# Back to Godhead Magazine #43 *2009 (03)* Back to Godhead Magazine #43-03, 2009 PDF-View ## Welcome IN "THE BEST BENEDICTION," Mohini Rādhā Devī Dāsī recalls a saint who rejected a magical stone that could produce gold. He had something much more valuable: the holy names of the Lord. Why are God's names so valuable? Because anything related to God, Kṛṣṇa, is God Himself. That means we're in touch with Kṛṣṇa whenever, for example, we hear, recite, or remember His holy names or narrations of His activities. Associating with Kṛṣṇa in the numerous ways available to us is the key to spiritual progress though *bhakti-yoga,* the culture of devotion to God. Our series on Kṛṣṇa's avatars provides an easy way to focus our minds on transcendence. Just read "Lord Parasurama's Revolution," and you'll be engulfed in the transformative power of spiritual sound. Kṛṣṇa's devotees try to stay in constant contact with Him and bring others into His company. In "Parenting as Service to God," we gain insights on how to increase Kṛṣṇa's presence in our homes. And in "Vedic Wisdom Reaches Finland's Schools," Kṛṣṇa-krpa Dāsa describes the success of a small group of devotees in bringing Kṛṣṇa into the world of education—where it is sorely needed, as Śrīla Prabhupāda explains in "Dangerous Education." Hare Kṛṣṇa.—*Nagaraja Dāsa, Editor* Our Purposes • To help all people discern reality from illusion, spirit from matter, the eternal from the temporary. • To expose the faults of materialism. • To offer guidance in the Vedic techniques of spiritual life. • To preserve and spread the Vedic culture. • To celebrate the chanting of the holy names of God as taught by Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. • To help every living being remember and serve Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Personality of Godhead. ## Letters *Animals and Karma* I am very confused about the law of *karma*, which states that our current body and condition is a result of our action in past lives. However, if we were, say, a plant or animal in a past life, how can a living being without consciousness be expected to perform actions that will eliminate *karma* and free us from reincarnation? And if we only ever have an opportunity for liberation in our form as a human, then what is the point of being reincarnated in all those other forms of life? Tara Via the Internet *Our reply:* Consciousness is what makes a body alive. When consciousness leaves the body, there is death. Animals and plants are alive and have been shown to demonstrate symptoms of consciousness. But only in the human form of life can one accrue and burn away *karma*. In all other forms, the soul or consciousness simply suffers and enjoys the results of actions done in the human form. So animals and plants, even though they have consciousness, cannot perform actions to eliminate *karma*. The living entity is reincarnated in plant and animal forms because of material desires. Such births are a kind of bondage. When one develops the mentality of an animal, disregarding the opportunity afforded by the human form to cultivate spiritual life, one is given the opportunity to continue that mentality in an animal form. That is the reason for the existence of all the other forms of life. *What is Moksa?* Why should I pray to God to give me *moksa*? How would I come to know that I am following the path of *moksa*? What would happen to me if I attained *moksa*? Don't you think one should take birth time and again to devote time to prayer and doing the best for the society in which one is living instead of getting *moksa*? Bharat Bhushan Via the Internet *Our reply:* *Moksa* means to be released from material life, which is life without Kṛṣṇa. When we practice *bhakti-yoga,* we are already living a life with Kṛṣṇa and so have attained *moksa*. You are right. A pure devotee does not pray to Kṛṣṇa to give *moksa,* because the devotee does not mind whether he is in this world or goes back to Kṛṣṇa. All the devotee wants is to keep serving the Lord wherever he is. By following the path of *bhakti-yoga* as explained by Kṛṣṇa in *Bhagavad-gītā,* you can know that you are following the path of *moksa*. When you practice *bhakti-yoga* and take shelter of Kṛṣṇa, you will become free of material desires, develop pure devotion to Kṛṣṇa, and directly experience Him. This is similar to eating, by which one gets satisfaction, nourishment, and relief from hunger. In his prayers, Prahlada told the Lord that he did not want *moksa* but wanted to continue to do the best for the society by giving all people devotion to Kṛṣṇa. By getting devotion, one becomes freed of all problems. *Visnu, Siva, and Brahma* From reading your books I have learned that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and from Him come Maha-Visnu, Garbhodakasayi Visnu, and Ksirodakasayi Visnu. He also expands as Brahma to create, as Visnu to protect and maintain, and as Siva to annihilate. Lord Siva and Lord Brahma are demigods and Lord Visnu is not. Lord Visnu is rather said to be the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In so many places, Śrīla Prabhupāda has cited both Kṛṣṇa and Visnu as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Siva is not like other demigods. He is much higher than them. Even Lord Rama used to worship Siva before commencing major activities. In ranking, Kṛṣṇa comes first, then Maha-Visnu, and then other Visnus. But Visnu is cited as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. I find this confusing. Please help me. Durga Basnet Via the Internet *Our reply:* Yes, Kṛṣṇa expands as Brahma, Visnu, and Siva to manage the material creation. Brahma is almost always a *jiva* (infinitesimal soul) and not Visnu-tattva (God). Siva is not a *jiva*, nor is he Visnu-tattva. Siva is almost like Visnu, just as yogurt is milk but not milk. So Siva is Visnu but not totally identical. Visnu, even though coming from Kṛṣṇa, is still the Supreme Personality of Godhead. We should know that ultimately everything spiritual always exists. So the **jivas*,* Visnu, and Kṛṣṇa are eternal and always exist. When we say that Visnu comes from Kṛṣṇa, it means that the form of Visnu does not manifest all the qualities that Kṛṣṇa manifests. We *jivas* also come from Kṛṣṇa, but we manifest even fewer qualities. In summary, Kṛṣṇa expands (or manifests fewer qualities) as the Visnus, and one of these Visnus (Ksirodakasayi) maintains this world. Brahma is a *jiva,* and Siva is a powerful demigod. *CORRECTIONS* In the January/February issue, the *Caitanya-caritāmṛta* was identified as a sixteenth-century text. It was actually completed in 1615. In the January/February issue, the article "Cow Protection in Europe" contained several errors because we mixed up photos of the Hare Kṛṣṇa farms in Hungary and the Czech Republic. On page 39, the caption should read "The temple at New Vraja-dhama in Hungary." Also on page 39, in the text of the article under the subheading "Cows at the Manor," the second sentence should begin, "Before we arrived in Hungary at the New Vraja-dhama farm, which hosted the conference,..." On page 41, the photo caption should read "...garden production at New Vraja-dhama..." and "...in the restaurant of the New Vraja-dhama temple." We apologize for these errors. *Replies to letters were written by Radhikesa Dāsa.* *Please write to us at:* BTG, P.O. Box 430, Alachua, FL 32616, USA. E-mail: [email protected]. Founder’s Lecture: Dangerous Education *Los Angeles—May 13, 1970* *A primary Vedic book warns of the peril involved in the culturing of material knowledge without spiritual knowledge.* ### By His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda Founder-*Ācārya* of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness > andham tamah pravisanti > ye 'vidyam upasate > tato bhuya iva te tamo > ya u vidyayam ratah "Those who are engaged in the culture of nescient activities shall enter into the darkest region of ignorance. Worse still are those engaged in the so-called culture of knowledge."—(*Śrī Īśopaniṣad,* *mantra* 9) THERE ARE TWO kinds of education: material and spiritual, or *brahma-vidya* and *jada-vidya. *Jada*-vidya* means material education. *Jada* means "that which cannot move," or matter. *Brahma-vidya* is spiritual education. Spirit can move. Our body is a combination of spirit and matter. As long as the spirit is there, the body moves, just as a man's coat and pants move as long as the man wears them. It appears that the clothes are moving, but actually they appear to be moving only because the man is moving. Similarly, the body moves because the spirit soul moves. A car moves when the driver moves. Foolish people think that the motorcar is moving on its own. But in spite of all the mechanical arrangements, it cannot move on its own. People think that material nature is working independently, moving and manifesting so many wonderful things. At the seaside we see that the waves are moving. But the waves are not moving on their own; the air is moving them. But air is not moving on its own. In this way, if you go back, back, back to the ultimate cause, you'll find Kṛṣṇa as the cause of all causes. That is philosophy—to search out the ultimate cause. Here it is said, *andham tamah pravisanti ye avidyam upasate*. *Avidya* refers to persons captivated by external movements. They are worshiping *avidya,* nescience. That will not help them. There are big, big institutions for technology, where students learn how a motorcar can move, how an airplane can move. And people are manufacturing so much machinery. But there is no educational institution that teaches how the mover, the spirit soul, is moving. That lack of understanding is called *avidya,* nescience. The actual mover is not being studied, but the external movement is being studied. When I lectured at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, I inquired, "Where is the technology to study the mover?" But they have no such arrangement. They could not answer satisfactorily. That is *avidya*. Here, in the *Īśopaniṣad,* it is said*, *andham tamah* pravisanti ye avidyam upasate.* Those engaged only in the material advancement of education will go to the darkest region of existence, *andham tamah*. It is a very dangerous position that at the present moment there is no arrangement in any state, all over the world, for spiritual education. Modern civilization is pushing human society to the darkest region of existence. Actually, it is happening so. In your country, your rich country, you have a nice educational system, so many universities. But what class of men are you producing? The students are becoming hippies. Why? The leaders should think, "In spite of so many educational institutions, what are we producing?" Worshiping *avidya* is not knowledge. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has sung very nicely: *jada-vidya yato, mayara vaibhava, tomara bhajane badha. Jada-vidya* means material education. He says it is an expansion of *maya,* the illusory energy. The more we advance in material education, the more we will be hampered in understanding God. And at last we shall declare, "God is dead. I am God. You are God." All this nonsense. That progression is hinted at here: *andham tamah. Andham* means darkness. There are two kinds of darkness: the absence of light, and ignorance. Materialists are certainly being pushed into the darkness, but there is another class, the so-called philosophers, mental speculators, religionists, and yogis. They are going still more into the darkness because they are defying Kṛṣṇa. They pose as if culturing spiritual knowledge, but because they have no information of Kṛṣṇa, or God, their advancement in education is more dangerous: They are misleading people. Those preaching the so-called *yoga* of today are misleading people: "Meditate, and you'll understand that you are God." By meditation, one becomes God. [Chuckles.] You see? Kṛṣṇa never meditated. He never had any chance to meditate, because from the very beginning of His appearance, Kamsa was prepared to kill Him. Then His father transferred Him to the house of Nanda and Yasoda in Vṛndāvana. There also, when He was sleeping as a three-month-old baby, the demon Putana attacked Him. Kṛṣṇa had no chance to meditate to become God. He is God from the very beginning. That is God. God is God and dog is dog. That is the law of identity. These ideas are all nonsense: "Become still, become silent, and become God." How can I become silent? Is there any possibility of becoming silent? No. There is no such possibility. *"Become desireless."* How can I become desireless? These are all bluffs. We cannot be desireless. We cannot be silent. But our desires and our activities have to be purified. That is real knowledge. We shall desire only to serve Kṛṣṇa. That is purification of desire. Not desireless. That is not possible. How can I be desireless? How can I be silent? That is not possible. Our activities should be engaged, dovetailed, in Kṛṣṇa's service. That is real knowledge. As a living entity, I have all these things—activities, desires, the propensity to love. Everything is there. But these things are being misguided. We do not know where to place all these things. That is *avidya,* ignorance. *Īśopaniṣad* teaches us that we should be very careful. We don't say that you shouldn't advance in material education. You can advance, but at the same time, become Kṛṣṇa conscious. That is our propaganda. We don't say that you shouldn't manufacture cars or machines. But we say, "All right, you have manufactured this machine. Employ it in Kṛṣṇa's service." That is our proposal. We don't say to stop it. We don't say that you cannot have any sex life. But we say, "Yes, have sex—for Kṛṣṇa. You can have sex a hundred times to produce Kṛṣṇa conscious children. But don't create cats and dogs." That is our proposal. Education is required, but if education is wrongly diverted, it is very, very dangerous. That is the purport of this verse. So-called education has no value. Thank you very much. ## Kṛṣṇa’s Incarnations *Lord Parasurama’s Revolution* *In a former age, God's empowered incarnation employed extreme measures to deal with an extreme situation.