other hand was in complete touch with his needs and was very affectionate to all and not engaged in excessive austerities. His life is a perfect example of spiritual harmony and balance.
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Blog 2 April 29, 2007

Just had a conversation with one of my disciples via skype. She has to spend a lot of time outside the temple environment relating to those who are not familiar with Krishna consciousness. Sometimes the devotees in the temple look down upon her and others whose life takes them outside the protected environment of a temple.

In the beginning of the conversation the word “non-devotee” was used and I made the point afterwards that we have to be very careful in using language that creates division. In ISKCON we have many designations that create division not only between our members and others but also within ISKCON. We have devotees/non-devotees, devotees/demons, devotees/raksasas, devotees/karmis, advanced devotee/sense gratifier, etc.

There have been many studies that indicate that the more divisive language is used the more a particular culture experiences conflicts internally and externally and these conflicts sometimes become violent conflicts.

So, I prefer to think of people who are not practicing Kcon to be “aspiring
devotees,” who are not yet aware that they are aspiring. They are aspiring in the sense that they want Krishna but are not aware that they want Him.

They are innocent. According to our philosophy a madhyama Adhikari should see those who are not opposed to Kcon as being innocent.

When I think in terms of innocence or in terms of people wanting Krishna but not being aware that they want Him, the thought naturally leads to
compassionate thinking and action.

We should be cautious whenever we use divisive, judgmental language. The sastras contain very clear descriptions because it is necessary to present the siddhanta in a way that one will not be confused, but in daily life one must exercise caution in applying these designations.

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Blog part three April 29, 2007

I have already been getting some favorable feedback from devotees about the blog. Many are encouraged by it. It is important to be able to communicate feelings and thoughts about Krishna conscious realizations and service. It is almost as if Krishna told is forcing me to communicate because He does not want me to keep these thoughts/realizations to myself.

I read several things today in Srila Prabhupada’s books that inspired me in
my search for real compassion/empathy. One particular verse really struck
me (from the SB 4.12.36):

“The self-effulgent Vaikuntha planets, by whose illumination alone all the
illuminating planets within this material world give off reflected light,
cannot be reached by those who are not merciful to other living entities.
Only persons who constantly engage in welfare activities for other living
entities can reach the Vaikuntha planets.”

For me the operative word in this verse is “constantly.” In order to achieve
this constant status one has to be impelled by intense love/empathy/compassion for all living entities. This is different from
sympathy in which one from a superior position simply feels sorry for those
who are suffering.

In real love/empathy/compassion there is equality and hierarchy vanishes
like the mist being burnt off by intense sunshine.

By understanding this particular point, so much in Prabhupada’s work becomes very very clear. We oftentimes speak about how a Vaisnava is an ocean of compassion (Kripa sindhu-usually mistranslated as “full of compassion”). It is important to understand how this is, how it is manifested, and how to achieve this ocean.

Today was the commemoration of the disappearance of Jayananda Thakura. He had so much love for Prabhupada that it was incomprehensible. He prayed (in much the same way as Haridas Thakura did) that he would not see Prabhupada’s final pastimes on this earth (Krishna fulfilled his desire as he left right before Srila Prabhupada) and would serve Srila Prabhupada eternally.

Jayananda also had unlimited compassion for others. He was loved by everyone for this. I told the devotees in class today that there was no one who hated Jayananda in this world. Amazing!

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Part 4 April 29, 2007

Another thought came to my mind in regard to Jayananda Thakura is that he was serving Srila Prabhupada out of love, not because Srila Prabhupada imposed some authority on him.

We oftentimes forget that Krishna consciousness should be executed from the heart and should not be done because of some extrinsic reward or threat of punishment. The domination culture that has been adopted by some in ISKCON mitigates against the actual development of Kcon.

In other words we should not be doing service or sadhana because we have to or because we gain something from it (recognition, etc) but because we truly enjoy making a loving offering to Krishna and His devotees. We should not be doing anything unless we truly enjoy it in a deep way. We should choose to serve. We should not be serving because it is simply our duty. We can still perform our duties but with a life serving spiritual desire that comes from the heart.

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Part 5 April 29, 2007

Just got finished talking to a disciple of one of my Godbrothers who has passed away. It seems that a group outside of ISKCON is attempting to draw him away and literally coerce him to take shelter of another guru with the use of domination language (you must do, you should do, have to do, etc). I explained to him that taking shelter of another Vaisnava should never be done because you have to do it, but should come from the heart, because you want to do it. In addition when we take shelter of a siksa guru the siksa guru’s instructions should be compatible with the diksa guru’s guidance.

So on both counts (forceful surrender and compatibility) choosing this other group was not the right thing for him.

It is interesting for me to observe that after sometime in a hierarchical situation (what is called a domination culture) there is the tendency to lose one’s heart connection and be caught up in shoulds and musts.

I was also asked about the relationship between siksa guru and diksa guru. He was informed that the siksa guru is of equal importance with the diksa guru. Apart from the political implications of that statement, it is not necessarily true.

I explained to him that the most prominent guru in ones life is the one that is most prominent. That statement appears to be a tautology but in fact my statement indicates that these relationships can not be legislated. In any institution like ISKCON there is the tendency to legislate relationships. Doing so may destroy the heart of the relationship. One might as well join the army!

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Part 6 April 29, 2007

Also met with some young people from Chicago about the festival that they are doing. I encouraged them and tried to give them some ideas.

Then we spoke about the future of ISKCON in general and New Talavan in specific. I was mentioning that unless the older generation stepped away and allowed the second generation to develop exciting, challenging Krishna conscious projects the future would not be so bright for many of our projects.

When I was in India this year I would ask many of the second generation (born in the movement) devotees whether they were enthusiastic to go back to their home temples/farms and sometimes they told me that they were bored with the situation there and would rather stay in India.

Time to move aside you old timers!!