* ### By Aja Govinda Dāsa SECTARIAN AND political disputes are common not only today but occurred even during the time of Śrī Parasurama, an empowered incarnation of the Supreme Lord who appeared several ages before Lord Ramacandra, millions of years ago. The kings at that time, proud of their strength and fighting for absolute power, revolted against the spiritually advanced sages, who generally guided government. Since these kings had offended the devotees of Lord Kṛṣṇa and deviated from the path of righteousness and care of the citizens, they had to be punished. Śrī Parasurama fulfilled that mission. Though born in the family of learned *brahmanas,* he developed a keen interest in archery because he knew he would battle the vile warriors who opposed the saintly authorities. How was Lord Parasurama incited to kill the kings? Once, tired while hunting in the forest, a king visited the hermitage of Parasurama's father. Despite the royalty's hostility toward *brahmanas,* the sage cordially received and fed the king and his attendants. The king was awestruck at the heavenly reception, which he discovered was possible because the sage owned a wish-fulfilling cow (*kamadhenu*) that could produce anything. The jealous king commanded the sage to surrender the cow to him. But, knowing that the king would exploit the cow, the sage did not comply. The king's soldiers captured the cow, however, and dragged her away. To punish the king and reclaim the cow, Parasurama charged toward the king's palace. With the speed of mind, the scriptures say, Lord Parasurama chopped his way through the huge army. The king aimed many arrows at Parasurama, but before he could release them, Parasurama sliced them to pieces. The enraged king dashed forward with uprooted trees and hills, but Parasurama skillfully severed the king's arms and beheaded him. The king's cowardly sons fled. As a lion hunts down an elephant, Parasurama defeated the king and returned the cow to his father. The massacre displeased Parasurama's father, who advocated forgiveness. Parasurama, however, preferred to fight to establish justice. Which of the two is to be followed by the Kṛṣṇa conscious—to tolerate like Lord Jesus Christ or to fight like Arjuna? According to Vedic principles, when personally insulted a devotee does not retaliate. But if someone offends God, the scriptures, the sages, women, cows, or old or weak persons, then the devotee must defend them and subdue the offender as an act of justice. To protect the cow, Parasurama had done no wrong in fighting the wicked warriors. Still, since he had killed a king—the representative of God and protector of the people—his father instructed him to atone by visiting holy sites, which are the abodes of pure saints and pastime places of the Lord. To exemplify proper behavior, Parasurama followed his father's command. From his story we learn that violence is to be avoided as much as possible, but is sometimes necessary to uphold justice. *Avenging the King's Death* Taking advantage of Parasurama's absence, the princes avenged their father's death by beheading Parasurama's father, brutally disregarding the desperate appeals of the sage's wife. How could such a great sage, father of God's incarnation, be murdered? This was a karmic reaction to an offense the sage had committed. Once, Parasurama's mother went to the river to fetch water. Upon reaching the river, she was attracted to a handsome prince sporting in the water with women and desired his company. Dazed, she lost all sense of time and forgot that her husband was awaiting her return for his fire sacrifice. When she eventually arrived, her husband was furious to learn of her adulterous thoughts and ordered his sons to kill their mother. The sons weren't sure what to do. In Vedic culture, murdering any woman (what to speak of one's own mother) is a horrible sin. On the other hand, disobeying an elder's command (especially the father's) is also a great offense. When the sage's confused elder sons declined to obey his command, the sage instructed his youngest son, Parasurama, to kill his disloyal mother and disobedient brothers. Parasurama knew that his powerful father could bring his mother and brothers back to life. Therefore, he did as his father had asked. He killed his mother and brothers—not for any selfish interest, but only to obey his father's command. Pleased with Parasurama's obedience, the sage offered to fulfill any desire of his. Parasurama asked his father to give life back to his dead mother and brothers and to free them from any memory of the trauma. Realizing his needless rage, the sage brought back to life his beheaded wife and sons, who then stood up as if just waking from deep sleep. As a karmic reaction to the sage's ordering of the killing of his wife and sons, the princes killed him. The pastimes of the Lord and His devotees and incarnations are transcendental affairs that we cannot imitate. Still, the story of Śrī Parasurama's family teaches us to be wary of lust and anger, which can disrupt the lives of even such great souls as Parasurama's parents. *Parasurama's Revolve* Upon hearing his mother crying out to him when the princes attacked his father, Parasurama rushed back to the hermitage. But before he arrived, the princes escaped with the sage's head. Leaving his father's body with his sad brothers, Lord Parasurama resolved to end the reign of irreligious kings. He started his mission at the king's capital, where he reduced all his opponents and their armies to severed limbs and heads afloat in a river of blood. On seeing this, some of the frightened kings fled the Indian subcontinent. The bloodbath filled huge lakes at Kurukshetra, the site where the Mahābhārata battle would take place. The twelfth-century Vaisnava poet Jayadeva writes: "O Kesava! O Lord of the universe! O Lord Hari, who have assumed the form of Bhrgupati [Parasurama]! All glories to you! At Kurukshetra you bathe the earth in the rivers of blood from the bodies of the demoniac *ksatriyas* [warriors] that you have slain. The sins of the world are washed away by you, and because of you people are relieved from the blazing fire of material existence." His mission complete, Lord Parasurama prayed to Lord Kṛṣṇa to elevate his father to heaven and retired to the mountains to perform penance. *Necessary Violence* Why did Lord Parasurama kill so many people? Isn't it better to establish peace than to wage war? The massacre must have left many families unprotected, children orphaned, towns devastated, and communities disrupted. As Arjuna asks in the first chapter of the *Bhagavad-gītā,* how can any good come from war? Parasurama's extermination of the warriors seems to destroy peace and harmony. His war, however, was a just revolution against injustice. It was necessary to establish true peace, which had been disrupted by the aggressive leaders. To fulfill His promise to protect His devotees, Lord Kṛṣṇa as Parasurama destroyed the corrupt leaders, who were harassing the saints. The devotees of the Lord are the bearers of peace and prosperity because they constantly serve the all-auspicious Lord Kṛṣṇa, husband of the goddess of fortune. Since government leaders were neglecting religious principles and torturing innocent citizens, their hostile reign had to end at any cost. Could Parasurama have avoided the war through nonviolent protest? Here's what Prabhupāda writes about a similar situation: "Lord Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna, the Lord's eternal friend, had no need to fight in the Battle of Kurukshetra, but they fought to teach people in general that violence is also necessary in a situation where good arguments fail. Before the Battle of Kurukshetra, every effort was made to avoid the war, even by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but the other party was determined to fight. So for such a right cause, there is a necessity for fighting." (*Bhagavad-gītā* 3.20, Purport) During the time of Lord Parasurama, nonviolence was out of the question because the warriors would not listen to any advice, continuing their aggression unchecked. Perhaps if the sages had silently tolerated the torture, compassion would have arisen in the aggressors and they would have stopped their atrocities. But in their envy, the aggressive leaders had relentlessly harassed the sages for generations. The sages had been forgiving the kings' misdemeanors, until the situation got out of hand. When God or one of His incarnations kills opponents in battle, they are liberated from material existence. That's the difference between Lord Kṛṣṇa and us. Also, if we kill someone, sin touches us, but if Lord Kṛṣṇa kills someone, He remains ever pure. He never acts with selfish motives. He says in the *Bhagavad-gītā* (4.14): "There is no work that affects Me; nor do I aspire for the fruits of action." The Lord is transcendental, and those who understand His pure nature remain unaffected by acts in the material world, just as lotuses in a pond remain untainted by even a drop of the muddy water. Every action by Lord Kṛṣṇa is absolute. Whether He kills or protects, He does so out of compassion. The devotional come to the Lord to offer flowers of worship, and the irreverent come to attack Him with weapons. The Lord reciprocates according to their motives. He reciprocates with death for His self-professed enemies and with love for His devotees. Kṛṣṇa's killing is compassionate because He liberates His opponents. Both the devotee and the miscreant are spirit souls, eternal parts of Lord Kṛṣṇa. When the Lord kills His opponents, His touch purifies them and they merge into His existence. Whether during Lord Parasurama's time or at present, whenever the wicked and dishonest corrupt society, the Supreme Lord Himself incarnates or sends an empowered representative to curb the offenders, protect the virtuous, and establish the true principles of *dharma*. Just as Lord Parasurama was an archer empowered by Lord Kṛṣṇa to defeat all unruly leaders, in our times His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda is the representative of the Lord empowered to defy all atheistic philosophies. Just as Lord Parasurama is present today as he performs penance atop sacred mountains, Prabhupāda lives with us today in the form of his divine teachings. *Aja Govinda Dāsa, a disciple of His Holiness Hanumatpresaka Swami, is pursuing a Ph.D. in artificial intelligence at Oxford with a Clarendon scholarship.* *The Empowered Warrior* THE SUPREME LORD'S incarnations appear in six categories: (1) *purusa-avataras* are the omnipresent sources and sustainers of the cosmos (Maha-Visnu, Garbhodakasayi Visnu, and Ksirodakasayi Visnu), (2) *līlā-avatara*s are the pastime forms (Matsya, Kurma, Varaha, and so on), (3) the *guna-avataras* control the material qualities (Brahma, Visnu, and Siva), (4) *manvantara-avataras* are scheduled incarnations who appear during the reign of each Manu, (5) *yuga-avataras* are scheduled descents of the Lord who teach the *dharma* of every *yuga,* or age, and (6) *saktyavesa-avataras* are empowered incarnations. Parasurama is listed as both a *līlā-avatara* and a *saktyavesa-avatara* specifically empowered to eradicate evildoers (*dusta-damana-sakti*). The **saktyavesa-avatara*s* are either direct or indirect incarnations of God. When the Lord Himself descends to manifest a particular potency, He is called *saksat,* or a direct *saktyavesa-avatara*. But when He empowers living entities (*jivas*) to act on His behalf with a specific power or opulence, they are called indirect, or *avesa,* incarnations. Parasurama is an indirect incarnation. In the *Bhagavad-gītā* (10.31), while describing His multifaceted opulence, Lord Kṛṣṇa says, "Of the wielders of weapons I am Rama." The Vaisnava commentator Śrīla Baladeva Vidyabhusana writes that the Rama mentioned here is not Śrī Ramacandra, the direct incarnation and hero of the *Ramayana*. Rather, this Rama is Parasurama, the empowered warrior who manifests the Lord's weapon-wielding potency. ## Vedic Wisdom Reaches Finland's Schools *For twenty-five years, devotees at the small Hare Kṛṣṇa center in Helsinki have been presenting Kṛṣṇa's teachings to students all over Finland.* ### By Kṛṣṇa-krpa Dāsa After a few congenial words with the teacher of a philosophy class at the University of Tampere, Tattvavada Dāsa, dressed in his orange silk *dhoti* and *kurta*, gets the students’ attention and begins his lecture on Vedic epistemology, or process of acquiring knowledge. Projected on the screen are the terms *pratyaksa* (sense perception), *anumana* (hypothesis), and *sabda* (Vedic sound). Drawing from authorities in the line from Lord Caitanya, Kṛṣṇa’s most recent incarnation, Tattvavada talks about the limits, stemming from human imperfection, of sense perception and hypothesis. He explains that both scientists and Vedantists research through sense perception and categorize the principles behind everything. But they work in opposite ways. Science starts from sense perception to form hypotheses, but the Vedantists take their hypotheses from the eternal principles, as given in the *Vedas*. Science tries to find the ultimate principles behind existence through research, and they have gained some insight into gravitation, time, and so on (but not other, more important, features of reality, like consciousness). Vedantists also use sense perception, but only to show how the eternal principles exist in the temporary world. Without taking the superior hypotheses coming from the *Vedas* (*sabda*), we can't clearly understand much of what is happening in this material world. The materialists have knowledge, but it is disconnected from *sabda,* the Vedic source, Tattvavada continues. Real knowledge means seeing how every aspect of the human existence connects to the Supreme. The word *university* comes originally from the verb "to unify" and means to see unifying connections. Also, in the Vedic conception, mere knowledge is not enough; one has to act according to that knowledge to realize it. Tattvavada then speaks about the physical and the metaphysical, drawing on the Vedic terms *sanatana-dharma* (concerned with the metaphysical) and *varnasrama-dharma* (concerned with the physical). He uses Powerpoint presentations, transparencies, and pictures to make his points. At the end, students ask questions, especially on ethical issues. *My Trip to Finland* I was glad to finally see Tattvavada in action. He is ISKCON's regional secretary for Finland and the Helsinki temple president. I met him one winter while I was visiting the holy birthplace of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu in Māyāpur, West Bengal. When he told me he was sharing knowledge of Kṛṣṇa with Finland's academic community, I wanted to see his work firsthand. My opportunity came the first week of September 2008, when the school year started. Tattvavada invited me to stay through Rādhāstami, September 7, and be his temple's guest speaker. The Finnish devotees are dedicated to giving lectures in high schools and colleges, conducting programs for temple visitors, and distributing *prasādam* and books of Vedic wisdom. They lecture in Hare Kṛṣṇa attire and develop friendships with teachers. For most of the students, the ideas discussed in the lectures are new but plant a seed of interest in Vedic knowledge, specifically Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Avadhutacandra Dāsa, leader of the Hare Kṛṣṇa book distribution party in Finland, told me he had just met a well-dressed professional who had heard a devotee speak to his high school class some years ago. The man was eager to talk with Avadhutacandra and bought a copy of Prabhupāda's *Science of Self-Realization*. Avadhutacandra has met many people while on book distribution who have developed interest in Vedic wisdom because of the school presentations. Lectures in classes on religion, philosophy, and psychology are just one venue for sharing Vedic knowledge in Finland. Another is entire courses on Kṛṣṇa consciousness. In 2002, Tattvavada Dāsa, originally a captain in the military, was invited to help the Finnish parliament decide on new religious laws. United Nations Article 27 states that every child has the right to be taught the teachings of his own religion. In most countries this is not enforced, but in Finland, after some debate, the parliament ruled that if there are at least three children of any religion in a city, the parents can request their local school to teach that religion. As a result, all the officially registered religions, including the Kṛṣṇa religion, got the right to teach their own children in the schools. "That's a great beginning," Tattvavada told me, "but my hope is that in the future the rule will be that students can choose to attend whatever religion courses are available, not just the course for the religion they are members of." In light of the parliament ruling, Tapo Divyam teaches the Kṛṣṇa religion, based on Śrīla Prabhupāda's teachings, to seven classes a week in greater Helsinki. "To my knowledge," says Tapo Divyam, "our opportunity to teach Kṛṣṇa consciousness as an official religion class in the schools is unique in the world." He then reminds me of something Śrīla Prabhupāda said: So in the present material world they are interested in understanding *atma*—the body. The medical science, physiology, biology, they are studying the science of the body. And some of them are studying the science of mind, psychology—thinking, feeling, and willing. But nobody is studying the deepest meaning of *atma*: soul. There is no university, school, college throughout the whole world to understand the soul. "Now for the pleasure of Śrīla Prabhupāda and the disciplic succession," Tapo Divyam says, "and by their mercy, we can teach the science of the soul even in regular schools." Students from Nepal I visited a class attended by six Nepali boys. As it was the week after Śrīla Prabhupāda's Vyāsa-pūjā (birth anniversary), Tapo Divyam handed out a fact sheet about Śrīla Prabhupāda's contributions, read from *Śrīla Prabhupāda-līlāmrta,* displayed copies of Śrīla Prabhupāda's books and talked about them, and showed the students several pictures from the new Prabhupāda photo book. The students' interest increased as the class progressed, and its end came all too soon. The boys already knew some things about their Vedic heritage. One proud son of a *brahmana* even showed off his *brahmana*'s thread. It's easy to understand that the Vedic worldview, culminating in devotion to Kṛṣṇa, as described in the *Bhagavad-gītā* (e.g., 15.15, 18.64-18.66), should be discussed in school as well as at home. That could prevent the boys from losing touch with their spiritual culture, the most important part of life. Tapo Divyam has another class with all Indians, and one with four students from India, Bangladesh, Śrī Lanka, and Nepal. Two of the classes are in English, and the other five in Finnish. Muniraja Dāsa also teaches courses on Kṛṣṇa consciousness in the public schools. "Our academic outreach is very nice," he told me, "but it is the result of a lot of work, and it takes thoughtfulness to maintain the situation and go further. I always meditate on the instructions of Suhotra Swami: 'We cannot be in a mood of conversion when dealing with materially learned persons; rather they should be attracted to the devotees' knowledge and qualities.' " During my visit, I noticed that Tattvavada spends easily as much time after classes talking with the teachers as he does talking to the students. The teachers often ask questions about how to present the Kṛṣṇa religion to their classes accurately. After the lecture I attended, the younger of the two teachers conducting the class told Tattvavada, "I came to your temple four years ago with the university group. I still remember the exact words and the tune you were singing." Tattvavada also spoke with a teacher in the next room who was writing textbooks for all Finnish schools. She wanted to invite him to give suggestions for the next textbook. When he gave her *prasādam,* she had one of her students distribute some to the entire class. "Our friendships with the teachers have been developing for a long time," Tattvavada says. Tattvavada has also been training teachers at the University of Helsinki. This will be one of the functions of the imminent college branch described below. "I'm careful to never break the trust I've established with the teachers," Tattvavada says. "I don't encourage people to leave their studies and join the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement on the spot. I just give people information about Kṛṣṇa consciousness, so both teachers and students are aware of the truth about it. "Scientists offer some philosophy but no religion, and other religionists offer some devotional sentiments but are weak in philosophy. The Kṛṣṇa teachings, however, integrate philosophy and religion and can satisfy both the emotional and the intellectual needs of the living being." Tattvavada's friends in academia have often helped ISKCON Finland. Ten years ago, when the European Union was beginning, the atheistic French government sent representatives to different countries to convince them that the Hare Kṛṣṇas were an evil sect that should be stopped. On hearing from a French delegation, one of Tattvavada's Ph.D. friends was upset to hear all their erroneous negative propaganda and strongly defended the Kṛṣṇa religion. One Ph.D. who trains religion teachers has been inviting Tattvavada to lecture for the past ten years. Now he yearly brings his entire class to the Helsinki temple. Last year the professor brought twenty-five undergraduate Christian priests and their teachers to Vrindavan, India, the center of devotion to Kṛṣṇa. Tattvavada took them on the pilgrimages to Govardhana and the town of Vrindavan. A class of nurses comes to the Helsinki temple every year as a part of a multicultural course, since the nurses need to learn how to deal with patients with various religious views. Recently, a highly respected professor of comparative religion at the University of Helsinki asked Tattvavada and Tapo Divyam to prepare a curriculum for a Kṛṣṇa studies minor for Finland. *Bhaktivedanta College* Tattvavada's next step is to start an institute of higher education. It will be a branch of Bhaktivedanta College Budapest (BHAKTI), the only devotee-run university that is accredited and can award graduate and post-graduate degrees. Founded ten years ago, BHAKTI has 350 students. Bhaktivedanta College in Finland will start offering courses in the autumn semester this year. Once the Finnish devotees join with BHAKTI, religious educators and students in Finland will be able to get academic degrees by studying the Kṛṣṇa religion under qualified devotee teachers. Helping to make the Finnish branch a reality are Sivarama Swami; Devamrta Swami; Gaura Kṛṣṇa Dāsa, the BHAKTI headmaster; and Rādhānatha Dāsa, a key expert behind BHAKTI who has good connections in the academic community. The Finnish devotees are also working with Bhakti Vidya Purna Swami and the Bhaktivedanta Academy in Māyāpur, India. Teachers have come from there to teach the Finnish devotees, with classes on Vedic education, literature, *yajnas,* and other arts. Laksmimani Dasi, who has been involved in education in the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement for over thirty years, came to Finland to help train teachers. "The devotees in Finland have a unique opportunity," she says, "in that Finland is offering them a rare chance to share the knowledge we have been given. The devotees in my teachers' training class were outstanding in their desire to learn how to get their point across. They are enthusiastic and kind; some are exceptional teachers." The complete focus on spreading knowledge of Kṛṣṇa to others was more and more evident to me during my stay in Finland. The successful academic program shows what honest and sincere devotees can do by taking the time to cultivate relationships with people in the academic community. *Kṛṣṇa-krpa Dāsa, a devotee for twenty-five years, travels to promote the public congregational chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa, teaches classes on Kṛṣṇa consciousness, is a Krishna.com LiveHelp volunteer, and proofreads BTG and other publications. You can write him at* [email protected]. *The History of Hare Kṛṣṇa Educational Programs in Finland* TRAINED BY Suhotra Swami, Tattvavada Dāsa began to lecture in colleges and universities in 1993. Two years later, Suhotra Swami began to meet scholars in Finland, with scheduling help from Nimi Devī Dāsī. Starting in 1997, Tattvavada organized visits by Suhotra Swami to universities all around Finland. Suhotra Swami's books and philosophical presentations earned respect in the academic community, for both himself and the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement. A few universities still use his books as textbooks. A weekly religion class is compulsory for Finnish students with a religious background. For fifteen years, Tattvavada has been lecturing on world religions, religions in Finland, the Kṛṣṇa religion, ethics, philosophy, and psychology. At present, Tapo Divyam Dāsa, Avadhutacandra Dāsa, Muniraja Dāsa, and Tivra Bhakti Devī Dāsī assist him. They lecture at six of Finland's ten universities and in one hundred colleges and high schools, reaching somewhere between seven thousand and eight thousand students a year. "When we started lecturing in colleges," Tattvavada says, "we thought it would be too difficult to get into most of them. But now, after seventeen years, our biggest challenge is having enough time for all the colleges and universities that want us." Besides schools, colleges, and universities, Tattvavada has lectured at well-respected academic clubs, including a literature club for academics, a quantum physics club, and a club for Mensa members. He also takes part in many interfaith discussions. His motto, taken from a letter Prabhupāda wrote to Hridayananda Dāsa Goswami, is "Every center should be a college." Each week, at least two or three school groups visit the Hare Kṛṣṇa temple in Helsinki—adding another three to four thousand students a year to the number of those hearing from devotees in their classrooms. ## Parenting as Service to God *Fulfilling our duty as parents requires taking care of our children's spiritual needs.* ### By Kṛṣṇanandini Devī Dāsī AS THE MOTHER of ten children, I am often asked, "How do you fulfill your family responsibilities and still make progress in spiritual life? When do you find the time to serve God?" "It's a matter of vision," I reply. "I realize that I can serve God by caring for my children and husband with love and respect." Being a mother and wife is my duty, and I don't distinguish it from my service to God. It is my service to God. Central to that service is training my children in service to God. How does one serve God? The scripture *Śrīmad-Bhagavatam* lists nine principal ways, beginning with hearing about, praising, and remembering God, and progressing to deeper levels of devotional service. Spiritual training for children should begin early, and the Vedic scriptures prescribe a rite (*garbhādhāna-saṁskāra*) that creates a spiritual environment at the time of conception. When I was pregnant with each of my children, I read scriptures, listened to spiritual music and lectures, chanted sacred *mantras*, ate food prepared for and offered to the Lord, prayed (a lot), and associated with likeminded spiritual seekers. When I was giving birth, devotional music played quietly in the background. As the children grew, we held daily classes on the *Bhagavad-gītā* and *Śrīmad-Bhagavatam*. I chose to home-school my children until they reached the ninth or tenth grade. I wanted to ensure that, in addition to a sound academic background, they would have a strong spiritual foundation. Rather than seeing my children as impediments to my spiritual life, I prayed to be able to view them as devotees of the Lord and to understand that by raising them with love, in a spiritual atmosphere, I was doing a service as pleasing to God as other forms of worship. While raising children today is difficult, raising God-conscious children is even more so. Just to provide food, clothing, shelter, education, and other physical and mental needs requires great endeavor. Add the diligence and support needed for the children's spiritual training, and parenting is an awesome responsibility. But by accepting the commitment to act as parental stewards on God's behalf, dedicated, spiritually inclined parents develop good qualities. From within the heart, the Lord gives sincere, committed parents the intelligence and direction to know what to do and to whom to turn for help. From without, He gives guidance through the *guru*, scriptures, grandparents, and other experienced parents and spiritually advanced persons. All over the world, most religiously or spiritually inclined people are married or will get married. The majority of these couples will have children. And of these, many parents seek ways to raise children who are moral, spiritually conscious contributors to the communities in which they live. *The Long Road to Adulthood* Unlike animals, the young in human society don't grow up quickly to take their place as mature or self-sustaining members of their community. Human children have a variety of long-term needs that must be addressed: physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual. They need love, food, shelter, education, clothing, recreation, protection, good association, and so on. As dedicated caretakers, spiritually conscious parents must make every effort to provide for these needs in healthy ways. This is an important part of spiritual life: caring for or serving the Lord's servants. It cannot be neglected. The best parents are good role models for their children. They demonstrate the spiritual way of life through words and deeds, understanding that children learn what they live. They seek out other parents or families trying to raise God-conscious children. In this way, they create a much-needed support system. Truly "It takes a village to raise a child." (Ancient African Proverb) Sometimes it is necessary to get parenting skills so that we can communicate better, resolve conflicts, set goals, and administer discipline in loving ways to our children. Obtaining such skills is also devotional service because it helps us carry out our parenting duties. God-conscious parenting requires sacrifice. But it is a sacrifice of love that, like other kinds of devotional service, can be quite rewarding. Raising caring, spiritually conscious children is a grand and valuable goal, and to reach it takes a grand commitment. *The Wonderful Art Of Dovetailing* In the *Bhagavad-gītā* (9.27), Lord Kṛṣṇa tells Arjuna, "All that you do, all that you eat, all that you offer and give away, as well as all austerities that you may perform, should be done as an offering unto Me." The secret weapon of parenting is to dovetail everything in Kṛṣṇa's service. For example, Kṛṣṇa declares in *Bhagavad-gītā* (14.4), "I am the seed-giving father." So, as a parent changing your baby's diaper, you can remind yourself, "I am changing the diaper of one of God's children." When, despite fatigue, you read to or play with your son or daughter, remind yourself that the Lord is noting how you sacrifice to bring joy to one of His children. When you chide your teenage child, do so with the sense that you are caring for a living being who belongs to someone much greater than you. With your spouse, if possible, take the time to prayerfully create some family rules, rituals, and routines that are fair, hopeful, and consistent and that contribute to each child's growth and development. Parents who want to raise kind, considerate, spiritually aware children must provide more than just physical maintenance for their offspring. Dovetailing family life to Kṛṣṇa distinguishes God-conscious parents (*grhastha*) from those who don't (*grhamedhi*). To paraphrase Lord Kṛṣṇa: "Offer the austerities of your parenting duties as an offering to Me." *Moving on Up* In Vedic culture, life is divided into four stages, called **asrama*s,* or "places of spiritual growth": (1) student life, (2) married or family life, (3) retired life, and (4) renounced life. Each stage is meant for growth and development and requires the fulfillment of certain duties. Being a God-conscious parent means that you are in an *asrama* (the grhastha *asrama*) that is part of a spiritually progressive system. The grhastha *asrama* is meant for living a wholesome, loving, regulated family life. Since most people marry and have children, the *grhastha asrama* is an example to others and offers hope. One who sincerely accepts the service of becoming a Kṛṣṇa conscious parent is empowered by God Himself to do this service. God-conscious parenting is a vital duty very much appreciated by the Lord. The Vedic scriptures tell us that we should not become parents unless we can bring our children to a higher stage of spiritual life and save them from the cycle of birth and death. Prospective parents should realize their tremendous responsibility. "You must produce nice children," Śrīla Prabhupāda said. "For that purpose, sex life is allowed. And especially in this age, at the present moment, if you can produce children to become Kṛṣṇa conscious, that will be a great service to the Lord. Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura and his wife, Śrīmati Bhagavati Devi, were an ideal couple who raised ten children in late nineteenth-century India. He was a great spiritual master and government official who perfectly balanced his parental, spiritual, and administrative duties. He rightly appreciated that he was but a steward for Lord Kṛṣṇa's children and property. A masterful poet and songwriter, he wrote in one song, "My life, my wife, my family—all belong to You, O Lord." *Results Are Up to the Lord* Our duty as parents is to be good examples in a God-conscious setting. Sometimes, despite our best efforts, our children will cause us problems. Therefore, we must remember, as the *Gita* teaches us, that we can only do our duty and rely on the Lord for the results. Too many children grow up to be crude, harsh, immoral, undisciplined, or criminal. Psychologically and spiritually unhealthy children grow up to be unhealthy adults. "Hurt people hurt people," says actor and educator Bill Cosby. In other words, people who have been abused or misused will often become abusers or exploiters themselves. Our world cries out for children who are truthful, compassionate, self-disciplined, clean in mind and body, and spiritually inclined. They will carry these qualities into adulthood. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu predicted a golden age of God consciousness within the present age of quarrel and deceit. That will require more and more God-conscious children and adults to populate the earth. "Good population in human society," Śrīla Prabhupāda writes, "is the basic principle for peace, prosperity, and spiritual progress in life." *Kṛṣṇanandini Devī Dāsī, a disciple of Śrīla Prabhupāda, is a Certified Family Life Educator (CFLE), a licensed minister of Kṛṣṇa consciousness in the state of Ohio, president of ISKCON's Grihastha Vision Team, and co-director, along with her husband, Tariq Saleem Ziyad, of the Dasi-Ziyad Family Institute. She and her husband have written many articles and conducted many workshops on family, marriage, and relationships. She resides with her family in Cleveland, Ohio.* ## Śrīla Prabhupāda Speaks Out *Everyone Must Be Employed* *This exchange between His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda and one of his disciples took place in 1974 in Geneva, Switzerland.* Disciple: In a recent speech a politician in India said that eighty percent of the Indian people live in rural villages. His proposal was to increase the technology on the farms. Instead of people having to harvest the wheat by hand, they would have motorized harvesters, and instead of having to use bullocks to pull the plow, they'd use a tractor. Śrīla Prabhupāda: In India many men are already unemployed, so to introduce more machinery there is not a very good proposal. The work of one hundred men can be done by one man with a machine. But why should there be so many men unemployed? Why not engage one hundred men instead of engaging one? Here in the West, also, there is much unemployment. Because in your Western countries everything is done by machine, you are creating many hippies, frustrated young people with nothing to do. That is another kind of unemployment. So in many cases machines create unemployment. Everyone should be employed; otherwise there will be trouble. "An idle brain is a devil's workshop." When there are so many people without any engagement, why should we introduce machinery to create more unemployment? The best policy is that nobody should be unemployed; everyone should be busy. Disciple: But someone might argue, "The machine is freeing us from so much time-consuming labor." Śrīla Prabhupāda: Free for what? For drinking and doing all kinds of nonsense. What is the meaning of this freedom? If you make people free to cultivate Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that is another thing. Of course, when someone comes to our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, he should also be fully engaged. This movement is not meant for eating and sleeping, but for working for Kṛṣṇa. So whether here in Kṛṣṇa consciousness or there in the outer society, the policy should be that everyone should be employed and busy. Then there will be a good civilization. In the Vedic civilization, it was the duty of the head of society to see that everyone was working, either as a *brahmana* [intellectual or teacher], a *ksatriya* [military or political leader], a *vaisya* [farmer or merchant], or a *sudra* [laborer]. Everyone must work; then there will be peace. At the present moment we can see that on account of so much technology, there are unemployment and many lazy fellows. The hippies are lazy, that's all. They don't want to do anything. Disciple: Another argument might be that with technology we can work so much better, so much more efficiently, so the productivity of those who do work goes way up. Śrīla Prabhupāda: Better that more men be employed doing the work less efficiently. In *Bhagavad-gītā* [18.48] Kṛṣṇa says, > saha-jam karma kaunteya > sa-dosam api na tyajet > sarvarambha hi dosena > dhumenagnir ivavrtah "Every endeavor is covered by some fault, just as fire is covered by smoke. Therefore one should not give up the work born of his nature, O son of Kunti, even if such work is full of fault." And a Hindi proverb says, "**Bekari* se *begari* acchi hai*." *Bekari* means "without employment." And *begari* means "to work without salary." In India, we have seen many villagers come and request a shopkeeper, or any gentleman, "Please give me some work. I don't want a salary. If you like, you can give me something to eat. Otherwise, I don't even want that." So, what gentleman, if you work at his place, will not give you something to eat? Immediately the worker gets some occupation, along with food and shelter. Then, when he's working, if the gentleman sees that he's working very nicely, he will say, "All right, take some salary." Therefore it is better to work without any remuneration than to remain lazy, without any work. That is a very dangerous position. But in the modern civilization, on account of too many machines, there are so many unemployed people, and so many lazies also. It is not good. Disciple: Most people would say these ideas are very old-fashioned. They'd rather have their technology, even if it creates a high unemployment rate, because they see it as a means of freedom from drudgery, and also as a means of freedom to enjoy television, movies, automobiles. Śrīla Prabhupāda: Technology is not freedom. Rather, it is a free way to hell. It is not freedom. Everyone should be engaged in work according to his ability. If you have good intelligence, you may do the work of a *brahmana*—studying scriptures and writing books, giving knowledge to others. That is the *brahmana*'s work. You don't have to bother about your subsistence. The society will supply it. In the Vedic civilization *brahmana*s did not work for a salary. They were busy studying the Vedic literature and teaching others, and the society gave them food. As for the **ksatriyas*,* they must give protection to the other members of society. There will be danger, there will be attack, and the *ksatriyas* should protect the people. For that purpose they may levy taxes. Then, those who are less intelligent than the *ksatriyas* are the *vaisyas,* the mercantile community, who engage in producing food and giving protection to the cows. These things are required. And finally there are the *sudras,* who help the three higher classes. This is the natural division of society, and it is very good, because it was created by Kṛṣṇa Himself (*catur-varnyam maya srstam*). Everyone is employed. The intelligent class is employed, the martial class is employed, the mercantile class is employed, and the rest, the *sudras,* are also employed. There is no need to form political parties and fight. In Vedic times there was no such thing. The king was the supervisor who saw that everyone was engaged in his respective duty. So people had no time to form false political parties and make agitation and fight one another. There was no such chance. But the beginning of everything is to understand, "I am not this body," and this is stressed again and again by Kṛṣṇa in *Bhagavad-gītā*. ## How I Came to Kṛṣṇa Consciousness *My Son Leads the Way* *When her son joined the Hare Kṛṣṇas, she wasn't sure what to think, but was determined to find out more.* ### By Kṛṣṇa Kumari Devī Dāsī At age nineteen, my son moved to Portland, Oregon, to live with a friend and his family. His goal was to be in a rock-and-roll band and become rich and famous. During this same time, my oldest daughter was getting ready to have her first child. When she went into labor, it was exciting, but the labor became long and difficult, with complications. In the midst of an atmosphere of anxiety and concern, my children's father called and wanted to know if I knew what my son was doing. I had spoken to my son a couple of days earlier, and he was working part time and taking some classes at a community college. His father then informed me that he had dropped all of those plans and had "gone and joined the Hare Kṛṣṇas!" I felt a bit disconcerted as I tried to recall what I knew of the Hare Kṛṣṇas. My image was of young men dressed in orange costumes, jumping up and down and singing on street corners, and asking for money in airports. Not exactly the life I had envisioned my son pursuing. I told his father I had to close my mind to this new information until after the birth took place and everyone was okay. Two weeks later, my husband and I traveled to the Hare Kṛṣṇa temple in Portland to see what was going on. My son, dressed in a white *dhoti* and *kurta*, greeted us. He had a shaved head except for a tuft of hair left on the back. It was a shock to see him looking so different. I had absolutely no idea what all of these changes meant. I was going to find out. We attended an evening *arati,* and I was at once drawn to the singing of the *maha-mantra*. The temple president gave a class, but I don't remember the content. I certainly didn't understand it. He answered our questions and listened to our concerns with compassion. He did his best to alleviate our fears. My greatest concern was the idea I had of ISKCON being a cult. Would my son turn away from his family and become brainwashed? It was only through experience that I learned how our relationship would change. I left feeling very strange. I could not understand what had turned my son away from the life he knew to a culture that was so different. Yet there was something familiar and compelling as well. I thought I had done something wrong as a mother and went through a period of soul searching before deciding I needed to get more information on Kṛṣṇa consciousness and learn why this philosophy attracted him. In my youth, I had always been searching for the Absolute Truth, and my experiences in life and religion were preparing me for this moment. *My Near-Death Experience* When I was eight years old, I had a near-death experience. I was born with a birth defect that required multiple surgeries. I knew I was in danger of dying with each surgery. After one, there were complications and my heart stopped. I left my body and, from the corner of the hospital room, witnessed the medical staff trying to resuscitate it. It was such a relief to be free of that body. I was happy to leave it behind, and I turned toward the light and tunnel. But a presence stopped me and would not let me go any farther. I knew I didn't want to go back into that body, but the presence said that I had to go back to the material world to "remember Him." Who was I suppose to remember? At that point, it felt like I was pulled back into my body, back to pain and suffering. There is medical documentation for such experiences, and my parents validated mine. This memory is as clear to me today as it was forty-two years ago. I knew from that moment on that I was more than my physical body. The many years that came after were preparing me for the next step of my journey. *Learning More* After my first temple experience, I started reading books by Śrīla Prabhupāda, attending programs at the Portland temple, and spending weekends when I could. As I came to understand the philosophy and mission of ISKCON, I became more and more attracted to becoming a devotee. I began to adjust my life to follow the regulative principles by starting to be a full-fledged vegetarian, chanting sixteen rounds a day, and avoiding intoxicants, illicit sex, and gambling. On one of my weekend trips to the Portland temple, a *sannyasi* named Bir Kṛṣṇa Dāsa Goswami was visiting. I was very much drawn to his preaching and felt at ease talking to him about my life and Kṛṣṇa consciousness. I started to write him regularly and knew he could guide me to become a devotee. I asked him to accept me as a disciple. By his mercy, I received initiation into the chanting of the holy name. I am eternally grateful to him for his guidance. I started doing service at the ISKCON temple in Vancouver, British Columbia, close to where I live. The devotees at the temple have been so merciful to me. They have become my spiritual family, and their association has helped me make progress in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. My son, Trikalajna Dāsa, has been a *brahmacari* (celibate student) for a number of years now.* Our relationship is closer and better than it ever was before he became a devotee. Other members of our family have become devotees, and the ones who have not are supportive of our way of life. ISKCON has totally changed my life, and now whomever I meet will hear about the glories of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Human language is too limited for properly expressing my appreciation for the mercy of becoming a devotee. Now I understand the meaning of my near-death experience. It was to remember Him, Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Achieving love of Kṛṣṇa is now the goal of my life—and any future lives. I pray that life after life I may be placed as an atom at His lotus feet. ## The Extra Plants *False Prestige heads a list of weeds, such as Lust, Greed, and Anger, that block the growth of the vine of Bhakti.* ### By Karuna Dharini Devī Dāsī Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta *metaphorically describes love of God as a creeper, or vine. The following story is based on that metaphor.* I REARED MY HEAD like a cobra, not to strike at someone but to catch the sun. Holding a jumbo glowing flower at the top of my green leaves, I dominated the garden with my presence. My name is False Prestige, and I call myself an Extra Plant (which sounds more flattering than Weed). I never wanted to be extra, or unwanted. How could I, False Prestige, not deserve the space I took in the garden? My roots dug down to grip the earth that bore my weight. Each root I sent into the soil contended with many others. Still I retained my big red bloom. There was always good drink. From the moment I sprouted I had all of the fine, rich things of this world, such as good drink and fertilizer. The gardener identified me as quite worthy of his garden. I stood among the strongest of the Extra Plants. First there was Lust, the Pioneer of Extra Plants. He was a great guy. The gardener was just delighted with him; he was so fresh and bright green. The more the gardener watered him, the more he expanded. He was the most demanding fellow. The gardener was always compelled to water Lust. A plant named Greed arrived, and the only way he could get his watering was to root himself right next to Lust. You've never seen such a pair! Then came Anger. Oh, how the gardener got carried away when Anger pushed his reddish wrinkled leaves up out of the dirt! Now, as False Prestige these other plants began to worry me. How would it look in the neighborhood? These rough plants shot up uninvited. Oh, to see the gardener with his face all twisted and confused—I cannot forget that look. He was so unhappy, so full of worry. Did I mention Happiness and Distress? Twins, though not identical. The same leaves, branches, and twigs. You couldn't tell them apart, until they became florid. The flowers of Happiness were so sweet we could scarcely breathe in her presence without floating in a delirium of pleasure. Distress had his own terrible flowers, sometimes so garish and putrid they are best forgotten. Yet the twins bloomed in turns and distracted us to no end. In his anxiety the gardener wondered who they were and how they got there. Times were tough, but through utter pretension I kept my red blossom held high. *Enter the Expert Gardener* The gardener brought in an expert, who was surprised by how unruly everything was. But he had seen chaos in other gardens and knew what to do. He said there was nothing wrong with the soil; it just needed the right cultivating. And he told the gardener to be much more selective about which plants to grow. The expert gave the gardener a specific select seed, along with what he said was his most important instruction: Correct the watering method. That, he said, would take care of everything. The gardener invited the expert to sit down in the tangled garden, however contaminated it was by Extra Plants. Looking humble, the expert gardener took a seat. As False Prestige, I didn't like that look. It was as if the expert was moved by a deep compassion, a quality that has no appeal for me. For a plant of my status, humility and compassion are caustic. The expert gardener then let out a sound that seemed to come from somewhere deep inside. It drew the gardener close. The expert sang a lovely, flowing song, his attention focused on its sweetness. It was a *mantra* addressed to God, the Lord of the forests of the spiritual world. I had heard of Him. His name is Kṛṣṇa. In His world, plants are full of loving sentiments in devotional service to Him, and trees are wish-fulfilling beings who desire only the welfare of all who pass near them. The plants show tender flowers for Kṛṣṇa's divine pleasure as He moves in the forest while tending cows. The plants are scented with the ecstasy of His presence, and they always grow with joy and increasing desire to serve Him. They are joyful! It's natural for plants to be like that, so I've heard. Along with the special seed, the expert gave the gardener the *mantra* and some devotional songs. As the expert got up to leave, the gardener wept, afraid to make more mistakes with the garden. To show honor, he gratefully touched the master's feet and asked him for his blessings to be able to grow the special seed. Like me, the other Extra Plants, such as Lust, Greed, and Anger, disliked the expert's presence. They laughed at the gardener for thinking one seed and some chants could fix the garden. *Death for the Extra Plants* The gardener began singing, begging the *mantra* to help him. He felt helpless from the turmoil in his garden. He earnestly wanted to understand the sincerity and humility he saw in the master gardener. Where would I, his old friend False Prestige, fit into all of this? As he chanted, I felt dismantled, leaf by leaf. Weakened at my roots, I hung on, only to witness a complete cleansing of the garden. Lust, Greed, and Anger were destroyed. The *mantra* he chanted is a repetition of the names of that Lord of the spiritual forest: Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare / Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. It is a request to feel His presence and become His servant in pure love. As the days went by and the gardener chanted and chanted, feelings of modesty, gratitude, regret, happiness, and devotion ebbed within him. The new seed from the expert-gardener spiritual master bore a sprout, which expanded into a vine of beautiful, sweet, soft leaves. The creeper of devotion grew gracefully with tender foliage. The gardener was pleased to chant steadily. He was relieved to see the death of Lust, Anger, and Greed, and he forgot about Happiness and Distress. He maintained me, but only at the far edge of his landscape, bent over, ready to drop. Then I got a big idea: I became enthusiastic to act as a support stake for the new creeper of Bhakti. I wanted to be useful again, so I thought she might lean on me in order to grow tall. Yet without my aid, she grew very well with myriad tender green leaves and branches. I was surprised. Why didn't she need me? She seemed supported and nurtured by unknown power. What was going on? In my old helpless condition, I felt desperate. *New Recruits* Lonely and neglected, I decided to recruit some new friends: Fame, Adoration, and Distinction. The gardener didn't even take notice when I brought them in. Fame grew very tall, and the effect was just fabulous. The gardener became famous for being a great saint, and along with Fame came his comforting comrades: Adoration and Distinction. I was useful again, and I grew luxuriantly. The gardener strutted about like he used to when I first began to grow. To tend to me, he put aside his chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa. Corollary plants quickly joined us. There was a wandering royal-blue creeper named Politics. He was my kind of a plant and kept us going. What energy he had! And I did so much enjoy his friend, a succulent with thorns who went by the name of Faultfinding. Just forget about Bhakti. Then one day we noticed a tree that began to cast cold shade on the entire garden. He had been growing among us as a small sapling since our earliest days, but unnoticed. Now his trunk was the size of a house. His wide dark-green leaves spread everywhere and blocked the sun. Meet Fear. The gardener had been inadvertently cultivating him all along. On his branches ugly and cumbersome growths called Old Age and Disease gradually became apparent. I began to droop again and dry up. Greatly disturbed, the gardener felt foolish and humiliated to see most of his plants dying. All that was left was an endless tangle of the dried branches of the latest generation of extra plants. The remains of Fame, Adoration, Distinction, Politics, and Faultfinding surrounded the creeper of Bhakti. She grasped life with one little fragile leaf that had turned a pale yellow. At long last the gardener wished for the sweet days when Bhakti had grown steadily. How could he ever revive her? Bhakti does not appear on demand. Ever independent, she is not easily awarded to anyone. The beautiful feelings of love she bestows are available only to those who follow the instructions of the master. Even then, she is never obliged to appear. But if the spiritual master petitions Kṛṣṇa on someone's behalf, Bhakti may respond to his plea most graciously. *The Master Gardener Returns* One day the master gardener came to visit the garden. "Do you want to maintain these Extra Plants when you have Bhakti here?" he asked. "Have I given you this seed so you could grow it and then let it die?" Because of Fear, I could no longer expand my leaves. I stood rooted there, listening to the master gardener talking to the gardener. It was autumn, when plants tremble at the thought of winter. "Why not surrender myself to this expert?" I thought. "What have I got to lose? He is such a kind gentleman and a true lover of the famed Vṛndāvana forest. Even if I lose my position as False Prestige, he won't hurt me." With the master gardener's encouragement, the gardener began to dote on the tender, gentle Bhakti plant again. Although hesitant, he tried his best to sing and play musical instruments. He offered her the sounds of beautiful songs describing tolerance, purity, humility, and self-surrender. He sang about austerity, cleanliness, gravity, and simplicity. He prepared a feast of delicious select food for the master, who was satisfied by the gardener's affectionate service. He sang of fearlessness, detachment, and the association of pure devotees. He stood up in the garden with arms raised high and danced, abandoning all his fear and trouble. The master gardener joined him, and they shouted together, "Chant the holy names! Chant the holy names!" *Discovering Real Prestige* Then I finally noticed something so essential that I don't know why I hadn't noticed it before. It entered into me to trigger my complete transformation: I noticed Real Prestige in the character of the spiritual master. I understood that it comes from knowing who you are: the servant of Kṛṣṇa. In that pure atmosphere the Bhakti plant began to grow very, very high. Soaring, she pierced the coverings of the material universe. Because of the gardener's steady chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare / Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare, her leaves multiplied just as hundreds of soft petals unfold from a flower bud. She expanded without limit toward the Godhead. She eventually made her way to entwine herself at the beautiful feet of that Lord of the cows and creepers of the spiritual sky. I was fascinated by the way the soft, sweet praises of the Supreme Lord had transformed the garden. The gardener was filled with satisfaction. He would remain in a peaceful, blissful state of mind. I realized that I should never have tried to maintain my life as an Extra Plant, an enemy of the gardener. His renewed love for the Lord through the successful germination of Bhakti overwhelmed me with spiritual emotion. I began to feel the exhilaration of Real Prestige, which can only be known by one who understands his real, spiritual identity. I followed Bhakti's path to the Lord's eternal home. Now known as Real Prestige, I am proud to be the humble servant of the servant of the spiritual master and Kṛṣṇa. *Karuna Dharini Devī Dāsī, a disciple of His Grace Virabahu Dāsa, serves the Deities at New Dwaraka (ISKCON Los Angeles), where she joined ISKCON in 1979. She lives with her husband and daughter.* *The Creeper of Love* THE FOLLOWING was spoken by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu: "According to their *karma*, all living entities are wandering throughout the entire universe. Some of them are being elevated to the upper planetary systems, and some are going down into the lower planetary systems. Out of many millions of wandering living entities, one who is very fortunate gets an opportunity to associate with a bona fide spiritual master by the grace of Kṛṣṇa. By the mercy of both Kṛṣṇa and the spiritual master, such a person receives the seed of the creeper of devotional service. "When a person receives the seed of devotional service, he should take care of it by becoming a gardener and sowing the seed in his heart. If he waters the seed gradually by the process of *sravana* and *kirtana* [hearing and chanting], the seed will begin to sprout. "Being situated in one's heart and being watered by *sravana-kirtana*, the *bhakti* creeper grows more and more. In this way it attains the shelter of the desire tree of the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, who is eternally situated in the planet known as Goloka Vṛndāvana, in the topmost region of the spiritual sky. "Sometimes unwanted creepers, such as the creepers of desires for material enjoyment and liberation from the material world, grow along with the creeper of devotional service. The varieties of such unwanted creepers are unlimited."—*Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā* 19.151, 152, 154, 158 ## In your own words... *Which devotee in the Śrīmad-Bhagavatam inspires you the most, and why?* *Pariksit Mahārāja inspires me the most.* He was born in a family of devotees, he was saved by Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself when in the womb, and he was a great learned and powerful king who could punish anyone, but still he did not curse the *brahmana* boy or try to save himself from death. Instead, he took the shelter of the lotus feet of the Lord and heard the *Śrīmad-Bhagavatam* attentively from Sukadeva Gosvami without food or water for seven straight days. He gave us the jewel among the *Puranas*. He showed that a devotee benefits and lets others benefit. Meenakshi Veerapaneni Hyderabad, India *I like the character of Kunti Devi,* the mother of the Pandavas. She prayed to Lord Kṛṣṇa to give her more difficulty, because He was with them when she and her sons faced difficulties but was away when they enjoyed their wealth and other treasures. This is a great attitude. We should have a very strong and great heart to ask God for difficulties instead of materialistic wellness. Renuka Chennai, India *King Pariksit’s role is the most inspiring* in *Śrīmad-*Bhagavatam**. It is due to him that today the *Bhagavatam* is available to all of us in this Kali-yuga. During Pariksit's rule, Kali was there but could not influence the people, as not only was the king pious and a great devotee of the Lord, but he made his citizens equally pious. He did not kill Kali, but allowed him to stay at restricted places. King Pariksit humbly accepted the curse of Srngi Rsi, though he was the king of the entire earth. He renounced everything and left his palace to hear the glories of the Lord on the bank of the Ganges. He chose the liberated soul Sukadeva Gosvami as his spiritual master and heard the *Bhagavatam* with full concentration. So he was not only a perfect disciple but also a perfect listener. The above qualities are inspiring to all of us, as he was a king and a householder but achieved the highest level of perfection in devotional service. Ramesh Juneja Kolkata, India *I feel inspired by the devotion of the* gopis*.* They did not do any great sacrifice or perform austerity, but they have lived wholly for Kṛṣṇa*.* In the book *Kṛṣṇa,* Prabhupāda explains how the *gopis* always thought of the Lord even while doing normal household duties. Even now, in this Age of Kali, when a women loves someone other than her husband, everyone speaks ill of her and treats her as an outcaste, but the *gopis* did not care about the social customs, which naturally were more rigid then, and they were ready to do anything for the Lord. Their devotion is so pure and unalloyed that they never forget Kṛṣṇa and always remember Him. Obeisances unto the feet of Prabhupāda and my Guru Mahārāja for helping me at least to know of these pure devotees. Suvarnangi Rādhā Devī Dāsī Trivandrum, India *Mahārāja Pariksit inspires me the most* because he was poised even when he knew he had just seven days left before his death. Although he was the emperor of the earth, he didn't ask for VIP security. Pariksit Mahārāja did not try to counteract the curse or kill the snake that was to take away his life. His last seven days teach us some of the opulences of human life: He was renounced, nonviolent, and self-controlled. He was a qualified recipient of the highest knowledge. He had compassion toward mankind. (For our benefit, he asked Sukadeva Gosvami perfect questions and received perfect answers.) He showed that people with his qualities are eligible to see God. He perfected his life and set a perfect example. Trpti Madhavi Devī Dāsī Bangalore, India *Prahlada Mahārāja inspires me the most* even though other devotees mentioned in *Bhagavatam* are also sources of inspiration. As a child growing up in India, I never got tired of hearing the narration of Prahlada over and over again. It is amazing to me that as a mere child he was a fully accomplished devotee of the Lord and was not at all afraid of his father's atrocities. Child Prahlada was so fixed in devotion to Kṛṣṇa that he did not give in to his father's harassments. He even tried to preach to his atheist father every chance he got about the supremacy of Visnu or Kṛṣṇa, but to no avail. At the end when Nrsimhadeva was about to kill his father, Prahlada Mahārāja requested that his father be spared from going to hell, because he loved his father and because of his Vaisnava compassion. He truly was a pure devotee of Kṛṣṇa born in the family of demons and is considered a *mahajana* by spiritual authorities. Prahlada Mahārāja *ki jaya*! Vitthalbhai D. Mistry Austin, Texas *Prahlada Mahārāja is practically my role model.* He got the chance to see Kṛṣṇa at such a young age, and his unique experience with his father is a pastime to remember. Ravinjay Kuckreja Jakarta, Indonesia ## The Best Benediction *Why Kṛṣṇa's holy names are the greatest treasure.* ### By Mohini Rādhā Devī Dāsī SOME PEOPLE fantasize about accumulating immense wealth and dream of what they would buy if they only had enough. To them, happiness hovers elusively on the other side of that new car, that big house, that diamond necklace. While many of us will say, "Money can't buy happiness," do we really believe it? If not money, what is the solution to our hankerings? What is the greatest treasure that will bring true happiness? And how do we acquire that treasure? Śrīla Prabhupāda answers these questions in one of his purports, which recounts the story of a fortunate *brahmana* who sought the best benediction from Lord Siva (see purport to *Śrīmad-Bhagavatam* 4.7.6). The story reveals that the greatest treasure is not material, but spiritual. Once, a poor *brahmana* worshiped Lord Siva to get the best benediction, hoping for the solution to all his problems. Lord Siva is known as *midhustama*, the best of the benedictors, and many materialistic people approach him to fulfill their desires. But for this *brahmana*, Lord Siva granted the best benediction for his spiritual life. He directed the *brahmana* to see Sanatana Gosvami, a direct disciple and close associate of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, for only Sanatana could award the best benediction. When the *brahmana* approached Sanatana Gosvami, he noticed that Sanatana had a touchstone that he kept with the garbage. This powerful gem could turn iron into gold simply by contact. Upon the *brahmana*'s request, Sanatana gave him the touchstone, which seemed like the greatest blessing to the *brahmana*, who went away gratified by the assurance of immense financial success. As the *brahmana* left Sanatana's company, however, a doubt nagged his mind: If the touchstone were truly the greatest benediction, then why did Sanatana Gosvami keep it with the garbage, as if it had no value at all? Surely, he realized, this could not be what he was seeking; Sanatana Gosvami must have an even greater treasure. The *brahmana* returned to Sanatana Gosvami and inquired, "Sir, if this is the best benediction, why did you keep it with the garbage?" Sanatana Gosvami replied that the touchstone was not the best benediction. "But," Sanatana asked, "are you prepared to take the best benediction from me?" The *brahmana* eagerly assented, and Sanatana then told him to throw the touchstone into the nearby Yamuna River. When the *brahmana* returned, Sanatana Gosvami initiated him with the Hare Kṛṣṇa *maha-mantra*: Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare / Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. By Lord Siva's mercy, the *brahmana* achieved the best benediction of all: the chanting of the holy names of the Lord in the association of a pure devotee. *Rejecting Materialistic Desire* The touchstone represents materialistic desire. When we want wealth or the enjoyment of our senses separately from Kṛṣṇa, we sabotage our spiritual efforts. We think of ourselves as the proprietors of our wealth, which we consider the fruit of our own hard work. We then become attached and fail to realize that everything comes from the Lord and should be used in His service, for His pleasure. Accordingly, Jesus Christ declared that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. As Śrīla Prabhupāda explains, "Material hankerings and spiritual advancement go ill together." Sanatana Gosvami's order to throw away the touchstone signifies a call to renounce materialistic desire. If we want spiritual life, the best benediction, we cannot simultaneously try to satisfy our own senses. That's like rowing a boat with the anchor still out: We cannot go anywhere despite our exertion. Likewise, if we want to make spiritual progress, we need to lift the anchor of material desire. Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, one of the previous spiritual masters in our disciplic succession, points out that the holy name of the Lord is the real touchstone (the Sanskrit word is *cintamani*). In his book *Harinama Cintamani*, he mentions that the Lord's holy names are "a touchstone yielding all desires." Through the simple process of hearing and chanting the Lord's names, we can directly achieve the highest treasure—*kṛṣṇa-prema*, pure love of God, the ultimate goal of life. When the fortunate *brahmana* discarded the material touchstone for the spiritual one, he thereby achieved the truly greatest benediction: the pure path to Kṛṣṇa's lotus feet under the guidance of Kṛṣṇa's pure devotee. *The Absolute Name* Since Kṛṣṇa is absolute, His name, form, pastimes, paraphernalia, and associates are all equal to Him. This means that the Lord and His unlimited attributes are fully present in His names, which are brilliant like the sun. We cannot perceive this because the clouds of materialism cover our hearts and obscure our view. How can we see the sun of the holy names and thus recover our original position as Kṛṣṇa's loving servants? Kṛṣṇa tells us to surrender to Him (*Bhagavad-gītā* 18.66), and in His most merciful form as Caitanya Mahāprabhu He shows us how to do it. The chief method is the chanting of Kṛṣṇa's names, especially the Hare Kṛṣṇa *maha-mantra*. Caitanya appeared in this word specifically to spread the *sankirtana* movement: the congregational chanting of the holy names of the Lord. According to Lord Caitanya, *sankirtana* is "the prime benediction for humanity." (*Śikṣāṣṭaka* 1) Rupa Gosvami (Sanatana's brother) praises Caitanya Mahāprabhu as "the most charitable incarnation" because He widely distributes pure love of Godhead, *kṛṣṇa-prema*, without regard for caste, creed, or color. He invites everyone to take exclusive shelter of the holy names. We can easily approach Kṛṣṇa through His names, which contain all of His transcendental energies (see *Śikṣāṣṭaka* 2). The holy names are not just symbols for Kṛṣṇa, but Kṛṣṇa Himself. They're also the means to approach Him. As He proclaims in *Bhagavad-gītā* (10.25): "Of sacrifices, I am the chanting of the holy names [*japa*]." In fact, this sacrifice is so important that it is the chief religious process (*yuga-dharma*) for this Age of Kali (*kali-yuga*). Kali-yuga contains an abundance of inauspicious qualities, such as short lifespan, diseases, weak memory, diminished intelligence and bodily strength, and negligible interest in religious activities. These faults render spiritual efforts exceedingly difficult, but not entirely hopeless: The one good quality of Kali-yuga is that simply by chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa *maha-mantra*, we can achieve pure love of Kṛṣṇa. As stated in the *Brhan-naradiya Purana* (3.8.126): > harer nama harer nama > harer namaiva kevalam > kalau nasty eva nastya eva > nastya eva gatir anyatha "In this age of quarrel and hypocrisy, the only means of deliverance is the chanting of the holy name of the Lord. There is no other way. There is no other way. There is no other way." The repetition here emphasizes the need to chant the name of God. Spiritual paths prescribed in other ages, such as *jnana* (cultivation of knowledge) or *yoga* (mystic meditation), might even deviate us from the path of devotional service to Kṛṣṇa, but chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa helps us achieve our ultimate goal quickly. We can surpass all obstacles and attain the ultimate spiritual success of returning back home, back to Godhead. *The Name's Transcendental Qualities* To help us cultivate our attachment to the holy names, the Vedic scriptures contain many statements describing their unlimited glories. The *Padma Purana* reveals: The holy name of Kṛṣṇa is transcendentally blissful. It bestows all spiritual benedictions, for it is Kṛṣṇa Himself, the reservoir of all pleasure. Kṛṣṇa's name is complete, and it is the form of all transcendental mellows. It is not a material name under any condition, and it is no less powerful than Kṛṣṇa Himself. Since Kṛṣṇa's name is not contaminated by the material qualities, there is no question of its being involved with *maya*. Kṛṣṇa's name is always liberated and spiritual; it is never conditioned by the laws of material nature. This is because the name of Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa Himself are identical. (Quoted in *Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya* 17.133) Whatever is in Kṛṣṇa is in His name. As Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura recounts in *Harinama Cintamani*, Śrīla Haridasa Ṭhākura tells Lord Caitanya that the holy name "is the ultimate treasure in Kṛṣṇa's storehouse, because it contains within it the whole spiritual realm." In the material world, names are merely representative. As Śrīla Prabhupāda explains, "One cannot taste the mango fruit simply by chanting, 'Mango, mango, mango' (*Śrīmad-Bhagavatam* 10.2.36, Purport) But Kṛṣṇa and His names are identical and supreme in all aspects. If we project our mundane understanding and continue to think that Kṛṣṇa and His names are separate, we are missing the point. As long as we offend the holy names by thinking of them as material sounds, we cannot achieve love of God, but when we sincerely call Kṛṣṇa's names, He comes with all His transcendental qualities to dance on our tongues. Because of our material contamination, we cannot perceive Kṛṣṇa's presence in His names. Life after life, we have been migrating through the material universe in different kinds of bodies, perpetually identifying the body as the self and driven to satiate our ever-demanding senses. This misidentification is just like dust covering a mirror, hiding our reflection. We have lost our ability to discern what we are (tiny spiritual sparks, Kṛṣṇa's eternal servants) because the mirror of our intelligence has lost its integrity. Kṛṣṇa's holy names are so pure and potent, however, that they wash away all this deluding dust. When our materialistic desires become spiritual desires, we will no longer seek to serve our mind and senses, but will act only for Kṛṣṇa's pleasure. This transformation is possible only through the mercy of Kṛṣṇa's names, which are the cure for our disease of materialism. Rupa Gosvami provides the analogy of a jaundiced patient who perceives all tastes, even sugar, as bitter. Ironically, the cure for jaundice is rock candy or sugar crystals. At the beginning of treatment, the rock candy tastes bitter, but soon the patient recovers the ability to taste its natural sweetness. That sweetness was always there, but it could not be tasted because of jaundice. Similarly, the holy name is the sweetest of all things because it is Kṛṣṇa Himself, but we cannot perceive this because materialistic desires infect our consciousness. We must persist in our chanting, and eventually our material disease will vanish. At the topmost platform of pure chanting (*suddha-nama*), we will continuously taste the nectarean sweetness of the holy name. *The Greatest Giver* The causeless mercy of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and His pure devotees has given us the sweetest, most valuable treasure of the holy name. By teaching the *maha-mantra* to the *brahmana*, Sanatana Gosvami became the greatest giver. A Vaisnava not only chants the holy names purely, but also shares the chanting with others. Prahlada Mahārāja, for example, did not worry about his own liberation but was tremendously anxious for the deliverance of innumerable conditioned souls. Śrīla Prabhupāda therefore proclaims the spreading of Kṛṣṇa consciousness to be the highest welfare work. Kṛṣṇa is supremely merciful, but the scriptures tell us that the pure devotee who gives Kṛṣṇa (or His names) is even more merciful. Thus, with humility, and with gratitude for this inconceivable mercy, we must accept the chanting of Kṛṣṇa's names with sincerity and earnestness. We must ask ourselves the same question that Sanatana Gosvami asked the *brahmana*: Are we ready for the best benediction? If we understand, at least intellectually, that the Hare Kṛṣṇa *maha-mantra* is the best benediction, then we must take it seriously. If someone gave us gold or diamonds, we would keep them in a protected place and worry about their being stolen or damaged. Yet these things are merely temporary manifestations of the inferior, material energy. Kṛṣṇa's names, however, are pure, eternal, and full of unending bliss. They are the greatest gift from our spiritual master to reconnect us to our original identities as Kṛṣṇa's eternal servants. We should value them as our greatest asset, carefully guarding against offenses such as inattentiveness. For chanting to be sincere, it must be attentive. Prabhupāda recommended that we focus our mind by concentrating on the sound of each name within the *maha-mantra*. Sincere chanting is just like the child's cry for its mother: genuine and urgent. Like a helpless infant, we have no shelter other than the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa and His internal energy, Hara (Rādhārāṇī), and so our chanting becomes a plea to be accepted as Kṛṣṇa's servant. Śrīla Prabhupāda says that "we should simply cry and pray that the Lord accept us," as Caitanya Mahāprabhu taught by His own example: "O Kṛṣṇa, son of Nanda, somehow or other I have fallen into this ocean of nescience and ignorance. Please pick me up and place me as one of the atoms at Your lotus feet." (*Śikṣāṣṭaka* 5) *The Poison of Worldliness* If we do not take advantage of the simple process of hearing and chanting, we are worse than dead: We have knowingly drunk poison. Śrīla Narottama Dāsa Ṭhākura has sung, "O Lord, I have spent my life uselessly. Having obtained a human birth and having not worshiped Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, I have knowingly drunk poison." The human body is meant for spiritual cultivation beyond the animal propensities of eating, sleeping, mating, and defending. Our intelligence is meant for developing spiritual knowledge so that we work in devotional service to please Kṛṣṇa. We can thus achieve liberation from the seemingly endless cycle of birth, death, old age, and disease, and personally associate with Kṛṣṇa in His transcendental abode. We must not miss the chance the human form of life affords us, because only now do we have the capacity to hear and chant Kṛṣṇa's names. *Harinama-sankirtana* is the greatest treasure, and we are deeply unfortunate if we do not take advantage of it. "The treasure of divine love in Goloka Vṛndāvana," Narottama sings, "has descended as the congregational chanting of Lord Hari's [Kṛṣṇa's] holy names. Why did my attraction for that chanting never come about? Day and night my heart burns from the fire of the poison of worldliness, and I have not taken the means to relieve it." Narottama's words teach us how we should lament for our lack of faith in Kṛṣṇa's names. If we don't shiver in ecstasy at the sound of the Lord's name, we can understand that our hearts are hard like stone. Narottama says that this is due to the "poison of worldliness": the fierce desires of our mind and senses that prohibit complete surrender to Kṛṣṇa's service. The antidote for that poison is continued chanting. If we are sincere, the Lord's pure names will remove our faithlessness and offenses, so that we can eventually relish the best benediction as our most precious asset. *Mohini Rādhā Devī Dāsī graduated from Columbia University with a degree in English literature. She is the disciple of His Holiness Gopala Kṛṣṇa Goswami and lives with her husband, Narada Rsi Dāsa, at the Hare Kṛṣṇa temple in Juhu, Mumbai, India.* ## "What's Wrong with Sex?” (A Response) *Real freedom comes not by becoming free for sex, but by becoming free from sex.* ### By Caitanya Carana Dāsa WHEN THE MEDIA assault our eyes with images of half-naked bodies, lawmakers fight back with anti-obscenity laws, and the media complain that the government is policing personal morality. "Who are you to restrict our sexual enjoyment?" cry the libertines. "What's wrong with sex?" "Ubiquitous sexuality," say the cultural conservatives, "degrades society." Everyone cherishes the right to enjoy life, and libertines, to defend themselves, appeal to this right. But could they be defeating the very purpose they claim to champion? Could moral restrictions on sexuality uphold, rather than impede, our right to enjoy life? This indeed is the daring and disarming proposition of the Vedic scriptures: We can best enjoy life by rediscovering our spiritual nature, and this rediscovery requires sexual restraint. Let's investigate the Vedic perspective on the correlation between sexuality, spirituality, and the quest for happiness. *Vedic Insights* A Vedic seer would tell us that the roots of the present moral imbroglio lie in spiritual ignorance. Today, people addicted to material enjoyment are left to decide their goals for themselves. Ignorant of spiritual reality, modern man has no foundation upon which to build objective morality. The stormy winds of changing social trends shake and shatter moral standards that have no roots in spiritual knowledge. Before we plunge into a frenzied fight for enjoyment, the Vedic texts urge us to take time out to inquire, "Who is the 'I' whom we seek to offer enjoyment?" When confronted with this basic question of identity, most modern people can only blink in bewilderment. In marked contrast, the Vedic texts clearly and confidently assert that we are not products of matter; we are souls, spiritual beings encaged in material bodies. Our real home is the spiritual realm, where we rejoice eternally in a personal loving relationship with the supreme spiritual being, Kṛṣṇa. By misuse of our free will, we refuse to love and serve Kṛṣṇa and are placed in the world of matter. Here we inhabit a succession of material bodies, which we accept as ourselves. Only in this spiritual amnesia are we able to pursue our quest for material happiness. When passed through red glass, a clear beam of light comes out red. Similarly, when passed through the covering of the material body, the pure, selfless longing of the soul for Kṛṣṇa emerges as the perverted, selfish craving for the flesh for the opposite sex. Under the spell of the illusion created by accepting the body as the self, our love of God distorts into lust for matter. Lust causes within all living beings the overpowering drive for sexual pleasure and all other forms of material enjoyment. The *Śrīmad-Bhagavatam* (7.9.45) describes the nature of sexual enjoyment: "The pleasure obtained from sex is insignificant, like the relief coming from scratching an itch. Sexual pleasure leads not to satisfaction, but to multiple miseries. Just as a wise person tolerates the urge to scratch an itch, one should learn to tolerate the urge for sexual indulgence." Based on this verse, we can note three inescapable characteristics of sexual enjoyment: It is temporary, illusory, and miserable. Let's see how: Temporary: Despite the media propaganda of unlimited erotic bliss, the pleasure in sex is heartbreakingly brief. Like the water-ejecting capacity of a sponge, the body's capacity to enjoy is limited. Initially, when the sponge is filled with water, just by a slight pinch, water gushes out. But as the sponge is squeezed more and more, even a few drops of water become difficult to get. Finally, all that remains is the effort of squeezing. The sexual act similarly involves increasing effort and decreasing pleasure, leading eventually to utter exhaustion. The sponge analogy applies not only to the sexual act, but also to the sexual capacity during one's lifetime. During youth, the body easily offers sexual pleasure. But as the body ages, sex demands increasing effort and yields decreasing pleasure. Eventually, with the impotency of old age, the pleasure becomes zero. Because sexual pleasure is temporary, the *Bhagavatam* describes it as insignificant. Illusory: Like a car and its driver, the soul and the body have different needs. Fueling the car can never nourish the driver; material gratification can never bring about spiritual fulfillment. Then why does sex appear to give so much pleasure? The *Bhagavatam's* analogy of scratching an itch gives us the answer. Scratching an itch seems to give pleasure, but actually gives nothing more than temporary relief. Similarly, the so-called pleasure of sex is nothing but short-lived relief from sexual agitation. Miserable: Just as scratching worsens and prolongs the itch, sexual indulgence increases and prolongs our suffering in material existence. Sex perpetuates our misidentification with our bodies, thus forcing us to suffer the bodily, social, and environmental miseries inevitable in material existence. Further, the more we think that we are our bodies, the more we suffer when our bodies are battered by nature on the distressful journey through disease, decrepitude, and death. Sex, especially illicit sex, leads to complications like abortions, single mothers, marital ruptures, and sexual violence. Illicit sex also makes us susceptible to the menace of sexually transmitted diseases, such as AIDS, which threatens to wipe out significant portions of the human population. Not only that, but lack of spiritual fulfillment haunts every soul in the material world, resulting in chronic dissatisfaction. The false conviction that this dissatisfaction stems from insufficient material gratification is the bane of the soul and the cause of the soul's futile struggle for happiness. *The Science of Sex* Through this philosophical window, let's see how Vedic culture rescues the soul. The Vedic social order helps every soul in a human body revert to its original pristine state. To this end, Vedic education, apart from teaching commercial, technical, and physical skills, focuses on imparting a deep philosophical understanding of our intrinsic spiritual identity. Such education protects students from victimization by the binding and blinding passions of sex. Sex is a basic bodily drive that naturally results in procreation. Vedic science, being far more subtle and sophisticated than today's matter-centered science, recognizes that the consciousness of the man and the woman at the time of union determines the kind of soul entering the mother's womb through the father's semen. Equipped with this knowledge, a married couple performs the sexual act as a sacred service to the family, society, and God. They accept the grave responsibility of bringing into the world a soul who will grow up to be a selfless, principled, exemplary citizen who can do immense good for the world. Such a sanctified union is an expression of the divine. In the *Bhagavad-gītā* (7.11), Lord Kṛṣṇa says, *dharma-viruddho bhutesu kamo 'smi:* "I am sex life which is not contrary to religious principles." Today, all this might seem impractical, even unnatural, because we're at the receiving end of a media blitz saturated with covert and overt sexuality. The natural purpose of sex is procreation. With contraception and abortion, human beings unnaturally separate copulation and procreation. Their minds are full of dreams and schemes *for* sexual enjoyment, resulting in the problems arising *from* sexual licentiousness discussed earlier. There*for*e, the Vedic texts remind us that real freedom comes not by becoming free *for* sex, but free *from* sex. Knowing the complications and miseries resulting *from* sexual indulgence, some people take to lifelong celibacy. Still, most people won't or can't choose this path, so the Vedic scriptures prescribe marriage to regulate the sexual drive in a religious way. *Protected by Marriage* When philosophically educated couples marry, they soon realize, by virtue of the spiritual disciplines they follow, the futility of bodily enjoyment. Then they base their relationship on assisting each other in advancing on the journey back to Kṛṣṇa. Śrīla Prabhupāda writes, "Marriage is meant to regulate the human mind so that it becomes peaceful for spiritual advancement." Thus in Vedic culture the primary goal of marriage is not bodily gratification but spiritual purification. Therefore even in marriage, sex is curtailed. Sexual regulations are not intended to deprive people of enjoyment and force them to live a torturous life of abnegation. Rather, they create a springboard to help catapult the soul to the transcendental platform to gain unlimited spiritual happiness, the soul's constitutional right. The Vedic attitude is that material enjoyment rivets the consciousness of the soul to flesh and, while offering only a drop of pleasure, cheats us of our rightful oceanic spiritual happiness. Thus absence of restriction, not restriction, deprives the soul of happiness. Continence is a universal value enjoined not just in the Vedic scriptures, but also in the scriptures of all the great religions. It is a prerequisite for protecting us from material entanglement and for creating the foundation for raising our consciousness to the spiritual platform. *The Historical Degradation* The goal of Vedic culture, as well as other traditional religious cultures, is to awaken our dormant love for God and thus attain eternal happiness. But with the gradual decline of spirituality over the centuries, that goal has been obscured and forgotten. People once followed regulations for self-restraint out of deference for social and religious tradition, but with the spread of Western science and its reductionist, nonspiritual worldview, people started seeing these regulations as pointless. With their social and physical superiority, men began to exploit women as sex machines. Outraged at the male chauvinism, women retaliated by employing their feminine charms to seduce men and use them as ATM (anytime money) machines. Divorces and premarital and extra-marital sexual relationships became increasingly common—all in the name of enjoyment. Occasional forays into promiscuity degenerated into the reckless pursuit of relationships for pleasure alone. All sorts of sexual perversions spread. Beneath all this frenzy for enjoyment, we souls long for our original relationship with Kṛṣṇa. Sex is the main distraction that misdirects our search for happiness from spirit to flesh. The more we seek happiness in sex, in whatever form, the more we deprive ourselves of true happiness as more and more layers of forgetfulness shroud the spirit soul. *Our Choice* But there's hope. If dilemmas over sexual morality can stir intelligent people to examine the spiritual foundation of their traditional moral principles, they can discover the lost wealth of their heart, their forgotten Lord, Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is forever waiting for us. Playing on His flute, He is inviting us back to the sublime joys of an endless love in His eternal abode—our original home, the spiritual world. In the current dark Age of Kali, Kṛṣṇa has helped us channel our misdirected consciousness back to Him by revealing Himself in His holy names, especially the Hare Kṛṣṇa *maha-mantra*. When our hearts are reunited with Kṛṣṇa through the sublime medium of divine sound, all material enjoyment becomes disdainful. Vedic insights can help us make sense of the current social degradation and equip us to confront and counter it. Will we let the current wave of degradation sweep us into the ocean of sin and suffering? Or will we join hands with a crew of intrepid spiritual sailors navigating the sturdy ship of genuine spirituality toward the safe shores of immortality and bliss? The choice is ours. *Caitanya Carana Dāsa is a disciple of His Holiness Rādhānatha Swami. He holds a degree in electronics and telecommunications engineering and serves full time at ISKCON Pune. His free cyber magazine,* The Spiritual Scientist, *gives a scientific presentation of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. To subscribe, write to [email protected].* ## Returning Home to Freedom *A ten-year-old wonders, "Will Kṛṣṇa recognize us when we return to Him?"* ### By Vraja Vihari Dāsa "Oh, these ropes of desires are strange indeed! A person tightly bound by them runs all around seeking happiness, but one freed from them stays calmly in one place."—*Niti-sastra* "What's it like to go back home to Kṛṣṇa?" wondered ten-year-old Kiran at the weekly gathering for children from our congregation. I responded by speaking about Goloka Vṛndāvana, our real home, where we aspire to go after our tenure in this world. "The spiritual world of Goloka is free from all school exams and home assignments," I told the kids. "It's all fun, day and night—no interruption in play!" "Wow!" Kiran replied. "But," he probed, "since we've been away for so long, will Kṛṣṇa recognize us when we get back?" "Of course," I said. "He's our loving father, eagerly awaiting His lost child to return home." "But there are so many of us. If we don't go back, will it really make a difference to Him?" "Yes, because each soul is dear to Kṛṣṇa. He will embrace you and shed tears of joy when you return home." The discussion lasted an hour. Later that evening the nation celebrated Mr. Karamjit Singh's historic reunion with his family. Cameras flashed on the beaming family members, as other relatives rushed in to the emotionally charged gathering at Singh's home. The neighborhood joined in the festivities while sons, daughters, and grandparents hugged each other and wiped away tears of joy. One evening in the winter of 1973, Karamjit Singh, a young Indian citizen, sneaked across the border into Pakistan hoping to earn some extra money there. The Pakistani Rangers quickly pounced on the unsuspecting Singh, and soon convicted him of espionage. For the next thirty-five years he languished in Pakistan's jails, in one city after another, undergoing unimaginable torture at the hands of his captors. To appease the Pakistan authorities in hopes of getting a quick, favorable judgment, he even tried adopting Islam. Thanks to diplomatic intervention by the government of India, he was finally released after three and a half decades. As we share the pains and joys of Mr. Singh, we can also draw a parallel between his case and our own plight in the prison of the material world. Every living entity is an integral member of God's family in the spiritual world. There, situated in our constitutional position of giving pleasure to the Supreme Lord, we experience unlimited freedom and ceaseless happiness. When we sneak into the material world for that extra spice—the chance to be an enjoyer—the Lord's illusory energy, *maya*, instantly pounces on us. A resident of Punjab, Mr. Singh missed his home and village. As he transferred from Lahore to Karachi to Islamabad, in each jail his plight was the same—physical and mental agony in the face of intense interrogation. His repeated pleas of innocence fell on deaf ears. Because we are residents of the spiritual world, we too are away from home. As spirit souls, we are naturally servants of God. In rendering service to God, Kṛṣṇa, in the spiritual world, we experience the bliss of complete freedom. But when we exercise our free will to attempt to be a master in the temporary material world and enjoy independently of Kṛṣṇa, we are imprisoned in material bodies. We then wander through the universe, taking on bodies in millions of plant, animal, and human species. In the human body, however, we entrapped souls are blessed with the ability to break free from the chains of repeated birth and death. Unfortunately, most humans use their advanced mental faculties only to further their bodily comforts and thereby ensure prolonged imprisonment in this world. Yet despite all attempts to squeeze out happiness from perishable bodies, the soul—the prisoner in the material body—experiences only constant frustrations and a deep sense of void. In the *Bhagavad-gītā* (15.7) Lord Kṛṣṇa says, > mamaivamso jiva-loke > jiva-bhutah sanatanah > manah-sasthanmdriyani > prakrti-sthani karsati "The living entities in this conditioned world are My eternal fragmental parts. Due to conditioned life, they are struggling very hard with the six senses, which include the mind." In his commentary on this verse, Śrīla Prabhupāda reveals the reason for the living entity's struggle in this world: Every living entity, as an individual soul, has his personal individuality and a minute form of independence. By misuse of that independence one becomes a conditioned soul, and by proper use of independence he is always liberated.... In his conditioned life he is dominated by the material modes of nature, and he forgets the transcendental loving service of the Lord. As a result, he has to struggle very hard to maintain his existence in the material world. *Adjustments in Jail* The jail authorities inflicted on Mr. Singh a combination of miseries, ranging from breaking stones and cleaning public toilets, to mental torture to elicit confessions that suited their interests. In the jail of the material world, we face the miseries of birth, death, old age, and disease, as well as troubles caused by nature, other living beings, and our own body and mind. In the prison of the material world we make desperate adjustments to forget the unfailing harassment by the material energy. Karamjit Singh's conversion to Islam was his desperate attempt to please his captors. That saved his life but didn't give him freedom. Similarly the living entity takes on different designations and possessions to be happy in this world. We identify ourselves with our external designations: Indian, American, wealthy, beautiful, and so on. Despite the external change of his religious faith, Mr. Singh wasn't happy. Similarly the living entity feels incomplete despite many adjustments on the bodily platform. A fish out of water can't be satisfied with the best iPod, succulent cakes, or designer outfits. He's desperate to be back in water. Likewise, exciting relationships, attractive cinemas, and promising careers may lure the living entity trapped in the human body, but the heart always hankers for more than what the body can offer. The living entity's "water" is the spiritual world, where he renders uninterrupted service to his beloved, Lord Kṛṣṇa. This loving service to Kṛṣṇa and His devotees is the most natural position of freedom for the soul. Śrīla Prabhupāda writes, "When a living entity gives up this material embodiment and enters into the spiritual world, he revives his spiritual body, and in his spiritual body he can see the Supreme Personality of Godhead face to face. He can hear and speak to Him face to face, and he can understand the Supreme Personality as He is." (*Bhagavad-gītā* 15.7, Purport) *Freedom Within the Prison* Karamjit Singh was enticed with false hopes of freedom. He cried alone, remembering his loving family and friends, hoping against hope for freedom. He found relief and happiness only on returning home. A devotee practicing Kṛṣṇa consciousness, however, needn't wait to go back to the spiritual world to gain freedom and relief from suffering. Even within this world, remembering Kṛṣṇa through the daily chanting of His holy names gives the experience of the spiritual world, and the freedom that comes with it. The joy of this spiritual path transcends bodily miseries and happiness. Looking back at that traumatic phase of his life, Karamjit Singh is glad it's over. "I wish to forget the whole episode as if it were a bad dream." Our nightmare in this world ends when we connect to Kṛṣṇa and His devotees. A devotee regrets his decision to leave Kṛṣṇa. Yet he's happy to be reconnected and gratefully grabs on to the process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness and associates with Kṛṣṇa's devotees. The practices of chanting Kṛṣṇa's names, dancing in joy, hearing Kṛṣṇa's pastimes, and feasting on Kṛṣṇa's *prasādam* create Goloka Vṛndāvana even within the fortress of the material world. *Kṛṣṇa Is Waiting* When I met with the children of our congregation the following Sunday, I related to them the Singh story. Kiran was quick to catch the resemblance. "But for us it's not just thirty-five years," he said. "We've been away for ages. It's time we get back home. Kṛṣṇa is waiting, isn't He?" Yes indeed. Kṛṣṇa is waiting for all of us. *Vraja Vihari Dāsa, MBA, serves full-time at ISKCON Mumbai and teaches Kṛṣṇa consciousness to students at various colleges.* ## From the Editor *Haribol!* ONE OF THE MOST common expressions in the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement is "Haribol!" It means "Chant [the name] Hari!" and devotees use it especially when greeting one another. It's also a general-purpose expression sprinkled liberally into all kinds of exchanges—usually in ways that have nothing to do with its literal meaning. Newcomers pick it up quickly, often unaware of what it means. The name Hari is also used in another favorite ISKCON term: *harinama*. Literally "the name Hari," it's the word we use for public chanting: "We'll all meet downtown today for *harinama*." Since we're devotees of Kṛṣṇa, one might wonder why we use the name Hari so much in everyday exchanges. We could be saying, "Kṛṣṇabol, Prabhus, let's go out on Kṛṣṇanama!" The reason is that Hari is one of Kṛṣṇa's innumerable names, even though it is often used, like the name Bhagavan, as a generic word for God. Hari even appears in the *maha-mantra*—in its vocative grammatical form: Hare. Some Vaisnava commentators, including Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, translate the word Hare in the *maha-mantra* to mean Kṛṣṇa, rather than Rādhā, because Hare can be taken as the vocative form of either Hara (Rādhā) or Hari. The word *hari* literally means "one who takes away." Kṛṣṇa is Hari because as time or death He takes away everything. In the *Bhagavad-gītā* Kṛṣṇa says, "Time I am, the great destroyer of the worlds." Śrīla Prabhupāda would point to this feature of Kṛṣṇa's when arguing against the idea that we're all God. If we're God, why can't we hold on to anything? Someone more powerful than us is reclaiming everything. He gives and He takes away, and we're powerless to do anything about it. Well, not completely powerless. If we align ourselves with Kṛṣṇa's purpose, we can use His power for our ultimate benefit. In fact, our benefit is the purpose behind Kṛṣṇa's use of power. It's why He gives and takes away. It's part of His plan to persuade us to return to Him. He creates the material world as a place of impermanence, inspiring the thoughtful to seek the permanence of the spiritual world. Hari also refers to Kṛṣṇa as the one who takes away our misery. The scriptures abound with narrations of Kṛṣṇa's delivering His devotees from suffering and danger. In one famous episode, one of Kṛṣṇa's avatars rescues the elephant (and devotee) Gajendra from the jaws of a crocodile. Appropriately, that incarnation's name is Hari. (A *manvantara-avatara*, He appeared during the reign of Tamasa Manu as the son of Harimedha and Harini.) But Kṛṣṇa is not satisfied with just delivering us from material suffering. He wants to steal our hearts too. Kṛṣṇa is often called Hari in the context of His pastimes with His devotees in Goloka Vṛndāvana, His home in the spiritual world. The residents of Goloka are the most fortunate of all souls because Kṛṣṇa has so thoroughly stolen their minds and hearts that they can think of nothing but Him. In the song beginning with the words *hari hari vifale*, the Gaudiya Vaisnava poet Narottama Dāsa Ṭhākura calls out to the Lord, "O Lord Hari, I have spent my life uselessly. Having obtained a human birth and having not worshiped Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, I have knowingly drunk poison." We can worship Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa and avoid the poison of material life by hearing about, speaking about, and remembering Lord Hari. Haribol! —Nagaraja Dāsa Vedic Thoughts To see God everywhere and in every living entity is not the final word in self-realization; one needs to see Him in all events, in every activity, in every thought influencing everyone's life, including one's own. Two things are indispensable for acquiring such a vision: first we must offer the results of all our activities to Lord Kṛṣṇa, and second, every action we perform must be done exclusively as devotional service to Him. His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda *Renunciation Through Wisdom*, Chapter 5 O Lord Narahari, persons who have attained this human form live uselessly, merely breathing like bellows, if they fail to worship You by hearing about You, chanting Your glories, remembering You, and performing the other devotional practices. Śrīla Śrīdhara Svami Commentary on *Śrīmad-Bhagavatam* 10.87.17 All you sons of immortality, hear, you who once resided in the divine kingdom. *Svetasvatara Upanisad* 2.5 All different varieties of **atma*ramas* [those who take pleasure in *atma*, or spirit self], especially those established on the path of self-realization, though freed from all kinds of material bondage, desire to render unalloyed devotional service unto the Personality of Godhead. This means that the Lord possesses transcendental qualities and therefore can attract everyone, including liberated souls. Śrīla Suta Gosvami *Śrīmad-Bhagavatam* 1.7.10 Causeless devotional service is unmotivated by sense enjoyment, perfection, or liberation. When one is freed from all these contaminations, he can bring Lord Kṛṣṇa, who is very funny, under control. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu *Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya* 24.29 One is truly a Vaisnava who has given up the habit of falling victim to the ferocious tigress of wealth, beauty, and fame. Such a soul is factually detached from material life and is known as a pure devotee. Someone with this consciousness of detachment has thereby become victorious over the mundane world of birth and death. Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvati Ṭhākura *Dusta Mana* 11 Dear mind, if you have any excess wealth, then just become humble and use that wealth to do something beneficial for the service of the Vaisnavas. Constantly showing compassion to all souls, worship Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa and always make your standard of behavior clean, saintly, and virtuous. Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura *Kalyana-kalpatar*u 12.4